Mitchel Broussard

Apple's iOS has dropped to its lowest share of the smartphone market in urban China since July 2014, according to new data collected and shared by Kantar Worldpanel. Today's report specifically details smartphone shares around the world for the three months ending in February 2017. In total, devices running iOS dropped 8.9 percentage points from the same year-ago quarter, receding from 22.1...

Originally offered as a cable channel by Time Warner, Boomerang has this week been spun off into a streaming bundle of its own, offering subscribers on iOS, Android, and desktop access to classic cartoons like Hanna-Barbera's Wacky Races and Yogi Bear, as well as shows featuring Looney Tunes characters like Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Road Runner (via Variety). Slightly more modern cartoons like T...

Early in March, Apple suppliers Foxconn and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company announced their intention to bid for a stake in Toshiba's memory chip unit, which the company has put up for sale in an effort to offset a nearly $6 billion loss related to its overseas nuclear division. TSMC eventually dropped out of the race, leaving Hon Hai (Foxconn) as the highest bidder at nearly 3...

Over the past few months, users on Reddit have been voicing excitement for a new app being developed and beta tested that would finally bring Spotify onto the Apple Watch. Called "Spotty," and then "Snowy" when Spotify cited copyright concerns with the first name, the new app faced troubles with Spotify's legal team who also referenced UI similarities to the company's first party iOS app....

Note-taking app Evernote today announced that users on the 2016 MacBook Pro will now be able to use Touch Bar commands to browse, edit, and customize their notes within the app. Notably, the company said that the addition of Touch Bar support will give users quick access to key navigation features and note editing commands found within Evernote. To announce the update, Evernote has given...

Fitbit is gearing up to launch a "proper" smartwatch as a competitor to the Apple Watch, which will include mobile payments features, a full app store, and more, in addition to Fitbit's usual health and fitness features. While that product is predicted to launch sometime this fall -- likely going head-to-head with Apple Watch Series 3 -- a new report from Yahoo Finance today has depicted a...

Instagram today announced the rollout of a new Direct messaging update that will unite permanent text messages with disappearing photos and videos into one easy-to-follow thread, instead of separating the two features like they were before today's update. When disappearing messages launched in Direct last year, they were given their own "Stories" bar atop the Direct tab. Users can still find...

Western Digital today announced the newest addition to its G-Technology brand "G-Drive," called the G-Drive USB-C. The company said that the new device was designed with power users and creative enthusiasts in mind, allowing them access to high-capacity storage and charging on the MacBook Pro through the USB-C port. The G-Drive USB-C is available in 4TB, 8TB, and 10TB capacities so users can...

Dialog Semiconductor shares plunged to their lowest price in over 16 years on Monday, after an industry analyst predicted Apple will drop the supplier and move to its own in-house power management chips for iPhones by 2019. The prediction comes from analyst Karsten Iltgen at German investment bank Bankhaus Lampe, who said that Apple will at the very least cut back to some degree on Dialog's ...

Developer Mojang today announced that Minecraft players on iOS, Android, and Windows 10 will soon be able to browse an all-new "Marketplace," where they'll find skins, mini-games, textures, and worlds designed by other players, creators, and community members. The company said this marks the first time players will be able to download and play community creations directly from within Minecraft...

Living Computers: Museum + Labs in Seattle, which is dedicated to showcasing the history of computing devices from around the world, is this Friday opening up a wing focused on all things Apple. Called the "Apple Computer Exhibit," visitors will be able to walk through the first two decades of Apple's products and advances in technology, ranging specifically from 1976 to 1999 (via GeekWire). Th ...

A new patent filed by Apple last year, and published recently by the United States Patent and Trademark Office, details a future iteration of the AirPods charging case that could simultaneously recharge the wireless headphones as well as an iPhone or Apple Watch. In the patent, Apple has visualized an AirPods case that, when placed flat on a surface, could turn into an Apple Watch charging pad...

Showtime today announced that users will now be able to download offline versions of the network's shows on smartphones and tablets, thanks to a new download button that will enable users to stock up on episodes to watch even when they're not connected to the internet (via Variety). Offline viewing will be available for both customers who subscribe to Showtime through a cable bundle and use Showti...

The Microsoft Surface has been ranked the highest in overall consumer satisfaction, and six points above Apple's iPad in second place, according to J.D. Power's 2017 U.S. Tablet Satisfaction Study. This marks the first top spot win for Microsoft in all six years that J.D. Power has published the Tablet Satisfaction Study, with the company earning a total 855 satisfaction score out of a potential...

A proposed settlement revealed in court documents this week could lead to a collection of eight companies -- Twitter, Instagram, Foursquare, Kik, Gowalla, Foodspotting, Yelp, and Path -- contributing a grand total of $5.3 million to a collection pot for consumers claiming the companies violated their privacy in the early years of the iOS ecosystem (via Fortune). The settlement is the bookend to a ...

Last week, Facebook launched its new camera-focused update that brought along "Facebook Stories" into the main iOS application. Like Snapchat and Instagram Stories before it, Facebook Stories let users post a picture or video onto their feed, which disappears 24 hours later. Facebook Stories at launch Unfortunately, adoption of Facebook Stories appears to have been fairly low and users have...

Thanks to AT&T's acquisition of Time Warner, customers on the network's Unlimited Plus data plan will now have the chance to watch HBO programming at no additional cost. Beginning tomorrow, April 6, customers on Unlimited Plus data plans who already subscribe to HBO through AT&T video services like DirecTV, DirecTV Now, or U-Verse TV, will no longer have to pay for the premium channel. For the ...

Apple's trouble with getting a wide array of its users, retail partners, and banks to adopt Apple Pay has been highlighted in a new article today by The Wall Street Journal, which also underlines a belief from Apple executives that the service's growth is adequate and that Apple Pay could soon become consumers' "primary payment system," in lieu of cash and credit cards. Data collected from...

Netflix has announced that users will today begin noticing its new thumbs-up and thumbs-down rating system as it appears across various apps and on desktop computers, following a reveal earlier in March that the streaming company was planning to ditch its 5-star rating system. In the previous system, users had to choose between 1 and 5 stars to determine how much they liked a show, and using...

Payment services company Western Union today announced that United States users can now pay with Apple Pay within its iOS app when sending out money transfers from the U.S. to domestic recipients, or to over 200 countries worldwide. The company said that Apple Pay will allow for easier-than-ever domestic bill payments within its iOS app, with users able to access their stored bank card...