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iOS began 2011 by grabbing more than half of the mobile browser market share and ended 2011 equally strong. According to mobile web browsing data from Net Applications, which counts unique visitors to its network of websites, iOS accounted for 54.07% of the mobile browser market in January 2011 and dropped slightly to 52.10% by the end of the year.

The mobile platform stayed mostly steady in the intervening months, but there were a few fluctuations. Market share climbed to 61.50% in October 2011, presumably fueled by the launch of the iPhone 4S, and fell as low as 46.57% in February 2011. This dip might be the result of the iPad 2. Some original iPad owners may have sold their tablet in anticipation of the iPad 2, which was unveiled in early March.

Among its competitors, Android climbed from 12.75% to 16.29%, while Symbian fell from 7.40% to 5.76%. Other platforms remained about the same with only minor changes in market share.

These figures are interesting because they don’t fit in with other metrics that show Android is the leading mobile OS. When you look at activations and handset sales, there are more Android handsets being sold than Apple iPhones. Consequently, you would expect Android to have a larger market share than it does. So why the discrepancy?

This difference is likely the result of mobile Safari which, in my opinion, offers a better browsing experience than Android. Mobile Safari is an excellent browser, which was made even better now that it supports tabs on the iPad. Safari for iOS also loads pages quickly and is very responsive to multitouch gestures like pinch to zoom.

Though Android’s mobile browser is decent, it just isnt as smooth or polished as iOS. Scrolling can be choppy, copying text from pages is clunky and Adobe Flash seems to slow things down. It’s a capable browser that’ll serve up information, but it doesn’t have the same enjoyable experience as iOS.

Via AppleInsider

iOS ends 2011 with 52% of mobile Web browsing originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 02 Jan 2012 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Good news for iPhone owners on the Verizon network. A day after announcing a plan to charge customers a $2.00 fee for telephone and online bill payments the plan has vanished without a trace.

Could it be the announcement today from the U.S. Federal Communications Commission today saying it was going to look into the fees on behalf of Verizon customers?

Verizon said it was dumping the fees after the company was met with a storm of criticism, including an online petition signed by 95,000 people.

Whatever the reason, the fee has evaporated as quickly as it appeared. Many outraged customers threatened to dump the company and take their business elsewhere.

There is no official announcement of the change on the Verizon website. It is being widely reported in major news outlets.

The reversal on the fees follows the widely reported Bank of America debacle in September where the company tried and failed to implement a $5 fee for customers to use their debit cards. Other companies have quickly changed policies after an online outcry, often quickly spread via Reddit, Twitter and Facebook.

via Reuters

Verizon announces then kills extra $2 fee to pay bill by phone or online originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 30 Dec 2011 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The more I review compact keyboards and keyboard folios, the more I am inclined to believe that the best keyboard for an iPad is no keyboard. The new Verbatim Ultra-Slim Bluetooth Keyboard (US$84.00) added ammunition to that argument.

The Ultra-Slim keyboard is typical of its class: it is small, lightweight, has good battery life, and connects to your iPad or iPhone through Bluetooth. In fact, the Ultra-Slim is probably the slimmest and lightest (6.9 ounces) Bluetooth keyboard I’ve seen. And that’s exactly where I have a problem with it.

Make no mistake: the Ultra-Slim is perfect if you want the lightest possible keyboard around for Mac, iPhone, or iPad. But my concern is that so much effort went into making this keyboard compact that it’s almost impossible to use. My current gold standard for keyboards is the Apple Wireless Keyboard. The one I have has given me years of flawless service, I can type quickly and accurately on it, and it’s compact enough that it has traveled with me on trips where I want to use a keyboard with my iPad.

The Apple Wireless Keyboard is just a bit over 11 inches wide, and a little over 5 inches deep. The keys are nicely spaced both horizontally and vertically, and it’s a fantastic keyboard for fast typing. Now let’s look at the Ultra-Slim Bluetooth Keyboard. It jams approximately the same number of keys into a keyboard just over 8.5″ wide and about 4.5 inches deep. As a result, there’s no spacing between the keys at all, and it’s quite easy to accidentally press two or more keys — even with small hands like I have!

How small is that keyboard? Well, if you hold up the Verbatim Ultra-Slim next to the virtual keyboard on the iPad, they’re about the same size. There’s a hint here, folks — if you think the iPad’s keyboard is too small, then the Ultra-Slim is going to be too small for you as well.

Charging is done through a standard USB to micro-USB cable, and there’s an on-off switch right next to the micro-USB port so the keyboard can be turned off to save battery life when not in use. There’s also a button to enable discovery mode on the keyboard.

Getting back to the keys on the keyboard, they’re just too small. Take the shift keys, for example — the left one is about .75″ x .5″, the right one is about .4″ square. On the Apple keyboard, they’re 1.5″ x .675″ each — a ton of space by comparison. Verbatim made the insane move of cramming even more keys into the bottom row of the keyboard than are on the Apple keyboard. The Apple keyboard has an fn key,a control key, two option(alt) keys, two command keys, the space bar, and the arrow keys in the bottom row. The Verbatim keyboard jams two Home button keys, a key to hide or show the iPad’s virtual keyboard, and the backslash key into that same row — 13 keys in a small space.

One other gripe is that some of the keys are in totally non-standard positions. For example, the quotation mark key that’s normally next to the Return/Enter key on a Mac keyboard is squeezed between the left shift key and the letter Z. The backslash is on the bottom row instead of on the right side of the “QWERTY” row of the keyboard, and the delete key is on the top row instead of the number row.

Verbatim threw a number of iOS device-specific keys onto the top row, including a lock key, search key, brightness keys, cut/copy/paste, reload, rewind/play/fast-forward, and volume keys. These are fairly standard with most Bluetooth keyboards designed for use with the iPad

Conclusion

All things considered, I cannot recommend the Verbatim Ultra-Slim Bluetooth Keyboard. It’s too small for any reasonable typing, many keys are in non-standard locations, and the price ($84) is ridiculously high. Apple’s Wireless Keyboard is only $69, Logitech’s Tablet Keyboard is $70, and there are generic Bluetooth keyboards that look much more comfortable for use with an iPad for as little as $13. Just yesterday, TUAW reviewed the AmazonBasics Bluetooth Keyboard that is regularly available for as little as $29.99.

My advice? Either learn to use the virtual keyboard on the iPad, which I’ve actually found gets much better the more you use it, or get the Apple Wireless Keyboard.

Verbatim Ultra-Slim Bluetooth Keyboard is tiny, overpriced and flawed originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 30 Dec 2011 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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London, United Kingdom – UK iPhone app developer Essency Limited has announced that V2.4 of Awareness! The Headphone App will be free for 2 days. Normally $6.99 the app is now FREE until the 1st of January 2012.

This version is iAD supported and sponsored by Run Britain

Awareness! is a unique app that allows headphone users to hear what’s going on around them while listening to music (or any other audio) on iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. With Awareness! you can hear when the person next to you talks, or if out walking or cycling, when a car or truck blows its horn.

With increasing numbers of sports users wearing in-ear and closed headphones, there are serious safety issues caused by their isolation from the world around them.

Rather than just another Fart App, this iPhone App can save the lives of runners, joggers and walkers

These Are Recent headlines:
* Teen killed by car while wearing headphones
* Headphone Wearing Jogger Killed By Plane
* Teacher killed by tram while listening to headphones

Try a Google search for ‘people killed while wearing headphones’

Awareness! solves the problem of headphone isolation, by feeding the outside world into the music, allowing users to listen to their music and remain fully world aware.

This is an essential app for music listening pedestrians, drivers, cyclists, bikers, joggers, runners and others who need audio awareness for safety’s sake.

“5 stars and without doubt the most important app around. It does what it says and does it perfectly!” (user review from iTunes)

System Requirements:
* iPhone, iPod touch (2nd generation), iPod touch (3rd generation), iPod touch (4th generation), and iPad
* Requires iOS 4.0 or later
* 4 MB

Pricing and Availability:
Awareness! The Headphone App 2.4 is Free and is available worldwide through the App Store in the Utilities category. Review copies are available upon request.

essency
Awareness! The Headphone App 2.4
Download from iTunes
Screenshot
App Icon
Press Kit

UK developer essency was formed in 2009, the result of a collaboration between experienced sound recording engineers, programmers and musicians. This is the first release in a trio of Apps, designed to enhance the usefulness and usability of music playing devices such as the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. Android, Symbian, Blackberry, PC and Mac versions will follow. Copyright (C) 2011 essency. All Rights Reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, iPhone, iPod and iPad are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries.

You’ve got to feel for Frank G., who shared this story of holiday woe on the WWW Artist’s Consortium mailing list. He ordered a Verizon iPhone 4S, and received it, but when he tried to activate it — no joy.

Frank spent an hour and a half on the phone with Verizon tech support in an effort to activate, until they finally sussed out the problem: the phone wasn’t allocated for Verizon. Rather than attaching to Big Red’s CDMA network as it should, the phone was apparently set up with a GSM SIM that thought it was intended for one of Vodafone’s overseas networks. We know the 4S is a worldphone but this is a bit much, no?

Frank returned his phone to a New York-area Verizon retail store, where they confirmed that indeed the phone was improperly provisioned; unfortunately now he has to wait a couple more weeks for his new device. The store techs reportedly said that at least 10 other people had come in with the same issue that day.

It seems like we would have heard more commotion about this problem if it was truly widespread, but let us know: have you gotten a mismatched Verizon iPhone this holiday?

Thanks Laurie!

Some Verizon customers received GSM-provisioned iPhones originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 30 Dec 2011 09:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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West Vancouver, Canada – Give yourself the gift of dining room dominance this New Year’s Eve with iPhone app Tip This 2.2 by Maitre d’ Malone. Weaponize yourself by launching powerful culinary buzzwords with aplomb. Tip This by Maitre d’ Malone pioneers the interactive gamification of dining out.

‘Stump the Smug Sommelier’ by asking “tell me, does this wine reflect the typicity of the region’s terroir?” Watch the staff warp into hyper-drive to please you and your guests. Give them but a glimpse of the bazooka at your disposal and you can expect fawning, freebies and visits from the chef and owner alike.

Going out with a group this New Year’s Eve? Tip This by Maitre d’ Malone will embolden you to speak up to the haughtiest of your foodie friends and never be usurped at table again.

* Debate the merits of barrel aged tawny port vs bottle aged single vintage port … child’s play.
* Speculate on the foreign exchange implications of buying Bordeaux wine futures … bring it on!
* Do they know why their heroes Chef Escoffier and Maitre d’ Ritz were fired from the Savoy Hotel in London in 1897?

Because you now do. Early 2012 upgrades to Tip This by Maitre d’ Malone will allow users to converse, instantly converting rooms filled with strangers into communities of table hopping chums chatting, flirting, rating and comparing their dining experience in real time and more importantly in real life.

Safely, stately and securely fine dining is poised for a quantum leap of digital magnitude. Why ask a waiter what they’d recommend when there in hand is a twitter-like feed of candid comments about meals that have just left the kitchen while hapless managers in back rooms attempt damage control. No, no, no! Medium rare is supposed to be that red. That’s an industry standard mark up wine ya cheapskate!

Some will be better than others. Tip This by Maitre d’ Malone, the iPhone app transfiguring F&B.

Device Requirements:
* iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad
* Requires iOS 4.0 or later
* 2.7 MB

Pricing and Availability:
Tip This 2.2 is $2.99 USD (or equivalent amount in other currencies) and available worldwide exclusively through the App Store in the Lifestyle category.

Tip This 2.2
Purchase and Download
Screenshot
App Icon

Luala Kumpur Productions is an iOS app development company begun in 2011 in West Vancouver, Canada by Patrick Malone who is dedicated to producing high quality mobile apps arcane insights for a discerning clientele. Copyright (C) 2011 Luala Kumpur Productions. All Rights Reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, iPhone, iPod and iPad are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries.

Los Angeles, California – For a limited time Squires Studios is making Notes To Store 1.32 for the iPad available at half price. Notes To Store allows creating multiple multimedia notebooks on the iPad, each with unlimited pages. The user can type in text, draw sketches and import photos for markup and reference. User can record all of their ideas just like a real notebook. They can type with the built in keyboard, hardware keyboard or write with their finger if they prefer.

Multiple notebooks allows organizing by subject matter or projects. Auto date stamping can be enabled on any notebook to turn it into a journal or diary by starting each page with the date and time. Each notebook can be customised to provide a different look as desired. Font styles, size and colors can also be customized on a per page basis to make reading and finding material easy.

Sketching and painting is done with a fully adjustable brush and colors. Drawing can be used to sketch out ideas and to highlight text. Photos can be imported to draw on top of, to make notations or simply for illustration. The pages can show plain paper, graph paper, spiral notebook or yellow pad motifs. All typed or pasted text is searchable to easily find the pages needed. A typed keyword on a sketch allows it to easily be found. Email pages or the entire notebook as Text, PDFs, Images or Save to the Photo Album. Copy and paste supported as well as full undo/redo.

Device Requirements:
* Compatible with iPad
* Requires iPhone OS 3.2 or later
* 1.4 MB

Pricing and Availability:
For a limited time only, Notes To Store 1.32 is offered at a sale price only $1.99 USD (or equivalent amount in other currencies) and available worldwide exclusively through the App Store in the Productivity category.

Notes To Store 1.32
Purchase and Download
Screenshot
App Icon

Squires Studios is Scott Squires, Director and Visual Effects Supervisor. Besides working on visual effects for feature films Mr. Squires also develops advanced software tools. He developed Commotion, which was a successful visual effects software package now owned by Avid. He developed Squiggles, a paint and image manipulation tool, exclusive to the iPhone. (Available opening day on the App Store). Fliparoni was his second iPhone app and features the only real-time video puzzle game for the iPhone. Copyright 2011 Squires Studios. All Rights Reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, iPhone, iPod and iPad are registered trademarks of Apple Computer in the U.S. and/or other countries.

Lara Croft heads up issue 213 of Play as part of a Tomb Raider special, which is on sale now.

Tomb Raider leads Play’s 12 In 2012 feature with Crystal Dynamics chat about research rooms, the Japanese popularity of Lara and why she was seen as ‘big boobs, big ass, two guns’. Also starring in the feature are Assassin’s Creed III, Dead Space 3, BioShock Infinite and Resident Evil 6.

Naughty Dog also talk about everything Uncharted – what the future holds, why they made the storyline decisions they did for Uncharted 3 and the mistake that almost made it into the game and gave away that the pub level was made by an American studio…

There’s also essential reading for every PlayStation3 owner with the 61 Ways To Boost Your PlayStation3 feature, which covers everything from increasing your storage space to killing lag to playing your PlayStation 3 wherever you are in the world.

Also inside:
DmC Exposed
- Exclusive screens in our preview and interview special

The Year Of The Exclusive
- 29 exclusives inside for PlayStation3, PSN and PlayStation Vita

Grand Theft Auto V Rumour Round-Up
- Empire building, the return of the army, horses (!) and more!
Big Sony Sequels Inbound
- What are the chances of God of War IV, Resistance 4 or Killzone 4 happening?

Ninja Gaiden 3
UFC Undisputed 3
Rainbow Six Patriots
Street Fighter x Tekken
Resistance: Burning Skies
Uncharted: Golden Abyss
Little Deviants
Escape Plan
Need For Speed: The Run
Tekken Hybrid

Get Play 213 (pictured) from all good newsagents, the imagine shop or via iTunes.

Lara Croft heads up issue 213 of Play as part of a Tomb Raider special, which is on sale now.

Tomb Raider leads Play’s 12 In 2012 feature with Crystal Dynamics chat about research rooms, the Japanese popularity of Lara and why she was seen as ‘big boobs, big ass, two guns’. Also starring in the feature are Assassin’s Creed III, Dead Space 3, BioShock Infinite and Resident Evil 6.

Naughty Dog also talk about everything Uncharted – what the future holds, why they made the storyline decisions they did for Uncharted 3 and the mistake that almost made it into the game and gave away that the pub level was made by an American studio…

There’s also essential reading for every PlayStation3 owner with the 61 Ways To Boost Your PlayStation3 feature, which covers everything from increasing your storage space to killing lag to playing your PlayStation 3 wherever you are in the world.

Also inside:
DmC Exposed
- Exclusive screens in our preview and interview special

The Year Of The Exclusive
- 29 exclusives inside for PlayStation3, PSN and PlayStation Vita

Grand Theft Auto V Rumour Round-Up
- Empire building, the return of the army, horses (!) and more!
Big Sony Sequels Inbound
- What are the chances of God of War IV, Resistance 4 or Killzone 4 happening?

Ninja Gaiden 3
UFC Undisputed 3
Rainbow Six Patriots
Street Fighter x Tekken
Resistance: Burning Skies
Uncharted: Golden Abyss
Little Deviants
Escape Plan
Need For Speed: The Run
Tekken Hybrid

Get Play 213 (pictured) from all good newsagents, the imagine shop or via iTunes.

Portland, Oregon – TimeStream Software announces the release of Version 1.4 of its innovative “Walt Disney World Pro” app for the iPhone and iPod touch.

With accurate Wait Times, interactive Maps, Restaurants, Menus, Park Hours, Attractions, Hotel Information, Phone Numbers, Tips and more, complete with more than 500 exclusive high-quality photos, the new “Walt Disney World Pro” iPhone app is one of the most comprehensive mobile vacation planners and in-park guides available for Walt Disney World Resort today, covering nearly every aspect of the entire resort and all four theme parks, including the Magic Kingdom(R), Epcot(R), Disney’s Animal Kingdom and Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

“The new ‘Walt Disney World Pro’ iPhone app is one of the most, if not the most, comprehensive mobile apps available for Walt Disney World Resort today.” said Mike Westby of TimeStream Software. “In fact, USAToday calls it ‘impressive, well-organized and particularly comprehensive and useful.’ It’s not only a powerful trip-planning and in-park resource, but with its over 500 fun photos, it’s also a great way to have all of Walt Disney World right in the palm of your hand.”

Available now from the iTunes App Store, the new Walt Disney World Pro app contains an complete array of valuable resources, including:

* Over 120 Walt Disney World Attractions, Parades & Events
* Exciting Highly Detailed Interactive Maps – Look great on the iPad!
* Accurate Wait Times with Multiple Displays
* Daily Park Hours
* Parade & Event Hours, Descriptions and Photos
* Walt Disney World Restaurants with Menu Items
* Over 500 High-Quality Photos
* Multiple Photos per Attraction
* “On-Ride” Photos
* Walt Disney World Attractions “Tips & Strategies”
* Walt Disney World Hotels & Resorts
* One-Touch “My Favorites” Tagging
* Walt Disney World Tickets

In addition, the New “Walt Disney World Pro” is the Only Leading Walt Disney World App With:

* Over 500 Large Photos (No thumbnails)
* Complete Attraction Descriptions with Multiple Photos
* Walt Disney World Hotel Information
* Multiple Photos per WDW Hotel
* “Quick Find” tabs for Attractions, Dining and Hotels
* Tips & Strategies for Each Attraction
* Parade Descriptions with Multiple Photos
* Event Descriptions with Multiple Photos
* Walt Disney World – Annual Events
* Walt Disney World – What’s New
* Walt Disney World – What’s Coming
* Walt Disney World – Phone Numbers
* Walt Disney World – Hotel Phone Numbers
* Walt Disney World – Tips
* Walt Disney World – Toddler Tips
* Walt Disney World – Tours
* All About Disney’s FASTPASS
* How to Plan Your Vacation
* Guests with Disabilities Information
* Vacation Planning Tips
* And more…all with photos!

The new “Walt Disney World Pro” app is native to the iPhone and iPod touch, so users always have access to the content and do not have to rely on a Wi-Fi or cell signal. As a result, it works throughout all four Walt Disney World theme parks.

Additional Disney Notescasts:
Part of the Walt Disney World Mobile series. Other TimeStream Software apps for Walt Disney World include:

* “Walt Disney World Notescast”
* “Walt Disney World Secrets”
* “Walt Disney World Secrets Gold!”
* “Walt Disney World Hidden Mickeys”
* “Walt Disney World Main Street, U.S.A. Windows”
* “Disneyland Park”
* “Disneyland Secrets”
* “Disneyland Secrets Gold!”
* “Disney at Work: Magic Kingdom”
* “Disney at Work: Epcot”
* “Disney at Work: Disneyland”

Device Requirements:
* iPhone, iPod touch and iPad
* Requires iOS 4.0 or later
* 19.8 MB

Pricing And Availability:
Walt Disney World Pro 1.4 is $3.99 USD and available worldwide exclusively through the App Store in the Travel category.

TimeStream Software
Walt Disney World Pro 1.4
Purchase and Download
Screenshot 1
Screenshot 2
App Icon

Founded in 2001, TimeStream Software produces top-ranked travel apps for the iPhone and iPod touch, as well as Android powered smartphones. Copyright (C) 2001-2011 TimeStream Software. All Rights Reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, iPhone, iPod and iPad are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries.