Hasta La Gadget!

Rumors of a cheaper iPhone have been circulating for what seems like forever, both for and against such a device. There hasn’t been much news regarding the cheaper iPhone until today when an analyst jumped on the budget-iPhone train.

Topeka Capital analyst Brian White published a report earlier today where he highlights portions of his research that claims Apple is indeed planning to make a budget iPhone available in 2013 to attract China and other emerging markets who wouldn’t be able to afford a full-fledged iPhone experience.

According to White, the budget iPhone could be released as soon as June 2013 and could be called “iPhone mini” or “iPhone Air,” although those names are complete speculation. The budget iPhone is also expected to cost $250 – $350 unsubsidized. That price range could suggest rumors of the budget iPhone featuring a plastic body especially when you also consider Apple’s latest acquisition of a plastics tooling engineer.

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Microsoft’s Windows Phone Leader Joe Belfiore has unintentionally generated some drama over the week-end as he sent a Tweet from an Android smartphone on his way from Finland back to the USA. He was tweeting about a budget Nokia phone he just played with, and said “Put simply, this is the best budget smartphone we’ve ever tested. I just brought one back from Espoo!” The thing is, there was a little “Twitter for Android” header that could be seen by the whole world. (more…)

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Well, iOS 6.1 is still pretty young, but 6.1.1 is already hitting the airwaves. At least for some iPhone 4S owners that is. We’ve been able to confirm availability of the upgrade on multiple 4S handsets, but have not seen it yet on an iPod touch or any other iPhone model. The notification screen does specifically call out the update as fixing issues relating to “cellular performance and reliability” on the iPhone 4S, so it’s quite likely the update will be for that device only. While better signal reliability would be a welcome upgrade, the bug we’ve heard the most complaints about is the seriously diminished battery life under 6.1. Unfortunately the pseudo-changelog that appears alongside the update make no mention of improved longevity. Other tweaks rumored to be landing with this version, including better Maps support in Japan, will have to wait for a future release like 6.2.

Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile, Apple

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Source: @viticci (Twitter), Apple Support

I was really impressed when I first saw the Nike Flyknit Trainer, with its completely woven upper that is virtually seamless. It looks like Nike is planning on taking the technology to a new level, by integrating it with even better soles.

Flyknit technology was launched about a year ago, and it’s definitely something interesting to wear, due to its lightness, fit and performance. The Nike Flyknit Lunar1+ is all-purpose runner, and it’s been combined with Nike’s well-performing Lunarlon bottom. While it’s not a Air Max 360 bubble sole, it’s still pretty comfortable and extremely lightweight.

The shoe is also Nike+ enabled so you can track your run with your smartphone or iPod.

The Nike Flyknit Lunar1+ will be available on February 14th, 2013 in many different colorways for about $179 (USD).

[via Nike]

Google’s self-driving cars have been in testing since early 2011, although it experienced its first accident a few months later. Regardless of that, and we’re sure many more undocumented hiccups, Google feels its self-driving cars are improving steadily and expects them to be ready in three to five years.

Product manager of autonomous driving Anthony Levandowski recently spoke at a Society for Automotive Engineers conference, where he revealed Google’s plans to release its self-driving technology in the next three to five years. He also informed those attending the talk “what form it gets released is still to be determined” as a number of legal issues stand in the way for autonomous vehicles to be made available to the public.

As of right now, only California, Florida and Nevada allow for Google’s self-driving vehicles to be driven on roadways. The reason for their acceptance though is purely for testing purposes as a human driver needs to be present while it’s being driven. We’re not sure why an unmanned self-driving car would be needed, but maybe we’re just not thinking outside of the box.

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