iOS Devices

Recent reports have said that Apple plans to build Facebook social networking into its iPhoneOS.  Today, Patently Apple shows that Apple has been busy patenting social networking workflows and simplifying exchanges including Facebook integration.

The news comes as devices like Microsoft’s Kin try to woo Tweens with their social-only phones.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cr61ejrzaWc&w=700&h=423]

Yet more video of the next-gen iPhone has emerged. Once again these clips detail the recently-reported Vietnam-leaked iPhone 4G/HD.

The new images and video come from May Guyen. As you can see OS 4 isn

The iPhone is breaking into that most corporate of corporate sectors, banking, with up to 75,000 employees of Standard Chartered being offered the chance to dump their BlackBerries and pick up an Apple smartphone, Reuters reports.

Now, let

Just in case any iTunes users out there had any hope at all of seeing music from The Beatles ever being made available via the service, more bad news today from former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney, who has once again slated EMI for delaying this small digital music miracle.

“To tell you the truth I don’t actually understand how it’s got so crazy,” Sir Paul said. “I know iTunes would like to do it, so one day it’s going to happen.”

The nature of getting music from the band to the service has been a constant dance of expectation and disappointment. And it hasn

Update: Is this the Batmobile Newton?  Maybe.  Bidding has pushed it up over $400.

If you are quick (and Apple isn’t reading this) you can pick up a piece of Apple history on eBay right now.  Someone is selling a prototype Newton MessagePAD Prototype DVT Unit.  From the description:  

Differences between this unit and the final version is the labeling “Notepad” on the front (instead of Messagepad), it lacks “Newton” labeling at the top of the device, and on the back side there are stickers showing that this unit is not FCC approved.

It also appears to boot the Newton OS 1.3 as well.

Notice “NotePad” instead of Messagepad below:

Thanks Mime!

Every time we think this Gawker/Apple thing can’t get any stranger, we are proven horribly wrong.  Last night, Gawker’s Ryan Tate and Steve Jobs got in an email exchange that quickly took a turn for the worse.  Have a look:

Wow.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_c0sK8lclk&w=700&h=400]

Here’s another big leak coming out of Vietnam.  If not a fake, it looks like the $999 MacBooks are going to recieve a silent update in the coming days/weeks/months that will bring them largely inline (still only 2GB of RAM) with the current base model 13″ MacBook Pros.  The processor on the model they show is bumped to 2.4GHz, the screen is LED and the video card is updated to the NVIDIA GeForce 320M.  It also appears in the video that it has the fancy new AC power adapter from the Pro/Air line.

This one is running OSX 10.6.3 and it is the same Model 7,1 A1342 so we think these will drop sooner rather than later, without much fanfare.

Updated specs:

via Engadget

More pictures below with system profiler:

The iPhone 4 case took another ugly turn yesterday when the search warrant + affidavit (PDF) used to gain access to (the finder) Brian Hogan’s home was (mistakenly?) released.  It showed that Apple got the authorities involved after Hogan’s roommate, Katherine Martinson, contacted Apple to say her roomate was the one with the iPhone.  She wanted to absolve herself of any wrongdoing because her computer was used to try to restore the wiped iPhone 4.

It appears that the authorities knew that Jason Chen was a blogger for “Internet Magazine” Gizmodo.com, when they applied for the warrant to search his home and take his computers as well.

For those hoping that stiff penalties be enforced, remember that trade secrets can include just about any leaked information, no matter how small (i.e. like screen resolution of iPhone 4 or what processor it will use).  This is a very slippery slope.  The Apple employees that leak this kind of information to the media can be criminally charged with the same trade secret violations as the police are using to go after Gizmodo.

With Apple and Adobe spending money and reputation on a fight neither party looks truly pretty playing in, a third party developer has cleverly found a compromise that lets iPhone users watch proprietary Flash content on their Apple smartphone. So why can’t we all just get along? Read more…

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rp8tnOv5S6g&w=700&h=550]

Remember the strike at Wintek earlier this year, when workers smashed vehicles in a violent protest about bonuses? Seems they weren

Surprising no one at all, the App Store disapprovals team has rejected that useful WiFi Sync for iPhone app many of us had been hoping for.

Developer Greg Hughes has instead released the software via the Cydia network for jailbroken phones with a $9.99 price tag. The developer disclosed discussion with Apple went thus:

Apple today updated its productivity suite of iPad applications with various bugfixes and small features.Keynote gets:

What’s New in Version 1.1

– Support for French, German, Japanese, Dutch, Italian, Russian, Simplified Chinese, and Spanish
– Enhanced Back/Front slider in the Arrange panel
– Added the option to show additional alignment guides at smaller intervals

This update also:

– Improves reliability when importing Keynote

Woops.  It looks like BeGeek just pulled them off of this forum and slapped their watermark on them.

Apple

We like this clip a lot. It shows an iPad loading a fresh batch of software on an age-old Apple IIe that

Wal-Mart may begin selling the iPad later this year in an expansion of its electronics retail sales, the company confirmed today.

While such sales likely depend on Apple and its manufacturers figuring a way to build the product in even larger quantities, the giant retailer hopes to offer the must-have netbook replacement from later this year.

Apple

I hate to say it, but I really think Apple needs Verizon.   I love my iPhone and I love Apple, but it isn’t hard to see that they aren’t the only game in town anymore. 

Today, a Taiwanese report says that Pegatron is building a CDMA iPhone.  That echos an earlier report from the WSJ that said Verizon phones would be coming in September from Pegatron.  Just in time.  

Verizon or even Sprint is good news for Apple.  The Android is eating the iPhone’s lunch in the US and you didn’t need the NPD report to know it.  Android is on every carrier and comes in all shapes and sizes.  You can pick up a Droid for $20 or you can pick up an Incredible or EVO for $200 with two year plans on better networks than AT&T’s.  The software that Google makes isn’t bad (just like Windows isn’t bad compared to the MacOS) and the hardware that HTC is now making is flat out better than the iPhone 3GS.  Some Apple fans will have a hard time reconciling that, but after playing with the HTC EVO tonight, there is no way anyone can convince me that an iPhone 3GS is even close.

The iPhone has better software most of the time, and the 4th Gen iPhone will be smaller and thinner. But if you were buying a phone on hardware and carrier alone since the Nexus One, Incredible and now EVO came out, you’d have a hard time justifying the iPhone 3GS. It is basically the same 320×480 screen device that was introduced in 2007 with a faster processor, GPS, a plastic back and a few other tweaks.

Sure, there are tons of apps on the iPhone.  But Maps are better on Android.  I use those a lot.  So is voice navigation (Apple recently bought Siri to fight back).  Google Voice and Google Apps integration are awesome.   Android 2.1 screen resolution makes browsing better than the iPhone 3GS. (OLED vs. LCD is another story)  Sure, the next iPhone will catch up to Android’s resolution, but from January to June, Android had iPhone beat.  Android has an official Twitter app now too.  Their Facebook and Youtube Apps are every bit as good as Apple’s.  In fact, most apps on Android are as good as they are on iPhone.

It’s not all good for Android, however.  The interface still isn’t as polished as Apple’s.  It isn’t as intuitive.  There aren’t as many apps.  But just like Windows, it is plenty good enough.  

And Google is playing nice with everyone.  They have partners in Adobe, all of the carriers, advertisers and they treat their developers better without cryptic rules and moral judgements.

The reality is that Apple needs to start making moves.

As Steve Jobs told the town hall meeting at Apple, they have a fight on their hands.  If Apple wants to fall to #2 or #3 in markets where it competes with Android and become a bit player, all they have to do is keep on trucking with AT&T.  I’m pretty sure that everyone who is willing to get on AT&T’s network already has an iPhone.

If Apple wants a shot at the rest of the US populace, they had better start making some inroads with Verizon.

Apple posted a new ad to its website today.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fihOmQY-JxY&w=700&h=400]

As Arnold Kim points out, it is a rare shout out by Apple to a bygone era of Newton.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bh-yed48e0Y&w=700&h=400]

Kinda reminds me of an Old Spice ad too. Via Macstories.

Fortune shows that iPad supplies are now 1-2 weeks behind demand.  Also, it goes international at the end of the month (May 28th) which might constrain supplies further.  

There is always eBay!