Zendock MacBook Pro docking solution, a funded Kickstarter project, coming for MacBook Air

Last month, we covered the Kickstarter posting for the Zendock MacBook Pro docking station. As we profiled in April, the docking solution takes over your MacBook Pro's ports in order to free up clutter on your workspace:

The anodized alumnim box quickly plugs into several ports on the side of your MacBook at once, allowing you to connect and disconnect all of your peripherals much faster than if you were to do them all at once. The Pro version supports gigabit Ethernet, FireWire, a Mini DisplayPort connection, three separate USB 3 ports, and an audio input and output. The Retina model features fewer connections—only a Mini DisplayPort, three USB 3 connections, and audio in/out ports—but also sports a Thunderbolt passthrough connection, allowing you to connect additional high-speed devices despite the port being covered.

Since that time, the project has been successfully funded (with more than double the money than originally set for the goal). Due to the popularity and success of the project, the creators have announced that a MacBook Air version is in the works and is available for backers. Additionally, all models have received improved audio quality technology.

Amazon launches Cloud Drive Photos app for iPhone

Amazon today released an iPhone version of its Amazon Cloud Drive Photos mobile app that it originally launched on Android only back in November. Amazon;'s Cloud Drive Photos app for iPhone, like the Android version, will allow users to back up and view photos to their Amazon Cloud Drive accounts. Up until today, iOS device users have only had access to Amazon's Cloud Player app for streaming music stored in an Amazon cloud account.

The app provides everything a user might need to ditch Apple's less than perfect iCloud Photostream feature, including the ability to automatically save photos taken on your iPhone to Cloud Drive, access your entire Cloud Drive photo collection from any device, and easily share through social networks.

Cloud Drive users get 5GB of free storage with upgrades ranging from 20GB for $10/year to $250 for 500GB/year.

The free Amazon Cloud Drive Photos app is available to download on the App Store now.

Protect and store all of your photos in one place with Amazon Cloud Drive Photos. Access your photos from your iPhone or iPod touch, your computer, or any web browser. Take a picture on your iPhone and save it to the Amazon Cloud to enjoy on your computer. Upload photos from your computer and enjoy them on your iPhone or iPod touch

Apple's U.S. Smartphone Usage Share Approaches 40%

comScore today released the results of its monthly rolling survey of U.S. mobile phone users for the January-March period, showing that Apple's smartphone market share rose 2.7 points from December to March, from 36.3% of total U.S. smartphone platform and hardware sales to 39%, marking a record high share for the company.


Samsung was the hardware manufacturer with the second largest share of the market at 21.7% in March, up from 21% in December. HTC, Motorola, and LG again experienced slight drops in market share, with HTC suffering the heaviest loss going from 10.2% to 9%.

Google's Android continues to be ranked as the top smartphone platform with 52% of smartphone platform share, though it experienced a drop from 53.4% in December, which was absorbed by Apple.


Apple's share increased 2.7 points to 39%, while Blackberry continued to drop, hitting 5.2% down from 6.4% in December. Microsoft remained steady at 3%, though saw a small drop from 3.2% in February's report. Collectively, Apple and Google control 91 percent of the smartphone market, with Apple making continual gains each month.

comScore's data tracks installed user base rather than new handset sales, which means it is more reflective of real-world usage but slower to respond to shifting market trends than some other studies.