Mobile Computing News

Photo: Apple

Apple has reportedly acquired Anobit, an Israeli startup that specialises in flash memory design. The acquisition – reportedly costing some $500 million – sees the world’s number one buyer of flash memory look to improve the storage medium used in the iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch and Macbook Air by bringing some of its design in-house. (Read more…)

Tags for this article: apple, NAND flash memory

Photo: textlad / Flickr

Research in Motion’s market cap has dropped to just $6.8 billion, which is less than what Microsoft paid for Skype when it purchased the VoIP company for $8.5 billion this year. As the pressure mounts upon the company, the CEOs have cut their salaries to almost nothing. (Read more…)

Tags for this article: microsoft, rim, skype

Photo: Rovio

Rovio plans to IPO on the Hong Kong stock exchange in 2013, according to Finish weekly Tekniika&Talous. The IPO would be a big business landmark for the makers of the popular iPhone game turned cultural phenomenon Angry Birds. (Read more…)

Tags for this article: Angry Birds, IPO, Rovio

Photo: niallkennedy / Flickr

Facebook, Google and Apple (in that order) have made it to Glassdoor’s list of top 10 places to work. The findings were published in the review company’s fourth annual Employee’s Choice Awards. (Read more…)

Tags for this article: apple, google

Photo: apdk / Flickr

As the year winds down, and people around the world go on vacation over the holiday season, disconnecting is one of the biggest challenges heavy tech users have. If you’re reading this website, chances are you’re one of those people.  While we frequently discuss how to be more productive, below are a few tips for disconnecting completely – or partially – during your brief break this holiday season. (Read more…)

Tags for this article: technology

Photo: Vinu Thomas / Flickr

Carrier IQ, a service that has been at the centre of a spiraling mobile devices security scandal, is either in trouble with the FBI or is in bed with the FBI. The Federal Bureau of Investigations has denied a Freedom of Information Act request made by MuckRock, requesting info on materials about Carrier IQ. (Read more…)

Photo: MaxVT / Flickr

Apple is reportedly in talks with high profile iOS accessory makers about the implementation of Bluetooth 4.0. The connectivity format will reportedly be targeted at health and fitness devices in the early days, making the possibility of it being extended to other in-house Apple projects, like AppleTV and the Apple Television, that little bit more likely. (Read more…)

Tags for this article: apple, bluetooth

Photo: Andy Heather / Flickr

Iconic Mario developer Shigeru Miyamoto, widely considered the greatest game designer of all time, is stepping down from his current position in Nintendo to take on smaller projects. This means the days of seeing a Miyamoto-helmed Super Mario title may be numbered.

(Read more…)

Tags for this article: nintendo, videogames

Photo: LeWEB11 / Flickr

Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt recently spoke at the LeWeb conference. During his talk he made various claims, including saying that Android is leading the iPhone (debatable), and that Google TV would be on the majority of televisions that ship in 2012 (say what)? (Read more…)

Tags for this article: android, google

Photo: davidking / Flickr

Sterne Agee Analyst Shaw Wu says that Research in Motion has been blindsided by the aggressive pricing of the Amazon Kindle Fire tablet. The Fire, which shares much of its hardware and build style with RIM’s Playbook, costs a fraction of what the BlackBerry tablet PC costs, and is selling at a much quicker rate, too. (Read more…)

Tags for this article: Amazon Kindle Fire, BlackBerry Playbook, Kindle Fire, rim, tablet pc, tablet PC sales

Photo: nitot / Flickr

When Apple introduced the iPhone 4S, with its artificial intelligence voice assistant service Siri, tech writers and consumers were gushing over the feature. Now, more than a month into the life of Apple’s new smartphone and its artificial intelligence system, some critics are not so hot for the service anymore. (Read more…)

Tags for this article: apple, iPhone 4S, Siri

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Just a day after reporting the Xbox 360 had its best sales week ever, signaling consoles may still have life in them, Ultima and Tabula Rasa creator Richard Garriott told Industry Gamers that consoles are fundamentally doomed. (Read more…)

Tags for this article: gaming consoles, handheld gaming, mobile gaming

Photo: graciepoo / Flickr

While naysayers claim – seemingly legitimately – that smartphone sales are eating into those of handheld consoles, it’s certainly inconclusive that social gaming is upending the home console market if the Xbox’s recent achievement is anything to go by. Microsoft announced that their popular home console had its best sales week ever, moving nearly one million units in Black Friday week in the US. (Read more…)

Tags for this article: gaming consoles, microsoft, Xbox 360

Photo: Johan Larsson / Flickr

Fast-growing streaming music service Spotify is expected to announce plans to allow third-party applications to offer Spotify service from within their apps. The service last week announced a press conference where it would detail what was coming up next. (Read more…)

Tags for this article: Spotify, streaming music services

Photo: RMNL / Flickr

Deutsche Bank has lent its voice to the growing chorus of industry voices that have predicted how well the Nokia Lumia line of Windows Phone 7 handsets have performed. The firm predicts that the Finnish mobile phones giant will sell 2 million Nokia Windows Phone 7 handsets in Q4 2011, roundly beating analyst expectations in the process. (Read more…)

Tags for this article: Nokia, smartphones

Photo: Spotify

Streaming music service Spotify is beginning to hit its stride, announcing that the number of subscribers paying for the service is more than 2.5 million. (Read more…)

Tags for this article: music, Spotify, streaming music services