In a poll of 38,500 Americans, Apple has fought off competition from some of tech's biggest names to hold the crown as favorite brand in the categories of smartphone, tablet and computer, which will certainly serve as a kick in the teeth to rivals. Tim Cook's company has long since been the favorite when it comes to computers, but with the iPad and iPhone seeing off the likes of Google and Samsung, it appears America just cannot get enough of the company's famed gadgets.
The market for 4K Ultra HD displays has yet to really take off thanks to the lack of supporting content, high prices, and general newness of the technology. Yet with both the forthcoming Xbox One from Microsoft and PlayStation 4 from Sony both offering varying degrees of 4K support, it would appear other platforms are now following suit. The source code of the just-released Android 4.3 Jelly Bean seems to indicate support for Ultra HD, and although this doesn't necessarily signal a flurry of 4K Android devices, it is clear that Google is thinking ahead to the future.
Samsung has been really active over the course of its last two iterations of Galaxy line flagships, that is, Galaxy S3 and Galaxy S4, both of which have been acclaimed as the most human-friendly smartphones ever. Features like Smart Stay and Smart Dial make you feel that your device actually understands you, and reads your mind, even if the reality is just a matter of some cleverly placed sensors and making use of existing tech.
This is just in. Looks like Apple has randomly started signing iOS 6.0.x for a number of devices including the latest iPhone 5, iPhone 4S, iPad mini, iPad 4, 3 and iPod touch 5. If you accidently updated to the latest firmware, or if your device came with iOS 6.1.4 / 6.1.3 pre-installed, now is the time to downgrade back to 6.0.x and jailbreak using Evasi0n.
One feature iOS is surely lacking, at least compared with its main rival Android, is the ability to add and enjoy custom launchers. Having recently switched from Apple's fair ecosystem to Google's as my daily driver, it's the one feature to which I have become most accustomed. But thanks to the jailbreak scene, iOS doesn't have to be a launcher-free zone, and Instalauncher, a new tweak over at the BigBoss repo, allows you to activator-set a launcher that allows you to quickly access any of your currently installed apps.
The way Apple's iOS updates its third-party apps is seen as a marvel to some, and an annoyance to others. While the whole process is, as with most of the software's features, nicely streamlined, that oh-so frequent feeling of constrained functionality does tend to creep in from time to time. For example, if you're updating an app, and decide, midway through, that you wish to retain the current version for the time being, there's no native way of doing so. Luckily, as is so often the case, there's a tweak for that, and it's called, quite naturally, CancelUpdate.
Among the announcements at yesterday's impromptu Google event headed by Chrome and Android lead Sundar Pichai, the company announced a new, low-cost streaming device aiming to take advantage of the shortcomings and limitations of similar products like the Apple TV. The Chromecast dongle, which plugs straight into the HDMI port of your HDTV, can stream content straight from your smartphone or tablet, and with the ability to let you watch videos while continuing to use your device, it looks a sure-fire winner. With a price tag of just $35, it's a hard one to pass up, and today, Google has released the accompanying app for Android.
When Apple announced the original iPhone back in 2007, perhaps the biggest thing that Steve Jobs spoke about at the time was the new way of inputting data onto the device. Before then, smartphones had clunky hardware keyboards and small screens but now, post-iPhone, things were going to change, with large screens and software keyboards becoming the norm.
Google's Android may be in the news for all the right reasons at the moment, but just a few days ago, security vendor Bluebox Security announced that it had discovered a way that malicious code could be injected into otherwise entirely legitimate Android applications. Now, it would appear, this issue is more than just a theory after security firm Symantec announced in a blog post that it had discovered two apps that had fallen foul of the exploit, named Master Key exploit.
Apple's Developer Portal has been offline for some time now, and with reports of a claimed security breach by a security researcher still echoing across the internet, the iPhone maker has today updated its users and developers on the situation, whilst also offering more information on how the company intends to restore service to its developer hub. More details regarding the situation can be found right after the jump.
