The No. 2 free app on Apple’s app store is Cut the Birds by SolverLabs, which is a mashup of two really popular iOS games: Angry Birds and Fruit Ninja. Sure, they are not “exactly” the same, but play the game for a couple of minutes and you quickly realize why the app is getting angry reviews. I am just surprised it slipped past the Apple censors.

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Steve Sande and I have been collaborating on "Talking to Siri," an ebook that just recently hit the Kindle store. It's a how-to that will help you get the most done with your Siri intelligent assistant. We're sharing some of our favorite tips with TUAW readers.

Today, we're looking at Siri's Wolfram Alpha integration. You can force Siri to use Wolfram by prefixing your request with "Wolfram." For example, you might say, "Wolfram, what is the square root of 2?" or "Wolfram, graph x-squared plus three."



But there's a lot more that you can do with Wolfram than just math. Here are ten of our favorite Wolfram searches. These highlight the flexibility of this amazing information resource.


Roll a Random Number. Say "Wolfram, random integer." Wolfram returns a random value between 0 and 1000. "Wolfram, random number" provides a 0 to 1 floating point value.

Look up nature facts. Say, "Wolfram, what is the scientific name of a mountain lion?" It's Puma concolor. Rabbits are Leporidae, and Peacocks, Galliformes.

Check upcoming holidays. Say, "How many days until Thanksgiving?" This returns both the number of days as well as a helpful calendar so you can chart out the time until then.

Create a secure password. Say "Wolfram, password." Wolfram generates a difficult-to-crack 8-character password. Scroll down for alternates. If you need a longer password, you can append these together.

Convert text to Morse code. Say, "What is Morse code for horsefeathers?" You'll see the entire sequence laid out for your tapping pleasure.

Check your diet. Say, "How many calories in a small apple?" Wolfram will tell you that there are 75.

Ask out about time zones. Say, "Wolfram, what is the local time in Jakarta?"

Query about your chances. Say, "Wolfram, what is the probability of a full house?" For a random five-card hand, it's apparently 1 in 694.

Have fun with pop culture. Say, "What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?" or "Wolfram, who shot the sheriff?"

Visualize colors. Okay, I've saved the best for last. If you work with colors, this can save you a lot of time. Say, "Wolfram pound sign E 9 7 4 5 1" (for Burnt Sienna / Tangerine) or "Wolfram pound sign 2 9 A B 8 7" (for Jungle Green). This will also convert the colors to RGB values and look up closely-matching brand colors from Benjamin Moore. Make sure to scroll down to catch all the helpful information.



10 cool things you can do with Wolfram Alpha and Siri originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 28 Oct 2011 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Is the iPhone more data efficient than its Android rivals? Sprint CEO Dan Hesse says it is.

During an earnings call Wednesday, Hesse claimed iPhones use about half the network resources required by Android handsets, a feature that weighed heavily in the carrier’s decision to add Apple’s device to its portfolio.

“There is a misperception that our launch of the iPhone will increase the load on Sprint’s 3G network and require us to spend more 3G capital,” Hesse said. “The reverse is true. iPhone users are expected to use significantly less 3G than the typical user of a dual-mode 3G, 4G device. Even adjusting for more total new customers being added to the network, we believe they will put less load on our 3G network than they would have if we did not carry the iPhone.”

In other words, Sprint believes the iPhone is so data efficient that it will help the company continue to offer unlimited data plans for its smartphones — even following the debut of iCloud, whose services are presumably on the data-heavy side. Evidently, Apple’s strict network efficiency requirements, which prohibit apps from pinging networks as often as those on other operating systems, and the iPhone’s ability to quickly offload data onto Wi-Fi goes a long way toward reducing network congestion.

So the iPhone will likely be a big boon for Sprint, though one that’s not without risks. The carrier says the device’s benefits won’t exceed its costs until 2015. And in the meantime it may need $7 billion in new financing to cover up-front and network costs related to it.

Michael DeGusta:

I went back and found every Android phone shipped in the United States1 up through the middle of last year. I then tracked down every update that was released for each device – be it a major OS upgrade or a minor support patch – as well as prices and release & discontinuation dates. I compared these dates & versions to the currently shipping version of Android at the time. The resulting picture isn’t pretty – well, not for Android users:

Wow. That’s all I got for that one.

∞ Permalink

Siri is not available to developers, and there’s no guarantee it will be. But it hasn’t stopped developers from tapping its power. Appsfire, an app discovery service, has created a little hack that allows iPhone 4S users to find apps with their voice. 

Users tell Siri to send an email to Ask Appsfire and in the subject line they can put in the keywords they’re looking for, like “personal finance apps” or “apps for Halloween.” You’ll need to create a contact for Ask Appsfire’s email address first. Leave the body of the email blank, then send it off. Appsfire receives the email, comes up with appropriate answers and emails back the best suggestions, which can take you directly to the App Store for downloading.

If a user has already downloaded an Appsfire App or App Deals app on their phone and signed in though Facebook Connect, they can get a push notification for every matching result. If you don’t have an iPhone 4S, you can still access Ask Appsfire by emailing it the old-fashioned way.

This is a simple fix that works because Appsfire has enabled its service to be accessed via email. But it shows how developers can get Siri to work for them to engage consumers. Ideally, developers will be able to have this built into iOS 5 or into the Appsfire apps, but until that happens, this is one way to leverage the ease of use of Siri.

Ouriel Ohayon, founder of Appsfire, said using Siri was more of a test to see how it can work, and the functionality was designed to help give consumers faster access to the App Store while on the go without having to go through a browsing list. He said until Apple opens up Siri, others will also be looking at this opportunity.

“Siri is a great add-on, and it would be so much better if it was open to developers. I think many services will try to hack it because it is convenient on the go,” he said.

I think Apple will have increasing requests from developers who want to leverage the intelligence of Siri. It’s a great opportunity to really empower a lot of apps if Siri can be embedded; it would help people interact with a lot more apps if they could connect using Siri instead of manually opening apps every time.

Take a look at a video of Ask Appsfire and Siri in action:

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Siri: Say hello to the coming “invisible interface”Social media reactions to the iPhone 4SNewNet Q3: Facebook remakes headlines in social media

Facebook has quietly released a new feature in Facebook for iPhone 4.0 update that could create new opportunities for marketers. If users click or enter a URL that uses the fb://page URL scheme and have the official Facebook for iPhone/iPad app installed, the corresponding Facebook Page will be opened in that app. Before the 4.0 and later software updates, fb://page URL scheme links would load a blank screen in the apps.

For example, if you click the link of or enter the URL fb://page/7844589738 in an iOS device that has Facebook for iPhone/iPad installed, that app will launch and bring up t he official Facebook Page for InsideFacebook.com (7844589738 is the Facebook ID of the Page for Inside Facebook). Marketers could distribute URL scheme-linked text via email or mobile site, and users wouldn’t notice the strange URL, they’d just click on a link and suddenly see the Facebook app open.

This new functionality could let marketers instantly bring users to their Page where they can Like it or write on its wall, rather than forcing them to open the m.facebook.com site where they might not already be logged in. Marketers could attach this link to a QR code to promote their Page and gain Likes from iOS device users. The fb://page URL scheme could become even more important if users gain the ability to access Page tab applications from mobile devices in the future.

 

iOS URL schemes allow specific first- and third-party iOS applications to be launched with special URLs. They can also be used to immediately perform certain functions such as setting a recipient for a new text message, showing directions in Google Maps, or add a shortened URL to a tweet in Tweetie or Twitterific. However, if the user doesn’t have the corresponding app installed, neither the app or a browser version will load.

Previously, URL schemes could be used to open a specific photo album, Event, or user profile in Facebook for iPhone. With the latest major Facebook for iPhone and iPad software updates, official Pages and Places Pages can now be opened with URL schemes as well. Page use the “fb://page/[Page ID]” URL scheme while Places use “fb://place/[Place ID]“.

There may be a URL scheme suffix that allows the info or wall tab to be loaded specifically, though none of the logical suffixes I tried worked. Android devices have their own URL scheme, and some developers have found ways to open user profiles in the Facebook for Android apps, though I haven’t seen a solution for opening Pages.

Facebook for iPhone/iPad has 52.3 million daily active users and 92.7 million monthly active users according to AppData, many of which stay logged in on the app at all times. This creates a large audience that can utilize the Facebook Page URL scheme to quickly gain access to a Page from a logged in state, allowing them to Like it or leave a wall post.

iOS app developers could use the Page URL scheme to send their users out of their app and to their Page so they can gain Likes. Similarly, marketers could distribute a Page URL scheme as an “iOS only” link to gain Likes.

In the physical world, marketers could also tie the URL scheme link to their Page to a QR code and display in their brick and mortar store or distribute through print materials. Users could then scan the QR code to launch their Facebook app and Like the Page. This could become a way to speed up in-store promotions where users who show they’ve Liked a business’ Page get a discount or free gift.

Those trying to take advantage of the URL scheme functionality should be sure their audience is likely to have an iOS device with the Facebook app installed. Otherwise providing a standard browser link that’s accessible across devices and to those without the Facebook app is a safer bet, even if it means users may have to log in to Facebook again before they can Like the Page.

Facebook recently launched its mobile app platform that allows users to access canvas apps built in HTML5 from their mobile devices. Page tab applications cannot be accessed from mobile yet, judging by the fact that some Page tab app developers such as RootMusic have begun building in HTML5. Once Page tab apps are opened to mobile, Page URL scheme links could become a powerful way to drive traffic to them as well as helping Pages gain Likes.

[Thanks to Sam Cornwell for the tip]

Apple sold a lot of iPhones, iPads and Macs during the most recent quarter, yet Wall Street is very displeased. Since Apple announced its fourth quarter 2011 fiscal earnings of $6.6 billion in profit and $28.7 billion in revenue earlier Tuesday the stock has been pummeled by investors, sending it down $28 or about 6.5 percent. While Apple’s numbers were slightly below what those analysts had expected, it’s still above what Apple had forecast. So what gives? Based on the questions from analysts during the company’s investor call Tuesday, concern seems to center on the number of iPhones Apple sold during the quarter: 17.1 million versus the 20.1 million the previous quarter.

Here’s why that number concerns them and why it’s likely just a minor blip:

Apple says that this was a “record” September quarter for them. You would think that would mean record iPhone sales too. Sure, 17.1 million is a lot, but it’s still fewer than the 20.1 million iPhones Apple sold in the previous quarter, and perhaps more importantly to those keeping score on Wall Street, below the 18-21 million smartphones Samsung is believed to have sold last quarter. Samsung is Apple’s chief competitor, in many ways, and any sign of a slip is going to resonate with the investors who are closely watching Apple and its competition.
Apple, not surprisingly, said they saw this dip in iPhone sales coming. On the earnings call, CEO Tim Cook, looking on the bright side, said people were holding out for the iPhone 4S:

[It was] much less of a reduction than what we were expecting and that was a large factor in our revenue exceeding our guidance…We knew that there was great anticipation of a June or July new iPhone because that was the pace we had been on for the last several years. As we predicted, that sell-through decline did occur, but not really to the extent that we thought. So we significantly beat our guidance.

But besides the established schedule for a new iPhone, Cook, along with CFO Peter Oppenheimer also lay some of the blame at the feet of Apple rumor bloggers. ”The reduction [in sales] happened largely in the back half of the quarter as speculation hit extreme highs,” said Cook. Oppenheimer later added, “The biggest impact was the rumors, which were very pervasive, especially at the end of the quarter.” In other words, it seems that the crush of Apple rumors and speculation recorded by blogs that drive up intense and frenzied interest in the company’s products are a double-edged sword for the company.
No matter who’s to blame, are lower-than-expected iPhone sales a harbinger of Apple being off its game? Very unlikely. Some things to remember: The company sold 4 million iPhone 4S units alone in the first three days it was available last week. So there’s clearly a demand for the new iPhone. About 25 million iOS devices were updated in the first five days the iOS 5 update hit Apple’s servers, which means older model device owners are keeping their products up to date with the latest software. And really, we’re talking about the slowing of sales of a 13- to 15-month old phone. Things could be worse.

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It’s not a shocker, but the availability of the iPhone 4S gave Sprint its best sales day ever.

The company, which is investing heavily to at long last get the iPhone on its network, said it broke its record by 1 pm ET on Friday. Sprint is also now selling Apple’s iPhone 4 after years of going without an Apple phone in its lineup. (The iPhone’s existing carriers, AT&T and Verizon, also reported impressively strong sales; see updates below.)

“Sprint today reported its best ever day of sales in retail, web and telesales for a device family in Sprint history with the launch of iPhone 4S and iPhone 4,” Sprint product chief Fared Adib said in a statement. “The response to this device by current and new customers has surpassed our expectations and validates our customers’ desire for a truly unlimited data pricing plan.”

The iPhone went on sale on Friday at Apple’s retail stores as well as other locations including Verizon Wireless, AT&T and Sprint stores. Apple said that it quickly sold 1 million phones during a pre-order period and all three U.S. carriers said they sold through their preorder allotments.

Update: A Verizon representative told AllThingsD that it is seeing strong traffic in its stores.

“Stores nationwide are reporting steady traffic as early-morning shoppers make purchases before heading to work,” said Verizon spokeswoman Brenda Raney. “We are seeing a nice mix of people who are first-time smartphone purchasers as well as those who are switching from competitors.”

Demand was particularly strong very early and during the lunch hour, Raney said. “Our customers were clearly excited to get their new iPhone 4s on the Verizon Wireless network,” Raney said. “We’re looking forward to a busy weekend.”

Update: And here’s the word from an AT&T spokesman: “As of 4:30 pm ET today, AT&T had already activated a record number of iPhones on our network -– and is on-track to double our previous record for activations on a single day.”

Comic by Jason Pultz. Click to see it at full size.

This article also appears in Global Nerdy.

For those still looking to pre-order the iPhone 4S, Sprint would like you to know that they aren’t totally sold out, although they have gone through their pre-sale allotment of the entry-level model.

“We do have the 32GB and 64GB versions, as well as the 8GB iPhone 4, available in both colors at this time,” Sprint representative Michelle Leff Mermelstein told AllThingsD.

The company said it won’t take backorders once it sells out on a model. “Sprint is committed to delivering devices to our pre-order customers on or very near the time of launch and also making these devices available for purchase on launch day – Friday, October 14,” Leff Mermelstein said. “Apple and other carriers may continue to take pre-orders that will be delivered to the customer at a later time.”

Apple has said it sold more than 1 million iPhone 4S pre-orders on the first day. AT&T, meanwhile, has said that it sold 200,000 devices in about 12 hours on launch day, while Sprint had previously said that sales had surpassed expectations.

Although all three carriers — Sprint, AT&T and Verizon Wireless — are selling the exact same iPhone 4S, there are differences both in the features of each network as well as the carriers’ billing plans. Sprint is focusing on the fact that it is the only carrier offering unlimited data plans to new iPhone customers.

Trigger-happy investors have historically been prone to trading on Apple whenever news about its head honcho, Steve Jobs, arose. But in the wake of his death yesterday, shares of Apple have only risen 1.5 percent as of 7:30 a.m. today, only dropping 0.12 percent at their lowest level from the company’s opening price.

Apple, the most valuable technology company in the world, is back to vying with Exxon-Mobil to claim the title of most valuable company overall, although it’s value fell on Tuesday when the company unveiled an incremental upgrade to its iPhone smartphone lineup instead of a much-anticipated major upgrade.

Apple is also noticeably absent from the options market, where a move like this would typically send traders into a frenzy of speculation over what direction the company will go in. Only two significant put orders (a bet that the company’s share price will fall) crossed the Chicago Board Options Exchange as of 7 a.m. Thursday — each for fewer than 700 shares and at a modest strike price. At the same time, a much larger call order has already crossed the wire at a strike price of $385.

“This is business as usual for Apple, it would be a mistake to count them out,” Gartner analyst Michael Gartenberg told VentureBeat. “Yes, the tech world has lost a significant icon and a visionary, but Apple is more than just one person — Jobs built something truly special that was much greater than himself.”

Jobs was known as a visionary, creating products that he knew people would be fighting tooth and nail to get their hands on. They were products you didn’t even know you needed: the tablet market was basically non-existent before the introduction of the iPad, and the iPhone is now one of the most popular smartphones in the world and is an industry standard. Jobs arguably jump-started the smartphone revolution with the iPhone and its associated App Store. ”It’s a phone, it’s an iPod, and it’s an Internet communicator — are you getting it yet?” he said on stage when he unveiled the iPhone.

His track record is undeniable. As VentureBeat’s Dylan Tweney wrote yesterday, “The Macintosh was the first commercially successful computer to use a graphical user interface and a mouse, a decade after the technologies had debuted at Xerox PARC and SRI. The iPhone threw out the book on how to make a smartphone and reoriented an entire industry around touchscreens and apps, well after touchscreens first appeared in PDAs like the PalmPilot. The iPad succeeded in making a popular tablet computer after Windows-based computer manufacturers had tried to do so for nearly a decade.”

Apple regularly smashes expectations for its quarterly performance and its press events are almost Hollywood-esque, with live reporting and glamour. In Silicon Valley, working for Apple — like Google, Twitter and others — is worn as a badge of honor, like attending an Ivy League school.

“There are few people who could build something so successful and so magical and do more than (Jobs,)” Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian told me. “It’s humbling as an entrepreneur, more than anything else, to see what he’s done.”

Filed under: mobile

It looks like just on the edge of unveiling the new iPhone, hackers across the Internet have already gotten on the ball and prepared a jailbreak for the device that allows tethering.

The jailbreak program is named Redsn0w (updated version 0.9.9b2) but it does require that the smartphone be tethered to a computer running the program on boot in order to access the jailbroken interface. The jailbreak affects the Gold Master build of iOS 5 which means it affects iPhone, iPad, and iPod devices running that version of the software.

The jailbreak has been confirmed by notorious iPhone hacker @MuscleNerd’s Twitter feed. “redsn0w http://is.gd/6eek4Y can already tether JB 5.0GM (select beta7 IPSW for now though, til update) http://is.gd/SXCEi4.”

It is available at several URLs being released at several different URLs (although the one in @MuscleNerd’s Twitter post is currently down due to excessive volume.)

Tutorials on how to jailbreak your iPhone 4S are already cropping up across the Internet. Good luck.



Jailbreak Utility for iPhone Redsn0w Ahead of the Game with iOS 5.0 GM for iPhone 4S, iPad, and iPod is a post from: SiliconANGLE

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In the same vein:Cook Inherits Apple, What Happens to the Ensemble Now?Mobile Roundup: Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Kick Starts More Tablet Wars From Autism to Mosquito Repellent, Mobile Apps Find Unique UsesU.S., Far East and China Will Lead Mobile Entertainment to $54B Revenue in 2015An Apple For Everybody: Mobile World Congress 2011KPCB Mobile Course: The Movers, Shakers and the Will-Be-Forgotten

On Monday, it was noted the Microsoft removed reference for Zune HD on their site which people took that Zune is already dead but Microsoft Zune Team member Michael Yaeger stated that it was just a mistake and the reference is now back up.  But the Zune player and support service page tells the real story.

“We recently announced that, going forward, Windows Phone will be the focus of our mobile music and video strategy, and that we will no longer be producing Zune players. So what does this mean for our current Zune users? Absolutely nothing. Your device will continue to work with Zune services just as it does today. And we will continue to honor the warranties of all devices for both current owners and those who buy our very last devices. Customer service has been, and will remain a top priority for us.”

The death of the Zune wasn’t a surprise, since the device wasn’t really a popular choice for music lovers. The Zune’s developments were always outdated and lacked several features compared to Apple products.  Last March, Bloomberg reported that Microsoft will stop releasing new models of Zune, which Senior Business Development Manager for Zune Dave McLauchlan quickly refuted the news, and stated that what Bloomberg reported was not an official statement from Microsoft and people shouldn’t believe everything they read.

Though the Zune.net page still features the Zune HD, it can be noted that the focus is more on the software, Music Pass, Zune on Windows Phone and Xbox LIVE.  This is where Microsoft will truly be able to compete, even though Apple has a pretty good handle on the personal cloud as far as music media goes.  As cloud technology reaches more consumers, however, the service will matter less and access will become the priority here.  That means a great deal more cooperation will have to take place across devices and services, so Microsoft’s software goals make sense for the Zune.

At present, portable music players aren’t that big of a deal anymore.  Most smartphones offer music listening features just like any MP3 or MP4 player out in the market.  Even the glorified iPods are taking a backseat to the iPhone and iPad.  Music has become an integrated feature rather than a selling point, and that’s generally a good thing.



R.I.P. Zune HD: Apple Will Take Things From Here is a post from: SiliconANGLE

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In the same vein:Despite Recent Anti-Zune Sentiment, The Zune HD Still Has an Opportunity to DominateMango Update News Lost on iPhone 4S Launch DaySamsung Furthers Diversification Beyond AndroidMicrosoft, Nokia Guide Symbian Developers to Windows Phone PlatformMicrosoft Mango Gets Voice-To-Text, Releases .NET GadgeteerMicrosoft Gives Augmented Reality a Booster Shot with Windows Phone OS and Kinect Updates

A handful of code in iTunes 10.5 beta 9 suggests that Apple may soon start allowing customers to rent apps from the App store, according to The Tech Erra. If a rental system were put into place, it could cut down on money spent on apps that customers never use, which could reduce resentment customers feel toward developers when an app doesn’t work the way they thought it would.

A few strings in the iTunes beta code appear to be pop-up messages to notify customers about the state of rented apps: "Apps are automatically removed from your iTunes library at the end of the rental period" and "This app will be deleted from your computer" are a couple of the included statements.

A rental system through the App Store would be similar to the try-before-you-buy program that Amazon currently offers in its own Android Appstore. None of the language uncovered in the iTunes beta indicates whether rentals would carry a price or be free for their limited run.

The text does suggest that Apple will favor the consumer in rental transactions, in that customers won’t default into an app purchase at the end of a rental period; instead, the app will be removed from their devices. When so many negative reviews focus on an app not doing what a buyer expected it to (through either misdirection or misunderstanding), rentals could create a more positive app shopping experience.

But even with fewer negative reviews, developers could still lose out. Most iPhone users never use an app after the first download, according to a (now aging) study, so customers could dip in and out of apps they only need once without any monetary consequences.

The report is unconfirmed by Apple, as the company did not respond to Ars' requests for comment. If Apple plans to launch a rental program, we’ll likely hear about it at the iPhone event scheduled this week. Ars will be reporting live from the event Tuesday at 10AM PDT.




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Samsung has agreed to make a number of changes to its Galaxy Tab 10.1 to keep the devices from getting banned for sale in Australia before the holiday shopping season. During hearings in Sydney, lawyers for the company agreed to remove two multitouch features patented by Apple in order to get the device on the market as soon as possible. On Friday, Samsung also offered Apple a proposed settlement agreement, which would let Samsung sell the Galaxy Tab 10.1 as soon as next week.

Apple and Samsung are currently embroiled in as many as 23 lawsuits globally after Apple accused Samsung of "slavishly copying" its designs for the iPhone and iPad in its Galaxy S smartphones and Galaxy Tab tablets. Apple has been been requesting preliminary injunctions in a number of markets where it has filed claims against Samsung, including the US, the Netherlands, Germany, and Australia.

So far, Apple has been awarded preliminary injunctions against the Galaxy Tab in Germany and against some Galaxy S smartphones in The Netherlands. The hearings this week in Australia concern Apple's request for a preliminary injunction there, which could be decided as early as next week.

Throughout the proceedings, the numerous claims Apple brought were essentially reduced to three patent infringement issues, including two for certain multitouch-related features and one that relates to how multitouch-capable touchscreens are manufactured. Samsung agreed on Thursday to remove features that use certain heuristics to filter out "accidental" touch input as well as the "zoom bounce" effect that the iPhone uses when zooming past the minimum or maximum zoom level.

On Friday, Samsung told the court that it also made proposed settlement offer to Apple. The settlement, if Apple agrees to forgo its request for a preliminary injunction, would allow Samsung to launch the Galaxy Tab 10.1 as early as next week. The details haven't been made public, but it could at least bring a temporary truce while Apple presses for a full hearing by the end of the year. Apple's attorneys said of the proposed agreement that "[o]ur friend's inconvenience would be minimised and we would be comforted."

The hearing will continue again on Tuesday, and the judge has encouraged Apple and Samsung to settle the issue before her final decision is entered tentatively by the end of next week.




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Now you can complement your collection of Angry Birds games, cases, cookbooks, plush toys and baby clothes with these speaker docks, decked out as your favorite feathered friends — and particularly compatible with iPods, iPhones and iPads.

The Red Bird speaker lets you connect any audio device with an auxiliary cable while propping up that device in its own stand that looks like it’s already taken a couple of direct hits from those avian aggressors.

The helmeted pig can charge up an iPod or iPhone with its protective headgear while playing back its audio with two stereo speakers and a subwoofer, while our favorite Angry Birds character, the powerful and explosive Black Bird, charges up an iPad and plays audio in a similar fashion.

Can’t wait, Angry Birds addicts? All three are set to smash into Apple Stores and gear4.com later this fall.

Get pricing details and a close-up look at the trio here:


Red Angry Bird


Red Bird speaker ($79.99) works with any device with an auxiliary audio output.

Green Helmet Pig


This loathsome pig (sound effects not included) will cost you $99.99, and is compatible with iPhone and iPod for charging and playback.

Black Angry Bird


Of course the Black Angry Bird, also $99.99, is powerful enough to charge up an iPad, and you can park your tablet in its special halfway destructed holder.

More About: angry birds, ipad, iphone, iPod Docks

It's been announced.

Invitations to Apple's iPhone event on October 4th have been sent out, and we asked famed numerology expert Helmut Weltschmertz (see photo at right) of the Koblenz Institute of Numerology and Used Car Sales to tell us exactly what the numbers and symbols on the invitation meant. Here's what Dr. Weltschmertz was able to surmise for TUAW:

The Calendar icon -- "Here, Apple is telling us that there will be "tues" ("two" in some ancient foreign tongue lost in history) devices to be announced. The number 4 is below the word Tuesday, indicating that both new iPhones are 'raised above' or more capable than the iPhone 4. Some might say that this is indicating the date of the event, but there's much more to this icon than meets the eye."



The Clock icon -- "The hands of the clock are pointing at both the number 10 and the number 12. Actually, the second hand is also pointing at the number 12. Add those numbers up -- 12 + 12 + 10 -- and you get the number 34. This is very telling ... Steve Jobs' birth mother Joanne Simpson was remarried to George Simpson when she was 34 years old, which proves that the government is covering up everything that happened at Area 51 in 1966. But I digress. There's a progression there. 3 ... 4 ... 5! Yes! The iPhone 5 will be announced!"

The Maps icon -- "280 in the shield on this icon is an obvious indication that iOS 5 will be released and has 280 new or improved features. The meaning of the intersection of the yellow and orange lines is also obvious to anyone with half a brain -- it means that Apple's new products will come in two colors, orange and yellow. The red pin signifies that this icon might fall off of the web page and someone stuck a pin into it to keep that from happening."

The Phone icon -- "Ah, yes, the number 1. It can mean many things. One is the loneliest number, and its location on the upper right-hand corner of the icon has special meaning. That points to the northeast, and in the olden days of America, that's where witches were burned -- in the northeast part of the country. It is obvious to anyone that there is magic and witchcraft involved in the design of the new phones. The green pinstripes on the background portend an event where all of the Apple executives will be wearing suits. The white phone icon even has deep meaning. Note that it looks exactly like a silhouette of a fetus, which points to the birth of a new era of technology, cheap beer, and world peace."

Alrighty, then.

We thank Dr. Weltschmertz for his, uh, insights into the Apple event invitation.
The secret numerology behind the iPhone event invitation originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 27 Sep 2011 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Apple has officially announced its iPhone event, to be held on Oct. 4 as previously reported. The event will take place at Apple’s Cupertino Campus in California, beginning at 10 a.m. PDT (1 p.m. EDT), according to press invitations issued by Apple on Tuesday.

The invitation features a depiction of iPhone home screen icons, and the phrase “Let’s talk iPhone,” so there’s no doubt the next smartphone from Apple will be on the agenda. We’ll be sure to be there watching closely next Tuesday, and will bring you all the news coming out of the event.

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While the world awaits Apple’s next iPhone, the Android smartphone juggernaut continues to gain momentum, according to new figures from Nielsen. Android smartphones accounted for 43 percent of all smartphone owned in the U.S. as of August, up from 40 percent in July. And among recent purchases within the past three months, 56 percent of them have been Android devices, said Nielsen, which presented the data at GigaOM’s Mobilize Conference.

The iPhone continues to hold its ground with 28 percent of both the entire smartphone market share and recent acquisitions. RIM, meanwhile, slipped in overall U.S. market share to 18 percent, down one percentage point from 19 percent in July while it has 9 percent of recent acquisitions.

These figures could change quickly with the arrival of Apple’s next iPhone. With the usual annual summer iPhone launch pushed back at least into fall, it’s likely that there’s a lot of pent up demand for the next model. And with the device expected to debut on Sprint , it should open up even more sales opportunities. Apple, in fact, has to be pretty confident, considering it hasn’t lost any ground even with an aging iPhone 4 still selling well against an army of much newer Android devices.

But the Nielsen figures show that the Android train has kept on chugging and may have benefited from a later start for the next iPhone. A recent Nielsen survey found that among consumers expecting to buy a smartphone in the next year, both Android and iPhone got about one-third of the consumers. But without a new iPhone to buy, some smartphone buyers may have sprung for an Android. It will be interesting to see how the market changes with an iPhone available on three of the top carriers in the U.S. Apple got a boost when the iPhone debuted on Verizon and could see another increase, though probably not as big, when it launches on Sprint.

And the entire smartphone market continues to grow with 43 percent of all devices now smartphones, up from 40 percent in July. Among recent purchases within the last three months, smartphones now make up 58 percent of all mobile phone buys. That means we’re continuing to inch closer to the day when smartphones will make up more than 50 percent of all mobile phones. Nielsen had predicted that milestone would be reached by the end of this year and it may still happen with a big holiday season ahead.

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If Samsung really does plan to take a bolder stance in its intellectual property battle with Apple, it best clean up its own operations first. Because it’s tough to take the company’s claims of commitment to innovation and distinctive design seriously when it really does seem to have a penchant for … er … referencing the work of others.

Consider the wall of apps in this photo of the company’s new shop-in-a-shop in Italy’s Centro Sicilia, which appears to feature not only the iOS icon for Apple’s mobile Safari browser, but the icon for the company’s iOS App Store — three instances of it.

Embarrassing, particularly given Apple’s allegations that Samsung “slavishly” copied the design of its iPhone and iPad devices. It’s hard to imagine there’s a reasonable explanation for this. Samsung phones don’t support iOS apps and I can’t imagine Apple is making the company a version of Safari.

Now it’s possible this was a display left over from some other event or product, but still.

Samsung has not yet responded to a request for comment.

Facebook has updated its mobile site m.facebook.com with the hybrid news feed launched for the web version of the site that it had launched on Monday. Since the Facebook for iPhone and Android apps both pull the news feed from the mobile site, the 93 million daily active users of the two apps now also see a single feed with Top Stories followed by Recent Stories. Users of these mobile interfaces no longer have the option to view separate Top News and Most Recent feeds.

For most users, there’s now no escaping the sweeping changes Facebook implemented this week. While those who never realized they could switch between relevancy-sorted and reverse-chronological feeds will now be more likely to see fresh, compelling updates, others who grew accustomed to bouncing between the feeds may be displeased that they need to alter their behavior.

At the top of their feed, mobile users will see now Top Stories, followed by Recent Stories, and finally “From Earlier Today” which includes older Top Stories and Recent Stories. Since the two popular smart phones apps pull the news feed from the mobile site, Facebook was able to make just a single code changes to update both the iPhone and Android app interfaces without requiring users to download a software update.

Facebook uses a variety of signals to determine what updates become Top Stories, denoted with a blue triangle in the top left corner. On the web version users can mark and unmark updates as Top Stories. Mobile users don’t have this option, and must accept the decisions of the EdgeRank news feed sorting algorithm.

However, users can filter the news feed according to type of update, such as Status Updates, Events, or Photos. Facebook has also made its new Smart Lists available as mobile news feed filters in addition to all of a user’s manually built Friend Lists. These give users some options if they’re not content with what they’re seeing in the new default “All Stories” feed.

The hybrid news feed feels a bit more natural on mobile, where a quick, lightweight experience works better than having a ton of options like on the web. While many users are still complaining about the web interface changes and the introduction of the Ticker, we believe some of the announcements made later today at the f8 conference will illuminate the importance of the recent redesign.

Users shouldn’t expect the mobile changes to stop, as we hear Facebook may release a major redesign of its popular smart phone apps. It might also launch the standalone mobile photos app that leaked in June. We’ll be providing deep analysis of what the announcements at f8 mean to users and developers, so check back later today.

Yeah, go ahead and call him a fanboy #iphone

RT @yummy_app: Yummy 2.5: experimental new feature: pinboard.in support #delicious #iphone #app

"A new app for the iPhone 3GS, that allows the user to locate nearby property development proposals just by pointing their mobile at a home, is likely to send shudders through potential vendors and landlords."

Reducing information symmetry is always a good thing. What sends shudders through the potential vendors and landlords is good for the consumers. It'll keep them honest.

"77% of iPhone owners say they'll buy another iPhone, compared to 20% of Android customers who say they'll buy another Android phone."

And apparently that 20% is on my Twitter timeline.

"They are not exceptional. Their products are premium products, luxuries like BMWs or Cuisinarts. I buy Macs because I like premium products. I'm not planning on returning my iPhone 4. But I know they're a shit company like American or United Airlines (and yes, BMW too)."

So why buy a luxury product and expect it to work better than anything else? You are clearly not buying it for its function.

"But what if you want several features? Maybe the Nexus One appeals to you, but you want a hardware keyboard. Oops. Or maybe you want the Evo, but also want AT&T. Oops again. Or maybe you want the Droid but with Apple's App Store. Blasphemy! The point is, "choice" does not mean you get the phone of your dreams."

"All of these phones have some magical features, to be sure. I loved having the EVO be a wifi hotspot. I like some of the apps better on Android, in particular, Google Voice, Google Maps, and Google Buzz. All are way better than anything on the iPhone.
But still I can’t kick the iPhone habit. Why not?"

"Mount an iPad, iTouch or iPhone to USB disk mode on a Mac. Phone Disk is a tiny program which runs in the system tray of your Mac. When it finds an iPod Touch or iPhone it seamlessly mounts it to your file system so you can directly access files on it using Finder or any other program."

"What’s the difference between the new version of YouTube’s mobile Web site and the Apple-created YouTube application that is installed on every iPhone? The Web site is a lot better." So much for that native apps are better than web apps. I assume now there is no reason to complain about the locked-down app store if you can make web apps better than device apps.

"Even with that supposed handicap of an exposed antenna, iPhone 4 reception is actually better than on the 3GS according to many to some highly respectable and thorough testers, including AnandTech.com"

It still does not excuse Apple's attempts at trying to hide the reality of signal strength.

"With so many apps to choose from, it can be overwhelming to sift the wheat from the chaff. With that in mind, we put together this short list of iPhone apps that a man might find particularly useful (and sometimes entertaining)."

"Just about every cell phone in current production has the antenna located at the bottom.  This insures that the radiating portion of the antenna is furthest from the head.  Apple was not the first to locate the antenna on the bottom, and certainly won't be the last.  The problem is that humans have their hands below their ears, so the most natural position for the hand is covering the antenna.  This can't be a good design decision, can it?  How can we be stuck with this conundrum?  It's the FCC's fault."

However, this does not excuse Apple's excuses of not holding the phone right. If a cover potentially solves the problem then it should be included with the phone. Otherwise lobby the FCC to get rid of this stupid requirement.

Suddenly I knew what Tony Montana meant when he said, “Say hello to my little friend.”

"Apple discovered that Hogan was the person who found the iPhone the day Gizmodo’s story broke, after Rick Orloff, director of information security at the company, received a phone call from one of Hogan’s two roommates, Katherine Martinson. She told Apple that Hogan had found the phone and had been offering it to news outlets in exchange for a payment, despite having identified Powell as the rightful owner from a Facebook page visible on the phone’s display when he found it."

How was that not a crime?

"News accounts depicting the $5,000 payment as a “sale” are incorrect, this person said. Rather, the agreement with Gizmodo was for exclusivity only. “It was made very explicit that Gizmodo was to help the finder return the phone to its rightful owner or give it back,” this person said. “Gizmodo said they could help restore the phone.”"

Yeah, right!

"YAY! Multitasking is coming to your iPhone*, iPod touch and iPad, allowing you to quickly switch between applications, and use one while others keep doing other tasks in the background. This is how it works."

"I was having lunch with a mate yesterday and watched them get out their N97 to send a text message. Noticing the crappy transitions on the screen, I suddenly remembered the N97 promotion video from last year which basically makes the phone look god-like.

The real life story is somewhat different, I was actually going to put together a video myself then I found someone had beaten me to it. It speaks for itself – watch this:"

For a little $1 iPhone app, Line2 sure has the potential to shake up an entire industry.

Forget awkwardly propping up your iPhone with your bag or that complicated tripod contraption. Add MoviePeg to your iPhone, adjust the angle and like magic you’ll be in relaxed viewing heaven.

"The end result is a list of 25 items ordered from least important to most important in a reverse countdown. We also included what we think are the odds of Apple actually implementing each request."

I hope this is implemented via a firmwire update and not hardware update

Attic is a slick music controller for all those unplayed albums that are collecting dust sitting in your iTunes library. Listen to, create playlists of, and shuffle through your forgotten albums.

Turn your iPhone or iPod Touch into a wireless multi-touch TRACKPAD, KEYBOARD and fully customizable and programmable REMOTE CONTROL for your PC or Mac! It does EVERYTHING all the other remote control apps does - AND MORE!

You can walk into a Barnes and Noble and buy a copy of Maxim, but you won’t find a copy of Hustler. Not because Hustler wouldn’t sell, but because selling pornography goes against the Barnes and Noble brand.

Now if you Google for a solution to this little irritation you’ll find slick scripts that, if you find out what name your Mac recognizes your camera by, can automatically launch (or not launch) iPhoto as required. I went for the easier option which was to create a simple Automator Action to take some of the frustration away.

If you have an iPhone or iPod touch, then you know how helpful some apps can be—like the one that makes navigating public transportation easier than navigating through your own house! Well, these aren't those kind of applications. These are the ones that do little more than give us a good laugh. Poke around our picks for the best of the worst.

"Any bank account will work with Square, and the only charge to use the service is $1 for the application and the card reader accessory; however, Square can afford to give away the dongles because they will be banking 2.9% of each transaction. Users can also pick their favorite charity and Square will donate a penny to it from its cut of each transaction."

Air Video can stream videos in almost any format to your iPhone and iPod touch. You don't need to copy your videos to the device just to watch them.

Liquid Scale enables new creative ways of editing images. It resizes pictures without deforming or cropping the content. Pictures can be transformed to a new aspect ratio in a fast and intuitive way. The elegant iPhone application enables all the possibilities of content aware image resizing. Whether you want to change your image from landscape to portrait format without cropping interesting parts or deleting parts in the image without doing a complex retouch.

This prompted me to check my usage, which you can do in the Settings app by tapping General > Usage, and then scrolling down to the Cellular Network Data section and adding the two numbers there.

Adobe better have a great story to tell at SXSWi, because that’s where a lot of the Web elite gather each year. That means Adobe has six weeks to get an answer together for why Flash is relevant. Can it do it? Can Flash be saved?

Unified inbox support and/or better inbox switching: If you have more than one mail account, you know what a pain it is to switch between accounts. Currently it takes a minimum of four taps to switch from one inbox to another. Allow unification, or make it easy to switch between accounts. Or how about both?

app.itize.us is a painstakingly curated presentation of the best produced and designed iPhone applications that are available for download via the App Store

Google's end run around Apple's App Store is complete: Google Voice is ready as a Web application.

According to an inside source close to the going-ons involved in all of this, a new tablet of some sort may not be the only thing on deck for next Wednesday though. We have been led to believe by an inside source that AT&T will lose their iPhone exclusivity on the same day

But don't text/tweet and drive. Ever.

Users spend an average of $10 on apps every month? I'm definitely not an average user then.

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