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Another Sign Of A New iPhone? Apple Will Pay You To Recycle Your 4S
Looxcie’s Lifecasting Mobile Apps Graduate From Beta With Nifty Facebook Integration In Tow
RAWR: Samsung Canada Wins The Internet With This Custom Galaxy S III
Winter Is Coming: The Great iPhone Cable Shortage Of 2012
Gogo Granted Spectrum Approval In Canada, Will Take Flight In 2013
The New iPhone Already Has An Android-Powered Clone
The Nexus 7 Now Enjoys Prime Advertising Real Estate On Google’s Homepage
Kickstarter: The Clipy Is A Backpack For The iPod Nano
NPD: Apple Customers Love The Genius Bar, Mostly Because Service Is Free

Another Sign Of A New iPhone? Apple Will Pay You To Recycle Your 4S

Posted: 29 Aug 2012 02:35 AM PDT

Apple is, as usual, remaining tight-lipped about whether it will be releasing any new devices this autumn — and even if there will be an event scheduled for September 12, as many have been reporting. Meanwhile, here is a sign that the company could be preparing for a new phone launch: Apple is offering users an option to recycle their iPhone 4S devices for up to $345 back in the form of an Apple Gift Card. Apple is among a number of other companies that have already been offering 4S device rebates (here’s a top 10 list from 9to5mac), with the highest offer being $500 on Amazon.

The addition of the 4S to the list was pointed out earlier by The Next Web, although it’s not clear whether the 4S models were added today or some time previously. Apple’s store had been down for several hours earlier today and this could have been the reason why. We have contacted Apple to ask and will update as we learn more.

Apple’s highest offer of $345, and Amazon’s for $500, is for the most premium of the devices: the 64GB White iPhone 4S. A black 16GB version of the 4S will net $285 from Apple, according to an estimate it uses from PowerON.

These prices are for devices that are in good condition — no water damage, no cracks, no scuff marks. In return, users get a Apple Gift Card — usable, of course, for either another Apple iPhone or towards another Apple product.

When you trade in your phone, if the device is in good order, Apple says it gets resold as used or reconditioned; if it’s not in good repair it gets broken down for recycling responsibly.

The recycling issue is a huge one and there is a lot of pressure on phone makers to play a bigger role in helping to manage it. According to one estimate from the United Nations, global electronic waste is growing to 40 billion tons every year, and mobile phones are a billion-device contributor to that problem.

Looxcie’s Lifecasting Mobile Apps Graduate From Beta With Nifty Facebook Integration In Tow

Posted: 28 Aug 2012 09:34 PM PDT

Remember Looxcie? The folks behind those tiny, ear-mounted video cameras that first popped up a few years ago? The company has been keeping to itself these past few months, mostly because the team has been slaving away some new and updated apps that they're finally willing to talk about.

The LooxcieLive mobile app has been around for a little while now — anyone willing to brave the beta could access it as far back as last November — but this new, non-beta version is (thankfully) leaps and bounds ahead of previous iterations. For one, it doesn't require people to shell out extra money for a miniature camera that hangs next to their face (though the app naturally plays nice with them), so users can broadcast the process of whipping up breakfast using the camera(s) mounted on their iOS or Android devices.

Naturally, not every moment is worth sharing with the world, so users can create more private broadcasts with limited viewer lists. Speaking of viewers, they can easily reach out to their favorite lifecasters via text chat as well as talk to them via a push-to-talk feature just to spice things up a bit. Of course, broadcasting live video from your handset plays second fiddle to, you know, using the thing to take phone calls, so streams will automatically be paused when someone rings up the user. The newly-minted app isn't without its downsides though: the iOS version in particularly isn't the prettiest thing I've ever seen, and the frame rate for those live videos tops out at 15 frames/second.

That's all well and good, but what's really notable here is how the new app integrates with Facebook. Users can now push their live video streams directly to their profile pages, and once the company’s new Facebook app is installed, viewers and voyeurs alike can easily their fix of other people’s lives. From there, those viewers can also pop into different public channels in search of more interesting events to watch unfold. It’s a hell of an improvement over the previous versions of the LooxcieLive app — all it could previously do was update a user’s status when they began broadcasting, and anyone who actually wanted to view that video stream also had to be a Looxcie member.

RAWR: Samsung Canada Wins The Internet With This Custom Galaxy S III

Posted: 28 Aug 2012 04:48 PM PDT

It all started with a simple Facebook message from a loyal Samsung fan to the company’s Canadian Facebook page. “I was just wondering if I could get a free Galaxy S3?” asked Shane. And for good measure the Samsung fanboy included a picture of a dinosaur going rawr. It wasn’t a very good drawing but it was cute. And cute counts.

Shane himself, age 26, told TechCrunch today he is far from an artist. Artist or not, he’s now the proud owner of a Samsung Galaxy S III with his artwork adorning the backside — and he got the customized phone for free.

The phone came from Samsung Canada. His phone is special. It’s a one-of-a-kind and according to the note displayed below from Samsung Canada, it’s the only customized Galaxy S III in Canada. Best of all, it’s a gift from Samsung Canada to Shane, apparently a sort-of thank you for the story that viral in May ahead of the Galaxy S III’s launch.

When Shane sent his little note to Samsung Canada in May, the phone had yet to hit the market. Samsung had just unveiled the phone and it wasn’t scheduled to hit the Canadian market until late June. But that didn’t stop Shane, a self-professed Samsung fan, who indicated to Samsung Canada that he already owned Samsung HDTV, Samsung notebook and a first-generation Samsung Galaxy S. But he wanted Samsung’s latest smartphone, too.

Samsung Canada didn’t respond to Shane’s note until the next day. As seen on this screenshot of the Facebook message (shown right), Samsung Canada politely explained that there is no way they could give everyone person who asked a free phone. Samsung would go out of business, explained the Facebook message. But as a parting gift, the company included a picture of a kangaroo. The story quickly went viral on Reddit. But the story didn’t end there.

Shane explained to TechCrunch that Samsung Canada contacted him previously and told him to expect a delivery of a phone within the next few days.

The phone not only has custom backart but also a special background that matches up artwork on the bezel. Samsung Canada says it’s the only one of its kind in Canada but it’s likely the only one like it in the world.

And the Internet says being a fanboy doesn’t pay. It clearly paid nicely in this case.

Click to view slideshow.

Pictures used with permission.

Winter Is Coming: The Great iPhone Cable Shortage Of 2012

Posted: 28 Aug 2012 12:12 PM PDT

How many iOS charger cables do you own? You know, the 30-pin connector that’s been packaged alongside every iPod, iPhone and iPad for as long as I can remember. Personally, I own seven. Each of my friends and colleagues has (at the very least) more than one of these wires. Essentially, if you’ve owned an iThing for more than a few months, especially an iPhone, you probably own more than one cable, too.

But the next-gen iPhone, and its 8-pin mini port, will change more than the iThing accessories industry. Sure, there are millions of docks, charging cases, etc. that will have trouble with this transition. But Apple will no doubt sell a connector for backwards compatibility, probably for around $30. This will cause some confusion with people less well-versed in technology, and it will probably take a couple years to get back to cable/dock ubiquity.

Remember the shift from serial ports to USB ports in computers? That mess took more than a decade to get settled, and PCs shipped with serial ports for a few years after USB was implemented as an industry standard. It’ll be a long road ahead.

But the real issue isn’t the accessories ecosystem, it’s the ubiquity of the current iCable model.

Think of it this way. Last we heard, Apple had sold 167 million iDevices in the U.S., including the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. For the record, that’s about half of the U.S. population. Globally, the company has sold over 365 million iThings. And those are just devices. Now consider the fact that most of those iDevice owners have multiple cables, and that many of them are repeat customers, meaning they have one for each iThing they’ve purchased.

That is a lot of charging cables. And the kicker is that we’ve grown accustomed to this lifestyle. Forgot your charger? No worries. Your friend has one at his house, or your mom has one in her car. Hell, the waitress at the restaurant probably has one.

The other night, I was at dinner with a few friends. One of them reached for his phone, held it out to the waitress, and asked that she plug it in. It wasn’t attached to a charger, but it was an iPhone. To my surprise, she took the phone and plugged it in near the kitchen — an iPhone charger was already ready and waiting for a device to charge.

When the new iPhone launches, there will probably be millions of new iPhone owners in the U.S. within the first few weeks. But for each owner, there will be only one cable. Granted, that little white block that plugs into the wall with a USB port will still work with your new cable, but all your old cables instantly become useless with the new iPhone.

Losing your new 8-pin cable is out of the question, unless you’re clever enough to stock up on iPhone day. Proud fanbois will need to undergo a pretty major adjustment in their mindset, being ever-mindful of their bat-life situation, and remembering to bring a charger with them everywhere.

Remember, the iPhone 4S had some pretty nasty battery life issues, so it’s just plain foolish to think the next iPhone will be any better. In fact, we’ve learned that the iPhone 5 will only get a 10mAh boost from the iPhone 4S battery, at 1440mAh. That’s less than half of the 3300mAh battery in the Droid Razr Maxx, the current heavyweight champion of smartphone batteries.

Then let’s weigh in new Siri capabilities — hopefully the personal assistant will actually be useful, and thus used, this time around. Add to that a 4G LTE radio, which will most certainly be present in the next iPhone, along with more energy efficient tech like NFC and Bluetooth 4, and what are you left with? Really shitty battery life.

But when you’re out in the world, having dinner at a friend’s house, that familiar little white wire probably won’t be there for you anymore. You didn’t think to bring your own cable because you rarely ever had to. And while all your friends are tweeting, Instagramming, and being generally merry, you’ll be staring into your brand new iPhone watching that spinning wheel of death expel the final breaths from your precious.

It sounds like a first world problem. And it is. But I can assure you of this: A month after the iPhone launches, once battery life really begins to wear on people, the number of new iPhone owners will be far greater than one percent.

Gogo Granted Spectrum Approval In Canada, Will Take Flight In 2013

Posted: 28 Aug 2012 08:24 AM PDT

Aircell’s Gogo in-flight Wi-Fi service will soon be heading to the Great White North.

Launched just over four years ago, Gogo announced today that it has been granted a subordinate spectrum license in Canada. (They’ve leased spectrum from SkySurf, in case you were wondering.) Cell site construction will begin in the 4th quarter of this year and will operate on the same frequency as Gogo’s existing network in the US. Rollout of the ATG (air-to-ground) service is expected sometime towards the end of 2013.

Gogo’s in-flight Wi-Fi service will “focus” on existing routes flown by the company’s current US and Canadian airline partners. A company rep tells us the upcoming Canadian network will be compliant with Gogo’s next-gen ATG-4 system, which employs a directional antenna, dual modem and EV-DO Rev. B for speeds up to 9.8Mbps.

The New iPhone Already Has An Android-Powered Clone

Posted: 28 Aug 2012 08:20 AM PDT

Psst. Yeah, you. Wanna buy a new iPhone? No, the new iPhone, the one that's not out yet. It’s not important how I got it, are you in or not?

Apple aficionados may have September 12 circled in their calendars, but those longing to turn some heads in the meantime may want to take a look at Goophone's new ersatz iPhone. The so-called Goophone I5 takes the two-tone iPhone design that's been revealed in drips and drabs over the past few months, and shoves some Android-powered hardware into it.

Exactly what sort of hardware is still unknown for now — all Nowhereelse.fr was able to determine was that it actually sports a 3.5-inch display instead of the 4-inch panel, but that's not to say those crafty Chinese shanzhai artists aren't committed to crafting a stellar knockoff. The few images of the I5 that have surfaced reveal that Goophone’s latest effort indeed bears a striking resemblance to what the new iPhone is expected to look like, but that’s not really a surprise considering the company’s track record.

Despite the hokey name, Goophone has been churning out some pretty impressive phone clones these past few years — there's the One S-aping Goophone X1, and who could forget Goophone’s surprisingly faithful take on the iPhone 4S?

I'm no great fan of knockoffs, but it's hard to look at these faux phones without a bit of appreciation for how slavishly these guys have ripped off other companies' designs. For better or worse, there's no word on when this handsome fake will start trickling out of factories in Shenzhen, but my money’s on it making its debut just ahead of Apple’s big announcement.

The Nexus 7 Now Enjoys Prime Advertising Real Estate On Google’s Homepage

Posted: 28 Aug 2012 07:55 AM PDT

The iPad might have the bulk of the tablet mind share, but the Nexus 7 has Google.com. The $199 tablet is now advertised on Google’s homepage with an attention-getting animation. It’s hard to miss the tablet on Google.com as it bounces up and eventually rests under a tag line of “The playground is open. The new $199 tablet from Google.“

And as one of the top pages on the Internet, this ad spot will likely move quite a few tablets.

The Nexus 7 sold like gangbusters from the first day it was available. The 16GB quickly sold out. And that was with very little advertising as the first commercial came weeks later (shown below). But now the Nexus 7 is enjoying a bit of time in Daddy’s front yard.

Now that Google is advertising the N7 on Google.com, their supply must finally be at acceptable levels. The tablet is also slowly launching in new markets; it hit France, Germany and Spain yesterday. It’s probably a safe bet that Google is ramping up for a huge advertising push to fight against the all-but-official Apple iPad mini, said to launch in the coming months.

Kickstarter: The Clipy Is A Backpack For The iPod Nano

Posted: 28 Aug 2012 07:39 AM PDT

The Clipy aims to solve the timeless problem associated with the iPod nano: Where do you store your headphones? The nano is too small to wrap the cord around and most other accessories are simply something else to lose. But the Clipy is something a bit different. It snaps onto the back of the nano and provides a place to easily store Apple earbuds.

If the Kickstarter campaign is successful, the creator hopes to sell the Clipy for $26. However, pre-orders can be placed on Kickstarter for just $20. The product comes in a variety of colors with more available at higher pledge levels.

The Clipy’s secret sauce seems to come in the form of a smart product design. There’s a spot for every part of the earbud. A little clip at the top not only holds the 3.5mm jack, but also serves as a little kickstand to prop up the Nano when placed on a table. Then, there’s even two holes for the earbuds themselves that will hold them in place while providing a bit of protection. To unwinding, simply hold the nano with two fingers, and pull the cord.

Sure, The Clipy adds a good amount of fat on the slender nano. But it’s also a good solution for those constantly untangling headphone cords.

Click to view slideshow.

NPD: Apple Customers Love The Genius Bar, Mostly Because Service Is Free

Posted: 28 Aug 2012 06:14 AM PDT

If you own an Apple product, chances are you’ve paid a visit to the Genius Bar, the magical place in the back of an Apple store where your broken iThings get fixed. It’s a beautiful system, at least that’s what 90 percent of Apple owners think.

According to a study by NPD Group, nine of every ten Apple owners are somewhat or much more likely to make another Apple purchase following their tech support experience.

31 percent of those polled said they now have a better perception of Apple after getting a little help with a faulty or busted gadget at the Genius Bar.

NPD claims that around 40 percent of Apple owners took their product in to the Genius Bar, 90 percent of whom are extremely or very satisfied with their service. When polling all tech service interactions, 78 percent of consumers said they were satisfied, putting Apple ahead of the curve in the service arena.

But why?

Well, according to the study, 88 percent of happy Apple consumers said their Genius Bar service was free, as opposed to 78 percent of all consumers. And for what Apple fans pay, free service only makes sense.

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