Nicholas Kolakowski

Apple CEO Steve Jobs in October 2010 jumped onto a company earnings call to dismiss 7-inch tablets as inherently inferior to larger models such as the iPad. Indeed, at the time, Apple and most of its rivals seemed intent on devoting resources to larger tablets in the 10-inch range. Nonetheless, smaller tablets have managed to […]

Verizon iPhone 4 In January, Apple whipped the curtain back from one of tech’s worst-kept secrets: the iPhone 4 on Verizon. With the exception of tinkering with the antenna to make it Code Division Multiple Access-applicable (CDMA-applicable), the Verizon version of the iPhone 4 offered precious little difference from the AT&T version in both hardware […]

Apple will unveil two iPad models at a conference in January, according to Taiwanese publication DigiTimes. “Apple is set to unveil its next-generation iPad-which will come in two versions-at the [MacWorld/iWorld expo] scheduled for January 26, 2012,” read the Dec. 29 report, citing unnamed supply-chain sources. “The new models will join the existing iPad 2 […]

Analytics firm Flurry has estimated some 6.8 million iOS and Android device activations on Christmas day, suggesting that Apple and Google are exiting 2011 the same way they entered: with burgeoning sales for devices running their respective operating systems, indicative of both companies’ fervent desire to control the mobility market. In a Dec. 27 posting […]

Apple gained much in 2011, managing to hold off Google Android in both the tablet and smartphone arenas. However, it also lost co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs, who died in October following a long battle with cancer. Verizon iPhone Apple’s first big release of 2011 was a long anticipated one: the iPhone on Verizon Wireless’ […]

Microsoft has released a security update to patch an issue associated with Security Advisory 2659883. The vulnerability apparently affects all versions of Microsoft’s .NET Framework, and could allow a denial-of-service attack on servers for ASP.NET pages. “The vulnerability exists due to the way that ASP.NET processes values in an ASP.NET form post causing a hash […]

In a Dec. 26 posting on his personal blog, cek.log, former Microsoft employee and Windows Phone evangelist Charlie Kindel dissects what he sees as the reasons behind Windows Phone’s failure to conquer more of the smartphone market, despite generally positive reviews. That posting immediately sparked discussion among analysts and pundits, including John Gruber and MG […]

A leaked Windows Phone road map purports to trace the smartphone platform’s evolution over the next year. The road map was first posted Dec. 27 by the blog WMPoweruser, which declined to mention the source. Nonetheless, if taken at face value, the document suggests that Microsoft will follow up its recent Mango software update with […]

Verizon Wireless is reportedly experiencing its third widespread outage of December. The outage has been widely reported in the media, including AllThingsD, even as customers head to Verizon Wireless’ online community forums to vent their frustrations. Those customers cited parts of Florida, Ohio and Washington, D.C., among the nationwide trouble spots, with many saying both […]

Ballmer at CES In January, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer used his keynote speech at the Consumer Electronics Show to show off the Xbox 360’s hands-free Kinect controller and Windows Phone devices, and announce that the next version of Windows would support ARM chip architecture-allowing the operating system to appear on tablets. Windows Phone Late in […]

In retrospect, 2011 could be viewed as the year when Microsoft tried to pivot: away from its desktop-centric focus and toward mobility, from packaged software toward the cloud, from a company in danger of losing its relevance toward … maybe some semblance of its old, market-dominating self. Windows Microsoft started the year off with a […]

What features could end up in Apple’s iPad 3? That Apple intends to introduce a successor to its bestselling tablet is a dead certainty. The bigger questions are when the device will hit the market, and what new hardware and software the company will pack into its slim frame. If Apple follows the same release […]