Year in review 2011: August
Of all the stories that broke in August the one that really got people talking was that tech superstar Steve Jobs would be resigning from Apple, to be replaced by CEO Tim Cook. It was one of the most important stories to break this year apart from of course his death.
August was also a rather significant month for the mobile, with the usual iPhone rumours being backed up with leaks from the likes of HTC and of course the awesome TouchPad fire sale from HP.
Year in Review:
| January | February | March | April |
| May | June | July | August |
| September | October | November | December |
Sky Go launches in trolley form
Sky Go, the tablet friendly version of everyones favourite Murdoch powered tv empire, made an appearance in supermarket trolleys across the country. Sainsbury's teamed up with Sky to bring iPads and the app to a selection of its shopping trolleys. More a PR stunt than anything, but we didn't mind, anything to keep the weekly shop more exciting. Read More
Stephen Fry doesn't place the iPhone as his favourite gadget
Apple obsessed Fry hosted a show this year called 100 greatest gadgets which you would have expected the iPhone to top. It didn't, instead Fry rather strangely chose the lighter as the most important piece of gadgetry in history. It might not have made sense at first but after his explanation it became clear the all knowing Fryster knew what he was talking about. Read More
Gamer goes for 1 million Xbox points
Even beginning to comprehend how many hours you would need to pour into Xbox gaming in order to acquire this number of points hurts our head. 1 million Xbox points would require a platinum trophy on just about every title available on the console. Or to be more precise, 900 complete play throughs. Read More
iTunes Match arrives in iOS 5
iTunes Match made its first appearance for iOS 5 developers in August. Acting like a clean slate for piracy fans and a cheap mans answer to Spotify, the £21 per year service was set to revolutionise the way people used iTunes. Read More
HP TouchPad has a fire sale
The little tablet that never quite was, the HP TouchPad, went on sale for just £89 in August. The resultant rush for tablet buying had even the Pocket-lint gang arguing over who got what. Websites crashed, stock flew off the shelves and eBay immediately filled with TouchPads picked up by crafty shoppers. Read More
HTC Vigor leaked pics
HTC picked up Beats Audio licensing this year which left audio fans waiting for a new handset with the headphones included. This was eventually to arrive in the form of the Sensation XE and XL, but rumour town kept us excited with the HTC Vigor. Read More
LG announces 2D to 3D app converter
The LG Optimus 3D might have initially seemed like a bit of a gimmick, especially given the lack of apps optimised for glasses free 3D. LG hoped to change all this with its clever 2D to 3D app converter, which could turn conventional gaming into the third dimension. Read More
Schmidt says Google TV is coming to UK
Despite practically falling flat on its face at launch, Google's Eric Schmidt continued to insist that Google TV would launch in the UK. Yet to truly materialise over on British shores, the service keeps on getting cheaper in the US. Read More
Samsung leaks Galaxy Nexus
The Galaxy Nexus we now know as the the flagship Android handset available. It was however just an apple in Samsung's eye at this point, small enough for them to accidentally leak it out to the general public. Oops thought Samsung and immediately tried to keep things quiet, it was however too late, the Android fans had rallied and the seeds of excitement were sown. Read More
Steve Jobs resigns
In what would be the prelude to the story of the year, Steve Jobs, an icon in the technology world, stepped down as CEO of Apple. Replaced by Tim Cook, who would later appear at the iPhone 4S launch, Jobs resigning left many worried what direction Apple would take. Read More
Tron made with duct tape
Tron Legacy re-ignited our love of the lightcycle. It was however nothing on the original, which at least featured proper light trails. Thankfully advertisers recreated the joys of the original, in an ad campaign that was surely destined to go viral. Read More
Sony Nex-7 and Nex-5n cameras land
The original Sony NEX was a bit of a misnomer in the camera world, being thinner than a compact but with a proper interchangeable lens system. It just didn't quite perform or feel right in the hand. Thankfully Sony nailed it second time round with the NEX-5n and NEX-7, both of which would outperform most other cameras in its category. Read More
8GB iPhone 4 coming soon?
A cheaper iPhone 4 would make sense, particularly given the now more powerful iPhone 4S has been released. Dropping memory would also reduce cost, hence the 8GB iPhone 4 rumours, which had everyone who couldn't quite afford the Apple hardware in August convinced they would be getting a cheaper one soon. Read More
HP dumps WebOS
As quick as the TouchPad went on sale and HP's brand new product line up dropped in price, the company dropped WebOS. Massively underrated, it just came too late and into a market that was just too competitive. Shame, as WebOS deserved to succeed. Read More
Minecraft Pocket Edition hits Android Market
Minecraft, the king of indie games, arrived on the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play as an exclusive. It was for a while strictly reserved for Play owners. Eventually the app hit the Android Market and the rest of us could enjoy the delights of its cube-based world. Read More
Samsung Galaxy Tab banned in OZ
The lawsuits continued between Samsung, Apple and chums. The majority of the time it was Cupertino that emerged victorious and in this case, they even managed to get a sale ban on the Galaxy Tab in Australia. Read More
Apple biggest company in the world
Apple managed to top even the likes of Exxon-Mobil as the biggest company in the world. Despite retaining a minority share of the smartphone market, its iPhone, iPad and Mac computers ensured that the company would become the financial king of the tech world. Read More
Nokia N9 gets a UK release
The great smartphone inbetweener, the Nokia N9, went on general release in the UK. Powered by MeeGo, the OS that never was, it signalled the end for Nokia and its non WP7 handsets. Read More
Anonymous threatens to close down Facebook
Remember what Zuckerberg said in The Social Network? "We don't break down ... ever". Well Anonymous appeared to think differently and threatened to close down the website. They didn't ... Read More
