The Galaxy S4 has become the only Android phone that matters

While it's not surprising that the iPhone 5s has dominated smartphone sales at major American carriers since its release this fall, it is somewhat surprising to see that the iPhone 5c has maintained a tight grip on the No. 3 spot at all major American carriers for the past three months as well. What this means is that, other than Samsung's Galaxy S4, no other smartphone has been able to match sales of a device that many reports have indicated has been a disappointment.



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Posted in 2013 at 08:35PM, December 13

YouTube’s copyright cops are coming after gamers’ ‘Let’s Play’ videos

Under constant pressure and foot-stamping from copyright holders, Google has implemented a new system within YouTube that automatically flags videos that may contain copyrighted material. The trouble, as Computer and Video Games reports, is that the new system is flagging a lot of gamers' "Let's Play" videos where they give multipart walkthroughs of popular video games overlapped with their own commentary. While such videos may technically violate gaming companies' intellectual property rights, game publishers have long tolerated and even encouraged them since they're great ways to promote games online.



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Posted in 2013 at 08:35PM, December 11

Apple’s Schiller: ‘Copied’ Samsung phones sully iPhone’s prestige

Apple marketing boss Phil Schiller isn't done raking Samsung over the coals just yet. Per The Wall Street Journal , Schiller told the jury in the latest Apple-Samsung patent trial that he was "shocked" when he first saw Samsung's Galaxy line of smartphones because "they went and copied the iPhone." This was particularly traumatizing for Schiller because he immediately worried that innocent consumers would start associating the iPhone with Samsung's supposedly subpar plastic offerings.



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Posted in 2013 at 08:35PM, November 15

Video: Microsoft’s first Xbox One ad celebrates the glory of escapism

With the console wars set to heat up again this holiday season, Microsoft has fired its opening advertising volley with a terrific Xbox One ad that celebrates the joys of escapism. The ad depicts several fictional characters, from a giant robot to a zombie to Mr. Spock, beckoning everyday people to leave their presumably boring lives for a bit of fun, either through playing games or watching their favorite movies. The ad deftly shows the new console's voice activation capabilities and its ability to act as a set-top box for your television. The full ad follows below.



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Posted in 2013 at 08:35PM, October 25

Microsoft: Apple’s iWork suite isn’t worth giving away

Apple's events typically lean on hardware announcements, such as the debut of the iPad Air on Tuesday, but the tech giant took some time to talk about software updates as well, including the revamped — and now entirely free — iWork suite of applications. There must be something in the air today, because not only has T-Mobile taken AT&T to task over tablet data plans, but now Microsoft is joining in on the fun with a savage riposte of its own.



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Posted in 2013 at 08:35PM, October 23

BlackBerry wisely latches onto iOS and Android with its new cloud service

As BlackBerry's presence in the phone market begins to dissipate, the company has been exploring its options in mobile device management. It unveiled one of its upcoming services at Gartner Symposium ITxpo 2013: a cloud service for every mobile platform. BlackBerry says that the main draws of its cloud service, among the countless cloud services that are already available, are its ease of use, its price, and its ability to function with iOS, Android and BlackBerry devices. On the Inside BlackBerry for Business Blog , the company says that the service "will require no IT experience, servers, or software," and "will cost less than a cup of coffee a month." There will be plenty of management tools within the service for administrators and end-users as well. BlackBerry has yet to announce a release date for the cloud service.

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Posted in 2013 at 08:35PM, October 08