Posts in December 2014

The original iPhone is a bit of a rarity these days thanks to its age and the number of units that have undoubtedly been smashed, dropped, or plopped into a toilet, so finding a working one will cost you. Finding a sealed box with one of Apple's firs... -- For more information read the original article here.

United Airlines today announced that it plans to distribute Apple's new iPhone 6 Plus to more than 23,000 of its flight attendants during the second quarter of 2015.

The phones will be able to handle "most onboard retail transactions" such as food and drink purchases, and will allow flight attendants to access their email, the United.com website, the United Airlines Intranet, plus policies and procedures manuals.

"We are thrilled to make this investment in our flight attendants," said Sam Risoli, United's senior vice president of inflight services. "iPhone 6 Plus will enable them to deliver an even higher level of flyer-friendly service and will offer our flight attendants simple, one-touch access to valuable work information, enabling them to better serve our customers."

In the future, the iPhone 6 Plus devices used by flight attendants will replace printed safety manuals with electronic versions, allowing for real-time reporting and access to aircraft cabin issues and repairs. United will also develop customer-focused tools to be used on the iPhones.

United Airlines has been an eager adopter of Apple technology in the past, becoming one of the first airlines to distribute iPads to pilots to replace heavy flight bags of navigational charts and other flight materials in 2011. United is planning to renew that program, replacing the original iPads with Apple's newest iPad Air 2 devices.

In addition to rolling out iPhone 6 Plus devices to flight attendants, United is also in the midst of terminal renovations at New Jersey's Newark Liberty International Airport, which will see upgrades that include iPads for customer use.

Currently, supply of Apple's iPhone 6 Plus remains somewhat constrained, with new devices shipping in three to five business days. By mid-2015, however, Apple should have reached supply/demand balance, making it possible for companies like United to deploy the devices on a large-scale basis.


Recent Mac and iOS Blog Stories
• Chinese Mobile Payment Service Alipay Adds Touch ID Support Amid Reports of Apple Pay Discussions
• Nokia Confirms Early 2015 Launch of HERE Maps for iOS
• Shazam for iOS Adds New Music Player, Discovery Features, and In-App Listening
• Mad Catz Now Shipping C.T.R.L.i and Micro C.T.R.L.i Bluetooth Gamepads for iOS
• Snapchat Updated with Support for iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, Improved Captions and Filters
• Lawyers in iPod Class Action Lawsuit Track Down -- For more information read the original article here.

In less than eight weeks, Apple's iPhone 6 Plus has already grabbed a 41 percent share of all US "phablet" (5.5 inches or larger in display size) sales, and is continuing to struggle to meet demand. A new study published by Kantar World Panel reveals that, despite much more publicity, phablets continue to make up only a small minority of smartphone sales -- but the category is growing fast. The finding is another blow for the struggling Samsung, whose Galaxy Note phablets now account for only five percent of such sales in the US, and only eight percent of phablets in China....
-- For more information read the original article here.

The Sony Pictures data breach may be bigger than originally believed, as reports claim a lot more people than the 6,000 employees have been affected. Personal data including Social Security numbers for more than 47,000 current and former employees were apparently involved in the leak, including information relating to famous celebrities such as Sylvester Stallone and Rebel Wilson....






-- For more information read the original article here.

Christmas at the White House means a whole lot of camera flashes, poses, and smiles, and that usually means plenty of fancy camera equipment. For one seasoned photographer, Apple's iPhone is the tool of choice this year. As Time reports, photographer... -- For more information read the original article here.

Microsoft is on track to deliver Windows 10, its next version of Windows, as early as the late summer, COO Kevin Turner told attendees of the Credit Suisse Technology Conference on Thursday.

The company has been showing off the new OS for the past few months, mostly playing up the features that businesses are going to love. And most of those features, so far, involve bringing things back from Windows 7.

That's important because businesses have for the most part ignored Windows 8, preferring Windows 7 instead. Even when they buy new PCs, which they've done in droves this year, when Microsoft retired support for XP.

Turner says that in the spring, Microsoft will start showing off new consumer features in Windows 10. Developers will get their hands on a preview version, too, in the spring, giving them a chance to write apps. Surely that will happen at Microsoft's annual developer's conference, Microsoft Build, which begins April 29.

With Microsoft's major reorg, the company has changed the way it builds Windows. It is sending versions of Windows 10 out continuously to anyone who wants to play with it, asking for feedback. That happens through the Windows Insider program.

So, a developer preview version shouldn't be the first time programmers see Windows 10. This also means Windows could get to market faster than ever before. Microsoft may even have Windows 10 out for the back-to-school PC shopping season.

Here's what Turner said:

The thing I want to tell you about on Windows 10 is the Windows 10 timeframe. We plan to talk about the end user consumer experiences in the early spring, we'll have a developer preview and be able to talk to that in depth in the early summer timeframe. And then by late summer and early fall, we'll be able to bring out this particular OS. That's the current plan of record.

He also talked about another interesting phenom going at Microsoft right now.

On the one hand, CEO Satya Nadella is very firmly pushing Microsoft into the post-PC era, rolling out new cloud services and apps that run on any devices, any operating system. The more operating systems supported by these apps, the better.

On the other, thanks to the major reorganization of the company, Windows "is now the third biggest entity within our company behind the Office franchise and our enterprise -- For more information read the original article here.

After a number of extensions, negotiations on a new contract between Dish Network and CBS have fallen apart, and the broadcaster's signals are no longer available on the service in several major markets. That accounts for markets where CBS owns the s... -- For more information read the original article here.