iOS Devices

Future iOS adapters may work with USB 3 and DisplayPort/Thunderbolt if we read Patently Apple‘s latest finding right.  It isn’t immediately clear if this will be backward compatible with today’s 30-pin connectors but it would make sense.  Schematic below:

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Just a little tidbit from the great people at Ted Talks. Their updated iPad app now supports Airplay, meaning that you can now share the excellent Ted Talks videos on the HDTV.

BIG Update: The CNN App is now also Airplay compatible so you can…wait for it…now watch CNN on your TV.  Mind=Blown.
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http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1106196796/the-gopano-micro-a-lens-for-capturing-360-video-on/widget/video.html

The big brains at Carnegie Mellon University have created a Kickstarter project to fund a little gadget that, with their app, turns your iPhone into a little Google Streetview Car. Sign up here.

This is no April Fool’s Day Joke or Onion article….  Today, Apple released the iAd gallery app which is just a bunch of ads in a gallery.  Yep, that’s it.

Great ads. On-demand. In your pocket.

The iAd Gallery is a celebration of advertising, featuring iAd campaigns from some of the world’s best brands and their advertising agencies. The iAd Gallery gives you easy access to a selection of the fun and informative ads that have run in some of your favorite apps. Use the Browse feature to discover ads you haven’t seen, or to find those you want to see again. Even lets you tag your favorites to a Loved section that’s all your own.

Features:

• Updated regularly to include a selection of the latest ads running on the iAd Network
• Explore by spinning the wheel of iAd banners, or search by advertiser, category or ad feature
• Learn about the featured ads, including the advertising agencies behind them
• Easily access your favorite ads anytime by placing them in your Loved section
• Tap into the More section to find additional details about the iAd Network

We’re not sure if Advertisers are paying per impression in this app (which is, again, just ads) but it would be interesting if they are.    More screenies below.
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Well, that didn’t take long – even by Apple’s standards. We told you last Sunday that Toyota was offering a custom user interface theme pack as part of their advertising campaign for the 2011 Scion tC. Unfortunately, such an unusual move to promote the vehicle via a custom theme made available through a rogue store that happens to carry unsanctioned apps for jailbroken iPhones has backfired. Read on…

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Here’s a novel use for the camera on your iPhone. Do you hate the overhead of taking notes to keep tabs on your calories intake and having to worry about not exceeding your daily targets? Worry not, all you need is the Meal Snap – Calorie Counting Magic app that takes the number crunching off your chest in a pretty ingenious way.

You just launch the app, point the device at your meal and take a picture. It then gets sent up to the cloud where some clever image analysis occurs, your meal gets recognized and voila – an approximated calories count automagically appears on the display. I’m telling you, it’s magic.

The Meal Snap app costs three bucks a pop and can be downloaded now for your iPhone and iPod touch from the App Store. More screenshots after the break.

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Apple’s uber-successful iPad 2 now has a Consumer Electronics stamp of approval, with the consumer magazine proclaiming the WiFi+3G version of the iconic device the best tablet available on the market. iPad 2 has beaten Motorola Xoom to the tablet punch, in addition to a bunch of would-be iPad killers from Archos, Dell, Motorola, Samsung and ViewSonic.

Consumer Reports put out a press release quoting their electronics editor Paul Reynolds:

So far, Apple is leading the tablet market in both quality and price, which is unusual for a company whose products are usually premium priced. However, it’s likely we’ll see more competitive pricing in tablets as other models begin to hit the market.

iPad 2 emerged on top despite Consumer Reports calling the Xoom “the iPad 2’s chief rival.” I guess it ain’t everything about speeds and feeds, huh Moto? You know what’s really remarkable? Read on…

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Facebook for iPhone (iTunes, free) just got a nice little update with the following new features:

– Added Map View for Places
– Added the ability to Check in to Events that you’re attending
– Added the ability to unfriend from the phone
– Improved News Feed
– Improved notifications UI

Screenies below:
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And you thought the first-generation iPad only supported video output in enabled third-party apps and built-in programs such as the Photos app. A system-wide hack has surfaced that lets the original iPad mirror whatever is displayed on its display, like iPad 2, regardless of whether the app supports this feature through system APIs or not.

It requires a jailbroken iPad 1 and Apple’s Digital AV Adapter or VGA adapter to hook up the device to a big screen TV or a projector using HDMI or VGA connection. The hack involves changing a setting in the property list file of the Springboard app. That’s all there is to it, really. Here’s a quick tutorial video…

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Fans of jailbreaking have long known that Sundays are traditionally reserved for major iPhone jailbreaks. Following yesterday’s tweet by a team member MuscleNerd, Dev-team released a set of updated tools for an untethered jailbreak of iOS devices. The news comes a week following the release of tethered iOS 4.3.1 jailbreak via Pwnage Tool. Here’s what you need to know if you’re into jailbreaking plus a video right after the break…

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Companies are keeping a close eye on the jailbreaking community as at least one big brand demonstrates willingness to advertise on Cydia, the unofficial store for unsanctioned third-party programs which can be installed on jailbroken iPhones, iPods and iPads. Car manufacturer Toyota is reportedly running adverts in the Cydia store (through ModmyI) to promote their iPhone user interface theme, also distributed through the store. The adverts and the theme are part of Toyota’s advertising campaign for the 2011 Scion tC vehicle.

The said sports coupe made a splash when it was unveiled last month. It was the first major redesign of the vehicle and it came with a more powerful engine. Deciding to target millions of people who jailbreak their iOS gadgets, Toyota reached out to the people behind Cydia (ModMyI) to buy ad slots in the storefront app. The news came from Kyle Matthews, the founder of ModMyi ( read the post):

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We already told you that Apple has a photo-based social component called Photo Stream up its sleeve and now glimpses of this feature are appearing in customer’s iPhones. 9to5mac reader Mario Piombo spotted references to Photo Stream albums in his iOS 4.3 iPhone 4. The references are hidden from the user’s plain view of Photos.app and were discovered via a third-party application, which allows the user to select photos from their library for editing.

It looks like users will be able to setup Photo Stream albums in Photos.app just like they can make playlists of songs in iPod.app. These Photo Stream albums will then be able to be streamed to specified groups of people like we detailed back in January:

From the looks of different alerts and plists, it appears that Apple will let iPhone users set up “Photo Streams” that friends could “subscribe” to. Also, it looks like there will be some privacy preferences related to this, so you can choose who is allowed to view your “Streams.” With Photo Streams, you will also be allowed to “invite” other users to view your pictures as you take them and upload them to a service. This service looks like it is connected to MobileMe, and we speculate that “Media Stream” can be directly connected to “Find my Friends.”

Basically, Photo Stream will be the easiest way to share photos taken or stored on your iPhone with your friends. No need to post them online – via Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, etc. – just stream the albums you choose to your family and friend’s photos.app. An older version of iPhoto for Mac included a similar feature called Photocast. Photocast allowed a user to send a photo album to another user. That photo album would then appear as an album in the friend or family member’s iPhoto library. We’re thinking Apple is going to be doing the same thing with Photo Stream.

Since Photo Stream references have been found in iOS 4.3 we speculate that Apple pulled the feature at the last minute to include as a component of a greater social offering in iOS 5. Also, as we noted before, this Photo Stream feature may be MobileMe specific. Mario’s iPhone is connected to MobileMe, Photocast required MobileMe (then .Mac), and our SDK findings referenced MobileMe. Hopefully this comes with the free, revamped MobileMe service.

Apple has already ported over popular Mac apps like Photo Booth, iWork, and Garageband to the iPad’s touch interface and now it looks like Apple is working on a new app: iWeb for iPad. Patently Apple discovered the patent, which details iWeb for iPad as an application “designed to work with gestures.” We picture gestures like those found in iWork: pinch to resize, swiping, etc.

Details are scarce at this point but to us iWeb for iPad makes perfect sense. From the website management perspective there have been countless times where I have needed to update an iWeb site on the go. Perhaps this application will sync with the Mac varient and have a very similar feature set. If iWork and Garageband are any indication it surely will. Speaking of iWeb, the iLife application was last updated in early 2009 with iLife ’11 only including new versions of iMovie, iPhoto, and Garageband. Hopefully iWeb for iPad means a new Mac version is coming, too.

At this point we won’t speculate on a release time frame for the application but in terms of patterns, Apple debuted iWork for iPad at the original iPad event and Photo Booth, Garageband, and iMovie at the iPad 2 event. Patently Apple also details an Apple patent for a ‘Smart Pen’ stylus, but we already know that will never hit the market. “If you see a stylus they blew it” – Steve Jobs.

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To counter the recent efforts of Time Warner and Comcast who have offered streaming content through the iPad, Optimum online today announced that it would also offer an iPad service. (iTunes link)

The good news is that you can use every channel you get at home, up to 300 channels.

The bad news is that the system is little more than a home Sling box that broadcasts the channels you get in your house over your Wifi.  You can’t sign in from outside your house (without setting up a VPN;).

While this is nice for watching TV in and around your own home, it doesn’t compare to the streaming model that the other two cable producers are putting out.

Full press release below:

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Above illustration: Peach iDollars theme for iPhone by Studio Peach

I recently opined that our Android friends are less willing to pay for quality content, namely apps. It’s nice to see this notion shared by professionals that have experience with both platforms. In a chat with Peter Kafka over at The Wall Street Journal’s MediaMemo blog, Major League Baseball Advanced Media’s boss Bob Bowman said this:

The iPhone and iPad user is interested in buying content–that’s one of the reasons they bought the device. The Android buyer is different. It’s a great phone–make no mistake about it. But if you really want first rate digital content on a device, your first look will probably be an iPhone. And on the tablet, an iPad.

And Bob should know. He previously urged for a greater quality control in Android Market and his company, owned by all of pro baseball’s teams, has 1.5 million mobile app subscribers. They develop for both Android and iOS plus Facebook. He singled out Android fragmentation as a reason enough to limit the number of supported Android handsets. At some point, he said, fragmentation is “diminishing returns” and added:

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We told you this was coming…Some of our Time Warner readers have just informed us that the company has posted a public acknowledgment of the removal of some channels from Discovery, Fox and Viacom on their iPad App.  For the 300,000 people who downloaded the app, the following channels are being removed:
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Australian readers are reporting that Apple’s iPods had dropped in price up to AU$50.  3rd party retailers haven’t all reflected the price drops.  Full price details below.  Anyone else seeing a price drop out there?

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While we’re awaiting Apple’s conference call come April 20 that will shine the light on iPad 2 sales, eBay has just released their official figures relating to a two-week period of iPad 2 activity on their US site, between the launch and international roll out. CNET reports:

Unsurprisingly the hard-to-get tablet has been moving briskly on the service, reaching just less than 12,000 sales in the two-week period between the U.S. launch and the iPad 2’s launch in 25 additional international countries.

There’s more…

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If you haven’t heard of AU Optronics Corp, it’s the #4 LCD maker in the world. They’ve apparently landed a lucrative contract to produce flat panel screens for iPad 2, the rumor has it. We’re talking 30 million flat panel units in the next twelve months, which is said to take up over half the capacity of their fifth-generation Taichung plant located in central Taiwan.

Reuters reported this morning, quoting a story published by The Economic Daily News, that the company allegedly sold the panels to Apple at three to four times their regular asking price. Read on…

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Good ol’ AT&T has got their PR machine in high gear today.  CEO Randall Stephenson told Businessweek that the T-Mobile deal would instantly bring more bandwidth to users in constrained cities:

“This transaction is very instrumental” in improving network service, said Stephenson at the event. “Virtually on the day you close the deal, getting a 30 percent lift in capacity in New York City: that’s a significant improvement in call quality and data throughput.”

Other things that would have helped: Adding capacity at the same rate you were adding customers.

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Our friends over at iFixIt have analyzed all iPad models – a whoping eighteen different units – to pinpoint the differences between WiFi-only, 3G GSM and CDMA versions of the tablet. Like a CDMA version of iPhone 4 designed for the Verizon Wireless network, the Verizon iPad also has an additional antenna and an integrated GPS receiver. On the GSM iPad positioning is provided by a Broadcom chip. More interesting than that is Apple’s choice of baseband circuitry for Verizon and AT&T models.

Again, like the Verizon Phone 4 the new CDMA version of iPad 2 runs a Gobi chipset, the Qualcomm MDM6600. It’s compatible with both GSM and CDMA, supporting HSPA+ data rates of up to 14.4 Mbps and CDMA2000 1xEV-DO Rev. A/Rev. B. The similarities between CDMA iPhone 4 and iPad 2 don’t stop there: Both devices pack in Toshiba Y890A111222KA, Qualcomm PM8028 Power Management IC and power amplifier modules the Skyworks 77711 and 77710. Continue reading for key takeaways that caught our attention…

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