The Signal

March 29, 2011 • 2 min read • By Saya Weissman

Reading iTea Leaves: The tagline for Apple’s 2011 World Wide Developers Conference reads, “Join us for a preview of the future of iOS and Mac OS X.” With the event clearly focusing on the promised Mac OS Lion release and the eagerly anticipated iOS 5 beta debut, many analysts speculate that we may not see a new iDevice until Apple’s Fall 2011 event, lining them right up for the holiday season. Two years of iPhone-announcing tradition are fighting this prediction pretty strongly. The Loop

Android App Tester: When the Amazon Appstore launched last week, one feature that caught our attention was the ability to test the app before downloading it. At the time of launch, there were no apps available to test, but it now seems that they’re starting to roll out this feature. The test drive does more than just load up the app, it loads a simulated Android experience. Try it out for yourself, Android users or not. Amazon

Googling NFC: Teaming up with Citigroup and Mastercard is the first step forward for Google to replace your wallet with your Android phone. What’s most interesting about this development is not how quickly this could start testing, it’s more that analysts don’t expect Google to take a transaction fee. This is keeping with how Google enters markets: offer things for free to scoop up marketshare. With Google’s device market share, this could propel the technology into a reality and bring Apple into the game even earlier. Reuters

Tales of an iPad Newbie: User experience is everything. And while the focus is always on those who use the device to the fullest, there’s a demographic of smartphone and tablet users who may have never had a device that even compared to this technology, let alone a computer. David Worthington of Technologizer sits down with his mother (in her 60s) to talk about her experience with her iPad, the first computer she’s ever owned. The result is both funny and informative. Technologizer

Spinning Color: Techies are getting desperate trying to make heads or tales out of the hyped mobile app Color. Just when you thought there wasn’t another possible way to spin Color for the iPhone, App Store user Ghostmoth explains what we’ve all been missing. Color is actually one of the most intricate and challenging games to have ever graced the iPhone. If you haven’t downloaded the app yet, this is the perfect chance for you to receive a guided tour of the next genre in massive multi-player gaming. Next we’ll hear that it’s actually an elaborate piece of performance art. Mike3k

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