The iPhone 5 is only a day away from announcement, but such is the veil of secrecy around upcoming Cupertino products, that we've still only had a few sightings of the device at this late stage. Plenty of dummy models have also been doing the rounds throughout much of Europe and Asia, and it now appears those non-working replicas are beginning to filter through to the United States.
Although sales of the iPod touch have been declining in recent years, it still remains one of the most powerful and aesthetically attractive devices of its kind on the market. With fairly powerful technical specifications, large internal storage and additional benefits like the Retina display, access to the official iOS App Store for downloading apps and games, it isn't hard to see why Apple is so proud of their little media powerhouse.
Although a large number of people were a little disappointed when the news came through that Apple would be removing the native YouTube app with the launch of iOS 6, but the blow was softened a little with the news that Google would release their own official app that would offer all that video viewing goodness to iPhone and iPod touch users. We are still waiting for the official launch of iOS 6, but Google have made good on their promise, with their official YouTube app landing in the iOS App Store today.
When it comes to taking digital images, the marketing ploy of many vendors is to simply quote the number of megapixels. Whilst this is obviously an important factor, there are many other prerequisites of a decent quality photo being taken, and although by no means the best, Apple's iPhone certainly doesn't perform too badly.
Seldom a year goes by when a new iPhone is about to hit the market, and at least one of the carriers doesn't appear to pull out all the stops in an effort to reel in as many new customers as possible. In fact, each mobile data provider pulls at least one uncharacteristic stunt annually, but T-Mobile's latest promotion is one of the most intriguing we've ever seen.
Due to Apple's stringent rules on how third-parties can sell content directly through iOS (i.e. they can't), Amazon hasn't had the best of times convincing Apple fanboys its acclaimed reading service is of value. Still, having used the marvelous Kindle app for OS X on a number of occasions, I'd say Amazon is doing a stellar job in knocking on the door seldom answered, and is forging a successful user-base through Mac users far and wide.
The battle for supremacy in the cloud-based services has definitely stepped up a notch or two over the past few months, with a host of companies joining a territory manned mainly by Dropbox. Apple kicked things off by launching iCloud along with iOS 5 back in October of last year, and Microsoft finally brought SkyDrive to the mainstream in the early stages of 2012 - laying the foundations for the eventual release of its so-called "Cloud OS" - Windows 8.
If you've not heard of Instagram, then, first and foremost, welcome to 2012 - you're just in time for the next iPhone. Instagram is a simple photo-edit-share app that has taken the world by storm in the kind of explosive manner only Angry Birds masterminds Rovio Entertainment could claim to empathize with, and having been bought out by Facebook earlier this year, it's the only application which, along with the aforementioned bird-throwing hullabaloo, can be classified as a "billion-dollar app."
Microsoft’s motion sensing Kinect has so far been used in plenty of novel ways. We’ve seen, among other things, developers add Minority Report UI-style features to Windows, allow 3D videochatting, and help consumers select dresses by virtually wearing them, but allowing people who have trouble reading to send emails with a few gestures is something very new that we’ve come across today. Check it out after the jump.
iOS or OS X, Apple’s operating systems have always come with a lovely set of wallpapers that really enhance your desktop, but did you know that OS X Mountain Lion - in addition to the wallpapers available under the Change Desktop Background option - comes with over three dozen wallpapers that are hidden*? If you’re the type who changes their wallpapers regularly, you should definitely check them out. Find out how after the jump!
