When Apple first launched the iPhone, the world was decidedly skeptical about the prospect of typing, swiping and generally navigating an interface with very few buttons. But while some have been dragged kicking and screaming into the modern Digital Age, there still exists a sizeable sect of consumers that much prefer things the way they used to be. The fact that gaming controllers are supported by most smartphones and tablets is a testament to this, and now, one start-up has gone a step further by creating a project that offers stick-on physical buttons.
We always knew, following the announcement of the Galaxy S5 at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona back in February, that the Samsung flagship would be the first of many S5 spin-off handsets. The preceding Galaxy S4 had, after all, spawned many, including the Active, Zoom and the mini. Thanks to the inherently "Active" Galaxy S5 shipping dust and waterproof right off the bat and the recent announcement of the Galaxy K Zoom, it was only a matter of time before the compact edition manifested, and now, we have a sighting of said device courtesy of a reliable source.
Just like a résumé or a bad suit, a business card can reveal a great deal about a person in a matter of seconds, and when it comes to making first impressions count, this little piece of literature must be instantly engaging. Without a touch of edginess to distinguish it from the crowd, it's likely to end up in the waste-paper basket, but for one Apple engineer - whose b-card is made from a real iPhone screen - his important contact info is unlikely to be squirrelled away among the stash of generic efforts.
As far as free iOS goodies go, this week has offered quite a few treats, and undoubtedly trumping every app to have shaken off its price tag in the past few days comes the news that TuneIn Radio is now also free. For the uninitiated, TuneIn is among the most celebrated radio apps of its kind, offering access to thousands of streaming radio shows from across the globe, and with seamless recording functionality to boot, it offers everything you could want of a radio app and more.
For the past few weeks, each new day has spawned a bunch of reports pertaining to the Apple iPhone 6. But while, for the most part, the revelations seem to add very little value to the overall picture, today's reports out of Asia suggest that the production wheels are very much in motion. Further to the report originating in China that Pegatron had received a bundle of iPhone 6 orders, it has now emerged that the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) has prepped the initial lot of Touch ID fingerprint sensors for the next Apple handset, along with the iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3.
A home surveillance system used to be a high-cost commodity that was both difficult and expensive for your average individual to install. But nowadays, one can purchase a camera relatively cheaply, and the process of setting up is not particularly cumbersome either. Dropcam, a company that has been helping folks keep an eye on their houses with neat smartphone integration, mightn't necessarily be the first choice of somebody looking to protect themselves from intruders, but some newly-added hardware suggests that the Dropcam team is looking to move its product toward this particular niche.
Following on from earlier reports that Apple, among a string of other companies, was planning on opening up a store on location at New York's upcoming World Trade Center Mall, it has now been all-but confirmed by independent reports that this will indeed be the case.
This year is being billed as pivotal in recent tech history for a variety of reasons. Some are touting it as the year of the smartwatch, while others have it down as the year of face-worn gadgetry thanks to the likes of Facebook-owned Oculus VR and Google Glass. But in the near future, it may also be remembered as the point at which smartphones became incredibly cheap, with chip maker ARM suggesting that in the next couple of months, an Android handset could break the sub-$20 mark.
Photo-centric apps for mobile devices are ubiquitous, and if you're an iPhone user, you'll likely have noticed that the App Store is packed to the rafters with utilities touting superior editing and tweaking functions. Adding a it of blur, black-and-white overlay or a vintage frame are all fairly solid ways of rolling back the years, bringing a traditional feel to our photos, and Pocketbooth, which stylizes snaps in the traditional photo booth manner, has just gone free!
Being the huge tech fans that we are, we're more than just a little excited about the OnePlus One smartphone. Combining the tried-and-tested formula of high-end specs and low price, the CM-running device is sure to be a hit when it makes it to market. Speaking of market, Oppo's spin-off company decided to promote its handset using the fairly common tactic of encouraging would-be early adopters to film themselves smashing up their iPhones. Some refused, while others played ball, and the winners, as you'll see in the clip below, went above and beyond the call of duty.
