Emerging as a prototype on community funding website KickStarter, the Cord-On-Board case solves your charging problems by incorporating an iPhone USB cord within its case. The case is light and is slim enough to slip in your pocket, ensuring that you can slip it in and out of your pocket to charge it using one of the hundreds of USB ports you encounter each and every day. (via Clever iPhone Case Helps You Stay Charged - The Next Web)
I funded this for $25 today, so I can get the first run in March.
The Windows Phone Problem In Three Words: Way Too Late.
I can reduce a way-overlong post by Paris Lemon about what’s wrong with the Microsoft Phone:
Too late, not an order of magnitude better.
The iPhone was easily an order-of-magnitude better that the shit phones we all tolerated when it launched. Microsoft had years to come up with something awesome, and it’s ok. Which means death, today.
(via underpaidgenius)
iPhone 4S Battery Life Woes: Details and Solutions - Christina Bonnington
Seems like a large number of customers are complaining about the iPhone 4s battery life:
Christina Bonnington via Wired.com
Although Apple has not yet officially commented on the issue, according to The Guardian, some of those affected by the issue have been contacted by Apple’s engineers. One individual said that Apple called and, after asking a number of questions about his usage habits, asked him to install a monitoring program so that they could better diagnose the issue.
The iPhone 4S has a built-in rechargeable lithium-ion battery. It’s supposed to provide up to 8 hours of 3G talk time (14 hours of 2G) and standby time of up to 200 hours. Although it’s a slight larger (capacity-wise) battery than that of the iPhone 4, the iPhone 4 is supposed to get 300 hours of standby time. For more intensive activities like internet use and watching videos, on the iPhone 4S you get 6 hours on 3G and 9 hours on WiFi, and 10 hours, respectively. The iPhone 4S has a beefed up A5 processor and several other hardware upgrades and changes compared to its predecessor. When the iPhone 3GS debuted, it also suffered from battery life complaints.
I bet this will turn out to be an iOS 5 issue, somehow related to apps running in the background.
Update: Oliver Haslam reports that the ‘setting time zone’ function can drain the battery when turned on.
Incoming: A Native Gmail iPhone App. Finally.
Google is on the verge of launching their native Gmail app, multiple sources tell me. In fact, I believe it has already been submitted to Apple for review. If it gets approved, it should be out soon. And I think it’s going to be approved.
This is great news for a couple of reasons. First: native Gmail app! Awesome. Second: those who have seen the app tell me it’s pretty fantastic. Perhaps even surprisingly so.
But again, Google has had a nice mobile web version of Gmail optimized for the iPhone for some time, so what’s the big deal? Well the real big deal is Push Notifications. Finally.
This is long-awaited and overdue.
I like some Apple apps, but in a best-of-breed world I have to say that Gmail is better. Plus, I use Remember The Milk for personal task management, and its integration with Gmail is great.
It will be interesting to see how RTM’s integration works on the native Gmail app, if at all.
What is needed is a really smart way of turning advertising from a nuisance into a service. We have a very real chance of being able to do something like that.
- Josh Quittner, cited by Laura Locke in Flipboard editorial chief on how magazines are flipping out
Also notable:
So I think that as we move from a Twitter or news-feed sense of news to a restoration of relevance it becomes a lot more interesting. So, if I only have five minutes, I would love to see the most important things, not the most recent things. That’s an interesting direction for us.
Explore photos being shared around the world on Twitter, Instagram, Foursquare and PicPlz via a map in near real-time. When you’re zoomed out, you’ll see only the latest images being shared, and as you zoom further in to a particular area you’ll see more images from a longer time period. (via Teleportd: Search photos shared on Twitter, Instagram and more)
Drumbi
Irvine, CA-based startup Drumbi is today launching its new iPhone and Android app that wants to revolutionize the phone call. With Drumbi you’re now able to specify the topic of a phone call, as well as the location from which you’re calling before you place it. You can also designate the urgency of your call, so that when the recipient answers they’re well aware of the context and other relevant information you would have had to explain anyway. (via Drumbi: Reinventing phone calls by giving them a subject line - TNW Apps)
I like the notion of contextualizing phone calls with metadata, and tying that to the life stream.
So Maybe We Can All Keep Our Devices On?
One of the downsides of using Kindle software on my iPhone when traveling is having to power down during take off and landing on planes. But now that pilots are putting critical reading material on their iPads, that might change:
Kate Murphy, iPads Replacing Pilots’ Paper Manuals - NYTimes.com
American Airlines won F.A.A. approval last month for its pilots to use the iPad to read aeronautical charts. American received authorization last year to use the device instead of paper reference manuals. Executive Jet Management, a NetJets company owned by Berkshire Hathaway, received the F.A.A.’s permission in February for its pilots to read aeronautical charts on iPads.
Moreover, the F.A.A. said pilots at the two airlines would not have to shut off and store their iPads during taxiing, takeoff and landing because they had demonstrated that the devices would not impair the functioning of onboard electronics.
So let’s see, now that pilots are using electronic devices, suddenly they aren’t a threat to air safety?
(via underpaidgenius)
40% of European smartphone buyers plan to purchase an iPhone as their next device. 19% plan to purchase an Android powered device, 17% have their eye on a BlackBerry, and 15% plan to buy a Nokia smartphone.
Social anthropologist, clairvoyant, postfuturist.
