The future of the Facebook app available for download through the iOS App Store is something of a very much discussed topic at the minute. The social network behemoth took the decision to build their mobile apps using HTML5 to allow the projects to be easily supported across multiple platforms with the thinking obviously being that it doesn't need to be manually coded in each native language for release on multiple platforms. Unfortunately, it has been users who have suffered at the hands of that decision with the experience being frustratingly slow.
In terms of technology, we're heavily reliant on insider information and the typically "unspecified" sources in order to gather intel, but often, indications of new features are right under our noses. When a new software feature arrives in Android or iOS, the foundations are usually laid long before that, and it's down to us to do the digging and uncover them.
Just yesterday we discussed a five of, what we think, are the best alternatives to Mobile Safari on iOS: with its outstanding UI and tight integration with Google Accounts, Google Chrome was listed at the top, followed by Opera Mini with its equally awesome cloud syncing and Opera Turbo feature, Switch with its multiple user account support, Mercury with its mind-blowing number of features and Puffin with its best in class speed.
The last few days have provided us with not only intense speculation surrounding the possible launch dates of Apple's next-generation iPhone but also a possible scheduling for the announcement and release of a new smaller and more lightweight iPad Mini. The iPad Mini has been a long speculated product but with no real concrete details being known, it has just been put down to conjecture until this morning when a possible release date emerged.
If you are the owner of an iPhone or iPod touch then the chances are high that you have delved into the official App Store to browse through the hundreds of thousands of available apps that have been submitted for download by developers from all over the world. As you know, the App Store contains apps of all genres and has pretty much something to cover all tastes. It may have also become evident that the majority of apps are also built around similar navigation methodologies and use similar, albeit heavily customized, iOS specific controls.
The pressure on Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook to continue updating and improving the social network has perhaps never been so fierce, and as well as placing a lot of emphasis on monetizing and enhancing its mobile ventures, Zuck's team has just revealed some significant changes to the site's photo viewing capabilities.
Anyone who is a regular jailbreaker of any of their iOS devices will ultimately have a set of must-have tweaks and installations which always manage to make it onto their device as soon as a new jailbreak is released for iOS. Sometimes those packages are installed because they offer something fun and and at times it is because they genuinely make using Apple's mobile operating system a lot better. Those packages that fall under the category of the latter generally tend to have a much longer shelf life than other offerings in Cydia, well, until Apple natively implements them that is.
Now that the wait is finally over and Apple have released OS X Mountain Lion on the official Mac App Store for mass consumption, we can all sit back and relax safe in the knowledge that our beloved Mac machines are running the latest and most advanced operating system in the world. Apple's words, not ours. The initial popularity of Mountain Lion is there for all to see, with the positive App Store reviews mounting up and the general social chatter painting OS X 10.8 in a positive light it looks like Apple have a winner on their hands.
When Microsoft announced its Surface last month, the tech world was largely impressed by its potential, and by essentially killing off the wholly awful netbook market as well as having a real stab at the iPad-manned tablet field, it appeared to kill two birds with the one proverbial stone.
We’ve previously seen prototype iPhones and iPads from 2006 and earlier which show some of the many iterations the class-dominating smartphone and tablet went through before being finalized. Now, as the Apple vs. Samsung lawsuit continues to heat up even more, more and more classified design documents are making their way online for us to feast our eyes on.
