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Apple sees way to use multiple iPhones as camera flashes

A single iPhone may not provide enough light to shoot a dark scene. But a handful of them remotely controlled might just do the trick. At least, that's the idea behind a patent filed by Apple.

Published today by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, a patent application dubbed simply "Illumination system" describes a method whereby multiple iPhones or other mobile devices team up to act as camera flashes. The primary device could be a camera or a smartphone. The secondary devices could be smartphones, tablets, or other gadgets with their own built-in flash or a … Read more

Android beats iOS with 52 percent of ad impressions

Android scooped up more than half of all ad impressions seen by Millennial Media last quarter, according to the ad network's new MobileMix report.

For the first quarter, Android won 52 percent of all impressions (the number of times a mobile ad is displayed), up from 49 percent in the year-ago quarter.

In second place, iOS accounted for 39 percent of all impressions, up from 33 percent. That left the third spot to the BlackBerry OS, which saw its slice of ad impressions cut in half to 7 percent from 14 percent. Microsoft's Windows Phone also witnessed a … Read more

Apple reveals details of 50 billionth App Store download

The Apple App Store odometer was spinning furiously en route to the 50 billionth app download.

Apple on Thursday morning formally announced the passing of the milestone and named the winner of the race to reach 50 billion. That honor went to Brandon Ashmore of Mentor, Ohio, who downloaded Say the Same Thing by Space Inch. Along with bragging rights, Ashmore receives a $10,000 App Store gift card.

The threshold was reached Wednesday just before 2 p.m. PT when the counter on Apple's Web site turned over the 50 billion mark. A tweet from Apple's App … Read more

Windows Phone jumps to third place in smartphone market

Microsoft's Windows Phone grabbed third place from BlackBerry in global smartphone shipments in the first quarter, market researcher IDC said Thursday.

Windows Phone accounted for shipments of 7 million smartphones, earning itself a market share of 3.2 percent last quarter. That was a gain from the first quarter of 2012, which saw shipments of 3 million and a market share of 2 percent.

Over the same period, BlackBerry saw its fortunes fall. Last quarter, shipments fell to 6.3 million from 9.7 million in the year-ago quarter, while BlackBerry's market share dropped to 2.9 percent … Read more

Apple target of Senate probe into offshore tax practices

Apple will reportedly be the subject of a Senate hearing next week into U.S. companies' offshore tax practices.

Apple CEO Tim Cook is expected to testify Tuesday before the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigation, according to Politico, which first reported on Apple's involvement at the hearing. The committee has been examining the various tax-avoidance strategies used by companies, including Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard, and how that affects U.S. interests.

Apple recently announced a $17 billion bond plan as part of its shareholder capital returns plan that will save it $9.2 billion in taxes it would have had … Read more

iPhone robot is an alarm clock with attitude

For the snooze kings and queens of the world, an even more annoying alarm clock is a must. Well, here's a droid with a "hilarious personality" that looks like it needs a good kick.

Tim-e is an iPhone dock with arms and legs. It wriggles and dances and is generally annoying. But that's the whole point.

The subject of a Kickstarter campaign that's aiming for $150,000, Tim-e (pronounced "Timmy") uses your iPhone screen as an animated face.

In the promo video below, it has a blue, animated mug and puts on a snarky routine. It recalls the genie from Disney's "Aladdin." … Read more

Apple's App Store downloads hit 50 billion

Apple's App Store on Wednesday passed another major benchmark, topping 50 billion app downloads.

That's according to the countdown timer on Apple's Web site and in iTunes. Apple also confirmed the benchmark on Twitter:

We just hit 50 billion app downloads. Thank you. It couldn't have happened without you. #50BillionApps tw.appstore.com/hgE

— App Store(@AppStore) May 15, 2013

The person who downloaded the 50 billionth app will get a $10,000 App Store gift card from Apple, and the 50 people who downloaded apps right after that each will receive a $500 gift card. … Read more

How the voice-controlled future will change education forever

Last week, my son lost all the research he had done for his first science fair project. (Topic: Can Fossils Form in Igneous Rock?) Extreme drama ensued, and ultimately, I ended up typing his dictation for him as he Googled frantically to meet his deadline.

If you've ever worked with a nine-year-old on a big project, you know that unless your child is a prodigy, the process often dissolves into tears of frustration.

As a parent or adviser, you need to teach a child to think critically, understand basic concepts of measurement (Should we measure the temperature at which … Read more

Put Twitter in your Mac's menu bar with BirdDrop

Do you have a Twitter problem? Do you want to talk about it? Instead of going cold turkey, perhaps you can begin to wean yourself from the little birdie by accessing only the mobile version of Twitter on your Mac with BirdDrop. Then again, perhaps having one-click access to any form of Twitter from your Mac's menu bar will only increase the time you spend on Twitter. How you use it is up to you. I'm here only to inform you of the app's existence and how it works.

BirdDrop is a free app that installs a … Read more

T-Mobile: No iPhone discount lasts forever

Nothing lasts forever, especially iPhone discounts.

T-Mobile on Monday boosted the upfront cost of the iPhone by $50 to $149.99 for the 16GB version, which T-Mobile Financial Chief Braxton Carter said Wednesday was the company's plan the entire time. However, T-Mobile didn't say at launch that the lower price was temporary. And the increase -- which brings the total cost for the phone to $629.99 after two years of $20 a month payments -- comes only a month after the iPhone became available at T-Mobile.

"When we look at the overall landscape, there's no … Read more