Apple

According to a report from Korea Times, LG Chem, the largest chemical company in South Korea, has begun shipping a new hexagonal battery to top-tier smartwatch makers. The new battery, which sports a design that allows it to cover more surface area — specifically within circular smartwatches — reportedly improves battery capacity as much as 25% compared to traditional rectangular batteries…
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We’ve been following rumors claiming that Samsung is planning on launching a phablet-sized Galaxy S6 Edge—starting with a report from Italian blog HDBlog and then images leaked by YouTuber MKBHD—and today the story continues with new information from SamMobile.

The Samsung-focused blog is reporting on new information from “insiders” that the Galaxy S6 Edge Plus will sport a 5.7-inch display, not unlike the Note 4, and run Android 5.1.1 out of the box. Initial rumors pointed to a 5.5-inch display, but that information has seemingly since changed.
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Google announced today that it updated its Slides app, available for Android and iOS, to both support Google Cast and AirPlay. The update comes following the announcement of the Remote Display API that Google showed off at its I/O developers conference at the end of June, which allows developers to present more intricate applications and games on a remote screen.
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Career website Glassdoor today has released its annual breakdown of the top 50 CEOs, as voted on by employees. This year, Google CEO Larry Page was voted as the chief executive officer of the year with a 97 percent employee approval rating. Last year, Page was 10th on the list, with LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner taking the top spot. Weiner this year fell to 12th overall with an approval rating of 93 percent.

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As part of iOS 9, Apple today has announced a new app called Move to iOS that makes the transition from Android to iPhone more seamless for the user. While the app went unannounced during the WWDC keynote, it is listed on the iOS 9 feature page on Apple’s website.

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Ford was one of the first car manufacturers to announce its intentions to add support for Google’s Android Auto to its in-dash systems. Questions concerning how Ford plans to integrate Google’s solution, however, have remained since the initial announcement. In an interview with Re/code today, Ford CEO Mark Fields clarified some of the details regarding the company’s plans to offer Android Auto (and CarPlay) in its vehicles.

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Strategy Analytics has a new report out claiming that Samsung has once again become the number one smartphone manufacturer by units shipped worldwide. Although Samsung doesn’t officially report unit numbers in its earnings call, the analytics firm is estimating 83 million smartphones sold worldwide for the company. IDC is also reporting similar numbers.

Apple, which does report the number of iPhones it shipped, sold 61 million iPhones in the last quarter. Whilst this is a new quarterly record for Apple, it is easily outstripped by Samsung’s estimated numbers by about 20 million units. Apple became the number one vendor last quarter due to the launch of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus and mild sales of Samsung’s Galaxy lineup. However, these numbers show Samsung’s latest flagship, the Galaxy S6, is off to a good start.

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Over the past couple of weeks, much virtual ink has been spilled over the Apple Watch’s first-day pre-order sales. If you missed it, the upshot is that an iOS analytics firm released an estimate that over one million Apple Watches were ordered on that first day, and as we told you, this represents more device sales than Android Wear had in all of 2014.

While many good reasons can be given for this disparity, ranging from Apple’s marketing budget to its reality-distortion field, there are a couple of key aspects to this situation that haven’t often been mentioned…
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The latest estimates from Slice Intelligence suggest that Apple sold just under 1 million units of its new smartwatch on the first day or pre-orders, an unsurprising figure considering the fact that the Cupertino company sold 74 million iPhones in Q4 2014. Knowing the number of Apple Watches sold, and assuming it’s correct, we can say with certainty that Apple sold more Apple Watches over the weekend than the combined various OEMs (LG, Samsung, etc.) shipped Android Wear devices in 2014.

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It’s always a difficult task when comparing iOS and Android devices, but this year it may be more important than ever. Samsung has finally stepped up its game with the Galaxy S6, and now we have something that is truly comparable to Apple’s iPhone lineup. Today we’re getting into the ultimate comparison between Samsung’s Galaxy S6 and Apple’s iPhone 6…

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Numerous complaints in Apple’s discussion forums have spotlighted a problem preventing iCloud.com and me.com email addresses from receiving Google Gmail messages, with delays lasting hours or days.
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I love my Android Wear smartwatch—it’s a great extension to the Nexus 6 I use daily. But not many people I know have an Android Wear device, even fewer have reason to use one every day, and basically no one (outside of my circle of geeky friends) really understands why they’re useful when I try to explain what they do. My LG G Watch R is seen as cool, because I can flip between a couple dozen watch faces and reply to texts with my voice, but these things don’t really make my peers feel like they’re missing out. It’s cool, but that’s about it.

The Apple Watch was shown off again today—this time in a bit more detail—and it’s clear that the device is going to be competition to the half-dozen-or-so Android Wear devices that are on the market. It’s priced a bit higher, and that’s typical when it comes to Apple products, but there are definitely things that this device offers that Google hasn’t yet introduced. The big one—in my opinion—is Digital Touch, which Apple describes as a “fun, spontaneous way to connect with other Apple Watch wearers, wrist to wrist.”

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Apple, Google, Microsoft and hundreds of other businesses have joined together to urge the US Supreme Court to legalize same-sex marriage across the country.

The companies have filed what’s known as an amicus brief, a way for parties not directly involved in a case to make an argument for or against a particular decision by the court. The brief argues that there is a sound business case for consistency across the country, explained counsel Susan Baker…
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Last month a developer managed to hack together a solution that enabled iPhone users to see their notifications on Google’s Android-powered wearable operating system, but at the moment there is no official way to use the two competing platforms together. That could change at Google’s annual I/O conference later this year, if new rumors are to be believed.

According to French tech blog 01Net, Google is developing an update to Android Wear that would enable it work with Apple’s iOS devices…

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Gartner is out with its latest report tracking smartphone movement during the previous year and more specifically the holiday quarter.

Headlining the report is news that over 1 billion smartphones were sold in 2014, a data point IDC first said was hit in the previous year, adding that two out of three phones sold last year qualified as smartphones.

Gartner’s data shows Apple topped Samsung in worldwide smartphone sales with 74,832,000 units shipped during the holiday quarter, just 1.8 million units more than Samsung, giving Apple 20.4% market share for the quarter, a virtual tie with Samsung’s 19.9%.

Coming up behind Apple and Samsung is Lenovo (which includes sales of Motorola-branded phones), Huawei, and Xiaomi with single digit market share. The collective group of others which amount to 42.4% of the holiday quarter sales.
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Believe it or not, there’s an iPhone 6 in that pile of smartphones shown in the image above and we’re going to compare it to Samsung’s newly announced Galaxy S6. Which one would you prefer? More importantly, what are the major differences between these two devices? Well, let’s go ahead and find out…

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It’s no secret that Samsung has been struggling recently, even going so far as to freeze salaries for all of its employees. In the wake of these issues, Business Insider has just published an extensive profile of the company and its struggles. The profile, which comes in at 3,000 words, details all of the highs and lows for the company, as well as its performance against companies like Apple and Xiaomi.

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Google’s Sundar Pichai recently sat down with Forbes to talk about the Mountain View company’s ambitions in China, its relationship with Apple, and what its overall vision looks like. Some interesting quotes from Google’s Android and Chrome head have surfaced as a result, and among other comments, Pichai took a moment to respond to constant criticism from Apple that Google is in the business of monetizing its users. Pichai also touched on Google’s aspirations in China as well as the sponsored ad program it is testing in Google Play…

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Samsung announced in a press release this evening that it has purchased LoopPay, an Apple Pay like mobile payment company. LoopPay turns existing magnetic stripe card readers into secure, contactless receivers. This means that, in an ideal world, LoopPay would be available in nearly every retailer that accepts magnetic strip cards. A specific acquisition price is unclear at this point.

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