-What's happening?
Brian Tong here and welcome to the Apple Byte for all the good and bad inside the world of Apple.
Plus, our JBL Pulse giveaway winners, you don't wanna miss that.
So, let's get to the show and Apple's biggest rival, Samsung, just revealed the Galaxy S5, but let's be honest, it kinda feels like a Galaxy S4s.
Now, the screen gets a slight bump in size at 5.1 inches.
It brings a fingerprint scanner this time around
and a heart rate scanner placed on the backside under its improved camera.
Its body maintains an almost identical plastic design, but this time the back looks more like a Band-Aid than it does a phone.
Samsung fans overall had lukewarm reactions after expecting the next big thing, but Samsung really left an opening for other android phones and the iPhone to get back that psychological edge in consumer minds that Samsung's really had for the past year.
Now, their Gear 2 watch was nothing to write home about
and their Gear Fit.
Their coolest piece of hardware really should have been the new Gear smartwatch instead of a fitness band and a user interface that can only be used horizontally, which is pretty uncomfortable for anyone with a neck.
Now, I'm still not even sold on the idea of a smartwatch yet, but without even seeing what Cupertino was cooking, you almost have to give the big A an edge out of the gates.
Now, even if they just do what this concept video from Todd Hamilton does, they'll already be ahead.
Also, this week, the big bad Apple news was the security vulnerability
known as go to fail, which allowed an attacker on the same network to capture or modify data transfer from Safari, Mail, iCloud, and other Apple apps that were supposed to be securely encrypted.
Pretty much everything you do on an Apple device.
Now, Apple released patches for iOS 6 and iOS 7 first but then still left desktop and laptop users vulnerable until the most recent 10.9.2 update.
Now everything has been patched up to our knowledge, but this affects iPhones, iPads, and Macs.
So, if you haven't already, you need to run these updates on all your devices.
Also, in some iOS 7 news, Apple is pushing for wider iBeacon adoption.
It's their location-sensing technology that delivers information when a user is within 100 feet of an iBeacon.
Now, it can provide anything from indoor navigation of a store to product information or relevant promotions or discount.
Apple recently released specification requirements under the made for iPhone program for third-party companies looking to incorporate the technology.
Apple has rolled out its tech at its U.S. retail stores
and Macy's flagship store in New York is running a pilot test as well.
Now, Major League baseball has installed iBeacons in Dodger Stadium-- Uh-huh-- and Petco Park to deliver ballpark information and points of interest and plans to roll out in over 20 ball parks before the 2014 opener in March.
Now, a lot of you have been asking me about when we'll see a legit stand-alone controller for iOS devices.
It's coming soon with the recent Mad Catz announcement for their iOS 7 controller called C.T.R.
L.i
that will release in April for around $80, bringing what they call a premium experience to iOS.
Now, it's a Bluetooth controller so you can either mount an iPhone or iPod Touch to it or use it separately with an iPad.
It uses two AAA batteries and will provide about 50 hours of game play.
All right, guys, the Quick Bytes, the Hollywood Reporter says The Social Network director, David Fincher, is in talks with Sony to direct the Aaron Sorkin scripted Steve Jobs biopic.
Now, Sorkin completed the script last month and it's supposed to take place across three 30-minute scenes
at three different Steve Jobs keynotes based on the Walter Isaacson biography.
Now, you know Fincher and Sorkin would be the perfect team to make this happen.
I mean, did you see The Social Network?
They made a movie about Facebook.
It won three Academy Awards.
It was nominated for Best Picture and Best Director in 2010 as well.
Now, think about it, it was about Facebook.
So, make it happen, Sony.
Now, Apple recently released an update for iTunes with bug fixes and compatibility improvement, so get on that,
but even cooler, if you use iTunes radio, upcoming albums from Pharrell, Rick Ross, and Lea Michele are also available to listen to in their entirety before they're even released.
You guys can just check it out on iTunes radio in the featured stations.
And the WWE announced their WWE network that's available as a channel on the Apple TV and is also available in their own iOS app.
It will give you full access to pay per view events like Wrestle Mania, replays of classic matches, and other original programming.
It's 59.99 for six months, which is basically the price of one pay per view event and you know how WWE fans feel about this.
All right, it's time to announce our winners for the JBL Pulse Bluetooth speaker giveaway.
I told you it wouldn't be easy and we had over 1,500 submissions, so we ask you guys how many times did I see "mi" in the warmups and then add that to the number of pipes I personally flew through in Flappy Bird.
And for all you there who are wondering, the correct answer
is 29, 27-- kind of 27 mi, mi, mis and I flew through 2 pipes.
Though some of you said it was actually 4 because the pipes were separate, which is a good point, but I'm going with 29.
So, congrats go to our Twitter winners, Lenida and Stanley Wong, but I'm sorry Brian Tadena who actually did the correct math, but wrote the wrong number.
And on e-mail, Kevin Ruddy who asked me not to give him the one I had in my pants.
So, don't worry, you're all getting brand new ones.
Congrats again and we'll be in touch.
All right, that's gonna do it for this week's show.
E-mail us at the applebyte@cnet.com or just tweet me @BrianTong and I'll answer when I can.
Thanks for watching.
We'll catch you guys next week for another bite of the Apple.
