Apple’s ongoing quest to conquer TV; a new survey reveals our increasing dependency on phones.
Apple’s new front in battle for TV [THE WALL STREET JOURNAL]
Apple is in talks with some of the biggest U.S. cable operators about letting consumers use an Apple device as a set-top box for live television and other content, according to people familiar with the matter. The talks represent Apple’s most ambitious crack at infiltrating the living room after years of trying. Apple doesn’t appear to have reached a deal with any cable operators. One obstacle may be the reluctance of operators to let Apple establish a foothold in the television business.
* According to a new poll from TIME, people are more attached to their phone than ever. In this week’s “Wireless Issue. 10 Ways Your Phone is Changing the World,” the magazine explores how mobile phones have become a super-extension of ourselves, altering in fundamental ways how we approach everything from education to politics, from medicine to romance. Here’s what they found:
– 84% worldwide said they couldn’t go a single day without their mobile devices in hand- If forced to choose between the two, 65% worldwide opted to take their wireless mobile device with them in the morning instead of their lunch; 44% would leave their wallets at home in favor of their device– 61% worldwide plan to replace their phone in less than two years– 50% of Americans say they sleep with their mobile next to the bed—as do more than 80% of 18-24 year olds– 32% of all respondents say that if it was their choice they would prefer to communicate by text message– 30% said that being without their mobile for even short periods leaves them feeling anxious– 23% of all respondents say they screen almost all their calls and tend to reply to many voicemails via text or email [TIME]
“Although we don’t like Microsoft providing hardware, for us, it just adds one more competitor,” Lenovo CEO Yang Yuanqing said during the conference call in response to analyst’s question.
“[They’re] just one of our many competitors. We are still confident that we are providing much better hardware than our competitors including Microsoft,” he said.
Instagram 3.0 bets on location with PHoto Map, adds infinite scrolling [THE VERGE]
Instagram 3.0, launching today on Android and iPhone, plots all your photos on a map of the world, creating an entirely new way to browse someone’s photos on the service. “One of the biggest problems in social media is that you often post things that are very ephemeral,” Instagram Founder and CEO Kevin Systrom told The Verge. “Things live for a couple hours and then they float off into the ether.”
Klout revamps, delivers reality check [THE WALL STREET JOURNAL]
The San Francisco-based startup is updating its algorithm to account for 300 new inputs, including some designed to recognize a person’s offline importance. Those include the ratio of inbound to outbound links on a person’s Wikipedia page and the title they list for themselves on LinkedIn. Most other variables remain online-focused, like how often a person’s tweets are replied to or how many times his or her content is “Liked” on Facebook.