iPhone

I love my iPhone and have never felt tempted to return to the BlackBerry, but I was still rolling my eyes at TechCrunch's report of the iPhone being "twice as reliable as the BlackBerry". After all, my iPhone crashed in four different applications in a 45-minute period this afternoon.

Of course, the referenced SquareTrade study covers hardware malfunctions, not software malfunctions. In this, perhaps it is true that the malfunction rate for Apple's smartphones after one year is only 5.6 percent, while Research In Motion's phones crap out 11.2 percent of the time.… Read more

During a trip Down Under, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has had a lot to say. This week in Sydney, Australia, he stated that he isn't interested in wooing Yahoo anymore, he doesn't understand how Google plans to profit from Android, and he has confidence in President-elect Barack Obama's leadership.

And while the expressive executive on Friday also said Microsoft "may look into" using WebKit, the open-source browser-rendering technology used by Google's Chrome and Apple's Safari browsers, he mostly rejected that idea, according to a Computerworld report. Instead, he said the two prominent Microsoft … Read more

UPDATED: Corrected LogMeIn spelling.

It's great to be able to log in your computer remotely. It's convenient, it saves gas, hassle, and most importantly, time. Personally I've used LogMeIn for a long time and loved it.

The company has actually been cooking up an application for the iPhone (and iPod Touch), too, called LogMeIn Ignition. I tried out the preview version of the app on my iPhone 3G and was impressed overall.

First off, it works! I was able to log in to any Windows machine where I have the Logmein client installed and view its desktop … Read more

I hate to start off this week's post with a another pet peeve I have, but I must say something about a problem I have with the iPhone/iTunes marriage. As always, please let me know if I'm missing something that might help my problem in the comments!

My question is this: Why can't I buy an app from the app store through iTunes on any computer and download it to my iPhone?

Understandably, I synced my iPhone to my home computer because that's where all my music is. But when I come to work and … Read more

The Yubz telephone makes the argument that even iPhones can't escape irony's tacky, far-reaching arm. For $50 and the cost of shipping from France, you can own this ridiculous handset that plugs into your iPhone and lets you pretend you're Donald Trump in the early 1970s.

It'll be out in mid-November on the Yubz Web site, but if you simply can't wait until they inevitably show up in your local mall's Spencer Gifts, they're also available for preorder.

Finally, if a solid gold telephone triggers your gag reflexes as much as it does … Read more

Apple knew full well that Mark Papermaster would have to learn his new role as iPod and iPhone chief "on the job" when it hired him.

Papermaster's former employer, IBM, filed a lawsuit against him last week, claiming that he broke the terms of a noncompete contract with IBM in accepting a high-profile job with Apple. InformationWeek spotted Papermaster's formal response Friday morning, in which he declares that the two companies are not competitors and that his experience at IBM is not the primary reason why Apple sought his services.

The court filings reveal the interesting … Read more

Correction, 2:38 p.m. PST: This story initially gave an incorrect name for the firm that released the report. It is Strategy Analytics.

Samsung Electronics became the top mobile phone provider in the U.S. during the third quarter, unseating longtime rival Motorola, according to a report Friday by Strategy Analytics.

Samsung grabbed 22.4 percent of the market share based on U.S. shipments in the quarter, compared with Motorola, which was slightly more than 1 percentage point away, and LG Electronics which was a close third.

Samsung and LG, which have been rapidly closing the gap on … Read more

Happy birthday Wilson! You're officially the oldest 24-year-old we know! To help celebrate we get a call from The 404 unofficial sound man, voice actor and eBay impulse buyer Jamey Lewis. How's that for getting your AC unit serviced? 404 fans around the world show their love for the Tangster with with tons of calls from the public. In the news, Will Smith and Spielberg team up for an action movie remake and Wal-Mart rewards shoppers for splurging on a PS3.

Dan the Mantern here. Wilson wants me to thank all the fans who left him a voicemail today. Between you and me, he's still a little misty. In case you were wondering, he plans to celebrate karaoke-style. Free ear plugs available upon request.

Remember folks, you still have this weekend to submit original box art for Little Big Planet and MotorStorm and enter to win a copy of the game. And if you don't show up in the chat room for next Friday's show with snowboarding legend Shaun White, I swear, Wilson will come to your house with a karaoke machine filled with Chinese pop songs and a sound system loud enough to shatter every glass window on your block. Friday, November 14th, Shaun White, The 404, Bacardi Cola, do it!

Though intended as a complementary application to Evernote's multimedia note-syncing system, Evernote for iPhone fares well enough as a stand-alone application. You'll still need to register for a free or premium account, but after that, creating text, photo, and audio notes is a simple operation.

Evernote saves your media on its servers and then delivers all your uploaded notes to any access point, including the Evernote desktop manager, any Web browser, and now your iPhone or iPod Touch. Evernote's optical character recognition service is one selling point for all accounts. While tests found the OCR fairly accurate, … Read more