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If this is the iPhone 5, Android has a problem

Chris Davies, Jul 29th 2012 Discuss [422]

Apple isn’t due to show us the new iPhone 5 for another few months, but a purported leak of the next-gen smartphone could well indicate the extent of the headache Android has fast approaching. Taller and thinner, with a more engineered, structured design than the delicate glass and metal sandwich of the current model, if the leaked shots are to be believed then this could be the most significant outward evolution of the iPhone to-date. Nonetheless, there’ll undoubtedly be those that look at the slightly larger display and aesthetic tweaks, and dismiss the iPhone 5 as “more of the same.” In some ways, the spec-sheet arms race of Android devices has left us spoiled overall. If it hasn’t got twice as many cores as before, a vast display, and more megapixels than the latest Canon DSLR, then it’s hardly worth us paying attention to, right?

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How Big of A Role Will Kinect Play in the Xbox 720?

Don Reisinger, Jul 26th 2012 Discuss [11]

When Microsoft announced the Kinect, the motion-gaming peripheral that requires no controller to work, it was celebrated by the mainstream and hardcore alike for its unique functionality.

Since then, Microsoft has delivered enhanced features, but for the vast majority of gamers, it has become a bit of a novelty. Sure, it’s a neat way to command the Xbox or shout some orders in games, but beyond that, it delivers little value to the average person trying to sit down, relax, and enjoy a title.

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Define Failure: 26m iPhones, good or bad?

Chris Davies, Jul 24th 2012 Discuss [11]

26m iPhones in a three month period. Apple’s Q3 2012 results are out, and while the huge year-on-year growth for iPad is an eye-catcher, it’s the shifting sales of the company’s flagship smartphone that have split opinion. For many – Nokia, for instance, or HTC – 26m sales would be the very definition of “a good problem to have”, but for Apple it’s not so straightforward. While the company has seen 28-percent year-on-year growth for the iPhone, its also seen a 26-percent drop quarter-on-quarter. So, is the iPhone stumbling, or is this all entirely understandable?

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Is Apple’s TV Secrecy A Good Idea This Time Around?

Don Reisinger, Jul 24th 2012 Discuss [10]

Apple is reportedly working on a television. From analysts to reports out of China, all signs point to the company developing a set that would include the latest HD technology, a nice design, and iCloud integration. And as more rumors pile in, the chances of that device launching sooner rather than later seem awfully high.

Well, that is, if you disregard the fact that Apple hasn’t said that it’s actually planning to launch the television.

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Relax, Apple’s new dock connector is A Good Thing

Chris Davies, Jul 23rd 2012 Discuss [41]

In many ways, Apple is an odd goose. The company has a habit of overlong clinging to some ideas while rivals might have jumped ship long before, but then being desperate to shed others ahead of the curve. Ditching floppy drives in favor of CDs, that was driven by Apple; more recently, switching to digital distribution and dumping optical drives in the process on machines like the MacBook Air and new MacBook Pro with Retina Display. And then there’s the Dock Connector.

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Is Microsoft’s Windows $0.99 app omission madness, money or moral?

Chris Davies, Jul 23rd 2012 Discuss [16]

When you’re trying to kick-start your tablet platform, apps are everything, so why has Microsoft decided to opt out of the most common price point in recent years: the $0.99 app? Confirmation this weekend that Windows 8 and Windows RT users would be offered paid apps as well as free (unsurprising) and that developers would be able to price their wares from $1.49 to $999.99 (surprising) is a distinct departure from Apple and Google’s strategy. According to the stereotypes, iOS users love paying for apps while Android users only download free ones (or steal them until the apps are made free out of exasperation), but what do Windows tablet owners do?

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Will public shame stem Apple’s patent aggression?

Chris Davies, Jul 20th 2012 Discuss [50]

You could hardly make it up: Apple, its patent arguments not only rejected by UK courts, but instructed to do some advertising on Samsung’s behalf to dismiss its rival’s “arch copyist” reputation. That’s a reputation Apple was instrumental in creating, of course, and while Samsung is throwing no small amount of money at its own defense, this latest spanking to its Cupertino rival/customer’s pride is only likely to bolster its unofficial stance that the ongoing phone and tablet war is nothing but good for brand awareness. Question is, will being forced to make a very public apology temper Apple’s appetite for litigation?

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What Would the Gaming Industry Look Like Without Mario?

Don Reisinger, Jul 19th 2012 Discuss [7]

I’m always interested in scenarios in which we examine the “what-ifs.” In some cases, that means discussing what might have happened to RIM if it saw the touchscreen craze coming. In others, it’s a look at what Apple might have been without Steve Jobs. But this time around, I want to take it away from the real world and put it in the digital realm: what might the game industry look like today without Mario?

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The Movie Is Over When The Credits Roll

Philip Berne, Jul 18th 2012 Discuss [21]

Now, I’m mad. At first, it was funny. I definitely didn’t stay to the very end of the movie when I saw “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” in the theaters, but when I saw the movie at home, I saw the bonus scene at the end. The “stinger,” as it’s sometimes called. Roger Ebert called this the “Monk’s Reward,” because you need to have the patience of a monk to sit through the final credits for the payoff. But if you managed to make it through the scroll of names at the end of Ferris Bueller, Matthew Broderick appears on screen and tells the audience to go home. The movie’s over. Go home.

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Wearable Worries: Glass could trigger more than just virtual violence

Chris Davies, Jul 17th 2012 Discuss [0]

If you listened to the whoops and hollers at Google IO last month, you’d have thought the world was more than ready for wearable tech like Google Glass. Beyond the braying developers, though, the real world is showing every sign that the Brave New World of augmented reality headsets will cause more headaches than just transparent eyepiece strain alone. The claims by wearables researcher Professor Steve Mann that he was physically assaulted in a French McDonald’s after staff suddenly took offense at his digital eyewear highlight the shadow side of the cutting edge: it can hurt more than just your wallet if the rest of society isn’t ready for it.

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OneNote MX should be Microsoft’s Windows 8 content creation hub

Chris Davies, Jul 17th 2012 Discuss [2]

The importance of Office 2013 to Microsoft’s bottom line can’t be understated, and yet the company faces no small amount of ridicule amid questions of whether the productivity suite is “relevant” any longer. With Windows 8 fast approaching, and long-standing arguments over whether tablets are for content creation or merely consumption, Office or its Metro-styled MX variant for Windows RT slates hasn’t necessarily proved the selling point Microsoft may have hoped it might. The company already has that wildcard, though, and it’s been fermenting away under Microsoft’s nose for a decade.

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