Angry Birds is a phenomenon. It might just be the first game to reach a billion players, and it’s already spun off into a merchandising empire encompassing everything from board games to theme parks. With the news that a TV series is planned however, we decided to trawl through the archives to see how that panned out for other video game icons. The verdict? Not so well.
The new iPad makes a formidable promise. Its screen is “as good as printed paper”. It can out-resolution the glossiest magazine. At this point, its apps can help it replace almost every dead tree in your briefcase or manbag, but until now for this iPad-owner at least, it has remained subservient to a traditional pen and paper. That’s all about to change.
For the next two weeks I’ll swap my notepad for an iPad. All magazines will be consumed on-screen, and every written piece of correspondence will be replaced by the iPad. Even the ones that are pushed through my letterbox must be dutifully transferred to Apple’s tablet.
Is it possible? Is it pleasurable and, ultimately is it preferable to pack an iPad in place of modern-day papyrus?
Apple announced late last night that it plans to reveal today what it will do with the $100bn (£63bn) in cold hard cash that it’s sitting on.
That’s a helluva lot of money, and an impromptu conference call with journalists and analysts implies that it’s going to do something extraordinary with it, rather than simply spend a bit more on R&D and employee bonuses.
So what will CEO Tim Cook and CFO Peter Oppenheimer announce? Here are 10 things we could seriously see happening at 1pm today.
Psst. There’s a new iPad on sale tomorrow. A new iPad with 4G LTE super speeds, if you’re in the US. And guess what! Everything Everywhere’s 4G network has been given approval from Ofcom. Imported new iPad plus 4G equals win, right?
Unfortunately, we’ve got a little public service announcement we feel obliged to point out to would-be importers: UK models will also have 4G radios built in, but, even when 4G arrives in the UK, that new iPad won’t be able to use them.
Apple’s keynote yesterday was remarkable as much for the new products on show as for the signals it sent out about how new CEO Tim Cook intends to keep shop. The press conference concluded with a new look Apple logo, a blend of the famous 1980s rainbow colour scheme and the modern Apple’s gradient monochrome.
The new iPad launch was also about giving Google, Apple’s close frenemy, the middle finger. We don’t need your competition, and we don’t need your services either, Tim Cook seemed to be saying. This war’s about to get personal, and for the first time, us customers are about to be caught up in it.
Two years ago, Gizmodo ran a week of special coverage under the title “We Miss Sony”, a fascinating look at how the once proud Sony had lost its way. In a time where we all prostrate ourselves at the temple of Sir Jonathan Ive, it’s hard to believe that Sony used to be the trendsetter. I mean, Walkman.
But there’s a new CEO in town, and the fusty types at Ericsson are finally out of the picture. So it was with great hope that I picked up the Sony Xperia S last week, the first Sony branded phone in more than a decade, and the company’s first smartphone. Ever.
Has Sony got its act together? Has it united all its sprawling hardware and software fiefdoms under one generalissimo, and produced a winner in the Sony Xperia S?
In a word, er, no.
We’ve been patiently waiting for Chrome for Android for several years now, and last night, Google finally answered our prayers. Those of us with an Android 4.0 phone at any rate: if you’re running “Ice Cream Sandwich”, it’s a fast, slick browser that lets you conveniently open pages from your dekstop, other phones, tablets and even Chromebooks, with slick card-based tabs. You can download it here.
But what if, like the 99 percent of Android users without Ice Cream Sandwich yet, you can’t install Chrome for Android? The stock 2.3 browser is still pretty poor, but never fear: here are five alternatives worth checking out with many of the same skills.
