In a world where we carry around smartphones and tablets as a matter of routine, it's true that an unfortunate outcome of that is that we seem to be constantly charging things. if we're not charging our smartphones, then we're charging that tablet that we've been playing that hot new game on. In our houses here at least, there's always something on-charge.
JoinedJanuary 21, 2011
Articles20,347
Oliver Haslam has written about technology for over a decade. His work has been published in print at Macworld and online pretty much everywhere else. If it plugs in or has a battery, it's fair game.
If there's one thing that the App Store has done, it's own the door to all kinds of strange apps and games. Some have turned out to be real jewels, while others have simply fallen by the wayside after being found out to be a little too odd for their own good. We've not at all sure which side of that very thin fence this game will fall, but we think we might have an idea.
Solar power is one of those things that was once supposed to provide a fix for all of our power-based problems. Even though some companies are using solar energy to at least part fuel their datacenters, it has still not quite lived up to its billing. Solar energy has even been talked of as a way of powering our personal gadgets, too, but so far nothing has really come to fruition. Sure, calculators and keyboards exist that run on power generated from the sun, but that's a far cry from keeping a power hungry iPhone juiced all day long.
It seems that re-releasing existing smartphones with a beefed up set of specifications is all the rage these days. With rumors circulating that the Samsung Galaxy S5 is going to gain a bigger, badder brother in the Galaxy S5 Prime, some may have wondered what HTC was going to do about the idea that its main competition will have one-upped it once again. Increasingly, it's looking like the answer to that is a predictable one, because rumors now also point to HTC having its own Prime in the works.
Some times things seem too good to be true. Equally, other times things seem so awful that they just can't be accurate. Thankfully, the latter is the case today.
Free apps are great, but apps that usually cost money (and are worth every penny) but go free for a limited time are awesome. We'd have to put Readdle's Calendars 5 app in that category after the company announced that its hugely popular calendaring and task management app will be free for 48 hours. Usually priced at $6.99, the saving is not to be sniffed at.
Apple may have brought some animated wallpapers to the iPhone thanks to last year's iOS 7 update, but that doesn't mean that owners of the popular smartphone can just go setting things as their home or lock screen wallpapers willy-nilly. Apple still tightly controls what people can make their iPhones and iPads look like, and while the unannounced iOS 8 may signal a relaxing of such restrictions, the best way to untether your iOS device from Jonny Ive is still to jailbreak it.
We love it when apps go free, and we especially appreciate the fact when they're awesome apps that were bargainous even at their original price. If there's one thing the App Store's race to the bottom has done, it is to make it possible to get some truly awesome apps for next to nothing, if not nothing at all.
Apple's iPhone has made its way into all kinds of weird and wonderful places, as has its larger brother, the iPad. With accessories that help turn the iPhone and iPad into anything from a professional video tool to a high-grade medical devices, there's little that Apple's devices can't do.
Just when you thought it was safe once more, it seems the Internet is again awash with news of Flappy Bird or, at least, its creator.
