Hasta La Gadget!

Side by side with the Galaxy S3. Display size does matter. Google’s transparent UI allows for more Maps to be visible, and there are more important details visible.

Well, could you say that the naming convention for the iPhone 5 was rather prophetic, especially when it managed to hit 5 million units in sales figures just three days after it launched in various regions around the world on September 21st? Not only that, over 100 million iOS-powered devices have also been updated to iOS 6, which would also mean 100 million of those devices might have just left their owners being lost in unfamiliar territory when they accessed the Maps app. That gaffe aside, here is what Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook, has to say about the iPhone 5, “Demand for iPhone 5 has been incredible and we are working hard to get an iPhone 5 into the hands of every customer who wants one as quickly as possible. While we have sold out of our initial supply, stores continue to receive iPhone 5 shipments regularly and customers can continue to order online and receive an estimated delivery date. We appreciate everyone’s patience and are working hard to build enough iPhone 5s for everyone.”

Folks who reside in Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland will be able to get their hands on it this coming September 28th. [Press Release]

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: iPhone 5 replacement parts available from RepairsUniverse, iPhone 5 back too susceptible to scratches?,

Microsoft’s desire to avoid a fine combined with a power company’s strict electricity usage rules resulted in the software giant deliberately wasting millions of watts of power, according to the New York Times. Redmond’s Quincy data center, which houses Bing, Hotmail and other cloud-based servers, had an agreement in place with a Washington state utility containing clauses which imposed penalties for under-consumption of electricity. A $210,000 fine was levied last year, since the facility was well below its power-use target, which prompted Microsoft to deliberately burn $70,000 worth of electricity in three days “in a commercially unproductive manner” to avoid it, according to its own documents. The utility board capitulated and reduced the amend to $60k, but the messy situation seems a far cry from Redmond’s pledge to become carbon neutral by this summer.

[Image credit: New York Times]

Filed under: Misc, Alt

Microsoft deliberately wasted energy at data center to avoid fine, says NY Times originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 Sep 2012 10:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple’s iPhone 5 was bound to shake up the accessory market, as it always does. That means new cases, with new features. One new one debuting on crowdfunding platform Indiegogo today called the ReadyCase packs more features than I think any I’ve ever seen, all into a low-profile design that actually only adds 3mm of thickness, and will ship in both iPhone 4S and iPhone 5 versions.

So what do you get with ReadyCase? Here’s a list:

1. Two kickstands, for both portrait and landscape orientation.
2. An interchangeable lens ring for macro, fisheye and wide-angle conversion lenses.
3. An 8GB or 16GB USB flash drive.
4. A multi-tool, complete with standard and serrated knife blades, a flathead screwdriver and bottle opener, available in either black or silver.
5. A headphone clip.

The case is made from a durable composite material that’s supposed to be pretty rugged, and the best part is that it doesn’t add bulk. There’s actually an opening on the back, though, so it’s not like it’s an Otterbox or anything and scratches are still a possibility, but for the survivalist, outdoorsy-type who also wants to carry important documents and media around on a readily available flash drive, this thing looks to be the tops.

ReadyCase’s creators are looking for $15,000 to get production off the ground, and cases start at a $40 pledge (note that lens sets are only included when you get into higher amounts) for an 8GB pre-order. As an added bonus, all cases ship with both iPhone 4S and iPhone 5 versions included, so those on the verge of upgrading or not sure yet which one they’ll be getting are covered.

Here’s a sign that all the TV advertising dollars in the world can’t always buy you market share and consumer love (useful lesson for politicians, too): a list of top ads in the U.S. for tablets puts Samsung way into the lead among vendors — but Apple, which actually is the best-selling tablet at the moment, doesn’t even make the top-10.

The rankings, from ad analytics company Ace Metrix – a startup backed by Hummer Winblad Venture Partners, Palomar Ventures, Leapfrog Ventures, and WPP – say they determine an ad’s “Ace Score” based on viewer reaction to national TV ads in which consumers are asked to rate ads “on a scale of 1-950, which represents scoring on creative attributes such as relevance, persuasion, watchability, information, attention, etc.” Respondents, it says, are randomly selected.

Samsung takes the lead six out of the top-10 tablet ads, with Google’s newly-launched Nexus taking two slots and Amazon’s Kindle Fire, also seeing recent launches, taking up two more. Here’s how the advertising rankings stack up:

The ranking seems particularly ironic in light of how tablets actually appear to be selling at the moment.

The Online Publishers Association in June gave Apple a market share of 52% collectively for the three versions of the iPad that have been released so far, with the iPad 2 at the top of the pile. Android collectively has a 47% share, with the Kindle Fire (forked Android as it is…) with a 28% share.

As a point of comparison, Strategy Analytics gave Apple an even bigger margin of the market for the last quarter. In July, it said that Apple accounted for over 68% of all tablets sold, with Android at under 30%.

Apple is also topping the charts for top tablet brand when it comes to customer satisfaction. The latest survey from J.D. Power put it just ahead of the Kindle Fire — with the $199 price tag of Amazon’s basic tablet carrying a lot of currency among users at the moment.

The best hope for top tablet contenders, it seems, is for there to be a delayed reaction to seeing effective ads, with users taking note and remembering the impact during the holiday shopping season — the biggest buying period for consumer electronics in the U.S.

Sentiments like this one — “This ad got my attention particularly because I’ll be in the market for a new tablet around Christmastime. In a few seconds, they showed several important/ useful applications. I will be looking further at the Samsung Galaxy.” — could give a boost to Samsung in sales. Unless Apple gets its way and a sales ban gets put into effect. (That case is coming up on December 6 — and Apple has demonstrated in the past that holiday-season injunctions can be a real pain for Samsung.)

Another worry is that the top tablet maker is indeed launching another product soon, with perhaps an iPad Mini waiting in the wings for a pre-holiday launch.

Ace Metrix notes that Apple hasn’t been buying up as much advertising airtime of late — with its last ad appearing at the beginning of August. “Do It More Beautifully” has been Apple’s most effective ad so far this year, the analysts say, but its Ace Score of 627 still wasn’t high enough to make the top-10.

That ad also gave Apple its biggest “change score” of 670, but that, too, was some way behind the lowest change score in the top-10.

This points to a potential turning of the tides for Apple, says Ace Metrix. “The key to the success of these ads is the demonstration of new, exciting features that consumers have never seen before. For example, Samsung demonstrates multi-tasking, use of a stylus, etc.—all contributors to big ‘Change’ scores, a critical Ace Metrix indicator that consumers’ opinions are changing about a brand,” writes Peter Daboll, CEO.

But dont’ go thinking that being absent in ads has a clear inverse variation with a product’s success. The Nook tablet from Barnes & Noble, is also absent from the top ad rankings, with its most successful ad, from May, achieving an Ace Score of only 582. The Nook currently only has a 9% market share among U.S. tablet owners, according to the ONA.

About Ace Metrix

Ace Metrix® is the new standard in television and video analytics, dedicated to delivering better, faster, and more cost-effective solutions for evaluating video advertising within competitive context. Through the Ace Metrix LIVE™ platform, companies can now access timely, actionable data wherever, whenever they need to, enabling real-time advertising campaign optimization. Combining leading edge technology and patent pending methodology, Ace Metrix is revolutionizing the way marketers measure themselves and their competitive landscape. The company is privately held and is backed by leading venture capital firms and industry leaders including.

Follow Ace Metrix on Twitter for sustained insight: @Ace_Metrix.

Note: Ace Metrix®, the Ace Metrix logo design, Ace Score®, and Creative Lifecycle Management® are registered trademarks and Ace Metrix LIVE™ is a trademark of Ace Metrix. Other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

Canny developers have coaxed Google Maps into running on iOS 6 devices, bypassing the little-loved Apple Maps app, though the hack is said to be not yet ready for primetime. Apple replaced Google Maps on the iPhone 5 and other devices running iOS 6 with its own, homegrown Maps app, and promptly encountered criticism over the quality of the service’s location data. Now, iOS jailbreak developer Ryan Petrich has apparently managed to get the old Google Maps back on his iOS 6 phone.

According to Petrich, the hacked install is “still crashy and cannot be distributed to the public yet, but it mostly works.” It obviously requires a device that has been jailbreaked, since Apple is unlikely to allow a hacked app of this sort through into the App Store.

Google, too, is unlike to be too keen at that prospect, though there’s still the potential for the search giant to release its own iOS version as a standalone app. That would re-enable features like Street View, which Apple does not yet have alternatives to.

Still, even without Google Maps, iOS 6 users aren’t limited to Apple’s Maps. Third-party developers like Garmin and Telenav have stepped in with alternatives of their own, while online mapping tools such as Nokia Maps (available at m.maps.nokia.com) can also be used.

[via Cult of Mac]

iOS 6 hack restores Google Maps is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
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