Sprint Offers Up To $650 For New Framily Subscribers [iOS Blog]
Sprint on Friday announced a new credit incentive to encourage customers to switch to the carrier, offering new Sprint Framily subscribers up to $650 in trade-in and early termination fee credits.
“At Sprint, we believe in ‘Happy Connecting’ through the value of a Sprint Framily Plan,” said Jeff Hallock, Sprint chief marketing officer. “We are seeing great momentum with the Sprint Framily plan, and we want to make it as easy as possible for customers to join our Framily.”
When customers sign up for a Sprint Framily Plan, which has prices as low as $25 per line with 7 to 10 lines, they can get a $350 Visa prepaid card to cover early termination fees and a device credit of up to $300, for a total of $650.
Customers are required to bring their existing phone numbers to the carrier and choose a new phone when they subscribe, giving up their existing phones for credit. Customers will also need to submit a claim to receive reimbursement for early termination fees, providing Sprint with a bill showing the exact termination fees for each line.
Sprint’s $650 offering emulates T-Mobile’s January UnCarrier 4.0 initiative, which also gives customers up to $650 to switch to T-Mobile. Unlike T-Mobile’s promotion, Sprint’s offering is temporary and will end on May 8.
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iPhone 5s Demand Wanes in China, While Interest in iPhone 6 Accelerates [iOS Blog]
Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Brian White is touring China and reports to investors that demand for the iPhone 5s in the Asian country is disappointing, while interest in Chinese brands like Xiaomi is on the rise. This cool sentiment towards the iPhone may change when an iPhone 6 model with a larger screen arrives later this year.
Interest in a large-screened iPhone model among Chinese vendors and carriers is reportedly very high, possibly making the next iPhone launch a “special” one for Apple.
In the near term, we sensed disappointment around demand for the iPhone 5S. That said, we heard great enthusiasm around the potential for Apple to introduce a larger iPhone form factor in China this year with the iPhone 6. In our view, the iPhone 6 with a larger screen (e.g., 4.7-inch, 5.5-inch) has the potential to meaningfully accelerate Apple’s growth trajectory in China during 2H:14. We have not heard this type of excitement in China around the iPhone in at least two years and thus we believe this could be a very special iPhone launch for Apple.
China has been a focus of Apple in recent years, with the company opening new retail stores and bringing both the iPhone and the iPad to wireless carriers in the Asian country. This year alone Apple has introduced a TD-LTE version of the iPad and launched both the iPhone 5s and 5c with China Mobile, the world’s largest mobile carrier with approximately 772 million subscribers.
Apple’s next iPhone model is expected to arrive in two display sizes, with one near 4.7 inches and the other at approximately 5.5 inches. The 4.7-inch model may debut this fall, while the 5.5-inch is rumored to land sometime in 2015.
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Apple’s First Turkish Store Opens to Press, Tim Cook Won’t Attend Grand Opening [Mac Blog]
Members of the press were given a tour of Apple’s newest retail store in Istanbul, Turkey before its grand opening tomorrow, April 5th, reports Apple Toolbox. Leading the tour was Apple’s manager of retail stores, Steve Cano, who confirmed that CEO Tim Cook will not attend the opening as originally expected. Turkish President Abdullah Gül also will postpone his visit until after the retail store is opened.
The 20,000 square foot store, which is located in the upscale Zorlu Center, features a unique cubic design with a glass ceiling and glass sides. According to Cano, the store uses more glass than any previous Apple Store and contains special glass materials that take full advantage of the sun light in the open area of the mall.
The Apple Retail Store at the Zorlu Center is set to open at 10:00 AM this Saturday, April 5, with Apple sending out announcements via email to Turkey residents. Similar to other retail openings, store employees will be giving away Apple t-shirts to the first 4,500 customers who enter the location on Saturday. The Istanbul location is Apple’s 424th retail store worldwide.
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Apple buys tech that could take Siri offline
Apple has sort-of-confirmed that it recently snapped up another small company, called Novauris. The firm specializes in speech recognition and has historical ties to the core technology and patents underpinning Siri. TechCrunch reports that Novauris’s experts are already working inside Apple to improve its voice assistant, but no one really knows exactly what they’re up to. One of Novauris’s big strengths has been locally-processed recognition, which doesn’t rely on distant servers, so it’s possible that Apple wants Siri to accomplish more without a data connection. (Apple’s current Siri partner, Nuance, can also do offline processing, but Apple hasn’t been able to bring that technology in-house.) We’re just speculating, of course, but this is a function that no voice assistant has really mastered so far (although others are definitely working on it), and it’s even more important now that iOS is getting into the car.
Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Mobile, Apple
Source: TechCrunch
Fingerprint Scanners on iPhone 5s and Galaxy S5 Compared in New Video
Apple debuted its Touch ID fingerprint sensor in September of 2013 with the iPhone 5s, making it the first major smartphone to include fingerprint recognition technology. Samsung followed with its own version of a fingerprint scanner in the Galaxy S5, which is slated to be released on April 11.
A new YouTube video from Tanner Marsh compares Touch ID on iPhone 5s with the fingerprint scanner of the upcoming Galaxy S5, walking through the process of setting up fingerprint recognition on both devices and comparing and contrasting some of the available functionality.
The two fingerprint scanners are quite different, with Apple’s Touch ID utilizing a round home button that captures a motionless fingerprint while Samsung’s sensor is activated using a swiping motion that scans the finger from base to tip using a rectangular home button.
iPhone 5s users may be familiar with the setup process of Touch ID, which includes placing each finger on the home button multiple times in order to register a fingerprint from multiple angles. Samsung’s setup is a bit different, involving multiple swipes downward on the screen over the home button.
Early reports suggested Samsung’s fingerprint sensor was somewhat inaccurate, and the video depicts some of the same problems with fingerprint recognition. Marsh notes that he has to swipe directly over the center of the home button for a fingerprint to register and describes how the sensor on the S5 is hard to use with a single hand.
It seems like it’s sort of hit or miss unless you swipe directly over the center of the button, covering most of it with your finger. Moreover because you have to swipe starting from the bottom of the touchscreen it makes the process nearly impossible with one hand.
As for the iPhone 5s, because the device essentially captures multiple scans of your finger in various positions you can literally unlock it from any orientation including upside down, left, right, or diagonally. It doesn’t matter. It will almost always recognize your finger.
While Samsung’s fingerprint sensor appears to have some issues, Apple’s Touch ID faced its own problems early on, including “fade,” or the increasingly erratic performance of the fingerprint sensor over time. iOS 7.1, released in March, solved the issue, bringing much-needed improvements to Touch ID’s fingerprint recognition capabilities.
Apple also faced significant scrutiny over both hacking and privacy concerns after the launch of the iPhone 5s, leading it to publish multiple documents detailing how the feature works, assuring users that only mathematical representations of fingerprints are stored in the A7 processor’s Secure Enclave, which is walled off from the rest of iOS.
Samsung may face some of the same scrutiny following the April 11 release of the Galaxy S5, especially as the company has plans to allow developers access to the feature.
Samsung’s S5 will also be compatible with PayPal’s mobile payment app, allowing users to authorize PayPal payments with a fingerprint, a feature that could also cause concern with some users. Apple has plans to enter the payment arena with its Touch ID fingerprint scanner, but has yet to do so.
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Daily Roundup: interview with Felix Baumgartner, Apple announces WWDC 2014 and more!
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours — all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Felix Baumgartner is the man who fell to Earth and lived to tell the tale
Felix Baumartner will forever be known as the first man to free fall from the edge of space. Not only did he survive the 24 mile dive from the stratosphere, but he broke several world records in the process. Our own Joseph Volpe caught up with Baumgartner as he recollected the experience and its implications for the future of space tourism.
Turkey finally lifts Twitter ban, but YouTube is still blocked
Turkey’s two-week ban on Twitter has officially come to an end. The country’s high court ruled just yesterday that the ban was unconstitutional, but now the service is completely restored. Access to YouTube, however, is still being blocked.
Apple confirms WWDC 2014 will begin on June 2nd
Apple just announced that its annual WWDC developers conference will begin on June 2nd and commence until June 6th. Ticket sales are available on Apple’s website now, but this year, it’s switching from a first-come-first-served system to random selection of attendees.
Internet Explorer 11 now looks nicer no matter what device you’re using
Today, Microsoft announced a completely revamped version of Internet Explorer 11 for Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone 8.1. For the mobile OS, users can now take advantage of many features found on the desktop version of IE, like pinning sites to Live Tiles and using voice commands.
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Apple Seeds OS X Mavericks 10.9.3 Build 13D33 to Developers [Mac Blog]
Apple today seeded build 13D33 of OS X 10.9.3 to developers, just under a week after releasing the fourth OS X beta, build 13D28, and a month after the first 10.9.3 beta.
The beta is available through the Software Update mechanism in the Mac App Store as well as through the Mac Dev Center.
Apple continues to ask developers to focus on Graphics Drivers and Audio, and Safari. As was discovered with the first beta, 10.9.3 adds new support for 4K displays, offering “Retina” resolutions that improve readability along with support for 60Hz output from the Retina MacBook Pro.
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Nest Stops Selling ‘Protect’ Smoke Detectors Over Safety Concerns [iOS Blog]
Nest CEO Tony Fadell today published an open letter on the Nest.com blog announcing that effective immediately, the company is going to cease celling its multi-sensor iPhone-connected Nest Protect: Smoke + Carbon Monoxide alarm, which was first introduced in October.
According to Fadell, a recent laboratory test revealed that Nest Wave, a feature that enables the device’s alarm to be turned off with a gesture, could potentially be used to turn off an alarm unintentionally, thus delaying the activation of the alarm in a real fire.
During recent laboratory testing of the Nest Protect smoke alarm, we observed a unique combination of circumstances that caused us to question whether the Nest Wave (a feature that enables you to turn off your alarm with a wave of the hand) could be unintentionally activated. This could delay an alarm going off if there was a real fire. We identified this problem ourselves and are not aware of any customers who have experienced this, but the fact that it could even potentially happen is extremely important to me and I want to address it immediately.
The company is immediately disabling the Nest Wave feature until the issue is resolved and while a fix is being worked on, sales of new Nest Protect alarms have been halted. Nest urges customers with existing alarms to connect them to a Nest Account (if they are not already connected) so the Nest Wave feature can be automatically disabled. Customers without access to WiFi can receive a complete refund for their devices.
Nest states that no customers have been affected by the potential issues with Nest Wave and that the steps it has taken to halt sales are a precautionary measure. The company estimates that fixing the issue will take two to three months.
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Apple and Microsoft help form lobby group opposing attempts to kill software patents
Few would object to legislative attempts to stop patent trolls in their tracks. However, a host of companies are worried these efforts might go too far — enough so that they’ve formed their own US political lobby, the Partnership for American Innovation. The group, which includes tech giants Apple, GE, IBM and Microsoft, wants a “balanced” approach that reduces the volume of junk patents (and the resulting abuse) while letting companies file for software and biotech patents. The policy isn’t surprising when these firms are trying to protect their cash cows. However, it also pits the Partnership’s members squarely against firms like Netflix and Twitter, which argue that patents only get in the way. No matter what lawmakers do, it’s now clear that they’re going to get an earful from both sides.
Filed under: Cellphones, Misc, Internet, Apple, Microsoft
Via: Reuters
Apple Acquired Speech Recognition Firm Novauris Last Year for Siri Team
Apple purchased automatic speech recognition company Novauris Technologies last year, reports TechCrunch. Novauris’ main product was NovaSystem, a server-based distributed speech recognition system.
According to the company’s website, its technology is able to handle multiple simultaneous voice requests, recognizing complete phrases and analyzing syllable structure for better speech recognition.
NovaSearch doesn’t carry out recognition at the word or sequence-of-words level, but rather identifies complete phrases from start to finish by matching them against a potentially huge inventory of possible utterances. This enables it to assemble information about what has been spoken over utterances of virtually any length and take near-optimal decisions.
While the Novauris website does not mention its acquisition by Apple, TechCrunch notes that a phone call to the U.K. offices was answered with “Apple,” by Novauris’s co-founder, who confirmed that the team now works for Apple. Novauris’s founders are well-known speech researchers and formerly worked at Dragon Systems, the company behind products like Dragon NaturallySpeaking and DragonDictate, now owned by Nuance.
One of the biggest differentiators about Novauris in terms of the competitive landscape, is that they operated in both the embedded and server space, and they also owned the core engine. This of course would make them a valuable asset for Apple, which had tried to acquire Nuance, the technology that powers Apple’s Siri – a partnership that has long been known, but only officially confirmed last year.
Novauris’s technology has been used by companies like Verizon Wireless, Panasonic, Samsung, Alpine, BMW, and more. It has also been used to power several different voice-activated mapping systems, as seen in the demo video below.
The acquisition took place in 2013 and the Novauris team has been working on improving Siri, Apple’s voice-based digital assistant. Apple is rumored to be working on making some significant upgrades to Siri with iOS 8, possibly expanding its ability to interface with third-party apps.
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