iLive Clock Radio is one sexy-looking iPhone dock

Most iPhone docks don't do very much with the phone - you just leave it on to charge for the night and that's about it. Well, that's where the iLive Clock Radio Dock comes into play. The dock comes with a clock face that's missing the 12, and when the iPhone is plugged in, it displays the 12 and the clock hands with the use of an app. Charging your iPhone and turning it into a clock at the same time is a pretty great idea.

Unfortunately, a clock designed in this way means that without the iPhone it is pretty useless. But hey - so are other docks - at least this one gives you the added benefit of an analog clock and it's more functional than the wooden iPhone 4 alarm dock. The iLive Clock Radio Dock is available now for $49.99 from the iLive website.

Facebook does iPad app at last

Facebook does seem to have yielded to the pressure of not having an iPad app - never mind that the iPhone already has a Facebook app on the Apple App Store when it opened in July a few years ago. Winds of change are a-comin' as there are industry insiders who claim that Facebook is on its way to introduce a free iPad application which has been specially designed and optimized for the tablet.
In production for almost a year, and having gone through several design iterations, it should be in its final stages of testing now. Other than that, no further details were released, since the product plans are strictly confidential.

Those who have seen the application claim that it boasts a slick design which has been specially tailored for the iPad and its touchscreen interface. It seems that the Facebook Chat and Facebook Groups features will be overhauled as well, and you can even shoot and upload photos and videos using the iPad's built-in camera to boot.

Initial impressions have been nothing short of positive, so hopefully all this good vibes will be translated to a stunning app when it arrives.

Legal Notices In iOS 5 Hint at Future Apple Navigation App

There's been a long-standing rumor that Apple is at work on big mapping/navigation project for iOS. The company hasn't let much slip about its plans, but public job postings paint the picture that Apple's been assembling a team for just such a mission. Now an eagle-eyed user of the iOS 5 developer release spotted something curious in the operating system's legal notices, adding more ammunition to the case for a new Apple mapping app.

Notices include those dealing with the offerings of at least nine companies with ties to mapping and navigation. Though some of them provide data for Google's map services as well, there are distinct entries here that look like they're the result of new agreements that Apple has made itself.

Among the companies, Waze deals in crowd-sourced traffic data. We heard that Apple was interested in just that sort of technology, relying on information gathered from users to provide real-time congestion information. That association is likely to be the closest thing to a smoking gun we're liable to come across at this point.

While Apple is still using Google data for Maps at this point, it seems that it's setting itself up for a future where it will have the resources to offer its own mapping solution; we just don't know how long that will take.

Chair Entertainment Founder: "I Cannot Wait" for Physical Controllers for iPhones

At Apple's iPhone 5c/5s event on Tuesday, Chair Entertainment co-founder and creative director Donald Mustard debuted Infinity Blade 3, the newest game in the popular iOS sword-fighting series. Naturally, he's making the rounds this week to talk about the new game and how it takes advantage of the iPhone's hardware ... but that's not stopping him from hinting at more to come.

Mustard characterized Infinity Blade 3 as a "statement" of the power of touchscreen design, saying the series "spawned a whole new genre of game." However, absent from the iPhone event this week was an update on how iOS 7 will support physical game controller peripherals, one of the features mentioned at this year's WWDC keynote.

Mustard said he's excited for that eventuality.

"I cannot wait for the day when we can make a mobile game that's supported by a more traditional controller," he said.

He said fans have asked him when Chair would make a touchscreen version of one of its pre-Infinity Blade games, Shadow Complex. The answer: never!

"Shadow Complex wouldn't be good with touchscreen controls," Mustard said, adding that Infinity Blade would not work as well on Xbox. If Chair makes a mobile game for a physical controller peripheral, he said, it "would want to design the experience from the ground up."

It would also be possible to have a mobile game that combines both forms of control, he mused.

In the meantime, though, Infinity Blade 3 at least looked good in Mustard's demo. The battle he showed off on the iPhone 5s featured an imposing and smoothly animated dragon, which was far larger than the game series' previous bosses. Although the dragon will look best on the 5s, it and other animations in the game will still look "awesome" on the iPhone 4, Mustard said, calling the latter device "still pretty damn powerful."

IB3 will cost $6.99 when it goes on sale for iOS devices on Sept. 20, timed to the launch of the 5c and 5s.

Google+ for iPhone coming within days

Dedicated iOS app on the way

Google's Google+ for iPhone app should be landing in the App Store within the next 2 weeks according to the big G, after confirming that it has submitted the app to Apple for approval.

The new app, which only works for those who have access to the new closed beta service, promises to give Google+ users the chance to catch up on their new found friends and the social network from a dedicated app rather than just the mobile website currently available.

Googler Erica Joy made it very clear in a post on Google+:

"For my iPhone using friends: the Google+ iPhone app has been submitted to the App store (no not today, sometime prior to today) and is awaiting approval."

Of course there is no guarantee that Apple will approve the app as is. Many question whether or not the Cupertino-based company will allow the app to upload photos in the background, something no other app to our knowledge does.

The Android version of the Google+ app gives you full control over the new social network as well as offering other features like automatically adding people to your Contacts book and letting you "Huddle", two other features that might not make it to the iOS version.

Are you looking forward to the iPhone app? Let us know.

iPhone 5 concept looks sleek

Speculations are up in the air to when the next iPhone will be released, the features it's going to have and most importantly - how it should look like. A lot of people believe that Apple will be keeping the design of the iPhone 4, while others believe that it's going to have a dramatic facelift. Antoine Brieux of NAK Studio recently came up with his own ideas of what the iPhone 5 would look like, and boy it sure looks sleek.

In some ways it reminds me of an elongated iPod Nano (due to the colored aluminum and shape of the bezel) but that isn't a bad thing since I thought the iPod Nano looked pretty good in the first place. But if the next iPhone 5 looks this good or even better - it's going to have no trouble selling (not that it would have any trouble in the first place). What do you think of this iPhone 5 concept design?

Electronic Arts' Top Retail Partner? Apple.

The Simpsons: Tapped Out by Electronic Arts

For games publisher Electronic Arts, brick-and-mortar stores have historically generated the bulk of its sales. But not anymore.

Reporting first-quarter earnings this week, EA said that digital sales have surpassed those made through physical outlets. The company's top retail partner for the period? Not GameStop. Not Walmart. Not Amazon.

Apple.

"Our quarter was notable for its strong digital sales," EA COO Peter Moore explained. "To that end, Apple was EA's biggest retail partner as measured by sales. That is a first."

That's quite a milestone for EA and Apple, both. Remember, EA is the world's third-largest gaming company.

Moore didn't say exactly how much revenue Apple was responsible for. But, of $495 million in total revenue EA posted for the quarter, $378 million was digital, and $90 million of that originated on smartphones and tablets. So, some portion of that.

Not a huge number, but big enough, and one that speaks to Apple's growing importance in the gaming space. How many more game sales will Apple drive once it has released iOS 7, which includes game-controller support? How many more when it finally brings gaming support to Apple TV - which seems inevitable? As Gabe Newell, co-founder of celebrated videogame publisher Valve, said earlier this year, "The threat right now is that Apple has gained a huge amount of market share, and has a relatively obvious pathway towards entering the living room with their platform. I think that there's a scenario where we see sort of a dumbed down living room platform emerging - I think Apple rolls the console guys really easily."

Samsung Accounted for a Third of Smartphone Sales Last Quarter, While Apple's Share Fell

Samsung's second-quarter smartphone shipments hit 76 million last quarter - up 56 percent from the prior year, and giving the company a 33 percent share of the global market.

iStockphoto | aluxum

Apple, meanwhile, shipped 31.2 million iPhones, a 20 percent year-over-year rise, and good for second place worldwide. However, that trailed the overall smartphone industry, and meant that Apple's market share fell to 14 percent - its lowest level since the second quarter of 2010, according to market research firm Strategy Analytics.

"The current iPhone portfolio is under-performing and Apple is at risk of being trapped in a pincer movement between rival 3-inch Android models at the low-end and 5-inch Android models at the high-end," Strategy Analytics' Neil Mawston said in a statement.

Overall, smartphone shipments hit 230 million for the second quarter, up 47 percent from a year earlier, and representing 59 percent of all mobile phones sold.

"The smartphone industry's shipment growth rate, which is higher today than a year ago, is being driven by surging demand for 4G models in developed regions like the US and 3G models in emerging markets such as India," Neil Shah, senior analyst at Strategy Analytics, said in a statement.

Korea's LG doubled shipments from a year earlier to 12.1 million units, enough to give it five percent global market share and the No. 3 spot, just ahead of China's ZTE and Huawei, each of which shipped more than 11 million smartphones.

After Hacking Attack, Apple's Dev Center Site Is Up and Running Again

Eight days after taking it down in response to a security breach, Apple has restored the website for its Developer Center.

Apple didn't immediately respond to requests for comment. But the entry page of the site was clearly visible this afternoon. Some sections, like forums, were still offline. Certificates, identifiers and profiles were back online.

An email circulated to Apple developers said, "Thank you for bearing with us while we bring these important systems back online. We will continue to update you with our progress." It has also added a system status page so members can keep track of what's back and working and what's not.

Access to the site had been curtailed for several days as Apple investigated the circumstances of a security incident said to have occurred on July 18.

The company said in an email to its developer community (see below) three days after the incident took place that the site had been accessed by what it called "an intruder."

Apple said in the original email disclosing the breach that it would be "completely overhauling our developer systems, updating our server software, and rebuilding our entire database." It hasn't gone into any further detail about the nature of the attack.

The Apple developer site grants access to iOS 7, OS X Mavericks and other software development tools. When it first went down it was marked with a notice saying it was down for maintenance. A later notice apologized that maintenance was taking longer than expected. Developers were told that memberships that would have expired during the downtime had been automatically extended.

Since extended downtime of this sort is rare with Apple, people in the dev community naturally began to wonder what was up. Apple finally came clean about the attempted attack and said that "...we have not been able to rule out the possibility that some developers' names, mailing addresses, and/or email addresses may have been accessed." Still no word on that.

Here's the full text of the email sent around to developers.

Developer Certificates, Identifiers & Profiles Now Available

We appreciate your patience as we work to bring our developer services back online. Certificates, Identifiers & Profiles, software downloads, and other developer services are now available. If you would like to know the availability of a particular system, visit our status page.

If your program membership expired or is set to expire during this downtime. It will be extended and your app will remain on the App Store. If you have any other concerns about your account please contact us.

Thank you for bearing with us while we bring these important systems back online. We will continue to update you with our progress.

Twelve Things About Voxer's Tom Katis

Frustration was the impetus for Tom Katis to co-found Voxer in 2007. While he was serving in the U.S. Special Forces in Afghanistan, he experienced the limitations of communication via military walkie-talkie firsthand. Now his push-to-talk app is looking to be the Nextel of the future, with free Voxer Pro and Voxer Pro for Business versions available on iOS and Android. He sat down recently to answer some of our questions about what interests and drives him.

What qualities do you like in a person?
The qualities I find appealing are simple: Courage, intellect, enthusiasm.

Name one thing you will regret never having done (if you never do it).
Having kids. I love my life, but I feel like I'm missing out on something if I never have kids.

Name one thing you will never regret having done.
Challenging myself. Attempting something hard. Even if I fail.

Do you still buy CDs or rent DVDs?
No. I get everything off the Internet all the time. Sometimes I use a thumb drive to move media around, but even that seems counter to where things are going.

What would you be doing if you were not in your current job?
I am doing exactly what I want to be doing. I pay myself nothing and have given myself no stock options. It doesn't feel like work. I built Voxer for myself. I want Voxer to exist in the world, and it's exciting to make it happen.

iPhone, Android or BlackBerry?
iPhone. Android keeps getting better, but iPhones are still the best devices out there.

If you could meet any historical or fictional person, who would it be?
George Washington. President of the most important startup in the history of the world.

What site/app do you check first when you wake up?
Voxer, then email, then Techmeme.

What was the last thing you fixed?
Push-to-talk communication. Live-only communication is so 1930s.

What was your first computer?
TRS-80. I suppose that dates me, since most of the people I work with weren't even born when it first launched.

Do you have a dog or cat or other pet?
No. I'll get a pet when I have kids.

If you could have any superpower, what would you choose?
To fly. Not that it would be useful in any particular way, but it just seems cool.

Developer creates proxy server for Siri, controls thermostat with his voice (video)

Now that Siri's protocol has been freshly dissected and laid bare for the world to behold, hackers have been busy finding ways to move Apple's personal assistant beyond the realm of the iPhone 4S. That task may be getting easier, however, now that a developer has created his very own third-party proxy server, designed specifically for Siri. The dev, known by his Twitter handle @plamoni, demonstrated his brainchild in a recent video clip, using a plug-in to control a WiFi thermostat with only voice commands. As @plamoni explains, the hack won't require users to jailbreak their iPhone 4S, but it won't let them port Siri over to earlier iPhones or iPod Touch models, either - not yet, at least. The idea, according to the developer, is to make it easier for other hackers to experiment with and build upon Siri's functionality. Head past the break to see the demo video for yourself, or if you're up for it, grab the source code and instructions on how to create your own server, at the source link below.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AN6wy0keQqo

Twitter's TV Guide Experiment Gets a Little Closer to Prime Time

Twitter often describes itself as a digital town square. But that's not the only metaphor it likes: Twitter is also intent on becoming a TV Guide.

Dick Costolo and company talked a lot about the Twitter + TV concept in the runup to their IPO, but the idea is still a work in progress. You can get a hint of Twitter's ambitions in its latest mobile app overhaul.

You'll have to look hard, though:

• Get the newest version of Twitter's iOS and Android apps.
• Click on the "Discover" tab.
• Click on the "Trending" button.
• Scroll down.
• Keep scrolling.
• Keep scrolling ...

Got it? Tucked away in the corner of its app, Twitter is now promoting TV shows to its users, supposedly based on the amount of chatter they are generating on the service (click images to enlarge).

A handful of Twitter users saw these banners this summer, when Twitter tried a test run. Now all of you can see them.

The Twitter TV promotions aren't formal ads, though you could easily imagine a way Twitter might charge for them, directly or indirectly. More important to Twitter is the idea that it can drive traffic to TV shows (which it is also trying to do with Comcast and the cable company's "Seeit" buttons).

Twitter also likes the notion that TV shows are something that appeal to lots of mainstream users - the kind it would very much like to recruit and keep on the service.

So what will all of that mean? Not much, yet: If Twitter was really serious about this stuff, it would move it out of a subfolder in a section of the app normal people don't ever visit. So it's safe to assume this is still in the experimental phase.

On the other hand, the fact that Twitter is now experimenting where everyone can see its work, instead of a tiny subset of its users, means ... something. The trick is figuring out how to surface this stuff in a way that doesn't dismay its current users, and, more importantly, in a way that makes sense to new users, who Twitter really needs.

My hunch: Twitter eventually marries TV recommendations with the mechanics of Magic Recs and Event Parrot, two other Twitter experiments that deliver information - interesting users, or interesting news - to users who have asked for it.

Microsoft Releases Outlook Web App for iOS

Microsoft is releasing another Office app for iOS, kind of. The new Office Web App for iPhone and iPad is designed for businesses who use Office 365 to access the full functionality of Outlook Web App. Although Microsoft has been supporting a web version of this previously, the software maker has packaged it up into a "native" app for iOS. If your work place subscribes to Office 365 then the benefits are clear, but if it's not then it's useless for those thousands of Exchange servers that run in enterprises today. The app does package together Mail, Calendar, and people into one neat package though. There's also a navigation screen that includes Live Tiles of information. Microsoft has built in voice input too, allowing users to executive commands like "open Calendar for tomorrow." Most of the UI is very similar to the existing Outlook Web App for Office 365, and apps for Outlook will work here too.

Read the full story at The Verge.

Google Maps 2.0 Rolls out to iOS, Offers iPad Support and More

Poor Apple Maps. While we see very minor improvement from Apple's year-old Maps application, Google continues to improve its world-class offering pretty rapidly. Why, Wednesday, in fact, Google launched an update to the Google Maps for iOS app, adding support for the iPad, indoor maps, and a slew of other features that were released with the recent Android Google Maps update. Google Maps 2.0 now fully supports the larger screen sizes of the iPad and iPad mini, as well as offering indoor maps with walking directions for transit stations, airports, malls and other large buildings. Past that, you'll also notice that the Google Maps iOS app now offers better navigation with live traffic updates and incident reports. Meanwhile, Apple Maps still hasn't figured out transit directions.

Read the full story at TechCrunch.

WhatsApp Switches iOS Version Over to Yearly Subscription Model

WhatsApp, the popular mobile messaging app that eschews advertising in favor of a paid model, is getting ready to bring its iOS app in line with the apps it makes for other platforms by turning it into an annual subscription service. Jan Koum, WhatsApp's CEO, says that the company is planning this year to shift its iOS app to one where new users would pay annually to keep using, taking it away from a one-off download fee and bringing it in line with how it is distributed on the Android, BlackBerry, Nokia and Windows Phone platforms. The comments were made to Dutch journalist Alexander Klopping, and reproduced in part in two Dutch blogs, Tweakers and Techtastic. Klopping also provided us with recording of the interview, in English. The new subscription model would apply to new users, Koum said, and would likely follow the same pricing structure as its other apps.

Read the full story at TechCrunch.

Over 90% of iOS Apps are Free, Average Cost is 19 Cents

There's an emerging view among iOS developers that both the amount of work involved and value created by app development merit higher prices for apps. But a new study shows that developers test pricing tend to lower the price of their apps - or even charge nothing at all. New research published Thursday from mobile analytics firm Flurry, which looked at app pricing over the past four years for 350,000 apps using Flurry's mobile analytics service, found that developers are charging less for their apps over time, and many times, end up going completely free. (The results are weighted to account for number of users for each app.) The result is more ad-laden apps. But Flurry says purchase habits show that user demand is higher for apps that will cost them nothing, even if there are ads as a result.

Read the full story at Giga OM.

Apple® 16GB iPad with Retina display Wi-Fi + 4G LTE Cellular (Factory Unlocked) – Black

Apple 16GB iPad with Retina display Wi-Fi + 4G LTE Cellular (Factory Unlocked) - Black

• 9.7 Retina Display; 2048 x 1536 Resolution
• Apple iOS 6; Dual-Core A6X Chip with Quad-Core Graphics
• 5 MP iSight Camera; 1080p HD Video Recording
• Wi-Fi (802.11a/b/g/n) + 4G LTE; 16 GB Capacity
• Up to 10 Hours of Battery Life; 1.46 lbs

Apple iPad MC705LL/A (16GB, Wi-Fi + 4G LTE, Black) NEWEST MODEL.What's in the box: Apple 16GB new iPad with Wi-Fi + 4G LTE (Black), Dock Connector to USB Cable, 10W USB Power Adapter, Documentation.

My iPhone (Covers iPhone 4, 4S and 5 running iOS 6) (6th Edition)

My iPhone (Covers iPhone 4, 4S and 5 running iOS 6) (6th Edition)

Step-by-step instructions with callouts to iPhone images that show you exactly what to do. Help when you run into iPhone problems or limitations. Tips and Notes to help you get the most from your iPhone. Full-color, step-by-step tasks walk you through getting and keeping your iPhone working just the way you want. The tasks include how to: Connect to the Internet, Bluetooth devices, Wi-Fi networks, and other iPhones, iPods, and iPads Use Siri to get information,

Angry Birds Friends From Facebook To iOS And Android

Angry Birds Friends crashes onto Apple and Android devices, Thursday May 2. Fans of Facebook games might already be familiar with the social version of Rovio’s Angry Birds, as it appeared as a Facebook app last year.

Play against your friends in a competitive version of Angry Birds with a familiar style of gameplay fans have come to love. Rovio added a series of power ups designed to give Angry Birds Friends a bit of variation from the original games. However, all of your favorite birds return from previous titles, with the exception of the Mighty Eagle.

In game social currency is called Bird Coins and you earn them from defeating your friends in four different competitive modes. It is also believed that more Bird Coins can be bought through micro-transactions in app.

Get Angry Birds Friends this week at the Apple App Store and all Android App retailers and join your friends in bird flinging fun.

The Moment You Have Been Waiting For, Plants Vs Zombies 2

Plants Vs Zombies was a phenom with the casual and hardcore gamer alike.The game first attacked the PC and Mac crowd before the zombie invasion took over our iOS devices and soon spread to every console and gaming device known to humans. Now PopCap games has finally revealed that a sequel is set to be unleashed in July.

Not much is known about the sequel to the tower defense game but the title even pokes fun about the long wait, Plants Vs Zombies 2: It’s About Time. Hit the break for PopCap’s teaser trailer for Plants Vs Zombies 2: It’s About Time.