"Siri, why did you let me sleep late?"

Another year, another iOS problem dealing with January 1. Some users are reporting that  "Do Not Disturb," which lets you mute calls and other notifications during specific times,  is not shutting off at the preset time on their iPhones and iPads. That means that if you use the setting to get a little shut-eye, you probably slumbered blissfully on this morning instead of waking to the pings and rings of New Year's greetings.

Alarms, however, are unaffected--so use a different excuse if you're running late for something today.

A MacRumors user complained in the forums:

"I am finding that my iOS devices (iPhone 4 and iPad 2) are showing "Do Not Disturb" even though it is outside of the time I set for them. Not sure if this is related to the new year. Reloading the devices does not help and the software is up-to-date."

9 to 5 Mac reports similar instances; at least one iPad at the Verge was affected.  But the problem doesn't seem to be universal, and manually disabling the setting fixes the problem.

We suggest you simply take this as a helpful hint from your zen friends at Apple that it is a national holiday and there is probably no reason for you to be looking at emails today.

Please note that use cases include "Glasses of Tumblr." (Photo: Tumblr)

Some good news today if you're tired of relying on Instagram and/or that boring old smartphone camera to take breakfast pics for your Tumblr. The company has just released Photoset, a new app devoted wholly to "creating and sharing beautiful high-res photosets on your iPhone or iPad."

Those of us still pecking away on lousy old Androids must make do without, for now.

According to an announcement on the Tumblr staff blog:

"Photosets have been one of our favorite additions to Tumblr. You’ve surprised us a thousand times over with your creativity. It’s hard to imagine Tumblr without photos, and we love the power a set of photos has to tell a story.

The new Photoset app is an elegant way to create photosets, even if you’re not using Tumblr. Just tap and drag to lay out your photoset. Once you’ve got it just right, post to your blog or upload to photoset.com — where it can be shared with anyone, anywhere."

Use it to show off all angles of your sick ride. (Photo: Tumblr)

Photoset is already available for download in the app store.

Tumblr's stepping into a crowded space by releasing its own, standalone photo-sharing app--but then again, with Instagram now the property of Facebook, it's easy to see why the microblogging service slash social network would want something home-brewed.

As for why release a wholly new app without Tumblr branding, instead of improving the company's current mobile offering, Director of Special Projects Justin Ouellette told TechCrunch,

“It was really organic, we’re all about building cool things at Tumblr and it felt like a very natural thing to break out. One of our favorite features on Tumblr is photos, so we just decided to go for it.”

"Why the fuck not?" -- the new "just keep shipping"?

(Photo: Wordpress)

"Rather disgruntled" programmers, rejoice! Apple says it fixed that bug that was causing apps to crash on launch. [AllThingsD]

Jerry Seinfield now has a web series? [Daily Dot]

Facebook tab engagement has declined 53 percent since the introduction of Timeline. Perhaps that's why Buddy Media was so eager to sell? [Mashable, h/t Nicholas Carlson]

Microsoft researcher: Oops, that whole thing about an Android botnet was just an "educated guess." [The Verge]

The Singularity is nigh: For the first time ever, scientists have controlled a robot using only their thoughts. [Gizmodo]

Twitter engineer says that today search and discovery are "set to change forever." Does that mean they'll actually be good? [The Next Web]

(Photo: Google+)

Okay, we confess: We've never owned an iPhone and are head-over-heels in love with our Galaxy Nexus. But even the most hardcore of Apple fanboys have to concede that Google's new Android update, Jelly Bean, looks pretty sweet. Google Now seems like an easy way to seamlessly integrate your phone's functionality into your every day schedule. Plus, the UI tweaks make the whole Android experience much sleeker and prettier.

Oh, but that's not all. Jean-Louis Nguyen, a director of biz dev at GOOG, posted a video (to Google+, of course) of the beta version of Jelly Bean responding to over 40 voice commands. The phone gets it right every damn time. Even obscure requests like, "Where is that museum with Egyptian stuff in San Jose?" It's pretty impressive.

And with the news that Apple's Siri is wrong over a third of the time, Android is looking pretty good right now. Sorry, Zooey.

Meanwhile, over in Mountain View, the geniuses at Google forgot to measure at what temperature the Android Jelly Bean statue would melt. According to Google employee Dan Morrill, "Jelly Bean is so ridiculously hot that the JB statue overheated, and his head partially melted and popped off." That's one way to look at it.

This is a guest post from Gary Sharma (aka “The Guy with the Red Tie”), founder & CEO of GarysGuide and proud owner of a whole bunch of black suits, white shirts and, at last count, over 40 red ties. You can follow him at @garysguide and reach him at gary [at] garysguide.com.

Unless you're living under a rock, you know that Apple last week announced its quarterly earnings and the entire tech industry let out a collective gasp and then promptly went into a swoon. Apple's now overtaken Exxon as the world's most valuable company and has almost $100 billion in cash reserves. Thats higher than the market cap of 474 of the S&P 500 companies. Apple's been very careful when it comes to spending its cash. Expect it to continue the trend of locking in a better deal on components in its supply chain boosting its own profit margins and increasing prices (and scarcity) for competitors. Also expect it to snap up important IP that can provide a generational leap to advance core features of its hardware (camera, screen, battery, memory, CPU). Beyond that ('n all the cool wearable computing rumors), one of the things thats imperative for Apple to do (if its not doing it already) is to finally build its own search engine. Here's why.

Google Is Enemy No. 1
Google and Apple started off as best friends with a common enemy, Microsoft. As things become more competitive, that relationship turned into more of a frenemies sort, you know, like Paris and Nicole. That is until Google launched Android, an iPhone/iOS competitor, and a direct shot across Apple's bow even as Google CEO Eric Schmidt was still on the Apple board. To say that Steve Jobs was furious is an understatement. I believe his exact words were "I am willing to go thermonuclear on them" and "spend every penny of Apple's $40 billion in the bank, to right this wrong".

Google search, maps and video have been tightly integrated into the iOS experience since the very beginning. And I'm sure this can't be making the folks at Apple happy at all. And don't forget, Apple really, really likes having end-to-end control over what goes into its products. Apple has already quietly snapped up mind-blowing 3D map maker C3 Technologies and mapping company Placebase. So an Apple maps offering is inevitable probably in their next major iOS update, and having their own search engine to go hand-in-hand with that seems logical.

Siri
Call it premature or prescient but many are touting Siri as the future of search. We are still in the first version of Siri but it is not difficult to extrapolate how in future versions, as it gets better, it can hook into data from different apps and bring us back exactly what we were searching for without ever going to a search engine. But for now, when Siri doesn't have an answer (which is more often than not) it defaults to Google for search results. Again something that I'm sure Apple is not happy about. Siri also seems to be accumulating and crunching vast amounts of data and this has a direct effect on improving its results. So integrating their own search engine at the back end instead of Google's would be the smart thing for Apple to do.

Google Is Vulnerable
It's no secret that Google search results quality has been deteriorating for a few years now and despite the Panda update they seem to be fighting a losing battle against SEO spam. But they have still been passably good or at least on par with the competition to prevent any mass exodus. But with the recent update of integrating Google+ into their main search results while ignoring data from social competitors Twitter and Facebook and the increasingly prominent placement of Google properties such as Places at the expense of direct competitors like Yelp means that Google has finally gone bat shit crazy and sacrificed their hard earned reputation in search quality for a desperate attempt at jumpstarting Google+ as a reply to Facebook's rising web dominance. Add to that the fact that the Feds are supposedly taking a closer look at it for potential anti-trust violations and the brouhaha over its recent privacy policy changes and you can see how, more so than ever before in its short 15 year history, Google is today vulnerable and ripe for disruption.

Anything That Weakens Android ...
The biggest chunk of Apple's revenues and profits (and the fattest margins), by far, come from iOS products, especially the iPhone, which accounts for over 50% of its revenues. The biggest competitor that the folks at Apple spend sleepless nights over is probably Google's Android. The biggest chunk of Google's revenues (an astounding 97%) comes from search and ads. Google's revenues from Android are minimal. Google has never really had a credible threat to its core bread 'n butter business of search. But if Apple were to throw its weight (and cash) behind launching a search engine, it could have the folks at Google dropping Android 'n Google+ like hot potatoes (or at least putting them on the back burner) and scurrying back and doubling down to protect the moat around their search castle.

Spreading Innovation Across Its Ecosystem
Apple (unlike Google 'n others) doesn't like to spread the peanut butter too thin across too many initiatives. It has historically always focused on keeping its product line simple and streamlined. And in a similar vein, it has always focused on innovating around a few key features with the dual purpose of creating something that is a) disruptive and b) can be rolled out across its ecosystem of products. Examples of this are iOS, touch computing, Airplay, the App store, retina display, thunderbolt and even innovation in design and aesthetics. And I think Siri with a full fledged search engine behind it would be something that Apple would love to eventually integrate across all its products.

Search (And Ads) Are A Big Market
The total online ad spend is expected to reach almost $50 billion by 2015. When you are a company doing the revenues that Apple does, entering any new market means justifying how the potential upside will swing the needle for the company's overall revenues and profits. And we all know Apple is razor focused on generating revenues (and profits) because it knows thats what gives it the buffer to innovate. And television and search seem the two most likely big markets adjacent to Apple's current offerings that it could turn to next. iAds may not have taken off but it showed that Apple was interested and I'm positive it wants to take another swing at it. ^[1]

Mobile First
According to a recent Comscore report, Google has around 65 percent market share in web search. But a big chunk of that is desktop and laptop search. Mobile is a whole different ball game and one that is very much up for grabs. iOS and Android may be fighting it out in terms of share of installations but when it comes to actual usage and traffic, its no contest. iOS has the lion's share of around 58.5 percent of all mobile traffic (including a whopping 97.2% of all tablet traffic) while Android only accounts for 31.9 percent. Add to that the fact that mobile as a percent of overall web traffic is rising very rapidly (now almost 7%) and that mobile (iOS) is central to Apple's products, dominance and revenues, and it makes sense for Apple to take a shot at mobile search.

The Twitter Firehose
When Apple launched Ping (its feeble attempt at a social network), it initially turned to Facebook. But the two couldn't quite work things out. Fast forward a couple of years, and Apple now has Twitter deeply integrated into iOS. If Apple were to launch its own search engine, integrating the Twitter firehose into its results could give it an instant advantage over Google (who couldn't come to terms with Twitter on a deal).

The Apple Brand And Its Halo Effect
The Apple brand has never been stronger, more trusted, more beloved and with a universal appeal on a global scale as it is today (despite what all the fandroids will have u know ;)). And it is very much associated with innovation. There is a reason why the tech world waits with bated breath to see what Apple will announce next. It has earned that reputation. Which means that unlike Microsoft trying to push Bing by throwing around big marketing dollars, if Apple were to launch a new search engine it won't have to do much of a hard sell. Everyone, and I mean everyone, is going to take it for a spin. After that it will have to stand on its own merit, and if its a clunker like Ping, it will tell. ^[2]

And Finally ... The Gang Of Four
Last year, at the AllThingsD conference, then Google CEO Eric Schmidt made an interesting observation about the ominous sounding 'Gang of Four' that are dominant in the tech ecosystem today - Apple, Google, Amazon and Facebook - and how each of them is rapidly encroaching into each others businesses. There was a time when you equated Google with search, Facebook with social and Amazon with e-commerce. Not any more. With Google snapping up phone manufacturer Motorola, Facebook contemplating its own mobile phone (and a rumored search engine) once it clears the IPO fence and Amazon aggressively rolling out wannabe iPad competitor Kindle Fire, it would be foolish for Apple to take the risk of having any aspect of its business model too highly dependent on any of them.

Its like Muhammed Ali, Joe Frazier, Evander Holyfield and Mike Tyson are all in the ring at the same time. The gloves are off and the battle for tech supremacy is on. This is no time to pull the punches. This is time for war.

[1] Apple doesn't enter a new market just because they can or because it has potential upside for revenues & profits. They have shown remarkable discipline of only entering markets where they can a) disrupt the status quo with a quantum leap of innovation b) leverage and strengthen its existing ecosystem of products. Search + Siri might be just that ticket.

[2] The failure of Ping (and lukewarm reception of iCloud precursor MobileMe) drives home the fact that not everything Apple touches turns into gold, especially when its a little bit outside their comfort zone. Hence an acquisition of a company such as DuckDuckGo, Blekko or even Twitter might make a lot of sense. Heck if Apple bought Twitter AND Square (not an impossible scenario), that might mean Jack Dorsey going to Apple and being groomed as a potential Steve Jobs heir apparent. Now THAT would be interesting.

Yesterday, Venturebeat shared statistics from the app analytics company Flurry that activations for Android and iOS devices shot up to 6.8 million on Christmas day. It's not yet clear whether Apple or Google can claim more activations, but it's more evidence that of that unflashy eventual market dominance Android fans keep promising will come.

But before Rubin & Co. throw back the eggnog to celebrate getting closer to the 1 million activations/day goal, don't forget about the children. In November, Nielsen reported that 44 percent of kids ages six to 12 asked for an iPad for Christmas, making it the most desirable gift this year.

When Steve Jobs launched iAd last July, the idea was to provide a mobile advertising platform that took its cues more from television advertising than online advertising, which he deemed "irritating." As with all things Apple, iAd only works within the walled garden—selling ads within apps on iOS devices like iPhones, iPads and iPod Touches.

Advertisers would pay a premium, but could expect an advertising experience perfectly built for its environment.

According to information from the research firm IDC, however, the sales strategy that works so well to sell Apple devices hasn't necessarily paid off in the case of Apple's attempt to dominate mobile ad sales.

The Wall Street Journal says:

"But response so far has been tepid: Marketers say they have been turned off by iAd's high price tag as well as Apple's hard-charging sales tactics and its stringent control over the creative process."

Apple Insider's Daniel Eran Dilger, however, points out that the situation may not be as dire as IDC is making it seem. Last year IDC reported that Apple tied with Google for 19 percent of the market for mobile display ads. This year it's down to the no. 3 with only 15 percent share. Millenium Media took the no. 2 spot and Google's AdMob pulled in first thanks in part to more reasonable prices and the act that its device agnostic.

But as Mr. Dilger points out, Apple, which started with just 9 percent of the market of the market in 2009 (launching into mobile advertising with the acquisition of Quattro Wireless after losing a bid on AdMob to Google) has grown significantly and is still ahead of Jumptap, Microsoft, and Yahoo for example. Google, on the other hand, which 27 percent share in 2009 now has 24 percent share.

With iAd, the Journal reports, Apple is making a rare decision to compromise. In July it lowered the minimum commitment from advertisers and it's now making the pricing more flexible, and is even hosting advertisers on campus—a first for Apple, but standard fare for the likes of Google, Yahoo, and Facebook.

Weighing those moves against the poor overall market for mobile ads, Mr. Dilger says

"Apple's share is actually larger than Microsoft and Yahoo combined, making it curious why the Wall Street Journal and IDC worked so hard to portray iAd's $95 million in revenue as a fumbling failure destined for certain death."

Tao of Steve

Instapaper creator Marco Arment is an Apple acolyte who pointedly and repeatedly refuses to develop an Android version of his popular reading app. In fact he often takes to his blog to bash Google's mobile OS, berating its commercial potential and enumerating the woes he would have should he someday have the misfortune of developing for Android.

But last night the guys from Shift Jelly, a mobile development shop in Australia, managed to get Mr. Arment's attention. They wrote a blog post, "Standing Up For Android", that laid out how much more money they had made from Android than iOS. They didn't attack Mr. Arment or call anyone a "fanboi". Instead they offered this:

Finally, we’d like to publicly challenge Marco Arment to bring Instapaper to Android and drop the negative attitude. We’ll bet you one large cup of our finest Australian Coffee that you’ll be pleasantly surprised by just how great the Google Market is. In many ways it’s a better place to be than iOS, since so many developers are ignoring it, and yet there is a massive install base waiting to give you their money.

We can't say if it was the dollar signs or the offer for some premium java from down under, but Mr. Arment's heart grew three sizes larger last night. He still isn't going to "waste his time" learning how to build an Android app, some of those Google germs might rub off on his Macbook Air, but he did give other developers his blessing to take a crack at making Instapaper for Android:

If you make the first great Android Instapaper client that:

• uses the official API
• contains a significant portion of the iOS app’s features, the details of which we’d work out privately
• runs on a wide variety of Android devices and OS versions including modern smartphones, the Kindle Fire and Nook Tablet, and whichever 10” tablet matters at the time of completion
• is priced at $2.99 or higher in the U.S. with approximately equivalent pricing elsewhere, and satisfies requirements to be sold in the Google Marketplace, Amazon Appstore, and whatever B&N uses for the Nook Tablet

I’ll call it the official Instapaper app for Android, I’ll promote it on the Instapaper site, I’ll drop the subscription requirement for its API access, you’ll answer all support email that comes from it, and we’ll split the net revenue 50/50.

Any takers?

Feed me

It's commonly accepted that Apple's tightly controlled iOS app ecosystem is a more difficult environment for scammers to push malware into than Google's relatively open Android marketplace. But a new report from security provider Fortinet shows that Android's dominance as the market leader in smartphones is making them a even juicer target for bad actors.

“Unfortunately, we believe Android’s higher market share comes with a price; an almost six fold increase in malware targeting the operating system,” Axelle Apvrille, senior mobile anti-virus researcher at Fortinet, wrote in an email release today. “To date, our Labs have seen a 90% increase in Android malware families in 2011 compared to 2010, while malicious iOS families only increased by 25%."

While everyone was freaking out about Carrier IQ (and rightly so), a whole host of malicious bots have been appearing on Android which log keystrokes, surf the web and send text messages. And increasingly this malware has the ability to gain root access to users phones.

• Geinimi: Android’s first botnet, which sends a victim's geographic location and controls his/her phone remotely. For example, Geinimi can force the infected phone call a given phone number.
• Hongtoutou: A Trojan live wallpaper that steals private information such as the victim's subscriber number (IMSI) and automatically visits Websites that the malware directs it to.
• DroidKungFu: Another botnet that has multiple capabilities such as remotely installing other malware, remotely starting specific applications and adding bookmarks.
• JiFake: A fake instant messenger application that sends SMS messages to premium phone numbers
• BaseBridge: A Trojan that sends SMS messages to premium numbers

 
It might be worthwhile for Google to create a white listed section of its App Store with more stringent requirements for developers who are willing to clear a higher security bar in return for a verified stamp of approval. Until then, as Google's director of public policy Alan Davidson told Senators this summer: "We've chosen not to be the gatekeeper. We don't generally go back and try to make sure that every app does what it says it's going to do. [Google is] really trying to maximize the ability of small app developers to get online."

The Next Web spotted this tweet from the Google team: "The iOS app we launched today contained a bug with notifications. We have pulled the app to fix the problem. Sorry we messed up."

Does Apple let crappy Google apps slide through their typically stringent review process just to embarrass their Mountain View rivals?