Over the past few days, I’ve been testing a new app from App Cubby. The app, called Launch Center, uses the iOS 5 Notification Center as a launch tool for a limited number of actions. In other words, you bring up Notification Center and tap an item to go to a website, launch an app, or perform another action. App Cubby submitted the app to Apple a few days ago, but another developer (Neoos GmbH) hit the App Store first with a similar app named Quickpick. I took a look at both these Notification Center launcher tools to let you know which does the job better.

Both these apps do their magic by leveraging the way the iPhone handles some specially-crafted URLs. While Notification Center is designed to give you rapid access to the apps behind your alerts, these customized alerts use some of the same URL schemes deployed by Iconsettings and other tools to navigate rapidly through the iPhone’s Settings app. It’s important to understand that mechanism a bit, since it does limit the range of what these tools can do (although it’s the only way they can work on a non-jailbroken phone, given Apple’s restrictions on inter-application communication).

Updated: Although the Launch Center app works identically to Quickpick, David Barnard of App Cubby just notified me that the app was turned down. The note he received: “We noticed that your app included inappropriate use of Notification Center, which does not comply with the iOS Human Interface Guidelines.”

This is another example of the inconsistency of the App Store approval process. Barnard notes that he’ll wait until after the holidays to resubmit Launch Center.

Launch Center

The first of these two apps that I tried was Launch Center (US$0.99). The app has been submitted to the App Store and was actually the subject of a NY Times story about developers rushing to get apps approved prior to the annual Christmas iTunes Connect shutdown. It’s not in the App Store as of this morning, but the links included here should work once the app goes live. There will also be a page on the App Cubby site for more information.

Launching the app displays a nice wood background with three separate buttons that can be added to your Notification Center for quick access — Flashlight (which turns on the iPhone flash for use as a flashlight), Tweet (opens a Twitter send dialog), and Google My Clipboard (takes whatever is on your clipboard and performs a Google search on it).

Tapping the “gear” button that’s usually reserved for settings actually opens Welcome to Launch Center, a four-page mini-manual that describes how to change settings so that Launch Center works most effectively. This includes moving the Launch Center links to the top of Notification Center to make life a bit more “scroll-free.”

To add new items to Notification Center, tap the Edit button and you’re greeted with a list of five different actions you can add — Speed Dial, Text Message, Email, Launch Website / App, and Post to Facebook.

When the Speed Dial button is tapped, your contacts list is opened. Tap a name and then a phone number (home, work, mobile, etc…) and a one touch speed dial button is added to your Notification Center. Text Message and Email work similarly, asking for the recipient in your contacts list and addressing a blank text or email message.

Launch Website / App is something completely different. Not only can you create Notification Center buttons for websites, but many apps can also be launched from Notification Center using this. There’s a link at the bottom of the “Link Properties” edit screen that allows you to look up app URL schemes that work with Launch Center. That link is directed to handleopenurl.com, home of a long list of OpenURL-compatible apps and actions. For example, the top item on the list is 1Password Pro, which you can set up to be launched from Notification Center.

Other popular iOS apps that are included on the handleopenurl.com site are Evernote, Air Sharing, the App Store, iOS Settings, Echofon, GoodReader, IMDB, iTunes, Kindle for iPhone, Navigon, Pocket Money, Shazam, Skype, TweetBot, and Waze among others.

Finally, although Launch Center is not a universal app, running it on iPad doesn’t present too much of an issue since you’re only using the app to set up the shortcuts.

Quickpick

Quickpick (US$0.99) bills itself as “the universal iOS launcher.” The app is universal, so you purchase it once to run on both iPhone and iPad. Quickpick can add up to 10 action entries to the iPhone/iPod touch Notification Center or up to 20 on the iPad.

After launching the app, you’re presented with a minimalist interface. There’s an edit button, a “+” button, and a large About Quickpick button. The latter button points you to online web documentation, allows you to tell a friend about the app, contacts Neoos support, or recreates Quickpicks. A Quickpick is an entry in your Notification Center that can be tapped to perform an action.

The way that both Quickpick and Launch Center work is that they place links into the Notification Center. Quickpick provides a manual method of adding Quickpicks — typing in a title to signify what action is performed as well as a properly formatted link — and a Composer to automatically fill out the link field.

For example, if I want a Quickpick to go to the TUAW website, I can tap the Open Website button in the Composer, and it pre-fills the Link field with “http://www.” All I need to add is a title like “Go to TUAW” and fill in the URL. To create a Quickpick to mail my fellow TUAW editors, I can select “Compose New Mail” from the Composer and then pick an address — or group — to send an email to. With a tap of the “Mail TUAW Leads” Quickpick, Mail opens and I have a pre-addressed message ready to go.

Quickpick is set up to create four different type of Quickpicks from the app — Call a phone number, send an email, go to a website, or compose an SMS message. That’s the problem; although there are a number of different URL types that can be used on iOS devices to perform a lot of actions, those are the only four that are listed. There’s a link in the FAQs for the app to “handelopenURL.com” (yes, it’s misspelled, although it goes to the proper site when clicked) where you can see all of the different URL schemes that can be used with Quickpick.

To put your Quickpicks at the top of the Notification Center, you go to Settings > Notifications, select Edit, and slide Quickpick to the top of the list.

The Verdict

The two apps basically do the same thing, but I’d recommend that readers wait and spend their $0.99 on Launch Center. Why? It’s more polished. Not only does the app present some nice eye candy in terms of the user interface, but the Welcome to Launch Center pages do a nice job of providing setup help. Launch Center’s “Google My Clipboard” and “Flashlight” features are also quite useful right off the bat.

Neither of these apps, however, holds a candle to what’s available in the jailbreak world. To see a good example of what Notification Center could be, take a look at IntelliScreenX ($9.99, Cydia store only) from Intelliborn.

Quickpick and Launch Center: A first look at two similar iOS launcher apps (Updated) originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 19 Dec 2011 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mac users of the cloud-based scheduling service Doodle will be happy to learn that the company has released a beta of its iCal Connector software for Mac. Doodle is a service that lets users send out potential meeting dates to friends or clients. Those recipients see a poll with the meeting schedule options; they can vote on which date would be best for them.

The tentative dates show up in that user’s calendar client (Outlook, Google Calendar, etc.). Users can see what other dates people choose as well. When the original meeting organizer looks over all the dates and chooses the best one for the group, all the tentative dates are automatically wiped clean from everyone’s calendar software with only the chosen one left.

Until now Doodle’s third-party calendar support was limited to Google Calendar or Microsoft’s Exchange calendaring. With the iCal beta, now Mac users can take full advantage of the cloud-based meeting selection service, no matter what calendar service they use. If you want to learn more about Doodle, check out this short video. Doodle offers both free and premium accounts for users. The Doodle iCal Connector is a free download.

Doodle adds iCal connector for cloud scheduling originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 19 Dec 2011 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Last Thursday Apple quietly issued a new build of iOS 5.0.1 specifically for the iPhone 4S. There were no release notes issued with the new build and users who had already installed and earlier build of 5.0.1 on their iPhone 4S couldn’t update to the new one without restoring their iPhone. The release came one day before Apple rolled out the iPhone 4S in an additional 20 countries, which gave some hint that the build was useful for those markets.

Now the mystery has been solved as Apple released a new support document detailing changes in the new build. The build addresses an issue where the iPhone 4S wouldn’t recognize a micro-SIM card that was installed and return a “No SIM Card Installed” or other similar error. It’s also now apparent that the release of the build was meant to coincide with the 20 country rollout, as many new iPhone 4S owners would be upgrading from the factory installed iOS 5.0, to the new iOS 5.0.1 build when they bought their new iPhones.

The new build is still only available to people who have not previously updated to iOS 5.0.1, which suggests Apple considers the incidence of the “No SIM Card Installed” error fairly low. The fix for it will certainly be rolled into iOS 5.0.2 or iOS 5.1, whichever comes first. Until then, if you do want the absolute latest build on your iPhone 4S, simply restore the device to factory settings in iTunes.

iPhone 4S-specific iOS build is for “No SIM Card Installed” errors originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 19 Dec 2011 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s come to the point where everyone realizes that Apple is coming out with a real, bonafide television set. As sets become smarter, manufacturers struggle to define just what a “smart” TV is.

Now the Wall Street Journal is reporting that Apple executives “have discussed their vision for the future of TV with media executives at several large companies” in recent weeks. Though there aren’t too many concrete details about the television Apple is reportedly working on, the WSJ’s sources claim that the Apple television will rely “on wireless streaming technology to access shows, movies and other content.” Though the sources said the Apple executives (including Eddy Cue) who took part in the meetings were intentionally “vague” about what an Apple television set might entail, they did say that in one meeting the interface of the television was discussed:

In at least one meeting, Apple described future television technology that would respond to users’ voices and movements, one of the people said. Such technology, which Apple indicated may take longer than some of its other ideas, might allow users to use their voices to search for a show or change channels.

In addition, the WSJ source claims that Apple has integrated DVR technologies into iCloud and that AirPlay would also be a feature of the television. No doubt we’ll be hearing more rumors coming out about the Apple television as we move into 2012, so hold on tight. As a television is the one electronic almost every household in America owns, it’s likely that the buzz surrounding this rumored TV could surpass the buzz for all other Apple products.

WSJ: Apple’s TV plans hinted at in discussions with media execs originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 19 Dec 2011 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ars Technica has a really interesting article about the fabled proximity sensory in the iPad 3G. I know what you’re thinking: “Why does the iPad 3G have a proximity sensor?” Well, if Ars did a proper job at finding and interpreting FCC papers (as I believe they did) it’s there to protect users from electromagnetic radiation that emanates from the iPad’s 3G antenna. Since distance affects how much radiation is absorbed by a person’s body, the iPad 3G’s proximity sensor is there to dial down the power of the 3G radio by as much as 75% when it detects that a user is close to the sensor. Less power means less radiation exposure. It also means a weaker 3G signal and slower data rate.

However, the 3G signal isn’t only dialed down when the proximity sensor comes into contact with a human user. In fact, anything (like an iPad case) will cuts the 3G radio’s power. That’s why some iPad 3G owners report weaker 3G signals when using their iPad with a case attached.

But now a company called Pong Research has come out with a US$100 iPad case that it says will enable your iPad’s 3G data to run at full speed even when the case is on. The case accomplishes this via a small hole right where the proximity sensor is located on the iPad. As Ars points out, any case manufacturer that knows about the location of this unadvertised proximity sensor can do the same. However, by just cutting a hole near the sensor you still have a radiation problem. That’s where the second big feature of Pong’s case comes in: an integrated circuit board designed to take that harmful radiation and redistribute it away from the user’s body.

Arstechnica tested out both claims (the redistribution of radiation and the boost in 3G signals) and found that the case works as advertised. So if full 3G signal and a lack of pesky radiation is for you, go on over to Pong’s site and order a case. If you hadn’t heard anything after I said you iPad emits deadly radiation, check out Ars’s article for an in-depth description of consumer electronic radiation (hint: you’ll be fine).

iPad case claims to boost 3G performance, reduce radiation originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 19 Dec 2011 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Facebook’s new “Timeline” layout was finally rolled out globally this week. However, one thing that was missing from Timeline was iOS support. That has been remedied with the Facebook 4.1 app update released yesterday. Now when users who have enabled Timeline (it’s live for everyone by default on December 22nd) launch their Facebook app on the iPhone they’ll see their Timeline and other user’s Timelines right in the app.

I’ve got to say I really am not a fan of Facebook’s Timeline layout. However, strangely, I like it a lot when using the iPhone app. It’s just laid out much cleaner and flows better in the iPhone app than it does on a desktop web browser.

Besides the Timeline, the Facebook 4.1 app adds access to friend lists, subscribers and subscriptions; easier photo uploading and viewing; a new (and much welcome) pop-up interface (as opposed to the “roll-up” screens) to friend request, messages, and notifications windows; and overall improved performance.

Currently, Timeline is only accessible through the iPhone version of the app, but Facebook promises an iPad-compatible update soon. Facebook is a free universal app.

“Timeline” feature comes to Facebook’s iPhone app originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 19 Dec 2011 08:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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IM+ is one of the top-rated Instant messaging clients in the iOS app store. It has universal device support, and a list of features that’ll suit any messaging fan. Shape Services, the company behind IM +, is constantly improving its iOS app. The latest update landed today and includes Beep, a new IM+-specific messaging service.

Beep will let you send instant messages to other friends and family who are running IM +. You can compare it to RIM’s BlackBerry Messenger service, which lets Blackberry users message each other. The IM+ version is better than BBM because it has more features and is available on Android, iOS, BlackBerry and Windows Phone. I was able to evaluate the latest version of the IM+ app and check out Beep on both an iPhone 4S and a Galaxy Nexus.

The Beep service exists side-by-side with your usual messaging services like AIM and Google Talk. While you’re chatting on AIM, it’s easy to switch to Beep and use IM+ to send your buddy a quick note. Beep is easy to set up within IM+, all you need is a phone number. Once you confirm your number, you’re ready to start adding contacts to your Beep network. IM+ has millions of users, so you probably don’t have to look to hard to find friends for your Beep contact list.

The fun begins when you’ve added a few friends and start messaging. The interface makes it seem like you’re using an IM service to communicate, but you’re not. There’s no login or any connection to a third-party server. All messages are sent through IM+, so you don’t have to worry about racking up text messaging fees.

Messages are delivered promptly, and the app notifies you when a new message is received. You do have to leave the app running in the background to receive these SMS-like messages. Each back and forth is saved in a threaded conversation which is available in your history. If you want to share a conversation, you can find it in your history and send the details via email.

Besides messaging, the new Beep feature for iOS lets you send a photo, a video, or a voice note to a Beep contact. The app records the audio or video file, uploads it to a server and sends a link to the recipient who can download the file. You can also share your location with your Beep friends.

I tested these location, video and audio options and found they all worked well, with the exception of the video message. The iPhone 4S recorded the video clip and uploaded it without a hitch. Within a minute, I received a download link on my Android device. No problem, except the iPhone recorded the clip as a .MOV and the Android device had no idea what to do with it.

I originally thought Beep was a gimmick, but these additional messaging options make Beep much more than a novelty. After using it for a few days, I realized how nice it is to have a rock solid IM client and a rich multimedia, multi-platform messaging tool all in one app. It may not become my replacement for SMS, but it will be an app I use regularly for sending a video or audio message to someone.

The biggest hindrance to using Beep is finding friends who use IM+ and are willing to let it run in the background all the time. For me, it’s easier to fire off an SMS than to identify IM+ users, add them to Beep and make sure they are online when I want to chat. Shape Services has to make it easier to find friends who use IM+ and encourage them to keep the app in the background before the service can become a usable SMS replacement.

Besides Beep, the new version of IM+also includes a Rovio Angry Birds theme that you can download and install. It has a lovely wallpaper, lots of sounds and all your favorite Angry Birds characters from the game. Beep will be available in both IM+ free and paid versions for iOS, BlackBerry, Android and Windows Phone starting today. You can grab the free version of IM+ from the iOS app store. The paid version costs $1.99 and, among other things, gets rid of those pesky ads.

Daily iPhone App: IM+ with Beep originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 19 Dec 2011 05:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iPhone Dev Team has released RedSn0w 0.9.9b9 jailbreak for Mac and Windows. The jailbreak not only supports iOS 5.0.1 (no need to point to iOS 5 IPSW), it also brings custom firmware building to…

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This is a guest post by +Tope who is Vault Overseer at App Design Vault where you get stunning iPhone App Design templates for developers with a budget or lack of good design contacts.

Instagram

This app was Apple’s Top App of 2011. So why not start with that. It has a nice custom Navigation bar and a Photo gallery. The design of the App is minimal without all the flashy graphics you may see in some other apps. This goes a long way to say less is more.

HBO Go.

This App from HBO debuted as number 3 in the Apple Rewind Charts. It has a dark theme with custom buttons. You can also see a custom Segmented control in the screenshot above as well as a custom Navigation Bar with the HBO Logo. Dark themes tend to do well on media apps like music players, cinema listings etc.

Crackle

Crackle is also a media app like HBO Go and does well with a dark theme. This was number 3 on the Apple Rewind 2011 Charts. It just goes to say Apple likes apps with great design even if it is a custom one. Check out the grunge texture on the Table View background, sweet

Starbucks

The Starbucks app completed 26 million transactions in 2011. Not bad for an app that sells coffee, huh? This app features a custom Tab Bar Controller with custom icons. In iOS 5, it is now easy to customise your Tab Bar design. Previously, it was a pain because you had to swizzle your own controls.

Flipboard

It doesn’t get more minimalistic than Flipboard. I was a Flipboard addict on the iPad until this app was released. It had 1 million downloads in the first week of launch alone. This app uses a cool technique I would call Chameleon . It uses the images of the news item prominently and hardly has its own controls. This means the app looks different every time you open it. The news of the day determines how your own Flipboard will look like.

If you want to design your own apps to look like the Flipboard app, check out this iPhone App design template which gives you a similar look and feel.

Super 8

From minimalistic to over the top, Super 8 uses a lot of textures to adorn the app. There are almost no Apple default controls left in the app. It has glossy red buttons, number ticker controls and beveled buttons.

What stands out in that screenshot is the leather texture. Leather is in vogue right now. A good example is the Find My Friends app from Apple. Here are two leather texture templates you can use for your own apps. Foody Recipe App Design and PodRadio – Multimedia App Design

Nike Training Club

I’m loving the design on this app. This shows you can use UILabel controls to make your app stand out. All it takes is to use the correct font and the size in the correct places. Of course, the image of the hot lady doesn’t hurt

Kayak

The Kayak App was Time/CNN’s top travel app of 2011. The design uses a lot of shadows to add depth to the app. It heavily uses UILabels in different sizes. It draws your attention to the important information by using larger fonts.

TED

The TED app is one multimedia app that doesn’t use a dark theme, but does it well. The play button on the video players makes it have a minimalist design. This app uses the default Apple Navigation bar with a different tint colour. You don’t always have to go custom

Epicurious

Recipe apps are hot stuff. Not in the tongue-burning sense but in the money sense. People love having recipes on the go, that is why you will see top chefs releasing their recipe apps. Epicurious has a bright design with a red textured background. The navigation bar is obviously customized. Going into 2012, this will become the trend. The app also makes use of framed images and text to complete the design

Jamie’s Recipes

What did I say about Chefs releasing recipe apps? Well, Jamie is proof of that. Apart from leather, wood designs were a hit in 2011 and will continue to be a hit going into 2012. In this app, you have a framed image complete with a wooden navigation element and a wood background texture. So believable, it looks like it was cut out of a real oak tree in Cameroon.:-)

If you want videos on how to design such apps, check out the videos on Tapptics

Momento

I love this app. Seriously, I know I have said that before, but I own this app and it is always a joy to open it and use. This is one of those apps that just makes you smile while using it, just by seeing the subtle design elements that you know someone took a lot of time to design. Amazing design, you have got to get it. Okay, I will stop drooling now.

On this day

This is another app that takes design to another level. If you look at the array of apps that Sophie has designed, you will obviously see that she has a passion for doing this stuff.

The app has an old grunge paper texture that makes your iPhone look like it was made in the 1930s. Apart from the paper texture and the amazing navigation bar, the rest of the app is minimalistic with just labels and fonts in different sizes and colours.

Very well done.

On this day

This app is so well designed, it warrants another entry. Check out that calendar screen. Enough said.

Groceries

Here is another wood themed design. The design has a custom navigation bar with a torn paper background for the main view. Nice combination.

Grades 2

Wood again? I told you wood is a hot design element. Grades uses it in both its icon and in the app. In the app, it also has two different types of wood textures. The navigation red texture and the background brown texture. If you want to templates that can help you achieve a wood design, check out Photoly – Photography App Design

Toca Hair Salon

Toca hair salon is Apple Top Entertainment App for 2011. it has lots of colourful artwork and probably written in OpenGL. Be careful, it can be addictive.

Yearly

Yearly helps you remember birthdays. Now my mum will not be pissed off anymore because every year I forget her birthday. I now have a beautiful app to store that information. The design is minimalistic but not minimalistic, if you know what I mean. There are only two colours in that screen, gray and brown. They are used in multiple shades and that is what makes it stand out.

Pimp Your Apps in 2012!

From these examples, it is obvious you need a great design to give your apps that extra edge over others in your category. Do not make it an after-thought but embed it early on when you are drawing out a concept. And if you need some inspiration or lack the design skills, check out some iPhone App design templates here.

Have a great 2012 with lots of downloads!.

Apple devices have never been more popular than now, it is expected that millions of new iPads, iPhones and iPod Touches will be unwrapped during this Christmas, of course this means millions more will start downloading apps during this time, making the Christmas season the most profitable time of the year for developers.

“There’s a mad scramble for developers,” said Marc Edwards, lead designer at Bjango, an Australian app maker. “In terms of money, it can be a really big deal.”

So if you know any iOS developers you might have noticed that they seem to have been more stressed than usual these past few days, the reason isn’t that Apple is releasing iOS 6, nope it is simply because they want to release their App on the Apple App Store before Apple freezes the App Store for new submissions and updating.

Some companies like Electronics Arts, that released many top sellers to the App Store release new games right around Christmas, Steven Stamstad, vice president for global marketing, said it started planning 18 to 24 months in advance to make sure it capitalized on the season.

Like every year around Christmas, Apple will close the App Store for new submissions, and this year the date is December 22nd, so if you have a brilliant App that you want to upload to the App store then Thursday is your deadline, the store will be frozen for eight days.

Everyone knows that the Apple iPad is a hugely popular device, earlier this quarter IDC estimated that Apple could hold 68.3% of the worldwide tablet market selling more than 9 million units of the iPad 2 throughout the second quarter of 2011. Even though the company has now predicted that Apple would see their share drop to 61.5% of the market, Apple is still expected to sell over 11 million iPads in Q3.

While this might just sound like a lot of numbers to the average person, consider this Samsung, Apple’s closest competitor, currently hold 5.6% of the market or put in other words, Apple is selling almost 10 times more tablets than Samsung.

This morning, Morgan Stanley significantly raised its forecasts for 2012, predicting Apple could possibly sell 90 million iPads during the year (in addition to 190 million iPhones). The analysts apparently have high hopes for Android 4.0?s ability to offer a competitive alternative to iPad going forward:

“Apple’s larger portfolio of tablet-specific apps, upcoming iPad versions, and growing physical store presence in key emerging markets like Asia/Pacific will help maintain its global leadership. However, an improving Android OS experience and lower competitor pricing in an environment with worldwide economic concerns should help Android to increase its market share,” said Jennifer Song, research analyst, Worldwide Trackers.

While Steve Jobs didn’t win Times person of the year, Barbara Walters has named Apple’s co-founder as the most fascinating person of 2011,according to USA Today. What’s interesting about the choice is that so far in the 18 year history of the program, the award has always gone to a living person.

According to Walters “the Apple founder was selected much earlier in the year, when he first retired. After Jobs died, the rule was broken for him. After all, he broke so many rules during his extraordinary life.’

A businessman and a visionary, a marketing genius and a romantic, a billionaire and a Zen Buddhist, Jobs was one of a kind. His energy and vision changed the world and made him the choice for Most Fascinating Person of the Year.

For those interested there is a really good video on the ABC website, it’s really worth seeing.

Do you agree with Walters decision? Was Steve Jobs the most fascinating person of the previous year?

There used to be a time where Windows Mobile and RIM’s BlackBerry dominated the smartphone market, fast forward to 2011 however and Windows Mobile’s share has dropped to a mere 3% and RIM currently only hold 10% of the market share, so what happened?

Simple, throughout the past few years Android and iOS handsets have taken over the market, currently the who giants hold a combined 82% of the market.

According to data released on Tuesday by market research firm The NPD Group, “The competitive landscape for smartphones, which has been reshaped by Apple and Google, has ultimately forced every major handset provider through a major transition,” Furthermore more Ross Rubin, executive director adds “For many of them, 2012 will be a critical year in assessing how effective their responses have been.”

BlackBerry devices comprised half of all smartphone sales in Q2 2006, but have since seen a steep decline, ending the third quarter of 2011 with just 8 percent market share.

While Nokia remains the top handset vendor in the world, it has suffered a major blow in smartphone sales during the transition from Symbian to Windows Phone, seeing a decline from a 33 percent share in 2010 to 14 percent in 2011.

During the three months ending in September, Apple held its title as America’s top smartphone maker with a 28.3 percent share followed by HTC and RIM with 20.3 percent and 17.8 percent, respectively, according to Nielsen. Android phones as a whole dominated the market, however, garnering a 42.8 percent share.

If you would like to read the whole press release it can be found here.

What do you think, will Nokia and RIM be able to regain their market share?

If you are like me, then simply playing around with the software installed on your Apple gear just doesn’t seem to be enough any more, I enjoy opening up the device to see in innards, as well as exchange the default parts with better upgrades. One thing however that hinders many Apple fans from opening their Mac or iDevice are the screws that Apple uses, well now there is a new toolkit on the street that will help ease the process. iFixit’s has just released two new and improved toolkits.

The 54 Bit Driver Kit is perfect for the DIY enthusiast, and it won’t break your bank at only $25. Here’s some of the additions to the new kit:

• Pentalobe bits to open the iPhone 4, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro.
• T7 through T20 security bits to fit Torx security screws with a pin in the center.
• A full line of metric nut drivers.
• JIS bits to fit the screws found in digital cameras, R/C helicopters, and other high-end electronics.
• A custom adapter to allow our small precision bits to be used in standard 1/4” screwdrivers with larger handles, ratcheting handles, or torque drivers.
• A 60 mm extension that doubles as a T-handle, making it easy to get extra torque and remove stubborn screws.

The Pro Tech Base Toolkit is the larger option with every tool you need for your geeky arsenal. It comes with the 54 Bit Driver Kit included, which is a great deal for $60. Here are the new additions:

• 54 Bit Driver Kit
• Anti-static wrist strap
• 4 plastic opening tools
• 4 precision tweezers
• Spudger
• 4 metal spudgers
• Small suction cup
• iFixit ruler
• Custom-made tool roll

Whats great about the Toolkit is the fact that you can use it for so many different devices, not only Apple Products, I used the screwdrivers previously to open up my PS3, and DVD player.

You can order both kits on iFixit’s website just in time for Christmas!

 

Recently Apple announced their much awaited Rewind 2011, the Apple Rewind is among many developers considered to be the Oscars for the App Store.

In the Navigation category Localscope took the top position, according to their iTunes page, “Localscope is your social data powered GPS app. Always know where you are and what’s around you with Localscope!”

What is really interesting about Localscope is the fact that it lets you decide which services you search. You can use Localscope to “Search & discover places around you with information from multiple geo search engines & social networks: Google, Bing, Foursquare, Twitter, Wikimapia.”

Furthermore Localscope offers an augmented reality view which offers a third option for visualizing your search results beyond a simple list or flat, old-school map.

According to the guys behind Localscope however this is just the beginning, on their website they state “As we gear up to release what we believe to be our greatest creation ever in the upcoming weeks, we are even more excited to envision its impact on our users. Localscope 2.0 will change the way you see your world around you. It will let you look at your vicinity in ways that was never possible before. It is going to be awesome!”

Localscope is available now for $1 and requires an iPhone or iPod touch running iOS 4.0 or later.