The suspicions of many in the iPhone developer community have been confirmed by Google. A spokesman for the company told CNet yesterday that its latest update to Google Mobile does indeed make use of an undocumented API in order to read the proximity sensor in the iPhone, which allows it activate its voice search function when a user is ready to speak.
Well, you have to give Google's developers credit for one thing: they've got guts. This could have backfired in a big way had Apple rejected the mobile app as a violation of the iPhone SDK.
But the Mac maker didn't.
One wonders if the frenzy of media attention ahead of the launch of the voice-enabled Google mobile app forced Apple's hand?
New Comscore data was released today which clearly shows how Google’s search share is continuing to rise, and despite Microsoft’s best efforts (even giving away prizes to searchers), they are at best stagnant. Year-over-year, Microsoft’s search share went from 9.7% down to 8.5% while Google rose from 58.5% to 63.1% according to the research.
This has got to scare the pants of Microsoft. If software as a service (Saas) or Web-delivered applications become the new norm, this puts Google at an enormous advantage.
LOS ANGELES — A Missouri mother on trial in a landmark cyberbullying case was convicted Wednesday of three minor offences instead of the main conspiracy charge in a cruel Internet hoax that apparently drove a 13-year-old girl to suicide.
What a sad, sad state of affairs.
I wonder how long it will take the teenage girl's family to launch a civil suit against this woman and against MySpace?
Seems the Canada Revenue Agency is interested in Ebay power sellers (from CTVNews.ca):
Canadians who auction their goods on eBay can now expect to have their personal information released to the Canada Revenue Agency.
The online auction site has sent a letter to affected customers telling them the law now requires it to send the tax agency the names and gross sales figures of so-called "power sellers." These are eBay sellers who make more than US$1,000 a month in sales over three consecutive months on the site.
"While eBay strenuously objects to these requests made by the CRA, we are obliged to comply with the legal ruling," the company said in the letter.
Now, here's my take on this
If you're simply selling some of your old stuff (regardless of its worth) the CRA should have no right to tax you on any revenues you recieve from those sales. They already got thier slice, it's called the GST.
But - if you're using Ebay as an online marketplace for new goods or services you're producing, then that's a different story.
Tthe iPhone is making a guerrilla attack on the business world, brought into the corporate world by influential executives, CIOs rethinking their approach to deploying technology, and younger workers who move seamlessly between their personal and business lives.
There are several high-profile businesses, such as Genentech and Disney (both with strong ties to Apple CEO Steve Jobs, of course), that have declared their intentions to work with Apple on deploying iPhones inside their corporations. That seems to be having the effect of increasing the overall number of business smartphone users, however, rather than turning the iPhone into any kind of "BlackBerry killer."
Unless Research In Motion kicks out some serious innovation again, like they did with the originial Blackberry, they are doomed to the slow decline of Palm. The iPhone's progress in its first two years should be a major wake-up call to RIM.
Hat tip to Robin for pointing this story out to me.
Move over, Motorola. The iPhone has shaved away your lead in the mobile phone market, passing the RAZR to become the top handset purchased by U.S. adult consumers in the third quarter of 2008, according to the research firm NPD Group. The RAZR had held onto the top spot for 12 quarters.
I can't say I'm surprised by these numbers, only by how quickly Apple is becoming a dominant force in the consumer / prosumer handset space.
The iPhone is twice as reliable as the Blackberry after one year of ownership, a new study by SquareTrade finds. SquareTrade, which sells extra warranties for cell phones and other devices, looked at the failure rates of 15,000 phones covered under its plans. The malfunction rate for iPhones after one year is 5.6 percent, compared to 11.2 percent for the Blackberry and 16.2 percent for the Treo.
The study projects that the failure rate for the iPhone after two years will be between 9.2 and 11.3 percent, compared to actual two-year failure rates of 14.3 percent for BlackBerries and 21.0 percent for Treos.
I found an incredibly useful feature in MobileMe / iPhoto this week: Web photo galleries.
Using both my MobileMe account and iPhoto I was able to quickly set up a photo gallery of shots for a project I'm working on. I was also able to password protect it so only authorized team members could view the gallery.
The gallery also allowed team members to upload photos as well as download all photos as a single .zip file.
If you haven't tried out MobileMe yet and you do a lot of photo sharing, I highly recommend giving it a try. Now that MobileMe has been out for several months most, if not all, the bugs and kinks have been worked out.
TORONTO and MONTREAL — As the stock market flailed and the global economy caused consumers to clutch their wallets close to their chests, Jim Dalrymple has not wavered in his Christmas shopping plans.
The Halifax man's wife and 14-year-old daughter will unwrap iPhones this year, the highly coveted Apple gadget that has defied the recent financial downturn by remaining a hot seller, price tag be damned.
The only person in his family who won't have a new phone come Boxing Day is Mr. Dalrymple's teenage son, who is not being overlooked for financial reasons.
“I'm not worried about the money, he just doesn't really care about having a phone right now,” Mr. Dalrymple said. “When he does, I'll get him one too.”
Given that recent surveys have show that consumers view Internet access and cellphones as essential utiliites, I'm not surprised to see demand steady for a device that provides both as well as iPod functionality.
