Find and Call Is the First Malicious App in the App Store Ever

When the App Store was launched five years ago, there were three main reasons for it; it made it easy for developers to get their apps noticed, it made it easy for consumers to an app to download, and it protected users from malicious apps.

Well, how did it do? A fluid interface and design made it fare very well for getting apps noticed and letting people notice them. And as for the third reason, the App Store has gone five years without a single malicious app being found. But now, for the first time ever, an app with malware made it into the App Store.

This app was called Find and Call. While it wasn't a top selling app, it had a lot of downloads, mainly from Russians, because the description text was in Russian. It served as a address book, where you would keep the information of your contacts so you could call them.

But that's not all it did. Apparently, the app stored information about the contact information of the user in the developers servers. The company then sent text messages to these users advertising the application. The developer had found a way to make it appear as if the text message was from the user of the app. In addition to this, the information of the users contacts was sent to companies that would spam them.

Luckily, however, less than a month after the release of the app, some users were able to contact the developer of the app, who claimed that the spamming was due to a bug. Knowing that this information was false, they contacted Apple, who promptly removed the app from the App Store.

“The Find & Call app has been removed from the App Store due to its unauthorized use of users’ Address Book data, a violation of App Store guidelines,” said Apple. They also noted that iOS 6 will include notifications when third-party apps access users' data.

This Prayer Mat Lights Up When Facing Mecca

There are 1.6 billion Muslims around the world, each of whom pray 5 times a day. And in every one of these 8 billion prayers, they face towards Mecca when they pray. Traditionally, Muslims use compasses with a mark on them to show the direction of Mecca. But, as with almost any other thing in life, technology has been incorporated into this. Some people now use smartphone apps for Muslims, complete with praying directions, prayer reminders, and a compass to know where Mecca is. But now, British designer Soner Oznec wants to put even fancier technology into prayer. He's designing a prayer mat that lights up when facing Mecca.

This prayer mat is called EL Sajjada. Not only does it include symbolic patterns like most prayer mats do, it includes a digital compass that makes the mat light up when it faces Mecca. It remains lightweight and flexible.

Now, technology has been incorporated into many things in life, even things that are (or used to be) traditional, like sports. But this brings up an interesting topic for discussion. Can technology be incorporated this much into religion?


Oznec, the designer of EL Sajjada, says it can be. He claims that he's been working on this project for six years, and not once has he received negative feedback for mixing technology and religion.

But would a practicing Muslim be willing to actually use this in prayer? Islam is a very old religion, and I'm guessing that many Muslims would feel that making a prayer mat so special would dilute the true purpose of their prayers. Then again, others may feel that if it helps them point the right direction, then there's nothing wrong with it because it's only helping them pray correctly. These people may feel that if technology can be utilized to make prayer easier, more efficient, or more effective, it should be.

It's easy to argue for either side, but only time will be able to tell whether the mat is successful or not. On Kickstarter, the project has 38 backers and has raised $6,000 of its $100,000 goal (the project expires August 14). If you fund the project with $500 or more, you'll receive a free prayer mat when they are put on the market. But how many Muslims would put this to use?

iPad Mini to be Released in October with 3G at $299

When the first reports of a "mini iPad" surfaced months ago, it seemed like an interesting idea, but someting that Apple wouldn't do. When they resurfaced a few weeks ago after the launch of the Nexus 7 and the Microsoft Surface, it seemed like a tablet that Apple needed to make to compete in the budget tablet market. Now, a new set of reports from Macotakara and Bloomberg have arrived, And they're showing why this iPad Mini could be a serious competitor in the market.

According to the reports, the iPad Mini will be produced in Brazil in September, and will be released before the holiday season (Bloomberg points to October). It will have a 7.85" screen, and will have the same screen resolution as the iPad 2, so developers won't have to remake their apps for the iPad Mini.

These reports have confirmed the fact that this tablet is aimed specifically at the budget tablet market; it will retail for just $299 ($100 more than the Nexus 7 and the Kindle Fire, but $200 less than the cheapest iPad). Apple is also trying to produce a very portable tablet; rumor has it it will be as thin as the latest iPod Touch (thinner than the Kindle Fire). The device will likely support 3G networking.

While many people on the web are saying that this tablet will not succeed and that Steve Jobs was right in saying that anything smaller than a 10" tablet is too small, I disagree. With the specs listed above, it seems as if this tablet will get you all the benefits of the iPad (beautiful design, many more apps, and iOS) without the huge price tag.

As it turns out, many people who buy budget tablets are people who would really like an iPad but can't afford it. So my theory is that if Apple made a cheaper iPad, these people would stop buying the closest thing to an iPad (a Nexus 7, Kindle Fire, or Microsoft Surface) and buy the real thing. Except mini.

Collection of 6,500 Video Games Auctioning on eBay for €999,999.99

Over the years, we've seen a lot of impressive things being sold on eBay. From exotic food to a $1 million baseball card, it seems as if people are getting weirder and weirder things added to their inventory. We've also seen some pretty big collections. But now, the collection of them all has arrived.

eBay user collectors_king is selling a collection of every video game every released for 22 consoles. Every game is complete with its box and the instructions. As you can see from the picture above, it's quite a massive collection; in fact, it's over 6,500 games. How about the price? 1 million euros. That's about $1.2 million, which make each game cost $190, which seems a little bit overpriced. I'm really not sure if anyone would be willing to burn off a million bucks just to have this gigantic collection, but if someone is, that's what the "Buy It Now" button is for.

You can check out the auction page here.

Facebook Mobile Will Have Targeted Ads Based on the Apps You Use

Have you ever noticed that ads on the web seem to know way too much about you? When you've been researching web hosts, as I was a few months ago for Tech n' Cars, suddenly almost every site I visited had ads saying "Cheap web hosting!" "Host with us!" or "WordPress Hosting just $4/mo.!" Even YouTube videos I played would have pop-up ads for Bluehost. The same thing happens on Facebook; if you "Like" Dell, HP, and Sony, suddenly you'll be mobbed with ads for PCs.

Well, this trend sure isn't stopping as most of us would like it to; in fact, it's spreading to mobile devices. Facebook recently announced that they would target your ads based on the apps you use.

How does this work? Well, many apps are integrated with Facebook, so if you've been using them, Facebook will know. And then, they'll show you ads with apps that they think you'll like based on the ones you already use. For example, if you download Words with Friends, Boggle, and Wordfeud, you'll notice that your Facebook app will be clogged with ads for word games.

Why is the company doing this? Well, they make much more money for ads for apps that you click on and install, rather than ads for a product that you click on and go to a web page. So they want to start advertising apps more; and this is how they're going to find the right ones.

While I assume there's nothing wrong with presenting us with what we're interested in, the fact that the app knows what you're interested in is a little bit scary. It makes you feel as if your every move on the internet is being recorded. But then again, that's completely true.

Soccer is Implementing Goal-Line Technology

In the 1966 World Cup Finals, England's Geoff Hurst took a shot that hit the bottom of the crossbar, came down, and landed near the goal line. Though television cameras showed that this was in fact not a goal, it was ruled a goal by the officials. You could argue that it would be hard to tell what really happened, because technology wasn't advanced enough back then to make goal-line cameras.

In the 2010 World Cup Finals, England's John Terry cleared a ball from his own goal (above), and the officials ruled that there was no goal. Yet, television cameras showed that the ball had clearly crossed the goal line. But you can't argue with this one. By this time, the MLB, NBA, and NFL had all adopted technologies that allowed them to settle disputes over the ruling of the play. But soccer still adamantly refused to use technologies to settle their scoring disputes.

But finally, soccer has given in to the technology. On Thursday, the International Football Assosciation Board agreed to use goal-line technologies from the companies HawkEye and GoalRef. These technologies will start being used this December for the FIFA Club World Cup, and will be used for the 2014 World Cup.

How do these technologies work? HawkEye works by setting up 14 cameras around the stadium, while GoalRef uses a small chip inside the soccer ball and the natrual magnetic field of the goalposts. GoalRef is the cheaper of the two, though it still costs a whopping $175,000 per stadium to install. FIFA plans to use both of these technologies, which will alert the referee a second after the ball crosses the goal line.

20 Minutes Worth of Fireworks Launched in 15 Seconds in San Diego

5 minutes before the fireworks were set to begin, a San Diego crowd of 500,000 saw the first firework launch. But not just the first. They saw all of them launch in 15 seconds, in what looked like a chaotic blob of red, yellow, orange, and white, with flares zipping all around it. The crowd cheered wildly, not knowing what to think, only to discover that those were all the fireworks. 20 minutes worth of fireworks had just been launched in 15 seconds.

According to San Diego officials, this was caused by a technical glitch in the program that set up the timing of the fireworks. This came as quite a surprise to them, because all preliminary testing of the system worked fine.

Reactions were very mixed on this issue. People used social media to express how mad they were about the bust of the fireworks, but others thought it was amazing to see this huge mess of fireworks. Some couldn't decide, and said it was the best and worst fireworks show ever.

Many people posted videos of this, which was dubbed the "Back Bay Boom" on YouTube. Check out one of the videos above.

Amazon Will Release Kindle Fire 2 in July with 10" Screen

Until a few weeks ago, Amazon was sure it had the top spot in the budget tablet market. Anyone looking to find a decent tablet without the huge price tag of the iPad would almost always go for the Kindle Fire, a 7" dual-core tablet priced at just $200. But then things started to change.

First, Microsoft announced that it would be coming out with the Microsoft Surface, a 7" tablet that would have many exotic features such as a bigger Windows Phone 7 OS (the icons stay the same size, but you see more of them), a stylus, and a clip-on keyboard. These features made the tablet a boom-or-bust, and right now most people are predicting bust, so Amazon wasn't unsettled at all.

Then, Google announced their Nexus 7. This was trying to be the iPad killer, but one thing for sure is that it will kill the Kindle Fire. At the same $200 cost, it has twice the cores, is much faster, has a sharper display and a nicer OS, a front facing camera, GPS, Bluetooth, and a much nicer feel. Amazon realized that they had to do something, or the Kindle Fire would soon be extinct.

Now, a set of reports from China Times and BGR have told us exactly what they are doing. Amazon plans to release the Kindle Fire 2 in July.

According to these reports, the Kindle Fire 2 will stay at the same price as the current Kindle Fire, but will undergo many updates. First, its processor will be upgraded to a quad-core one. Second, its screen probably expand to 8.9" or 10" (probably the latter). Third, it will have a new metal casing on the exterior instead of the current plastic one.

The thing that I like to hear most on this list is the bigger screen size. On the current 7" Kindle Fire, reading magazines becomes tough, because you can't read the text, so you either have to zoom in on the page and pan around to follow the text (ugh...) or go on text mode where it displays the text in the format that books are in (Where did the pics go?). On a 10" Kindle Fire, I'm expecting that you wouldn't have to zoom in on the text, as it would already be readable.

When will this Kindle Fire be available? Well, shipping of the components for this device began in June, which means that it should be announced some time in late July. Stay tuned.

Apple to Launch iPad Mini in October

It seems as if every year holds something different for tablets. According to Steve Jobs, 2010 was the year of the iPad. 2011, I'd say, was the year of the competitors. Samsung, Motorola, Sony, and many more companies tried to compete with the iPad. But what was 2012 the year of? Not the iPad 3; while its retina display was a significant change, it wasn't as much of a hit as the iPad 2. I'd say 2012 was the year of the budget tablets.

First, some iPad wannabes started surfacing. Though they costed as little as $99, they had awful specs and couldn't compete with Apple's offering at all. Then, Archos started making tablets for the price of just $250; half of the cheapest iPad. While this was quite amazing, the public didn't seem very interested, possibly because Archos isn't a very popular brand. Then, Xtex came out with the My Tablet, a $150 ICS tablet with a 7" screen. It fared slightly better, but the screen was extremely low resolution and the app offerings were few. After that, Amazon and Barnes & Noble upgraded their e-reader line with the Kindle Fire and the Nook Tablet. Both were $200 7" tablets running heavily overwritten versions of Android. The Nook Tablet fared fine, but the Kindle Fire became a serious iPad competitor and likely the first successful budget tablet. However, both were geared toward bookworms, not the general audience. A few months ago, Microsoft launched its Microsoft Surface, another budget tablet offering hoping to compete with the iPad. And last week, Google came out with the Nexus 7, a tablet that I'd say has true potential; it has specs comparable to a $400 tablet at $200.

Now, you'll notice something interesting here. In the tablet market, Apple was the first to come, and all the other companies followed up with competitors. But with budget tablets, the people who competed with the iPad are coming first. Apple has long said that it would never make a smaller iPad; Steve Jobs himself said that a smaller iPad screen would severely worsen the user experience.

But now, it's time for Apple to admit that they were wrong. Very many 7" tablets have came out by now, and they are all faring extremely well. I own the Kindle Fire myself, and I would strongly disagree with what Steve Jobs said. He's known for being extremely opinionated, and often right, but in this case, he's been proven wrong.

And, believe it or not, Apple is admitting that they made a misstep. They may be behind in the budget tablet market, but they want to catch up. In October 2012, Apple is most likely going to launch the iPad Mini.

Bloomberg and WSJ both reported that this October, Apple will release the "iPad Mini" alongside the iPhone 5. This iPad will have a 7.85" screen, slightly bigger than the 7" screen of the Kindle Fire, Microsoft Surface, and Nexus 7, but significantly smaller than the 9.7" screen of the current iPad.

To keep the cost of this iPad low, it will not include a retina display, and will have a screen resolution of 1024x768, which is about the same is that of other budget tablets. This means that current iPad apps will be able to be used on the iPad Mini without the developers modifying them. However, the report states that Apple plans to make everything on the screen smaller instead of keeping things the same size but not displaying as much information on one screen.

Thousands of Infected Computers Will Lose Internet Monday

If your computer is infected, the DNS changer check-up site will look like this

280,000 computers are infected with malware that will cause their internet to shut down on Monday, July 9, 2012 if they don't remove the virus immediately. This is becoming a huge deal all over the internet, with sites like Facebook and Google posting warning messages to users who they detect have the virus. How did this all start?

Last year, international hackers set up an online advertising scam. When these ads were clicked on, the hackers would gain control of these computers by hooking them up wirelessly to malicious servers. The servers turned off anti-virus protection and other installed software on the infected computers, slowing down their internet and making them prone to even worse viruses. Luckily, the FBI found out about this, and set off to take down the hackers.

However, they realized that there was an important problem; if the FBI simply turned off the malicious servers, about 400,000 infected computers would lose internet connection. So, the FBI hired a private company to set up two clean temporary internet servers to replace these malicious servers.

But these servers will expire on July 9 at 12:01 a.m. So the 280,000 computers that were infected and are still connected to these servers will instantly lose internet connection. And this is a bigger deal than it may seem; it is estimated that 50 Fortune 500 computers are infected with this virus, and therefore will lose internet connection.

The FBI recommends that everybody check to see if their computer is infected with this virus by going on http://www.dns-ok.us/, which will detect if your computer is infected with this virus. If it is, DCWG (The FBI's site on this problem) has links to fix your computer so you won't lose connection.

Google's Nexus 7 Looks to Dominate the Budget Tablet Market

For a very long time, tablets have been widely regarded as amazing pieces of technology too expensive for most of us to buy. When Apple released the first iPad in April 2010, most people were blown away by the beauty of the device and the possibilities of what you could use it for. But they were also blown away by the $500 price tag, more than double that of the iPhone's. Later, other companies such as Motorola, Samsung, Asus, Sony, Dell, and Microsoft came out with their own tablets, but it turned out that these were either even more expensive, or simply iPad wannabes with awful specs. It seemed as if tablets would remain a luxury reserved for the- well, luxurious.

But then, a market of budget tablets opened up. Xtex, a small tech company, was the first to really break into this category with their Xtex My Tablet, an Ice Cream Sandwich tablet for just $150. While it wasn't a complete wannabe, it still had the obvious feel of a cheaply made tablet. As one unsatisfied reviewer said, "Don't buy this tablet, it is made of cheap plastic and is not good. Sometimes the touch screen does not respond. Poor Wi-Fi connectivity. Low sound quality."

Then, Amazon and Barnes & Noble upgraded their respective Kindle and Nook lines to include budget tablets. Amazon made the Kindle Fire, and Barnes & Noble made the Nook Tablet. Both were 7" Android tablets with $200 price tags. However, the operating system on both had been heavily overwritten with the company's own operating system, which featured huge eBook stores and thousands of full color magazines available. While both were great tablets at a low price, they were geared towards bookworms rather than the average tablet user.

Now, it seems like Google has hit it big. They just introduced the Nexus 7, a beautiful 7" tablet running Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean). It has a powerful quad-core processor, Bluetooth, a microphone,  a front facing camera, GPS, a 1280x800 pixel display, an amazing feel, and a stunning 9 hour battery life. But the true killer thing about this tablet? Its $200 price tag.



Watch the video above, and you'll see what I mean. The most stunning thing about this tablet, despite its amazing features, is its price tag.

Another great thing about this tablet is that because Google also makes Android, the hardware and the software of this tablet are being made by the same company. Does that sound familiar? It's the very thing Steve Jobs said is what made Apple so successful. In a world where one company would write an operating system and another would make the computer, Jobs thought that computers could be much better if both tasks were done by the same company. And just as this philosophy was used by Apple to change the world of technology, Google is going to change the world of tablets with it.

How exactly did Google use this strategy? Well, take a look at the tablet and you'll see what I mean. First, Google Play, another Google service, is tightly integrated into the tablet. Music, books, magazines, videos, and apps can easily be bought from Google Play and, unlike the multi-step procedure used on other devices, downloaded directly to the tablet. Second, Google Chrome is the default browser on this tablet. Third, they upgraded their Google Maps app for the device. You can see inside locations you're going to, and you can even take virtual tours of the insides of some places. Fourth, it utilizes a lot of Google apps; you can access Gmail right from the homepage, you can use the front-facing camera for Google+ Hangouts, and all your usage syncs with your Google account.

The Nexus 7 will launch July 19, and is available for pre-order on Google's Nexus page. If you pre-order the device, it will arrive with $25 of free Google Play credit.

Update 1: Android 4.1 also has an amazing voice search feature that proves to be even better than Siri. It will likely be seen on this tablet. Check out a video of the feature in action here.

Update 2: Rumor has it that Apple will launch a "Mini iPad" (an iPad with a 7.85" screen) along with the iPhone 5 this October to compete with the Nexus 7.

3DX Word Game Adds a Third Dimension to Scrabble

Ever since the hit word game Scrabble came out way back when, people have always been trying to make new variations on the game. Bananagrams added more entertainment to the game, Hexalex changed the shape of the tiles to hexagons, and Words with Friends, Wordfeud, Scrabble, and countless other games brought the game online. But now, 3DX is adding a whole new dimension to the traditional game. Literally.

As you can see in the images above, all of the 212 tiles in 3DX have grooves and inverse grooves so that you can connect them in any way; including vertically. That way, when you can't find any high-scoring horizontal words, you can just make one going vertically. And an element of physics is added to this game; you can't make the tiles topple.

Interestingly, the game doesn't include instructions (except for basic guidelines and scoring suggestions), which lets you decide what the rules will be. "Kids want to make up their own rules, to do things their way. They want to play the same game in as many different ways as they can invent and then come back the next day and find ten new ways to play," ThinkGeek says on the product description. It seems like the creators wanted to let people be creative in this version of Scrabble; not only can you build vertically, the rules and the scoring strategies are up to you.

Solidoodle 2 Becomes First Sub-$500 3D Printer

3D printers could possibly be a revolutionary tool in the new era of technology. Many people are complaining that technology turns us from producers into consumers; we simply consume content instead of making it ourselves. But 3D printers are doing quite the opposite; start-ups or even ordinary people with good ideas can easily make their ideas real or make inexpensive prototypes without commissioning factories to do it for thousands of dollars. But there's been one reason why 3D printers haven't been making as much of a change in the world as they could be; they're too expensive. 

The MakerBot replicator was considered unique and amazing when it hit the market, but its $1,999 price tag prevented it from reaching the mainstream audience. If you wanted, you could get MakerGear Mosaic 3D printer for $700, a kit that lets you assemble the printer yourself. But think of the time it takes to assemble the printer (at least a week), and the fact that you could ruin the printer if you assembled it incorrectly, and suddenly you're not headed right to their website to buy one.

But finally, a small startup in Brooklyn has achieved what most consumers would consider impossible knowing the price tags of similar items; breaking the $500 mark with a 3D printer. The printer is called the Solidoodle 2, and it could easily be a game changer for DIY people.

When I see something like this, my natural reaction is to look for the catch. So that's what I did. But amazingly, there's isn't one. As for size, it's 6"x6"x6" cube; while that's slightly smaller than the 8.9"x5.7"x5.9" MakerBot, but its size beats the 5.5"x5.5"x5.5" 3D Systems cube. Sure, printing is slightly harder (it can't print over Wi-Fi and doesn't have an SD card reader like the other two), but that isn't a big problem. And while it doesn't have a heated build platform (which helps keep the object in place during printing), the Pro model includes that for just $50 extra. The Expert model is $599, and it has the heated build platform and a metal and acrylic outer enclosure.

As for software, it uses Pronterface (above) and Skeinforge for controlling the printer and loading the prints. While it is relatively easy to make designs on these softwares, reorienting and rescaling prints isn't as easy. However, you can make designs on any software as long as you convert the file to STL format. 

The Solidoodle 2 is currently on sale at Solidoodle's website. So now, finally, your ideas can be transformed into real, tangible objects. And you don't have to pay thousands of dollars for them.

iPhone 5 Could Have a Taller 4" Display

Before the iPhone 4S came out, almost every rumor assured customers that it would see an increase to a 4" display. When it turned out that the screen of the 4S didn't change at all (in fact, the entire exterior didn't change at all), it was a big disappointment for many customers. Now, we hear rumors that the iPhone 5 will be the one to get the 4" display. But the thing that makes this report interesting is that the width of the screen won't change; Apple will just make the screen taller, changing the screen ratio from 4:3 to 16:9. Here's what that would look like:

But, Apple wouldn't simply stretch out the display. Instead, you'll just see more of the display. For example, on the home screen above, you'll see 5 rows of apps on every home screen; on the 4S you only see 4. And on the Twitter app below, you'll see more of the timeline, but proportions will stay the same.

 
One reason why some people are wary about this change is that it could change the snug feel that the iPhone 4S has in your hand. Because the height of the device will be increased by 0.4", your hand probably wouldn't touch the top of the device anymore, which might feel weird. Apple could counter this by making the bezel smaller, but iLounge reports that the bezel will only shrink by 0.04".

There are mixed reactions to the new design; while some are in favor of it (after all, if Apple's making the design, it has to be good...), others aren't so sure. First of all, it would be quite a hassle for app developers to make their apps compatible with the new screen size, and apps would look really weird before they made the switch. Second, this wouldn't quite solve the issue of the slightly cramped iPhone screen; many people are in favor of keeping the same aspect ratio in a new iPhone. Third, I find the back of the new iPhone a little bit ugly; the white-gray-white coloring looks too blocky and old.

You'll notice that this mockup shows the iPhone with a significantly smaller dock connector, which has also been rumored by several other sites. If this dock connector turns out to be micro-USB, that would make many of your other appliances compatible with the iPhone, but if it isn't, that will be a hassle, because your 30-pin chargers and other appliances won't work with the next iPhone.

Orangutans use iPads to Communicate

"Orangutans are extremely intelligent but limited by their physical inability to talk," says Linda Jacobs, worker at a Miami zoo. And she's quite accurate. So, most animal experts have resorted to sign language to communicate with apes. And while it has worked rather well, most ordinary people don't know sign language, so apes still can't communicate with them. Now, finally, Linda Jacobs of Miami Zoo has found the 21st-century solution; using iPads.

Last summer, Jacobs heard of someone who had used an iPad to communicate with dolphins, and she got the idea to try a similar technique with apes. And so far, it's working very well. She uses a software originally designed for autistic humans. To practice communication skills, the trainer displays pictures of various objects on the screen. She names one of the objects, and the orangutan presses on the corresponding picture. The iPad helps keep them mentally stimulated, and helps them avoid boredom or depression.

The benefits of this program could be amazing one day. Right now, apes are able to tell trainers if they have pains in their body so that they can receive medical treatment. They can also talk with the trainer. Miami Zoo hopes that in the future, they'll have screens on the cage of the apes where you can ask them a question, and they'll respond. Better yet, the Apps for Apes program hopes to have video-conferencing systems where apes can reconnect with family members at other zoos through video chat. These programs are spreading quite rapidly. Similar programs are currently in zoos in Miami, Milwaukee, Atlanta, Salt Lake City, Toronto, and Houston.

Interestingly, the apes turn out to be a lot like us when it comes to technology. The 8-year old orangutan twins in the Miami Zoo love their iPad, and use it for drawing and playing games as well as learning communication skills. The teenagers are interested in the device as well, but the older orangutans show absolutely no interest in the device.

Jacobs's only problem is that the iPad is too breakable and expensive to actually hand over to the apes, so she has to hold the device while the orangutans enter their input. Additionally, the apes can't enter input to the iPad with their fingernails because it doesn't have a capacitive touchscreen. A company like Samsung or Sony might be able to modify one of their tablets to fit the needs of an orangutan as this new method of communication grows more popular. But maybe the orangutans prefer Apple.