Developer Sells Complete Ownership to App on Ebay

That’s right, now is your chance to make hundreds of dollars off of an iPhone app, and you don’t even have to do anything!

Mobile app developer Neal Schmidt, maker of the scavenger hunt game Buckshot, is selling his iPhone app on eBay where it had a starting price of just $1.00 (On December 29th).  According to the listing, the purchase is for “complete ownership” of the game including both the free and paid versions.

The bidding started slow but as of  right now (January 3rd), there has been 69 bids and the selling price is at $4,650!

According to the seller “nSchmidt7,” the multi-player photo scavenger hunt game now has attracted 20,000 registered players since its May 2011 launch. It generates $300/month in revenue from sales and iAds in the free version. In addition, the Amazon cloud server the app runs on is a little more than $2/day.

The bid war ends on January 5th so get your bids in!

See bidding in action!

Next-Gen iPod is A Bracelet??

Apple may be secretly developing wearable iPods that offer full support for voice commands using the company’s Siri software.  The New York Times released more info on the suspected project earlier today.

The iPod seems like it will be replacing the iPod Nano and Shuffle.  Reports say that it is a curved glass iPod which will wrap around the wrist.

We’re even imagining deeper Siri integration where a user might be able to ask their iPod how far they have run or what their current heart rate is.

2011 Christmas Wishlist

Having trouble thinking of what to buy for Christmas?  Look no further as this is the top 10 most desired Christmas gifts for 2011!

Follow me on Twitter in order to receive updates on some more popular Christmas electronics!

1. Apple’s iPod Touch

The iPod touch is a great device for storing music, video, podcasts with multi-touch screen technology. It is the number one handheld gaming device and is a great Christmas gift for 2011 for both kids, teens and adults.

The new generation of the device allows you to take pictures, record HD quality video, and even offers video calling.

2. Apple’s iPad Tablet

The Apple iPad Tablet is probably one of the coolest gifts you can buy this Christmas season. It is an exciting to use new piece of technology. There are so many apps available for the Apple iPad such as fun games and interesting ways to access information on the internet.

3. Xbox 360 Kinect Console

This long awaited addition to the Xbox 360 system is one of the most asked for gift this holiday season. The Kinect console for Xbox 360 enables voice activation for your Xbox 360 system. You can tell the Xbox to play or pause and the Kinect allows it to recognize voice commands. The Kinect also offers remote free operation of Xbox 360 video games.

4. Playstation Move

The Playstation Move is the newest component for the Playstation 3. It enables game players to really get into their game play by bringing motion gaming to PS3 console owners.

5. Amazon Kindle

The Kindle is an electronic reading device for downloading, storing, and reading electronic books, which are also known as e-books.  The Kindle Fire is the newest model for 2011. It offers WiFi, web browsing and thousands of Apps and games.  Any avid reader would love one of these for a Christmas gift.

6. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is a long awaited new video game. The Call of Duty series of video games have been wildly popular and this one is no exception.  Just about any teen would love to get this as one of their gifts.

7. Samsung LN40C630 40-Inch LCD HDTV

What better gift to give than a tv?  This is a top seller in the tv “section”.  The screen is 40 inches and has full 1080p  HD resolution.  It also includes the ability to connect a thumb drive or digital camera with ease.  If you are considering a TV as a Christmas gift this year this one is the one to buy.

8. Canon Powershot 12.1 MP Digital Camera

A digital camera is always a great gift to give during the holiday season.  This digital camera by Canon is the world’s thinnest digital camera with a 24mm ultra wide-angle lens and 5x optical zoom along with optical image stabilizer. The Canon Powershot offers high speed shooting for a point and shoot camera. It has improved lighting in low light conditions and has 32 predefined shooting situations.

 9. Garmin 5-Inch Portable GPS

This Garmin portable GPS is sunlight-readable and offers a 5-inch backlit TFT color touchscreen display. It is preloaded with City Navigator NT data for the lower 48 states, Hawaii and Puerto Rico, with nearly six million points of interest. It has free lifetime map and traffic updates for the most up-to-date maps, POIs, and navigation info, along with constantly updated traffic information.

10. ASUS UL30A-X5 Thin and Light Black Laptop

Many people are asking for laptops this year whether it be for school or just for the portability.  The Asus thin laptop is one of Amazon’s best selling laptops.  It offers a high-gloss 13.3 inch HD display with 1366 x 768 resolution. The 8 cell battery has 12 hours of battery life. The laptop comes loaded with Windows 7 and has a 1.3 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo SU7300 processor.

Portable Android Platform

Just when you thought that Android couldn’t get any better, a new company called WIMM came along.  As of earlier today, WIMM has announced the making of a small, wearable, computing platform that is built based on Android.

The product is called the WIMM One and it will be released in the third quarter of this year.  The platform has a 1.4 inch touch screen display and has Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi.  Besides this, it also includes an accelerometer, and magnetometer is order to track your motion (i.e. on a bike or while you’re running).  The WIMM One is designed to be fit into wristwatches, keychains, or even a clip for your bicycle.

The WIMM One will comes loaded with a variety of “micro apps” as the company calls them.  Unfortunatly, even thought the WIMM One can connect to Wi-Fi, the only way to manage the device and add more “micro apps” is to connect it through your computer.

This seems to be the start of a new type of technology integrated into wristwatches and keychains and it is something that we should keep an eye out for in the near future.

 

 

Apple’s Next Surprise

According to a article by Digitimes, Apple has been making numerous deals with different Taiwan-based component factories in hopes of making their next “surprise”, the iPad 3, a cheaper more available product.

Some of these companies include Richtek Technology, Capella Microsystems, and Novatek Microelectronics.

The new iPad will have an improved display along with full 1080p HD support.  Rumors say that it will arrive with the iPhone 5 in September but a recent report from China Times states that the launch will be delayed until November.

Samsung vs. Apple

So a teaser video on YouTube has been put up showing off the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2′s specs and features and comparing it to the iPad 2, there seems to be strong competition.

The Galaxy Tab 2 will still have a 7 inch display but this time, the resolution will be 2048×1200.  The device is also said to support a 3D display and it will be run on NVIDIA Tegra 2 dual-core processor.

The tablet will come installed with Android 2.3 but the user will have the option to upgrade it to Android 2.3, also known as Honeycomb.  Besides this, it will have 1GB of RAM along with a whopping 64GB of internal storage. As a big upgrade from the first Galaxy Tab, the new tablet will have a 8MP rear camera as well as a 3MP front facing camera (the first tablet had a 1.3 MP front facing camera).  Huge advantage over the iPad 2 here as it has been said that the iPad 2 will have only a 1MP rear camera and a 0.3MP front facing camera (didn’t know anything went that low).

Overall, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 looks to be a huge competitor towards not only the iPad 2 but also other tablets coming out soon such as RIM’s PlayBook.

Tablet-mania continues

As stated in my latest blog, I mentioned that this will be the year of the tablet PC and so far, it’s been right.  The Consumer Electronics Show, CES, has shown over 80 tablet devices that are all unique in a certain way.

Earlier today, Asus announced their running in the tablet competition by announcing four different tablets that they will be creating.  These being the Eee Pad Slider, Eee Pad Transformer, Eee Pad MeMo, and the Eee Slate EP121.  Not many details of the tablets were announced but a brief overview was given.

 

First off, the Eee Pad Slider. The Transformer can also be described with the Slider as they are very similar in structure. Both tablets will have a super thin 10.1 inch touch screen display and also a slide out keyboard (shown to the left). When the keyboard is slid out, the screen will be propped up on an angle making it a lot easy to use and see things on the screen. One difference between these two is that the Transformer will be able to detach from the slide out keyboard so you can carry it around as you would with a iPad or Galaxy Tab.  Both of these devices will run on Android’s latest operating system, Honeycomb, which was specifically designed for the use of tablet PCs. The Slider will cost anywhere from $499 to $799 and units will be available sometime in May.  The Transformer will be $399 to $699 and will be released a month earlier, April.

Next up is the Eee Pad MeMo.  This tablet is a little bit smaller than the Slider and Transformer  going at a 7 inch touch screen display.  Unfortunatly there is no slide out keyboard, you use it just as you would with an iPad.  You have the option of either using your fingers or a stylus which comes with it. The MeMo will run on a Snapdragon processor and will have the ability to playback video in 1080p.  The device will nott be available until June and will cost anywhere from $499 to $699 which leaves me wondering why is costs so much if it is smaller and has no keyboard when comparing to the Slider and Transformer.

Finally, we have the Eee Slate EP121.  In my mind, this is what a tablet PC should be like (except should have a keyboard).  This is the largest out of all the devices released from Asus.  The Eee Slate has a 12.1 touch screen display and a powerful Intel Core i5 processor.  This alone seperates it from other tablets out right now.  On top of this, it will also be running Windows 7.  This is what I believe tablet PC’s should look like. Not taking down Android but I think a actual PC operating system should be used on tablets, just my thoughts (comment below telling me what you think). Anyways, this device will cost somewhere between $999 and $1099.  Not stated when it was coming out but we can only hope soon.

 

Samsung’s iPod Competition

It has been announced that Samsung will be revealing their own mp3 player based on their Galaxy S phones in order to compete with Apple’s iPod touch at CES next week. The mp3 player looks very similar to the Galaxy S phone but of course will not actually have the phone capabilities. However, it will be running on Android 2.2.

Not much is known about the device yet but reports say that it will be 9.9mm wide with a 4 inch LCD touch screen display.  Besides running on Android 2.2, the device will have a 1GHz processor, 3.2 megapixel camera with HD video playback.  It of course will have         Wi-Fi, bluetooth, and GPS capabilities and an expandable MicroSD card slot.  And like all Android devices, you will be able to purchase and download apps from the market.

So not much is know yet, but from what is, it looks to be a great competitor to the iPod Touch and the Zune HD.  In my mind, it looks like Samsung is catching on to Apple’s selling techniques with a competitor to the iPhone, iPad, and now iPod.  What are your thoughts? Leave a comment below.

Free smartphone giveaway!!!

Quick update that your local BestBuy stores are giving away a free smartphone every day this month (December) with a new two year contract or a new activation.

This deal will also be available on BestBuy’s website and also Amazon has been doing this for a while.

So hurry up and get the smartphone you’ve been looking for for little to no money!!!

Apple iPad coming to Verizon users?!

Earlier today, Apple announced that one of their latest products, the iPad, will be available to Verizon Wireless users on October 28th. The iPad and its bundle will cost $630 for a 16GB model, $730 for a 32GB model and $830 for a 64GB model.  Besides this, Verizon will also offer a $20 monthly data plan for up to 1GB of data.

Although this is great, Verizon will unfortunatly not be selling 3G versions of the iPad.  To replace this, they will be selling the regular Wi-Fi iPad with their own mobile hot spots which will allow users to connect to the internet anywhere where the 3G network can be used.

Many people believe that this is a start to something great.  With Apple making a “bond” with Verizon Wireless we could start seeing Verizon selling more Apple products such as the iPhone as early as early next year.

What are your thoughts on the Apple-Verizon bond?