iPhone4idiots

Today Yahoo announced it spent $1.1 billion in cash to acquire Tumblr. This was shocking for a few reasons. First, I had no idea Yahoo still had that kind of money. Second, what does Yahoo want with a blogging software company that doesn’t make any money? Yahoo CEO, Marissa Mayer, said they would keep all Tumblr employees and let it run independently. She also hinted they would start adding ads! Yes, Yahoo has a history of destroying promising companies and I’m confident they’ll do it again. Continue Reading…

Heads Up, Warner Brothers $0.99, is an iPhone game very similar to Taboo. Apparantly, Ellen DeGeneres plays this on her show as well (I’ve never watched it). It is a team game where one person tries to guess a word or phrase from clues given by their teamates. By having it as an iPhone app, unlike Taboo there is no need for a large deck of cards or timer. The game is super simple and offers the added benefit of filming those giving the clues which adds to the fun. To start play the guesser picks a category and holds their iOS device up near their forehead. This way those giving clues can see the word while the guesser can not. Once the word is gotten you simply tilt your device down to goto the next word. At any time you can tilt your device up to pass and get to the next word as well. Continue Reading…

It’s been a month since the release of the HTC First, aka “Facebook Phone”, and it’s clear people have no interest in it. Shocking I know. AT&T has dropped the price to $0.99 with a two year contract and still doesn’t appear to be selling many. Even a subsidized iPhone 4S still costs $99. This doesn’t surprise me at all. I have yet to see anyone with one. BGR reported Monday that AT&T will return unsold units to HTC. I’m sure Facebook Home, the Android theme/skin, will be sold on other hardware devices soon, but doubt any of them will see much success.

The days of free YouTube videos are likely ending within a week. Don’t panic, it’s not quite as bad as it sounds. The long rumored subscription only channels might start as soon as this weekend. Reportedly, about 50 of the most popular YouTube channels will switch to a subscription based model requiring you to pay $1 to $2 per month to view the content. On the positive paid advertisements likely will go away from these channels. As much as I like RayWilliamJohnson or the NBA channel I doubt I’ll purchase a subscription. There are just too many other options. It will be interesting to see what happens to number of subscribers once a channel goes subscription only. I would think it will take a year for subscriptions to get to half the amount of current subscribers. Will you pay for your favorite channels or just start watching others?

It’s been over 15 months since MegaUpload was shut down by the US government. Today Kim Dotcom and his lawyers posted a 38 page paper making their most explicit accusations of corruption in the Obama administration to date. In the document they state that US federal courts have no power to criminalize secondary copyright infringement. Congress would have to pass a new law making that illegal. They go on to say that former Senator and MPAA CEO Chris Dodd threatened that Hollywood would cut off donations if the Obama administration didn’t protect their interests. It specifically mentions Dodd’s friendship with Vice President Joe Biden as well. Continue Reading…

Slayin, FDG Entertainment $0.99, has somehow made it to the number 2 Paid app in the App Store. This is despite the Atari like graphics and sounds which the app Description terms “retro graphics and motivating chiptune soundtrack.” I’m usually not a graphics snob, but this is just so poor it really takes away from the game. Slayin is an RPG game where your only options are move left or right and jump. Yes, very old school like that giant Atari joystick with the one red button. Continue Reading…

Yes, I know Thrift Shop is the new viral YouTube video and Gangnam Style and Harlem Shake are yesterday’s videos. Heck, Thrift Shop is yesterday’s news as well given how fast things shift these days. Somehow I missed the Harlem Shake Cydia tweak from BigBoss (it’s free) that was released a month ago. Guess I’ve been focusing on my soccer website too much. Nevertheless, it is still super fun and my six and eight year olds thought it was very cool. Watch this one minute video and you’ll see why. Now it does require a jailbreak (it’s a Cydia tweak) and requires iOS 6 or higher. It installs into Activator which you use to pick an action to start the iPhone Harlem Shake! Enjoy

Lots of articles yesterday about some patents Apple filed hinting at an iCar. Specifically, technology that would automatically locate your automobile in a parking lot for you and also unlock your doors and start the car. Sure, these might be features that would be nice, but they are not any reason to want to upgrade or buy a new device. Like the long rumored iWatch it seems like Tim Cook has Apple focusing on insignificant items as opposed to potential game changers like iTV or NFC. Continue Reading…

Apple released first quarter earnings yesterday reporting $9.5 billion in profit off of $43.6 billion in revenue. Apple sold 37.4 million iPhones, 19.5 million iPads, and “just under 4 million” Macs in the first three months of this year. Depending on the analyst, these results were basically in line. The stock continues to trade around $400 and recent trends remain. Namely, growth is slowing, margins are shrinking and no new products are coming for at least another six months. Apple’s transition from a growing innovative company to a cash cow was confirmed even more with an increase in the dividend and share buyback program. Money is flying around CEO Tim Cook. The amount he’s lost in market cap and the amount Apple is starting to give out to shareholders. Basically, Cook has made Apple the new Microsoft. Continue Reading…

Finally! Have you ever wished you could record your calls on your iPhone? An important business or conference call you’d like to listen to a second time for things you might have missed. Perhaps someone who tells you one thing on the phone, but denies it in front of other people? While it seems like it should be simple to do there never has been an app for it due to legal restrictions. A recent tweak called Call Recorder was added to Cydia about a month ago. The problem is that it contains an audio warning. That is, Call Recorder in Cydia starts each call with the phrase “A Phone Call Will Be Recorded.” Who wants that? Install the deb file linked here and there is no warning. Thus, you remain the only person that knows the call is being taped. Continue Reading…