Month: August 2016

Apple adds more gender diverse emoji icons in the upcoming iOS 10 update

Dan Uff August 2, 2016 0

Note to Apple: You sent out a press release with this information. We're not divulging any non-public information about iOS 10.

PRESS RELEASE:

Cupertino, California — August 1, 2016 — More than one hundred new and redesigned emoji characters will be available to iPhone and iPad users this fall with iOS 10. This exciting update brings more gender options to existing characters, including new female athletes and professionals, adds beautiful redesigns of popular emoji, a new rainbow flag and more family options.

Apple is working closely with the Unicode Consortium to ensure that popular emoji characters reflect the diversity of people everywhere.

AppleEmojiIcons2016

There are other icons. To see the full list, click here.

Pokemon Go tops 100 Million Downloads without Impacting rest of Mobile Game Industry

Dan Uff August 2, 2016 0

PokemonGoLogo According to an Analytics firm, the popularity of Pokemon Go has not cut into any other profits of other companies that make mobile games.

Pokémon Go is still generating over $10 million in revenue per day from both storefronts, over three weeks after launch, App Annie noted. Despite this, daily revenue for other games hasn't suffered. The U.S. reportedly saw "a brief dip" when Go was released, but this rebounded within days, and downward trends in Germany and the U.K. were in line with pre-release patterns.

Likewise, Pokémon's Japanese home market didn't vary much after Go was finally released there on July 22. Australia actually saw a slight increase in sales, but also within earlier trends.

Top-grossing "free-to-play" games like Mobile Strike and Candy Crush Saga haven't felt any real impact, although App Annie notes that most of their revenue comes from a small number of people spending on in-app purchases, often referred to elsewhere as "whales."

Even the time consumed playing Go doesn't appear to be coming from other apps, including ones that typically consume outsized amounts, like Facebook and Tinder.

App Annie suggested that Go could serve as a model for how developers and other companies can exploit augmented reality and treasure hunt-style concepts, if not on the same scale as Niantic.

On the day of the the game's Japanese launch, Apple confirmed that Pokémon Go beat records for the most first-week downloads by an App Store title.

After Suffering Fall, Cyclist Suffers 3rd Degree Burns from iPhone

Dan Uff August 2, 2016 0

GuyBurniPhone6 On Monday, a Sydney bicycle rider was severely burned after he fell off of his bicycle and then his iPhone caught fire and gave the man 3rd degree burns.

Gareth Clear, 36, said his iPhone was in his back pocket and ignited after he had a fall from his bike while riding on Sunday afternoon.

I just saw smoke coming out of my back pocket…and then all of a sudden I felt this surging pain

Mr. Clear said, adding that he felt a “searing heat” as the phone burnt through his riding shorts in a matter of seconds.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said that it was investigating, but that the slimness of modern devices like the iPhone increased the risk of such incidents:

The decreasing size and slimness of portable devices coupled with consumer expectations about battery life are a challenge for battery manufacturers. Lithium batteries are vulnerable to significant physical impact, [which] may damage the extremely thin separators that keep the elements of the battery apart.

Apple has been in touch with Clear, who said that he does not blame the company for his injury but does want to raise awareness. The ACCC recommends mobile phones are not stored in pockets when people’s activities mean there is a chance of a significant physical impact.