iOS Devices

Apple’s an incredibly secretive company. It likes to give the impression that it is its own separate world, governed by aestheticism and technological excellence. But what third party applications have a secret part to play in Apple’s big growth story?

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BGR reports that FaceTime will make its way to the iPod touch and iPad, and how it will work. Since the iPad and iPod touch technically do not have phone numbers, Apple needed to come up with another method. The concept they came up with is actually quite simple, the Apple ID. 

You first register your Apple ID/e-mail with your device, get the confirmation e-mail, and you’re ready to go. This is demonstrated in the image below:

Supposedly, when a user sends a FaceTime request to an iPod touch or iPad, they would receive it via Push Notification, and could accept or decline it using that system. FaceTime users on non-phone devices would send FaceTime requests via the built-in Contacts application. This does seem pretty straight forward, but Apple’s iOS 4.1 beta release from yesterday makes it even simpler with FaceTime favorites in the phone app. This coupled with the FaceTime call option for individual contacts would allow you to simply have contacts for FaceTime on iPod touches and iPads.

Another shot after the break:

Elgato have this brilliant device called the Turbo.264 HD, a hardware accelerator combined with software that speeded up video conversion operations. Well-received the device is a great asset to anyone hoping to swap video between formats. Today the company released a software edition of Turbo.264 HD.

The easy-to-use software gives users the ability to instantly edit HD camcorder clips without converting them first.

The software automatically detects USB camcorders and enables users to preview and edit video clips before importing them.

It supports nearly any kind of video source format, using advanced encoding technology to convert any video file to a very high-quality iPhone- and iPad-compatible format.

Turbo.264 HD can handle nearly any kind of video file, including formats that are non-native on the Mac such as MKV or wmv. Turbo.264 automatically adds converted videos into iTunes to sync with connected Apple devices

The software features pre-set output formats for iPad, iPhone, YouTube and more. The software edition of Turbo.264 HD is available for download today. (

According to bluetooth device users running iOS 4.1, the updated iOS is now fully AVRCP compatible. AVRCP is the mechanism which allows bluetooth headsets, or car dashboards to take full control of the audio functions of the devices they are connected to. Up until this release, users who paired their iPhones to their car to listen to music over bluetooth, needed to control playback via the iPod app. Now, with this full implementation of the bluetooth protocol, users can use the playback switches on their supported cars and headsets. 

This new feature reportedly supports skipping forward, back, and volume. Prior to this beta, only volume control was accessible on third-party bluetooth devices. This is a nice addition to the operating system, and it furthers Apple’s push of safety. Instead of having to use their phone while driving to control their music, users can simply use their bluetooth headset or the controls built into their vehicles. 

Parents who wish to block their children from FaceTime on their iPhone 4’s can now do so via a new preference in the setting’s restrictions menu. The option completely blocks FaceTime from the phone by removing the option from contacts as well as during phone calls. The ‘hold’ button for calls moves back to its old place when FaceTime is restricted.

Apple is also allowing the restriction of multiplayer interaction in Game Center. This means you can block your kid from playing games online with complete strangers.

We’re still waiting for Apple to block the front camera so kids won’t be exposed to Chatroulette on their iPhones. 

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1edQuxclUs&w=640&h=385]

The Loop reports that Apple seems ready to address the iPhone 4 issue.  It will be interesting to see what they say.

Apple on Wednesday invited select press to a special press conference to be held this Friday in California.Apple would only say that the press conference would be regarding the iPhone 4. No other information was available when I spoke with them tonight.

Interesting.  You don’t call a press event to announce free bumpers (do you?).  This might be a big deal.

Well, it looks like software can’t fix hardware problems after all.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_F6Qzf4foUI&w=690&h=413]

We’ll update when we try it out for ourselves (anyone else having very slow iOS downloads?)

Today, Apple has released iOS 4.1 for developers. The SDK and a beta install for iOS devices is now available. We will update with new features as we find them, including antenna fixes.

Ouch!  Comparing Apple’s iPhone 4 to his own Windows Vista mess, Microsoft CTO Kevin Turner today ‘went there’.  Yes, taking a swing at his own failure, Turner tried to say that Apple’s best selling iPhone ever is going to tank in the market.  Let’s see.

“It looks like the iPhone 4 might be their Vista, and I’m okay with that,” said Kevin Turner, Microsoft’s chief operating officer, in a keynote speech at Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC)… Earlier in his talk, Turner poked fun at the reception problems that have dogged Apple’s iPhone 4 since its June 24 launch. “One of the things I want to make sure you know today is that you’re going to be able to use a Windows Phone 7 and not have to worry about how you’re holding it to make a phone call,” Turner said, referring to the Microsoft mobile operating system set to debut on smartphones this fall.

Microsoft execs have been pretty spot on in their evaluations of iPhone so far. In fact, let’s have another listen to Steve Ballmer prognosticate on the iPhone at its debut:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcUicfqelC8&w=690&h=542]

image via Engadget

Fresh Changewave data tells us we’re seeing explosive demand for the iPhone 4 — 52 per cent of people planning to buy a smartphone in the next 90 days want an iPhone — more launch sales than ever before. This leaves RIM hurting really, really badly while Android stays strong, and webOS and Microsoft slowly dwindle away.

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I swear, when I was younger, this guy used to crack me up.  The bad news: When Letterman gets laughs at Apple’s expense, the issue has gone main-mainstream.

http://www.cbs.com/e/PnjqLO_j2IE3_n0bt_fB86TYdvStbR4Y/cbs/1/

Interesting. Scott Forstall has joined Twitter. It is a verified account so it is probably legit.  Maybe Apple is taking Twitter more seriously now?  Go ahead and speculate below.

Via TechCrunch

PS. Someone tell him that it is no longer iPhone OS software, it is iOS.

Update: Looks like Scott reads 9to5mac (yay!):

Making the change to his bio also lost his privilege of that neat little verification badge, he’ll probably get that back soon though. Oh, and he’s following Conan.

Update 2: Forstall has been reverified by Twitter, after the above incident revoked his verified status.

PlanetBeing of the iPhone Dev Team unlocked the iPhone 4 this morning, and now he has posted a video of it in action. The dude rambles on about how he doesn’t have a landline and such for the first 50 seconds, so we set it up to skip for you. Enjoy!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41rm8MCdoh8&w=560&h=340]

Apple is enduring a fierce blaze of negative publicity as US TV networks question the iPhone 4 ‘death grip’ issue. It has to be time the company offered more clarity about what’s going on – is this one or two issues and will there be a product recall?

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_TFHqIHBqM&w=700&h=415]

This is interesting: the video shows musician, Victor Tsaran, using a Braille display/controller to command his way through the iPhone 4. What makes this most interesting is that the musician is blind, and that the clip comprehensively underlines the built-in accessibility of the Apple mobile. This is powerful stuff.

Via: Wired

http://online.wsj.com/media/swf/VideoMicroPlayer.swf

All the big news networks are picking up today’s ‘do not recommend’ rating on the iPhone 4 from Consumer Reports.   Here’s the thing: If Apple came out and said three weeks ago that there was an antenna problem and it could be fixed with a free bumper or a piece of uber-cool Apple tape, we wouldn’t be talking about it right now.  Instead, the antenna issue is now snowballing and getting bigger by the week.

In fact, my dad who shares a flip feature phone (something not as good as a RAZR) with my mom, asked me what the deal was with the “new iPhone and the broken antenna” today.   Anyone who is considering getting an iPhone in the US now hears more about this antenna issue than the merits of this particular phone, which happens to be pretty stellar.

Yet, Apple keeps telling us that our eyes are deceiving us.  We don’t see that when you hit the spot, the signal drops.  Everything is fine.  

At what point does Apple come clean?  They have dug themselves in a hole so deep that they can’t tell the truth and save face. But can they continue lying?  Is there some way that after they say there is n’t a hardware problem, that they’ve tested it in their labs, it now does?

This feels almost like a giant horrible combover you see on “that guy”.  You wonder how he made it out of his house without one of his friends or family telling him how ridiculous he looks.    Everyone who looks at him for two seconds knows he’s is bald but he keeps insisting that pulling the hair from the very edges of his scalp makes everything fine.  Apple’s PR, to this point, has been the combover.

The issue now isn’t that people think Apple make faulty products.  They let one or two things slip on this one, but 98% of the iPhone 4 is top notch, best money can buy.  No one is perfect.  If Apple could tell the truth, people would be singing the praises of the iPhone 4.  Instead, people like my dad only hear that it has a broken antenna.

The issue is much bigger for us.  

People who’ve been following this and have reached out to Apple for comment now know Apple has ‘issues with the truth’.  

I’d much rather think that Apple had an antenna design issue than be embarrassed for the spectacle they are becoming.    

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32545640

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Today, Macworld announced via e-mail that free registration for the 2011 conference is now open. For those who register by July 26 your ticket to the convention will be free. After the two-week period the cost will be of a standard ticket.

Macworld is a great Mac-related convention which brings together thousands Apple users and fans from around the world to see the latest and greatest in the Mac world. Now that Apple no longer attends the event, the focus has shifted to third party case and software manufactures. 

We would like to see how many of you are planning on attending/registering. Let us know in the comments!

Apple has posted a note to its support website which details how to deal with FaceTime behind firewalls. Firewalls are usually present in schools, business, and ultra secure households. 

Here’s Apple’s instructions on how to open the proper ports to use FaceTime:

He

Apple patent shows it is developing technologies that could revolutionize established ideas for user interfaces, where the user interface becomes the object, and the object changes for what you want it to do.

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Here we go again… Microsoft has made another promise. This time, Ballmer promises a bunch of Windows 7 tablets coming by the end of this year. Microsoft plans to partner up with Dell, Asus, Sony, and Toshiba, as well as others. There last few takes at a tablet surely worked out *well* with the successful launch of their baby below (due this summer – tick tock, tick tock), and the “never even existed” Courier. 

The boys up in Redmond plan to take Apple head on with a strategy that lures in IT departments. We personally don’t think they’ll have much success with them iPads in the game along with Google’s plans for Android tablets. 

Ballmer’s statements occurred today at Microsoft’s Partner Conference, and we’ll probably see some MSFT tablet action at the upcoming WPC. 

via Gizmodo.