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Monday, September 30, 2013

ABI Research: Android is Now Leading the Tablet Market

ABI Research reports that Apple's iPad has 'passed the baton' to the Android ecosystem. According to the report, during the second quarter of 2013, Android tablets sold surpassed iOS tablets sold, revenues reached parity, and the average selling price of the iPad dropped closer to market average.

Overall shipments in the quarter dropped 17% sequentially while growing 23% year-over-year for the same quarterly period. “Smaller 7-inch class tablets are finally the majority of shipments,” says senior practice director Jeff Orr. “The 7.9-inch iPad mini represented about 60% of total iPad shipments and 49% of iPad-related device revenues in the quarter.” Tablet shipments in the second quarter of 2013 achieved revenues of $12.7 billion. For the first time, iPad represented only 50% of worldwide end-user revenues. Apple split the market with all other branded vendors at $6.3 billion in the quarter.

Notably, the average selling price of the iPad dropped 17% while the average selling price of other tablets increased 17% in the past year. This is due to the introduction of the smaller and cheaper iPad mini.

“Twelve months is a long time for the peak lifecycle of a contemporary tablet. To remain a leader, Apple must continue to innovate and address real-world market needs,” adds Orr.

Apple is widely expected to release a new iPad 5 in October; however, it's unclear if the company will launch a new Retina Display iPad mini at the same time.

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- Posted using my iPhone 5

Saturday, September 28, 2013

Leaving Your Laptop Always Plugged In Will Kill Its Battery Faster

Leaving your laptop always plugged in will kill its battery life faster, according to a recent report from Wired. In fact, you shouldn't even let it charge to 100%.

Cadex Electronics CEO Isidor Buchmann tells the site that ideally users would charge their laptops to 80% and then drain them to 40%, prolonging their battery life by up to 4x.

The reason is that each cell in a lithium-polymer battery is charged to a voltage level. The higher the charge percentage, the higher the voltage level. The more voltage a cell has to store, the more stress it’s put under. That stress leads to fewer discharge cycles. For example, Battery University states that a battery charged to 100 percent will have only 300-500 discharge cycles, while a battery charged to 70 percent will get 1,200-2,000 discharge cycles.

This is simple in theory but much harder in practice. The report suggests timing how long it takes your device to charge from 40% to 80% and then setting a timer when you first plug your laptop in to charge.

If you can remember to follow Buchmann's advice, a four times increase in battery life is a significant improvement.

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Samsung Announces Two Gold Galaxy S4 Editions Following the Success of the Gold iPhone 5s

Samsung has announced two gold Galaxy S4 smartphone editions following the success of the iPhone 5s in gold.

SamsungMobileArabia tweeted:

Introducing the new #GalaxyS4 Gold Edition - for a style that's uniquely yours! pic.twitter.com/XkFu4zceHT

Samsung Gulf also posted to Facebook saying:

Have you seen the new elegant #GalaxyS4 new #GoldEdition colors? Gold Brown or Gold Pink — with BuJoyee Fabiano Dilla.

It's unclear whether these new colors will only be available in the Middle East or whether they will make it to North America as well.

Check them out below...

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

App Store stops by 950K apps on its way to 1 million

Last time Apple checked in during its Q3 2013 earnings report it announced the App Store was home to 900,000 apps and over 375K designed specifically for iPad. Today, the App Store has now reached 950,000 apps and quickly approaches 1 million with Apple accepting 50K new apps in the last two months alone. The news comes from app discovery service Appsfire, which regularly tracks new and updated apps added to the App Store.

Apple often celebrates milestones for its App Store with some type of giveaway or contest for users. Earlier this year it made a number of premium apps available for free to celebrate the 5th anniversary of the App Store and also gave away a $10,000 App Store gift card to announce the 50 billionth app download. We wouldn’t be surprised to see Apple do something similar for the 1 millionth app on the App Store.

Apple has likely seen an increase in new app submissions in recent weeks, as a long list of developers update and release new apps to accompany last week’s launch of iOS 7 and the new iPhones. At the current rate, it will take Apple just another couple of months to hit the 1 million mark.

You can now download the new Limerain App and follow Limerain on the go. Also follow Limerain on Twitter, Facebook, or RSS to be notified of any updates.

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Send us a story or tip @ TipsForLimerain.com@gmail.com and follow our pages for the latest limera1n, and all tech stories, follow us on Twitter at @iphonepixelpost or @limerain_com
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- Posted using my iPhone 5

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

BlackBerry Announces BBM is Coming to iOS on September 22nd

BlackBerry has announced that BBM is coming to iOS on September 22nd and to Android on September 21st.

That’s right BBM fans — the iconic mobile social network will begin rolling out for Android and iPhone customers around the world from September 21. Soon, you’ll be able to easily connect with friends on different platforms. As you may know BBM was previously exclusive to BlackBerry smartphones, and it will be available as a free download in Google Play and the App Store.

BBM for Android and iPhone features:
● BBM Chat – Enjoy real, immediate conversations with friends on Android, iPhone and BlackBerry smartphones. Not only does BBM let you know that your message has been delivered and read, it also shows you that your friend is responding to the message.

● More than chat – With BBM you can share files on your phone such as photos and voice notes, all in an instant.

● Keep your group in the loop – Multi-person chats are a great way to invite contacts to chat together. BBM Groups lets you invite up to 30 friends to chat together, and go a step further than multi-chat by sharing photos and schedules. And, with Broadcast Message, you can send a message out to all your BBM contacts at once.

● Post Updates and stay in the know – BBM lets you post a personal message, profile picture and your current status, and lets your contacts know instantly in Updates.

● Your unique PIN – Every BBM user has a unique PIN that maintains your privacy, so you don’t have to give out your phone number or email address to a new or casual contact.

Availability:
BBM will be available as a free download for Android smartphones running Ice Cream Sandwich and Jelly Bean (Android 4.x) beginning at 7AM EDT on September 21. BBM for iPhones running iOS 6 and iOS 7 will become available for each market on the App Store schedule of 12:01 AM local time on September 22. For more information, or to download BBM for Android or iPhone, visit www.BBM.com.

The company has also announced a BBM Channels feature which will launch later this year.

BBM Channels will provide a forum for active, real conversations between you and the people, brands, celebrities, artists, service providers, communities and more, that matter to you. By creating a Channel, individuals and brands can engage their friends and communities in conversations sparked by their thoughts, ideas and passions. Subscribing to a Channel will let you join conversations with people who share your interests. In addition, BBM Video calling and BBM Voice calling are planned for availability for Android and iPhone in a future version.

Monday, September 16, 2013

Sprint Offers $100 Off the iPhone 5s or iPhone 5c to New Customers

Sprint is offering customers that switch from another carrier $100 off the new iPhone 5s or iPhone 5c.

Get up to $100 off any phone when you bring your number to Sprint.
Save up to $100 on any phone when you switch your number to Sprint. That's right, save an extra $100 on your favorite devices. Close this window to start shopping. All prices reflect the Bring Your Number Savings. Upgrades are not eligible for Bring Your Number Savings.

The company is also reportedly planning to launch a new 'One Up' early upgrade program on September 20th.

Thursday, September 12, 2013

Microsoft is Working on 'Cortana' Personal Assistant to Rival Siri

Microsoft is working on a 'Cortana' personal assistant to rival Apple's Siri and Google Now, reports ZDNet.

Signs of Cortana were first spotted on a Lumia allegedly purchased on eBay. The phone was running a beta of the Windows Phone OS and had an unrecognized app installed called 'zCortanaApp'. The 'z' indicates a test build.

The name 'Cortana' comes from an artificially intelligent character in the Halo series of video games. Like in the game, Microsoft's assistant will be able to learn and adapt using machine-learning technology such as the 'Satori' knowledge repository that powers Bing, says ZDNet.

Cortana will be more than just an app that lets users interact with their phones more naturally using voice commands. Cortana is core to the makeover of the entire "shell" -- the core services and experience -- of the future versions of Windows Phone, Windows and the Xbox One operating systems, from what I've heard from my contacts.

In Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's strategy memo from July he hinted at "a family of devices powered by a service-enabled shell."

"Our UI will be deeply personalized, based on the advanced, almost magical, intelligence in our cloud that learns more and more over time about people and the world. Our shell will natively support all of our essential services, and will be great at responding seamlessly to what people ask for, and even anticipating what they need before they ask for it."

The shell will "broker information among our services to bring them together on our devices in ways that will enable richer and deeper app experiences," Ballmer said.

The 'Cortana' assistant likely won't appear until 2014-2016, according to Microsoft execs. Bing officials reportedly told CNET that Microsoft decided to wait until it had something revolutionary, rather than evolutionary.