Tag: Mobile Tech

Chicago Sun-Times Fires Photographers in Favor of iPhone-Armed Reporters

In a depressing sign of the times, the Chicago Sun-Times has let go of its entire staff of photographers and will require reporters to take mandatory iPhone photography lessons. The cost-cutting measure was made partially due to the iPhone’s impressive camera and partially due to horrible judgement. While it’s a credit to how far phone cameras have come, it’s a slap in the face to skilled photographers everywhere. The decision screams “suit” and “bottom line,” with no consideration for quality content.

While I’m sure there are several Chicago Sun-Times reporters that can frame a snazzy photo, I’m also sure there are many that take crappy pictures. Writing quality news and taking quality news photographs are two extremely different skills. Being able to tell a story or complement a news piece with an image is a difficult thing to do well. It’s upsetting that the Chicago Sun-Times doesn’t see the value of quality photojournalism. Thinking that a team of iPhone-equipped reporters is an adequate replacements for trained photographers is just stupid.

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Yahoo! Adds 1TB of Space, New UI, Android App to Flickr

Once the darling photo service of the digerati, Flickr has languished under Yahoo!’s ownership…until now. When Marissa Mayer took over as Yahoo! CEO, one of her first goals was to make Flickr relevant again. She has done that with 1TB of storage, a new UI that emphasizes photos, and a lovely new Android app. Here’s a snippet from the official announcement:

Today, we’re thrilled to take Flickr even further with a beautiful, completely re-imagined experience that puts photos front and center. When it comes to photography, technology and its limits shouldn’t hinder the experience. So we’re also giving our Flickr users one terabyte of space — for free. That’s enough for a lifetime of photos — more than 500,000 original, full-resolution, pixel-perfect, brilliant photos. Flickr users will never have to worry about running out of space.

Most people will focus on the storage limit, which is a remarkable thing and reminds me of how Google (Mayer’s former company) used to trounce the competition in terms of storage space (remember when Gmail was first announced?). The new UI is a notable improvement. For too long, it was too easy to get lost in Flickr’s text, which is something you don’t want a photo-sharing service to do. While I’m still getting used to the new UI, I’m really enjoying it so far. Between the new storage limit and improved UI, I’m certain that I’ll be using Flickr more in 2013 than I have in the last few years combined.

Have you gotten a chance to check out the new Flickr yet? I’d love to hear your thoughts on it. Fire away in the comments section (please!).

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Noah Falstein Appointed Google Chief Game Designer

Between Android and Chrome OS, gaming has been a small but growing part of Google’s business. With Noah Falstein’s recent appointment as chief game designer, it looks like Google’s gaming ambitions are growing. However, there’s a lot of speculation as to what exactly those plans are and which products they’ll cover. Many have surmised that the company will up its Android gaming efforts, while others believe that Google Glass will be getting games.

For some background info on Falstein, here’s a clip from TechCrunch:

According to his bio Falstein’s been in the computer games industry since 1980, spanning companies such as LucasArts, 3DO, and Dreamworks Interactive, and is the designer behind a number of hit titles. He most recently ran his own consultancy, The Inspiracy, which offered companies help on game design, development and business, as well as being a regular on the lecture and speaking circuit.

A major interest of Falstein is the field of “Serious Games,” which he defines as “Using Games, Game Technology, or Game Industry Techniques for a purpose other than pure entertainment.” The list of Serious Games projects Falstein has been involved in spans anything from using game techniques to improve health and education, to financial projections.

The Google I/O developer conference is a few weeks away, so the company’s plans for gaming and Falstein’s role should be clarified then. For now, let’s play the speculation game! What do you think Google’s gaming plans are for the near future?

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Google Now Available For iOS

Google has updated its Google Search app for iOS to include Google Now. For those of you not familiar with the product, Google Now is an intelligent search assistant that uses natural language input and a card-based system to serve you information. Many tech experts feel that Google Now is a much more powerful and effective alternative to Apple’s Siri product. While there are certainly similarities, I believe that the products are different enough that a direct comparison is somewhat inaccurate. In practical terms, I’ve gotten way more mileage out of Google Now on my Android devices than Siri on my iOS devices.

Here’s a clip from Google’s blog with additional info:

Google Now is about giving you just the right information at just the right time. It can show you the day’s weather as you get dressed in the morning, or alert you that there’s heavy traffic between you and your butterfly-inducing date—so you’d better leave now! It can also share news updates on a story you’ve been following, remind you to leave for the airport so you can make your flight and much more. There’s no digging required: cards appear at the moment you need them most—and the more you use Google Now, the more you get out of it.

Due to the way Apple manages notifications and background processes, Google Now for iOS is slightly less powerful than its Android counterpart. It currently lacks some of the cards found in the Android version too. That said, it’s still a very powerful information tool and I recommend giving it a go.

If you play around with Google Now of iOS on your iPhone or iPad, I’d love to hear about your experience with it in the comments section.

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Dish Proposes $25.5-Billion Merger With Sprint

Sprint Nextel sure has a lot of suitors these days. Earlier in the year, it was being courted by Japanese company SoftBank to the tune of $20.1-billion. Satellite television provider Dish Network has trumped the offer, proposing a $25.5-billion merger. The deal would have huge ramifications for the mobile communications, telecommunications, and television industries, and is indicative of where these businesses are possibly heading. Here’s a clip from Dish’s press release:

DISH is offering Sprint shareholders a total consideration of $25.5 billion, consisting of $17.3 billion in cash and $8.2 billion in stock. Sprint shareholders would receive $7.00 per share, based upon DISH’s closing price on Friday, April 12, 2013. This consists of $4.76 per share in cash and 0.05953 DISH shares per Sprint share. The cash portion of DISH’s proposal represents an 18% premium over the $4.03 per share implied by the SoftBank proposal, and the equity portion represents approximately 32% ownership in the combined DISH/Sprint versus SoftBank’s proposal of a 30% interest in Sprint alone. Together this represents a 13% premium to the value of the existing SoftBank proposal.

Thanks to advances with mobile phones, tablets, and mobile broadband, mobile video demand has been surging for the last few years. The video quality and content choices are getting better and better all the time. For companies that are primarily in the video content businesses, owning and controlling mobile broadband services is a potentially powerful thing. Dish is known for giving its customers a nice selection of commercial-free content for phones and tablets.

Then there’s the matter of spectrum. Dish has acquired large chunks of mobile broadband spectrum at an estimated $9-billion. While many telecom companies sit on spectrum purchases, they eventually become use-it-or-lose-it assets. Sprint’s service is…clunky in several areas of America and the spectrum could be used to improve the network over the long haul.

Are any of you Dish or Sprint customers? How do you feel about a proposed merger between the two companies?

Verizon Wireless Changes Upgrade Terms

Verizon Wireless has announced several changes to how upgrades work for its postpaid customers. In the past, customers were able to get upgrade pricing 20 months into an existing contract in exchange for extending the contract by two years. That deal is over. Instead, customers will have to wait for the entire length of the contract to expire before being eligible for upgrade prices. Here’s an excerpt from a post by Verizon’s executive director of corporate communications Brenda Raney:

In alignment with the terms of the contract, customers on a two-year agreement will be eligible for an upgrade at 24 months vs. today’s early upgrade eligibility at 20 months. This change aligns the upgrade date with the contract end date and is consistent with how the majority of customers purchase new phones today.

In the immortal words of Lando Calrissian, “This deal is getting worse all the time!”

Some tech pundits have speculated that Verizon’s chief competitor, AT&T, will follow suit. Many also believe that the Sprint and T-Mobile, the (distant) third- and fourth-largest carriers in the U.S., will capitalize on the move and emphasize the more lenient terms each company offers.

For you Verizon customers out there, does this change your view on the company? Are you less likely to renew your contract because of the new terms? Or is it not a big deal to you?

Source via Droid-Life

How To Make a Fandango Ringtone With iTunes

For smarks, the hottest thing in the WWE is Fandango’s theme song, “ChaChaLaLa.” There are several reasons why the song is over; it’s an intricate, interesting, and ironic issue (the three Is, get it?!?). I’m not going to get into it right now, but what I will get into is how to make your very own Fandango ringtone. The current version of iTunes makes it super-easy to create your very own “ChaChaLaLa” ringtone for your iPhone. Here’s the rundown. Continue reading “How To Make a Fandango Ringtone With iTunes”

Green Throttle Android Gaming System Arrives

Back in November 2012, I wrote about Green Throttle Games. The company is being headed up by the guys that helped start the Guitar Hero craze. For its next act, CEO Charles Huang and crew want to turn your Android phone or tablet into your new videogame console. Unlike several of its competitors that are using Android and mobile chipsets to create dedicated consoles, Green Throttle is offering an app and a controller to complement phones and tablets people already have. That’s what the Green Throttle Arena app and Green Throttle Atlas controller are all about.

To give you an idea of how the Arena software works, check out VentureBeat’s video below.

What do you think of Green Throttle’s system? For you Android users out there, it this something you’d buy? For you iOS fanboys, do you think Apple will do something similar with a Bluetooth controller and an enhanced version of Game Center?

Xbox Founder Nat Brown on Why Consoles Will Lose

Nat Brown, one of the founders of Microsoft’s Xbox project, posted a long and excellent rant on the Xbox’s shortcomings. He believes that there are major issues with the system’s user experience and the company’s relationship with independent developers. He believes that these issues are why the Xbox is, “going to lose on in the living room battle with Android & iOS.” I highly recommend giving it a read. Here’s an excerpt:

So, because these two critical issues — user expereince and indie content — are not nearly in order and I see big investments in future interactive content happening, as well as idiotic moves to limit used games or put harder content protection into place than exists in mobile or tablets — i predict massive failure and losses here. And it makes me sad. Because it just doesn’t have to fail, even though it has been punted around poorly for 5 years. xBox just needs somebody with a brain and focus to get the product in order tactically before romping forward to continue the long-term strategic promise of an xBox in every living room, connected to every screen.

I’d love to hear your take on Brown’s argument. While I agree that iOS offers a generally superior user experience than Xbox, I was surprised to see him stress the importance of indie content. While I love and appreciate indie games, so many people — both within the business and consumers in general — pay more attention to the Call of Duties, Maddens, etc. I’m thrilled when developers like Giant Sparrow (The Unfinished Swan) and thatgamecompany (Journey) succeed, but I’m also not sure how big a part companies like that play in determining the future of the industry. Sometimes I get the (sad) feeling that people that write about games care exponentially more about indie developers than Joe Gamer does.

Kindly share your thoughts on Nat Brown’s post when you have a chance.

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SIMPLcase: A Globetrotter’s iPhone 5 Cover

The SIMPLcase Kickstarter project recently caught my eye. This iPhone 5 cover holds three Nano SIMs and a SIM removal tool, making it a fantastic solution for iPhone 5 users that travel around the world and need to quickly switch Nano SIMs (or people that use other numbers to hide their dirty laundry). The back of the case has a slot that accepts a standard credit card or frequent flyer card, allowing the iPhone 5 to stand up in horizontal and vertical orientations. Best of all, at $14 the SIMPLEcase is affordable as well as functional. Check out the video below for more details.

Hopefully the product works as advertised, because the idea is fantastic. I’m surprised that this kind of case doesn’t already exist and pleased to see someone giving it a shot on Kickstarter. It looks like the perfect case for iPhone 5 owners that frequently travel internationally.

Any of you interested in backing SIMPLcase? What do you think of the product’s design?

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