Corning, provider of the Kentucky-made glass for the iPhone and iPad, has announced the third iteration of its Gorilla Glass panels. The glass both reduces scratches and increases overall strength significantly.

Gorilla Glass 3 has been improved at the molecular level, incorporating a proprietary feature called Native Damage Resistance (NDR). According to Corning, NDR reduces the propagation of flaws, the appearance of scratches and does a better job of maintaining the overall retained strength of the glass. As a result, GG3 claims a three-fold improvement in scratch resistance, 40 percent reduction in the number of visible scratches and 50 percent boost in retained strength after the glass becomes flawed.

Gorilla Glass was mentioned in the Steve Jobs biography with Jobs personally calling Corning Glass CEO Wendell Weeks, before the first iPhone launched, to request the company begin to scale production of Gorilla Glass for the device.

Gorilla Glass 2 was announced at CES last year. It seems likely that Apple will adopt the improved glass for future iOS devices.

Corning will also announce new optical Thunderbolt cables, available in lengths up to 30 meters. Earlier this week, Japanese firm Sumitomo Electric Industries announced its own optical Thunderbolt cables.

As noted by The Guardian earlier this week, the netbook industry will be winding down in the first quarter of 2013, as major players Asus and Acer will be shutting down production of the tiny notebooks.

Actually, the number sold in 2013 will be very much closer to zero than to 139m. The Taiwanese tech site Digitimes points out that Asus, which kicked off the modern netbook category with its Eee PC in 2007, has announced that it won't make its Eee PC product after today, and that Acer doesn't plan to make any more; which means that "the netbook market will officially end after the two vendors finish digesting their remaining inventories."

Asustek and Acer were the only two companies still making netbooks, with everyone else who had made them (including Samsung, HP and Dell) having shifted to tablets.

The report points to four factors that likely contributed to the demise of the netbook: the overall PC market including the rise of more powerful ultrabooks, the global economy, poor profit margins on netbooks, and the iPad leading a charge of tablets to the market.

Going a bit further, Slate argues that Apple is the primary culprit in the demise of the netbook, with the MacBook Air and iPad squeezing netbooks from both sides and leading to a transformation in personal computing.

Apple alone stood against the tide of netbooks. Apple’s brilliant insight was that despite netbooks’ popularity, nobody really wanted a netbook per se. Instead, Apple realized that people who were buying netbooks were looking for one of two things—they wanted full-fledged laptops that were very portable, or they wanted cheap machines that allowed them to easily surf the Web, use email and do other light computing tasks. Rather than building a single netbook that fit both these audiences poorly, Apple built two machines that were, each in its own way, much better than any netbook ever sold.

Slate's Farhad Manjoo goes on to note that Apple simply couldn't compete in the netbook market given the pricing model, and it had no interest in building an inferior product in an attempt to do so. Steve Jobs himself said at the iPad's introduction in 2010 that netbooks were simply a non-starter for Apple.

If there's going to be a third category of device it is going to have to be better at doing these types of tasks than a laptop or a smartphone; otherwise it has no reason for being. Now, some people have thought 'that's a netbook!' The problem is that netbooks aren't better at anything. They're slow, they have low-quality displays, and they run clunky old PC software. So they're not better than a laptop at anything, they're just cheaper. They are just cheap laptops. And we don't think that they're a third category of device.

With the MacBook Air and iPad emerging as Apple's alternatives the entire computer industry was spurred to follow its lead, ultimately squeezing netbooks out of existence.

Facebook will update its Facebook Messenger app later today, adding two significant new voice-related abilities, reports The Next Web. The first will allow Facebook users to record a voice message to send to friends in addition to the standard text and photo messages.

The second is potentially more significant -- though is currently in limited beta testing for Canadian iOS users only. Facebook users will now have the option to make a VoIP phone call from one user to another.

Facebook has also said it will also begin the beta testing of a new VoIP calling feature within its iOS Messenger app, allowing users to establish a peer-to-peer connection and make calls without making a dent in their call allowance (although it will use existing data plans).

The only drawback is that voice calls (messages are available to all) will be available to Canadian users of the iOS Messenger app at launch.

To use the service, Canadian users will be able to log into their Messenger app, open a conversation with the person they want to call, hit the ‘i’ button in the top-right corner and selecting ‘Free Call.’ To send and receive calls, users will need to have the latest version of the app that is available today.

Facebook's efforts create a calling system that can potentially reach its more than 1 billion users, providing a massive competition to other VoIP services like Skype.

Facebook Messenger for the iPhone is a free download from the App Store. [Direct Link]

A previous version of this article said it was the Facebook iOS app that was updated. It is the standalone Facebook Messenger app that gained the new voice features.

Hundreds, from the makers of Canabalt and Solipskier, is a minimalistic puzzle title that’s making waves with its simplistic design and clever gameplay.

Previously a Flash game, Hundreds has been ported to iOS with great success, incorporating intuitive multi-touch controls.

The idea is to tap a series of circles on the screen. With each tap, the number on the circle increases, until it reaches 100. As they grow, circles turn red, and if they collide, the game will end. Each level incorporates new challenges and gameplay elements. From the App Store description:

Simple in concept, deep in design, Hundreds is a puzzle game that requires quick fingers and deep thinking.

The goal of Hundreds: Grow at least 100 points between the circles in each puzzle. Circles turn red and volatile while being grown and if they collide, it's game over. It's that easy.

So far, Hundreds has received rave reviews from our sister site Touch Arcade and Kotaku, which has already named it 2013's potential Game of the Year.

Hundreds can be downloaded from the App Store for $2.99. [Direct Link]

According to a rumor from The China Times [Google translation], Apple is planning to adopt new touch panels with "Touch on Display" technology for the next iteration of the iPhone. The panels, which have been developed by Apple supplier Innolux, are said to be in testing at the moment.

Apple's iPhone 5 incorporated a display that uses in-cell technology, and it has been reported that problems with the recognition of rapid diagonal swiping on the screen are due to the display. That may be one reason Apple is looking at new touch panel technology.

The China Times concurs, pointing to the slow response speed of the iPhone 5's touch panels along with interference issues as the deciding factor behind the switch.

There isn't much information available about the Touch On Display panels, but they are said to be thin and tough, with a thickness of 0.5mm and improved optical performance and sensitivity.

The new display would presumably be used in Apple's iPhone 5S, which could be entering production as early as the first quarter of 2013.

Rumors about the next-generation iPhone are already surfacing, with a report earlier this week claiming that the iPhone may launch in mid–2013 in several different colors and sizes, and a leaked photo in December of what might be the rear shell of the next phone.

Yesterday, TechCrunch reported that Apple was interested in purchasing Waze, the social turn-by-turn navigation company. According to the report, Apple was offering approximately $400 million plus an additional $100 million in incentives, but Waze was holding out for closer to $750 million.

TechCrunch's MG Siegler now reports that there is no deal in sight.

And while Mike Butcher also claimed multiple sources in his original post, you’ll note that he was quick to qualify the information as a “rumor” (or in British parlance — Mike is English — a “rumour”). Because that’s exactly what it was. This isn’t a rumor (of a non-deal). There is no deal is happening. At least not now or anytime soon.

Siegler goes to note that Apple and Waze have in fact probably had low-level conversations about a closer partnership given that the two companies are already working together on Apple's mapping products, but he says that the talks are so far nothing more than the typical interactions seen between partner companies on a daily basis.

comScore today released the results of its monthly rolling survey of U.S. mobile phone users for the September-November period, finding that 18.5% of U.S. mobile phone subscribers are now using an iPhone, up 1.4 percentage points from the June-August period. Samsung continues to lead the market at 26.9% on 1.2 percentage point growth, while the remainder of the top five vendors all lost share.


Apple overtook LG for the second spot in last month's survey, and solidified its lead in the latest data on continued growth paired with a small decline by LG.

In looking only at smartphones, which now account for 53% of the U.S. mobile market, Android has continued to expand its lead and now holds 53.7% of the market. The iPhone 5 launch has, however, allowed Apple to continue its growth and the company now holds 35% of the smartphone market as the fall of RIM and Microsoft have increasingly turned the smartphone market into a two-horse race.


Notably, comScore's data tracks installed user base rather than new handset sales, making it more reflective of real-world usage but slower to respond to shifting market trends than some other studies.

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Just because you’re blind and can’t see what you’re taking pictures of does not mean you can’t use Instagram. Thanks to the Accessibility features in iOS, Tommy Edison is able to use an iPhone and take pictures through Instagram to give his followers a view of his world, even though he can’t see.

The process is mind blowing and seems incredibly tedious, but it’s awesome that even blind people can connect with people through Instagram. And you know what, Tommy’s photos aren’t all that bad compared to some of my friends’.

Source: Tommy Edison

Via: Kottke

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In late December, it was reported that Apple was one of three companies, with Google and Microsoft being the others, in talks to acquire home automation firm R2 Studios. The Wall Street Journal is now reporting that Microsoft has acquired the firm to beef up its Xbox unit.

The company, id8 Group R2 Studios Inc., was created by entrepreneur Blake Krikorian in May 2011. Mr. Krikorian will be joining the Redmond, Wash., software giant with a small team. As part of the deal, Microsoft also acquired some patents owned by the startup related to controlling electronic devices.

The price of the deal couldn't be learned.

R2 has reportedly been working to expand its existing business focused on Android software to control Crestron home automation systems to develop technology for distributing digital media to television sets.

The report notes that Microsoft has been working hard to transform its Xbox platform into a digital media hub, striking deals with HBO, Netflix, YouTube, Comcast, and Time Warner for on-demand and Web video.

Apple is of course also rumored to be interested in the television market beyond its existing Apple TV set-top box. Apple has reportedly been working on both new set-top boxes and Internet-connected television sets as part of an effort to remake the television viewing experience, but progress has been slow due to complicated negotiations with content providers.

So you’re starting a new venture in 2013. Need a new logo for it? What about getting that web design dealt with so you can launch your first website? Perhaps it’s time to finally consider styling up your business cards?

Whatever your design needs may be, why limit yourself to one designer when you can tap into the talent of hundreds of talented artists? That’s what 99designs offers – and Cult of Mac Deals has an offer that lets you get $50 of high quality design services for only $25!

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We’re not the only ones singing the praises of 99designs, either. Check out what some other high-profile sites have had to say:

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“More than 90% of 99designs’ customers come through word of mouth. Imagine if the company actually invested in sales and marketing.” – TechCrunch

“This huge market makes it simple and cheap for business owners and individuals to get custom sites and logos quickly and on the cheap.” – Forbes

Here’s how 99designs works:

1. Post Your Design Project. Create your detailed project brief and kick-off your own design contest. You set the guidelines…scope, price, timing and all other aspects of the design project. Once completed, designers browsing for projects will find your brief and if they decided to submit an entry, it will be presented to you as they are completed. Depending on the scope of the project, you may receive several – or even dozens – of entries.
2. Give Feedback and Collaborate. As the designs come in, you can provide continual feedback on the submissions. On the right track but not exactly the right color? Shift the logo to the left? No problem, you can provide as much feedback as you wish in order to help the designers deliver exactly what you had in mind.
3. Choose Your Favorite and Reward Your Designer. Feedback may be submitted to the designers up until you find a satisfactory design. Once selected, you will pay the designer the predetermined amount and receive the copyright to the original design. Once that’s done, you’re done!

And if you can’t decide on just one design, then you can declare multiple winners, and pay them each the pre-determined price accordingly.

This kind of service is a great way to get the top-notch designs you need to start off your new venture with style. Cult of Mac Deals has timed this offer perfectly to coincide with the start of the year, so take advantage of it while it lasts. Get $50 of 99designs credit for just $25 by heading over to our Deals page today!

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