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.
According to multiple users expressing their frustration through Twitter, come New Years 2011 (where ever you are) your iPhone alarm clock won’t function correctly. You may recall a similar bug in iOS when daylight savings time switched on but this is exactly the opposite. This New Year’s 2011 iPhone alarm clock bug shows its face to users without recurring alarms.
This means that anybody who sets an alarm just for tomorrow won’t be woken up by the iPhone’s built-in alarm clock application. To avoid this issue you need to set a recurring alarm by tapping repeat to select the days you want the alarm to go off on. Apple is yet to say anything and it is still unknown whether this is iOS 4.2.1 only or if it affects past system versions too. Be sure to tell everyone you know with iPhones! (via Engadget)
Update: We just ran a few tests and the above iPhone alarm clock issue fixes itself on January 3rd. You should follow our steps to avoid the issue above until then. Reader Aaron F. has let us know that the issue is occurring on his iOS 4.1 iPhone 4 as well (iOS 4.0.2 t00). Let us know if you see the issue on anything earlier. The issue does not appear to be present on iOS 3.x devices.
Over the past few weeks I have been testing out Exogear’sExolife battery case for the iPhone 4 and I have to say it’s not like any battery case you’ve used with your iPhone before. That’s because it is the thinnest and lightest offering on the market. The Exolife hardly adds any weight or thickness to your iPhone 4 so it’s like you’re using a regular case- but you get a battery with it too.
The case itself is made from durable polycarbonate and does a good job of protecting the bottom, top, back, and sides of your iPhone 4. The case is two pieces: a back piece with the battery system and a piece that goes around the iPhone 4’s stainless steel antenna band. This holds the two pieces together in addition to providing protection to the antenna band. Click read more for the full review:
You know it will happen when Apple ships iPad 2.0 next year, but clever coders are already seeking slick tricks to bring a little something like FaceTime support to existing iPad models.
Skype just updated their Skype application for iOS to include video chat functionality. It works both over WiFi and 3G networks and two-way video calling is supported by the iPhone 4, iPod touch 4, and iPhone 3GS. The iPad and third generation iPod touch support one-way video calling. Just like on Apple’s FaceTime application Skype for iPhone will video conference in both portrait and landscape orientations.
Seth and I just tested out the application and it looks very smooth on both ends. It even works in the background but your face gets frozen for the person on the other end (audio still works). Just like with FaceTime there is an option for the iPhone user to display either the front camera’s view, back camera’s or no camera. We have more screenshots of Skype video chat after the break.
We also ran some tests over 3G and it looked very smooth. I was on 3G and Seth was on WiFi and he saw me as crisp as I looked over my WiFi network. My view of him was also smooth and when he pointing his camera at a moving fan that looked smooth as well. Also, we tested it on an iPad (which still is blown up, not a universal binary) and it looked as expected without the camera. When used with an iPhone 3GS you should get the option to see the user’s back camera. Release notes, official promo video, and more screenshots are after the break.
Update: Skype video calls over 3G will use around 3.4 MB of data per minute. We calculated this by looking at our usage info on our iPhone 4 before and after a one minute (timed of course) call. Below are our screenshots:
Update, we’ve been told (not so nicely) to remove those mold drawings because they are the property of someone else. We’ve complied.
Some purported iPad 2 cases hit the web over the last few weeks as well as some unconfirmed reports claiming the iPad 2 will gain an iPod-touch inspired design with tapered edges. These cases appear to show a new slot on the bottom for an enhanced speaker system as well as a hole for a back camera. These case designs are still of course unconfirmed to be legitimate but 9to5mac has managed to get a hold of some iPad 2 case mold drawings from an Asian case supplier.
As you can see in these drawings (above, below, and after the break) the edges are clearly tapered and the iPad 2’s back is slightly contoured like the current iPad and past iPod touch models. These drawings also add confirmation to the back camera reports and our sources say the camera hole size is close to the size of the iPhone 4’s (which may or may not indicate a similar shooter).
Some new information we have discovered through these drawings is a brand new port opening on the left side of the device. We’re not sure what this opening is for but it is there on these latest iPad 2 design schematics. On the drawings there appears to be an SD card going into the port but that could just be a piece of the case mold machine. The latest rumors point to either a mini USB or a full USB port being present on the iPad 2 so it very well could be one or a combination of the three ports.
Apple’s iOS has won a big thumbs-up from the Angry Birds themselves, who say that when it comes to mobile devices, Apple’s going to excel against the rest.
Perhaps you’ve been wondering if Apple will feel much impact once those Android and Chrome-powered tablets ship in 2011 — now a pair of reports suggest the magical iPad is set to maintain dominance for some time yet.
Report one tells us LG Display shipped 1.5 million iPad panels in November, while Samsung delivered 1.2 million units, suggesting Apple might have sold nearly three million iPads this month. Expand Expanding Close
Following yesterday’s proof of concept for hacking into the new iPod nano’s file system, developer Steven Troughton-Smith has figured out a way to put the device into DFU mode to install custom firmware files. The first part of the process is something anybody can do now with their sixth generation iPod nano. That is to hold down the iPod’s restart buttons until you see a black screen and a double reboot.
From here, Troughton-Smith modified the popular jailbreak utility iRecovery to work with the non-iOS iPod nano. After this, he used the newly modified iRecovery application to install an extracted operating system file onto the iPod nano (video above). This file was built to boot the iPod nano into a white screen mode and that is exactly what it did.
This obviously does not sound groundbreaking but in reality it is. An encrypted firmware file was just installed on an iPod nano and functioned as intended by the installer. This discovery is a step in the right direction for custom made firmware files to be installed on the iPod nano and is the best evidence yet for a possible iPod nano ‘jailbreak.’
A hacker/developer close to 9to5mac has let us know that Troughton-Smith’s discovery is a big step in the right direction, but before any custom firmware can actually be installed and used through this method an actual exploit in the iPod nano OS will be need to be found. To summarize, the method to install custom firmware on the iPod nano is present, but the jailbreak community is in need of an exploit to actually make this method useful.
Talked with colleague which working with some ODM vendors connected with Apple. He is research guy. According to his sources iPad2 will have usb port.
European regulators have been forcing manufacturers to unify on the Micro-USB so it wouldn’t be surprising to see Apple play along. Oh, and Digitimes also thinks we’ll see some USB-age. Expand Expanding Close
Today, Apple is letting developers know that they are back to approving (and blocking) apps from the App Store after a week holiday hiatus.
Developers are now seeing graphs on how successful they were over the Christmas holidays with some reporting significant spikes to us privately. Camera+ wasn’t shy about revealing their spike however (below).
iPad 2.0 activity continues to heat up with the latest report claiming Apple will offer multiple configurations of the new product, with an accent on provision of pervasive Internet access.
Apple is expected to ship over half a million iPad 2.0 units in January with mass production set to begin then, the report claims. It seems Apple will offer Wi-Fi-equipped units alongside UMTS and CDMA-savvy iPads, maximizing the always connected Internet device proposition. Expand Expanding Close
Bloomberg reports that Apple was sued on December 23rd over claims that App Store apps are proving user data to advertisers without consent. The lawsuit claims that Apple’s iOS devices “are encoded with identifying devices that allow advertising networks to track what applications users download, how frequently they’re used and for how long.” The lawsuit also states that user information like age, gender, and political views are being sold to advertisers as well.
The lawsuit not only puts Apple up as a defendant but cites the creators of popular apps like Paper Toss, Pandora, The Weather Channel, and Dictionary.com as defendants too. Apple of course defends themselves stating that they review each App Store app to defend its user’s privacy and will remove and reject any that take users data for malicious or advertising purposes.
The filers of the lawsuit are hoping for their claims to turn into a class-action-lawsuit and say that anyone who has downloaded an App Store app to an iOS device since December 1st 2008 should be eligible for compensation. The App Store opened up on July 11th 2008 so we’re unsure where this December 1st date exactly stems from.
Step a board this $600,000 per week superyacht Solemates and be prepared to control your entire trip with an iPad. An iPad lets you control the entertainment systems, climate systems, blinds and lights among other things. Our favorite feature would have to be the button to summon a crew member for another drink. The best part is that if you don’t have an iPad (yet you’re boarding a $600,000 per week boat) the captain will hand you one when you board.
It looks like Japan isn’t going to wait for Apple to put an NFC chip inside the iPhone 4. Softbank is releasing a set of stickers for its iPhone 4 which will allow the device to perform as a ‘dumb NFC’ terminal.
Japanese carrier Softbank has responded to complaints about the iPhone 4’s NFC deficit — the FeliCa payment system is pretty popular over in the land of sumo, sushi and sun-rising — by introducing a new “seal” for the back of Apple’s latest and greatest. It sticks on, covering almost the entire rear, but is apparently thin enough not to get in the way of using one of Apple’s own Bumpers alongside it. From our reading of the press release, the sticker doesn’t actually communicate with the iPhone, it’s just a dumb NFC card.
The stickers go on sale in February at a price of ¥2,980 ($36). Expand Expanding Close
Digitimes reports that Apple will ship 20-21 million iPhones in Q1 2011 including 14-15 million WCDMA (what iPhones currently use) phones and 5-6 million CDMA phones. The report also backs up rumors pointing to a Q1 2011 launch for the Verizon iPhone. Interestingly, Digitimes also cites a CDMA iPhone for Asia meaning Verizon won’t be the only carrier getting the new iPhone next quarter. Digitimes also reports that Apple shipped a total of 47 million iPhones in 2010 with 15.5 million of them shipping in the fourth quarter.
If you are into that sort of thing, the iPhone Dev team has released a beta of their new untethered RedSn0w jailbreak. This clearly isn’t ready for primetime and is only for early beta testers.
We’re about to release the first beta using this new “backup method”, which redsn0w calls “Jailbreak Monte”. Here are some important points:
This is a beta tester program. It’s not a general release! Things can go very wrong, so please don’t even consider testing if you have pictures or other media on your device that you haven’t backed up!
For the same reason, please don’t participate if you rely on the ultrasn0w carrier unlock. Wait for the final version!
Until we fix some sandbox issues with bluetooth, the bluetooth functionality is disabled.
This very first beta1 is limited to iPhone4, iPad, and iPod touch 4G.
Cydia must have your 4.2b3 SHSH blobs saved on file. (As we approach a general release, we’ll provide a way to let you use locally saved hashes too).
You must already have the usbmuxd software installed and running on your Mac (this requirement will eventually go away too). The correct invocation of the relay is just as that page says: “./tcprelay.py -t 22:2222”. If the relay isn’t installed or running correctly by the time the redsn0w ramdisk has started, you’ll need to restore to stock FW again to try it again. Please test it beforehand to save yourself some time!
Please leave all feedback in the comments below (we really need your feedback to help develop it into a stable release!)
The download link is:
redsn0w 0.9.7b1 (OS X). Select “Jailbreak Monte” to try out the untether.
KNOWN BETA1 BUGS:
Task switcher causes Springboard crash (temporary workaround is to use SBSettings process list)
iPod player only works on ipt4g right now
Bluetooth currently disabled due to sandbox problem
A Wichita Falls, Texas Find my iPhone user shares his Christmas miracle:
Pretty amazing Christmas Story! Early this morning my 2005 Land Rover was stolen from the Marriott in Wichita Falls TX. The local police put me on hold, transferred me around and did nothing. My iPhone was in the car in between the seats and turned on. I tracked it using MobileMe Find My Phone to HWY 287 on the way to Decatur. When they exited the highway and headed on a Farm road for Justin TX a few miles away, I contacted the Justin Police and with the help of a very savvy operator we pinpointed the car at a Sonic. While I was on the phone with her, she said the officer sees your car and is going to make the arrest. A few minutes later she frantically calls me to start tracking the car again. The officer had handcuffed the suspects, sat one down on the curb while putting the other in the back seat. When he got back, the guy had Houdini’d the cuffs from behind his back to the front, fought with the officer and jumped in my car, dragged him and ran over him. I followed the car on the iPhone and directed the Highway Patrol to where he was – high speed chase ending with him flipping the Land Rover several times. The policeman is going to be fine – he is at the hospital with multiple bruises etc. The screenshot is where the car thieves ran over the policeman and escaped. I am just so thankful the policeman was not seriously hurt – I could care less about the car or the crook.
His story not only shows how helpful Find my iPhone is for finding your lost iOS device but also shows how helpful it can be for retrieving items like cars. If you read the account you will notice that a helping police officer was badly injured in the ordeal but he is now in stable condition. A double miracle. Here’s a video of the accompanying news report. (Clarification: The news report incorrectly cites OnStar as the tracking service although it was really MobileMe according the user. Also, in case it isn’t painfully obvious, that screenshot isn’t of this incident)
In his best and worst products of 2010 post today, Walt Mossberg declared Apple’s iPad as the number one product of 2010. The iPad is not the only Apple product on the top three list with the iPhone 4 tying at number 3 with the Samsung Galaxy S phone series. 4G networks are number two on the list and the top three worst products (in order) are the Dell Streak, Google TV, and TiVo Premiere.
Taking Walt’s top spot this year was none other than Apple’s iPad. For a 1.0 product, the iPad was amazing. With the new iOS 4.2 operating system and its huge selection of apps, the iPad continues to stay ahead of the competition.
A 13 year-old iPhone user will be going to court against Apple Korea next month over an iPhone 3G repair dispute. Back in October of this year the 13 year-old’s father asked for $251 in compensation from Apple after they refused to fix his daughter’s iPhone 3G, despite the one year warranty. Apple claimed they could not fix his daughter’s iPhone for free as it apparently had water damage, according to the trivial water sensors, which the family denied causing. After this, an attorney for Apple’s Korean front attempted to settle with the family under the table in exchange for the family keeping quiet and not speaking of the incident to the press.
This plan obviously did not work out for Apple and now they have a court hearing opening on January 13th. The family refused Apple’s settlement because their goal was not specifically to receive the monetary compensation but was to make sure others do not face the same issues with Apple’s repair policies. The 13 year-old’s father Lee Chul-ho sums up his feelings about the case below:
Although we filed the suit to receive the repair fees, the ultimate purpose of the suit was aimed at demanding that Apple improve its service policy so that people facing similar situations can get back unjustly paid repair expenses. There is no point of raising the suit if only one individual gets compensation.
Everyone’s favorite iOS game, Angry Birds just got updated with 15 new levels, a new theme and more…
Angry Birds is back with a brand new update!
New Features in version 1.5.0:
– A NEW THEME IN THE FRONTIER BADLANDS
– 15 NEW LEVELS – NO BELLYACHIN’
– A NEW GOLDEN EGG FOR Y’ALL CITY SLICKERS
– COWBOY UP WITH THE MIGHTY EAGLE
We’d like to take this opportunity to extend our infinite gratitude to friends of our fierce birds everywhere. We thank you sincerely from the bottoms of our fluffy hearts for making Angry Birds the highest rated and best selling game ever on iTunes!
Good news from billionaire Richard Branson’s iPad publishing venture — Project: you can download Project 1 for free for the holidays. And, as this video shows, the winner of the title’s competition to design the front cover of issue two has been announced. Expand Expanding Close
Apple CEO Steve Jobs has been named 2010’s ‘Person of the Year’ even while US President, Barack Obama, speaks up for the wealth of the Apple co-founder.
The Financial Times named Jobs its person of the year, saying the introduction of the iPad marked the moment when the ‘rebound’ in Apple’s fortunes “was complete”.
The iPad is the culmination of an approach that he has seemingly been perfecting for his entire career,” stated the newspaper’s opinion writers. Expand Expanding Close
SkyFire for iPad has just hit the App Store and it brings flash video content to the iPad as well as a slew as other bonuses not found on the native Safari web browser. SkyFire for iPad costs $4.99 and an iPhone version is available as well for $2.99. SkyFire for iPad’s feature list is after the break.
According to Mobile Magazine a Kinect-like gesture system for the iPad will be demoed in early January at CES 2011. Elliptic Labs is the company behind the technology and they specialize in “creating new and intuitive ways of interacting with computers.” For some time now the company has been working on a version of a Kinect-like gesture system for the iPad using a prototype tablet (video above).
The technology behind the system sits in a special iPad dock and is ultrasound. This dock creates a “touchless zone” ” that covers approximately one foot in front and to the side of the iPad’s screen. Elliptic Labs’ CEO Stian Aldrin explained the vision for the technology on the iPad and its real world applications.
The idea is that you use touchless gestures to operate primary functions of a docked tablet in situations like when you have wet or greasy hands in the kitchen. In general tablets are made for being handheld. When it is docked you are often walking or standing further away, and then using a finger on the screen involves a change of modality. Rather than bending down, leaning forward or picking it up you can use larger movements a little bit further away to do things like volume up or next song without changing modality.
Kinect-like gesture technology would be a huge feature for the iPad whether it comes via a third party or even from Apple. The video above shows it in action on a prototype device but check out a picture after the break with the iPad as the device being demoed.
