Christian Zibreg, Author at VR World

Apple, Cloud Computing, Companies

Mac App Store To Host Only Paid Apps, Warns Apple

You won’t find free, demo, or trial software in the upcoming Mac App Store. Unlike the App Store on iOS devices, Apple insists that developers submit only paid apps for the inclusion on the Mac App Store. The news reached us yesterday when Apple updated news section on its developer site. The company’s "submission tip" regarding third-party Mac apps reads as follows: Do not submit demos, trials, or betas for Mac App Store Review. Your website is the best place to provide demos, trial versions, or betas of your software for customers to explore. The apps you submit to be reviewed for the Mac App

Hardware

Caught in Antennagate of its Own, HTC Defends the HD7 Death Grip

Taiwanese smartphone manufacturer HTC has found its Windows Phone 7-powered HD7 handset in the middle of a controversy that’s reminiscent of a similar issue which plagued the iPhone 4 launch, also known as the death grip. After a series of YouTube videos suggested that the company’s latest HD7 handset drops signal bars when gripped in a certain way, a spokesperson gave Computer Weekly a statement. It came after HTC’s chief of finance Hui-Meng Cheng insisted this summer that "the reception problems are certainly not common among smartphones," in a terse response to the widely reported iPhone 4 death grip issue. It’s interesting, then, that HTC’s

Business, Software Programs

RIM snaps up the original Android interface gurus to sex up the PlayBook tablet

Buckle up BlackBerry fans, the BlackBerry OS and PlayBook tablets are up for a thorough face lift as Research In Motion puts a plan in motion to acquire The Astonishing Tribe, the Swedish design shop behind the original Android interface. The new design talent should help polish its software and achieve the level of dazzle required to attract the eyeballs glued to the beauty of of Android and iOS interfaces. Swedish Android UI gurus will be tasked with improving the user interface for the PlayBook tablet, slated for arrival sometime in the first quarter of next year, RIM announced in a blog post. The Astonishing

Entertainment

Christmas came early with Angry Birds Seasons for iOS and Android

Those pesky, thieving pigs adamant on stealing eggs will once more suffer a brutal retaliation courtesy of our charming catapulting birds. We’re talking about Angry Birds, of course, a phenomenon that has taken handheld gaming by storm. UK-based publisher Chillingo has just pushed the latest, holiday-themed update to Angry Birds aptly named Angry Birds Seasons. From the release notes: The survival of the Angry Birds is at stake – even in the jolliest of seasons! Dish out revenge on the green pigs who stole the Birds? eggs. Use the unique destructive powers of the Angry Birds to lay waste to the pigs? hideouts and unwrap

Apple, Business, Companies, Entertainment

iAds to Crop up in iBooks, Movies, TV Shows

Here?s the thing, you flip through the virtual pages of an e-book and suddenly stumble upon one of those highly-engaging iAds from Apple. According to an analysis published by the Wall Street Journal, dwindling profits are forcing e-publishers to consider embedding advertisements into their iBook releases. Steve Jobs presents iAd – Mobile Advertising Remembering that the Google Books archive already displays adverts next to search results, and that Amazon filed a patent for Kindle adverts, the WSJ piece takes notice of Apple’s recent foray into mobile advertising and paints an interesting picture: "What would the world look like with ads in books? For consumers, the

Apple, Companies, Software Programs

Facebook for iOS Now Runs on Over 100 Million iDevices

Today?s totally irrelevant piece of mind-boggling statistics comes straight from social networking giant Facebook which claims that over 100 million people are now using its mobile app on the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Checking out the Facebook for iPhone page read "103,578,916 monthly active users" at press time. Steve Jobs said at the iPhone 4 unveiling in June that Apple would sell its hundred millionth iOS device later that month, meaning that the Facebook app is installed on virtually every iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad in active existence. That makes the Facebook for iOS app pretty much the most-used program, the notion corroborated by

Entertainment, Software Programs

Benito Mussolini: #2 Book on Italian App Store

Did you know that a book about Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini is the #2 item on the Italian App Store? If that didn’t disrupt your daily news flow, you should know that Apple’s curated mobile bazaar also hosts a number of potentially offending e-books that some could argue spread hatred and promote violence, such as the e-reading materials which detail the lives of Spanish military general and dictator Francisco Franco and Argentina’s military leader Che Guevara. According to Cult of Mac’s Nicole Martinelli, the #2 item on the Italian App Store – titled "A Tavola con Il Duce" – contains a bunch of photos,

Apple, Companies, Hardware, Software Programs

Kindle and iPhone make love, not war – until Apple "iPad" arrives

Following the introduction of an improved Kindle device last month that packs a large screen suitable for reading newspapers and magazines. In addition to books, Amazon has also unveiled iPhone-optimized version of the Kindle Store reformatted for a better appearance in the mobile version of Safari browser. It is this intentional invitation of the iPhone platform to Kindle’s territory that is worrying some Amazon fans who even spell doom for Kindle as a result of this. In reality, Apple’s iPhone can only dream of replacing Kindle for reading e-books on the go. Steve Jobs: "Books are dead." Seriously? In fact, Amazon’s smash success with Kindle

Apple, Business, Companies, Hardware

Price wars: Cheap Macs are Utopian dreaming

These days, everyone is pressuring Apple to slash Macs prices or else… While the promise of ultra-cheap Macs that can match commodity PC clones on price seems God-given, in reality such move wouldn’t necessarily translate into a justifiable market share gain. In addition, Apple’s entrance into the commodity segment would surely devalue the brand. As a result, Apple would effectively surrender the premium market segment to others. Yes, we need cheaper Macs – we just don’t need ultra-cheap Macs. If you have been closely following Apple lately, your heart may have skipped a beat on this rumor about imminent price cuts across the Mac lineup. As usual

Search the site