This Musical iPhone App Uses Your Phone's Camera to Remix Tunes

Until now, augmented reality has been mostly used as a way of giving you more information about the world around you, but a new iPhone app uses your surroundings to remix the music you're listening to.

"Sadly by your side" is an interdisciplinary art project encompassing an album, a book, and an iPhone app. It's written by David Cairo and produced by Fabrica, a design and communications strategy firm based in Italy. There are two different ways to listen to the album using the iPhone app, both of which require that you use the iPhone's camera. To hear the album exactly as Cairo intended it, simply hold the camera up to the $17 dollar book, it'll lock on, and playback the original version. (Or if your arms get tired, you can check out the unremixed version on SoundCloud for free.)

SEXPAND

The more experimental route is to use the information hitting the camera sensor as the basis for a remix of the music. As you can see in the video above, the app breaks up the image the camera is seeing into a mixture of black, blue, and red, each of which controls different parameters of the music. The underlying code for each track is programmed so that the data visualization affects the harmony, melody, and rhythm of the track differently.

The work is an intriguing proof of concept for musical apps that could later be developed in the future. The effect of the visual remix is subtle because there aren't too many parameters being controlled and because the music is of the chilled out, meandering instrumental variety to begin with. It's kind of disorienting and odd to point your phone at different stuff to try to discern how it's changing the music. Sometimes you think you've figured out just what increasing the amount of a certain color will do—only to discover that you're totally wrong. [iTunes andFabrica and SoundCloud]

Apple Now Accepts Water-Damaged iPhones for Its Trade-In Program

Apple updated its Reuse and Recycle Program to allow water-damaged iPhones to be traded in.

Previously, iPhones that have been damaged by water or other liquids were not accepted in the trade-in program, which Apple launched in the U.S. in August and in the U.K. in October. But as reported by 9to5Mac, which cites Apple retail employees, that is no longer the case as of this week.

Of course, there are still caveats to consider:Also, there’s a considerable difference (as much as $120) between the trade-in values of water-damaged and non-water-damaged units of the same iPhone model.

Water damage in an iPhone (and in any other iOS device, for that matter) is ascertained by checking the device’s externally visible liquid contact indicator. The indicator’s color is normally white or silver, but when it has come in contact with water or a liquid containing water, it turns fully or partially red.

Apple To Go Large In 2014 With iPhone 6 In May And iPad Pro in October

Now that the ink is drying on Apple's AAPL -0.45% deal with China Mobile CHL +0.25%, supply chain rumors are emerging about Apple’s next significant product releases. Digitimes reports that according to “sources from the upstream supply chain,” Apple is planning to release a 5-inch iPhone 6 “phablet” this coming May and a large tablet in October.

The immediacy for a larger-screen iPhone comes partially from the Asian market where Samsung’s phablets have made significant inroads. Assuming that Apple’s agreement with China Mobile includes these upcoming products, the pricing adjustments that normally occur with new iPhones could make the iPhone 5C significantly more affordable and attractive to the Chinese market. This would begin to make sense of the 5C, which so far seems to be a sales disappointment for Apple. Perhaps the important thing about the 5C is that it is not the 5S, so that down the road it can be discounted without putting price pressure on Apple’s flagship.

According to the Digitimes source, the larger iPhone 6 will use “a 20nm processor manufactured by Taiwan Semiconductor TSM +0.29% Manufacturing Company (TSMC).” Previous reports have pegged the screen size at just under the 5 inches of Samsung’s Galaxy 4.

The source also reports that Apple will releases a 12.9 inch “targeting North America’s educational market [and]… manufactured by Quanta Computer,” in October. Samsung is also reported to be working on a 12 to 13-inch tablet, and it seems evident that “these large-size tablets will greatly impact ultrabook demand.” This “iPad Pro” will be a defacto laptop with the addition of new cases with integrated keyboards and batteries and could well become a mainstay for high schools and college students who need better content creation tools than those offers on existing iPads and iPad Minis.

These larger screen sizes will put additional strain on iOS 7 and developers who will need to figure out how to adapt their apps to even more configurations. These additional formats will provide some exciting opportunities for applications as well, and we can anticipate that iOS 8 will contain many features designed to accommodate multi-screen design.

The Globe and Mail for iPhone updated with new iOS 7 interface

One of the more popular national Canadian newspapers has updated its iPhone app to match Apple’s visual design standards for iOS 7.

The Globe and Mail version 3.0 arrives today on iPhone, bringing a brand new full-screen reading experience that fits a lot more content on the smartphone’s increasingly small-feeling 4-inch display. Navigating through the app is much easier now thanks to an app-wide “swipe right to return” gesture that mirror’s Apple’s own system menus.

The app itself looks much cleaner, too: a lot of the clutter, such as the weather bar and login prompt, have been moved to the left “section” menu. And because it has been optimized for iOS 7, it runs a lot faster on the iPhone 5s.

Perhaps more interesting than the update itself is The Globe’s strategy around iOS in general. The company continues to update the iPhone and iPad apps much more frequently than the Android version, not only debuting new features on Apple’s platform but new revenue sources. For example, the company experimented with in-line ads on the iPhone earlier this year, and brought many of its Globe Unlimited stories to iPhone first. In contrast, the Android app hasn’t received a significant update since May, and still doesn’t fully support all of the newspaper’s growing subscriber-only content.

According to The Globe’s mobile editor, Matt Frehner, “iOS is our biggest audience. Android is still growing, but the numbers aren’t there yet.” This is a similar story across the mobile landscape, with iOS given priority in many app genres. While the New York Times offers an impressive Android app, and recently partnered with Google to bring its top stories to Newsstand, the iOS version of the app receives more updates more often. Keeping in mind Android’s growing market share in Canada, and its tendency to be loaded on phones with bigger, higher-resolution displays, it’s surprising to see iOS still so far in the lead.

Frehner says that the iOS audience, across both iPhone and iPad, is over eight times larger than on Android — though the latter has no tablet-optimized app. Android users are much more likely to visit the Globe’s mobile-optimized site, and Frehner says that web visits are much closer to parity between Android and iOS. It’s unclear where the blame should be passed, too: does Android have an app discovery problem, or are Android users less likely to use apps to obtain news? It’s possible that Android users merely resort to a much more broadly-developed app category, news aggregators and RSS readers, than iOS users, since those were the first such apps to provide native access to news feeds.

Shazam adds automatic music and TV show recognition to its iPhone app

“The only thing that’s easier than pressing one button is pressing no button at all,” said Shazam’s Chief Product Officer Daniel Danker during an interview this week. That’s why the popular music tagging service added auto-recognition to its iPhone app Thursday. The new feature allows users to keep Shazam running in the background and have it automatically recognize any song that’s playing on the radio or any show they’re watching on TV, even when they are interacting with another app or when the phone is locked.

Shazam first introduced this kind of automatic music recognition to its iPad app in May, and Danker told me that this was a great test case. “The iPad was a good place to learn,” he said. One of the lessons was that auto-tagging is a great enhancement of how many people already use the app. Shazam has seen a whole lot of music sales, and in fact is by some accounts now responsible for 10 percent of all paid digital music downloads.

Automatically recognized songs in Shazam’s new iPhone app.

But Danker explained that most users don’t take action on a song right away. Instead, they use Shazam to recognize the song and then save the tag, only to come back later and review what they have heard and liked. Auto-tagging could greatly enhance this kind of behavior, he argued: “We go from a world where people are shazaming dozens of things to hundreds of things a month.”

Due to the nature of the device, iPad users automatically identified a lot of TV shows with the app, and Danker thinks that the iPhone version will be used a whole lot more in the car, in bars, restaurants or even at the movies. One of his colleagues recently took a test build of the app to a movie theater, Danker recalled: “He literally had the soundtrack of the movie in his pocket” after the movie was over.

Of course, one of the concerns with bringing automatic music recognition to mobile is battery life. Danker said that auto-tagging eats anywhere from six to ten percent of your phone’s battery for every hour that you leave it on. That’s why the app automatically goes to sleep if you don’t interact with it for an hour. But Danker also argued that making a phone call, or even browsing the web, eats up more battery.

Danker told me that Shazam would love to bring the same functionality to its Android apps, but as of now, Android doesn’t allow two apps to use your microphone at the same time. In other words: You wouldn’t be able to do answer a phone call while Shazam was running. The company is currently talking to Google to get this fixed in future versions of Android.

Shazam’s auto-tagging iPhone app is just one more example for an increasing trend of always-on microphones who monitor our acoustic environment for clues only to jump into action when they hear a certain phrase, or in Shazam’s case, a song or movie. I wrote about this earlier this year, and wouldn’t be too surprised if we see more examples of this coming out in 2014.

As for Shazam, the feature should help the company to make its app even more sticky. Shazam currently has 400 million registered users in 200 countries, and adds 10 million additional users every month. 80 million people use the app every month.

Google Releases New 'MyGlass' Companion App for Google Glass

Google today released a new MyGlass companion app for the iPhone, which is designed to increase compatibility between Google Glass and iOS devices. MyGlass is used to configure and manage Glass devices. 

Use it to set up Glass, get directions on the go, screencast what you see on Glass to your phone, and add Glassware and contacts. 

If you don’t have Glass, then downloading this will be a waste of time. Sorry about that. Learn more at google.com/glass.

Prior to the release of the MyGlass app, Google Glass had much more limited functionality with the iPhone, but Android users have long had access to an Android version of theMyGlass app which lets users Screencast from Glass to an Android smartphone and provides an interface for turning Glass apps off and on. 

The same functionality will now be available for iPhone users, making Google Glass far more useful on Apple's platform. 

Google Glass can be purchased via invitation from Google for $1500. MyGlass for iOS can be downloaded for free from the App Store. 

Update: MyGlass appears to have been pulled from the App Store, though it is unclear why. 

Update 2: In a Google+ post, Google notes that MyGlass for iOS will launch later this week.

Why Apple's 2014 won't be like 2013

It's not just about the next hit product. Apple is preparing for a future beyond phones, tablets, watches and TVs, in which it's the premium brand for life in a fully digital age.

Hundreds of people await the iPhone 5S and 5C launch at Apple's Fifth Avenue store in Manhattan.

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

As 2013 draws to a close, Tim Cook is feeling good. The holiday quarter once again proved that Apple's products and stores can draw a crowd. Pent-up demand for new iPhones and iPads was satisfied once again, and Apple's reputation as a purveyor of objects of desire was reaffirmed. As a reward, Apple' stock price hit a 52-week high this month.

Apple's precision-engineered, meticulously designed, mass-produced objects of desire are not the most advanced or clever computing machines. Many Android devices are tricked out with more pixels and features. Nor is Apple the undisputed market share leader, which is not the company's first priority.

After its initial breakthrough product and domination of the market, Apple cedes share to followers and carves out a highly profitable niche. Like BMW in the automotive industry, Apple is not trying to blanket the market. The Android platform now maintains the majority market share by far, especially outside the US, but for contestants other than Samsung the profits are slim or none. And, Apple's mobile platform, iOS, accounts for more than 50 percent of mobile Internet usage, according to Net Market Share research.

Mobile and tablet worldwide market share of operating system usage for November 2013. Net Market Share collects browser data from a worldwide network of over 40,000 websites. (Credit: Net Market Share)

In the coming year, Apple will continue its wash, rinse, repeat cycle, incrementally refreshing the iPads, iPhones, and Macs with more speed, less weight, longer battery life, additional sensors, and improved apps.

There are also hints that 2014 won't be another year of just incremental improvements like 2013. Apple could reveal something more dramatic and groundbreaking than adding a fingerprint sensor to an iPad or delivering iPhones and iPads with bigger screens and better cameras, or finally shipping the powerful R2-D2- looking Mac Pro.

It's been four years since the company's last market-defining product, the iPad, was unveiled. Here's what Steve Jobs said at the time: "iPad is our most advanced technology in a magical and revolutionary device at an unbelievable price. iPad creates and defines an entirely new category of devices that will connect users with their apps and content in a much more intimate, intuitive and fun way than ever before."

Apple is rumored to be working on several products that could be eventually pitched as the "most advanced technology in a magical and revolutionary device at an unbelievable price." According to reports, Apple has in excess of 100 people working on an "iWatch." The company has trademarked the iWatch name around the world, and has filed 79 patents containing the word "wrist."

Neptune's Pine is among the upstarts trying to lead the next wave of wearable computing. (Credit: Neptune)

Following its usual product strategy, Apple isn't rushing to market to join the pack. Pebble, Samsung, Sony, ZTE, Martian Fitbit, Basis, Neptune, Metawatch, Qualcomm already have wrist wearables in the market, and LG, Google, and even Dell might be working on similar products. No one so far has a hit product. Apple hopes that an iWatch can follow the same pattern as the iPod, iPhone and iPad -- not the first in its category, but the one that redefines a market and dominates it for the first phase of adoption.

That will be a far more difficult challenge than in the past with all the innovative startups chasing the dream. And, the bar is set much higher for Apple.

It may be that an iWatch will focus on a few apps, such as health and fitness, and serve as more of an accessory to the iPhone. You don't have to take it out of your pocket to browse alerts and other information or talk to Siri. An iWatch with a beautifully curved, sapphire touch screen and sleek band would be more fashion statement than game-changing product.

In fact, Apple is on a mission to become more fashion forward. The company added two major fashion industry icons to its executive ranks. Former Yves Saint Laurent CEO Paul Deneve joined as a vice president to work on "special projects," and Burberry CEO Angela Ahrendts was tapped to lead retail operations, managing the online store and more than 520 brick-and-mortar outlets.

Apple TV user interface concept.

(Credit: Andrew Ambrosino)

That enhanced fashion IQ could be applied to a range of entertainment products, another area that Apple wants to transform. The company could launch a stylish, large-screen 4K TV with Apple TV built-in or a set-top box this year, accompanied by apps that plug into iOS ecosystem and take the pain out of managing and controlling what's on the screen or in the box.

Apple is also working with automobile companies to integrate features like Siri, Apple Maps, and iTunes into the built-in displays of cars.

One Apple patent describes a head-mounted goggle system for providing a personal media viewing experience. The goggles could be linked to a devices, such as computers, televisions, smartphones, and gaming systems.

(Credit: USPTO)

And, don't be surprised is you start hearing rumblings about eyewear from Apple. The company has many patents for head-mounted displays and other technologies relevant to augmenting-reality devices like the Oculus Rift and Google Glass. Apple will play the tortoise to Google's hare, watching the landscape evolve and taking its time to create a more perfect device that will attract tens of millions of buyers.

What's becoming clear is that Apple isn't just focused on trying to create another hit product. The company has long been preparing for a future in which technology is deeply woven into the fabric of everyday life. It's about creating an experience and brand that represents the best of the digital future.

iPhones, tablets, watches, glasses, TVs, sensors, robots, and cars are vehicles for enabling Apple's software and services to flourish. It's about becoming the premium brand for living in a fully digital age, in which billions of people and tens of billions of objects gathering and sending signals are connected.

Apple is skating to where it believes the puck is going to be. It's a space in which Apple's software, hardware, services and ecosystem serve as the premium platform for the digital age.

(Credit: Dan Farber)

What might be dubbed "Apple Everywhere" is a continuation of Steve Jobs' goal to reshape how masses of humans use and interact with technology. "It's in Apple's DNA that technology alone is not enough. It's technology married with liberal arts, humanities that yields us the result that makes our heart sing. And nowhere is that more true than in these post-PC devices," Jobs said during the unveiling of the iPad 2 in March 2011.

The words uttered in a sonorous voice are by far too contrived and precious, but of all the tech companies Apple invests the most in the overall product experience, creating an emotional connection between its brand and customers.

Jobs was also fond of a quote from hockey great Wayne Gretzky. "There's an old Wayne Gretzky quote that I love. 'I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.' And we've always tried to do that at Apple. Since the very very beginning. And we always will," he said at the Macworld Conference in January 2007.

Now the technology puck is rapidly careening toward deeply personalized and wearable computing. With its growing retail presence and the increasing population of always connected people, Apple is combining its roots in humanizing technology -- making it more personal and invisible -- with a more acute sense of fashion to lure the discriminating, less price-sensitive buyers and those who aspire to be part of the club.

In the future Apple world of iBeacons and ambient intelligence, your fashionable wearable wrist device, eyewear, phone, tablet, TV, car interface, and clothing could be used to control your thermostat, lights, DVR, car, heart monitor, payments, music, movies or anything that connects into the global network. You tell your iPhone, iPad, iWatch, iGlass3D or iLens, "Ok Siri, unlock my car door, drive me home, turn the thermostat down to 62, record the news, turn on the oven to 375 degrees and tell my mother I will call her back tomorrow." Or you project a virtual control pad in front of you and use hand gestures to reset the thermostat or open your car the door as you approach it.

Apple isn't the only company trying to become the operating system for 21st century. Google in particular, along with Microsoft and others hidden away in garages and research labs, are vying to become the computing platform that the runs the digital lives of others.

Competitors have so far failed to match the values associated with Apple's brand, or its profit margins. Even Macintosh desktops and laptops generate the majority of profit among the players in the PC category, despite a 10 percent share of market.

However, the shift to mobile, wearable, augmented reality computing is just at its beginning. It's a new world and Apple's reign as a market maker and arbiter of good taste could be toppled. For that reason, the pressure is on Apple to make sure that 2014 has something more to keep its devoted fans in the fold than another cycle of upgrades.

Apple's Biggest Compromise With The iPhone 5c Over The iPhone 5s Is Life Expectancy

Having reviewed both of Apple’s latest smartphones here on Forbes (read the reviews of the iPhone 5c and the iPhone 5s here) the dividing line between the two handsets is far more than the $100 difference in price. Both the 5s and the 5c are competent today, but over the life of a two-year contract the iPhone 5s is going to be the reference device for developers while the limitations of the 5c will rapidly become clear.

Barring three notable changes (LTE banding, battery capacity, and the forward facing camera), the iPhone 5c matches the specifications of last year’s iPhone 5 model. For many years Apple has simply moved the models down the line after twelve months. Someone purchasing ‘the $99 iPhone’ would be aware that it is the older model, and have their expectations set accordingly in terms of the expected support levels from third-party apps. That is not the case with the iPhone 5c. One of its biggest strengths is the perception that it is a new design. It is being marketed as new, and because of that consumers will have higher expectations of the 5c than they would if they were buying a year-old iPhone 5.

The A6 CPU chip from the iPhone 5 remains in the iPhone 5c, but the faster A7 chip (along with the improved PowerVR GPU for graphics) which is in the iPhone 5s will have an appreciable impact on third-party apps, especially in the gaming vertical. The intensive workload that some of the iLife and iWork apps will require will also mean a degraded experience on the 5c compared to the 5S. The loss of performance is not the biggest loss in the chip architecture. Apple is moving towards a 64-bit architecture in iOS. Today the vast majority of apps are 32-bit apps, and these run in compatibility mode on the iPhone 5s. As more developers move to 64-bit coding, the iPhone 5c could lose compatibility with many leading applications.

The other loss is in the M7 co-processor. I feel this chip will be key to a huge number of applications focused on the quantified self. Step counters, motion trackers, GPS recorders, and many other functions that will make an M7 equipped smartphone the equal of many items of wearable technology.

Right now, the capabilities of the M7 chip can be duplicated by the A6 CPU, although at the cost of battery life and efficiency. Developers are still to make serious use of the 64-bit nature of iOS 7 and the A7 CPU, but with the iPad Air and the iPad mini with Retina Display also carrying the A7/M7 architecture, I’m sure that in the next two years the focus is going to be on the higher specification handsets and tablets, which will leave the iPhone 5c in the pile with the older iPad mini and iPhone 5.

There’s a school of thought that the 5c is not going to be a handset for the power-user, they are going to tend towards the 5s, but as the 5c is bought by more ‘second tier’ users who are likely to stay on their contract for the full two years, Apple runs the risk of leaving them with a handset that can no longer play the latest games, cannot take advantage of the more advanced fitness tracking apps, and does not have the power to run detailed 3D views inside that month’s top game. Someone’s iPhone 5c will not stop working, it will simply be unable to keep up to date with the rapidly changing world of smartphone apps and features.

When you buy a smartphone, you expect certain things. App support is one of them and while the iPhone 5c meets today’s expectations of application support, by the time December 2015 comes around I don’t feel that the 5c will retain the cutting edge needed to run the latest third-party titles.

The iPhone 5c has many advantages for Apple. It has a lower build cost, it presumably has more margin than the year old iPhone 5 would have at the $99 subsidised price point, and the fashionable colors have reinvigorated the marketing of the iPhone. But for consumers, the advantages are far less clear-cut. Unless price is a major consideration, the $100 difference between the iPhone 5s and the iPhone 5c should not be a deciding factor in the purchase choice. It is, after all, equal to $4.17 per month over a two-year contract.

There’s every argument to bypass Apple’s polycarbonate handset and go for the more expensive metal cased iPhone 5s. That’s not because of any lack of functionality today (right now there’s not a huge difference between the 5c and the 5s in day-to-day use), but because Apple have signalled the future direction of the iOS platform, and the iPhone 5c is going to be left behind rather quickly.

Apple iOS 7 beta update hints at upcoming 'car display' feature

Apple on Friday released a second version of its iOS 7.1 beta to registered developers. It's an incremental update that fixes some bugs and moves some things around. For example, TouchID and passcode settings are displayed more prominently.

Sources also told 9to5Mac that there were other references to "iOS in the Car" elsewhere in the new beta update, and in the first iOS 7.1 beta update, released to developers last month. Apple's car integration launch could of course be pushed back, but it looks like the goal is to take the wraps off alongside the wide rollout of iOS 7.1.But one nugget worth noting is a setting in the "restrictions" menu that lets a user turn the "Car Display" on and off. The addition of the toggle setting suggests that Apple may release its "iOS in the Car" feature sooner rather than later. The car integration feature,according to 9to5Mac, will let users attach an iOS device to a car's console and provide an interface that lets them control things like music, messages, and maps right through the vehicle.

Codecademy: Hour of Code app teaches programming skills to iPhone owners

The Codecademy: Hour of Code iPhone app.

From Candy Crush Saga to Instagram, developing mobile applications has never been more potentially lucrative. But how about learning to code on a smartphone?

That's the goal of Codecademy: Hour of Code, an iPhone app released this week by the founders of US education startup Codecademy, whose website teaches people to code in languages including JavaScript, HTML/CSS, Python and Ruby.

The company's first mobile app is starting with a simpler goal: to help iPhone owners "learn the basics of coding in under one hour" through a set of quick demonstrations and exercises designed to be completed in short bursts throughout the day.

"Our app gets you started by introducing you to the basic concepts behind the apps on your phone and the websites you visit. You’ll learn to understand the basic structure of code when you see it," explains its App Store listing.

"Use your phone for what it’s good for - quick, fun exercises on the go. Program when you get home and stay fresh by reviewing on the go."

Codecademy was founded in 2011 by Zach Sims and Ryan Bubinski, and has since raised $12.5m of funding to fuel its ambitions of demystifying programming. More than 450,000 signed up for online courses as part of the company's Code Year initiative in 2012, with more than 60% of its users now located outside the US.

"Codecademy was originally built for someone like me to learn how to code. Now, we want to help provide an easy way for people to get the programming skills they need to learn skills, start businesses, and find new jobs," Sims told The Guardian in October this year.

"We're all looking to make learning as interactive and fun as possible and to continue helping our users change the world. Most other programming instruction companies teach by using videos or text-based approaches. We think the best way to learn how to code is to learn by doing – to actually code."

At the time of writing, Hour of Code has not been released for other smartphones, notably Android. It is possible Codecademy was waiting for the iPhone version to be approved by Apple before launching on Android though – an increasingly familiar pattern for smartphone apps.

Codecademy isn't the first company to explore mobile apps as a way to teach people to program. A number of startups have launched apps in 2012 and 2013 to introduce children to coding, including Hakitzu Elite: Robot Hackers, Hopscotch, Light-bot, Kodable and Move the Turtle.

Another US startup, Play-i, has just raised $1.4m through a crowdfunding campaign on its website to launch two consumer robots, Bo and Yana, which children will learn to control by coding in their companion iOS and Android apps.

Apple Patents Curved Touch Screen And Display Tech

Apple has received a patent for curved touchscreens and displays, according to AppleInsider, which describes a system for making curved touch sensitive glass. The method patented by Apple is designed to create a curved screen surface that remains touch sensitive without deforming or distorting the image the display would produce, and would be able to be used in displays, touch-sensitive mice (like the current Magic Mouse) touch pads and other devices.

Apple’s tech differs from some existing curved glass techniques because often the substrate that adds touch sensitivity to a device is flat, regardless of whether the glass panel that covers it is curved. As a result, touch sensitivity suffers, since sometimes a person’s finger is actually further away from the touch panel than it might appear, or than in a traditional, non-curved device.

The patent includes a method for a screen with variations in the curvature of the surface, too. Specifically, it lays out what looks like a series of bubbles, which you could see used as a means for creating a raised pattern over a software keyboard, for instance. This could be handy in creating touch-sensitive button interfaces on things like displays for controlling things like brightness and volume, or for adding more obvious input methods to something like a touch mouse without swaying from the all-touch design.

Apple hasn’t made any overt moves to create curved glass mobile devices like some of its competitors including LG and Samsung, but it is building up some buzz around screens that don’t conform to normal designs. A Bloomberg report from November even went so far as to suggest the company was working on a curved glass iPhone for release in late 2014, and that it was also building better touch input for future devices. A patent for better touchscreen designs for curved glass devices definitely lines up with those reports.

Curved glass may be a fad, but it’s not yet clear what the merits of such a tech will be in terms of scratching a consumer itch. Still, it’s obviously an area worth watching, given that everyone and their brother seems to be putting at least R&D spend into making those next-gen displays more than just flat.

iPhone 5S ship time now down to 1 to 3 days

Consumers who order the iPhone 5S through Apple's online store now face a wait of just one to three business days before the device ships.

The latest shipping estimate is good for virtually all models and sizes of the new iPhone, Wi-Fi-only as well as Wi-Fi+Cellular. Only the recently released unlocked, SIM-free version of the 5Sstill shows a wait time of one to two weeks. The new estimate also is a drop from the previous promise of three to five days.

The iPhone 5S has seen its wait time gradually drop as Apple's suppliers have ramped up production to catch up with the heavy demand. Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster said in September that he believes supply will finally reach demand sometime early this month.

Apple, China Mobile signs iPhone deal: WSJ

Apple and China Mobile have inked a deal to offer iPhones on telecom operator's network, the Wall Street Journal reported.

SAN FRANCISCO: Apple and China Mobile have inked a deal to offer iPhones on the colossal telecom firm's network in that country's coveted market, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.
The Wall Street Journal cited unnamed sources as saying China Mobile is expected to add iPhones to its roster of compatible smartphones later this month. 

Such a deal would be a boon for Apple, which has made a priority of the China market where China Mobile has more than 700 million subscribers but has yet to offer the iPhone.

Apple patents facial recognition tech for mobile log-in

Apple has been granted a patent on techniques for unlocking a device based on facial recognition.

US Patent number 8,600,120, "Personal computing device control using face detection and recognition," describes a system in which a device is able to access its camera and authorize access based on recognizing your face.

In addition to security authentication, the patent describes a system which is able to analyze your face and then display relevant data such as recent calls or received messages for your accounts.

Your phone will look you in the eye and know if a 'screw driver how to' is relevant to you

Similarly, the device could be instructed to lock itself down and not display any information about received or incoming calls and messages, should the face of the current user not match that of the device's owner or authorized users.

Apple says in the patent that its aim is to eliminate the need for users to manually interact with a device in order to be recognized and authenticated. The company notes that its technology could help to eliminate the need for users to constantly "remind" their device that it is in use.

"One problem with existing personal computing devices is that such devices often perform certain functions regardless of whether users are passively interfacing with the devices," Apple writes.

"In other words, personal computer devices are not able to determine whether a non-active or passive user is present and, subsequently, are unable to perform certain operations to accommodate the passive user."

It should be noted that patents are far from a guarantee that new technologies will be offered in a device. Vendors will often patent technologies in broad strategic or precautionary moves, with many of the referred-to technologies never making it past the research and development phase.

Apple does, however, have something of a reputation for taking action when it believes its patents have been infringed – to put it mildly. The company has embroiled itself in a global battle with Android device vendors over what it has claimed are blatant infringements on Apple patents by hardware makers. The effort, famously described by Apple cofounder Steve Jobs as "thermonuclear war," has sought penalties and outright bans on multiple Android devices.

The company recently claimed victory in the US when a court found that infringements by Samsung should lead to a $290m legal penalty in Apple's favor. ®

Apple buys Indian-owned analytics firm Topsy

Apple has been trying to boost its mobile advertising revenue for years.

SAN FRANCISCO: Apple has bought Topsy Labs in a deal that will provide the iPhone maker with more insights about the chatter on Twitter.

Topsy was co-founded in 2007 by Vipul Ved Prakash, Rishab Aiyer Ghosh (another techie of Indian-origin), Gary Iwatani and Justin Foutts. "Hacker, entrepreneur, Desert Rat. Founder Topsy and Cloudmark", reads Prakash Twitter profile.

Topsy pores through the stream of conversations occurring on Twitter to identify trends and people influencing public opinion. The San Francisco startup also runs a free search engine that boasts an index of every tweet posted since 2006, a resource that's not publicly available on Twitter's own online messaging service.

Apple Inc spokeswoman Kristin Huguet confirmed the Topsy acquisition Monday without elaborating on the Cupertino, California, company's plans for the Twitter analytic tools. The acquisition price wasn't disclosed.

"Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans,'' Huguet said.

Getting a better grasp on the hottest topics on Twitter could help Apple sell more advertising on iPhones and iPads.

Apple has been trying to boost its mobile advertising revenue for years.

Topsy's Twitter tools also could be used simply to give the iPhone a search feature that isn't available on rival products running on Google's Android operating system. Unlike Topsy, Google hasn't been able to obtain a licensing agreement that would give its search engine more immediate and deeper access to Twitter's content.

Twitter ranks among the most popular applications on smartphones, so a quicker way to search through tweets on the device might appeal to some consumers.

Apple spent a total of $496 million acquiring other companies during its last fiscal year ending Sept. 28. In comparison, Google Inc. spent $1.4 billion acquiring other companies during the same stretch.

Apple Wins Dismissal of Antitrust Suit Over IPhone Apps

Apple Inc. (AAPL) passed along to customers fees on iPhone applications imposed by developers, a judge said, dismissing a lawsuit claiming the company’s apps monopoly cost consumers hundreds of millions of dollars in overcharges.

The suit attacked Apple’s practice of keeping 30 percent of the price consumers pay for applications created by independent software developers. Buyers would pay less if it weren’t for the “fixed” fee, consumers claimed in the complaint.

U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in Oakland, California, said the cost is passed on to consumers by developers, rather than charged directly to buyers by Apple. Consumers don’t have a right to sue for antitrust violations over such passed-on charges, she ruled today.

“Any injury to plaintiffs is an indirect effect resulting from the software developers’ own costs,” Rogers said.

Alexander Schmidt, an attorney for the apps buyers who sued, said he plans to appeal the decision to a federal appeals court in San Francisco, which ruled in a separate case that consumers like the apps buyers may bring antitrust lawsuits.

“It’s clear to us that a consumer that buys a monopoly priced product directly from a monopolist is a direct purchaser,” said Schmidt by phone. “She is essentially adopting Apple’s argument that because Apple told the apps developers in advance that Apple would charge 30 percent, that somehow makes the developers the first purchasers” and consumers indirect purchasers.

In a separate case Apple won dismissal last month of a privacy lawsuit alleging it improperly collected and shared customers’ personal information. U.S. District Judge Lucy H. Koh in San Jose, California, found that the consumers who sued didn’t adequately show how they were injured by relying on Apple’s privacy policies for applications on smartphones and tablets.

The case is In re Apple iPhone Antitrust Litigation 11-cv-06714, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California (Oakland).