Research firm Canalys is out today with its latest report tracking worldwide smart mobile device shipments for Q1 with Android accounting for almost 60% of smart mobile devices shipped by OS. That’s compared to a 19.3% share for Apple and approximately 18.1% for Microsoft. Keep in mind Canalys’s report also includes notebooks, in addition to tablets and smartphones, which account for the majority of Microsoft’s share. When looking at tablets alone, Apple continued its lead with 46.4% share in the quarter, although Canalys warned Apple “lost share to its Android-based rivals for the third consecutive quarter.”
Though Apple continues to lead in the tablet space with a 46.4% share, it lost share to its Android-based rivals for the third consecutive quarter. ‘Spearheaded by Google and Amazon, the commoditization of the tablet market has happened far quicker than that of the...

Crowdsourced traffic and navigation app service Waze may be acquired by Facebook, according to a report. The discussions between Waze and Facebook come months after a possible acquisition offer from Apple and appears to be reaching the same financial levels as the billion-dollar Instagram deal in April last year....  ...

Cloud Mate’s developers have been so hard at work since our review a month ago that it deserves another visit. It now shows you all your iCloud-based documents even on your iPhone! Read the full article at TidBITS, the oldest continuously published technology publication on the Internet. To get a full-text RSS feed, help support our work and become a TidBITS member! Members also enjoy an ad-free version of our Web site, email delivery of individual articles, the ability to make long comments with live links, and discounts on Take Control orders and other Apple-related products.

In the world's largest smartphone market -- China -- Apple's share rose in the first quarter of 2013 to make the company the fifth largest vendor. Numbers from research firm Canalys show that the release of the iPhone 5 and price cuts on older iPhone models drove growth of Apple's sales.

Apple's share of the huge smartphone market pie is important to its bottom line -- while 27 million smartphones were shipped in the US during the first quarter, the number in China was a huge 82 million. That share is just 8 percent, well behind Samsung's 20 percent share, but is made up of much more expensive phones.

Phones shipped by number two through four vendors Yulong Computer Telecommunication Scientific, Huawei, and Lenovo are usually low cost models ranging in price from just 400 yuan to 700 yuan ($64 to $114). Canalys...

Jeff Gamet, The Mac Observer's Managing Editor, will be speaking at the Colorado Macintosh User Group meeting on Thursday, May 9, in Boulder, Colorado. Jeff will be sharing his thoughts on Adobe's recent switch to just Creative Cloud for its apps and what that means for designers and the general software licensing world.

If you use a device which can receive audio via AirPlay, or even just switch your Mac's audio output device, you can do that without any extra software. It's easy, and most anyone that's keeping OS X up to date can do it.

Apple continues to gradually expand the number of cities that support its 3D Flyover feature in iOS Maps, with Paris being the latest addition.   ...

After years of living in an area with no cell service, but a very active radio tower, I grew accustomed to talking with my husband using a ham radio instead of text messaging. Now that cell coverage has improved, we no longer use our ham radios and have switched to the iPhone. To recapture that walkie-talkie style of communication, we recently started using the Zello+ Walkie Talkie app.

Zello+ is an instant, radio-style communication app that uses your mobile broadband connection to exchange short audio messages. The app lets you talk one-on-one to a single person or in a channel with a group of people. It requires a Zello account that is available for free.

After you setup your account in the Zello app, you can add Zello contacts and start talking. The app has a large red button in the center of the screen that is very easy to locate and press. You don't even have to look at your phone as the button is the dominant element in the...

Last month, we covered the Kickstarter posting for the Zendock MacBook Pro docking station. As we profiled in April, the docking solution takes over your MacBook Pro’s ports in order to free up clutter on your workspace:

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The anodized alumnim box quickly plugs into several ports on the side of your MacBook at once, allowing you to connect and disconnect all of your peripherals much faster than if you were...

Senator John McCain is working on a legislative proposal that would, if enacted, significantly reshape the landscape of the broadcast and cable television markets by pressuring cable providers to allow their subscribers to choose which channels they want to pay for.   ...

Pegatron CEO Jason Cheng is denying making comments to Bloomberg linking the company's performance to weaker iPad mini demand, according to Fortune. Cheng says that after a Pegatron Institution Investors conference, a Bloomberg reporter came to him "trying to dig out detail numbers about some specific product." But, he claims, "I clearly refused to comment on specific products, nor customers, even though he continued with other questions. I did say those words that he quotes me in the articleÖ but I did not say anything associated with any specific products."... ...

If you’re looking for something to get mum for Mother’s Day, this could come in handy.
Per 9to5Mac, Best Buy is discounting US$125 off the price of MacBook Airs for the next three days to celebrate Mother’s Day. The retailer knocks off US$100 across the board, then using code MOM25 knocks off another US$25.
Prices after discount:
- 11.6″ MacBook Air 4GB/64GB: US$874.99
- 11.6″ MacBook Air 4GB/128GB: US$974.99...

You can’t say Apple’s not trying.
Apple has steadily been making improvements to its Maps data following a controversial launch. Last year Apple pushed out major updates to its 3D Maps coverage, adding a number of new cities in the US, UK, France, and Canada, while just last March it quietly pushed out some big improvements to Maps data in Japan. Per igen.fr, Apple has just pushed out another big update to its 3D Flyover mode, this time bringing new content to more locations across France. Some of the new coverage areas include Paris, Versailles, Aulnay-sous-Bois, Disneyland Paris and to The Hay-les-Roses. Currently, Apple...

You’ve been hankering for OS X 10.8.4 and it’s getting closer every day…
Per 9to5Mac, just over a week following the previous build, Apple has seeded OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.4 build 12E47 to registered Mac developers. The update is available via the Mac App Store for developers and should be on the Mac Developer Center shortly. Apple, once again, tells developers to focus on WiFi performance, Safari, and Graphics Drivers…
It’s been previously noted that 10....

A part discovered by French site Nowhereelse may be a section of a next-generation iPhone motherboard used to house the phone's camera and flash. Significantly there are some architectural differences versus the iPhone 5, like the camera and flash being linked together on the same ribbon cable. The part is said to have been obtained by a Japanese vendor, Moumantai, which has also got its hands on other alleged next-gen iPhone components in the past, such as a Home button and a camera lens....  ...

Social networking giant Facebook is apparently in negotiations to buy the social map app Waze in a deal that could hit US$1 billion. The companies are said to have been in negotiations for the past six months and are close reaching an agreement.

Jim Dalrymple of The Loop unveiled a new iOS magazine that'll complement the short news briefs found on his website. Inspired in part by Marco Arment's The Magazine, The Loop magazine will feature long form articles on music, design, technology, games and Apple from some of the best writers in the business.

The Loop Magazine will be published twice a month and will be distributed through Apple's Newsstand. It'll cost $1.99 a month and will be delivered automatically to your device when a new issue is released. Dalrymple will feature some of the content on his website, but the main avenue of reading will be your iPad or iPhone.

You can read more about The Loop Magazine in Dalrymple's announcement post and in...

Philip Elmer Dewitt has caught Bloomberg’s Tim Culpan in a lie about iPad mini demand.
∞ Read this on The Loop

There's an easier way to add events to your iOS calendar that you might not know about, and we're gonna find out how from Melissa Holt in this Quick Tip. Afterward, you'll tell two friends, and she'll tell two friends, and so on, and so on. And we'll all somehow come out with fluffier hair and better ways to use our calendars.

Shure has quietly slipped out its latest in-ear headphones, the SE846 with quad-drivers, through an official launch in Asia. The see-through plastic enclosure also allows users to get a close look at some of the 10 laser cut stainless steel plates that help comprise its internal design. It also incorporates 4 balanced micro drivers with two low frequency, one mid and one high frequency on a 3-way crossover configuration....  ...

Google's Android offers up more cool homescreens and customizations than Apple's iOS. In iOS, you get to jiggle your stack of icons around on the iPhone or iPad homescreen and swap out the background photo. Woohoo. I can hardly contain my excitement. There are no live tiles, like Windows Phone. There are no fancy weather images, no retro themes, no widgets -- no creativity, really. At the same time, anyone in my network can ask me about their iPhone, and usually I can walk them through it.

In Apple’s sprawling legal battle with Samsung, Google is hardly an impartial party. It’s the author of the Android mobile operating system that the South Korean conglomerate has used to capture about one third of the global smartphone market. So for it to tender an amicus curiae, or “friend of the court,” brief on Samsung’s behalf and urge the U.S. Federal Court of Appeals to toss Apple’s request for a sales ban on some Samsung devices could be viewed as questionable.
Apple certainly views it that way.
On Wednesday the company filed a brief opposing Google’s participation in a joint amicus brief submitted earlier in the week by HTC, Red Hat, SAP and Rackspace. That brief argued, essentially, that highly complex devices like smartphones shouldn’t be subject to sales bans because they use “trivial patented features.” In opposing it, Apple takes no issue with that argument or with the intentions of...

A trio of Apple patent applications filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Thursday reveals the intricacies of the company's latest input/output protocol for iOS devices: the Lightning connector.   ...

As promised, image editor Pixelmator released a substantial update to its OS X app on Thursday, with over 100 new features and improvements including shapes, smart move, paint selection and an "effect" called Light Leak.  ...

Taiwanese electronics manufacturer and Apple supplier Pegatron plans to bolster its Chinese workforce by up to 40 percent in the second half of 2013, fueling speculation that low-cost iPhone is on the horizon.  ...

To date, all of Zynga’s “With Friends” mobile games have been social twists on word and puzzle classics like Scrabble and Hangman.
But on the heels of runaway hits like Temple Run 2 and Subway Surfers, the company is off to the races, hoping to give those single-player phenomena a multiplayer-focused run for their money.
(Pardon the barrage of running puns.)
The company’s latest game is Running With Friends, a smart twist on the popular endless-runner genre. As with other games, you swipe on the touchscreen to avoid obstacles, collect powerups and move your character around the screen: Left and right to change into one of three “lanes,” up to jump, and down to slide.
The twist comes in the form of some familiar multiplayer features that Zynga has built around this tried-and-true formula. This is asynchronous multiplayer, meaning you can challenge someone to a race without needing to play at the same time as your opponent to compete (as is the case...

Adobe announced the end of its traditional licensing model for Photoshop, InDesign and the rest of the Creative Suite apps, and just like all of those app's users, Jeff and Bryan have plenty to say on the subject. That, and Bryan says Apple lost control over its message, but has an opportunity to recover.

Kwikset has made a new lock it's calling Kevo that makes use of your iPhone to lose your keys for good. The idea on this one seems great, and apparently the company picked up some money from a pitch on the Shark Tank TV show. The lock has both standard key-based and wireless mechanisms, so instead of using your key, you can simply put your smartphone or a branded fob up to the lock, and it'll open up for you.

You can also send a key to someone else's smartphone, so if they need to get in your house for some reason, you can send them a temporary key that only works for a given amount of time. That's great, and because the lock is still a standard mechanical lock, it'll work like a traditional lock as well if all else fails.

The Kevo lock runs on two AA batteries for about a year, at which point those need to be replaced. Still, I'd love to have...

Wizard Ops arrived on the App Store a couple of years ago -- it was a wild and wooly take on magical combat that played more like a shooter than a fantasy RPG. Developers Phyken Media have now returned to the world of Wizard Ops, though not the genre, with a new title called Wizard Ops Tactics.

As you may have reckoned from the title, Wizard Ops Tactics is a turn-based strategy game, where you move various wizards and combatants around a 3D board, casting spells across various terrains to beat the other side. Just like the original Wizard Ops, the graphics on this one can get a little goofy, but also like the original game, the depth of gameplay is very impressive. Each turn consists of a planning phase and an action phase, and while you can use as much time as you like to plan your turns, lining up the right moves in...

Facebook has updated its Pages Manager application for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch by re-building the core of the app. By re-writing the app for speed, the application is now faster for scrolling through page timelines, loading photographs, and more. Facebook previously re-built its other iOS apps for speed, shunning web-based technologies and using more native Objective-C code.
Facebook Page Manager is an app that makes the management of Facebook Pages easy on-...

The 2013 CocoaConf Alt in June has been canceled due to conflicts with its venue, the Intercontinental San Francisco. The issue arose because of a pre-existing agreement between the hotel and Apple.

We had secured space in the hotel directly next door to the big show, and we were putting together a phenomenal list of speakers. Ticket sales were better than we had hoped. All was well until we got an email from the Intercontinental San Francisco, saying that they had determined that our event was in conflict with Apple and that due to their contract with Apple, we couldn't use the space.

A flurry of frantic emails followed, but to no avail. We tried finding another venue close enough to make it work, but that didn't pan out either. Since many of our speakers had tickets and were going to be at WWDC, we had to be close enough for them to pop over without missing much of the action. Nothing within our radius was...

This year's Apple Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) sold out in a matter of minutes, leading Apple to announce the convention would be streamed online for developers who couldn't get tickets. The demand has grown exponentially, while the size of the conference has not. With such intense demand, and tickets in short supply, some developers are taking to their blogs to suggest ways the conference can improve in the future.

Dan Wood of Karelia Software thinks that since video of the talks will be available online the only real pain is the loss of labs and social opportunities to meet with other developers. As time has passed the event as outgrown the format.

Maybe the problem is that when Apple Started WWDC, it made sense to have the entire world...

The extremely popular 2012 App of the Year ‘Paper by FiftyThree’ has been updated today with a few notable new features making it even easier to create beautiful sketches, illustrations, and more. Among the new features, developer FiftyThree has added a new “Made with Paper” feature that acts as a feed for inspiration displaying ideas and artwork “from creative minds around the world.”
Other new features in version 1.3.1 include pinch to zoom, and a new ink upgrade that introduces the Expressive Ink Engine built on OpenGL for faster rendering.
The free Paper by FiftyThree iPad app...

Jim and Dan talk about CocoaConf Alt, the status of Apple Displays and Macs at WWDC, spider bites, laptop bags, Spock vs. Spock, 100 million copies of Windows 8, and Megadeth.

Sponsored by Hover (use code DANSENTME for 10% off), Shutterstock (use code DANSENTME5 for 30% off), and Squarespace (use code DANSENTME5 for 10% off).
∞ Read this on The Loop

Welcome back to another hour of fun, excitement, and chat on this week's TUAW TV Live. The show is now part of the AOL On Network, so we're using a different livestream tool and chat room. No more Ustream, no more IRC chatroom. It's all right here on this page, where you'll watch the show and also be able to join us in Chatroll. Just click the play button on the player around 5 PM ET, sign into Chatroll with your Twitter or Facebook account, and you're ready to roll.

Today Doc and I will be talking about the latest news in the Apple world, showing off some new apps and sifting through the latest pile of accessories. Note that at the present time, you can participate on iPad but that the video stream may show pixelation from time to time -- we're working on that. The iPad viewer will let you blast TUAW TV Live to your HDTV via the magic of AirPlay. If you're watching on your Mac, full-screen mode is just a click away.

Can't join us...

Hoping to counter a trend that's seen its portable devices struggling against competitors like Apple's iPhone, Sony on Wednesday announced that it would be removing barriers to publishing for independent developers by doing away with their licensing fees.  ...

Following yesterday's unexpected disappearance of Syria from the Internet, service to the war-torn country seems to be completely restored with no feared large-scale attack by the Syrian government against the rebels. Both the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency and Google's real-time reporting has demonstrated that traffic is increasing in the country....  ...

The free Pulse news-reading app for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch has been updated with support for sharing articles to social network LinkedIn. Of course, this update should come as little surprise as Linkedin acquired Pulse last month for $90 million. Additionally,...

The Apple Store on New York's Fifth Avenue is a veritable marvel of engineering, with its glass cube leading down into an underground space. But putting the store underground like that makes it more vulnerable to water leaks, and sure enough, that's what's happened earlier today in New York. The Post reports that heavy rain in the city caused water to erupt through the ceiling of the store, sending employees running and sliding tables around to protect the merchandise.

The issue doesn't sound so bad; the water was mopped up quickly, and the store never actually closed. But the Post also says that one worker on site claims there's an issue with the stone slabs in the store entryway, which sit above the underground retail space. Incoming customers walk across those...

Media streamer hardware maker Roku has deployed a new app set, adding PBS and PBS Kids content to most of its line of video streaming set-top boxes within the US. Now available for streaming are shows such as American Experience, Antiques Roadshow, Frontline, Nova, Masterpiece, and Nature. Children's programming now available due to the new additions include Curious George, Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, Dinosaur Train, The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That!, and Super WHY.... ...

In February Amazon's Cloud Player was linked with Ford Sync AppLink-enabled vehicles ... at least for Android users. Now the service has been updated to allow users with iOS devices to sync their Amazon library with their 2013 Fords.

The current list of vehicles featuring Ford's Sync AppLink is limited, but includes the 2013 models of the Mustang, Focus, Fiesta, E=Series, C-Max Hybrid, Fusion, Expedition, Super Duty, and the F-150. Sync AppLink allows users to control entertainment apps on their phone via voice commands and manual controls built into the steering wheel. [Note: the trim levels featuring Ford's MyFord Touch touchscreen console cannot, as of the...

Just over a week following the previous build, Apple has seeded OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.4 build 12E47 to registered Mac developers. The update is available via the Mac App Store for developers and should be on the Mac Developer Center shortly. Apple, once again, tells developers to focus on WiFi performance, Safari, and Graphics Drivers…

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We previously noted that 10.8.4 includes support for Mac computers with 802.11ac WiFi chips.
While 10.8.4 is a minor update to OS X Mountain Lion, Apple...

Despite the great success and momentum of the iPad, the iPhone is still probably Apple's product that continues to receive the most attention by the broadest number of consumers as well as by investors. The smartphone slips easily into a pocket, accesses cloud from virtually anywhere, has a slick and engaging user interface, and supports hundreds of thousands of apps. It has been updated every year since its introduction and makes billions for the company. Microsoft covets its success.

But Apple has another product that in many ways is the anti-iPhone. It usually never leaves the home, doesn't access any cloud services and has no apps or even local user interface. Its rare updates often consist of little more than a capacity increase. And if Microsoft, which keeps chasing the idea of a cohesive...

Clear for iOS is an elegant, simple, and extremely intuitive to-do list app which adds an element of fun to what might otherwise be rather static and boring lists. Suffice it to say, it's well worth checking out if you find yourself juggling a bunch of tasks on a consistent basis. Notably, the app was listed on Apple's top app picks for 2012.

While the app normally sells for $1.99, Realmac Software has teamed up with Starbucks to offer the app for free for one day only.

The deal expires today so check it out over here and start planning! The link will whisk you away to iTunes where a promo code will be uniquely generated for you, allowing you to start the download.Realmac's Clear app is free to download today originally...

Ars has seen a pickup in traffic from devices out of Cupertino claiming to use iOS 7, but it's not a ton.

Apple's engineers are apparently ramping up their testing of iOS 7, as evidenced by Web traffic on Ars and various other sites. First noted by mobile content company Onswipe and followed up by MacRumors, devices that claim to be using iOS 7—coming from Apple's IP block in Cupertino—started showing up more and more around April 30. But while some describe it as a spike in traffic, our own analysis shows that traffic using iOS 7 is still relatively low.
Onswipe described the change as a "significant bump" in the number of visits from iPads and iPhones using iOS 7. In fact, Onswipe claims 75 percent of the visits to its...

Website visits from devices running the unannounced iOS 7 have seen a significant increase in recent weeks, as Apple gears up for the mobile operating system's official unveiling at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference in June.   ...

Apple recently announced plans to increase its dividend payment by 15 percent to "shareholders of record" next Monday, but to qualify, new investors have to buy the company's stock by the market's close today.   ...

The Verge has an interesting interview up with Peter Belanger, the man responsible for many of Apple's iconic product shots. Though you may not be familiar with the name, Belanger is a San Francisco-based photographer who helps make Apple's products look so darn appealing and aesthetically sharp. If you've ever seen an advertisement for an Apple product on the subway or even checked out Apple's website, you've seen his work.

When asked about the process behind an Apple product shoot, Belanger explains:

The team at Apple always has a really well developed shot list and sketches of what they need. I work with their talented art directors to translate those sketches into photos. We start by getting the position of the product and then move forward on lighting. Because Apple products have such carefully selected materials it is incredibly important to...

The New York Post reports that the flagship Fifth Avenue Apple Store in Manhattan was flooded following heavy rain in the city this morning due to a leak in the retail store’s roof. The flood apparently began shortly after opening at approximately 8 a.m while around 15 customers were shopping in the store. According to reports from NY Post, employees blamed construction completed on the location last year for the leak:

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According to one worker, today’s deluge of water may have been due to problems with construction completed last year on the roof of the store.”It’s because of the construction they did last year on the roof,” the worker said. “They didn’t do it right. There are large flat stones up there [that you walk across as you go into the store]. And with the heavy rain...