Apple usually doesn’t take the time to spotlight the iPod touch, the iPhone’s little brother. However, recent analysis by asymco has determined that more than one in three iOS devices sold to date has been the phone-less iPhone.
asymco’s results came from the following, admittedly a guesstimate: at Apple’s September 1st event, the company announced that 120 million iOS devices were sold to date. SEC filings indicate that there were 59.6 million iPhones sold through June. Meanwhile, from Apple’s own statements, we know that 3.2 million iPads have been sold.
The real guesstimate portion of the calculation comes from the numbers that asymco assumed for iPhones and iPads for July and August (8 million and 4 million, respectively). If that assumption is correct, the total number of iPod touch devices sold is 45.2 million.
Pulling out the calculator, that figure works out to be 37.7 percent of the total iOS units. Not bad for the iPhone’s little brother, though asymco noted that the share attributed to the iPod touch has dropped since the introduction of the iPad.
On the other hand, with a new iPod touch on the scene, we may see a spike in touch sales. Either way, it’s an impressive footprint among all the iOS devices.
The number of Americans under the sway of the text message has increased again, says the latest Pew Resarch study called “Cell phones and American Adults.” Still, as you might expect, adults still trail teens by a the considerable number.
The rise, year-over-year, is quite interesting. About 72 percent of adult cell phone users send and receive text messages; last year at the same time the number was 65 percent. Meanwhile, 87 percent of teen cell phone users text, but the percentage hides a much higher number: teens send and receive about 50 SMS messages per day, while adults send and receive five times less, or about 10.
Senior researcher Amanda Lenhart, who wrote the report, said the following: “We’ve reached a point where enough other people are texting that (adults) are drawn into using it because they can finally use it to communicate with a substantial number of their friends and family.” In other words, we’ve reached critical mass as far as text messaging goes.
Additionally, 65 percent of adults admit to sleeping with their cell phone next to their bed. This is despite the fact that more than two in five (42 percent) cell phone owners say they feel annoyed when a call or text interrupts them. However, 91 percent say their cell phones mkae them feel safer, while 88 percent say cell phones help them connect to friends and family to arrange plans. Both of those points should be remembered by those who continue to eschew cell phones; in addition to safety, the second item was cited last year as a way that cell phone “refuseniks” complicate their own lives.
Phones are still being used as phones, with average adult cell phone owner makes or receiving around 5 voice calls a day. This is despite the fact that cell phone data use has climbed while voice calling has dropped (though indeed, SMS messages don’t use your data connection).
Still more interesting bullet points:
5 percent of all adult texters send more than 200 text messages a day or more than 6,000 texts a month. Fully 15 percent of teens 12-17, and 18 percent of adults 18 to 24 text message more than 200 messages a day, while just 3 percent of adults 25 to 29 do the same.
Heavy adult texters – those who send and receive more than 50 texts day — also tend to be heavy users of voice calling. Light texters, who exchange 1 to 10 texts a day, do not make up for less texting by calling more. Instead, they are light users of both calling and texting.
57 percent of adults with cell phones have received unwanted or spam text messages on their phone. (this is most annoying because those without unlimited SMS plans are basically paying for this spam)
90 percent of parents are more likely to have a cell phone than adults without children under 18 at home (78 percent).
72 percent of parents have slept with their phone, compared to 62 percent of non-parents.
African American and English-speaking Hispanic adults are slightly more likely than whites to own a cell phone, with 87 percent of African-Americans and English speaking Hispanics owning a phone, compared with 80 percent of whites.
The study data was collected from telephone interviews conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International between April 29 and May 30, 2010, from a sample of 2,252 adults, age 18 and older. The teen data came from a study also done by Pew Research, released late last year.
A 75-year-old Bosnia woman, who lives in the same town as the alleged “YouTube puppy thrower,” claims to have saved the puppies the young girl threw into a river. There are a few questions about her claim, however, including the fact that the puppies don’t look quite the same.
In the original YouTube video, which was later taken down but still appeared on other sites, a young girl, later discovered to be a teen from Bugojno, Bosnia, threw six black-and-white puppies into a fast-flowing river. A huge Internet and animal-rights campaign arose, and Bosnian authorities later captured the young woman, who remains unidentified as she is a minor (though the Internet group 4Chan once vowed to ID her).
In the latest development, Ruza Pavlovic, 75, claims to have fished out of that river. She says she saw them struggling to stay alive at the side of the river as she made her way to a potato field.
The questions that now arise are many: how could a 75-year-old have fished them out of a rivet? On the other hand, if they had managed to be swept to the edge of a river, it’s possible that she might have been able to do so.
However, the puppies seen in the original video seemed to be black-and-white, and these appear to be black-and-tan. It’s also unclear if the puppies in the video could have possibly survived long enough for Pavlovic to rescue them.
There’s slightly more strangeness as well. Ruza Pavlovic suddenly has a Facebook page, complete with images of her and the puppies. She currently has 43 friends and we’d expect that number to rise exponentially as the story emerges (assuming it’s true).
Unfortunately, the only people who could verify the authenticity of Pavlovic’s claim would be the young girl, and the person who filmed her. Of course, while many have doubts, undoubtedly many would wish this could be true. Yesterday, Pavlovic said, “They are healthy and happy. My problem is that they need at least three litres of milk a day and I live only on my small pension, but I do not have the heart to abandon them.”
This latest incident came on the heels of the “Cat Bin Lady,” Mary Bale, who stuffed a cat into a trash bin where it stayed for 15 hours. After a CCTV video was uploaded to YouTube, 4Chan tracked her down, and all her details as well. The group has vowed to do the same for the Bosnian teen.
It’s silly, but it’s a holiday weekend, and thus it’s an interesting way to spend a few minutes while waiting for the next barbecue. Google engineers have added a Konami Code Easter Egg to Google Docs.
First, for those who might not know, an Easter Egg is an hidden feature in software (including video games), whether it be a message, unlocking a hidden function or even a mini-game, or just a message. Usually it involves some sort of combination of key presses or mouse or controller movements.
Meanwhile, the Konami code is a cheat code that appears in many Konami video games. Cheat codes in video games allow unlocking of levels, or even things like a “God mode” where lives are increased or the player becomes invulnerable.
Easter Eggs have also used for unlocking very useful functionality before, rather than just “fun stuff.” For one, it unlocked the developer mode on Palm webOS devices. Recently, the app Camera+ was booted out of the iTunes App Store for using an Easter Egg to allow banned functionality.
In this case, you go to Google Docs, open a word processing document, and type the Konami code: left (arrow), left, right, right, up, down, up, down, B, A, then press Enter. The page will flip as though you turned the web page on a vertical axis.
Obviously, this is not a game-changing feature, just a little bit of fun. Watch a video below.
