MacRumors

Photos from the winners of the sixth annual iPhone Photography Awards have been posted on the IPPA website, displaying some of the best pictures taken with an iPhone over the course of the past year.

The photo subjects range from portraits of animals and people to landscapes, with the first place photo depicting a close-up shot of a horse. The second and third place photos were taken during a Holi festival of colors and a snowstorm, respectively.

In addition to the top three photos of the year, the website also displays the winners from a number of categories, including architecture, nature, seasons, and food.

According to the rules of the contest, all photos were taken with an iPhone. No external manipulation was permitted, though photo editing apps such as Instagram and Snapseed were allowed to be used.

Apple's iPhone remains the most popular camera choice on photo sharing website Flickr, a title that it has held since 2009. As the iPhone has grown in popularity as a point-and-shoot camera replacement, Apple has worked hard to improve its photo taking capabilities. The iPhone 5 introduced an impressive 8-megapixel camera with enhanced HDR and low-light capabilities and the iPhone 5S, coming in September, is expected to offer further camera improvements.

Streaming media device use has doubled since 2011, with 14% of U.S. broadband households using products like the Apple TV or the Roku in 2013, reports Parks Associates (via CNET).

While the Apple TV has increased in popularity over the last several years, it falls short of competing product Roku. A survey of 10,000 U.S. broadband households revealed that 37% used a Roku device while 24% used an Apple TV, making Roku the most used streaming set-top box in the U.S.

Parks Associates predicts that worldwide connected TV device sales will double to reach 330 million annually by 2017, with annual sales revenue increasing almost 100%.

"Innovations such as next-gen game consoles and 4K or ultra-HD TVs will boost unit sales for these devices, but overall, consumers are reluctant to replace these big-ticket items solely for smart upgrades," said Barbara Kraus, director, research, Parks Associates. "As a result, streaming video media devices will have a thriving market because they can offer innovations such as streaming video at low prices. Devices such as Roku’s streaming players and Google's Chromecast will benefit from these market conditions."

Despite the fact that Apple has long referred to the Apple TV as a "hobby project," the company has been working on beefing up its content offerings in recent months, most recently debuting new channels for HBO GO, WatchESPN, and more. Apple is also said to have upcoming deals in the works with Time Warner Cable and music video company VEVO.

Apple has just announced via its App Store Facebook page that PopCap’s much-anticipated Plants vs. Zombies 2 app for iOS will be released on Thursday, August 15.

"It's about time," reads the announcement above a photo of a PvZ-style zombie hand reaching out of the dirt. "Guess what game is coming tomorrow?"

Plants vs. Zombies 2 will feature the same lane defense gameplay that made the original game a hit, but it also includes time travel to all new locations. Unlike the first game, PvZ 2 will be available as a freemium title. PopCap has stated that players will be able to access “the vast majority of the game” without paying money.

The announcement does not specify the time that the game will be made available, but Thursday releases can often be downloaded on Wednesday night, at 11 p.m ET.

Update: Plants vs. Zombies 2 can now be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]

According to a new report from research firm Canalys, Android tablets have only a portion of the quality apps that are available on Apple's iPad.

30 of the top 100 paid and free apps in Apple's iPad App Store during the first half of 2013 were unavailable in the Google Play store. An additional 18 apps could be downloaded, but were not optimized for tablet users.

Only 52 of the 100 top App Store apps were available on Google Play and optimized for tablets. Six of those apps were originally paid apps in the App Store, but available in an ad-supported capacity on Google Play, which Canalys points out often provides an inferior experience.

"Quite simply, building high-quality app experiences for Android tablets has not been among many developers' top priorities to date," said Canalys Senior Analyst Tim Shepherd. "That there are over 375,000 apps in the Apple App Store that are designed with iPad users in mind, versus just a fraction of this – in the low tens of thousands – available through Google Play, underscores this point ."

Earlier this month, Canalys reported that non-iOS tablets surpassed the iPad in global market share for the first time, with Apple taking just a 42.7% share of worldwide tablet shipments. Tablets from Samsung, Amazon, Lenovo, Acer, and others combined to capture 57.3% of tablet shipments.

Google Play downloads also reportedly surpassed App Store downloads during the second quarter of 2013, but despite greater Android tablet and smartphone shipments and a higher number of app downloads, Apple's App Store still brings in over twice the amount of revenue.

Canalys obtained its data on the App Store and the Google Play store by aggregating daily app rankings during the first half of 2013. Canalys has provided a detailed list [PDF]
of the top free and paid App Store apps that were available or unavailable for the Google Play store.

Orbotix has announced Version 2.0 of its robotic iOS-controlled ball Sphero. The upgraded Sphero is reportedly twice as fast -- capable of rolling at 7 feet per second -- and three times as bright, with more LEDs and colors.

The first Sphero was originally released back in 2011, and more than 25 different apps have been released to interact with the device.

Sphero 2.0 is available for pre-order for $130.

The latest earnings report by Tencent, a Chinese Internet giant, has revealed that the cross-platform instant messaging service WeChat and its counterpart Weixin have hit a combined high of 235.8 million users monthly, an increase of 176.8% year-on-year.

WeChat's usage figure is just shy of that of WhatsApp, which exceeded 300 million monthly users last month and is currently the world's most popular cross-platform messenger. An update to WhatsApp last week provided one-tap voice messaging across all platforms.

WeChat's rise can be partially attributed to increased marketing efforts by Tencent, which owns WeChat, as the Internet giant attempts to establish a more solid presence in the mobile world.

The company recently signed Lionel Messi, an Argentinian footballer widely considered to be one of the best in the world, as its product ambassador and a recent report by GSMInsider revealed that 70 million WeChat users are located outside of China. The app is currently available on iOS, Android, Blackberry, Windows Phone and Symbian devices and is available in a number of different languages, including English, Spanish, Italian, Russian and Portuguese.

Although WeChat is similar to WhatsApp, the service is mainly tailored towards Chinese users. A recent update last week added the ability to purchase stickers from a built-in store and search for nearby friends using the "Hold Together" function. The Q2 earnings report showed that Tencent experienced a 156.5% year-on-year increase in "e-commerce transactions", which were up to RMB 2.199.4 million ($356 million).

WeChat is a free download in the App Store. [Direct Link]

Following its announcement a couple of weeks ago, British carrier O2 has now detailed the costs of its 4G tariffs on its website, with airtime plans starting from £22 (around $34) monthly. The plans, which all include unlimited calling minutes and texts to any British network, include either 1 GB, 3 GB or 5 GB of data, with extra available to users who sign up before the end of October.

Customers who also want to choose a new device have a range of options through O2 Refresh, which uniquely gives O2 customers the flexibility to get the latest device whenever they want. Airtime plans for O2 Refresh start from £22 a month for 1GB of data, and go up to £37 for 8GB. Customers have the flexibility to choose a 4G device at a price per month that suits them. The monthly device payment will range from £10 to £25, dependent on how a customer chooses to pay for one of over 10 4G-ready devices in O2’s range.

The new 4G plans also include a complementary 12-month subscription to O2 Tracks, the carrier's streaming music service, and feature "exclusive multiplayer online gaming" to try and entice users to sign up. Both EE and Vodafone, two other British carriers, also feature exclusive deals to new users who sign up to their 4G plans.

Vodafone became the third British carrier to announce 4G services a week ago and is planning to offer a promotional subscription to Spotify Premium and an exclusive deal with Sky Sports Mobile TV with its 4G plans, though there is no word yet on pricing. EE, which is currently the market leader in 4G services in the UK, offers a subscription to Deezer, a French streaming music service similar to Spotify, and free mobile TV with its higher-end 4G plans, which start from £41 (around $63) monthly.

The new tariffs from O2 are priced exactly the same as similar plans from EE, although O2 is currently featuring an introductory offer whereby users who sign up to the new plans before the end of October are treated to extra data for no additional cost. The carrier has also introduced a "4G Phone Promise", which allows iPhone 5 owners on O2 to upgrade their phone to a 4G-compatible phone at no extra cost, with the carrier covering 25% of the cost of the remaining line rental.

O2 is expected to launch its 4G network in London, Leeds and Bradford on August 29th, with a further 10 cities due to be switched on by the end of the year. The network has promised speeds of up to 6 times faster than existing 3G services on the recently-licensed 800 MHz spectrum – a frequency not supported by the iPhone 5. The incompatibility is likely to be rectified with the launch of the iPhone 5S, which is expected to be introduced on September 10.

iPhone-enabled home monitoring solution Canary has just hit $1.25 million in funding on startup campaign site Indiegogo, raising well over its intended goal of $100,000. The project is on track to become the most successful crowd-funded home product ever, and has received pre-orders from 67 countries in the world.

The $1.25 million commitment marks a stretch goal for project that will enable to Canary team to add additional features to the product such as an Ethernet port and adaptive video quality.

Canary is a single device that contains an HD video camera and multiple sensors that track everything from motion, temperature and air quality to vibration, sound, and activity to help keep you, your family and your home safe.

The accompanying app and service with Canary are set to be free of charge, although the company plans to offer optional service packages that include features such as increased data storage and call center options.

Canary is currently available via preorder/crowdfunding on Indiegogo, starting at $199. The estimated delivery for preorders is May 2014.

Music video app VEVO was today updated to version 2.8 adding full AirPlay support, which will allow users to stream both audio and video to the Apple TV.

The addition of complete AirPlay support for the iOS version of VEVO comes just days after news leaked that VEVO would release a 24/7 music video app for the Apple TV.

VEVO's iOS app includes a catalog of 75,000 music videos from 21,000 different artists, plus a VEVO TV channel that plays continuous non-stop content, which is similar to how a potential Apple TV app will work. According to AllThingsD, the VEVO app could be released for the Apple TV as soon as this month. In the meantime, the new AirPlay functionality allows the app's full range of content to be broadcast to the TV.

VEVO is an iPhone-only app that can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link] There's also a free HD version for the iPad. [Direct Link]

The English Premier League football season begins this weekend and NBC, the new rights holder for EPL games in the United States, will be streaming every game live and on-demand on both its website, and via its NBC Sports Live Extra app for iPhone and iPad.

This year the EPL license for the US was bought by NBC and the US will get to see every single match. Matches will show on NBC, NBC Sports, streaming from the NBC site, and for the first time ever, live streaming in the NBC Sports Live Extra app. According to NBC, every single match will be live streamed in the app. That’s right, every single match of the entire EPL season. The US is the only country that gets that luxury, not even the home country of the UK gets to watch every single match. I’m a bit excited, can you tell?

In order to watch the streaming games, users must authenticate via TV Everywhere.

NBC Sports Live Extra is currently available for Comcast Xfinity, Verizon Fios, Cablevision, Suddenlink, Mediacom, Bend and Grande customers. It is a free download from the App Store. [Direct Link]