Perhaps because of this past week’s buzz about Apple Watch going on sale, the iPhone 7 rumor mill has spit out relatively little for Apple fans and the media to overreact about. About the biggest excitement has been figuring out if the next phone will be called the iPhone 6C, 6S or 7. Although the reason for that renaming is of interest. Namely, that Apple might be planning to fit its next iPhone with a variation of the Force Touch technology going into its Apple Watch and 12-inch Retina MacBook. Comments to this effect from KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo made the rounds after he issued a note to clients and the note was quoted by MacRumors: “We believe that iPhone’s Force Touch sensor doesn’t directly detect the pressure applied by fingers. Instead, it monitors the contact area on which the finger touches the screen to decide how big the pressure is.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Modern mobile technology may have been born with the first iPhone, a quintessential consumer device, but it wasn’t long before the business possibilities began to emerge. Fast forward to today, and it’s difficult to find a company that hasn’t embraced phones and tablets for its employees to some degree.It’s not difficult to see why. After all, the potential is nothing if not compelling: an untethered workforce equipped with easy-to-use tools for workers to be productive no matter where they are and at any time of day.That allure, indeed, is surely part of the reason IT organizations will dedicate at least 25 percent of their software budgets to mobile application development, deployment and management by 2017, according to IDC. By that same year, in fact, the vast majority of line-of-business apps will be built for mobile-first consumption, IDC predicts—and for competitive necessity at least as often as for efficiency or productivity.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Sometimes I just can't be positive about certain things. That I can't rejoice over the Apple Watch selling out makes me feel like misanthrope Melvin Udall, Jack Nicholson's character in the movie As Good as It Gets. In fact, I think Melvin's most memorable line may sum up the Apple Watch: "What if this is as good as it gets?" Melvin, of course, was referring to his life with obsessive compulsive disorder, and I'm referring to a consumer device that requires at least a Panglossian level of optimism to get excited about.But the Apple Watch will either fix wearables or finally put the category to rest. If the ultimate consumer wearable can't be made useful by the ultimate designer of consumer products, we can close the dresser draw and pull the shades on this product category.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
If there was any doubt as to how consumers would take to the Apple Watch, I think we can put them to rest. Just six hours after the Apple Watch opened up for pre-orders, Apple's initial supply was completely sold out.What's more, even folks who were lucky enough to have their orders processed may see shipping times of 4 to 6 weeks. All in all, it's clear that demand for Apple's hotly anticipated wearable is extremely robust. While it remains to be seen just how revolutionary and game-changing a product the Apple Watch will or will not be, things are certainly off to a good start.As for current shipping times, MacRumors recently compiled this list which should provide a ballpark figure for which Apple Watch models might ship sooner than others.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Jawbone’s latest activity tracker, the UP3, will finally ship April 20 after being delayed for months, though without a core feature the company had hoped for.Water resistance issues led to delays in the product’s launch, Jawbone said Thursday. The company was hoping for a product that could be submerged up to 10 meters underwater, but Jawbone couldn’t achieve that. The shipping product will withstand everyday splashing and showers, like other trackers, but will be unsuitable for swimming or submerged use, Jawbone said in a blog post.Customers who want to cancel their pre-order can do so with no charge, the company said. Jawbone had originally planned on launching the UP3 late last year.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
In many ways, new Apple product launches have become ritualistic affairs. The night before a new product goes on sale, enthusiastic consumers line up outside of Apple retail stores in lines that sometimes stretch out for blocks on end.With the Apple Watch slated to launch in a few weeks, that ritual may finally be coming to an end. According to an internal Apple memo obtained by Business Insider, Apple retail head Angela Ahrendts wants to put the days of waiting in line in the past, all in the interest of enhancing the customer shopping experience. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
It’s coming up on two years since Salesforce acquired Pardot, and on Thursday the company enriched its resulting Sales Cloud B2B marketing-automation product with two new key capabilities.Intelligent Engagement Studio, for instance, offers granular targeting, testing and reporting capabilities designed to help marketers and sales teams connect with prospects in new ways. For example, the new feature enables adaptive lead-nurturing campaigns that evolve based on more than 100 triggers.Previously, B2B marketers could see only basic behavioral data such as the rates at which prospects opened their emails; sales-stage data from their CRM systems was not integrated with it. Now, with Intelligent Engagement Studio, marketers can act on the combination of those data points. So, when someone advances to a new sales stage and also views a specific piece of content, Intelligent Engagement Studio will analyze those data points to proactively route the prospect to a new lead-nurturing path.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Google is said to be developing a version of Android Wear to let iPhone owners sync their phones with smartwatches running Google’s OS.Google is close to finishing the final technical details, according to a report in The Verge which cited one unnamed source close to the development team.A Google spokesman declined to comment.If Google is in fact working on this, it could boost its efforts to compete against Apple’s upcoming Apple Watch. Smartwatches running Android Wear currently derive much of their functionality via an integration with Android-based smartphones. Android Wear smartwatch sales haven’t been great.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Microsoft so far this year has been the most acquisitive company in enterprise IT, snapping up at least four firms on top of four others that it bought in the last two months of 2014. And while the buyouts might at first glance appear scattershot – we’re talking text analysis, calendaring and digital pen startups among others -- there does seem to be a grand plan here.Our regularly updated Enterprise Networking & IT Acquisition Tracker shows through the first calendar quarter that Microsoft has announced more than twice as many buyouts as any other company (not that all acquisitions are immediately made public and taking into account that our tracker is focused on enterprise-related acquisitions -- Google has bought at least four consumer-oriented companies).To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The days of strolling down a street, smartphone connected to somewhat speedy mobile internet connection, only to have the connection thwarted when you enter a large building, may be numbered.Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) think that scalable "small cells" are the answer to a vexing building-penetration issue.For the end user, asking for a Wi-Fi password at every stop-and-call may become a thing of the past if these small cells take off and work as promised.What are they? Small cells are distinct from an MNO's macrocells, which are mounted on rooftops and other structures, and are served by a cellular base station. Macrocell antennas are the ones you see dotted around your neighborhood.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The findings of a new survey debunks theories that Facebook is losing its “cool factor” among teenagers.Facebook is the most popular social network among teens, according to the results of the survey published Wednesday night by the Pew Research Center. The researchers found that 71 percent of all teens use it. And 41 percent of teens said they use Facebook the most often compared to other sites.The findings are a victory for Facebook, which has had to address claims in recent years that its site is losing popularity among teens. In 2013, Facebook’s chief financial officer admitted to a decline in the number of daily users among U.S. teens.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Like clockwork, the embargo on Apple Watch reviews ended on Wednesday morning, just two days ahead of when pre-orders of the device are scheduled to open up. Per usual, Apple sent review units to a few outlets who have now lifted the veil of secrecy from Apple's highly anticipated wearable. Below are a few of the more notable excerpts from the initial grouping of Apple Watch reviews.Nilay Patel of The Verge: Let’s just get this out of the way: the Apple Watch, as I reviewed it for the past week and a half, is kind of slow. There’s no getting around it, no way to talk about all of its interface ideas and obvious potential and hints of genius without noting that sometimes it stutters loading notifications. Sometimes pulling location information and data from your iPhone over Bluetooth and Wi-Fi takes a long time. Sometimes apps take forever to load, and sometimes third-party apps never really load at all. Sometimes it’s just unresponsive for a few seconds while it thinks and then it comes back.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Like clockwork, the embargo on Apple Watch reviews ended on Wednesday morning, just two days ahead of when pre-orders of the device are scheduled to open up. Per usual, Apple sent review units to a few outlets who have now lifted the veil of secrecy from Apple's highly anticipated wearable. Below are a few of the more notable excerpts from the initial grouping of Apple Watch reviews.Nilay Patel of The Verge: Let's just get this out of the way: the Apple Watch, as I reviewed it for the past week and a half, is kind of slow. There's no getting around it, no way to talk about all of its interface ideas and obvious potential and hints of genius without noting that sometimes it stutters loading notifications. Sometimes pulling location information and data from your iPhone over Bluetooth and Wi-Fi takes a long time. Sometimes apps take forever to load, and sometimes third-party apps never really load at all. Sometimes it's just unresponsive for a few seconds while it thinks and then it comes back.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The Verge has a terrific “day in the life” review of the Apple watch today, written by editor-in-chief Nilay Patel, that puts the device through its paces morning, noon and night.It’s a lengthy read and I thought one of its most telling points, near the end, was worth noting here: After the gym, I head to Betony for drinks with Eater managing editor Sonia Chopra so we can talk about a future of food series for later in the year. So far I’ve mostly used the Watch either alone or in an office environment, but it’s really different to have a smartwatch in a bar: here, even small distractions make you seem like a jerk. Sonia’s trying to describe the project to me and find ways to work together, but I keep glancing at my wrist to see extremely unimportant emails fly by.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
LG Electronics is recruiting an army of social media users to test and talk up the company’s new G4 smartphone ahead of its official launch on April 28.By offering 4,000 people a G4 for 30 days, the company hopes to create some buzz around its new device as flagship devices from its rivals Samsung Electronics and HTC go on sale.The Consumer Experience Campaign kicks off in South Korea on Wednesday, and will then expand to Turkey, Indonesia, Singapore, U.S., China, India, Brazil, Canada, U.K., France, Germany, Mexico, Japan and Hong Kong, LG said.Exactly how the company will choose the testers is unclear, but interested users are encouraged to check local LG webpages and social media sites in the coming days for more details on how to participate. The chosen will be given a G4 for up to 30 days, it said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Intel plans to cut the fat from its RealSense 3D camera so that it can fit the device on a smartphone.The company’s CEO Brian Krzanich showed off Wednesday in Shenzhen, China a 6-inch prototype phone built with the new camera, which is about half the size of the older version. The company plans to start deploying the technology this year.The U.S. chipmaker has been wanting to bring RealSense to PCs and tablets, but with the smaller size it can also deliver it to smartphones, Krzanich said. Devices built with the 3D camera could offer gesture control like Microsoft’s Kinect device.“So you can imagine the efficiencies and the opportunities and the options for innovation we have moving together,” he added.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Apple Watch pre-orders open up this Friday at 12:01 AM Pacific Time. In anticipation of what might very well be staggering demand, Apple has reportedly limited pre-orders of the device to just one per customer as it pertains to in-store pickup. Presumably, users who order the device to their homes can order more than one at a time.MacRumors was the first to relay the news early on Tuesday morning in the form of a message that will purportedly be sent to those who make pre-orders this Friday for in-store pickup on April 24.. Inventory is subject to change. Your reservation is valid for pickup only at the Apple Retail Store that you selected. If you do not pick up your selected item(s) by the designated date and time, your reservation will be cancelled and your item(s) will be returned to stock. There is a maximum of 1 reservation per customer. Number of reservations may be limited. Apple reserves the right to refuse, limit or cancel a reservation if Apple determines that a customer has provided misleading or fraudulent information and/or abused, disrupted or attempted to circumvent the reservation system.To read this article in full or to leave a Continue reading
Aerohive Networks today announced the availability of the AP130, the company’s latest wireless access point to target educational institutions.The AP130 is a 2x2, 2-stream access point designed to use existing Power over Ethernet infrastructure and to run HiveManager NG, Aerohive’s cloud-based network management platform. HiveManager is generally thought to be one of the company’s key advantages in the wireless marketplace, as it removes the need for a traditional network controller.+ ALSO ON NETWORK WORLD: Ruckus first to roll out enterprise 802.11ac Wave 2 AP | First Look: Microsoft’s new Spartan browser for Windows 10 +To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Apple is looking to eliminate the long lines that form outside its retail stores on product launch days.“The days of waiting in line and crossing fingers for a product are over for our customers,” according to a memo from Angela Ahrendts, Apple’s senior vice president of retail and online stores, that was obtained by Business Insider.The memo instructs Apple’s retail employees to encourage customers interested in either the Apple Watch or new MacBook to order the products online instead of from the stores.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The scoop: MX Master wireless mouse, by Logitech, about $100What is it? Logitech calls the MX Master “The Precision Instrument for Masters of Their Craft,” implying that this is for workers or users who need specific, precise mousing movements, as well as a large number of buttons for customized computer actions. The wireless mouse also includes two options for connectivity - you can connect up to three computers via Bluetooth or you can use the traditional USB dongle, which Logitech calls the “Logitech Unifying Receiver.”MORE: 10 mobile startups to watch Why it’s cool: In addition to the standard left, right and middle buttons (the middle button is activated by pushing down on the middle scroll wheel), the MX Master includes a thumb scroll wheel on the side (for scrolling horizontally), two other buttons on the thumb area (for back-and-forward web browsing actions) and a new “gesture button” located in the area where your thumb would rest. Actions for these buttons are enabled through Logitech’s “Options” software, which you can download from the company’s web site. The software offers a range of customization options, everything from changing the direction of the scroll, speed of the mouse, sensitivity and Continue reading