The iPhone 6!

Are we excited for the iPhone 6? Huh? Huh? Duh! Rumors about the upcoming 9th generation iPhone to be released by Apple are running rampant already, and we couldn’t be more excited.

Here’s a rundown of everything we know about the iPhone 6. And what we think we know. And what we think other people might be potentially correct on what they think. And some things that probably aren’t true but some people think they are. Etc. All photos in this article are not real and are representations of what people believe the iPhone will be, or photos or purported prototypes.

Most people agree that one if not two new iPhones will be released this year, and following Apple’s recent naming system one of them more than likely will be called the iPhone 6. The main hardware difference that most people are solid on is that the new iPhone(s) will be thinner and slimmer, just like your New years resolutions!

Tim Cook has revealed that 2014 is a big year for Apple product releases, and people are optimistically expecting the release of the iWatch, possibly the iTV, and the next iPhone update(s!). These possible new product releases alongside other factors such as the possibility of dual iPhone releases will obviously affect when and exactly how fancily updated the new iPhone(s) will be.

Some people are speculating that the iPhone 6 will be, in fact, the iWatch and the current mobile iPhone will only get a new iOS update.

The more trusted and reliable thought is that the iPhone 6 will be its own separate hardware update, and because of the rumored new product releases set most likely for the Fall, it will be released early this year; think sometime in the 2nd quarter, June, or early Summer.  This is certainly a possibility – Apple released the first four generations of iPhone in June, before moving to an September/October launch schedule.

The other line of thought is that the iPhone 6 will follow the more recent iPhone release schedule and released in the Fall, leaving the Apple team plenty of time to make sure everything is perfect.

A lot of analysts believe that Apple will continue with their new 2 phone release model, this time featuring 2 differing size options. The sizing rumors range from 4.5 inches waaaay up to 5.7 inches. There is additional speculation that Apple will minimize or completely eradicate the bezels (the part bordering the screen) on the iPhone 6.

Arguments against the bigger screen sizes are backed up by Apple’s hard stance on one handed mobile use and their reluctance to provide a bigger screen at a loss to function just to compete with other smartphone companies. Tim Cook said this in April of last year:

“My view continues to be that the iPhone 5 has the absolute best display in the industry. We always strive to create the very best display for our customers. Our competitors have made some significant trade-offs in many of these areas in order to ship a larger display, we would not shop a larger-display iPhone while these trade-offs exist.”

Two new hardware components that are rumored to be allowing the iPhone to be thinner, lighter and more durable are Sapphire Glass and Liquidmetal.

Apple has exclusive rights to Liquidmetal, but have done for quite a long time. However, in November, five new Apple patents relating to Liquidmetal were published. Liquidmetal is a very strong and very durable material, which, if used, could make the iPhone 6 stronger and thinner as less material would be needed in comparison to Aluminum. According to some reports, the iPhone 6 could be just 6mm thick compared with the iPhone 5s’s 7.6mm. Below is a purported prototype from Sonnydickson.com

Sapphire glass is the material currently used on the iPhone 5S’s Touch ID Home Button the cover of the iPhone’s rear-facing camera. It’s more than twice as durable than Corning’s Gorilla Glass, and is “extremley scratch resistant. Apple has apparently spent $578 million to enter into a multi-year agreement with manufacturers GT Advanced Technologies to provide sapphire materials from a huge new Apple facility in Arizona.

The iPhone 5s incorporates a 64-bit A7 28-nanometer chip manufactured by Samsung. Apple’s iPhone 6 will reportedly incorporate a 20-nanometer A8 chip from TSMC, which will be both smaller and more energy efficient.

Samsung will continue to be involved in the production, alleviating some of TSMC’s manufacturing workload. The A7 chip marked a 31 percent improvement over the A6 in the iPhone 5, and it is likely that the leap to a 20-nm A8 chip will offer similar increases in performance.

Apple’s next-generation iPhone should, and may support the 802.11ac Wi-Fi standard that first began appearing in Apple products in 2013. 802.11ac, or “Gigabit” Wi-Fi offers speeds up to three times as fast as existing 802.11n wireless networks, reaching speeds over 1 Gigabit per second. It’s though that Apple have been waiting for external technology to catch up before they update their iDevices with the Wi-Fi Technology.

Wireless Charging is something that has been tossed around in the great big salad bowl of rumors, but we don’t think it’s coming- yet. Curved Glass is also a feature many are looking forward to- and would be be beautiful on the iPhone 6, but we wouldn’t be betting the house on it.

Holographic keyboard is the magic  feature everyone quietly and slightly unreasonably hopes for with each update. Will it be this year that their hopes are fulfilled? We think not, but there’s always a little hope. Meanwhile- they actually currently exist as an iPhone and iPad accessory.

According to a reports from The China Post, Apple will not be upgrading the resolution of the rear camera for the iPhone 6 later this year. Citing analysts from Nomura Securities, they indicate that while the iPhone 6 will have some camera improvements like enhanced optical image stabilization, it will continue to use an 8-megapixel sensor rather than a higher-resolution sensor in the 12-16 megapixel range.

Some people think that the Touch ID introduced on the iPhone 5S last year will be removed from future iPhone updates – we think this is pretty categorically not going to happen.  What we think will  happen is that Apple will, this year, introduce new payment methods using the touch ID.

Apple recently purchased PrimeSense, a firm specializing in the development of three-dimensional sensors for home appliances and mobile devices. This technology is similar to the gesture-detecting sensors of the Xbox’s Kinect controller. This purchase could certainly hint at a move to include gesture control on the next generation of Apple devices, although unlike Samsung, they would want to have it perfected before they release anything with gesture control.

The iPhone 6(s) will run on iOS 8. Yay!

So that’s it – so far. Everyday there are new rumors and people certain they know exactly what the iPhone 6 will be like. In actual fact, there’s very, very few people in the world who knows exactly what it will be like. This guy is one of them.

So if you see him, can you guys ask him for us?  Thanks.

Images courtesy of Unitedcats, dailymail.co.uk, bgr.com, Officetoocean.blogspot.com, sonnydickson,  usatoday.com, geeky-gadgets.com, pcadvisor.co.uk, Coolistuff.com, 9to5mac.com, & mashable

Perfect Valentines Day iPhone Accessories & Apps!

Happy Valentines day! Here we have loads of lovey dovery, sweet fun & funky Apps and iDevice accessories especially for the day that celebrates love and all of it’s weird and small relations.

1. You can’t go past custom made iPhone cases on handicraft E-commerce site Etsy! Just look at these, you’ll either go ‘awwww’ or throw up. Like this one: 

2. Also on Etsy, romantic iPhone case designs that spread across both your and your partners iPhones. Awwwblurhg

3. Be Mine ($0.99) or Be Mine Lite (Free). An App for making Valentines day cards complete with the ability to use your own text, images and photos overlaid into one spectacular card that saved and exported. We made this one, because we’re pretty specially talented.

4. Nordstoms have a bunch of Love themed iPhone cases that are pretty radical.  $14.99

5. Valentine Radio. An App that lets you hear all the sweet dulcet tones of love songs from radio stations streaming live to your iDevice from all over the world. Free!

6. Foodie Recipes. Free App that has awesome recipe’s for two for that romantic valentines meal you’re cooking together/for each other. Homemade Ravioli, Croque Monsiur & Avocado Dark Chocolate Madeleines? Heck Yes I love you!!!

7. Cyclops iPad cover dude! Microfibre Arms! Makes your love one’s iPad cuddly and cute for when you’re not around to be cuddly and cute! Get it for $25 at ilovehandles.com

8. True Love – Cute Snail Cartoon Travelling Speaker from Zazzle – $22.95

9. Pink hearts pattern sleeves for iPads – A little bit expensive at $48.95, but what wouldn’t you pay to make your true love happy? Huh? HUH?

10. For those a little bit web-savvy, why not create a surprise website for the one your heart desires? It’s kind of like naming a star for them, but on the internet and in the future. No stars in the future! Godaddy.com has cheap domains for sale, like the following, which we may or may not own now:

11. For some, Valentines day is commercial and stupid. On Etsy, get something like this to tell them how you really feel:

12. And finally, if things are looking a little craptacious this year and you want a better valentines day date next year- Try out  Ok Cupid and Tinder. Eiffel tower with champagne and pearls / Monaco with poker and steak here you come!

If you’re going all out and getting him or her what they really really want (apart from the above, obviously) – an iDevice – check here to see when you need to order it online from Apple so it makes it to your place before the big V day!

( And then tell them that you know the perfect people to sell their stinky old iDevice to.. uh, Sell your iPhone with iPhone Antidote!  Cos then they can use that money to buy YOU something awesome because of the awesome gift you got them for Valentines Day! And because they love you. Yay!)

Also! VALENTINES DEAL OF THE DAY! The good old melting hearts over at iMore.com are giving everyone 14% off everything in the iMore store! Here’s the link, simply use coupon code VDAY13 at checkout!

Last but not least, Happy Valentines Day Guys. We… well, it’s hard to say this but.. we really, really, um, like you.

Images courtesy of  Petmd.com, Etsy.com, Nordstroms, Wisdomportal.com, Quickmeme, ilovehandles.com, Zazzle, Etsy, Viator & Inotternews.com

Tech Tip Of The Day – This one’s for you Chrome users!

So, if you’re anything like us, you have, like, a bajillion and 8 tabs open in your Chrome browser. Because there’s just so much stuff on the internet that you need to remember to look at and everything is important!

Sometimes you open a bunch at once and everything’s going great. Then suddenly- an ad starts playing. A news story, music clip, or worse (depending on what kind of tabs you’re opening!)

It’s something you DON’T WANT TO HEAR AND YOU CAN’T FIND IT AMONG ALL THE BAJILLIONS OF TABS OPEN!

Oof. It’s like

Well, rejoice. No, seriously, rejoice.  Because now, with version 32 of Chrome, which can be updated or downloaded now, you will see a little, beautiful speaker icon on the tab from which that heinous sound is bellowing!

Chrome 32 also includes a red recording icon for tabs that are using your webcam, and a little TV icon for tabs that are being cast to your TV with Chromecast. It’s pretty sweet.

Download Chrome here if you haven’t got it yet and this has tipped your we browser preference scales, or update by clicking ‘About Google Chrome’ in the Chrome drop down in the main menu.

Images courtesy of Knowyourmeme & Imgur.

Website Overstock now accepting bitcoin

Bitcoin, Bitcoin, Bitcoin. What are we to do with you? Not a lot of people know about you, far less understand you or how you work, you’re super unstable and yet you’re growing. You’re the new in thing to talk about in media and that somehow continues to be the new in thing to talk about as if you know what you’re talking about.

Honesty corner: We don’t really know what we’re talking about when it comes to Bitcoin, but this is what we do know: It’s a cybercurrency that is created, distributed and authenticated outside of banks or governments.

People mine for them using their own computers by assisting other people’s Bitcoin transactions. And then they have them, and they can spend them. Right? We’re learning! We feel like it might be a thing we really need to learn, because it’s moving from a thing that you read about on the internet, to a thing that people are using as proper currency on the internet quite quickly.

Case in point: Online discount retailer Overstock.com is now accepting Bitcoin. In fact, more than 800 purchases, equaling $130,000 were made in the first 24 hours the company was accepting the cybercurrency.

Patrick Byrne, the company’s chariman and CEO had this to say:

“Digital currency will be an important part of the future and Overstock is excited to be the first major online shopping retailer to accept it,” said Patrick Byrne, Overstock.com chairman and CEO. ”As one who believes in limited government, this attracts me because it is a form of money that no government mandarin can will it into existence.”

More retailers are saying they will be accepting Bitcoin – most recently the Sacramento Kings, making them the first professional sports franchise to accept them starting on March 1st this year in the team store and in ticket sales.

Kings owner Vivek Ranadive says accepting Bitcoins is the next step in allowing fans to leave their wallets at home. Solving situations like this one, at the very least;

Other companies such as Paypal are considering making the move to accepting the currency in the future. In the meantime they are perhaps waiting for it to stabilize, perhaps they too are unsure of what the consequences are of accepting the currency. On Thursday, one Bitcoin was worth approximately $850.

Meanwhile, Kanye West has sued, and won against similar cybercurrency Coinye for using his image. Silly Fish Sticks. Doesn’t he know it’s the way of the future? We could’ve all been using Coinye!

Images courtesy of Watchdog.org, Fundaminer.com, Quickmeme & Dailymail.co.uk.

Episode 3,56789 of why it’s so good to work at Google

Hands up who wants to work for Google? Even though the company’s presence has become somewhat controversial recently in it’s hometown of San Francisco, there’s no doubting that it is one of the best tech companies to work for, with perks up the gazebo, including free haircuts, healthcare and awesome food.

You also get to ride sweet buses equipped with Wifi to transport you to and from your home to the Google offices. These are awesome and good for traffic and carbon emissions but have recently been targeted by angry San Francisans who see them as a symbol of their city being taken over by rich techies, making the city unlivable.

Apart from what they symbolize, they’re still an awesome perk. Now we have news of another one- a Google Ferry. Take a look at this little sexy lady:

This  83-foot, Wi-Fi-equipped catamaran names ‘The Triumphant’ is now being used to carry Google employees, for free, between San Francisco and the Redwood city port in the South Bay, where they can catch a Google bus to their offices in Mountain View.

The ferry service is apparently a test – with Google having the permits to operate the service for only 30 days currently. What lucky little Googlers. We wish we could get a ferry to our offices! Or…. like a submarine. A glass submarine. Yeah! That’s a thing right?

Images courtesy of Business Insider, 9to5Google and Obviousmag.

There’s another Steve Jobs biopic coming out

Seen the first Steve Jobs movie? Ready for another one?

Um… sure?

Sure! But don’t worry too much, this one hasn’t even started filming yet so it’s quite a ways off, but you should probably be ready for people to start talking about it.

This new one promises to be different from the last one with famed wordsmith Aaron Sorkin ( West Wing and The Social Network) having just submitted the completed the script.

The script is based on Walter Isaacson’s biography and Sony is in charge of this one, hence it is purported to have a significantly larger budget then the Ashton Kutcher starring ‘Jobs’.

Sorkin has already revealed to the press in 2012 that he planned on having the movie take place across 3 30-minute scenes, all focusing on important Apple product releases. It is not known if that is still the case.

We liked Jobs, but being fans of Alan Sorkin’s script structure and sympathetic yet flawed characters, we’re quietly excited about this one.

Images courtesy of Hollywoodreporter & Twicsy.

Apple’s new iPad Air ad is poetry to your ears.

Apple has released a new ad for the iPad air and as per usual, it teams magnificent visuals with an emotional and thought provoking voiceover. The ad was debuted during the NFL playoffs this last weekend – oh, wait a sec –

Go Niners!

Ahem. Excuse us. The ad features a speech from the movie Dead Poets society by Robin Williams’ character, including poetry by Whitman, over the top of people using iPads in extraordinary and inspiring ways.

Apple has also simultaneously launched a new website called ‘Your Verse’ to share the stories of the people featured in the ad, plus more who use the iPad in their occupations.

To quote from the ad –

“That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.”

What will your verse be?

Another pretty rad ad from the magic people at Apple who seem to know exactly what we like to see and respond to best. Very suspiciously awesome Apple, we’re watching you.

Cos that’s what you want.

Cue rat playing the trumpet.

Images courtesy of 49ers.com and intermezzo.typepad.com. Video courtesy of Apple’s YouTube Channel. 

App Store records broken

Apple recently announced that their App store made an astonishing $10 Billion last year, with $1 Billion in December. Their customers downloaded almost 3 billion apps.

That’s so many Apps.

Eddie Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services said this about the feat:

“We’d like to thank our customers for making 2013 the best year ever for the App Store,” said Eddy Cue, . “The lineup of apps for the holiday season was astonishing and we look forward to seeing what developers create in 2014.”

Ya, we are too Eddie. particularly the app where you can taste what you see on the internet, the app that uses time travel technology (obviously) and the make your own tiny dinosaur App. Those are the ones we’re really looking forward to.

Our tiny pet dinosaur will be named Sheldon. D’uh.

Images couresy of Android.appstorm.net & Pinterest.

Apple acquires small Australian tech company

What would you do if you were Apple; a super giant mobile tech company with millions of dollars and super smart employees and awesome products- stay with us- and some kid comes along with an App that makes your smartphone camera 100 times better? Well?

You buy it, dummies! Or, excuse us, you ‘acquire’ it.

And that’s what Apple has just done, although we may have slightly misspoken with all that ‘kid’ talk. Doctor John Papandriopoulos is the San Fransisco based Australian founder (and sole employee!) of Snappycam, an app which basically turns the iPhone camera super awesome by giving it the capability to take 20 photos per second, giving it burst shoot functionality.

He did this by rewriting the JPEG Algorithm. Obviously.

The acquisition has been rumored for some time after the App was taken out of the App store and all social media presence of Snappycam was taken down, but it was confirmed to the Wall Street Journal last Saturday.

Apple will most likely use the technology to improve their own camera capabilities and release them to us with future software updates.

Yay!  We like better camera stuff! We just can’t wait until you can take things out of photos, you know what we mean? Like cupcakes. And Beach holidays. And kittens. This guy should start working on that.

Images courtesy of Techradar & Petapixel

Smartphone Users, By The Numbers

INFOGRAPHICS! YEAH! These things make everything fun to read what with the colors and the shapes and the little pointy arrows!

We give you the best fun of 2014 so far- Smartphone infographics!

YEAH!

This Infographic is produced by Coupon Audit (provides Converse promo code) and iPhoneAntidote – Sell Your Cracked iPhone