iOS devices refer to any of Apple’s hardware that runs the iOS mobile operating system which include iPhones, iPads, and iPods. Historically, Apple releases a new iOS version once a year, the current version is iOS 10. Here is the complete list of iOS 10 compatible devices.
iHelicopters, makers of the first iPhone controlled helicopters and RC cars, is launching a line of iPhone-controlled insects. Available for $40, the company is now selling two models: an iPhone controlled beetle and iPhone controlled bug. They are iPhone 5-compatible, 100 percent assembled, and work with the i-Robot app from the App Store. The full specs are below, and more information is in the company’s press release after the break.
Product Features
Insect Size: 7.5 x 7.7 x 3.0 cm
Package Dimension: 13.5 x 13.5 x 4.5 cm
Movement: Left/Right, Forward/Back
Control Range: 6 meter
Suitable for all iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch models
Playing Time:
– Transmitter: 40 minutes
– Bug: up to 20 minutes
Package Contents:
– Bug or Beetle (100% Assembled)
– IR Transmitter
– USB Charger Cable
– Instruction Manual
Fancy a toy that is both fun and creepy at the same time? Introducing the iPhone Controlled Bugs and Beetles!
It’s Alive! Inspired by the movement and characteristics of an insect, the insect-like legs of the iPhone Controlled Insects can be controlled to move forward, backward, left and right remotely through your iPhone, iPad or iPod! Use it when you are bored around the house, or just creep out your pets, friends or family.
Download the controller App from the App Store, plug the transmitter in the headphone jack and you are ready to go! iPhone Controlled Insects are a perfect gift for insect lovers and iPhone aficionados alike!
The Bugs and Beetles are directly available in our store located at http://www.ihelicopters.net/shop/insects/. Both models sell at $39.95, including free shipping to any destination in the world! One More Thing: It’s compatible with the iPhone 5 ;-)
Product Features
Insect Size: 7.5 x 7.7 x 3.0 cm
Package Dimension: 13.5 x 13.5 x 4.5 cm
Movement: Left/Right, Forward/Back
Control Range: 6 meter
Suitable for all iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch models
Playing Time:
– Transmitter: 40 minutes
– Bug: up to 20 minutes
Package Contents:
– Bug or Beetle (100% Assembled)
– IR Transmitter
– USB Charger Cable
– Instruction Manual
Operating instructions:
– Download and install the “i-Robot” App from the App Store (http://itunes.apple.com/ua/app/i-robot/id517452737?mt=8)
– Charge the Transmitter and Insect using the supplied USB Charger Cable
– Plug the transmitter in the audio jack of your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch
– Turn the volume to the max
– Let’s scare somebody!
Zagg, a well-respected iOS device case and accessories maker, unveiled its “iPad Mini Screen Protectors” this weekend. We have seen no shortage of iPad mini cases from third-party manufacturers; however, with the possible exception of these cases from Devicewear, no established/reputable Apple accessories maker has announced iPad mini products
Apple is expected to announce the iPad mini at an event later this month with the actual launch of products expected to come shortly after, perhaps in the November timeframe.
Zagg does not offer any iPad mini mockups, but it does offer this:
The iPad Mini is another amazing Apple product, and ZAGG is here to help you protect that product. The iPad Mini screen protectors by ZAGG will keep your Mini new and clean.
Designer Martin Hajek (via Gizmodo) posted stunning renders of the upcoming iPad mini based on recent rumors. Hajek gave us a look at how the 7.85-inch screen may look and introduces a new concept: colored backs, just like the new iPod touch. As you can see in the gallery below, this designer did a very good job. Apple should have no problem stealing some 7-inch marketshare away from the Kindle Fire, if these renders are anything like the real deal.
Now we will just have to wait until what most say will be mid-October to hear the official word, straight from Apple. Hajek is offering a 3D model based off rumors on Turbosquid, if your itching finger just cannot wait.
This bloke found a 20-month-old watching Barney on an iPhone and apparently thought it would be better in his pocket.
“He’s followed me into that shop; to think he has targeted my daughter is disgusting. “Everyone is absolutely disgusted. Her dad was really angry and upset.”
The robbery happened in Ormskirk, Lancs, when Danielle took her daughter into Hype clothes store at around midday on 22nd September.
Police believe the thief may have been with a female accomplice and followed the mother and daughter in after spotting the toddler holding the smartphone outside.
Cops are now appealing for anyone who recognises the man to get in touch.
He was wearing glasses, had longish straight greying dark hair and was wearing a light jacket with dark inner hood and light-coloured trousers.
West Lancashire inspector Andy Willis said: “This is a despicable offence where it appears that the suspect has deliberately targeted a child knowing the crime would be relatively easy to commit.
“I would urge anyone with any information to contact PC 659 Holdsworth on 101 and ask for Lancashire Police or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.”
Also, maybe keep a better eye on your kid (/iOS devices).
As predicted yesterday, Google’s Street View is now available on Mobile Safari and Chrome on iOS devices. Having a quick look around, the service is very fluid, especially for a web page, and the quality is superb with graphics that really look solid on a Retina display.
Perhaps Apple should make a “pop-out” service that lets you open a Street View web page from within the new iOS Maps.app? Expand Expanding Close
The iPad mini is starting to seem like a lock, as we already seemed to have locked down the 7.85-inch 1,024-by-768-pixel display. But, what will the base price of this thing be? Will Apple try to hit Google and Amazon’s $199 price points or will Apple’s historically huge margins get in the way? Will Apple’s iCloud help keep its storage requirements down? Will Apple include some iTunes credit as Google and Amazon do? Keep in mind: the new 4-inch Retina iPods start at $299. Tell us what you think (we should have more information shortly).
Following several reports that third-party manufacturers would have trouble creating accessories and cables for Apple’s new Lightning connectors, iLounge reported today that Apple is making major changes to its ‘Made For iPad/iPhone/iPod (MFi)’ policies. According to the report, Apple will have to approve manufacturing facilities creating Lightning products—something that sources indicated will not happen until November:
One source notes that Apple is planning an MFi “seminar,” where it will discuss changes to the program and the rules for Lightning accessory development going forward. The seminar will be held in November in China, notes the source, after the point at which third-party Lightning accessories could be manufactured in time for holiday sale. Sources have further noted that the Lightning connector has proved difficult to copy, reducing the near-term likelihood of unauthorized third-party connector cables.
Ukrainianiphone.com reports to have obtained parts for the upcoming iPad mini. The parts, labeled in the gallery above, according to the Russian-language website, were from a source who visited the factory in Asia. Notables include the plastic spacer bars, which Apple has traditionally used for 3G and 4G radio equipment, and an Audio jack at the bottom like the new iPhones, iPods, and the nano SIM tray that “broke off during disassembly.”
The LCD displays appear to be of the same ilk as the recent Kindle Fire displays rather than the iPad Mini’s 4:3 display. So, take this with a few with pinches of salt.
A new survey by research organization Pew Internet & American Life Project depicts how Apple’s iPad slid from 81 percent in 2011 to 52 percent in 2012, in terms of U.S. adult tablet ownership, due to lower-priced Android slates steadily gaining traction.
Over the last year, tablet ownership has steadily increased from 11% of U.S. adults in July of 2011 to 18% in January of 2012, according to PEJ data. Currently, 22% own a tablet and another 3% regularly use a tablet owned by someone else in the home. This number is very close to new data, released here for the first time, conducted in a separate survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project on July 16 through August 7 2012 that found 25% of all U.S. adults have a tablet computer.
The growth in tablet adoption is likely related to the advent of the lower-priced tablets in late 2011. Overall, about two-thirds of tablet-owning adults, 68%, got their tablet in the last year, including 32% in 2012 alone. That has lessened Apple’s dominance in the market. Now, just over half, 52%, of tablet owners report owning an iPad, compared with 81% in the survey a year ago.
Android-based devices are now at 48 percent overall: approximately 21 percent own the Android-forked Kindle Fire, 8 percent own the Samsung Galaxy, and the remaining is a mix. It is worth noting Android would only hold 27 percent without the $199 Kindle Fire.
The survey did not include Google’s Nexus 7 or Amazon’s Kindle Fire HD, however, as they were not yet introduced. The final numbers also mirror world sales data, according to Pew, which place the iPad at 61 percent and Android at 31 percent.
Check out Pew for more related information on smartphone ownership and operating system loyalty.
The controller layout is reminiscent of old NES or Playstation gaming pads with dual thumb-sticks, a D-pad and 6 buttons. For an even more console-like gaming experience users can connect their iDevice to a big screen TV while using their Duo Gamer controller. This seems like a great idea but for $79.99 we wish it was compatible with more gaming titles. The Duo Gamer controller will be available for purchase from Apple.com starting October 5th, Amazon.com, and Target stores.
Former Apple CEO John Sculley recently attended a South Florida Technology Alliance event to discuss Apple and the genesis of tablet computing, specifically: the Newton MessagePad and ARM Processor.
The MessagePad is the first series of ARM 610 RISC processor-based mobile devices developed by Apple for the Newton OS platform in 1993. Since then, it has become the dominant platform for mobile computing.
“Handwriting was never intended to be a very important aspect of it. […] It was really much more about the fact that you could hold this thing in your hand and it would do a lot of the graphics that you would see on the Macintosh,” explained Sculley at SFTA.
The tablet-like digital assistant spurred a flurry of models with various ARM processor. The series is generally remembered as a market flop now, of course, but Apple’s ARM initiative essentially paved the way for greatness. As The Next Web first noted, the iPhone today uses a by-product of the Newton MessagePad’s specifically designed ARM core.
“No microprocessor existed that would allow you to do mobile graphics-based software,” Sculley revealed, while discussing the birth of ARM.
If you are considering purchasing an iPhone 4S to save some money versus getting an iPhone 5, the video above shows why the extra $100 is so well spent. Expand Expanding Close
An update is going to Verizon iPhone 5 owners this evening that resolves an issue where, under certain circumstances, the iPhone 5 may use Verizon cellular data while connected to a Wi-Fi network. We are not sure how much data leaks, or why and if Verizon will offer a refund, but we reached out to the carrier for a statement.
Update: Torod Neptune, spokesperson for Verizon Wireless, provided the following statement:
“Under certain circumstances, iPhone 5 may use Verizon cellular data while the phone is connected to a Wi-Fi network. Apple has a fix that is being delivered to Verizon customers right on their iPhone 5. Verizon Wireless customers will not be charged for any unwarranted cellular data usage.”
Instructions to install the update.
Tap Settings > General > About.
Wait for the following alert to appear:
Tap OK to install the update.
Hold the Sleep/Wake button down until you see “slide to power off”.
Slide to power off.
After the device powers off, hold the Sleep/Wake button to turn your phone back on.
Note: To finish the installation of the update, your iPhone 5 must be turned off and then turned on again.
After your iPhone restarts, tap Settings > General > About, and then scroll down to Carrier and verify “Verizon 13.1” is displayed.
The issue may be a carryover from the Wi-Fi+Cellular feature that was in the betas of iOS 6 but was eliminated in the final version. One reader below mentions the data leak seems to have occurred while the device is asleep.
Apple is prominently spotlighting alternative solutions to the new Maps app on the App Store.
The promotion of third-party apps is in conjunction with CEO Tim Cook’s open letter from this morning that apologized to iOS customers for the company’s less-than-perfect Maps offering. Apple further detailed on its website today how to add Google and Nokia maps website icons to an iOS 6 device’s Home screen.
In related news, Reuters created an infographic recently that illustrates a side-by-side comparison of the key features available on mobile map apps from Google and Apple’s iOS in 27 countries (as seen below):
While Apple’s new Maps app has raised quite a bit of controversy for what is being viewed as a downgraded experience compared to the old Google-powered iOS Maps, there are a few locations Apple might have to censor imagery rather than improve. After Turkish website Sosyalmedya claimed Apple threatened national security by releasing high-resolution imagery of a prison normally censored in Google’s maps, The Verge investigated to see what other sensitive locations Apple does not censor. To be fair, Nokia’s maps also show high-quality imagery of many locations that Google’s chooses to obscure. You can see the full comparison on The Verge, which includes a maximum-security prison on Imrali Island, Turkey, a NATO airbase in Geilenkirchen, Germany, and Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland.
Many apps updated, went on sale, or made announcements recently, and 9to5Mac gathered the most noteworthy ones in our regular round up below. Today’s crop includes a few giveaways by developer Shape.ag, an alternative to Apple Maps featuring Google data, notable iPhone 5 updates, price drops for popular iOS apps, and etc. Per usual, we will continue to update this list throughout the day.
When Apple introduced the iPhone 5, Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller noted a number of new methods being used for noise cancellation from solutions using the device’s third microphone to an updated “noise-cancelling earpiece” and the addition of wideband audio. We know from reports earlier this month that Apple is not including noise cancellation technology from Audience, as it did in previous iPhone models. While we do not know exactly what powers the iPhone 5’s enhanced audio system, Chipworks discovered a second Cirrus chip being used in its recent teardown:
Audio chips from Cirrus. We know that Audience announced that they no longer have the noise cancellation and we were hoping we could get a little insight as to what is being done in the iPhone 5. Unfortunately, without a little more depth than a die photo can provide the best we can say is that Cirrus has two design wins related to the audio (one of which we originally guessed to be a memory MCP). One has some fairly large transistors and a whole lot of logic. If someone out there knows what the Apple package 338S1077 is we would be happy to report it. Starting here may be a good place.
Apple 338S1077 Audio CODEC. This is a wafer-scale device by Cirrus Logic. They have long held this private-label package with Apple.
Apple 338S1117 Cirrus Audio Chip
It is very possible that Apple’s new, in-house noise canceling technology uses this new Apple-branded Cirrus chip. Expand Expanding Close
As Apple fans from 22 countries are waiting in lines for limited quantities of the iPhone 5, some folks in the Middle East were offered up the opportunity to buy a 24-carat gold-plated version of Apple’s iconic device for a slight premium.
In a bait-and-hook situation set up by the folks at ABC News; they were able to track a stolen iPad to the home of a TSA officer. The production team set out 10 iPads in airports known to have thefts, and nine of the tablets were eventually reported as lost.
But in Orlando, the iPad was not immediately returned and two hours later its tracking application showed the device as it moved away from the airport to the home of the TSA officer.
After waiting 15 days, ABC News went to the home and asked Ramirez to return the iPad.
It gets worse. The TSA officer blamed the situation on his wife:
Ramirez produced the iPad only after ABC News activated an audio alarm feature, and turned it over after taking off his TSA uniform shirt.
His explanation for the missing iPad in his home was that his wife had taken it from the airport.
Update: The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Slovak Telekom is cancelling plans to take preorders for the iPhone 5 due to low supplies. Orange Slovakia is not accepting preorders either.
In the end, we’ve decided against taking pre-orders because of low delivery volumes from the supplier,” Slovak Telekom spokesman Michal Korec said. “We’ll begin selling iPhone 5 tomorrow morning during regular opening hours of our stores.”
Despite continued delays for pre-order customers and supply shortages at retail, Apple will officially rollout the iPhone 5 tonight in 22 more countries as the device goes on sale at many international retailers and carriers starting at midnight. The official Sept. 28 rollout extends to Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. The device will also hit many regional carriers in the United States.
We just received word from nTelos Wireless, operating out of Virginia, Maryland, Ohio, Kentucky, and North Carolina, that it will launch the iPhone 5 starting tomorrow at $149 on a two-year contract. That’s $50 off Apple’s price on contract for most major carriers, and the savings will also hit the 32GB model at $249 and the 64GB model at $349. We expect to see some other regional carriers matching these prices in the weeks to come. The carrier will also offer the iPhone 4S for $50 and the iPhone 4 for $0.01.
Apple is now selling the unlocked device on its New Zealand website starting at NZ $1049. Also, Letemsvetemapplem.eu pointed us to pricing just posted by T-Mobile and Vodafone for the Czech Republic as well as pricing in Slovakia for Telekom. For Slovakia, the device will hit Telekom at €679 (16GB), € 789 (32GB), and € 899 (64GB). For the Czech Republic, prices vary from carrier to carrier, but you can get a full breakdown of pricing in local currency here.
We also already know that a number of other regional carriers will launch the device tomorrow, such as: Cricket Wireless, C Spire, Alaska GCI, Appalachian Wireless, and Kentucky-based Bluegrass Cellular. There is no word on pricing and plans for many of these carriers, but we expect supplies to be low, as recent reports noted major retailers and carriers worldwide are announcing a low amount of initial stock in comparison with previous iPhone launches. We will update this post as more regional and intentional retailers and carriers announce availability.
Countries included in Apple’s international rollout tomorrow:
There are a couple of new patents and patent applications popping up today. First, we look at a new patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and detailed by PatentlyApple; it shows Apple’s work on inductive charging docks. Phil Schiller might not be a big fan of wireless charging, but Apple is clearly working on possible solutions. Apple’s charging dock could initiate different functions, such as charging, syncing, or transfer data between devices, depending on the device’s orientation while on the docking surface. It might also include an intelligent sidebar consisting of a display, UI, sensors, or other components for controlling the docking station:
In some embodiments, the surface may be configured to inductively charge the user device when the user device is placed on the surface… A docking device may include, for example, processing equipment, input/output (I/O) interfaces, memory, a power supply, any other suitable components, or any combination thereof. A docking device may be configured to charge a user device, act as a conduit in the transfer of data between the user device and a host device, synchronize data with the user device, transfer data with the user device (e.g., upload, download), run diagnostics for the user device, synchronize data between more than user devices, perform any other suitable docking function for a user device placed on the surface, or any combination thereof. One or more docking functions may be selected, performed, or both, by the docking device depending on a physical orientation of the user device on the surface.
Another patent application discovered today by UnwiredView walks through a few inventions that Apple could be considering for future mobile devices. Most of which we have heard about in the past, but we get an even closer look today at Apple’s work with flexible displays, tactile feedback, laser microphones and modified components that would come as a result:
But the shape of displays or devices themselves is not the most interesting or important part of this. It’s what else flexible surface of the display would allow Apple to do – like replacing and improving all traditional input/output elements of the phone… E.g. – by placing an array of piezoelectric actuators below the display and activating them on demand for tactile feedback…Call up a keyboard, actuators pop up and now you can feel the letters as you type… put a transducer behind it to transform electric current into vibrations, add some support structure/barrier around it and that part of your flex display becomes a speaker membrane…. Put an array of transducers behind the screen and you got yourself a bunch of display based speakers. Get each transducer to vibrate differently, and now your iPhone can have subwoofers, woofers, mid-range speakers, tweeters…
PatentlyApple also covered another new Apple patent today that details a method of providing contextual information for Apple TV content to mobile devices and potentially integrated with cable providers.
Although it isn’t going to change your life, it looks like a few iPhone 4s are coming off the assembly line with reversed volume buttons. Reader Eric sends us his which he says works like it should if the buttons were reversed.
Fast-forward a year:
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Thanks Donut Bandit!
Those fine folks at Foxconn might have missed this one.
Swiss Federal Railways SBB said it would soon meet with Apple representatives to discuss an agreement over its classic clock face design found in the new Clocks app for iOS devices.
“There’s been no agreement so far, we’re going to talk about it,” announced SBB spokesperson Patricia Claivaz to global news agency AFP, noting SBB’s lawyers first requested the sit-down.
SBB was unable to provide an exact date for the gathering, but its spokesperson added, “We’re rather proud that a brand as important as Apple is using our design, it’s already on show in exhibitions in places like New York.”
The clock face design, created in 1944, was originally a copyright and trademark of engineer Hans Hilfiker, but watchmaker Mondaine licenses the design these days, and is considering legal action. It is obvious the Clocks app resembles the railway’s design, so Apple will likely bring a check to the upcoming meeting.
