Here's a great tale of how a group of courageous geeks overcame dangerous criminals (well, almost)to rescue a missing iPhone with the help of MobileMe's find my iPhone function. It's a tremendous story. Read it here.
09 June 2009
New iPhone announced!
And of all the possible names Apple could have chosen, they chose to just stick an 'S' on the end for 'Speed' and leave it at that. From the world's coolest gadget company, that's pretty lame.
The 'S' upgrade gives you improved speed (up to twice as fast they claim), longer battery life, a 3 megapixel autofocus camera, video recording, a built-in digital compass and hands-free voice control. And, of course, you get OS3.
The greater speed will come through a faster processor, more system memory and possibly snappier video circuitry. Also there'll be proper 7.2 Mb per second HSDPA.
For enterprise users, there'll be hardware encryption and a few other goodies in the OS to help silence those firms that really believe the Blackberry is a better enterprise tool.
It still looks pretty much like the old iPhone 3G though, and that name...well, it's not very exciting, is it?
All in all, iPhone OS3 is a big upgrade, but the step from 3G to 3GS is smaller. It's dramatic enough to make me want one though, and I hope my provider in Oz, Optus, makes hardware upgrades easy and cheap.
The 'S' upgrade gives you improved speed (up to twice as fast they claim), longer battery life, a 3 megapixel autofocus camera, video recording, a built-in digital compass and hands-free voice control. And, of course, you get OS3.
The greater speed will come through a faster processor, more system memory and possibly snappier video circuitry. Also there'll be proper 7.2 Mb per second HSDPA.
For enterprise users, there'll be hardware encryption and a few other goodies in the OS to help silence those firms that really believe the Blackberry is a better enterprise tool.
It still looks pretty much like the old iPhone 3G though, and that name...well, it's not very exciting, is it?
All in all, iPhone OS3 is a big upgrade, but the step from 3G to 3GS is smaller. It's dramatic enough to make me want one though, and I hope my provider in Oz, Optus, makes hardware upgrades easy and cheap.
26 May 2009
The name of the next iPhone
By calling the current 2nd generation iPhone the 3G after the telecomms technology incorporated, while iPod models are referred to by their iPod generation, Apple are facing a challenge with the naming of the rumoured new 3rd generation iPhone, possibly due in July.
It's possible that the new phone uses 3.5G telecomms technology, so could be called the 3.5G. Other possible names include iPhone 3, iPhone 3G2, iPhone G3 (I like that one), iPhone nano (if it's smaller), iPhone 32 (if it has larger capacity). Or maybe they'll just call it the new iPhone.
Does anyone have inside info, good rumours, or plain old wacky speculation? If so, please share.
It's possible that the new phone uses 3.5G telecomms technology, so could be called the 3.5G. Other possible names include iPhone 3, iPhone 3G2, iPhone G3 (I like that one), iPhone nano (if it's smaller), iPhone 32 (if it has larger capacity). Or maybe they'll just call it the new iPhone.
Does anyone have inside info, good rumours, or plain old wacky speculation? If so, please share.
31 March 2009
Skype for iPhone will be released today
Sometime on Tuesday US time, expect to see Skype for iPhone hit the AppStore. It's not going to look much like Skype, rather more like a standard iPhone app, which will disappoint some people. Another downer is that it will only make calls over WiFi, not 3G, so it's not going to be VOIP in your pocket from anywhere. Why not, Skype? Your version for the T-Mobile G1 (or HTC Dream in Australia) works over 3G. Until it supports 3G this is something to be only mildly excited about, but excited nonetheless.
13 March 2009
Great article on iPhone ebook readers at Macworld
The iPhone e-book readers' guide | Software | iPhone Central | Macworld
I've looked at a few of these apps and I think they all look a bit clunky. It's all well and good being able to change type sizes and faces, but you can't do that in a real book. Indeed, you wouldn't want to because highly trained book designers create the pages to be readable and select type to convey the text in a certain way. That's part of a book to my mind, and much of the pleasure of reading goes with it. None of these apps seem to really honour the book designers' art.
I've settled on using Stanza myself, but the iPhone screen is still a bit small for comfortable reading. I tend to read over lunch and the constant page turning is annoying, as is tendency for grease from the burgers to build up on my screen. At the end of the day nothing beats a good 'real' book, though I love the free Shakespeare app in the AppStore.
I've looked at a few of these apps and I think they all look a bit clunky. It's all well and good being able to change type sizes and faces, but you can't do that in a real book. Indeed, you wouldn't want to because highly trained book designers create the pages to be readable and select type to convey the text in a certain way. That's part of a book to my mind, and much of the pleasure of reading goes with it. None of these apps seem to really honour the book designers' art.
I've settled on using Stanza myself, but the iPhone screen is still a bit small for comfortable reading. I tend to read over lunch and the constant page turning is annoying, as is tendency for grease from the burgers to build up on my screen. At the end of the day nothing beats a good 'real' book, though I love the free Shakespeare app in the AppStore.
12 March 2009
Pocket Informant for iPhone almost here
Pocket Informant, arguably the best Calendar, Agenda and Task management application for mobile devices, has now been developed for the iPhone and version one-point-oh has been submitted to Apple for review. Shouldn't be long before we see it in the Appstore and I for one am counting the minutes.
I've long spoken about the frustrations of the iPhone's pitiful Calendar application. For a device that's supposed to be a PDA, the iPhone lags along way behind its rivals on other mobile platforms. For this reason I believe 'PI' as it's affectionately known will become one of the handful of killer apps for the iPhone. In fact, I am surprised that competitors like AgendaOne and Agendus are not rushing into the Appstore.
I've not even seen the application yet, folks, but I am confident this will be a keeper. Get your credit cards ready!
I've long spoken about the frustrations of the iPhone's pitiful Calendar application. For a device that's supposed to be a PDA, the iPhone lags along way behind its rivals on other mobile platforms. For this reason I believe 'PI' as it's affectionately known will become one of the handful of killer apps for the iPhone. In fact, I am surprised that competitors like AgendaOne and Agendus are not rushing into the Appstore.
I've not even seen the application yet, folks, but I am confident this will be a keeper. Get your credit cards ready!
28 February 2009
Documents to Go for iPhone (Good news!)
On my old Windows Mobile phone, Documents to Go was one of my killer apps. In truth I didn't use it all that often, but when I did it was often life-saving. I've been hagning out for it on the iPhone, and although the developers, DataViz, have promised it was under development for some time, they have been strangely quiet, even non-responsive, until just recently.
This morning's email, however, promised new hope, and as soon as 2nd Qtr 09. It's one of killer apps for iPhone, and you can read the email release and see some screens here: http://www.dataviz.com/ecampaigns/DXTGIP_UPDATE_FEB09.html?rgfull=
This morning's email, however, promised new hope, and as soon as 2nd Qtr 09. It's one of killer apps for iPhone, and you can read the email release and see some screens here: http://www.dataviz.com/ecampaigns/DXTGIP_UPDATE_FEB09.html?rgfull=
Weird shifting iPhone keys--This is not a feature!
There are plenty of weird iPhone behaviours documented on the web, but I'm having one that I've only read about once before, and that was in a very old posting about a 1st Gen iPhone.
Suddenly, and inexplicably, my screen seems to have recalibrated itself, so that you have to press the keys in a slightly different place from before. One minute it was as I had bought it, the next minute I am having to press just above the keys to type. There had been no operating system or software changes in between. It's an effective shift of roughly 3 millimetres, so whereas before I could hit the middle of the keys (which actually meant my finger was making contact at the bottom) and see where I was typing, I now have to hit at the very top of the key or just above so that my finger pad makes contact with the very middle and thus the entire key is obliterated as I hit it and I am constantly hitting the wrong keys, such as return when I want backspace or shift when I want A. It is extremely annoying and has greatly reduced my typing speed. And yes, it occurs in landscape or portrait keyboards, so it's probably not caused by the phone being bumped or dropped.
It's been like this for a week, and I have tried every software related solution I can think of. It doesn't seem to be to do with Winterboard or anything to do with any Jailbreaking app at all. I've uninstalled every manner of keyboard related thing and rebooted numerous times to no avail. I haven't unjaillbroken the phone and taken it back to scratch yet, but it looks like I might have to, though I'd rather wait till a 2.x release of the operating system.
You'd think it was possible to recalibrate the screen but Apple, in their infinite wisdom, seem to think the screen doesn't need calibration. Capacitive touchscreens don't need calibration, they tell me. Nonsense, of course they do, if only to address the fact that users have different typing styles and hit keys in different ways. Even if problems like mine didn't exist, it would simply be respectful to users to give them the ability to calibrate the screen, but Apple is not big on respecting users in that sort of way, just in assuming they know what's best for users.
Has anyone else seen this problem, or better yet, solved it?
Suddenly, and inexplicably, my screen seems to have recalibrated itself, so that you have to press the keys in a slightly different place from before. One minute it was as I had bought it, the next minute I am having to press just above the keys to type. There had been no operating system or software changes in between. It's an effective shift of roughly 3 millimetres, so whereas before I could hit the middle of the keys (which actually meant my finger was making contact at the bottom) and see where I was typing, I now have to hit at the very top of the key or just above so that my finger pad makes contact with the very middle and thus the entire key is obliterated as I hit it and I am constantly hitting the wrong keys, such as return when I want backspace or shift when I want A. It is extremely annoying and has greatly reduced my typing speed. And yes, it occurs in landscape or portrait keyboards, so it's probably not caused by the phone being bumped or dropped.
It's been like this for a week, and I have tried every software related solution I can think of. It doesn't seem to be to do with Winterboard or anything to do with any Jailbreaking app at all. I've uninstalled every manner of keyboard related thing and rebooted numerous times to no avail. I haven't unjaillbroken the phone and taken it back to scratch yet, but it looks like I might have to, though I'd rather wait till a 2.x release of the operating system.
You'd think it was possible to recalibrate the screen but Apple, in their infinite wisdom, seem to think the screen doesn't need calibration. Capacitive touchscreens don't need calibration, they tell me. Nonsense, of course they do, if only to address the fact that users have different typing styles and hit keys in different ways. Even if problems like mine didn't exist, it would simply be respectful to users to give them the ability to calibrate the screen, but Apple is not big on respecting users in that sort of way, just in assuming they know what's best for users.
Has anyone else seen this problem, or better yet, solved it?
14 February 2009
Dear Apple, Jailbreaking illegal? Give me a break
Jailbreaking the iPhone has always been a thing people speak about in hushed whispers, with furtive glances to check if anyone else is listening. But interestingly, Apple have never actually alleged that it's illegal. Until now that is.
Every three years the Digital Millennium Copyright Act in the US is open to applications for review and exemptions. This year, the Electronic Frontier Foundation has applied to have the jailbreaking of iPhones exempted from the Act, and in their response Apple has, for the first time, actually come out and said it believes jailbreaking to be illegal. You can read about it at the EFF's website here.
Personally, I find Apple's arguments ridiculous and support the EFF all the way. But I'm no lawyer (hurrah!) and I expect that one of Apple's arguments, that jailbroken iPhones depend on modified versions of Apple's bootloader and operating system software, may be persuasive. That'll be a pity, because not only will a righteous cause be sent back underground, but the real issues will not actually be debated. They'll instead be drowned in the legal technicalities.
Dear Apple, here's what I don't get. I think Jailbreaking is a fantastic thing for Apple itself! It allows them to support two very different user bases--the majority of casual users who don't want to look under the hood AND the hackers who want to tweak and tune. And Apple can tacitly support that latter group without taking any responsibilty for things going wrong. At the same time, by playing smoke and mirrors implying that jailbreaking is risky (which it really isn't) and might be illegal (which is arguable and untested) they can dissuade too many people from going down that path, but also build up expectation about future iPhone functionality. Meanwhile, even jailbreakers use the AppStore. Wow, what a coup on Apple's part.
And what would happen if Jailbreaking 'broke' tomorrow? Hundreds of thousands of the iPhone's most sophisticated and most demanding users would suddenly be very annoyed. And many of them would walk. Windows Mobile, Blackberry and most likely Google Android would get an influx of hundreds of thousands of power users. These are the movers and shakers of the smartphone world, the people who push forward features and functionality.
The bottom line, Steve, is that you need the jailbreaking community, probably more than it needs you or the iPhone. And we can read between the lines and see that all this pontificating to the DMCA about illegality is not in fact an attempt to get rid of jailbreaking, but just to maintain the status quo which is serving Apple so well.
Every three years the Digital Millennium Copyright Act in the US is open to applications for review and exemptions. This year, the Electronic Frontier Foundation has applied to have the jailbreaking of iPhones exempted from the Act, and in their response Apple has, for the first time, actually come out and said it believes jailbreaking to be illegal. You can read about it at the EFF's website here.
Personally, I find Apple's arguments ridiculous and support the EFF all the way. But I'm no lawyer (hurrah!) and I expect that one of Apple's arguments, that jailbroken iPhones depend on modified versions of Apple's bootloader and operating system software, may be persuasive. That'll be a pity, because not only will a righteous cause be sent back underground, but the real issues will not actually be debated. They'll instead be drowned in the legal technicalities.
Dear Apple, here's what I don't get. I think Jailbreaking is a fantastic thing for Apple itself! It allows them to support two very different user bases--the majority of casual users who don't want to look under the hood AND the hackers who want to tweak and tune. And Apple can tacitly support that latter group without taking any responsibilty for things going wrong. At the same time, by playing smoke and mirrors implying that jailbreaking is risky (which it really isn't) and might be illegal (which is arguable and untested) they can dissuade too many people from going down that path, but also build up expectation about future iPhone functionality. Meanwhile, even jailbreakers use the AppStore. Wow, what a coup on Apple's part.
And what would happen if Jailbreaking 'broke' tomorrow? Hundreds of thousands of the iPhone's most sophisticated and most demanding users would suddenly be very annoyed. And many of them would walk. Windows Mobile, Blackberry and most likely Google Android would get an influx of hundreds of thousands of power users. These are the movers and shakers of the smartphone world, the people who push forward features and functionality.
The bottom line, Steve, is that you need the jailbreaking community, probably more than it needs you or the iPhone. And we can read between the lines and see that all this pontificating to the DMCA about illegality is not in fact an attempt to get rid of jailbreaking, but just to maintain the status quo which is serving Apple so well.
30 January 2009
SoundClip audio booster for iPhone
Here's a simple, cheap and ingenious little iPhone accessory that won't change the world, but will probably do what it says at a reasonable price. It's the SoundClip from Ten One Design, and it clips over your 3G iPhone speaker hole to slightly boost and clarify the sound. It does this by firstly directing the sound towards you, which will obviously help a little, but also by containing a tuned 'port' of some sort, to boost the sound, they claim, between 6 kHz and 20 kHz. That's a somewhat ambitious claim as there is no way the iPhone speaker will produce much audible at 20kHz. Nevertheless, a boost around 6kHz is believable, and will increase the clarity and focus of the sound somewhat.
The real benefit of this little clip may well be in gaming, where your hands tend to cover up the speaker. On the down side, however, I don't think you'll be able to fit a Soundclip when your iPhone is in its case, though I might be wrong there. If I am right, I can't see that most people will bother going to the effort of de-casing their phones to put on the SoundClip. So there's a challenge to you, Ten One--get this to work with thin cases like my lovely Seidio so I can have it permanently attached and I might be a convert.
Also, qudos to Ten One for the honest explanation of the device they give on their website. They don't overhype it all, but are frank about the small improvement it will make, and they have frequency response graphs and audio clips to back up their very reasonable claims. At the reasonable price, who could complain? Of course, if they'd like to send me a review sample...
The real benefit of this little clip may well be in gaming, where your hands tend to cover up the speaker. On the down side, however, I don't think you'll be able to fit a Soundclip when your iPhone is in its case, though I might be wrong there. If I am right, I can't see that most people will bother going to the effort of de-casing their phones to put on the SoundClip. So there's a challenge to you, Ten One--get this to work with thin cases like my lovely Seidio so I can have it permanently attached and I might be a convert.
Also, qudos to Ten One for the honest explanation of the device they give on their website. They don't overhype it all, but are frank about the small improvement it will make, and they have frequency response graphs and audio clips to back up their very reasonable claims. At the reasonable price, who could complain? Of course, if they'd like to send me a review sample...
28 January 2009
Apple releases Firmware 2.2.1. If you're JBd or unlocked, do nothing, just wait.
Apple has just released a minor Firmware upgrade numbered 2.2.1.
The release notes say it contains "bug fixes and improvements, including the following:
- Improved general stability of Safari
- Fixed issue where some images saved from Mail do not display correctly in the Camera Roll"
If you are jailbroken or unlocked, do not apply this update. It will, like any firmware update, undo your jailbreak and you'll lose all your jailbreak apps. So wait for the DevTeam to come up with a new jailbreak for this update, then wait a little longer until it's been tested for a while by users.
Those who have unlocked their phones using yellowsn0w will find their phones relocked when you apply this upate, so once again, wait. There is no killer functionality in this update that I am aware of that you'll be missing out on.
The release notes say it contains "bug fixes and improvements, including the following:
- Improved general stability of Safari
- Fixed issue where some images saved from Mail do not display correctly in the Camera Roll"
If you are jailbroken or unlocked, do not apply this update. It will, like any firmware update, undo your jailbreak and you'll lose all your jailbreak apps. So wait for the DevTeam to come up with a new jailbreak for this update, then wait a little longer until it's been tested for a while by users.
Those who have unlocked their phones using yellowsn0w will find their phones relocked when you apply this upate, so once again, wait. There is no killer functionality in this update that I am aware of that you'll be missing out on.
26 January 2009
Clippy and hClipboard give you copy and paste on the iPhone AND choice!
If you have a jailbroken iPhone you now have not 1 but 2(!) choices through which you can implement global cut and paste. Now I have to say that I can't believe how much fuss some people have made about the iPhone's lack of this feature, which in the scale of things is pretty minor compared to a number of other omissions, but nonetheless it's a handy feature to have. And the good news is both Clippy and hClipboard. although very fresh releases, seem to work and work pretty well. And such high profiles apps are likely to be bug-fixed and tweaked quickly, so they'll only get better.
I'm fiddling with bith of them as we speak, and will get back to you with my opinions shortly. Clippy is very straightforward and requires no setup, but has less features. hClipboard has a multi-item clipboard, a template system and is a real powerhouse, but requires a little more setup through your iPhone's keyboard settings.
I won't go into all the details, because Michael at HighTechDad has already done that better than I would have, but I'll come back with my recommendation soon. The bottom line though, is that my iPhone just got a little better, and there's yet another reason to jailbreak. In fact, there are now minus 10 reasons not to Jailbreak!
---------------------------
WARNING: If you're running IntelliScreen, as I am, you may need to go into its Performance setting and turn on Clippy and iKeyEx respectively to get these apps to work.
I'm fiddling with bith of them as we speak, and will get back to you with my opinions shortly. Clippy is very straightforward and requires no setup, but has less features. hClipboard has a multi-item clipboard, a template system and is a real powerhouse, but requires a little more setup through your iPhone's keyboard settings.
I won't go into all the details, because Michael at HighTechDad has already done that better than I would have, but I'll come back with my recommendation soon. The bottom line though, is that my iPhone just got a little better, and there's yet another reason to jailbreak. In fact, there are now minus 10 reasons not to Jailbreak!
---------------------------
WARNING: If you're running IntelliScreen, as I am, you may need to go into its Performance setting and turn on Clippy and iKeyEx respectively to get these apps to work.
Google Calendar on your iPhone/Tasks synced with PC
I'm still waiting patiently for Pocket Informant to appear on the iPhone. Okay, not so patiently, but I have only checked WebIS's website once today.
Meanwhile, I had set up a Google Calendar in order to use my preferred iPhone To Do list application, TouchTodo. The deal is, I installed Google Calendar Sync on my PC, which periodically syncs with Google Calendar. I can add tasks, not in Outlook tasks, but in the Calendar, as time based entries, with the task preceded by the word "TouchTodo:". That syncs with Google Calendar, then from within TouchTodo on the iPhone I can select Sync and it will download those tasks over the air. It's a tad clumsy, but actually works really smoothly in practice.
Then my partner complained about how hard it was to find spaces in our (okay 'my') diary to spend time together, so I proposed making my Google Calendar available to her. Next thing we know we have mutually shared calendars, which is very handy, but how to access that from the iPhone?
There are quite a few solutions to this, which you can find if you Google. One is an app available in the appstore, though this doesn't work with the iPhone Calendar, but is stand alone. You can also view your Google Calendars in Safari. This is functional, but the data view is a little simplistic and it's obviously a little slower than the inbuilt iPhone Calendar.
Then I discovered the free NuevaSync service. In short, you sign up for it, then create a new Calendar account via your iPhones Settings. Your inbuilt Calendar app then syncs over the air with Google Calendar via NuevaSync's servers. So now I can still use Outlook on my PC, with the Google Sync app periodically updating my Google Calendar. From my iPhone, using the standard Calendar app, I can now see my Calendar and my girlfriend's, singly or together. They're also colour-coded so that you can tell one from another. Although I don't think that colour scheme can be changed at present, this is very cool
There are plenty of other Calendars on Google Calendar which you can view, but if you want them to sync with the iPhone you must import them into a Calendar of your own. That's easily done.
In short, this is a great system, and I think it's better than the Standard Outlook>iPhone Calendar setup I had before. On the downside, now that I am syncing Outlook>Google Calendar>NuevaSync>iPhone Calendar, it's naturally a bit slower to see updates appear, but that's about the only problem. I think this one will be a keeper on my iPhone.
Meanwhile, I had set up a Google Calendar in order to use my preferred iPhone To Do list application, TouchTodo. The deal is, I installed Google Calendar Sync on my PC, which periodically syncs with Google Calendar. I can add tasks, not in Outlook tasks, but in the Calendar, as time based entries, with the task preceded by the word "TouchTodo:". That syncs with Google Calendar, then from within TouchTodo on the iPhone I can select Sync and it will download those tasks over the air. It's a tad clumsy, but actually works really smoothly in practice.
Then my partner complained about how hard it was to find spaces in our (okay 'my') diary to spend time together, so I proposed making my Google Calendar available to her. Next thing we know we have mutually shared calendars, which is very handy, but how to access that from the iPhone?
There are quite a few solutions to this, which you can find if you Google. One is an app available in the appstore, though this doesn't work with the iPhone Calendar, but is stand alone. You can also view your Google Calendars in Safari. This is functional, but the data view is a little simplistic and it's obviously a little slower than the inbuilt iPhone Calendar.
Then I discovered the free NuevaSync service. In short, you sign up for it, then create a new Calendar account via your iPhones Settings. Your inbuilt Calendar app then syncs over the air with Google Calendar via NuevaSync's servers. So now I can still use Outlook on my PC, with the Google Sync app periodically updating my Google Calendar. From my iPhone, using the standard Calendar app, I can now see my Calendar and my girlfriend's, singly or together. They're also colour-coded so that you can tell one from another. Although I don't think that colour scheme can be changed at present, this is very cool
There are plenty of other Calendars on Google Calendar which you can view, but if you want them to sync with the iPhone you must import them into a Calendar of your own. That's easily done.
In short, this is a great system, and I think it's better than the Standard Outlook>iPhone Calendar setup I had before. On the downside, now that I am syncing Outlook>Google Calendar>NuevaSync>iPhone Calendar, it's naturally a bit slower to see updates appear, but that's about the only problem. I think this one will be a keeper on my iPhone.
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