New to iPhone, iPad touch, or iPad and curious how to set up one of Apple’s new, free iCloud accounts? Not only is iCloud great for email, calendar, and contacts, it also lets you backup your important settings and information. Luckily, creating a new iCloud account is a very simple process.
Click on Add Account…
Select iCloud at the top of the list
Click on Get a Free Apple ID
Enter your location
Enter your date of birth
Select get a free @me.com email address
Fill in all your details and select next
Accept the iCloud terms and conditions
That’s it done, you now have a new iCloud account all set up and ready to go on your iOS 5 device!
Daily Tips range from beginner-level 101 to advanced-level ninjary. If you already know this tip, keep the link handy as a quick way to help a friend. If you have a tip of your own you’d like to suggest, add them to the comments or send them in to dailytips@tipb.com.
Apple has announced that Bob Iger, President and CEO of Disney is joining their board of directors, and that Genetech’s Art Levinson would be assuming the role as Chairman of the Board.
“Art has made enormous contributions to Apple since he joined the board in 2000,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “He has been our longest serving co-lead director, and his insight and leadership are incredibly valuable to Apple, our employees and our shareholders.”
“Bob and I have gotten to know one another very well over the past few years and on behalf of the entire board, we think he is going to make an extraordinary addition to our already very strong board,” said Tim Cook. “His strategic vision for Disney is based on three fundamentals: generating the best creative content possible, fostering innovation and utilizing the latest technology, and expanding into new markets around the world which makes him a great fit for Apple.”
“I am honored to be named chairman of Apple’s board and welcome Bob to our team,” said Art Levinson. “Apple is always focused on out-innovating itself through the delivery of truly innovative products that simplify and improve our lives, and that is something I am very proud to be a part of.”
“Apple has achieved unprecedented success by consistently creating high quality, truly innovative products, and I am extremely pleased to join the board of such a wonderful company,” said Bob Iger. “Over the years, I have come to know and admire the management team, now ably led by Tim Cook, and I am confident they have the leadership and vision to ensure Apple’s continued momentum and success.”
The late Steve Jobs was the previous Chairman of the Board, and also the largest shareholder of Disney following their acquisition of Pixar. Tim Cook joined the board following his promotion to CEO of Apple.
The Apple TV 2, which has carried a price tag of $99 since it was announced in September of 2010, has seen price cuts at online retailers including Amazon and Best Buy. The price drop is modest, bringing the ATV2 down to $89, but Amazon has also labeled it as Apple TV (2010), leading to speculation that a new model is coming soon.
In the past, we’ve seen sales on the Apple TV 2, but this seems to be your garden variety price drop that’s associated with clearing out inventory. Is there an Apple TV 3 on the horizon and will it make it’s debut prior to the end of 2011? Offering an updated processor such as the A5 could usher in support for 1080p. It’s not likely that support for Siri would be introduced, making this more of an evolutionary upgrade.
At any rate, $89 is a good price for the Apple TV 2. You can grab one at that price at either href="http://www.amazon.com/Apple-MC572LL-A-TV/dp/B001FA1NK0/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1321380504&sr=1-1">Amazon or href="http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Apple%26%23174%3B+-+TV%26%23174%3B/1331156.p?id=1218251780234&skuId=1331156&st=apple%20tv&cp=1&lp=1">Best Buy.
BallAHolic is a new game for the iPhone and iPad that claims to have the “biggest balls in the App Store”. In this game, you must guide Uberhero through a 3D world with a lazor beam. He’s stuck in this world filled with balls, keys, and monsters, and you’re the only one who can help him.
I am having so much fun playing BallAholic! The graphics are great and the gameplay is really fun. The game opens up with an fun intro that tells the story about who Uberhero is and how he got stuck in this strange world. BallAHolic is a game that I can technically pick up and play for just a few minutes, but end up playing for much longer.
Check out the video trailer below!
BallAHolic – the game with the biggest balls in the App Store introduces:
UBERHERO – beloved friend, attractive, admired by millions, made out of steel, loves frozen peperoni pizza, women want him, men want to be like him and some men even want him too… long story short, THE role model of our generation finally arrived on iOS.
Unfortunately, a small accident – nothing serious – has brought him into an uncomfortable situation. Uberscientists have worked hard to find a way to communicate with UBERHERO and bring him back to our world.
Now it’s your turn! Get up! Prepare for an incredible journey! Leave your lousy life behind and become a hero yourself. Of course not an UBERHERO, that would be beyond your capabilities. But if it makes you happier consider yourself as the chosen one… alone at home… when nobody’s watching. Well, back to the topic.
YOU are UBERHERO’s last chance to guide him out of this mess!
On your journey you will discover
Get ready for a new gaming experience!
BallAHolic provides
The good folks at A Local Chaos Project have given us promo codes for BallAHolic to giveaway to 5 lucky winners! For a chance to win, just leave comment below and let us know which version you would prefer to win – iPhone or iPad?
BallAHolic is available on the iPhone for $1.99 and on the iPad for $2.99.
Nancy Gohring over at IDG/Macworld quotes John Stanton, Chairman of Trilogy Partnerships, as saying that, prior to launching the iPhone in 2007, he spent a couple of years with Steve Jobs trying to figure out how to do it without the likes of AT&T or Verizon.
He wanted to replace carriers. He and I spent a lot of time talking about whether synthetically you could create a carrier using Wi-Fi spectrum. That was part of his vision.
Jobs gave up on the idea and ultimately signed with Cingular which became AT&T, but Apple did manage to disintermediate the carriers to a large degree with the iPhone, and take back considerable control of the customer relationship with everything from software updates to apps to device design and release.
Stanton thinks carriers should be concerned about the “dramatic shift in power” that occurred. They should. They should emulate it with other platforms because it leads an equally dramatic shift in customer experience and satisfaction levels.
Just imagine if they’d been able to nail the carrier part too?
T-Mobile is now the only major carrier that does not feature the iPhone, a device which has captured the hearts of all its major competitors. Now some analysts think that the company is going to suffer for its decision. T-Mobile has thus far, focused on a variety of other smartphones with particular attention paid to the latest generation of Android phones. However, the latest quarter, in which the company lost 389,000 contract customers, may only be a worrying sign of worse things to come. This loss does not necessarily mean that the iPhone was the only factor responsible, but by all accounts, it certainly plays a part. The problem for T-Mobile is that despite the fact that Android devices dominate the overall market, the iPhone is still the most popular device around.
T-Mobile execs maintain that the current incarnations of the iPhone are just not meant to work optimally with its 3G and 4G networks. The fact that Apple decided not to go with a 4G version of the iPhone was quite surprising as it was since it places the iPhone a step back from the latest generation of Android devices. Overall, T-Mobile has done a relatively good job at playing to its strengths by providing unlimited family value plans and introducing a variety of high-end 4G enabled devices. In fact, it has managed to attract 126,000 customers with family friendly value plans.
As of now, the chances of T-Mobile adopting the iPhone remains very slim by any measure. The only way this will change is if Apple decides to release a 4G enabled device, which might very well happen next time around. Another possibility is its merger with AT&T but this potential deal has come under a lot of scrutiny by the FCC and by some accounts, it may never materialise. For now, T-Mobile can only hope that the next set of Android devices can make up for the losses by its failure to showcase the iPhone 4S.
As soon as the iPhone 4S was revealed, many across the industry were frankly shocked because expectations of a radically transformed iPhone 5 did not materialise. The idea that Apple would simply pack in a enhanced hardware and a few special apps into an existing design seemed to be out of sync with Apple’s tradition of launching superbly engineered devices (not saying that the iPhone 4S anything but superb). This idea was further compounded by the fact that this time around, Apple will be facing the most intense competition with from rivals such as HTC and Samsung, which have both released high-end devices that easily outclass the iPhone 4S in terms of hardware. In hindsight, many of the criticisms seemed to have been misguided since the iPhone 4S, with the iOS 5, has become the best selling iPhone ever.
For those with the lingering questions of the iPhone 5, there is now a rumour going around claiming that Apple indeed created an “iPhone 5” prototype with radical design changes, but the idea was killed by Steve Jobs, the late CEO of Apple. Before reading any further, keep in mind that this is still a rumour and should be read with a bit of skepticism.
According to some sources, the “iPhone 5” prototype was completed months before the eventual launch of the iPhone 4S and featured amongst other things a bigger screen, aluminium back, liquid metal technology (makes it possible to create different coloured phones), no physical home button and an overall thinner and wider design.
As impressive as all this sounds, Jobs killed the idea because in his mind the device supposedly “fragmented the iPhones.” If this is true at any level then it might raise questions to the overall strategy of iPhones in the years to come. Maybe the iPhone 4S is the end of an era and the next generation of iPhones may adopt a design standard that will last for yet another few years.
Gartner today released their report on worldwide smartphone sales during the 3rd quarter of 2011, with Apple seeing an annual increase of 21%. The numbers show sales of the iPhone were down nearly 3 million from the second quarter, which they correctly attribute to aniticipation of a new iPhone, which at that time was rumored to be the iPhone 5.
With brisk pre-orders of the iPhone 4S, they expect Apple will bouceback. The new iPhone coupled with the release of a lower-cost iPhone 4 in emerging markets should also have a major impact. Android based phones accounted for an impressive 52.3 percent of smartphone sales, doubling its market share from the third quarter in 2010.
“Android benefited from more mass-market offerings, a weaker competitive environment and the lack of exciting new products on alternative operating systems such as Windows Phone 7 and RIM,” Ms. Cozza said. “Apple’s iOS market share suffered from delayed purchases as consumers waited for the new iPhone. Continued pressure is impacting RIM’s performance, and its smartphone share reached its lowest point so far in the U.S. market, where it dropped to 10 percent.”
This was the first year that Apple didn’t release on iPhone during the June/July period. Subsequently, the numbers here show that companies like Samsung with their strong Galaxy line of phones were able to see impressive sales numbers. Samsung will counter with the Galaxy Nexus, the first phone to run Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich). It will be interesting to see if Apple decides to move back to the summer release schedule in 2012 for the iPhone 5.
We’ve got this thing happening on weekends where we offer up codes from some of the hottest apps. This week, we are pleased to announce that Piet, Fury and bayday76 are the winners of our href="http://www.everythingicafe.com/weekend-giveaways-win-a-free-copy-of-camera/2011/11/12/">Camera+ giveaway. If you are among those in the winner’s circle, we’ll be in touch shortly to confirm that your submitted email address is the same one associated with your iTunes account. If you didn’t win, then please stay tuned this weekend. If you need a reminder, please consider href="http://www.twitter.com/everythingicafe">following @everythingiCafe on Twitter. The odds this week were insanely awesome for those who entered, each of whom had a 1 in 6 chance of winning.
The Capta mount is an all in one stand, cable management and tripod mount designed for the iPhone and other smartphones. It has just received Kickstarter funding with double the pledges required and there are still seven days to go.
Designed by two freelance designers, Bojan Smiljanic and Adewale Adelusi-Adeluyi they set about originally creating a simple and elegant tripod mount. That has now expanded and the Capta can be used for many more things. The Capta is made from airplane grade aluminium and has a adhesive pad that can hold an iPhone securely. There is also a groove for cable management as well as threaded hole for a tripod attachment.
According to Smiljanic, “With the form factor and technology of smartphones always changing we designed Capta to be the hybrid accessory that could keep up with those changes. For example for iPhone users regardless of generation, Capta replaces the iPhone tripod mount, iPhone stand and iPhone cable management with one simple device. Capta has exceeded our original expectations and when paired with a suction cup or tripod mount the uses increase exponentially. We are humbled by how versatile Capta truly is.”
If you want to be an early adopter, you can still head over to the Kickstarter page and make a pledge; $20 will get you a silver version. If you are really impressed, you could pledge the maximum $265 and get two exclusive black Capta’s as well as a lot of extras too.
The guys from Applidium claim to have cracked Siri’s security protocol and it could open the floodgates to third party developers and of course other hardware too. There is a downside, in order to use Siri on one of these other devices; you still need to have a UDID of an iPhone 4S device. A UDID is a Unique Device Identifier and is a 40 character unique number assigned to every iPhone.
The iPhone 4S sends identifiers everywhere. So if you want to use Siri on another device, you still need the identfier of at least one iPhone 4S. Of course we’re not publishing ours, but it’s very easy to retrieve one using the tools we’ve written. Of course Apple could blacklist an identifier, but as long as you’re keeping it for personal use, that should be allright!
We have already seen Siri running on an iPhone 4 and an iPod touch; so this looks like another step nearer to getting it out there. Of course there is still the question of legalities and Apple could block the security hole at any minute. If you are a developer and want to play around with Siri integration in an app, Applidium has released a set of tools to help with that too.
