The Online Magazine Focused on App Design, Branding & Marketing

We’ve been hearing about the possibility of an iWatch since the Golden Age of Steve Jobs, but there’s never been any hard evidence that such a thing was actually being seriously considered. In many ways, it feels like the natural evolution of mobile technology (your apps will always be readily available on your wrist!), but at the same time, it seems really, really dumb (I imagine people talking into the watches like a junior spy in a ’70s children’s cartoon and I giggle a little). But now, for better or for worse, we now have our first piece of hard evidence that the Apple folks are working on iWatch: they’ve filed a patent for a “Bi-stable spring with flexible display.”

In English: a slap bracelet with a touch screen.

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Is there room in the already crowded smartphone market for another operating system? With Apple and Android grappling for dominance while Microsoft and BlackBerry duel for third place, you’d think that another company would have a hard time getting a foothold, let alone becoming an actual competitor.

So, on the outside, it looks like Mozilla is heading toward certain destruction with their recently announced mobile operating system. But once you read their pitch, you can see where they’re coming from…and you’ll see why they may very well succeed.

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Earlier this week, I ran across this article suggesting a long list of overpriced “survival bag” items to pack for SXSW. I live in Austin, so the only things I’ll be packing are my iPhone pre-loaded with handy apps and a small purse with a charger cable and wet-naps. Regardless of what you’re packing in your survival bag, you should have a few apps to help you survive and stay organized. Read more about my must have SXSW Survival Guide Apps to survive SXSW this year!

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The Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 (which was recently revealed at this year’s Mobile World Congress) isn’t just a large smartphone, it’s the world’s largest smartphone. It’s stupidly large smartphone. It’s enormous. It doesn’t even resemble a phone anymore. It dwarfs the iPhone 5′s 4.7 inch screen. It’s so ridiculous that it stops being dumb and circles back around to being kind of amazing. The only thing more shocking than seeing the Galaxy Note 8.0 in promotional photographs is imagining someone actually carrying it around in their pocket and taking it out every time they want to make a phone call. Aren’t phones supposed to fit easily in your hand?

Which brings me to the question asked in the headline of this article. If you see a large cat that barks and fetches, you’d call it a dog, so when we see a “smartphone” this absurdly large, why don’t we just go ahead and call it a tablet?

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There’s been something of a renaissance of pinball games via digital platforms lately, and a lot of it is thanks to Zen Studios. Creators of the super popular Zen Pinball series, they’ve taken the classic game and updated it with all sorts of digital tricks that real pinball games couldn’t get away with, and snagged some pretty big licenses too. Pinball adaptations for video game properties like Street Fighter, Ninja Gaidan, and Plants Vs Zombies all led to their most lucrative license with Marvel Pinball. They wasted no time in putting out table after table for that one, covering events like Civil War and World War Hulk as well as standalone tables for everyone from Spider-man to Blade. As you played the game Marvel heroes and villains duked it out right on the table when certain conditions were met, something that seems to carry over to Star Wars pinball. More after the JUMP…

It’s hard to believe that YouTube is less than a decade old. Seriously. Outside of Facebook, has there been a website or web service that has changed the landscape of our culture more? What began as a place where you could upload videos has transformed into the internet’s library, the place you go when you want to see, well, anything. It’s the place to go to educate yourself. It’s the place to go to entertain yourself. It’s the place to go to watch episodes of that obscure TV series you used to watch as a kid but thought had vanished off the face of the planet.

And will it soon be a place where you can watch pay per view movies and listen to pay per view music streaming channels?

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There’s only one thing worse than buyer’s guilt after you plunk down a couple hundred bucks on your brand new smartphone and that’s the sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach after it mysteriously vanishes. That horrible numbness is soon replaced by anger when you realize that your warranty doesn’t cover a stolen device and that the police have no way of tracking down the thief and your missing property. And that’s a huge problem. Smartphones and tablets are becoming increasingly vital to our day to day existences, but their personal value is matched by their monetary value and they’ve become some of the most solen objects in the world.

But there are ways to protect your property…and it looks like the authorities are stepping up, too.

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We know that the Samsung Galaxy S4 is going to be announced on March 14th (because it’s pretty much the worst kept secret in the history of poorly kept secrets) and we also know many of the features that will be included, thanks to frequent updates by Samsung as well as plenty of loose lips (which already sink ships, but do so far more effectively when the ship is already leaky). Still, sinking ship metaphors only apply to rumor control surrounding Samsung’s highly anticipated new smartphone — the Samsung brand is stronger than ever and if everything that we have learned is even half true, then the S4 will be a device to be reckoned with (and will hopefully force Apple to do something nuts and/or incredible with the iPhone 5S).

The latest Galaxy S4 feature to be announced is a familiar one to any smartphone user who likes to play with photography apps, but that doesn’t meant it isn’t any less cool. The Samsung Orb isn’t just another panorama app: it’s positioning itself as the panorama camera feature to end all other panorama camera features.

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The last time we talked about the sticky issue of smartphone jailbreaking, the Rocksauce Studios team was split on the issue. Q Manning thought that the recently passed law that makes unlocking your mobile device illegal was a terrible idea, saying “This is absolutely, ridiculously stupid. What I do with the device that I own, that belongs me, shouldn’t matter. If I want to unlock it, jailbreak it or do anything else to it, I should be able to.” Meanwhile, Peter Yoder fell on the other side, countering with “The laws that protect these big companies are the same laws that allow companies like Rocksauce Studios to operate and stay in business.”

But the internet has spoken and you can guess which side of the fence they ended up on. With over 100,000 signatures, the petition to legalize smartphone jailbreaking now requires a response from the White House.

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There is no way the new generation of video game consoles don’t take a note or two (or three or four) from mobile devices and the world of apps. Earlier this week, I rambled about some worst case scenarios since I immediately assumed Sony and Microsoft would learn all of the wrong lessons. After all, the Nintendo Wii U is a perfect example of an out of touch gaming company assuming that people find iPad games compelling just because they have a touchscreen.

Anyway, the official announcement of the PlayStation 4 wasn’t lacking in cringeworthy moments — Another Killzone game? Really, guys? — but I found myself impressed by how subtle the mobile influence was. The PlayStation 4 isn’t being shy about what its makers have learned from the mobile world, but at least the integration seems to be subtle and smart.

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