ios

Windows 8.1 vs. Apple: Twofer or tablet?

Will new Windows 8.1 hybrids finally expose the iPad for what it really is, a mere tablet?

That's what Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer suggested this week.

When speaking at the company's Build Conference on Wednesday, he described in colorful -- and maybe just a tad exaggerated -- terms how tablets don't measure up to laptops (or even pencil and paper).

Enter the "2-in-1," as Microsoft likes to call hybrids. During his keynote presentation, Ballmer brandished the Lenovo ThinkPad Helix as an example of a 2-in-1 he has used.

The Helix can be a pure … Read more

Review: Dead Ahead breathes new life into the decrepit Endless-Running genre

The Endless-Running genre of mobile gaming has been getting stale. Dead Ahead hopes to revive some of the fun by bringing the dying genre back to life with zombies.

In Dead Ahead, you take control of your little scooter and navigate the mess that is the post-apocalyptic highway, all the while being chased down by the undead hordes. Dodge cars, buses, and barricades; mow down stray zombies, and collect bonuses such as speed and weapon boosts, in glorious 8-bit graphic and funky arcade BGM. Your scooter can only speed up or go up and down. The game lets you choose … Read more

View live weather conditions on your iOS device with Weathertron

There are plenty of ways to get a weather report for your current location. When it comes to getting timely forecast that could potentially save you from getting caught in a downpour, one of the more reliable sources comes from The Dark Sky Company and Forecast.io.

By making the same API that Forecast.io uses available to developers, it gives any developer the chance to integrate weather forecasts into an any app. A new app, named Weathertron, was created by a couple of self-proclaimed "data visualization nerds" and has done just that.

Using the same data that … Read more

Everpix wants you to actually see your photos

For those with thousands of photos on their iOS devices, Apple's iOS 7 photo organization efforts are probably welcomed. In the end, though, it likely won't be that much help for finding a specific picture or simply enjoying your collection. That's where a service like Everpix comes in handy.

The cloud-based service basically collects and combines all of your photos into a single place from any source you allow it access to: Mac and Windows computers, iOS devices (Android is in development), and social networks. Once pictures are uploaded, Everpix analyzes your shots by date and content (… Read more

Preview iOS 7 using nothing more than your browser

With the curtains pulled back on the new-look iOS 7, it's only natural for users to want to get a better idea of what the changes actually mean to their daily use. People don't like change -- big or small -- especially when it comes to the tech that's used on a daily basis.

Should you not be a developer and have access to early beta builds of iOS 7, or don't want to deal with all of the bugs and issues that come from dealing with the early test builds, you can click your way … Read more

iOS vs Android: The game dev edition

When the iPhone arrived six years ago, it was the hot commodity. It didn't take long for Apple's sleek, powerful smartphone to dominate the mobile phone market -- and one of its greatest draws was a rapidly growing software marketplace, curated and quality controlled, bringing extraordinarily useful features to what was essentially a pocket-size computer.

However, competitors weren't far behind. Some have continued on, others have failed, but by far the biggest is Internet giant Google's mobile operating system, Android. In fact, the number of Android devices activated outnumbers iOS devices by a mile -- 750 million Android to 600 million iOS.

Nevertheless, as we and many of you well know, the iTunes app marketplace seems vastly superior in quality of content, in spite of Apple's barriers to entry, such as a registration fee for app sellers, and the fact that Google Play is rapidly catching up in terms of quantity and downloads. Apple has pipped 50 billion downloads across over 900,000 apps, while Google Play is currently counting down to that number across 750,000 apps. But there's an even greater discrepancy in app revenue. A massive 76 percent of the entire revenue generated by apps goes to iOS -- leaving the other 24 percent of the pie to all other operating systems.… Read more

In iOS 7, Twitter takes over social -- again

Showing some repeat favoritism, Apple has once again picked Twitter to power the coolest social experiences for its 600 million iOS device owners.

During a keynote address at its annual Worldwide Developer Conference, the Cupertino company lifted the veil on iOS 7, its next-generation mobile operating system that reflects a new way of thinking around design. Aside from its altered appearance, the redone OS -- coming to consumers' iPhones and iPads this fall -- features a new Control Center, improved multitasking, iTunes Radio, better Camera and Photos apps, and an updated Safari browser.

Twitter is also ever-present in the release, … Read more

Sorry, Z10. BlackBerry A10 coming soon

CNET Update is prepared:

Monday is going to be a wild day with announcements about Apple, Xbox One and the PlayStation 4. This episode of Update breaks down the questions we need answered at the E3 video game conference, along with what to expect from Apple's WWDC keynote. Case maker Gumdrop is so confident that the iPad 5 will be announced, that it already is selling a case for it!

CNET's live coverage of Apple's WWDC 2013 keynote

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Pics.io to bring Lightroom-like software to browsers

At startup Pics.io, a Ukrainian trio thinks it's time for the Web browser to take on a computing task that thus far has resisted the inexorable shift toward cloud computing: raw photo editing.

Eager for higher quality and flexibility, photography enthusiasts and pros have gravitated toward raw photos formats, which record cameras' image data directly without processing into a more convenient but limited JPEG. But handling raw photos is a processor-intensive task -- the kind of thing that Web-based software historically hasn't been good at and the kind of thing that people buy specialized software such as … Read more

Review: NeroKwik combines your images into a single source

NeroKwik attempts to solve the problem of your images being spread across too many devices and networks, and for the most part it succeeds. Creating a single, easy-to-navigate interface for all of your photos across your iOS devices, Facebook, and Google+, NeroKwik works well, but not without some issues.

NeroKwik is designed to make it easy to access all of your photos on one device. It does this by adding every photo on each device you install the app on to an online account. You can also connect Facebook and Google+ to the same accounts so you can easily view … Read more