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Saturday 25 February 2012

Apple Is Said to Pay About $50 Million for Chomp and their wonder app



The US apps discovery startup Chomp has been obtained by Apple for a rumoured $50m (£32m), as it looks to make it easier and simpler for iOS users to find the best iPhone and iPad apps.

The news was first proclaimed by TechCrunch which claims "Apple has bought the Chomp team and technology and plans to use both to completely revamp App Store search and recommendations".

TechCrunch's story gave no price tag for the deal, however since then Bloomberg has claimed that Apple paid around $50m (£32) for Chomp.

Apple has confirmed it's 'addition but not the price. spokeswoman Amy Bessette told Bloomberg: "We buy smaller technology companies from time to time and generally don't comment on our purposes or plans."

9 to 5 Mac has also joined this 'discussion', claiming that Ben Keighram, Chomp chief executive now works for Apple's iTunes marketing team, whilst also Cathy Edwards is a senior iTunes engineer. At this time neither of them had updated their LinkedIn profile however this does not really make much of a significant point to say that they had not changed jobs as any difficulty could have popped up.

Chomp iPhone app was launched in January 2010 as a way for iPhone users to write short reviews on their favourite iPhone apps, and then browse a feed of other peoples recommendations.

By August in that same year it had 400,000 active users, and had a great focus on search. At that time Ben Keighram described it as the most personalised way to search and browse for apps, also adding that: "Apple is insanely excited about this."

This great addition should help Apple with one of its key challenges which it does not cater for: helping iOS users discover apps at a time when there are more than 550,000 available in its App Store.

Purchasing Chomp can also be seen as proclamation of no confidence or belief in Apple's existing Genius technology, at least in the searching of apps.

Genius, was originally developed and created to provide iTunes music recommendations based on people's existing collection of music, in September 2009 Genius for apps was introduced, suggesting new apps for a person based on previous individual purchases and downloads.

It is expected  of course Chomp to get rid of it's non-iOS services quickly. Such as an Android version of this app which was launched in March 2011, whilst it started to work with US mobile operator Verizon Wireless on recommendations for its Android app store in September later that year.

It is quite unknown about what will happen to Chomp's standalone iPhone app, although it is probably most likely to be pulled from the App Store and reappear as an Apple app.

Saturday 18 February 2012

Review: Silicone Horn Stand Speaker for Apple iPhone 4 from Bone (BudgetGadgets.com)

Over recent months we have seen lots of add-ons for the iPhone and iPad etc. such as joysticks, controllers and even add-on lightsabers??!?!??!! However one of the most useful and practical "add-ons" has got to be the Silicone Horn Stand Speaker for Apple iPhone 4 from Bone ( BudgetGadgets.com)


How it Works and what colours it comes in etc.
The design does not just look unique for the sake of it but improves the output volume "the old school way" through an acoustic amplifier. (picture)

Like a trumpet sound is concentrated through the horn amplifying it without electronics or batteries.

How the Silicone horn stand amplifies the sound - Noordinarygadget

This product is available in colours; light blue, black, white, yellow, light green, pink, peach, dark red, lime green, sky blue and purple.

What it Can do
The Silicone Horn Stand Speaker for Apple iPhone 4 (- BudgetGadgets.com) is light weight and very flexible. It is made of Silicone which is machine washable, dust and scratch free!

Light material makes the Silicone Horn Stand Speaker for Apple iPhone 4 very convenient, it is also extremely practical especially compared to a portable speaker which has a very high probability of being larger than the Silicone Horn Stand Speaker for Apple iPhone 4.

The portable charger may also need batteries of some sort of power supply, and annoying add-ons which this product does not need because of it's smart design makes use of the shape of the horn to concentrate the sound through the horn hence amplifying the sound, it increases the sound by 13 decibels (dB) which is around 2.5x louder!

The home key, microphone on you iPhone are still accessible, there is a cut out for the at the bottom of the product  for the charging port (picture) which allows you to charge you iPhone when listening to music or watching a movie or whenever! There is a gap for your microphone so you can still make calls whilst this product is still on your iPhone and lastly there is no gap for the speaker on your iPhone as it is 'connected' to the horn.


Vertical

The product is also a stand for your iPhone it works horizontally and vertically. Horizontally is also perfect for watching and good for whatever use you have for your iPhone, It fits well around the iPhone 4 and gives good support for it. (picture) you can also separate it into two parts which you can put back together.

Horizontal (with a film!)


Final Verdict
This unique product is very well made and has alot to offer you. Enjoy louder and decent sound with no noise or distraction for a great price. It is NOT very easily worn, flexible, and I can't really think of a con for it. It is easy to put your iPhone in and take it out, no external power is required and great for face time, watching movies, reading books, documents, texts etc, and amazing for music. I just believe that it's a smart little product that was well thought of.

CLICK HERE TO BUY ONE (Below is a coupon)
If you have any questions about the product don't hesitate to ask me by commenting below.
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For 5% discount off this product and all the products on budgetgadgets.com site-wide use the coupon "noordinarygadget"   




Tuesday 14 February 2012

Announcement of iPad 3 First Week of March......

There has been alot of talk and rumours online on the subject of the new iPad 3 due out this year. Of those rumors, one of them has been when we are going to here the official word from Apple, in relation to the presentation, announcement and showing of the product. "AllThingsD" is now saying that Apple will in fact be announcing the iPad 3, to the world at a point during the first week of March 2012 . After that announcement, the iPad 3 should then be availible for purchase at some point during the second and third week of March in North America.
“Apple’s not holding an event in February. But it is holding one in March — to launch its next iPad. Sources say the company has chosen the first week in March to debut the successor to the iPad 2 and will do so at one of its trademark special events. The event will be held in San Francisco, presumably at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Apple’s preferred location for big announcements like these.”

The iPad 3 is predicted and expected to have; a retina HD display with 2048 x 1536 resolution, an upgraded rear camera, iOS 5.1, a larger battery for improved battery life and a quad-core A6 processor. Other improvements are said to include 4G LTE (Long term evolution) models of the iPad 3 all fitting within the same casing as the iPad 2. Hopefully this probably means that for those of you who brought cases, keyboards and other accesories for your iPad 2 will work with the iPad 3 if you decide to purchase it. 


 
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