Devices Articles on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog

Apple going after face detection patent on iOS

by Mike Schramm (Dec 29th, 2011)

Patently Apple has a report on Apple's latest just-revealed patent application for a system that runs on iOS devices that would recognize user faces and their local presence (originally filed in Q2 of 2010, released by the USPTO this week). It sounds like the old Minority Report gag, where your ...

Apple patent suggests charger for multiple devices

by Mike Schramm (Nov 17th, 2011)

A new patent application filed by Apple suggests the company is working on putting together a device that would charge multiple Apple products at the same time, including an iPhone or iPod and a MacBook at the same time. The patent is for a "multi-output power supply" that would hook up a ...

Report: iOS 5 installed on 1 in 3 compatible devices

by Mike Schramm (Oct 18th, 2011)

Well, that was quick: Analytics firm Localytics says that iOS 5 is already installed on one of every three eligible devices, meaning that just a week or so after release, it's already set up and running on a big chunk of the ecosystem. Even taking the iPhone 4S out of the equation (which of ...

Rumor: GameStop to carry iOS devices, new and used

by Mike Schramm (Sep 5th, 2011)

This is intriguing: 9to5Mac is claiming that they've heard from multiple sources that GameStop will be carrying iOS devices, including iPhones, iPads, and iPod touches, in the very near future. The announcement was supposedly made last week to the various store managers at their annual ...

Survey: iOS not taking much gaming audience from gaming consoles

by Mike Schramm (Jul 12th, 2011)

Conventional wisdom says iOS is slowly chipping away at more traditional gaming devices like portable and home consoles, with even Nintendo admitting that Apple's handhelds are competition. But that role may be a little overstated, according to a new survey. Resolve Market Research found that ...

TUAW's Daily Mac App: Mactracker

by Samuel Gibbs (Jul 6th, 2011)

If you're an Apple fan and you've owned several Macs over the years, but can't quite remember what specs that Power Mac G4 Cube had, or whether the late-2006 MacBook Pro came with a Core 2 Duo or the previous generation Core Duo? You need Mactracker. The ultimate in Apple product reference, ...

Patent shows Aperture on iPad

by Mike Schramm (May 20th, 2011)

An Apple patent filed back in 2009 shows the Aperture app running on a larger touchscreen -- something akin to the iPad, though, of course, it didn't officially exist back then. The image is actually part of a larger patent that goes through the whole process of how user interface elements work ...

TUAW's Daily iOS App: Magic Piano

by Mike Schramm (May 5th, 2011)

Smule has brought its popular iPad app, Magic Piano, over to the iPhone and iPod touch this week, and one of the best things about it is that it's completely free. It still features all of the various music modes that the original app offers, including that one cats like so much, and the mode ...

Still more iPhone alarm clock issues in the UK

by Mike Schramm (Mar 28th, 2011)

You'd think that after the clock returned to Daylight Saving Time a little while back, iOS clocks would be back to normal, but no. Macworld is reporting that iPhone users in the UK are having even more issues with their device clocks, with some alarms not going off and others going off at the ...

Apple patent suggests multi-touch keyboards might be in the future

by Megan Lavey-Heaton (Jan 24th, 2011)

A new Apple patent uncovered by MacRumors showcases the work of FingerWorks, which Apple purchased in 2005. FingerWorks, best known now for being the base of today's gesture-recognition technology, produced the TouchStream multi-touch keyboard early last decade. However, as demonstrated in ...

Apple patent suggests Magic Mouse with display panel

by Mike Schramm (Jan 20th, 2011)

A newly revealed Apple patent has an interesting take on the Magic Mouse: the patent shows a display embedded in its touch surface, creating sort of a mini iPod touch-style interface. It's not clear just how much processing power the display-enabled mouse itself would have, but uses mentioned in ...

Black Friday sees lots of new devices, record app downloads this year

by Mike Schramm (Nov 30th, 2010)

Flurry's analytics blog has a new post up about the bump that the App Store got last weekend. As I said in last week's talkcast, app developers have noticed that the holiday shopping season not only brings a slew of new iPod touches and iPhones into the mix (and this year, the iPad as well), but a ...

Amazon deal could affect Apple's publishing efforts

by Mike Schramm (Nov 9th, 2010)

Amazon has just backed down a bit on its newspaper publishing program for the Kindle service, and it's possible that it happened as a result of pressure from Apple itself. Amazon has announced a new plan for newspapers and their content that would give them a full 70% royalty split, a deal very ...

Survey: 32% of iPad owners have never downloaded an app [Update: 9%]

by Mike Schramm (Oct 21st, 2010)

This is a fascinating little stat that echoes a few anecdotal statements I've heard before. Nielsenwire is claiming that a full 32% of iPad owners have never actually downloaded an app on the device, with another 5% only downloading free apps. That's a pretty crazy figure when you think about it -- ...

Report: Android ad revenue beats iPhone, iOS and smartphone market still growing

by Mike Schramm (Oct 19th, 2010)

Millenial Media has released its latest report on cross-platform mobile advertising, and the iPhone has lost another step on the Android platform. According to Millenial's reporting, revenue for advertising from the Android platform has exceeded iPhone-only revenue. That's not quite as bad as it ...