Technology Today ( Apple,iPhone,iPad,Mac – Google,Tables,Android )
Apple
Apps have created 466,000 U.S. jobs in four years
Feb 7th
Apps for mobile devices are a surprisingly robust source of jobs in the United States, according to research from TechNet. Since 2008, apps have created 466,000 American jobs. TechNet estimates that about 155,000 of those tech-related jobs are related to app development and tech support, while the remaining 311,000 jobs also require tech skills but include things like app marketing and art design.
Of those jobs, the highest percentage (23.8 percent) of the total are located in California. Other app hot spots include New York (6.9 percent), Washington (6.4 percent), Texas (5.4 percent) and New Jersey (4.2 percent). Central Florida doesn’t want to be left out, as the Orlando Sentinel reports; local universities and training institutes are high on app development learning programs for would-be developers.
These numbers include not only jobs created for iOS apps, but also those triggered by the development of apps for Android, BlackBerry, Windows Phone, and Facebook.
[via The Loop]
Source: http://www.technet.org/
Article source: http://www.tuaw.com/2012/02/07/apps-have-created-466-000-u-s-jobs-in-four-years/
A second look (and listen) to Evi voice recognition for iPhone
Feb 7th
Evi is the sort-of Siri clone. The $0.99 iPhone app is aimed mainly at people who don’t have an iPhone 4S and want a Siri-like voice control experience.
When I tried Evi some weeks ago it was a complete disaster. In a week of testing I could not connect once because of server issues. The developers said they were adding server capacity, and it seems they have. In extensive tests of the app this week, I only had one time when Evi was busy and couldn’t respond. That is a great improvement.
I found a lot to like now that the app is working, and some things that Evi excels at. When I asked Evi who the Chancellor of Germany was, I got the correct information, as well as pictures. Siri also got the question right, but no pictures. I thought the Evi experience was a bit better.
When I asked for the best hamburger in Omaha, I got referred to a web site about Omaha Hamburger Joints from Urban Spoon. Siri rated the best ones based on reviews from Yelp. I thought Siri was more helpful, but Evi does include a web browser so you can stay in the app. Sometimes Evi does figure out the best local favorites without sending you to the web, but it seems hit and miss.
For current weather Evi is second rate. When I asked for the weather in Phoenix it suggested the National Weather Service Web Page. Siri answered me directly and brought up the iPhone weather app.
Where Evi really shines is if you ask a question with rather complicated syntax. Asking “Who is older, Barack Obama or
Article source: http://www.tuaw.com/2012/02/07/a-second-look-and-listen-to-evi-for-iphone/
Considering Aperture for iOS
Feb 7th
Gabe Glick over at Macstories has a proposal: Aperture for iOS. On the surface, it sounds like a pretty silly idea — Apple’s high end camera app is really made for a desktop environment, and with the hassle required to get high quality photos onto iOS devices, there really isn’t a point bringing Aperture over to a platform like the iPad. But Glick, though he agrees with the naysayers to a certain extent, is willing to take the opposite position. He says that he thinks Aperture is coming to the iPad with the announcement (expected sometime this year) of the iPad 3.
So we’ll let him make his case. He says the Retina Display is a big benefit, for photographers who really want to see their pictures close up and in full color. Of course, the iPad 2 doesn’t have a Retina Display, but if the iPad 3 gets the same kind of high definition screen that the iPhone 4 already has, Aperture would be more likely. iCloud’s photo stream would make it easy to get pictures on the mobile device, a better A6 processor would make editing RAW photos and other high end resolutions easier as well, and finally, Glick says that a “professional workhorse” app like Aperture shouldn’t be automatically dismissed from the iPad. Most people would have said the same thing about iMovie and GarageBand on the iPad, and both of those have done quite well.
When you put it like that, well, sure. Obviously this is all just speculation — we won’t know that Apple is releasing an app like this until it’s actually announced on stage. But I will say as well that I’ve been trying to make noise
Article source: http://www.tuaw.com/2012/02/07/considering-aperture-for-ios/
Apple enjoys free Super Bowl advertising courtesy of NY Giants
Feb 7th
While some tech pundits are bemoaning Apple’s lack of ads during the Super Bowl on Sunday (the company hasn’t run an ad during the big game for years), The Street’s Jim Cramer is taking another view and one that is much more rooted in reality. Apple didn’t need to pay for expensive Super Bowl air time, because the World Champion NY Giants provided tons of free advertising for the iPhone.
As Cramer noted, “… there was one ad that struck me as the most honest, most riveting and most compelling of all. You see, the game had just ended, and Colts great Raymond Berry ran the Giant gantlet with the Lombardi Trophy. Suddenly it seemed like every other Giant pulled out an Apple iPhone to snap pictures of the moment. One after another after another. And I said to myself, there it is, not some pet dangling a bag of chips or some headlights killing vampires or King Elton getting trapdoored. Nope, there was an ad worthy of Steve Jobs and the company he built.”
Cramer went on to say “To me, the endorsement of Apple by real athletes who were not paid, especially when contrasted with the gift of the GM Corvette that Eli Manning didn’t even seem to care about — ‘Eli, the keys, the keys, don’t forget the keys!’ — said it all … when everyone else is paying $3 million per commercial, Apple paid nothing and easily had the best ad of all.”
To see what Cramer’s talking about, just check out the YouTube video below and count the number of iPhones that you see snapping photos and shooting video of Raymond Berry and the
Article source: http://www.tuaw.com/2012/02/07/apple-enjoys-free-super-bowl-advertising-courtesy-of-ny-giants/
WiebeTech Drive eRazer Ultra provides super-secure drive wiping
Feb 7th
For Mac repair shops, enterprise tech support teams, and consultants who need to wipe all data off of hard drives before selling or recycling old Macs, there’s now a fast way to erase those drives without tying up a machine for a long time. WiebeTech has a new device called the Drive eRazer Ultra (US$249) that promises to make cleaning those pesky drives a fast and easy process.
WiebeTech provided a Drive eRazer Ultra to TUAW for testing and review, and the device does an amazing job of wiping all of that private or corporate information off of hard drives. In this review you’ll read about what makes the Drive eRazer Ultra such a useful device.
To start off with, erasing a computer’s hard drive completely usually means that you remove the drive from the computer. Sure, you can boot a computer off of an external drive and then run a utility to do the dirty work on an internal drive, but that ties up the computer for the entire time that the drive is being erased. Using a multiple-pass erase to ensure that your drive is completely unreadable can literally take days if you’re using Apple’s Disk Utility to do the job, and other software-based erasure methods take equally as long.
The Drive eRazer Ultra erases drives at their maximum write speed, so the job is done faster. WiebeTech says that new drives are erased at 7 GB/minute while older drives will putt along at 7 GB/minute. No computer is required — you just remove the hard drive, then use the included cables to connect it to the Drive eRazer Ultra. The device has a rocker switch and two-line
Article source: http://www.tuaw.com/2012/02/07/wiebetech-drive-erazer-ultra-provides-super-secure-drive-wiping/
VooMote Zapper universal remote for iOS: A first look and a rant
Feb 7th
Zero1.tv has released its new VooMote Zapper (US$69.95) universal remote for iOS devices into the wild, and it’s also now in your nearby Apple Store. I had an opportunity to try the new device out over the last week, and while less expensive and smaller than the VooMote One remote we mentioned at its release last last year, the Zapper still seems to have some of the same issues that many other iOS remotes have.
First, the good news. The tiny Zapper plugs into the 30-pin Universal Dock port on the bottom of your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad. As such, it’s able to provide the infrared transceiver on the device with more power than some of the cheap devices we’ve seen that plug into the headphone jack. The company boasts that the Zapper has four IR mini-blasters for range, and it really does seem to make a difference. I found that the Zapper was able to control devices easily from across a room in broad daylight, so it’s definitely got the power.
The dongle comes in eight colors that match the iPad 2 Smart Covers, and it appears that there will be colored cases for iPad 2, iPhone 4/4S, and iPod touch 4th Generation. Those cases you see in the image at the top of this post? They’re not available yet.
VooMote Zapper
Now, the not-so-good news. Even after getting an update to the free VooMote Zapper app the other day, most of the devices that make up my home entertainment system were not in
Article source: http://www.tuaw.com/2012/02/07/voomote-zapper-universal-remote-for-ios-a-first-look-and-a-rant/
VP of iPhone and iPod Engineering David Tupman leaves Apple
Feb 7th
David Tupman, the VP of iPhone and iPod Engineering at Apple, made his exit from Cupertino at the end of last year, according to reports at 9to5Mac. Tupman, who grew up in the UK, has a background in engineering, and has been in the position ever since the introduction of the first iPod, all the way up through the release of the iPhone 4. It’s unknown where Tupman is headed next — it’s rumored that he may be headed to work on Nest with another former Apple Engineer, Tony Fadell, but Nest denies those rumors.
As for Apple, it’ll be fine, of course. A company doing as well as Apple will likely be able to pick up any engineers it would like, and even if not, there are quite a few candidates inside the company that could step up into the Engineering position, including the current head of iPad engineering, or the person in charge of iPod and iPhone design. Meanwhile, best of luck to Mr. Tupman — thanks for all your hard work.
Source: http://9to5mac.com/2012/02/06/vice-president-of-iphone-and-i…
Article source: http://www.tuaw.com/2012/02/07/vp-of-iphone-and-ipod-engineering-david-tupman-leaves-apple/
Mass Effect 3 getting an iOS game
Feb 7th
Mass Effect 2 got its own iOS game when it was released on the traditional consoles a few years ago, and since Mass Effect 3 is due out in another month or so here, you probably won’t be surprised to hear that EA is again planning another iOS game tie-in for the release. This time around, though, it sounds like they’re doing it a little more intelligently. The last game focused on the first companion you met in the full console game, telling a little bit about his backstory through a pretty straightforward (and honestly, kind of boring) action game. This time around, the iOS title will again be action-based, as a third-person shooter, but instead of just telling background story, it will directly affect one of the main game’s elements.
Playing the iOS game will “increase a player’s Galactic Readiness rating,” which is an element directly used in Mass Effect 3′s “Galaxy at War” system (which will also tie in to the multiplayer elements in the game). It sounds like the iOS title is more of an arcade title than a full campaign game, which means that the more you play it, the better your starting console game stats will be. EA also says that you’ll be able to earn “exclusive weaponry” for the main title, so that’s a nice bonus as well.
The Mass Effect tie-in game is called Mass Effect Infiltrator, and should be available for all modern iOS devices soon. It’ll be interesting to see what EA does with this one — the company has learned a lot about the iOS platform since the last tie-in title, and with anticipation for Mass Effect 3 at a fever pitch,
Article source: http://www.tuaw.com/2012/02/07/mass-effect-3-getting-an-ios-game/
Where To? for iPhone updated with more reviews, pictures, and now videos
Feb 7th
One of my favorite navigation apps for the iPhone, Where To?, has been updated to include more pictures, more reviews, and some videos of selected destinations.
Reviews and media are sourced from users and Google. The app features 700 categories of destinations, and more than 2,400 brands (e.g. In-N-Out Burger or Trader Joe’s). The app features augmented reality as a US$0.99 option, which uses the camera to superimpose directions over local scenery. The app has added direct links to GPS navigation systems Sygic, Waze, Navmii, Navfree and NAVIGON Urban (German App Store only). The app also supports TomTom, Navigon, MotionX and of course, Google Maps.
This latest version has added support for state National Parks in the US, Canada and Australia. The app itself operates in 10 languages, so it’s going to be helpful for users around the globe. I did a drive-around test and found it worked reliably and smoothly. I sent a couple of destinations to my Navigon app, and that worked flawlessly. I think the app is useful in your home town, but really comes into its own when traveling and looking for that special restaurant, hotel, or even the nearest pharmacy or hardware store.
Where To? version 4.1 is a free update for anyone who has version 2 or higher. Owners of version 1.0 will have to buy this latest version if they want the upgrade. The app is $2.99 and the augmented reality feature is another $0.99. Where To? 4.1 requires iOS 4.0 or greater. I’ve included some screen shots of Where To? in action.
Where To? destination finder for iOS
First Enyo app makes the iOS leap
Feb 7th
Enyo is an application development platform created by HP for webOS. It’s open source and based on web standards like JavaScript. Best of all, it can be used to create apps for other platforms like Android and iOS.
The first Enyo-based app for iOS, FlashCards To Go, was unveiled last month when HP announced its timetable for releasing webOS to the open source community. Created by developer James Harris, the iPad title is a full-featured flashcards app that has a strong webOS look and feel. It’s available for US$3.99 and works on any iPad running iOS 5. The flash cards app is also available on Android and both a Mac OS X and BlackBerry version are under development as well.
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app, apps, Enyo, flash cards, FlashCards, FlashCards To Go, FlashcardsToGo, iOS, iPad, software, webOS
Source: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/flashcards-to-go/id497912529?…
Article source: http://www.tuaw.com/2012/02/07/first-enyo-app-makes-the-ios-leap/