iOS 6 unveiled with Siri enhancements, Passbook, new Maps

iOS 6, a new version of Apple's mobile operating system, was unveiled at the company's Worldwide Developer's Conference on Monday. The version will feature "significant enhancements" to Siri, Apple's own Maps app, a new app called Passbook, Facebook integration, changes to phone calls and FaceTime, and improvements to Mail, Safari, and Photo Stream.

Apple stated it has been working "very closely" with Facebook to integrate it into iOS 6. Users will be able to post to Facebook from different apps, similar to the level of Twitter's integration now. Users will see notifications from Facebook in the Notification Center, and Facebook events and birthdays will appear in the Calendar app.

Third-party apps can now be launched with a command to Siri—for example, "Play Temple Run" opens the app. Users can also now tweet from Siri, a formerly noticeable hole in the Twitter integration throughout the rest of iOS. In addition to hands-free mode, Siri now has "eyes-free" mode, where the app doesn't light the screen, but still reads responses out. Apple is working with BMW, GM, Jaguar, Mercedes, and Honda to bring a "Siri button" to their cars that will work with iPhones within the next 12 months.

Siri has become more knowledgeable about restaurants and theaters, said Scott Forstall, senior vice president of iOS software. Restaurant search results are now sorted by Yelp rating, and tapping on them takes the user into the Yelp app. OpenTable, a reservation booking app, is also integrated into the restaurant results. For movies, Siri can bring up artwork and the slate of movies playing at a nearby theater, along with information culled from Rotten Tomatoes. Siri is also now able to respond to questions about sports ("What was the score of the last Giants game?"), including queries on standings and player stats.

This article comes from:http://arstechnica.com/apple/2012/06/ios-6-features-from-wwd/

Apple's iPhone dominates mobile ad impressions in Q1

Apple's iPhone is, by far, the most dominant device in the mobile ad market, according to new data from Millennial Media's Mobile Mix report.

The iPhone accounted for 15 percent of all mobile phone impressions hitting Millennial Media's ad network during the first quarter. RIM's BlackBerry Curve and Motorola's Droid Razr trailed far behind with 4.4 percent and 4 percent of all impressions, respectively. The Samsung Droid Charge and the BlackBerry Torch rounded out the top five with 3.4 percent and 2.9 percent, respectively.

Millennial Media's data is taken from the company's mobile advertising and data platform. According to the firm, its data is collected from "tens of billions of monthly ad requests." The company tallied 300 million monthly unique users during the first quarter, and had over 7,000 devices hit its network. More than 10,000 campaigns are currently in action on its platform.
Apple's many products, including the iPad and iPhone, were hitting Millennial Media's network hard last quarter. In fact, Apple's mobile lineup accounted for 28.3 percent of all ad impressions last quarter. The company's chief rival, Samsung, came in second place with 18.25 percent market share. HTC and Motorola trailed far behind with 11.3 percent and 10.6 percent of all impressions, respectively.


Despite Apple's obvious lead in the first quarter, the company's iOS platform can't quite keep up to Google's Android. According to Millennial Media, 49 percent of all impressions came from Android-based devices last quarter, compared with 33 percent for iOS. RIM's BlackBerry operating system came in third place with 14 percent of all impressions.

"In the past year, Android has steadily increased their market share, currently accounting for 15 of the Top 20 Mobile Phones in Q1 2012, up from 10 devices in the Top 20 ranking a year ago," Millennial Media wrote today in its report. "Android has gained market share in the tablet marketplace as well, growing from having no tablets on the top mobile device list to having two tablets -- the Samsung Galaxy Tab and the Amazon Kindle Fire -- ranking in the top 20 devices on our platform in Q1."

Millennial Media also forecast tablet shipment growth over the coming years. The company predicts that 106 million tablets will hit store shelves worldwide this year, and 198 million by 2016.

This article comes from:http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-57440726-37/apples-iphone-dominates-mobile-ad-impressions-in-q1/?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=News-Apple

Apple speaks up in Siri 'false advertising' lawsuit

Apple is hoping to dismiss a set of class-action lawsuits accusing it of falsely advertising Siri.

The initial lawsuit was filed in March by a iPhone 4S owner who claimed the iPhone 4S's voice activated assistant feature doesn't work as advertised. A second lawsuit accuses the company of misrepresenting the iPhone 4S's voice assistant feature in its advertising campaign.

Apple claims that the case should be dismissed because the plaintiffs have not specified that the claims about Siri led them to purchase the device. Apple says: "When [plaintiffs] were exposed to the purportedly misleading advertisements, which ones they found material, how and why they were false, or which they relied upon in purchasing their iPhones."

Apple also notes that the plaintiffs didn't provide "the requisite pre-suit notice of an alleged breach of warranty" and: "Tellingly, although Plaintiffs claim they became dissatisfied with Siri's performance "soon after" purchasing their iPhones, they made no attempt to avail themselves of Apple's 30-day return policy or one-year warranty - which remains in effect."

You can read Apple's complete response to the lawsuit, at Electronista.
The second complaint, which was filed by California resident David Jones stated that: "Through its nationwide multimedia marketing campaign, Apple disseminates false and deceptive representations regarding the functionality of the Siri feature."

"Defendant's misrepresentations regarding the Siri Feature are misleading, false, reasonably likely to deceive and have deceived Plaintiff and members of the putative Class," says that complaint.

"Soon after purchasing his iPhone 4S, Plaintiff [Jones] discovered that the Siri Function did not work as advertised. For example, Plaintiff would ask Siri for directions to a certain location, or to pinpoint a business, and Siri either would not understand what the Plaintiff askes, or, after a long wait, provided the wrong answer," reads the complaint.

When Apple announced Siri with the iPhone 4S it was clear that the service is still in beta. As the company says on the marketing page for the service, "Siri is currently in beta and we'll continue to improve it over time".

This article comes from:http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news/mobile-phone/3358165/apple-speaks-up-in-siri-false-advertising-lawsuit

RAM upgrade considerations for iMac systems

When it comes to memory upgrades, Apple's CTO offerings for its Mac systems are options I recommend people avoid, not because of any quality issues, but because of the ludicrously high prices Apple charges for the upgrades. For instance, Apple ships its iMac systems with a standard 4GB RAM, but if you want the optional 8GB or 16GB RAM upgrades, you will pay $200 or $600, respectively.
These prices are more than four times the cost of most other similarly sized and specced RAM upgrade options, which are just as compatible with your iMac as Apple's RAM. While some might assume Apple's memory upgrades are somehow special because of the price, the truth is the memory is no different than that supplied by any other manufacturer, and provided the specifications are the same, a cheaper third-party RAM module should work just fine in your system, and save you an immense amount of cash.
For instance, in looking at the $200 Apple charges for an 8GB upgrade to its iMac systems, you can purchase a similar and compatible 8GB upgrade of Mushkin memory from NewEgg for $45. If you don't like Mushkin, then you can find similar specced RAM from other manufacturers for a similar price. The difference gets even more drastic with the 16GB upgrade, which from Apple will cost you a whopping $600, but if you use a third party, the RAM upgrade will cost you around $100.
Not only does Apple charge a premium for RAM (far more than it does for other CTO components like hard drives and GPU options), but it also does not offer all RAM options its systems are capable of. In its MacBook Pro lineup Apple offers a maximum of 8GB RAM, even though the systems can take up to 16GB. Likewise, Apple's iMac systems are also advertised and sold short of their true RAM capabilities. Starting in mid-2010, Apple's iMac systems support up to 32GB of RAM, even though Apple claims the systems can only be upgraded to half that amount.
It is unclear why Apple claims these lower capabilities of its systems. Perhaps it is simply a matter of testing done on Apple's part, but if you have one of the newer iMac systems (starting in mid-2010), then even though Apple claims you can only put up to 16GB in the systems, you can install 32GB if you wish to maximize the capability of your new system, and do so relatively cheaply.
Recently, Mac upgrade manufacturer and peripheral distributor Other World Computing released a new 32GB RAM upgrade module for iMac systems, which should be compatible with mid-2010 or later iMac systems. The upgrade is priced at $349, and as such is more than $250 less than the price Apple charges for its 16GB upgrade.
OWC's RAM upgrade is a solid option for iMac users to consider, but even it does not beat the available options out there. A quick search shows that if desired, you can get a similar 32GB RAM upgrade from G.SKILL for $100 less than OWC's upgrade.
As with any servicing to a computer system, the idea of upgrading the computer's memory may sound like a technical procedure; however, memory upgrades on Mac systems are one of the few user-serviceable options for which Apple provides detailed instructions. Upgrades simply require you shut off the system, open a latch or remove part of the case, and then swap out the old memory modules for the new ones. Then close the case and start the system -- the process is easier and less painful than even hard-drive upgrades.
The only extra step that I recommend everyone do following a RAM upgrade is to thoroughly test it, which can be done using third-party utilities like Rember, or with using Apple's built-in hardware tests.
This article comes from:http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-57436185-263/ram-upgrade-considerations-for-imac-systems/?part=rss&subj=news&tag=title

Wozniak calls for open Apple hardware and software

 
Ever since Steve Jobs convinced his friend Steve Wozniak in 1976 to sell the Apple I board as a product instead of give it away, Apple has been a company with a closed platform. The original Macintosh had anti-tampering screws, Apple refuses to license its desktop OS, and the iOS platform is famously locked down. After backing off on his promotion of openness in recent years, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak is again calling on the company to open up.
While giving a talk in Sydney, Wozniak said that Apple could continue to develop the innovative end-to-end solutions it has been famous for while giving developers more access. Specifically, Woz argued that providing a programming interface on the iPad would allow the creation of great new technologies that currently only exist at the fringes of the jailbreak community.
Steve Jobs was the driving force behind Apple’s integrated approach. He believed that to create an “insanely great” product, you need to control the whole widget. It was only in Steve Jobs’ absence in the early 90s that Apple dabbled in licensing its MacOS software. Perhaps Jobs’ passing in October of last year made it easier for Wozniak to renew his calls for openness.
Wozniak pointed to Apple’s tech rivals Google and Facebook, which run open platforms that give developers plenty of access. Apple makes it difficult to even access data without being completely plugged into its hardware and software ecosystem. While Woz is still an experimenter and engineer at heart, he was careful to clarify his feeling that openness should not be allowed to negatively affect the quality of the product.
So the question is, could Apple open up its hardware and software while still creating the cohesive products that saved the company a decade ago? Even if it’s possible, Steve Jobs might have infused too much of his DNA in the company’s leadership for anyone to risk it.
This article comes from:http://www.geek.com/articles/apple/wozniak-calls-for-open-apple-hardware-and-software-20120515/