Back to my Mac through iChat

Back to my Mac through iChat

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iPhone Magic read and enjoy!

I’m an owner of an iPhone and I’m happy every time someone asks me to show it off to them. It amazes me that even after all this time, the iPhone still gets so much attention when I use it. I’ll put it through its paces and smile when I hear the oohs and ahhs. Even though people know about the iPhone, for one reason or another they just haven’t seen one up close nor held one in their hands and tried it out for themselves.





And now that Apple released the latest 1.1.3 version of the iPhone’s operating system, there’s even more to show off such as the pseudo GPS ability in the Google Maps application. However, I’ve recently been using something that brings a whole new meaning to showing off the iPhone.

The reactions I’m getting to the software products from Hottrix are like nothing I’ve seen before. Basically, Hottrix has produced a series of videos that run on the iPhone and other mobile devices, but they aren’t perceived to be videos by the people watching them. Before I go any further, let me dispel any concerns about what Hottrix is offering. These are not applications that could void your iPhone’s warranty. Nor are they Web applications that require you to go online to run them. They are simply mpeg4 videos, which run just like any other video you’d run on your iPhone.

You download them and use iTunes to install the videos into the iPhone’s iPod Video library as you would any other. But these videos have been designed to fool you into thinking that you are actually looking at the iPhone’s home screen. But in fact, they are a running video of the home screen. And depending on the Hottrix video you are running, some very bizarre things are going to happen.

My favorite one so far is actually Hottrix’s latest. It’s titled iGoldfish, and here’s how I set it up. I’ll be using my iPhone or showing it off when I surreptitiously run the iGoldfish video. I happen to mention that just the other day, I dropped my iPhone and it fell into the water. After the horrified looks appear, I smile and say not to worry and that I’ve discovered that while the iPhone really isn’t waterproof, it still continues to work just fine. The only problem I’ve noticed is that whenever I tap on the glass a few times (I begin to tap on the iPhone’s glass that’s displaying the home screen), something begins to happen that didn’t happen before I dropped it into the water.

At that very moment, you begin to hear bubbling noises and a really large goldfish swims in from the edge of the display in front of the home screen image. This is not a cartoon goldfish but the video of a real goldfish! Jaws drop. I nonchalantly continue to explain that I’ve decided to keep her in my iPhone and have named her “Goldie.” I then position my pinched fingers at the top of the iPhone and pretend to drop a bit of food for her. Of course I’ve timed the video just as a bit of food appears at the top of the screen and floats down in front of Goldie where she eats it with a loud, audible crunch. Goldie then swims off to the left and you still hear the bubble noises. The observers go wild and say things tantamount to “Oh my god, I’ve never seen anything like that!” And that’s just one of the videos you can get.

My favorites include iBeer, iMilk, iWater and iChampagne. With these, you again begin by showing the iPhone home screen. I say there’s a hidden switch I can press whenever I’m thirsty. Pressing it makes the home screen vanish and you see and hear the iPhone fill up with the beverage of choice. You shake it a bit and then hold the upper right corner to your mouth and begin drinking. As you tip the iPhone further back, the beverage looks as if it is pouring out into your mouth. For Halloween and Goths, a blood version is also available. Just a little practice and you’ll have them eating out of your hand with this one.

And speaking of eating out of your hand, there’s iMunchies. Shake your iPhone and it begins popping popcorn. With this video, you stick your index finger and thumb behind the iPhone and it looks like your finger is reaching in and grabbing a kernel. Pop it into your mouth, swallow and then pour the rest of them into your cupped hand with crunching sound effects included. Eat with gusto.

Hottrix offers a variety of other videos for the iPhone and other mobile devices such as a video that makes it look like you’re getting an important call from work complete with a frantic voice screaming something inaudible. It’s perfect when you need an excuse to make your escape from someone.

As I said, the iPhone is a lot of fun when you’re using it seriously and just playing with it. But now there’s more to playing on your iPhone than just playing games. With the offerings coming from Hottrix, your fun is just getting started. These are a real blast, and you’re going to want them all. Prices range from $1.99 to $2.99 per video.

Visit the Web site at www.hottrix.com.

iPhone and iMac get to watch TV

Today equinux entered the TV receiver market for Mac OS X in the United States. equinux' TubeStick hybrid offers more flexibility to enjoy your favorite TV shows on your Mac, iPhone or iPod. The newly announced USB TV receiver allows you to watch, pause and record live television on your Mac in HD quality. And with The Tube software that comes with TubeStick hybrid, users can even chat with other viewers during each TV show. With the new TubeToGo web services you can schedule, manage, publish and watch TV recordings via iPhone or iPod touch on the go.

"We're really excited to introduce TubeStick hybrid today. Nearly ten months after we started to reinvent digital television on the Mac with our The Tube software, we're more than happy to provide our solution to US customers as well", says equinux CEO Till Schadde. "With TubeToGo we introduced another thrilling add-on, that brings your TV recordings directly to your iPhone or iPod touch."

TubeStick hybrid - Always Ready for Reception

TubeStick hybrid has two built-in receivers, enabling you to watch free-to-air digital HDTV (ATSC) as well as digital (QAM) and analog (NTSC) cable television. In areas with ATSC, reception can be picked up by the antenna, in HD quality. The TubeStick hybrid has a white, minimalist design and is one of the smallest devices in its class. It comes with a white compact antenna and a break-out cable, that allows users to connect to their camcorders, analog video recorders and game consoles using S-Video or Composite. TubeStick hybrid is designed to fit perfectly in the USB port of MacBooks and MacBook Pros, without blocking other necessary plugs.

Watch, Chat, Record, and Go with The Tube

TubeStick hybrid includes The Tube 2, equinux' latest edition of its TV solution for Mac users. The Tube is the latest TV software for Mac OS X, that allows you to watch, pause and record your favorite TV shows on your Mac. You can even chat with other TV viewers, while watching a TV program, using the TubeTalk feature. The Tube provides you with manual and automatic Timeshift and lets you rewind the current program to record it from start with its Déjà Vu functionality. With The Tube you can schedule recordings of your favorite TV shows, manage them in a library and sort them by name or by date. The Tube supports Mac OS X's Spotlight to search for recordings and displays a QuickLook preview when showing them in Finder for Mac OS X 10.5.

Remotely Manage and Access your Favorite Recordings

Today equinux also introduced TubeToGo, an optional web-based service that allows you to remotely schedule, manage and watch your recordings with your iPhone or iPod on the go. TubeToGo lets you remotely schedule recordings via a web-based iPhone application, and publish your recordings library on .Mac or to a remote FTP server and watch it via WiFi connection on your iPhone or iPod touch. You can also setup The Tube to automatically create Video Podcasts to watch your favorite shows on the go, even when you're offline.

Price and Availability
TubeStick hybrid will be available, starting in February at your local Apple reseller, from Amazon or the equinux Online Store for only $129.95. TubeStick hybrid is exclusively designed for the US market. TubeStick hybrid is shipped with the latest edition of The Tube and a one month trail for TubeToGo web service. TubeToGo will also be available from February on a subscription basis.

About equinux
equinux (www.equinux.com), located in San Mateo, CA (USA) and headquartered in Munich, Germany, develops and distributes successful Mac solutions for professionals and consumers alike. Today users from all over the world rely on equinux' award-winning and trusted applications. The business solution VPN Tracker is the market-leading VPN client for the Mac OS X Platform. iSale, equinux' successful eBay auctioning solution won several Apple Design Awards, and currently represents the 2006 winner in the most competitive category "Best Mac OS X User Experience".
All product and company names mentioned herein are the trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
Copyright © 2008 equinux AG. All rights reserved
equinux – Technology for my life.

iPhone sync with multipule computers.

Editor’s Note: The following article is an adapted excerpt from the recently-published Take Control of Your iPhone, a $15 electronic book available for download from TidBits Publishing. The 195-page ebook helps readers understand what’s going on under the hood of the iPhone, with lots of tips for using the iPhone more effectively and an emphasis on troubleshooting assistance for solving problems related to activating, syncing, application crashes, iPhone freezes, handset security, and more.

Although you can certainly sync multiple iPhones to a single computer, the reverse of that—syncing one iPhone to multiple computers, isn’t generally recommended by Apple.

Should you decide to ignore Apple’s advice and connect your iPhone to a secondary computer, don’t worry. Nothing is selected for syncing by default. That is, no contacts, calendars, music, video, or any other data will be selected in iTunes, so there will be no automatic syncing and no potential loss of data on either your iPhone or the computer.


If you click the Sync button, however, an initial sync does occur. Unlike with most iPods, no warning advises against this. Happily, it is still the case that no data are lost on either the iPhone or the secondary computer. All that happens is that an iPhone Backup file is created.

However, if you enable any of the checkboxes in the Info, Music, Photos, Podcasts, or Video tabs, the Apply button appears. If you click Apply, you do typically get a warning message. The exact content of the message, and what will happen if a sync occurs, varies depending upon what you selected. [Note: Although there are minor differences in the user interfaces, the iPhone and the iPod touch behave very similarly here.]

Music, video, and podcasts
If you enable syncing of music or video content (assuming you have previously synced music or video to your iPhone via the first computer), you get a message similar to the one in Figure 1.



Figure 1. This message appears when you set iTunes to sync music or video on a secondary computer (that is, a computer that isn’t the one you sync with normally).

If you continue with the sync, it will erase all the iTunes-specific content on your iPhone, replacing it with the content from the secondary computer, but leaving photos and info content (contacts, calendars, Mail accounts, and bookmarks) intact, despite the use of the word “erase” in the message. Any settings changes you made on the iPhone should remain intact as well.

If your iPhone contains songs purchased from the iTunes Music Store and you connect to a secondary computer that is authorized to play music from your account, the message in Figure 1 includes an additional button to “Transfer Purchases.” See this Apple article for details.

Oddly, at least on recent iterations of the iPhone software, the above warning message does not appear when you attempt to sync podcasts from the secondary computer—even though podcasts are also part of an iTunes library. Instead, either no message appears or a message appears that states that only podcasts will be affected by your sync. In either case, if you go ahead and sync, you’ll get the same result: the newly selected podcast(s) replace the podcasts currently on your iPhone—while the music and video media on your iPhone remain unchanged and intact. I am not sure why podcasts are an exception here, but they are.

Photos
If you enable photo syncing on the secondary computer, you get a message like the one in Figure 2. If you go ahead with the sync, all photos on the iPhone will be replaced, but all non-photo content should remain untouched.



Figure 2. This message appears when you set iTunes to sync photos on a computer different from the one with which you normally sync.

Contacts, calendar events, Mail accounts, and bookmarks
If you tell iTunes to sync any of these types of data and click Apply, you get a message like the one shown in Figure 3.



Figure 3. This message appears when you set iTunes to sync iPhone’s contacts on a computer different from the one with which you normally sync.

In this special case, you can choose to merge information between the iPhone and the second computer rather than overwrite the synced data on the iPhone. The merged data, now on your iPhone, would then sync back to your main computer the next time you sync with it. Thus, this allows you to combine all the types of information managed on the Info tab (contacts, calendar events, Mail accounts, and bookmarks) in multiple computers.

Merging of Info data is the one case where syncing with a second computer can be useful. You can use the iPhone as a means of merging two sets of data from separate computers.

In all other cases, syncing an iPhone with a second computer results in data from the second computer overwriting similar data from the first computer, which is not typically what you want. However, if you had an unusual setup where you wanted, for example, to sync your iPhone to one computer for photos and to another for music, syncing to both computers could accomplish this. To do so, sync photos but not music on one computer, and vice versa on the second. Keep all other settings and content synced with just the first computer.

Sync to More Than One iTunes Library
How would you like to be able to sync music, video, and pod-casts from a second computer to your iPhone, without erasing the content from the first computer that is already on your iPhone? It can be done, but only if you have a "jailbroken" (hacked) iPhone. If so, install SwapTunes via the Installer application on your iPhone.

The only other option is to manually combine the content from multiple computers into a single iTunes Library, on one computer, with which you sync your iPhone.

iPhones Missing in Action

The disappointments on the iPhone front started early for Apple, as TheStreet.com first reported in July. Apple failed to sell out the 1 million iPhones it had supplied on the weekend of the product's debut. The goal was an internal target, say people familiar with the plan.

But Apple didn't exactly blow the number out of the water when reported that it sold 270,000 iPhones in its fiscal third quarter. That total was seen as a letdown to analysts, who had predicted sales of between 200,000 and 700,000 for iPhone's debut quarter.

In the most recent quarter, the gap between what Apple sold and what the telcos activated grew even wider.

As RealMoney columnist Tero Kuittinen points out, Apple says it shipped 2.3 million iPhones and AT&T says it activated 900,000 new iPhone subscribers for the same period.


Tech investors are pondering a bit of a mystery: Apple's (AAPL - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr - Rating) missing iPhones.

By some analysts' estimates, there are 1.4 million iPhones unaccounted for. That is roughly the gap between the nearly 4 million iPhones Apple says it has sold, and the number of iPhone activations by AT&T (T - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr - Rating) and Apple's European telco partners.

The discrepancy comes amid concerns that Apple's white-hot growth phase has fizzled following what was viewed as disappointing guidance from the company this week. The news also reignites fears that the hugely hyped iPhone may not be quite as popular as first estimated.




Analysts at Sanford Bernstein estimate that Apple has shipped 3.75 million iPhones in total, while telcos have activated about 2.35 million phones. The total unactivated unlocked phones might account for 20% of the difference, leaving 670,000 unaccounted for, says Bernstein.

If the estimates are true, Apple is facing a growing pile of unsold iPhones. The company did not provide an immediate comment.

One of the problems for the iPhone sales is that the current model is a slower 2.5 generation technology, and a faster 3G iPhone will be unveiled in early summer. Another damper on demand, say observers, is AT&T. Consumers have strong feelings about the quality of wireless network coverage, and AT&T has not swept any quality awards on this front.

iPhone vs. Nokia E70 ..read and enjoy!

Please check out the link below, it might be the funniest thing I have seen.
This link provides a review of the iPhone as well as comparisons to a Nokia E70.

I was at work when I read this and could not stop laughing.

http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=iphone

iPhone aka iGutiar

iPhone Guitar Hero - Watch more free videos

iPhone jailbreak 1.1.3

Members of the iPhone Dev Team (publicity shy, natch) say they have figured out a “jailbreak” for the recently 1.13 iPhone upgrade.

Publicity shy? Yea. We are talking aboutjailbreak team user names such as netkas, NerveGas, asap18, bgm, Bugout, bushing, chris_, dinopio, drudge, Fred_, gray, MuscleNerd, natetrue, pr3d4t0r, roxfan, Turbo, Zf[strike], np101137, pumpkin, and kroo.

(MuscleNerd. Hah!)

I certainly do not endorse performing the steps I am about to cite. However, it does appear that doing this will quite likely release your iPhone’s heretofore mortal lock with AT&T Mobility.

That said, those folks bound and determined to jailbreak their 1.13-powered iPhone via Windows would perform the following steps:

Start with a 1.1.1 or 1.1.2 jailbroken phone with Installer.app installed.
Plug in your phone via USB to your computer. Download, extract, and run iBrickr Special 1.1.3 jailbreak edition (ibrickr.exe in the archive).
iBrickr will determine what firmware you are running on your phone and make sure you can run the update.
iBrickr will then guide you through the process of obtaining and modifying the 1.1.3 firmware (make sure to read everything thoroughly).
iBrickr will upload the new firmware image to your phone. Note that this only puts the file on your phone and does not modify it at all, yet.
When iBrickr finishes (should take about 10 minutes), it will tell you to go to Installer and install the “1.1.3 soft upgrade” package. Do that.
When the installer finishes (this should take another 10-15 minutes), your phone should reboot with a fresh activated 1.1.3 firmware.
Like I said I can’t suggest you try this. I only wanted to tell you how those thrillseekers who are trying the latest iPhone unbrick are doing it.

Wonder how long until the antidote comes down from Cupertino…

iPhone Webclip for your Website

If you've already downloaded the latest iPhone 1.1.3 software update, then you know you can bookmark your favorite sites on your iPhone/iPod Touch's home screen. Unfortunately, since this is a still a new feature, most site owners are not sure how to create those glossy web clips that appear when you bookmark a site on the iPhone's homepage. Lucky for you, I came across Apple's iPhone Dev Center where they've posted step-by-step instructions on how to do this. Those familiar with favicons should have no problem creating an iPhone web clip, since the process is very similar.
If you're a site owner, I recommend you take a few minutes to create a web clip for your site. It's extremely easy to do, and your visitors will love your for it. Here's how to get started:
Open your image editing program, such as Photoshop, and create an image that's 57 x 57 pixels. Safari will crop larger images, so you can create one slightly larger if you want.
Save the icon in your computer as an 8-bit PNG file, and name it "apple-touch-icon.png."
Upload the image to your site's root directory, just like you would save a favicon image.
Now open up your site on your iPhone/iPod Touch, tap the plus sign at the bottom of the screen, and select 'Add to Home Screen.' Rename site if necessary.
Hit the home button, and admire your new shiny icon.
You can also reorganize and delete icons on your home screen by:
Clicking and holding one of the icons until they start to wiggle
To move icons, hold and drag them to the desired position
To delete an icon, simply tap the "X" next to each icon
Click the home button when you're satisfied

Delicious and Digg Test

Test

iPhone remote for your iMac

There is this super scary web based applicaiton that lets you control every aspect of your computer.

It's called Remote Buddy http://www.iospirit.com/index.php?&sid=5406295Gda4f2adf882fb9be

Download and tell me your impressions.

iPhone Rumors

I head fourth hand that there will be a 3G iPhone coming out in June with 16GB capacity.
It is unconfirmed but I wanted to see if anyone else heard the same thing.

iPhone Last.FM

A few days ago we sent out some cryptic invitations to a press conference in New York that Felix and Martin are presiding over. We’ve had fun in the office reading the rumors and speculation, but it’s time to spill the beans:

As of today, you can play full-length tracks and entire albums for free on the Last.fm website.

Something we’ve wanted for years—for people who visit Last.fm to be able to play any track for free—is now possible. With the support of the folks behind EMI, Sony BMG, Universal and Warner—and the artists they work with—plus thousands of independent artists and labels, we’ve made the biggest legal collection of music available to play online for free, the way we believe it should be.

Full-length tracks are now available in the US, UK, and Germany, and we’re hard at work broadening our coverage into other countries. During this initial public beta period, each track can be played up to 3 times for free before a notice appears telling you about our upcoming subscription service. The soon-to-be announced subscription service will give you unlimited plays and some other useful things. We’re also working on bringing full-length tracks to the desktop client and beyond.

Free full-length tracks are obviously great news for listeners, but also great for artists and labels, who get paid every time someone streams a song. Music on Last.fm is perpetually monetized. This is good because artists get paid based on how popular a song is with their fans, instead of a fixed amount.

We will be paying artists directly.

We already have licenses with the various royalty collection societies, but now unsigned artists can put their music on Last.fm and be paid directly for every song played. This helps to level the playing-field—now you can make music, upload it to Last.fm and earn money for each play. If you make music, you can sign up to participate for free.

We’re not printing money to pay for this—but the business model is simple enough: we are paying artists and labels a share of advertising revenue from the website.

Today we’re redesigning the music economy. There are already millions of tracks available, and we’re adding more every day. We will continue to work hard to bring this to everyone in the world.

Macbook Air Impressions

After evaluating the state of the ultraportable market historically (poor) and the specs Apple is doling out with this device, it seems almost too obvious that very few people will be willing to buy this junker.

Let's face it -- the MacBook Air is nothing more than a gimmick to make people believe Apple is a trendsetter that knows the best way to bring "cool" products to the masses. But what everyone seems to forget is that this company already has a slew of "cool" products and there's no need for something that's underpowered and overpriced.



Suffice it to say, the MacBook Air is nothing more than a toy that has no promise and will flounder in stores. Why you ask? It's simple.

First off, let's look at Apple's current stable of notebooks. The company offers the MacBook, which is slim and small in its own right and features the same size screen as the Air. Not only that, but it sports far superior specs and is only 0.32-inches thicker than the Air when comparing them at their thickest points. Oh, and let's not forget that it only weighs 2 pounds more and starts at $1099, compared to the Air's $1799 pricetag.

On the other side of things, Apple's MacBook Pro is built with the power user in mind and although it's much bigger than the Air, its entry-level price is just $200 more.

So let me get this straight -- I can have a Mac that's barely thinner than its brother, underpowered, but admittedly "cooler" for an additional $700? Now let's be honest -- who in their right mind would spend an additional $700 on a device just because it looks nicer?

Now, I know that some Apple zealots are screaming right now saying that it's all about portability and it's not meant to be the workhorse the other MacBooks are, but if you're telling me that you can't carry a MacBook around because it's too big and too heavy, you might want to see a doctor.

Another problem that Steve Jobs failed to address during his keynote speech is, who in the world is going to buy this toy? My guess: the diehard Apple fanboy and people with enough money in the bank that they don't mind spending $1799 on a product they'll use in their car or at coffee shops.

Beyond those two groups, who else is really buying this thing? Can anyone honestly say that the average consumer will run down to their local Apple store, excited to get their hands on their first Mac, and choose the Air over the MacBook if they're looking for something small?

I can hear it now: "Hold on, so what you're saying is that I can get a much faster and better-equipped computer that's barely larger for $700 less? Where's the cash register?"

And while I don't think the lack of an optical drive is a big deal by any means, think of the average person just looking to get their hands on a Mac and listening to others tell them how it "just works." How will they feel when they get the Air home, try to install Office and realize the optical drive is missing? Sure, they can go through the trouble of connecting to another computer in the home and pop the disc into that drive, but doesn't it significantly reduce the allure of having a device that "just works"?

Of course, it doesn't quite end there. So far, ultraportable sales have been flat, to say the least, and aside from a few bursts in sales every now and then, the ultraportable market is not the best to enter if a company is looking to increase its market share and turn a profit.

So why did Apple decide to get in on the ultraportable game? More than likely, it's because the company thinks it can do no wrong. And who can tell Steve he can? Not only has the iPod been an unbridled success, but the iPhone is selling extremely well and Mac sales have never been stronger.

But for the first time in years, Jobs and company has committed a blunder that could have enormous consequences. Not only is the MacBook Air a glorified toy that won't be used by the vast majority of consumers, it's overpriced and lacking any significant benefit of ownership other than its looks and multi-touch trackpad.

If you're looking for portability, save $700 and buy the MacBook. If you're looking to spend money, go the extra mile and find yourself a MacBook Pro. Suffice it to say, there's no need for the MacBook Air.

iPhone hacks for 1.1.3 could it be?

The folks behind the two hacks to Jailbreak the iPhone and iPod Touch 1.1.3 firmware have been in a dilemma. Release now and risk having the hack broken again when Apple ships its official software development kit for the iPhone, or sit on the hacks and release them after the next Apple update.

According to iPhone Atlas, there may be a third way. One of the two jailbreak methods will be released today, and the other held back until after the SDK is launched. A nice workaround in theory, but it seems that the hack we'll get might include some hardware modification, which will put it out of most user's abilities.

Also, many current third party applications won't work on 1.1.3. Apple tightened security on the iPhone by making all applications run as a regular user instead of the root, or super user. Apparently the NES emulator has already been updated to work, with other programmers hard at work on their own applications.

Macbook Air Video NEW!!!

This is a great video Watch and enjoy!

Macbook Air Stack up

We can all agree that the MacBook Air is a slick-looking little laptop. It's so thin! You can't argue with that! But if you're in the market for a small, high-performance laptop, is it the best option? I pored over specs for four similarly positioned and more-or-less similarly priced laptops to see if you'll get your $1,800 worth out of the Air. Let's go to the chart, shall we?



It turns out that, surprise surprise, you pay a premium for a tiny form factor. The MacBook Air is seriously expensive for the guts you get inside, but Apple isn't the only company guilty of charging insane amounts for smaller computers. Just look at the Sony Vaio TZ150N, for example. $2,100 for a 1.06 GHz processor? Are you kidding me? I don't care how small, it's still a rip-off.

The best deal—if you don't mind an extra pound of weight and half-inch of thickness—is the Dell XPS M1330. It bests the MacBook Air in nearly every single category, delivering about 30% more processing power, 50% more memory, over 300% more hard drive space, plus a dedicated graphics card. All of this, for $300 less. But also, two hours less of battery life, thanks to the new smaller and more efficient Core 2 Duo processor in the MacBook Air.

But it's really no surprise that a form factor as striking as the MacBook Air's warrants a premium price. Super-slim and light laptops as a category have yet to come down from the stratosphere, dollar-wise. It's a form factor that SSD just makes loads of sense for, lightening them up and cutting down on battery life, but that drives the price up even further for the time being. Chips are still getting smaller and screen technology keeps improving. In a couple of years, these form factors will be reasonably priced with great specs, but until then, prepare to pay a huge chunk more for a bit less power, just so you can brag about having the thinnest computer on the

Youtube on your iPhone just got a little better

YouTube first dipped its toe in the mobile world in November of 2006 with a deal to deliver some video clips through the VCast service of Verizon Wireless. Last year it created a mobile Web site accessible on many Sprint and AT&T phones. But the site only carried a small slice of YouTube content. And it has another subset on the iPhone.
Today, the company is unveiling a new mobile at m.youtube.com that it said will carry most of YouTube’s catalog, or tens of millions of videos. The site will also have personalization and community features that it lacked before, so users will be able to log in and subscribe to certain channels or have easy access to their favorite videos. And they’ll be able to upload videos directly from their mobile devices.
“The mobile experience will be much closer to the Web experience,” said Hunter Walk, a YouTube product manager.
For now, the new site will have no impact on Google’s bottom line, as it will be free of ads. Mr. Walk said the new site is intended to get existing users of YouTube mobile to spend more time on the site and to grow the YouTube mobile audience. “We want more and more people try mobile video for the first time,” he said.
Watching videos on mobile phones remains a niche activity. YouTube said its mobile site will be accessible from devices that are capable of streaming video and that run on 3G networks. According to the company, that’s about 100 million devices worldwide, a small fraction of the more than 3 billion cell phones in use around the world. What’s more, many of those devices, especially overseas, run on limited data plans, so watching videos can prove expensive, as YouTube notes on its mobile Web site: “YouTube Mobile is a data intensive application. We highly recommend that you upgrade to an unlimited data plan with your mobile service provider to avoid additional charges.”

MacBook to buy or not to buy, that is the question

As the Macintosh guru in my group of friends and colleagues, the question on everyone's mind over the past week (other than what happened to Apple's stock price!?) is "what do I think of the MacBook Air? - and should I buy one?" Rather than answer everyone separately, let me share my pre-1st hand knowledge/thoughts. Keep in mind, I've been called an Apple Fanboy enough times for me to think it might be true....

The MacBook Air is an amazing piece of machinery. It is ahead of its time on a lot of fronts. However, some details certainly are cause for concern.

The processor. Intel is late on their delivery of their ultra-low 45nm laptop chips. Clearly, the MacBook Air is the exact computer that these types of chips belong in. So Apple and Intel spun it as going out of their way to do something special. That something special was jimmy-ing a 65nm chip onto a board that was made for a 45nm one. The 45 nm chips will be arriving by mid-year and will likely be put in rev 2 of the MacBook Air. They will use less power per CPU cycle and that five hour battery life could easily turn into six - and with the reduced power consumption, they might be able to crank the processor speed up to and beyond 2 Ghz or maybe even fit in some more wireless options..
Wireless. I am not talking about Wifi which the Air has the best money can buy, I am talking about 3G/WiMAX here. It isn't built in. For the road warriors that this device is made for, having 3G Internet access is almost a prerequisite. Of course you can get a decidedly unsexy USB 3G "dongle", but Apple is going to eventually have to cave to pressure and start including these things in its products. Dell, HP and others have included this functionality for years! Apple could even partner with their iPhone buddies, AT&T on this and offer a seamless package. Or how about WiMAX with Intel? Intel is building WiMAX into its next round of CPUs. Again. Rev 2
As much as I hate to say it about Apple - or any company - Rev 1 parts are glitchy - especially the first ones off of the assembly line. I pre-ordered/picked up one of the first MacBook Pros out of the factory a few years ago. Over the course of that first year, nearly every part on it had to be replaced (Motherboard, HD, battery, etc). It is almost a whole new machine after all of the part swaps. That doesn't mean Apple wasn't quick and happy to replace everything - and it is still a solid machine: I am typing on it now as a matter of fact. However, it was a pain to lose it for a few days at a time and my early impressions of it shot my confidence in its quality. These MacBook Airs are going to be going to the people who don't really have that much patience and desire to send it back to Apple for a few days while they swap defective parts - especially at the price premiums.
Option 1: 80Gb Hard Drive. I've booted my MacBook Pro from an iPod before. It isn't fast - I wouldn't want to have to do this on a regular basis - especially on a brand new, expensive machine. Apple may have added a few tricks, but the bottom line is that the 80Gb hard drive is still a 1.8 inch 4200 rpm iPod hard drive - which is not only significantly slower than 2.5 inch drives at 7200RPM but also more prone to damage from shock. The early reviewers also didn't get the hard drive version of the MacBook Air to review - so we won't know how fast/slow it is until it hits the streets. Apparently there is not enough room in there for the 160Gb iPod hard drive either - it isn't an option. That is tight! The next round of 1.8 inch drives will be faster, smaller and store more information. Me? I don't want to be using an iPod drive on my laptop - which leads to...
Option 2: That $1000 64Gb SSD drive. It is the top of the line, fastest 1.8 inch form factor solid state drive out there. But this is an area that is growing by leaps and bounds. Soon there will be 128Gb (or 96GB - there is a 48Gb SSD drive afterall) sized drives available for this thing. By midyear or earlier they should be hitting the same price points at the current 64Gb SSDs. Meanwhile the 64Gb drives will cost about half of what they do now. Those price points seem a lot more digestable to me.
Docks. Right now there isn't much in the way of docking stations for this thing. With the exception of Kensington's USB dock not much comes close. This is definitely a problem in need of a solution. I'd like to see something that plugs into the MicroDVI port as well - and include a superdrive in a sexy package - these laptops aren't going to the aesthetically challenged.
Overall speed. The specs of the MacBook Air pretty much line up with a last generation (Rev B) Mac Mini or 1st generation Rev A MacBooks. Some specs are lower, some are higher. So you'd expect a similar experience from this machine. For the high-end target market to which this is obviously aimed, that speed may not sit well.
Expandability. Everyone has been talking about the lack of expandability of the MacBook Air - which overall I think is unfair, concessions had to be made. However, some things do stick out. RAM. It doesn't take up much space and I want as much as possible. Apple, make a 4 GB option! Street prices say this should be $300 more (Rev 2?) but Apple charges 2-5 times more than street costs. Realistically, pricing details this small won't matter to high end users. Battery. There have to be more options. I am sure someone will make a MagSafe adaptable external battery/crank/solar charger - but until then, once you use your 4-5 hours, you are SOL until an AC/DC outlet avails itself. Think ten hour overseas flights without power - believe me, they exist.
Size. "Thin! thin! thin!" If Apple had its way, that is all you'd hear about. Well that isn't the only dimension that matters. The truth is that this is hardly an utraportable. It has roughly the same footprint as a MacBook - with the same wasted space around the edges of the screen and keyboard. As such, it won't fit in a standard purse like a Sony TZ and won't open as comfortably on a tight airplane ride as a true ultra-portable. Think about it as a MacBook sliced in half. Perhaps Apple will offer a 14 inch screen in Rev 2 that actually goes to the edges of the device or shrink the footprint to the edges of the screen/keyboard. Here is the MAcBook Air compared to a full sized MacBook Pro.



Price drops. As this is an Apple/early adopter device, the price will drop significantly for the next round. We saw this in the iPhone and we see it every time Apple astounds us with new products. It isn't just component costs - which will be significant - it's also the ramp up of production numbers which will bring prices way down. This could easily be late 2008 or 2009's MacBook.
But for a lot of people, these things - or anything else - don't matter..You know who I am talking about. The person who:

saw the machine and said "I have to have it" without needing to hear any of the details
has virtually unlimited discretionary spending money
cares much less about the specs and more about aesthetics
is spending most of his/her time on the web and email - who needs more of something to show off than a real workhorse.
Not to mention that these people will probably be the first ones to get the Rev 2's anyway.

Truthfully, there are a lot of legitimate reasons to snap up one of these beauties - and as they said in the earnings call last week, Apple is getting lots of orders for these things. But they obviously are only for the select few who can justify its unique characteristics.

For the rest of us, it might take some consideration.

iPhone enjoys free AT&T Wifi

Free. It's a great word.


And now you can use free and your other favorite word -- iPhone -- in the same sentence, as long as you subscribe to AT&T's broadband service.


According to the Associated Press and CNN, AT&T said Wednesday that will be make its 10,000 Wi-Fi hotspots free to almost all broadband Internet customers starting next week.


Until now, that access was reserved for subscribers to the company's premium broadband services.


I'm one of the lucky ones in this case and I've had the free Wi-Fi for a while now because I have AT&T broadband. I must say that I don't use it all that often; the only place that's really close by is the McDonald's in the base of my apartment building.


But when I really want to use Wi-Fi in my lobby, I order a side salad and log in. The log-in process is cumbersome and takes about 5 minutes. But once you are in, it works just fine.

Flickr Find: Use Webclips to create a personal Photo album

TUAW reader DoctaBu has come up with a novel way to use Webclips: creating a personal photo album. He realized he could have some fun with webclips by building an entire page of nothing but his friends' and family's pictures. He placed these all on a separate SpringBoard screen, which he can flick over to whenever he wants. Have you done something extraordinary or unique with Webclips? Let us know!

iPhone Missing E-Mail function.. bait and switch

Ryan Block from Engadget shot us an e-mail about a blog post that he recently wrote on his personal blog. In his post, he reminisces about Macworld '07 where Steve Jobs first showed off the iPhone's e-mail application. He reminds us about the double-pane e-mail that was demoed -- and never made it into the final release. What gives Steve? Some people actually would like this view to quickly look through their e-mail.

Many have said that the iPhone's e-mail client isn't the best feature out there, as it lacks smart folders, multiple message deletion, and the double-pane view. Not to mention the fact that there are multiple bugs that still remain, even with firmware version 1.1.3 (Ryan mentions the fact that the iPhone idles while parsing HTML messages for quite some time). Is iPhone's Mail worth your time, or a pain in the finger?

iPhone Tricks of the trade

Here are two simple but useful tips from TUAW readers David B Alford and Andrew Akker that help you navigate through your iPhone or iPod home screens. David points out that if you tap just to the left or to the right of the dots at the bottom of your screen, you can move a page at a time without having to drag. Tap left, you move left. Tap right, you move right. It's quick and it's easy.


Andrew figured out how to pause his drag Home screen drags. If you start to move between screens by dragging and then tap the dots control during that drag, screen pauses. You'll see bits of both home screens at once, and can interact with them normally by tapping icons. You can see up to 24 icons at once (16 off to one side, 4 along the other side, and 4 in the bar at the bottom).

I've tested both tips extensively and they work great -- two really nice additions to one's Home-screens skills.

iPhone Rap Video ..best thing i've ever seen.

Hit me on my iphone.
The fake lips in the copy and paste demo (and the stealth declaration of love at the end) had me laughing out loud, but this one has me rolling -- who knew the iPhone demo guy was such a hip hop mastermind? Pete Miser was the one who put the song together, and apparently Merritt Duff edited the video. I especially like the dance at the end, and the lyrics are perfect. I've never bought a Bluetooth headset because I think they just plain look dumb, but people have thought I was crazy on the bus as I talked directly into the little mic on the headphones.

I love it. John from the MacBook Air demos should do a dis song, and we have a mobile computing rap feud!

iphone like e-mail on the Blackberry

At last, e-mail handling on your BlackBerry is coming into the 21st century. Also: Office document editing and new IM features.

One of my biggest pet peeves about BlackBerry phones is that for all their vaunted abilities to send and receive e-mail in a flash, the messages themselves arrive in a blocky, unformatted jumble—and good luck clicking on URLs. All that's set to change, though, with the latest update to the BlackBerry Enterprise Server platform (due to arrive by the end of next month).

Among the improvements in BES version 4.5: HTML and Rich Text formatting for e-mail messages, which will finally bring the BlackBerry platform in line with Windows Mobile (which got HTML e-mail formatting in early 2007) and the iPhone. Finally, your messages and newsletters will be formatted correctly, complete with images, and the links will work. Crazy, I know. Also on tap: remote searching for e-mail messages that are on the server but not on your device, along with new IM features (including IM session "click to call," "convert to call," and emoticon support) for users of IBM Lotus Sametime and Microsoft Live Communications Server.

Built-in Office document editing is also coming to the BlackBerry, thanks to the upcoming integration of Dataviz's Documents to Go software (which has been available as a third-party download since last year). First up will be the ability to edit Microsoft Word and PowerPoint documents, with support for Excel coming later this year. Several other IT, security, and server-side enhancements will also be included in the update (check out RIM's press release for the entire list).

Personally, I'm pretty excited about the update; the lack of HTML-formatted e-mail has been one fo the main reasons I resisted getting a BlackBerry. Now, who knows—there just might be a Curve in my future.

Pirated Movies Used to Promote the iMac

The DVD ripper aXXo is without a doubt one of the most popular DVD-rippers. Even though he hasn’t been active since November 2007, his rips are still widely used, even by commercial outlets such as the John Lewis store. They must have thought, “Why use a real DVD if we can use a pirated movie for free?”

The aXXo rip was shown on an iMac displayed on an Apple stand at a John Lewis store. A member of the Hexus forums discovered this remarkable promotional material, and writes:

“So I was in my local John Lewis store a week or so back, and I was checking out their new little Apple mac area, which had lots of Macs on display, with some desks setup and other accessories. They also had some wall mounted iMacs. Imagine my surprise when getting closer to one of them to see ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest’ - ripped by Axxo playing.”



Using a ripped DVD is bit odd because this is certainly not the best promotional material. Regular DVDs or free HD-content looks much better on an iMac monitor.

One thing is clear though, aXXo’s presence has now moved beyond the Internet, and for him it must be flattering to see that commercial outlets appreciate his work. Perhaps this might motivate him to return?

The last official aXXo torrent was uploaded November 11, after that it has been awfully quiet. There were rumors that he got caught, others said he had an accident. However, the official statement is that he decided to take a break.

John Lewis was not available for comment, the MPAA probably wont appreciate it that much, but they have our support.

iPhone BEST Applications

Last week we showed you how to install third party apps on your iPhone or iPod touch, and since then a new firmware preview has leaked its way to the 'nets with saucy new features that—once released—may tempt you to abandon your jailbreak for the newly introduced features. Fact is, until the 1.1.3 firmware is successfully hacked by the resourceful iPhone hackers, you can still enjoy all of the features the update is bringing and more with your jailbroken iPhone. Today I'm taking a look at my 20 favorite (that's right, 20) third-party iPhone and iPod touch apps.

All of the applications below are available through Installer.app, which can be installed by jailbreaking your iPhone. For more details on each app, click through to the gallery page (again, sorry). Some of the apps will work perfectly on both the iPhone and iPod touch, while others are obviously a bit more iPhone-oriented. I've only tested these apps on the iPhone. Want to learn more about all things iPhone? Check out How to Do Everything with your iPhone, written by me and my pal Jason Chen from Gizmodo.

Apps that Cover Rumored 1.1.3 Features
In case you haven't seen it, here's a video highlighting the upcoming features in the 1.1.3 firmware release.
First let's tackle the hot apps of the moment—those apps that can already bring you the features rumored to be in the 1.1.3 update. The major new features appear to be the faux-GPS in Google Maps, multi-recipient SMS, and re-ordering apps on the home screen. Two of the apps above have been covering those features for quite some time (Navizon for GPS and Customize for re-ordering apps), and the third, iSMS for multi-recipient SMS, is a bit newer, but in addition to multi-recipient SMS, it offers quick-reply templates, emoticons, and a much more robust SMS management system. It does not currently offer MMS messaging, though there is an iPhone app (called SwirlyMMS) that is attempting the MMS road, though it's still a bit bumpy. MMS messages can be sent (though it requires a bit of setup), but so far not received.

iSMS
Navizon GPS
Customize
The only major new feature that's been discovered in the 1.1.3 update that isn't easily available through Installer is the new web clip feature that allows the user to bookmark a web page directly on the home screen. There are hacks around that accomplish this, but they're not the kind of no-brainer installations as the above three apps. The WebSearch app described below, however, is arguably a good deal more useful for what I need than the web clips, so I can happily do without for the time being.

Now that I've covered the 1.1.3 features (I'll include these apps in the sections below by category as well), lets move on to my 20 favorite iPhone apps.

Communication
Below we've got a more robust SMS client, a multi-protocol IM app, and a simple utility that adds push email capabilities to IMAP accounts—including Gmail.
iSMS
Apollo
iMapIdle
Multimedia
The multimedia list is a big one, so I'll just highlight a few. You've got a Last.fm client and scrobbler for your iPod, a feature-rich camera app, and a real-time lyrics app that automagically sucks lyrics for your music from the cloud.
Books
MobileScrobbler
iFlix
CameraPro
TuneWiki
Productivity
One of my favorites, the WebSearch app adds one-click search to any site, while Sketches is a great whiteboard tool and drawing pad.
Sketches
WebSearch
Utilities
There are obviously quite a few great iPhone utilities, so to highlight just a few: OpenSSH is what I used to tether my iPhone data plan to my laptop; DropCopy is great for sharing files between your phone or iPod and your desktop; Installer, obviously, is the app that makes all of this third-party app business so easy; Navizon does the faux-GPS for Google Maps; and Customize covers app re-ordering and just about any other customization you'd want to make to your little iPod or iPhone.
OpenSSH
iTrac
iPhoneHome
iSpit
DropCopy
Installer
Navizon GPS
Customize
Games
There are actually tons of games available on the iPhone at this point, but these three stand out as favorites because of their impressive use of the iPhone's animation engine or for just being plain addictive.
Gallery Name
NES
iSolitaire
HuaRongDao

Honorable Mention

For honorable mention purposes (I realize I already fudged a bit with 21 above), I wanted to point out FireflyMediaServer, an app that streams your iPod library to any iTunes library on a local network as a shared library (and which we showed you how to set up here). Dictionary is what it sounds like, a dictionary application that can search tons of installable dictionary databases (also available in Installer). Finally, for the students out there, iStudy is a simple flashcard app that also features downloadable content from Installer.

iPhone is a window into your personal life...understand your rights!

Adam Gershowitz, an assistant professor at the South Texas College of Law, raises an interesting point about the iPhone and similarly tricked-out mobile devices: If the police stop you and find some legal cause to arrest you, they are probably free, under judicial interpretations of the Fourth Amendment, to search the device.

This means that a standard traffic stop -- say they get you for drunk driving or excessive speeding or any number of other arrestable offenses -- could conceivably lead to a search of your entire Web history, your photos, and potentially even your online accounts at banks or social networking sites.

The iPhone is a portable window to your whole world -- and while arresting you for something comparatively minor, the police may get to look through that window without any approval from a judge.

Gershowitz's theory, which he outlines in a law review article, rests on a legal doctrine known as "search incident to arrest." Ordinarily, the police aren't allowed to search your possessions unless they obtain a warrant. That's the essence of the Fourth Amendment, the one we all grew up with on "Law and Order."

One exception to this is a search incident to arrest -- if the police are arresting you, they can search you and your possessions without first obtaining a warrant. During the past few decades, Gershowitz explains, courts have given the police wide rein in conducting such searches. If police arrest a driver, they're allowed to search not only the driver but the car, passengers in the car, and "containers" in the car -- envelopes, wallets, aspirin bottles -- that they find. And incriminating evidence they find -- even if it's not related to the crime they're arresting you for -- can be admissible in court.

In recent years courts have been asked to rule on the legality of police searches of electronic devices found during the course of an arrest, and judges have almost always come down on the side of the officers.

Police have been allowed to search through pagers and cellphones for contacts and messages, and evidence found on those devices -- text messages that prove that the arrestee was involved in a drug ring, for instance -- were ruled admissible in court.

Newer mobile devices like the iPhone are qualitatively different from pagers and cellphones of yesteryear: They hold much more personal information about their owners, and they're connected to the Internet, which holds still more personal information. When the cops find an iPhone, then, they're sitting on a gold mine of personal data.

Gershowitz notes this theoretical case: Say an officer finds an iPhone on a fellow during an arrest. The cop then brings up the iPhone's Web browser, scans the bookmarks, clicks on one called "porn," which takes him to a Web page that requires a member's username and password, which the iPhone has fortunately remembered -- so the cop presses "submit," and he sees that the Web site has a message function, which the cop then logs in to, and finds, there, an incriminating conversation about the exchange of child porn.

Or something else hypothetically damning -- messages about buying drugs, or buying bongs, or, in Alabama and Texas, buying dildos. Or, say the cop logs into your bank account and finds evidence of financial fraud. Or he looks at your pictures, videos and songs and finds evidence of mass copyright infringement.

All that information would have been private and inaccessible to the government in the days before the iPhone. Now, though, it can conceivably be used against you in court.

Gershowitz goes over possible remedies to this problem. One is for courts to follow the prescription of Justice Antonin Scalia, who favors reducing the scope of the search incident to arrest doctrine. In Scalia's view, only searches that are related to the cause of the arrests should be legal -- if the cops arrest you for not wearing a seat belt, they can't search for drugs, because that's not related to your crime.

Another remedy is for legislatures to limit the scope of police searches of electronic devices. States could specifically prohibit cops from looking at your online profiles on your iPhone, say, if they're only stopping you for driving under the influence.

That's not likely to happen soon -- or at all, unless there are cases in the courts that prove Gershowitz's theory true. As yet, his idea is hypothetical. Still, perhaps it'd be wise to keep a password lock on your iPhone. The cops can't get through that without a warrant.

Hat tip to Techdirt's Mike Masnick for this; read Gershowitz's paper here.

iPhone Voice Dial

Makayama has released a new native iPhone application called VoiceDial. As you can probably guess from its name, the application adds voice dialing feature to the iPhone, but also allows users to start applications and open Safari bookmarks without touching their shiny handset — all they have to do is say it and Makayama’s app will take it from there.
The interesting thing about VoiceDial is that it isn’t free. So far virtually all applications we’ve seen — except Navizon — have been developed by iPhone enthusiasts and were offered as a free download. Entrance of the established developer like Makayama to the space is certainly encouraging to the iPhone users, even though they’ll have to pay $27.95 or 19.95 EUR in order to download VoiceDial… More information is available from here.

iPhone Proof of Concept projects on fire!

The beauty of jailbroken iPhones is the ability for developers to demonstrate the amazing potential of native iPhone apps, inducing the salivation of mouths throughout the techie world. And indeed, some incredible examples of mobile possibilities have already hit the interwebs, like the neat-o PlayStation emulator I wrote about before.
And they keep on coming: Erica Sadun, one of the most prominent names in iPhone cracking, put together Listen, an insanely sweet app that lets you identify songs playing on the radio by putting your iPhone up to the speaker. It listens to the tune for ten or so seconds, then displays its name, album, and artist info. A friend of mine tested it and said it worked “really well,” ID’ing a song from Dropkick Murphys’ album, The Meanest of Times, which has only been out since September.
If this isn’t evidence enough that 3rd-party apps for the iPhone could effectively be its most attractive feature, I don’t know what is. Here’s hoping Apple isn’t characteristically stingy with who gets access to the SDK — some of the most innovative stuff comes from the independent, little-guy dev who whips up code in his free time, just for the hell of it.

iPhone American iDol

We’re more than happy to flick the switch on the 100W bulb and explain how to add lyrics to your iPhone.

Here’s the first trick: while the latest version of the iPhone software does add support for lyrics, those lyrics are pulled directly from the song files’ metadata. If you hop into your iTunes library and select a track, you can hit command-I or control-click and choose “Get Info.” You’ll see a number of tabs, but the only we’re interested at the moment is “Lyrics.” Hitting that will give you a big empty text field. Whatever you put in this field is what will show up on the iPhone, so you’re not required to put the lyrics in—really it could be anything you want:notes, recipes, marriage proposals, whatever. But right now, we’ll assume you want to use lyrics.

To find the lyrics for a song, I recommend a simple Google search: entering the title of the song and lyrics usually yields a number of results. So, for example, if I’m looking for the lyrics to The Rolling Stones classic “Gimmer Shelter,” to which I’ve become addicted, thanks to Rock Band, I’ll fire up a Google search and enter “Gimme Shelter +lyrics” (Lyric Wiki is an excellent collaborative site for lyrics). Once you’ve found the words, copy and paste them into the Lyrics dialog box in the appropriate song in iTunes. You’ll then need to re-sync your computer and your iPhone. Couldn’t be easier.

Well, it could be easier. I mean, who wants to spend all their time finding, copying, and pasting lyrics into iTunes. Pretty much nobody. So instead, check out Gimme Some Tune, an iTunes add-on that can be configured to download lyrics for songs as they play. Combined with Doug Adam’s Needle Drop iTunes script, which lets you play songs for arbitrary amounts of time, you can set it up to automatically retrieve lyrics for all of your songs. That’s pretty darn easy.

But how—I’m sure you’re wondering—do I get such lyrics to show up on the iPhone? Easy enough: when the song comes up, tap on the album art. Usually this brings up additional music controls, but if lyrics are present, it’ll overlay them on the album art. You can even scroll through them with a simple flick, if you’re trying to sing along. We also remind you that singing along to your tunes is an activity usually best left for the privacy of your own.

iPhone Hidden items in firmware update 1.1.3

Last week’s 1.1.3 software update to the iPhone brought a bunch of new features, which we painstakingly detailed over at the Mothership with a careful detail usually reserved for Talmudic study. But even under the magnifying lens of our scrutiny, one or two minor changes escaped our notice. Fortunately, the folks over at iPhone Atlas were sharp enough to pick up on them.

The limit on stored SMS messages has been raised from 1,000 to an ice-cream-headache-inducing 75,000. That’s right: now you can store every SMS message that you send in your entire lifetime—unless you are a teenage girl, in which case you’ll still need to erase all of your conversations every month.

And now you can use two fingers while typing, too. “Huh?” you say. “Couldn’t you already do that?” Well, yes, but now you can use two fingers simultaneously. Previously, tapping any key meant that the rest of the keyboard was rendered inoperable, which helped eliminating extraneous contact from your other hand. That apparently wasn’t as big a deal as Apple initially thought, so now you can use your left thumb to hold down the shift key while typing a letter: you’ll get a capital and the keyboard will immediately snap back into lower case mode. Handy for those used to, oh, almost every other keyboard ever made.

A final addendum on 1.1.3. Macworld head honcho Jason Snell was trying out 1.1.3’s new “Manually manage your music and video” feature; he gives it a thumbs down. While it does let you drag-and-drop music and video files onto your iPhone, the major advantage that the feature brought tot he iPod—letting you transfer music and video from multiple computers to one iPod—has been locked down on the iPhone. Try to manually manage an iPhone on a second computer and it’ll work—after iTunes offers to erase any files currently on the iPhone. So those hoping to sync with multiple computers are still forced to engage in interpretive dance and ritual sacrifice.

iPhone or iTablet either way iwant

Some have been working on gathering more information about a new Apple (AAPL) portable device from several different sources during the past 6 months. I have pieced together the puzzle which portrays a picture of what can be perhaps best described as Apple’s rival product to the Intel Ultra Mobile PC [UMPC] initiative which has unsuccessfully tried to marry Microsoft’s (MSFT) Windows OS to a highly portable computing platform.
My strongest piece of evidence came from a trusted tipster about 4 months ago who described an image s(he) had seen of a mysterious touch screen device larger than the iPhone featuring one distinguishing button or depression on each side. At the time, unsure about the actual size of this new device, I reasoned that it could be a new generation of iPhone/iPod Touch or the much rumored Apple tablet. However, the device was later described to have been oriented horizontally on its long end, indicating that it was meant to be gripped with one hand on each side similar to a Sony (SNE) PSP. This ruled out the Apple tablet which is, more than likely, a significantly larger device. It also ruled out iPod Touch since I have been previously tipped on the forward path of the iPod lineup by different sources, essentially confirming that touch screen iPods will not grow much in screen size.
Then about a month ago, another source revealed that Apple has shown significant interest in a 5.2″ 800 x 480 pixel touch screen design by Balda, a German company and the current iPhone screen supplier, and Wintek, an Asian component supplier. This second piece of evidence reveals the real purpose of this new device, an ultra mobile device occupying a position between the 3.5″ iPhone and the much rumored 7-10 inch Apple tablet. There was also a previous article I wrote which highlighted Apple’s sudden concern for flash memory supplies in 2008, despite industry predictions for next year which emphasize greater production and softer demand. This further confirms that Apple is working on a new device due sometime in 2008 that will put strains on the flash memory supply chain.
One thing not seen by any of my sources is a keyboard: it’s clear Apple will not be using a physical QWERT keyboard for this device, instead relying on its patented multi-touch screen as the sole interface for user input. This may be the reason why some have speculated that Apple may be on the verge of introducing a new generation of its famed Newton PDA. However, I firmly believe that the shrinking market for dedicated PDAs puts those speculations to rest, although various PDA functionalities may in fact be included in the final version of the device.
This new Apple device, which could be an Ultra Mobile Computer, has not been sighted out and about the Apple campus or even in the area normally designated for testing new Apple products, suggesting that it’s still in the software and hardware design period. Once it’s physically spotted outside Apple’s secretive labs, we may see an actual product release of 6-8 months, closely following other new Apple product introductions.
Above is a rendition of this new device based on what we know so far

iphone GPS ..make it more accurate and help man kind

re you the giving-type? Do you like to help others for the betterment of society? Well, you might be interested to hear that you can help Skyhook Wireless map WiFi hotspots in your area. If you’ll recall, Skyhook is the company that provides the iPhone’s v1.1.3 Google Maps’ My Location feature with WiFi hotspot location data, so contributing to their database should make the iPhone’s Google Maps My Location position-data more accurate and useful.

Here are the instructions on how to go about adding your positional data to Skyhook’s database (from iPhone Central):

1. Find your location as latitude, longitude

First we need to determine the location of the AP. Go to Google Maps (http://maps.google.com) and find the location of your access point on the map. Center the map (double-click on it) on the location and then enter the following into your Address Bar:

javascript:void(prompt(”,gApplication.getMap().getCenter()));

This will open a prompt giving you the latitude,longitude of the center of
the map. Copy and paste that into an email. If you are having problems there is a little more detailed tutorial here.

2. Find the MAC Address of your wireless access point

Next we need to get the MAC Address of your AP. This can be tricky, so its best to use software to find it. We recommend NetStumbler and iStumbler on Windows and Mac respectively. You can download the programs at the following links:

Windows: http://www.netstumbler.com/
Mac: http://istumbler.net/

Find your AP in the list and the associated MAC address for it. Now paste the MAC address in the email.

Now you should have a MAC address, latitude and longitude. Its good to recheck the location by pasting the latitude, longitude back into Google Maps to make sure its the right location. Once you verify it, send us the information and we’ll add them to the database. It may take up to a week before the AP is available when using your iPhone or iPod touch.

Just make sure you add accurate data, okay? It would be ashame to actually lose positional resolution because a bunch of dimwits decided it would be funny to add inaccurate WiFi hotspot data.

iPhone 1.1.3 firware update

Cre.ations.net's Nate True wrote a blog post describing what he found inside the iPhone firmware 1.1.3 update. Whilst digging around in the iPhone's firmware innards, he found that Apple has made some startling changes to the iPhone's OS, including:
The SpringBoard doesn't have to be modified to show custom Applications installed on the iPhone
Applications no longer run as root, instead they run as 'mobile'
Preferences are no longer stored in /var/root
True states additionally that he has also found what appears to be widget support in the SpringBoard.app. 'SBWidgetApplication' manages package locations and icons. So, what does this all mean? It might mean that the stars are aligning so properly that this might be the release: the one that makes it possible for 3rd party developers.

iPhone gets it's own movie site

January 22, 2008 - 20th Century Fox and Apple have launched an iPhone tie-in site for the forthcoming sci-fi adventure film Jumper. In the Doug Liman-directed film, opening February 14th, a genetic anomaly allows a young man to teleport himself anywhere.

He discovers this gift has existed for centuries and finds himself in a war that has been raging for thousands of years between "Jumpers" and those who have sworn to kill them.

The Jumper iPhone site is formatted specifically for iPhones, allowing the user to experience the "jumper" phenomenon by redirecting them -- "jumping" -- to other cool iPhone sites. Just punch JumperTheMovie.com/iPhone/ into an iPhone browser and you'll "jump" to a custom iPhone site.

Furthermore, the Jumper iPhone site offers a Jumper graphic novel (an iPhone first), wallpapers, trailers, character bios, and more.

Macbook Air enjoy a little discount

I had come across this link and it provides a some savings off the new apple offerings. As expensive as these products are, even a little discount is helpful!

Purchase and enjoy.

The new iMac starting at $1,144 + FREE Paallels 3.0, Printer and Shipping after Rebate(s)! Now with Mac OS X Leopard

iPhone News

I have heard that AT&T will be providing enterprise accounts for iPhones.

There also seems to be a strong monthly discount on the data package as well.

I know alot of business that have rouge iPhones being used on a personal level and this now will be the turning point in sales. I predict that the iPhone will overtake blackberry's market share in just one year. With the release of the iPhone SDK arriving next month, we will see the release of blackberry like e-mail integration software. In my opinion, enterprise e-mail support and wirless sync are the only missing peices stoping the iPhone from becoming competitive business use product.

As much as I love my iPhone, I deeply miss the instant sync of e-mail, calander, contact, ect that my blackberry provided.

I had also been a palm user taking advantage of the GOOD LINK server which was also outstanding.

Apple, if you are listening, fix this and sales will come. Enterprise accounts will be big business and they are aching to use the iPhone.

iphone firmware update 1.1.3 hacked

The latest version of the firmware for Apple's iPhone has fallen to hackers less than a week after its release.
Two hackers working separately have both succeeded in jailbreaking version 1.1.3 of the firmware, iPhone Atlas reports. One of the hacks requires hardware modification, so it's not suited for those of a nervous disposition or lacking in electronics expertise You can see the hack in action on this video:




Another hack by Jonathan Zdziarski, developer of the NES emulator for iPhone, is software only but somewhat complicated. If previous experience is anything to go by, easier jailbreaks will emerge over coming days. ®

Macbook yes or no??

I’ve been a Mac user for a very long time. Well, I guess I can’t say that I am anymore, as I haven’t bought a new one in several years, and most of my work is done on a PC. I’m still a loyal Apple fan at heart, so I tend to follow the news waiting for that one announcement that’s going to make me finally take the plunge and buy a new one. While I’m not sure that this is the one, I’m very excited about the possibilities that the upcoming Macworld Expo have to offer. The biggest one is the Air.

There are a lot of rumors going around, but we do know that the banners hanging up for the show say “There is something in the air.”To me this cries out WiMAX, but others seem to think that it could be a new MacBook, named the Air. It would be an ultrathin 13.3-inch notebook that would have an external optical drive and possibly feature a completely wireless setup that would take advantage of a Power-by induction patent that Apple filed for a year ago.

Whatever it is, it’s going to have to be big to top the iPhone announcement from last year. I’d really like to think that it’s going to be a new smaller notebook, but we’ll just have to wait and see.

mac update on the way??

Rumors are flying that Macworld 2008 could see Apple include long-range wireless broadband technology (WiMax) in an ultraportable 13 inch notebook computer.

In San Francisco next week, Steve Jobs’s Macworld keynote could confirm this rumor and maybe even WiMax in the entire MacBook Pro line.

Valleywag claim there is a 60 percent chance of this happening andAppleInsider has images of Apple’s banners showing “There’s something in the air” as a slogan (you can see one image above).

Sprint’s nationwide rollout of WiMax in April could be one reason why Apple will build in the hardware now, we all know that Apple can popularize new technologies and this could be a massive Win for WiMax if true.