It’s hard to resist toying around with an iPhone case with a conceit as brotastic as the Headcase Bottle Opener Phone Case for iPhone 4/iPhone 4S ($19.99). Headcase has been making bottle opener cases for various phones for some time, but there’s something about handling the protruding stainless steel mouth of the opener to really drive home the wackiness of a product that is, by turns, useful and completely cumbersome.

See, the Headcase shell is quite nice on its own: hard and durable, with a smooth finish that easily withstands my nail scratches. my review unit was custom-decorated with the University of Miami logo, but you can choose another alma mater, a different design (like the American flag), or a solid color. Peering closely, I detected some rubbing away on one or two of the case’s edges and corners. The two pieces of the housing snap together so securely, it took two people to pry it off.

Then there’s the bottle opener mount, which starts just below the camera lens, sticks out almost half an inch, and contains two fins that stick straight up to the top of the case and are intended to open aluminum cans.

The effect is a bulky and ungainly case, but I realize I may not be Headcase’s target demographic. So I handed the case around to several colleagues, including some men who dropped it into their front jeans pockets in various configurations and declared it so unobstructive, they didn’t even notice it.

I toted it with me to work, on errands, on the bus, in my purse, and to an appointment. my hands adjusted to the hump of the opener, even using it as a ledge to balance against my finger while operating the phone, yet my fingers kept finding and worrying the sharper twin fins.

Headcase Bottle Opener Phone Case for iPhone 4/iPhone 4S Review – Carrying Cases – CNET Reviews

A team of analysts at Goldman Sachs took a deeper look at the subsidy issue and said they do not expect U.S. carriers “to make any material changes to retail prices for leading smartphones,” since the market has four major carriers all pushing hard to expand their smartphone businesses.

“From Apple’s perspective, we view the conclusions of the report as positive, and we continue to believe that reductions in smartphone subsidies are unlikely to significantly impact the Apple model or the longer-term value of the platform,” wrote analyst bill Shope, who covers Apple for Goldman.

Carriers are enacting other policies that may slow unit growth of smartphones, such as higher upgrade fees and stretching out the window in which consumers need to remain with their older devices.

But Shope said the iPhone may face the least risk among the smartphones in the market, since, “with a fixed upgrade fee, customers are more likely to capitalize on subsidies to purchase higher-end devices.”

In another report, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster maintained his iPhone shipment target, despite the risk of the 28-nanometer chip shortage. He said there is an 80% chance the company can meet his target of shipping nearly 50 million iPhone units in the December quarter, when he expects the company to launch the iPhone 5.

“We expect Apple is likely to get favorable treatment in terms of access to 28nm inventory,” he wrote, adding that even if the launch was constrained by supply, consumers would be likely to simply wait for available units instead of switching to a rival product.

“We believe the iPhone 5 will represent the biggest consumer-electronics product launch of 2012 as well as the biggest device-upgrade cycle in smartphone history,” Munster wrote.

Matt Hoffman at Cowen & co. offered a similar view, though he said he expects the iPhone 5 to launch in the September quarter, citing data from his meetings at the recent CTIA wireless convention. He believes the new iPhone will feature a larger screen, he said.

A larger iPhone 5 screen is widely accepted by our industry contacts as a move Apple must make to keep current with evolving consumer tastes, Hoffman wrote.

Apple jumps on bullish iPhone reports

I’m one of the millions of smartphone owners addicted to Instagram, the free camera app that makes tweaking and sharing photos miraculously easy. while it’s wildly popular and the target of Facebook’s $1 billion takeover deal, Instagram isn’t the only camera app worth having.

I’ve been hooked on taking photos on my iPhone and sharing them using Instagram since I bought my first iPhone last fall.

With Instagram, I can make my photos look better by using one of the app’s 17 pre-set filters to adjust lighting, color and other things. I can then share my enhanced photos on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram’s own social network.

But Instagram has a limited range of filters and camera effects, and it isn’t always easy to edit pictures with it.

I’ve had a chance to test a wide range of Instagram alternatives during choice picture-taking opportunities over the past few months, including my sister’s wedding in Hawaii in December and a trip to Lebanon this month. I also had my phone for shots along the streets of new York, where I live.

Of the dozen or so I tested, here are four I find myself using over and over again:

— Photosynth by Microsoft Corp. Free. For iOS only (Apple’s iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch).

My favorite among the ones I tried, Photosynth lets you take 360-degree panoramic photos that become interactive on a smartphone or computer screen.

The app guides you as you stand in one place and capture photos in all directions. then it stitches those images together to create a sphere-like panorama that viewers can scroll around in and zoom in and out.

You can share the panorama on Facebook, Twitter or Photosynth.net.

It takes a bit of practice, and it’s not an app I would use every day. but I found that in the right setting — such as Roman ruins by the sea in Byblos, near Beirut, or my sister’s beach wedding — the results can be breathtaking.

It’s a great way to capture a panoramic landscape such as mountain views, beaches or bridges. Plenty of examples — and inspiration — can be found on Photosynth.net.

— TiltShift Generator by Arts & Mobile. Free for basic features, 99 cents for higher resolution and album upload. For iOS only.

Tilt shift is a camera effect that blurs the edges of a picture, creating an optical illusion that makes everything in the photo look miniature.

Instagram has that feature (it’s the droplet icon when you are taking or editing a picture). I prefer TiltShift Generator because it gives you more control.

You can control where and how much blurring to produce. You can also determine how much darkening around the corners you want to produce a vignette effect. You can also adjust the saturation, brightness and contrast.

Pictures turn out gorgeous. Some of my favorite iPhone pictures during my trip to Lebanon were taken with this app. the effect makes houses high on a mountaintop and a courtyard fountain stand out in my images.

— Hipstamatic by Synthetic LLC. $1.99 for basic features, with 99-cent add-ons to give you more imaging options. For iOS only.

I had a hard time figuring Hipstamatic out, but it’s worth making the effort.

Unlike most filtering apps, you don’t adjust a photo after you’ve taken it. instead, you choose different virtual lenses, flashes and film beforehand, and you can’t change the setting after you take the shot.

Review: 4 Camera App Alternatives to Instagram

Sprint (NYSE: S) announced a new Wholesale Cloud Services program aimed at VARs to help small businesses get the cloud services they need without all the overhead.

The service, offered by Sprint Wholesale and Emerging Solutions, is ideal for VARs that target small to medium-size businesses (SMBs), regardless of whether they’re a Sprint Wholesale partner, by helping them complete their cloud offerings with a multivendor software selection, as well as web-based service management portal (so popular these days).

The portfolio offers VARs Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and Communications-as-a-Service (CaaS) solutions, plus Sprint is providing one-on-one support to smooth deployment of applications to a VAR’s small-business customers. Ben Vos, Sprint’s vice president of Wholesale Business Operations, said the program is all about reducing the number of contracts VARs are required to manage.

“Wholesale becomes the single provider, eliminating the need for VARs to work out complex contracts with multiple vendors,” he said. “Bundling with Sprint Core telco services they are already reselling gives a comprehensive portfolio to better sell to reseller’s customer base.”

The company announced it would be sharing more information on the of program during the COMPTEL PLUS Spring 2012 Convention & Expo, this week in San Francisco, in case you find yourself in Fog City.

With IDC predicting worldwide public IT cloud services revenue to hit $45.5 billion by 2013 and with cloud capabilities to be an increasingly top technology spending priority, VARs with cloud offerings have plenty of room to build their portfolio and provide add-ons, if they have the right partner to support them.

Other network operators including Verizon, which launched its cloud services program last year, and Comcast (in partnership with Microsoft), have already poked around in this space, and now it looks as though Sprint, the nation’s third largest telecommunications provider, has its head in the clouds as well — and VARs should, too.

Vos pointed out SMBs are showing increased interest in outsourcing IT services and looking to VARs as the trusted source for providing cloud services. “Not having cloud services in the portfolio will hurt resellers who are trying to increase their share of wallet from SMB customers and reduce churn,” he said.

• Sage Offers Subscription Leasing Option for ERP Products
• Cisco Sets Sights on SMB Space with Wireless, UC Wares
• InfoStreet StreetSmart Meeting: Free Conference Calls and Meetings?
• Ubuntu Powers Small-Business Desktops in Marseille
• Ubuntu-Friendly HP Cloud Enters Public Beta

Sprint Unveils SMB Cloud Services Offering for VARs

Mauritanian Political Parties Announce Establishing popular Movement to Support Syria, Iran and the Resistance

NAWAKSHOT, (SANA) – a number of Mauritanian political parties have announced the establishment of popular movement to support Syria, Iran and the Resistance in the face of plots which target the Arab and Islamic Resistance.

In its founding statement, the movement stressed determination to organize protests in front of the embassies of countries involved in the conspiracy to convey a message to their people and regimes that the Mauritanian people voice full support to Syria, its resistant leadership and President Bashar al-Assad, in addition to their rejection of all forms of political or economic siege and foreign interference in Iran.

The statement warned that what Syria is facing comes in the framework of the conspiracy targeting the Arab and Islamic nations with the help of reactionary Arab forces which financed the arming of armed groups in the Syrian cities in line with the wide western mobilization to isolate Syria’s leadership and weaken its role as a supporter for the Resistance.

The movement condemned hosting the meeting of those conspiring parties in Tunisia to voice hostility to Syria while at the same time the holy and sacred places in Palestine were being desecrated and copies of Quran were being burnt in Afghanistan.

The statement said that the movement will organize a number of political, cultural and intellectual activities to expose the conspiracy against Syria and the dangers of exploiting the so-called “Arab Spring” to practice systematic killing by Takfiri terrorist groups recruited by the Zionism and some regimes in the Gulf to fragment the Arab nation starting of Somalia, the Sudan, Iraq and then Libya.

The statement mocked at the claims of democracy by some leaders in the Gulf, whereas the Peninsula Shield Force are deployed in Bahrain and the tanks of Al Saud in al-Qatif and al-Awamiyah.

The founding members of the popular movement to support Syria, Iran and the Resistance include the popular Front, Movement for Direct Democracy, the Welfare Party (Hizb al-Rafah), the Social-Democratic Unionist Party and the Arab-Islamic Gathering to Support the Option of Resistance in Mauritania, the Party for Labor and Equality, the Reform Party, the Gathering of Youth Technocrats, the Sustainable Development Organization and Majd Party.

Syrian Arab news agency – SANA – Syria : Syria news ::

Santa Barbara, CA, Mar 06, 2012 (PRWeb.com via COMTEX) – Leading mobile health and fitness company, Digifit(R) , appointed one of Silicon Valley’s most well-respected innovators, Dean Hovey, as president and CEO. Hovey is a successful designer, entrepreneur and venture capitalist who has played a crucial role in the progression of personal computing with countless contributions to the advancements of today’s technology including the design of the original Apple mouse for Steve Jobs, human animation software now used in most 3D animated films and software that enables computers to ‘read’ paper documents. Dean Hovey offers a wealth of knowledge working with Fortune 500 companies such as Apple, Target and Kimberly Clarke, as well as, healthcare providers such as Alegent Health, Fairview Health and governmental agencies including the CDC, and HHS.

“I see Digifit as the leading mobile platform for fitness, wellness and prevention programs that can delight end users while providing a complete system for improving outcomes and reducing costs for employers and other major stakeholders,” said Dean Hovey. “We are at a tipping point where personal computing technology and social awareness work together to make health and wellness a reality and I am eager to lead Digifit to this next chapter.”

Dean Hovey has thrived in Silicon Valley’s entrepreneurial culture, forming a dozen companies, and has served as a senior executive in two public companies. most recently, Hovey was president of Comprendo, LLC, a firm that assists early stage companies in formulating business models to develop products and solutions for consumer healthcare. Prior to forming Comprendo, Dean was vice president of business development and general manager at Plantronics, Inc. where he launched the brand’s console gaming products and set strategy for their consumer wireless products. Previously, he founded Pensare, Inc., a provider of eLearning business solutions for large organizations, and had served as vice president of business development for Caere Corporation’s Imaging Products Division featuring OCR (Optical Character Recognition) technology.

During the early nineties Hovey was a general partner of Avalon Ventures, a premier seed venture capital fund. Before entering the venture capital industry, Hovey was an active entrepreneur during which he founded a computer accessories company Trace Systems, Inc. and a robotics start-up called Elfin Technologies. while studying at Stanford University, Hovey created a new medical instrument to improve differential white blood cell counts and founded Hovey/Kelley Design, today known as IDEO, to take the instrument from prototype to production design. Within a year, the design firm added a number of clients including Apple Computer, for which he, along with several Hovey/Kelley engineers, created the original Apple Mouse for Steve Jobs and was awarded the patent for this design.

“We are excited to have somebody of Dean’s background and experience ready to leverage our strengths and guide our company to the next level of growth and development,” said Michael Williams, founder of Digifit. “As we continue to connect the dots between health and fitness, Dean’s vision and leadership will propel us to new innovations.”

The Digifit App allows users to track activities anywhere, indoors or out, focusing on heart rate training and integrated health monitoring. Digifit bundled solutions range from weight loss to optimum performance packages, specifically designed to help users meet fitness and health goals. The app interfaces with the most popular open wireless sensors protocols, including ANT+, Bluetooth and Bluetooth Smart, to put the power of real-time personal body metrics into the hands of consumers.

About Digifit(R)Digifit offers truly engaging health and fitness solutions using sensors and wearable technology integrated with mobile devices and the cloud that lets users track activities anywhere, indoors or out, with a focus on heart rate training and monitoring. Founded in Santa Barbara, Digifit was the first app developer to bring heart-rate monitoring to the iPhone and now features a suite of apps that track cardio, running, Spinning(R) and other cycling data from the ANT+ compatible sensors, all available for download from the iTunes App Store. Dedicated to developing innovative applications, grounded in science and powered by technology, Digifit helps people develop healthy habits and lead healthier, happier and longer lives.

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/3/prweb9254147.htmPRWeb.com

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Digifit(R) Announces Renown Silicon Valley Innovator, Dean Hovey, as President and CEO

Recent education reforms in the state of Florida have shown to be of benefit to the students in Orange County Schools. the reforms have hit their intended target – low-income minority kids.

More students than ever are reading at grade level in Orange County Schools. more low-income Orange County Schools students are also enrolling in Advanced Placement classes and taking the SATs. once failing inner-city schools are getting as. a recent report on the nation’s largest urban school districts gave Orange County Schools high marks for boosting the performance of kids from all racial and economic backgrounds.

Orange County Schools is the second largest employer in Central Florida. it employs 836 administrators, 342 at the district level, 454 at the school level and 40 at the technical level. the system employs 13,107 instructional faculty, 8,546 classified employees, and 3,380 part-time positions, with a grand total of 25,869. the instructional and classified personnel make up nearly 97% of Orange County Schools workforce. a large percentage of its teachers – 37% to be exact – have advanced degrees. 34% of those hold Master’s Degrees and the rest hold Specialist’s or Doctorate degrees.

Orange County Schools had 68 teachers who earned certification last year from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS), the teaching profession’s highest credential. Orange County Schools have a total of 537 nationally certified teachers, one of the highest numbers in the state. the beginning salary for a teacher with a bachelor’s degree is $35,895. If that teacher holds a master’s degree, it is $38,399, for a specialist’s degree, $39,734, and for a doctorate, $40,958. the average pay for teachers is $40,415 per year. in addition, Orange County Schools contributes an average of $11,958 per teacher per year for benefits such as life insurance, health insurance, FICA, and retirement.

The United States Department of Education (DOE) announced on may 31, 2007, that Orange County Schools earned a $27.3 million dollar grant to retain and hire teachers and administrators at 10 middle (Jones, Evans, and Oak Ridge) and high schools (Carver Memorial, Meadowbrook, Walker, Westridge, Robinswood, and Howard). This teacher incentive fund means that teachers at those Orange County Schools can earn up to $4,000 more per year. the bonus is based on increased student achievement levels. in Florida, Orange County Schools earned the largest amount of money from the US DOE for teacher incentive purposes.

Students in Orange County Schools come from 179 different countries and speak 137 different languages and dialects. the system currently serves more than 177,000 students, in 170 schools. 117 of those schools are elementary schools, with 82,115 students. There are 32 middle schools with 38,885 students, 17 high schools with 50,169 students, 4 exceptional education schools with 450 students, and students who attend alternative/charter schools number 5,689.

Orange County Schools boasts a graduation rate of 72.2%, which is above the state average. the dropout rate is 1.9%, well below the state average of 3.5%.

Over the last three years, Orange County Schools have had record numbers of high school students scoring at college level on Advanced Placement (AP) exams. AP enrollment has increased for all student groups, but especially among African Americans and Hispanics.

Orange County Schools – Closing The Gap

Could we soon see a new version of Apple TV?

(Credit:Apple)

Apple could soon unveil a new version of Apple TV, since retailers appear to be running out of the current model.

Citing intel from one of its Best Buy sources, 9to5Mac said that Apple TV is not just out of stock at the source’s local store, but that the product is no longer even shipping to retail outlets. when I searched the Best Buy Web site, the product was no longer shipping to online customers and its availability at physical stories was spotty.

I searched other popular stores online, including Target and Wal-Mart, and typically found the product out of stock or, in some cases, not even listed. Amazon is selling the 2010 version of Apple TV with a shipping date of two to five weeks, while Radio Shack is offering the product only at certain stores. Sears does show the item in stock.

Such limited availability among some of the major retailers is usually a sign that the item is slated for an imminent upgrade or some type of refresh.

9to5Mac also sees the shortage as “curious” in light of a possible impending Apple event. the latest rumors suggest that the company will hold one of its famous events the first week of March, presumably to unveil the nextiPad.

But could a new Apple TV provide of those “one more thing” moments?

Among a slew of products referenced in a beta of IOS 5.1 late last year was a new Apple TV. of course, Apple may have littered the beta with a bunch of made-up product names and numbers just to throw people off the trail.

But if the details are true, Slashgear and other blogging sites note that the new Apple TV would include Bluetooth 4.0, but users are hoping for high-definition support in the form of 1080p, an upgrade from the current model’s 720p resolution.

Apple TV update may loom, since retailers are running out

Thursday February 2, 2012

PITTSFIELD — For the first time, Berkshire County will have an Apple retailer to serve Mac users who, until now, have had to travel to Holyoke or Albany for a full-service company store.

Although some Apple products are sold at big-box chains such as Best Buy and Target, mad Macs Inc. — a long-established service provider that relocated to North Street last May — is hoping to add several staff members to handle the new retail end of its business, said co-owner Scott Kirshner on Wednesday.

As an authorized reseller, the store aims to be “promoted” to the coveted Apple Specialist designation in six months, Kirshner said. That means in addition to the full product lines of iMacs, MacBooks, iPods and Apple TV, it would add iPads to its inventory at that time.

Because there are numerous stores selling iPhones, Kirshner said, mad Macs will not include them in its retail launch, expected within 30 days.

The store will sell a variety of peripheral devices and Apple accessories as well as other brands, Kirshner added.

Kirshner explained that Apple, based in Cupertino, Calif., has given verbal approval to the retail operation, and a contract signing is expected this month, designating the store as an Apple Authorized Reseller.

“Like the Apple Specialist designation, we will need to earn the ability to sell the iPad product line,” Kirshner explained. “Apple is very strict about which resellers and specialists get this product. we have been told that based on our performance with the already assigned product lines, we can work toward a six-month review in which we may become eligible for iPad. we will continue to sell iPad accessories in the meantime.”

Kirshner, who owns the business with Daryl Corbett, saw an upswing of 20 to 30 percent after they relocated to the Greylock Building on North Street near Union Street from East Housatonic Street last spring. he credited a higher profile and increased visibility for the surge.

Mad Macs has been the only authorized repair center for Apple computers since Kirshner founded the store 13 years ago. he ran it out of his car at first, then opened a store on Tyler Street before moving to East Housatonic.

Information: mad Macs Inc., 317 North St., (413) 445-5858.

Mad Macs to retail Apple products

Plus Tim Cook on smartphone competitors, and Western Digital hard drive prices rose 47% after Thai floods

A quick burst of 6 links for you to chew over, as picked by the Technology team

Tim Cook on first four months at Apple >> AllThingsD

Cook is not discounting Windows Phone:

“I wouldn’t say it is a two-horse race,” he said. “There’s a horse in Redmond that always suits up and always runs.”

Apple reports first-quarter earnings >> Apple

Blink and you’d miss it.

[Apple] sold 37.04 million iPhones in the quarter, representing 128 percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter. Apple sold 15.43 million iPads during the quarter, a 111 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter. the Company sold 5.2 million Macs during the quarter, a 26 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter. Apple sold 15.4 million iPods, a 21 percent unit decline from the year-ago quarter

Google’s new Terms Of Service & Privacy Policy: Anything You do May be used to Target You? >> Marketing Land

Danny Sullivan has an essential reader on Google’s contentious new plans. Simple, you say?

Western Digital hard drive prices rose 47% after Thai floods >> the Verge

Western Digital’s earnings report for Q1 2012 attaches some hard numbers to the impact. Although prices rose 47% to $69 per unit over last year, WD sold 23.7m fewer hard drives, a 45% drop. Some of that price jump can be attributed to increased manufacturing costs, but most of it went to towards profit with a gross margin increase to 32.5% over last year’s 19.2%. Overall, WD reported $199m in expenses related to the floods and $2bn in total revenue, down about half a billion dollars from last year. the company says its factories in Thailand should be back to pre-flood capacities by September 2012…

Solid state drives are looking like a better deal all the time. seen our comparative reviews?

Amazon fire takes Android, leaves Google Apps >> Bloomberg

According to Flurry Inc., a software company that tracks usage of apps, the average smartphone owner uses a mobile app — for example, seeking a restaurant by clicking on the OpenTable Inc. icon on a phone, instead of using a browser to access the website — 94 minutes a day, compared to 72 minutes accessing websites via a browser. A year ago, time was almost equally split.

“This may be small potatoes now, but increasingly it’s going to be way search gets conducted,” Sena said.

if mobile app usage becomes dominant in that way, it changes the whole tenor of search.

GEMA hits back at Grooveshark’s reasons for pulling out of Germany

“Contrary to its statements, the provider Grooveshark did not discontinue its services in Germany due to disproportionately high operating expenses,” says GEMA in a statement.

“The fact is, as a service provider Grooveshark fundamentally refuses to pay compensation in any shape or form at all for the service. as of this writing, Grooveshark has also not contacted GEMA in any way.”

The statement goes on to refer to the lawsuits against Grooveshark from Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group and EMI, as well as Apple and Google’s decisions to remove its native iPhone and Android apps from their respective stores.

Wow – getting pulled by Apple is nothing special, but pulled by Google? Grooveshark is starting to look like the digital equivalent of something on the bottom of businesses’ shoes.

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Josh HallidayCharles Arthurguardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. all rights reserved. | use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Boot up: Apple’s blowout quarter, Google’s privacy umbrella, and more