All posts by Gavin Fabiani-Laymond

Unknown's avatar

About Gavin Fabiani-Laymond

President, CEO & Editor of https://gavinsgadgets.com Reviews & News of Technology

Apple Keynote stats

Apple, Tech News

The key facts from Apple’s Keynote –

– 600 million iOS devices sold to date
-24th WWDC with attendees from 66 countries
– 6 million registered developers
– WWDC sold out in 71 seconds
– 1 million daily vistors at the 407 Apple Stores in 14 countries
– 50 billion apps download from the App Store
– 300 million iTunes in the Cloud users
– 900,000 apps in the store
– 375,000 iPad apps
– 575 million App Store accounts (more accounts with credit cards than any store)
– $10 billion has been paid to developers ($5 billion just last year)
– 72 million Macs installed
– 28 million copies sold of OS X Mountain Lion
– 35% of Mac users are now using OS X 10.8

Some serious numbers!

iOS 7 – all the new stuff – and there is loads

Apple, Tech News

Apple demonstrated iOS 7 at WWDC yesterday, and it certainly looked fresh. Massive attention to detail and over 1,500 new API’s for developers including support for game controllers. So what was new –

-Completely redesigned interface
-New Lockscreen
-New translucency and Parallax allows you to see layers of info
-Weather app has interactive displays
-Calendar has new minimalist UI
-Multiple page support in Folders
-Notification Center now available on Lock Screen
-FaceTime audio calls
-Notification syncing
-Phone and Message blocking
-Activation lock disables phone if stolen
-iPhone beta available now to developers
-Coming September / October

-Control Center – Swipe up from bottom of device to access toggles quickly, turn on Airplane Mode, adjust brightness, AirDrop and more.

-Multitasking – New interface shows app cards, Multi-tasking for all apps with great battery life,Puts apps into scheduled background cycles, Adapts to network conditions.

-Safari – New full-screen look, Pull down from top brings up smart search field, iCloud Keychain support

-Camera – Redesigned UI, New filters, Accessible from Control Center

– New Photos App – Collect photos into ‘Moments’ based on location, date, or people, Look across photo collection by pinch-to-zooming through Photostream, Share photos via AirDrop, Twitter, Facebook, iMessage, See comments from people you’ve shared the picture with directly in image

– AirDrop – Share images with friends, System-wide support with apps with share-sheets, Works on iPhone 5, iPad 4, 5th Gen iPod Touch

– Siri – New interface with wave animation, All new female and male voices, Can now control more of your device such as adjusting brigthness, Wikipedia and Bing search results integrated directly into Siri

– iOS in the Car – Get iOS on your car’s dashboard screen, Get directions, play music, have iMessages dictated to you and more, eyes free,Supported by more than 12 car manufacturers in 2014

– App Store – Search for apps by age range, Find apps based on current location, Apps are updated automatically

– iTunes Radio- Built directly into iOS Music app, Featured Stations stream music based on its theme., Share stations with friends, or create your own based on favourite artists, Preview and purchase songs directly in the app, Support on Mac, PC, iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, and Apple TV
Free for all users, Completely ad-free for iTunes Match subscribers, Launches in the U.S. at first with other countries following later on

This is just the summary of the new features. The keynote speech highlighted many others, and the design elements were fantastic. And with 1,500 new API’s more is clearly available but not known yet.

So what did you think?

Below are some samples of the new look and screens.

20130610-204636.jpg

20130610-204643.jpg

20130610-204648.jpg

20130610-204654.jpg

HTC One KLD Oscar II case

Android, Tech News,

I received at the weekend the KLD Oscar II book case for my HTC One.

20130607-204912.jpg
And it’s a great case for the HTC One. Firstly, the inside of the phone tray is lined with soft material so as to not scratch the phone. The case also allows one credit card to be held in the inside flap. The flap is not magnetic but it does close shut. It also has slits on the front flap to allow the speakers to emit their sound freely. The rear has a hole for the additional microphone as shown in the photo, as well as the camera.

The front and rear are made of a fake leather, and has a slight cushion effect. It early days, so I can’t provide any feedback on durability but I do like it.

20130607-205317.jpg

20130607-205330.jpg

I bought this via eBay .

Samsung Galaxy Zoom – more camera than phone

Android, Tech News

20130609-080239.jpg

20130609-080249.jpg
The above photos are supposedly of the soon to be announced Samsung Galaxy Zoom phone / camera. If the photos are true, then the Zoom is more camera than phone, sort of reminding me of the Nokia Pureview 808.

Question is would you want to have a bulky phone in your pocket, that focused just on the camera but compromised on other aspects? Personally, I love the idea of a decent camera on a phone but I would also want good sound quality and some reassurance of battery life or the ability to be able to swap the battery. I can’t wait for the full official announcement and learn about the full specifications and capability.

Change your Samsung S4 colour for $1,000

Android, Tech News,

Bored of the colour of your Samsung S4, have no fear Colorware are rushing to your rescue. $1,000 and 14 days later you can have your personalised colour choice.

In the ColorWare design studio, there are 46 paint colors to choose from including, solid and metallic, as well as matte and gloss finishes. There are three customizable elements on the Galaxy S4,which provide extensive options for creating a one-of-a-kind smartphone.

The product goes through a laborious process of disassembly, cleaning, masking, painting, and inspection. Then, the product is buffed and reassembled. The product goes through final inspection and then is packaged into the original packaging.

image

Personally, that’s a very expensive amount of money to blow on a phone but for some it’s a great little touch.

Instagram coming to Windows Phone 8 but there’s a catch

Tech News, Windows, ,

Instagram is rumoured to be coming to Windows Phone 8 soon, but only sadly on Nokia Windows Phone, and the latest models.

I would imagine this might just be a limited time period before it becomes available on other brands.

Finally, Windows Phone is starting to get more decent apps, even games are now improving. And with the upcoming Nokia Lumia 925, 928 and EOS the combination of this hardware and software, shows real signs of promise.

Microsoft and the FBI attack the worlds largest botnets

Tech News,

Reuters reported that Microsoft Corp and the FBI, aided by authorities in more than 80 countries, launched a major assault on one of the world’s biggest cyber crime rings, believed to have stolen more than $500 million from bank accounts over the past 18 months.

Microsoft said its Digital Crimes Unit on Wednesday successfully took down at least 1,000 of an estimated 1,400 malicious computer networks known as the Citadel Botnets.

Citadel infected as many as 5 million PCs around the world and, according to Microsoft, was used to steal from dozens of financial institutions, including: American Express, Bank of America, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, eBay’s PayPal, HSBC, JPMorgan Chase, Royal Bank of Canada and Wells Fargo.

Scary when you think how much and probably how easy digital crime is to undertake.