Forrester Finds That Despite The Tablet Invasion Of The Workplace, Workers Would Prefer A Keyboard, Too

Tablets! They’re everywhere you look, and fast replacing PCs, which are suffering dwindling sales. But just because tablets are rising in popularity doesn’t mean enterprise IT departments should go all-in on touch based interfaces. A new Forrester report suggests that people want keyboards with their tablets, however, which makes sense because no matter what anyone says typing on a software keyboard can’t possibly beat using a full-sized notebook QWERTY, in any of all possible universes.

Forrester’s survey of over 1,000 information workers across the U.S. and Europe found that 62 percent of them who either currently or would like to use a tablet at work also want a wireless keyboard, or keyboard dock attachment to use with them. 35 percent want a convertible laptop device, and another 34 percent say they’d like to use tablets where needed and then just switch back to a standard computer when doing plenty of typing.

That’s potentially good news for the non-Apple tablet market, since OEMs like Asus and Xplore (which just ranked third in a tablet vendor survey aimed at business by ABI research) that make tablet devices with alternate form factors and keyboard attachments. But before Microsoft reads too much into this in terms of seeing it as a bright spot for Surface tablets, it needs to go look at the sales and performance of those devices, and Windows RT in particular, and realize that no. Just no.

This is probably better news for makers of tablet-specific keyboard accessories – there’s likely a huge market to be had just selling into enterprise and business settings to help outfit current iPad deployments with the keyboards workers crave. Also, there’s room for a true category-bridging device to make waves yet.

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YC-Backed Amulyte Is Building A Better Lifeline For Seniors On The Move

Commercial catchphrases like “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up” have become the stuff of legend, but it’s not funny when one of your grandparents have been in that same situation.

University of Waterloo alumni Jaclyn Konzelmann and Perry Haldenby have been there with their own grandparents, and after discovering that most senior monitoring systems are terribly limiting they decided to take a stab at it themselves. Enter Amulyte, a YC-backed startup trying to build a smarter sort of lifeline for the elderly.

“All these devices are tied to a base station using 30-year-old technology,” Konzelmann said. And that’s fine when the person wearing them remains within the confines of their home, which is what most of these sorts of monitoring systems are equipped for. But what happens if grandpa wants to go for a leisurely stroll? Or, heaven forbid, visit a friend?

As far as the team is concerned, he should be able to grab a $99 (if you preorder) Amulyte and be on his way. The company’s eponymous gadget is a small pendant that can be worn around the neck or stowed in a pocket, and while it looks simple enough, there’s quite a bit going on inside. The Amulyte sports a cellular radio, Wi-Fi and GPS modules, an accelerometer, a micro-controller to keep all those bits running in harmony, and (most importantly) a battery will keep the thing running for up to a week. The final version of the device will also include an integrated speaker and microphone to allow for two-way communication, but at the moment the team is still trying to squeeze those components into the Amulyte’s tiny frame.

Of course, all those components are hidden away from users — all they see is a big ‘help’ button right smack in the center of the Amulyte. Once that button gets pressed, the Amulyte immediately starts reaching out to preset emergency contacts by calling and texting those people one by one until everyone knows what’s going on. Should things get really serious, Konzelmann says the Amulyte can also call emergency service providers, though the team is still trying to figure out where that call should fall in the chain of contact.

The Amulyte also has some quantified self tendencies, as it tracks the wearer’s activity levels and location (even when in doors thanks to some clever Wi-Fi positioning). All of that data is uploaded over that wireless data connection in real time so a predetermined list of caretakers can remotely keep tabs on their loved ones and take action accordingly.

As is often the case with a lot of these connected hardware startups, the team isn’t looking to make much money of the Amulyte itself — Konzelmann says the cost of the device “essentially” covers its bill of materials. Instead, interested users will have to shell out $30 per month for those cellular and voice connections, as well as gain access to Amulyte’s online monitoring portal.

Amulyte isn’t the first startup to tackle the senior-sensing problem: Virginia-based BeClose pulled back the curtain on its own in-home monitoring system last year, while the team at Lively tried to crack the code by tracking objects around the house instead of people. Still, the pair have cooked up one of the few monitoring schemes that can keep tabs on seniors wherever they go, and opening up that backend to multiple caretakers means that loved ones and professionals always have access to the same information is an awfully smart move.

Sadly, you won’t be able to get your hands on an Amulyte for at least a few more months. Konzelmann and Haldenby are still refining the pendant’s design and testing a batch of prototype models (see above) with a local retirement home, and while early feedback seems to be positive, they don’t expect the first consumer-ready units to hit doorsteps until early 2014.

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ShopAdvisor Closes $5M Funding Round As It Grows Roster Of Magazines Using Its Comparison-Shopping Tech

ShopAdvisor has closed a $5 million investment round led by Pittco Capital Partners, with participation from Seavest Capital, Rationalwave Capital Partners, and the Boston-based investors Rob Soni and Bob Davoli. The company, which originally launched as an app to help consumers remember and shop for products later, has moved in a B2B direction in the last year by adding comparison-shopping opportunities for media sites, tablet apps and print publications.

This round brings ShopAdvisor’s total funding to $7 million. ShopAdvisor CEO Scott Cooper told us that the investment will be used to build out the company’s customer base, which currently includes Time Inc. and Hearst titles like Cosmopolitan and the beauty magazine Allure.

“You’re reading Cosmopolitan on your tablet, paging through that magazine, and you come upon an Oscar de la Renta ad for a new fragrance. A button appears to shop, you click on it, and you see more products that hover over the ad. You put them on a list of products to interact with later. It’s the deferred concept; it’s like dog-earring a magazine,” Cooper said.

In recreating the experience of dog-earring a magazine page, ShopAdvisor is aiming to give magazines a point of sale that feels natural to print readers. Consumers can keep track of items they may be interested in purchasing once they’re done reading, and when they give ShopAdvisor their email address, they open themselves up to later marketing.

Magazines can make both advertisements and original content shoppable. The placement of the shopping opportunities, which typically appear as buttons, is up to the editorial team, Cooper said; ShopAdvisor provides the technology and product suggestions from their 16,000 affiliated merchants.

Cosmopolitan has done a particularly good job engaging their readers with comparison shopping by being careful to build a button that works with their aesthetic and positioning it consistently to make it feel comfortable and familiar to readers. Cooper acknowledged that readers won’t interact with ShopAdvisor product suggestions the first time they see it, but instead need a bit of soak time to become comfortable with using it.

Although Cooper declined to comment on click-through rates on ShopAdvisor’s shopping buttons, he did say that tablet use rates have been particularly high.

“The average rate of clicking on a banner ad for a website is well below 1 percent. [With digital magazines] we see click rates 10 times higher than on banner ads.”

Not everyone is a fan of the current state of magazine apps, but as more publications look to digital as a way of boosting and monetizing their readership, they’re going to want services like this that replicate familiar habits of print media consumption. In that light, ShopAdvisor could do very well for itself.

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Canvsly Rewards Parents For Saving Photos Of Their Kids’ Art

A new mobile app for iPhone called Canvsly wants to encourage parents to photograph, save and share their children’s artwork by snapping pictures of it with their phone. Yes, just like direct competitor Artkive, which has caught the attention of more than a few mommy bloggers already. But this latest entrant has a slightly different take on the whole experience, as it also incentivizes the activity of saving art by offering users real and virtual rewards as they hit certain milestones.

Much like Artkive, the premise of Canvsly is that parents who feel guilty over trashing junior’s fingerpaint creations can assuage those feelings by turning them into long-lasting digital memories. Also like Artkive, you can create profiles for the different children in the household, and build galleries of their work, where the art is organized for you.

Explains founder Amit Murumkar, a technology consultant who has dabbled with startups in the past, he was inspired to build this app after having been something of an artist himself during his childhood. “I won a lot of school-level competitions, but I don’t have a single piece of art from then today,” he says.

As an adult now, he understands that it’s just not possible to save everything forever. But as the parent of a three-year old, he also wants to ensure that her memories aren’t as casually discarded.

While Artkive already exists to serve the same demographic he’s currently targeting with Canvsly, there are a few notable differences between the apps. Canvsly, for instance, is designed to be a more social experience, where family members and friends can keep an eye on the shared activity feed and then comment or like (called a “high-five”) the art that’s posted.

Over time, members are rewarded for their continual usage of the app, with milestones directed at both the parents and the kids (“artist of the month” for submitting the most art, or the most “high-fived” art, for example). These come in the form of virtual awards, like badges, as well as real-world rewards through the integration of Kiip’s rewards system. The app, in fact, was a 2013 Kiip Build Fund Creation winner. (Kiip, for those unfamiliar, allows app developers to reward users with free product samples, gift cards, mp3 downloads, and more, for hitting certain milestones or achievements in the app.)

In addition, while Artkive recently introduced photo book creation capabilities into its app, Canvsly offers a different line up of products. Instead of books, which it may add later, it instead offers 25 different gifts and keepsakes, including magnets, mousepads, coffee mugs, water bottles, postcards, or, for the holidays, ornaments.

The app was only pushed to the App Store around a week ago and has done little marketing outside of some Facebook ads since, so it doesn’t have much traction to speak of at this time. But the founder has been out and about, talking it up at local preschools and art classes, in hopes of gaining some word-of-mouth action.

As a parent of a three-year old myself, I’ve given both these apps a whirl. But I have the same complaint with Canvsly as I did with ArtKive: there are just too many steps to getting a single piece of art uploaded and saved.

Canvsly, for instance, forces you to enter a caption, and god knows what some of my kid’s work is even a picture of at this point. Plus, both apps should let users import older photos from the Camera Roll, then organize them appropriately based on the timestamp. After all, the default way many moms (and dads) save kids’ artwork today is with an iPhone photo that later gets uploaded to a more generalized cloud photos site, like Facebook, Google+, Flickr or Shutterfly. That’s still a far quicker and easier process, and pressed for time, the value-add of a niche app like either of these may not be enough to keep users engaged – whether there are rewards or not.

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Announcing Disrupt SF’s Startup Alley, Hardware Alley, And International Pavilion Companies

Startup Alley is the loud and boisterous marketplace of Disrupt. Young companies, huddled around cocktail tables demoing their wares, are vying for attention and a spot on the Disrupt stage. All of these startups are amazing and we invite you to visit this amazing group at Disrupt SF early next month.

As in years past startups covering nearly every category are exhibiting, including separate pavilions with startups from Brazil by initial.vc, China by TechNode, India by YourStory.in, Ireland by IDA and Enterprise Ireland, Israel by initial.vc, and Korea by KOCCA. Needless to say, Disrupt SF is truly an international event.

The first two days of Disrupt will feature web startups covering media, mobile, lifestyle, enterprise, and many more. Then, on Wednesday September 11th, hardware companies will take over the Concourse exhibit hall for Hardware Alley, our semi-annual celebration of gizmos and gadgets.

The full list of Startup Alley and Hardware Alley companies is here.

These companies are also fighting to demo in front of Disrupt judges on Monday and Tuesday. If selected as the Audience Choice, they’re fast tracked to the Startup Battlefield where they compete for the Disrupt Cup and $50,000 grand prize.

You can find out more at the Disrupt event page but the gist is this: The event runs from September 9 – 11. We’re running a pre-event 24-hour hackathon for folks who want to get one free ticket but, as it stands, you still have the opportunity to pick up a ticket to the show. Or better yet, get a Startup Alley and Hardware Alley package and show off your startup. Packages are available here.

Accelerators, VCs and industry/government associations who would like to partner with us and bring a group of startups either to Disrupt SF or Berlin, please email startupalley@techcrunch.com

Sponsors: Our sponsors help make Disrupt happen. If you are interested in learning more about sponsorship opportunities, please contact our sponsorship team here sponsors@techcrunch.com

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Startups Apparently Do Not Care That Android Is Better

In a must-read post for the tech industry, Twitter experience designer and serial startup founder Paul Stamatiou writes: “Android is Better.” His op-ed serves as something of a wake-up call for the industry, where developers building the next generation of mobile applications still heavily prefer the iPhone, not only as their personal smartphone of choice, but also as the launch platform for their latest creations.

Many who have already heeded Android’s siren song found themselves nodding along to nearly every point Stamatiou made, ranging from the minor details, like how Android handles notifications, to broader statements about Android’s “magical user experience,” which involves the use of a global back button, Google Now integration and Android intents for app-to-app interoperability and communication. While obviously an opinion piece, Stamatiou’s thoughts came across as reasoned and well-argued, and didn’t at all resemble the fanboy-ish op-eds often published to incite religious wars between the iPhone and Android zealots for website traffic’s sake.

Most Tech Companies Are Still iOS-First

Having recently made the switch from the iPhone 5 to the Nexus 4 and then back to the iPhone 5 myself, the pro-Android argument struck a personal chord. It’s at least the third time I’ve attempted to leave the iPhone. For all the same reasons, I too had found myself again falling in love with the Android operating system. But there’s one thing that keeps pulling me back to iPhone: the apps.

As an early adopter, and technology enthusiast in general — a mindset TechCrunch readers probably share — being solely on Android can be a frustrating experience. Today’s tech companies are still launching their mobile applications on iOS first. This includes apps from the smallest of startups to some of the largest, like Twitter, which launched its video-sharing app Vine as well as Twitter Music on iPhone first (the latter of which is not yet on Android, four months after its debut).

The iOS-first mentality is so ingrained in the culture of the tech and startup scene, in fact, that Facebook had once plastered large signs around its offices begging employees to switch to Android. Later, the company released its own take on what Android users supposedly want with “Facebook Home,” an Android launcher that quickly tanked. Had Facebookers understood the true ethos of Android, they would have perhaps realized that Android users favor the customization and personalization aspects of the platform. Meanwhile, Facebook Home was a full-on takeover of the entire Android interface and experience, with little wiggle room to change much of anything about its behavior.

If you look at Android’s top charts, you’ll find they’re continually filled with apps that let users tweak, customize, and better control their Android devices. For instance, in July of this year, the top five paid Android apps included a keyboard replacement (Swiftkey) in the No. 1 position, a fairly geeky utility for users who had rooted their phones (Titanium Backup) in the No. 2 position, and an alternative launcher (Nova) as No. 4, according to analytics firm Distimo.

The constant tweaking and customizing is fun, but at some point, it becomes just another way to pass the time while waiting for the latest and greatest new application to make its way to Android. You know – eventually.

This is not the story you’ll hear from headstrong Android devotees who point to the sheer number of Android apps available today. Of course, it’s true that the Apple and Android app stores are roughly close in terms of the numbers of applications offered, and have been for some time. There are over 900,000 iOS applications, while analysts estimated as of May there are over 800,000 Android apps available. It’s not that there aren’t enough Android apps out there. There just aren’t the brand-new ones early adopters might want — those from startups you may read about here on TechCrunch, for example. Those almost invariably go iOS-first.

It’s hard to even think of tech companies that launched on Android first in recent months, but there are a few. Any.DO, a mobile task list app was on Android before iPhone; mobile messenger Invi bet on Android, too. Imgur launched on Android before iPhone, but only because it had to clean itself up a bit, in order to be approved for distribution through iTunes. And Zillow, with what feels like an awkward nod to the demographics of Android users, launched its Rentals app on Android first last fall. (These are off the top of my head. I asked on Twitter, and a few responses trickled in, including Smoopa and … um, does Google Now count?)

To be clear, there are certainly many, many Android applications that aren’t on iOS, but this is mainly the result of developers taking advantage of the Android platform in ways that Apple would not allow. This includes the tweakers and customizers, but also the suite of Google apps that are better baked into Android, such as Google Now. (On iPhone, “Now” is more like a feature within the Google app — a standalone experience.)

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Beddit, The Sleep Sensor You Tape To Your Bed, Looks To Build Cloud App With Indiegogo Stretch Goal

Smart pedometers are just the beginning. Sensors of all kinds are emerging to track the way we move, what we do at home and the way we sleep.

Last week, I wrote about a Helsinki-based company called Beddit that ran an Indiegogo campaign for a sleep sensor you attach to your bed. They say it is so sensitive, it can pick up a person’s heart-rate. After making devices like this for medical professionals for a couple years, they are looking at the consumer market with a cheaper product for $149.

They quickly reached their goal of $80,000 in about a week and are looking to tack on more. The company’s pledging to build a web app called Beddit Cloud for backing up and sharing sleep data if they can reach $200,000. The original Beddit already syncs to a mobile app through Bluetooth.

But if they build Beddit Cloud, then a person can automatically upload their sleep measurements to a private web account. This will include visualizations for looking at long periods of sleep data, spreadsheet exports and an anonymous aggregated comparison of your sleep data with other Beddit Cloud users.

They’ll also make the data easily shareable to social networks, putting in some of the social features that are common in more generalized activity trackers like the Jawbone Up. There will also be an open API for third-party apps. They’re planning to have it out by the second quarter of next year if they make this stretch goal.

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Waywire CEO Nathan Richardson Departs As Company Shifts Focus From Content Creation To Curation

The CEO of Waywire — the startup co-founded by Newark mayor and Senate candidate Cory Booker — is stepping down, TechCrunch has learned. The resignation comes as the company is in the midst of a strategic shift from content creation to content curation, according to a source familiar with the company’s strategy.

Richardson was one of three founding members of the Waywire team, along with Booker and Sarah Ross. According to our source, the company is in search of a new CEO, who is expected to be named shortly. In the meantime, Ross is handling the company’s day-to-day activities and Richardson will remain on the company’s board of directors.

The change in leadership comes as Waywire is at an inflection point in its strategic direction. The company, which originally planned to focus on original content creation and discovery, is expected to bet big on content curation.

While still in beta, original content has gone on the back burner as the company seeks to tweak its product and prepare it for launch. In that way, Waywire will lean on others to highlight interesting content that emerges. So instead of being responsible for creating interesting content, users and brands will hopefully highlight content created elsewhere.

With the new direction of the company, Waywire is focused on ways in which it can provide value to users through three different types of content curation: that which is done by its own editors, that which is done through its community, and that which is done by content partners. With that new goal in mind, the company has been working to partner with big media companies — and has signed up two, who will be named later.

So where’s Richardson going? We’re not sure, but TechCrunch received a tip earlier today that he’s joining AOL, to be reunited with AOL Brand CEO Susan Lyne. The pair worked together while Lyne was CEO of New York City-based Gilt Groupe, and Richardson served a variety of roles, including GM of the Men’s section of the site, as well as president of Gilt City. (Our parent company AOL didn’t respond to our requests for comment.)

Richardson isn’t the only person to leave as a result of the transition, we’ve learned. A total of eight Waywire employees have moved on as the company has shifted gears over the last several weeks.

It’s not all bad news for Waywire: With the strategic shift in focus and a new CEO expected to be named soon, the company is also poised to announce a new round of seed funding over the coming days or weeks, we’ve learned.

That investment will come on top of $1.75 million that the company raised from investors that include First Round Capital, Eric Schmidt’s Innovation Endeavors, Atom Factory founder Troy Carter, LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman, and all-around celebrity Oprah Winfrey.

The news of Richardson’s departure also comes after Senate hopeful Cory Booker has advanced in the race, and as his opponents seek to use his involvement in the seed-stage startup against him. That said, Booker has said that if elected, he would step down from the board of directors and also put his holdings in a financial trust.

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Moto X Moto Maker: How I Designed My Own Smartphone

“The Royal Blue looks tight.” “No, get the Crimson!” Those were some of the comments I heard from excited colleagues as I used Moto Maker, an online tool for designing your own version of the Moto X. Available exclusively to AT&T customers for now, you can choose from 18 back colors, 7 accent colors and 2 front colors. Then you can add an message on the back and choose from two case options before the phone is assembled in Texas and shipped to you in about four days.

Motorola invited members of the press to test Moto Maker so you could see what it’s like to personalize your own device. As it turns out, choosing among the many colors was easy and fun, but Moto Maker isn’t a fan of overly colorful language when it comes to inscriptions.

Step 1: Enter Your Code

AT&T shoppers who purchase their Moto X in the store and who would like to design their own phone will be given a card with a scratch-off code. When you get home, you’ll scratch off the PIN area on the back of the card you were provided. Next, enter the redemption pin in the appropriate box. You’ll also need to add the displayed words in the security box.

MORE: Top 8 ‘Made in the U.S.A.’ Gadgets

Step 2: Choose a Back Color

With six Cool colors, two Neutral colors and seven Warm colors from which to choose, Moto Maker offers plenty of variety so you can pick the right hue to suit your style. The white and black colors looked rather boring, so I gravitated towards the Royal Blue among the Cool colors. But then I started exploring the Warm colors, and I liked both the Lemon Lime option (reminding me a bit of the Lumia 1020) and the Crimson.

Ultimately, I went with Crimson because you just don’t see that color on the vast majority of handsets. I was a little hesitant when someone said that the color reminded them of the Washington Redskin and RGIII, knowing full well I’m a NY Giants fan, but I think I made the right call.

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Apple iPhone 5S Fingerprint Scanner Allegedly Leaked

If you’re not already convinced that Apple’s next iPhone will come with a fingerprint scanner, a newly leaked set of photos will probably change your mind. Images of what claims to be the internal components of Apple’s iPhone 5S have appeared online, hinting that a fingerprint scanner could sit right near the home button.

French blog Nowhereelse.fr, which has been known to leak components for unreleased Apple products, has published images that show the internal components of the alleged iPhone 5S. The photo set compares Apple’s next iPhone alongside the current generation iPhone 5, outlining the key differences between the two handsets.

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Nokia Windows RT Tablet Could Launch in September

It was just yesterday that we heard rumblings of a possible Nokia Windows RT tablet coming out next month. Today, we’re hearing that the slate may be introduced by Nokia during a Sept. 26 event in New York. The tablet, which has yet to be confirmed, has also appeared in a leaked image sporting a Verizon Wireless and 4G LTE logos, indicating that the slate will be available with its own data connection.

According to The Verge, which posted the photo, the tablet will also include a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor and be available for AT&T in addition to Verizon. These reports fit the news we reported yesterday, which indicated that the tablet will offer a 2.15-GHz Snapdragon 800 CPU and 2GB of RAM. The 10.1-inch slate could also feature a 1080p display, and come with a detachable keyboard cover similar to Microsoft’s Touch and Type covers for its Surface slates.

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Motorola Skip Unlocks Your Moto X With Just a Tap

Google made it clear in January that it was dissatisfied with password authentication, as reports revealed that the search engine giant was working on new tech to replace traditional PINs. Now, we could be seeing the first product of that effort in the newly announced Motorola Skip for Moto X.

Skip is a small thumb-sized clip that pairs with your Moto X and unlocks the device with a single tap. The accessory can be worn on you shirt, belt or any other area that feels comfortable. Essentially, users will be able to unlock their devices without having to remember a PIN or touch their phone whatsoever.


MORE: 10 Best Android Smartphones

Motorola says that each Skip clip comes with three Skip dots that also pair with your phone. Moto X owners can touch their device to these stickers to unlock their phone rather than typing in a passcode. For example, if you leave a Skip dot on your nightstand you can simply say “OK Google Now, set an alarm for 7 am,” without having to touch your smartphone. You can still unlock your phone with a password if you forget or lose your Skip, and both Skip clips and dots will only work when paired with your phone.

The company hasn’t announced exactly when these accessories will launch, but did say that they will be available on Motorola’s website when the Moto X goes on sale. The Skip will be available in gray with a black accent, but Motorola says it plans to release more colors soon. For a limited time, Skip will be available for free with all Moto X orders made through AT&T’s Moto Maker.

The Skip builds on the Moto X’ touchless controls functionality, which the company emphasized during the phone’s launch event in early August. For example, the Moto X is designed to spring into action whenever its owner says, “OK, Google Now.” It’s trained to recognize the user’s voice, so if someone snatches your phone or attempts to use it, the Moto X won’t respond.

More importantly, the Skip represents an effort to create secure alternatives for traditional passwords. In 2012 alone, numerous incidents illustrated just how insecure PINs and passcodes can be. Last June hordes of LinkedIn users had their passwords leaked by hackers. Mat Honan of Wired had his entire digital identity stolen last year when hackers stole his Gmail password, tarnished his Twitter account and remotely wiped his iPhone, iPad and laptop.

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Moto X Release Date Slated for Aug. 23 on AT&T

AT&T has officially announced it will begin selling Motorola’s Moto X phone on Aug. 23 for $199 with a two-year contract. In addition to being the first of the Big Four carriers to offer the handset, AT&T will also have a short-term lock on Motorola’s Moto Maker customization service. Moto Maker allows users to completely customize the look of their Moto X, from the material its rear panel is made of to its home screen background.

The 4.7-inch Moto X is the first smartphone to be jointly developed by Motorola Mobility and Google since the search giant acquired the handset maker last year. The phone offers several intriguing features including its always on Google voice control and a nifty camera that lets you tap anywhere on the screen to capture a photo. The smartphone’s Active Display function provides users with visual alerts whenever the phone receives a notification.

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Moms Use iPads, Singles Use iPhones, Study Finds

If you’re reading this story on an iOS device, you’re probably doing it on an iPad, sitting comfortably at home. Chances are you’re also a mom, pet owner or small business owner. Mobile data research firm Flurry tracked 44,295 iPhones and iPads in May and found that people with different lifestyles tended to favor different devices.

Flurry developed a set of personas based on different psychographics, creating identities like “New Moms,” “Music Lovers” and “Social Influencers.” Looking at what share of iOS devices were used by each Persona, the firm found that Value Shoppers, Singles and Hip Urban Lifestyle tended to prefer iPhones, while Pet Owners, Small Business Owners and Moms favored iPads.

The study also found that iPads were used for more home-oriented activities like reading, learning and playing games, while apps used on the iPhone were mostly Navigation and Fitness Tracking apps. And while app activity peaked between 6 p.m. and 11.p.m. for both iPads and iPhones, more iPad owners used their devices during those hours, while iPhone users take over from 10 p.m. and continue to be more active until 5 a.m..

But of course, many people own both devices. Flurry noted that while its data did not allow it to link the same user across his or her different devices, individuals may express different parts of their personalities and lifestyles through their use of different devices. So if you’re feeling like a “Casual Gamer,” you may turn to your iPad, and when you’re in the mood to return to your “Hip Urban Lifestyle,” you may pick up your iPhone and head out for a night on the town.

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Deal of the Day: Sony Xperia Tablet Z with Free Headphones

Sponsored Content: Each day, LogicBuy brings you the hottest technology sales and coupons on the web. Whether you’re shopping for a new Ultrabook, looking to grab a new tablet or just want to see the biggest discounts online, we’ve got them 7 days a week.

It’s finally Friday and we thought some killer deals would help get you ready for the weekend. We love it when there are deals on brand new tech, like the Sony Xperia Tablet Z. This gorgeous 10.1-inch quad-core Android tablet has a high-res screen, is water resistant, and comes with your choice of free premium headphones (up to $130 value).

You can also grab the fully-loaded Dell Inspiron 15R Special Edition complete with Core i7, 1080p screen, Radeon HD graphics, and more for just $799.99, a savings of nearly $400. Don’t miss the 1 terabyte internal hard drive from Hitachi for just $64.99 either. Scroll down to grab these and the rest of today’s hottest deals.

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Next Amazon Kindle Fire HD Specs May Include 2560 x 1600 Display

With the newly announced Google Nexus 7 and rumored Retina Display iPad Mini, it looks like Amazon may be stepping up its game. An allegedly leaked set of benchmark results for an unreleased Kindle Fire HD suggests Amazon will launch a slate with a 2560 x 1600-pixel resolution.

The results refer to a tablet called “Amazon KFAPWA” with graphics powered by an Adreno 330, hinting that it could be running on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 chip. The leak also says that it will come with Android 4.2.2 out of the box. The test results, which turned up on GFX Bench, don’t mention a specific screen size but simply reveals that the resolution will be 2560 x 1600 pixels.

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Apple iPad Mini vs. Google Nexus 7: What’s the Best Small Tablet?

Tablet shoppers are thinking small, with slates that measure less than 9 inches expected to account for more than 66 percent of sales this year. And if you want a tablet you can take anywhere, the iPad mini and Nexus 7 are the two leading options. The latest Nexus 7 from Google packs a class-leading 1920 x 1200-pixel display and dual speakers into a much sleeker design.

On the other hand, the iPad mini is very portable given its larger 7.9-inch display, and there are more than 375,000 apps made for the device. To find out which small slate reigns supreme, we pit the iPad mini against the new Nexus 7 in 13 rounds of battle. Read on to find out which tablet takes home the crown.
Design

While both small tablets feature familiar rectangles, the new Nexus 7 is nice and slim. Measuring 7.9 x 4.5 x 0.34 inches, the width is easier to hold with one hand than the iPad mini’s 7.9 x 5.3 x 0.28 inches. On the other hand, Apple squeezed a larger 7.9-inch screen into a thinner chassis. The front of the Nexus 7 has a lot of wasted space above and below the screen.

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