Hasta La Gadget!

Here’s a clue how popular smartphones have become as cameras: Apple’s iPhone 4 is quickly approaching the No. 1 spot to become the most-used camera on Flickr.

Nikon’s D90 DSLR camera is still Flickr king, but the iPhone isn’t far behind, and the chart below suggests that the handset should surpass the D90 pretty soon. TechCrunch’s MG Siegler was first to make this observation.

That’s not to say general-purpose devices are killing the camera market. Worldwide still camera sales increased 10 percent to 141 million units last year, according to research from IDC. Canon remains the world’s largest camera maker, and Sony is in a close second.

One thing contributing to the growth of handheld cameras is the advent of mirror-less cameras with bigger sensors and better, sometimes interchangeable, lenses — aka EVIL cameras. These cameras are still a relatively small part of the camera market, though.

The explanation is probably even simpler: most dedicated cameras still have superior quality to most smartphone cameras, and people want their photos to look good. Plus, these cameras have things that a smartphone doesn’t, like a zoom lens and more complex controls to change the appearance of photos.

The Flickr data more directly suggests that people aren’t carrying around cameras as much as they do their iPhones — which shouldn’t be a surprise, because which device would you rather keep in your pocket everywhere you go?

The smartphone’s impact on the video world is a bit more interesting. The iPhone has driven massive growth in mobile uploads on YouTube. When the iPhone 3GS released in 2009, YouTube saw mobile uploads jump 400 percent each day.

Incidentally, Cisco just killed the Flip camcorder division last week. A few argue that Cisco made this decision solely because it no longer wanted to focus on consumer products. However, that’s a bit difficult to believe when you consider that smartphones shoot video that’s just as good, if not better, than a Flip; plus, they have an internet connection to send videos straight to the web.

In the case of the Flip, Cisco didn’t adapt to the changing, increasingly interconnected world where people want to share videos and photos as fast as they create them. That left an opening that smartphone vendors are happy to fill.

However, camera vendors are making the right moves by focusing on quality images and a wider range of features to keep still cameras alive and well.

See Also:

• iPhone 3GS Driving 400-Percent Growth in YouTube Uploads
• Creepy Bug Gives Some iPhones Unwanted FaceTime
• Just How Bad Is the iPad 2 Camera?

Looks like somebody pulled the trigger on an order page for the mythical white iPhone 4 a little early over at Three UK. The phone that had previously been listed on the carrier’s site for a long, long time (sans any ability to actually order it) has now sprouted up a page all its own with the magical option to “buy now.” We managed to get all the way through to an order confirmation page, so if it’s a mistake it’s a very thoroughgoing one. Calling up Three’s telephone ordering line and PR personnel brought us no closer to finding out the truth, but this particular order page was discovered via a tweet by a Three affiliate — whose tweets have since gone private — suggesting it was dug up from someone in the know. Our suspicion is that Apple’s finally about ready to dish this phone up to the people and Three has been caught testing out its order page ahead of the inevitable onslaught of white iPhone orders. Hit the source link to see the premature revelation for yourself.

Update: Three finally wised up to the fact nobody else was yet offering the pale phone for sale and has pulled the page. For now.

Update 2: Three’s official statement on the matter:

“This page is not live at the moment, it was built at the same time as the iPhone black page so that we have it ready when and should the time come to launch white. For now, it’s a hidden page that’s inactive.”

Continue reading White iPhone 4 appears to be ready to order at Three UK (update: gone!)

White iPhone 4 appears to be ready to order at Three UK (update: gone!) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 18 Apr 2011 13:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Recombu, SlashGear  |  Three Store  | Email this | Comments

You know how ebooks are gradually taking over paper books as the most popular format for the consumption of the written word? Well, that’s bad, mmkay? Publishers, librarians, and booksellers are losing their jobs and It’s all entirely the iPad’s fault. Forget the Kindle’s millions of sales, the iPad did it. In a technophobic rant to rival all technophobic rants that have come before it, Illinois Representative Jesse Jackson Jr. accuses the iPad’s popularity for the current level of unemployment in his nation, before proceeding to sculpt a rickety argument about how the First Amendment to the US Constitution is being exploited for the benefit of China. See his tirade on video after the break.

Continue reading The iPad is taking away American jobs, Jesse Jackson Junior’s sanity (video)

The iPad is taking away American jobs, Jesse Jackson Junior’s sanity (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 18 Apr 2011 05:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink 9to5Mac  |  ShaddapPlease (YouTube)  | Email this | Comments

When Apple released its redesigned MacBook Air in October 2010, much was made of the switch to flash storage using a custom-built Mini PCI Express form factor SSD drive. It took a few weeks but these SSDs would ultimately be released as the commercially available Toshiba Blade X-gale SSD module, model TS128C. Now we’re seeing user reports showing MacBook Airs equipped with a second, even faster SSD with a SM128C part number — the “SM” hinting at its presumed Samsung manufacturing origins. Samsung’s SSD manages up to 260MBps read and 210MBps write speeds compared to Toshiba’s 210MBps read and 185MBps write performance. Of course, it’s hardly unusual for Apple to multi-source components. And a recent decision to source parts from Korea’s Samsung would have been a smart move to keep just-in-time supply lines fully stocked following the spate of disasters in Toshiba’s home country of Japan. Unfortunately, there doesn’t appear to be any way of confirming which SSD you’re about to purchase without cracking open the retail box and running the OS X System Profiler. Good luck with that.

Some MacBook Airs sporting faster blade SSDs, probably from Samsung originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 18 Apr 2011 03:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink MacRumor Forums  |  AnandTech  | Email this | Comments

This article was written on October 22, 2007 by CyberNet.

Apparently Steve Jobs doesn’t like greedy people who try to take advantage of him, and I don’t blame him one bit. ArsTechina is reporting (although it hasn’t been confirmed) that two separate independent sources have informed them that Apple has fired over 800 employees who decided to take Jobs up on his offer to refund $100 to early adopters who purchased iPhones before the price drop. Yep, those 800 employees are the same lucky ducks who got a phone for free. Do the math and you’ll realize that those 800 employees cost Apple an extra $80,000! No wonder Steve Jobs decided to go on a major firing spree.

It’s hard to believe that 800 people were that greedy, but I’m sure it was viral. Once one person attempted to get the refund and realized Apple didn’t stop them, you can bet they went off to tell their other co-workers to give it a try. You’d also think that these employees would feel some type of loyalty to Apple that would keep them from stealing, especially after getting a rather expensive phone from them. They manipulated the situation, and now they’re going to have to suffer the consequences.

If this turns out to be true, it just goes to show that stealing is stealing.  Sure, it will cost Apple quite a bit of money to hire and train 800 new employees, especially right before the holiday season, but it had to be done. Apple could have just given them a warning and moved on, but most companies have a zero tolerance policy and whether it’s a dollar, or $100 dollars, it’s stealing. Now the one question that I have regarding this whole situation is why didn’t Apple have a better system in place to help them determine if the person seeking the refund worked for Apple and had generously received an iPhone for free?

Want a job at an Apple store? Now’s probably the best time to pursue it!

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

Related Posts:

Apple Employees Will Help Sell Macs At Best BuyAT&T Gears Up for iPhone by Hiring 2,000 Extra EmployeesApple Wins, Bloggers Lose…Apple to Work with Mercedes on Navigation?Best Buy To Start Selling The iPhone 3G