This week, I’m reviewing this very stylish, but not very functionable, Retro Camera Case from Freshfiber. It’s a quirky way to dress up your iPhone and give it some of the same mechanical functions as an old school camera, but it’s really not too practical when it comes to actually protecting your iPhone. Read on.

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Freshfiber Retro Camera Case Review

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  I generally tend to gravitate towards these kinds of cases because they’re just so cool looking in the press pictures. But I know how everyone feels about their iPhone and this is not a case I would recommend if you’re prone to dropping your phone. The nylon material is flexible and can handle a few falls, but there are too many moving parts on this case for it to be practical. Moving parts, you ask? Well…

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  The Retro Camera Case features a sliding door for your iPhone lens and a rotating fake “adjustable zoom” lens, but it’s all for gimmicks. Unlike a majority of Android phones on the market, the iPhone’s lens is protected by a layer of glass so there’s no real practicality behind a lens cover. It’s all for the fun of it. And as I’ve reiterated in the last two paragraphs or so (and the last sentence), this case is just so very fun.

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  In fact, you could easily hook up a camera strap to the loops on each side and wear it around your neck like a real iPhone photographer. At least the front part of your iPhone is protected by the fabric on your stomach, presuming you’re wearing a shirt that day.

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  The case actually clamps on to the iPhone rather strongly, though that camera strap loop prevents it from being docked with the case on. The Retro Camera Case also takes some effort to put on and take off, and the resistance is inconvenient when just want to bump some jams on your iPhone stereo. That does mean that it’s really got a hold on your device, though, which bodes well for a case that’s supposed to be protective.

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  The bottom line. The Retro Camera Case is cute for hipsters and their friends to play with, but if you’re looking for something stylish and protective, there are other options out there. 3/5, €39,95/~$52 USD

Still waiting for a swanky new Mac to call your very own? You may have a bit of a wait ahead of you, judging from a new report claiming that Intel’s new Ivy Bridge processors will be delayed until “after June.”

MacRumors is reporting that Intel has begun notifying its partners of a delay in “mass availability” of the forthcoming Ivy Bridge processor, which is believed to be what Apple will use in this year’s Mac systems, replacing last year’s Sandy Bridge architecture, which Intel apparently has in abundance.

“Intel recently notified its partners about plans to postpone mass shipments of its upcoming Ivy Bridge processors,” a report from DigiTimes reveals. “Despite that the company will still announce the new products and ship a small volume of the processors in early April, mass shipments are not expected to occur until after June, according to sources from notebook players.”

While its possible that Apple could have already snapped up the “small volume” of processors being shipped in early April, the rumored MacBook Pro redesign that’s pegged for early this year would likely ship in larger quantities, especially if the high-end notebook slims down like the MacBook Air, as widely anticipated.

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Many of us no doubt still recall that first dazzling sensation of identifying a song at a coffee shop or on the radio with Shazam — it felt like magic, or at least the closest an iOS app can come to that. All props due to that innovative leader, which still leads in the market in terms of name recognition, as it’s now being used for marketing purposes via commercial jingles and the like.

But in terms of helpful features and speed of use, it’s hard not to shine a spotlight on SoundHound as the best in the genre. Like Shazam, SoundHound can “listen” to a song over the air and in most cases identify it correctly, but this alternative option can do it in as few as four seconds, saving you precious moments of staring at a screen while the app considers the options.

Still, our favorite function of SoundHound is its exclusive ability to recognize songs that you hum or sing. Got a song stuck in your head and can’t place the artist or title? Sing it to SoundHound and see what pops up. It’s not as effective as trying to ID the actual studio recording, but the sheer fact that it can do it at all is downright impressive, and it’s better than searching for snippets of lyrics online.

SoundHound is also deeply integrated with other music services, letting you quickly access songs and ringtones via iTunes, launch a Pandora station based on the artist in question, look up tour dates and lyrics, and check out the most popular bands and tracks. It’s a music discovery service in more ways than one! The universal app is available in an ad-supported free version, as well as SoundHound ∞, a $6.99 premium version with additional features.

The Best is a new weekly column in which we spotlight the most helpful or impressive iOS app to fit a certain need, whether it’s a part of your day-to-day life or just something cool that might come in handy down the line.

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A Look at SoundHound

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  Simply tap the large orange button to start the process. You can capture audio playing from a speaker or in a public place, or even sing or hum into your phone to try and identify a song.

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  The longer you sing or play the music, the better shot SoundHound will have at correctly locating the song in question. But you can ID tracks in as little as four seconds.

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  Once the song is located, SoundHound will give you a variety of options, from streaming a sample to buying the song, playing a Pandora station, or watching YouTube clips. And if you have the song on your device already, you can easily play it from there.

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  Scrolling lyrics keep up with the song, letting you learn the words as you listen without any manual input.

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  On iPad, the listening feature is permanently docked in landscape view, making it easier to ID several songs at once and read all about them.

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  Charts on both iPad and iPhone detail the hottest and most popular tracks, but also let you scope out the next big thing: songs that SoundCloud users are hyped on, but traditional radio hasn’t grabbed onto quite yet.

You’ve got to hand it to Apple: They may not move quickly when a storm rolls into their domain, but when they do finally speak up, it’s decisive and gets the job done. Today it’s the drama surrounding contacts privacy, sparked by the Path app last week, which Apple plans to fix at the operating system level with a forthcoming update. But who can get excited about that when we’ve got a new Smurfs app, am I right? Read on to find out the rest of the day’s news for Wednesday, February 15, 2012.

Apple Will Require Permission to Access Contacts in Future Update

Just about everyone has chimed in on the subject of Path and contacts privacy, with some corners of the tech journalism world even turning the debate into a frat boy-style food fight between themselves. One entity we haven’t heard from is Apple, the company whose App Store made it possible for Path to gobble up users’ contact data without permission in the first place. That changed today, with AllThingsD reporting that Apple agrees that the privacy gaffe is serious, and intends to do something about it. “Apps that collect or transmit a user’s contact data without their prior permission are in violation of our guidelines*,” Apple spokesman Tom Neumayr told AllThingsD. “We’re working to make this even better for our customers, and as we have done with location services, any app wishing to access contact data will require explicit user approval in a future software release.” As it turns out, Apple’s response comes right on the heels of a formal inquiry by Congress on the subject — talk about dodging a bullet in Cupertino!

The Smurfs Classic Series Comes to Digital, First One’s Free

Who’s ready to Smurf it up? Those loveable little blue boys (and one girl!) are back, courtesy of zuuka’s iStoryTime division. The Smurfs Classic Series brings the original storybooks into the digital realm, optimized for iOS with animation, sound effects and the ability for the reader to record their own voice for personalized narration. “Now that the classics are available, parents from around the world can enjoy sharing the stories they loved growing up with their children from the convenience of their iPad, iPhone or iPod touch,” said Woody Sears, founder of zuuka. The free universal app includes the first tale, “The Giant Smurf,” which means that, before you know it, you’ll be dropping $2.99 via in-app purchase to enjoy each of the other classic tales on your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad. The Smurfs Classic Series is available now from the App Store and is compatible with all devices running iOS 4.2 or later.

Fair Labor Association Finds Apple’s Plant Conditions Above Average

Well, that was quick! After announcing on Monday that Apple was voluntarily subjecting its Chinese manufacturing plants to inspection by the Fair Labor Association, the FLA is already chiming in with an initial “all clear” at the first one, Foxconn. According to Reuters, the FLA found that working conditions there “are far better than those at garment factories or other facilities elsewhere in the country,” despite a rash of worker suicides and plant explosions. “The facilities are first-class; the physical conditions are way, way above average of the norm,” noted FLA president Auret van Heerden, who also suggested that “boredom and alienation” could have contributed to the aforementioned worker suicides. “I was very surprised when I walked onto the floor at Foxconn, how tranquil it is compared with a garment factory,” he said. “So the problems are not the intensity and burnout and pressure-cooker environment you have in a garment factory. . It’s more a function of monotony, of boredom, of alienation perhaps.” Around 30 FLA staff members are currently inspecting two Foxconn factories in Shenzhen and Chengu, where each plant staffs around 100,000 workers. The inspections will eventually expand to other Apple suppliers, including Quanta Computer Inc., Pegatron Corp. and Wintek Corp in the weeks to come.

Good News, RIM: PlayBook Eating iPad Market Share — in Canada

Research in Motion could certainly use some good news these days, and finally, this week they’re getting some. According to AppleInsider, the company’s much-maligned BlackBerry PlayBook tablet has finally captured a 15 percent share of the market, reducing the iPad’s to a mere 68 percent. In what alternate universe is this occurring? Why, RIM’s home turf: Canada! The figures come courtesy of Toronto-based market research firm Solutions Research Group, who notes in The Globe and Mail that the PlayBook increased its share of the tablet market in Canada by 10 percent thanks to steep discounts on the beleaguered hardware. Android tablets are also credited with eroding some of Apple’s lead up north with the iPad, which has dropped from 86 percent to 68 percent since last fall. The data comes from a survey of 1,000 Canadians, many of whom are undoubtedly waiting anxiously for that PlayBook 2.0 software update so they can finally email their American friends from the tablet rather than having to tether it to their BlackBerry each time.

Apple Slashing iAd Prices, Could it Be a Loser?

AdAge is reporting that Apple “is once again slashing the minimum amount it charges advertisers to run a campaign on its iAd mobile ad system and boosting the amount it pays mobile app developers.” After launching with a $1 million buy-in price in 2010 which quickly dropped to $500,000 and then $300,000, “advertisers will now have to spend just $100,000 for Apple mobile campaigns running in iPhone and iPad apps.” App developers will also get a bigger slice of the pie, with 70 percent of ad revenues for iAds included in their app versus the previous 60 percent. So what’s to blame for the changes, two years after iAd was launched to great fanfare? “Apple has been losing share in the mobile-ad market,” the report reveals, “threatening the business and app developers’ ability to make money from advertising.” Google is still the king when it comes to mobile ads with a 24 percent share of the $630 million market over the last year, up from 19 percent the previous year. Apple’s share declined from 19 percent in 2010 to only 15 percent today — not really a surprise, considering the insane number of Android smartphones worldwide.

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