iOS Devices

Look, it isn’t just a few annoying blogs that see the iPhone’s problem on AT&T’s network. Apple has a real image problem on its hands when mainstream media outlets joke about how bad the iPhone’s call quality is.  

Dear Apple: You have a problem.  AT&T is hurting your image.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmgKDvWdi6o&w=600&h=385]

via Engadget

To be fair, SNL is filmed in New York, which is one of the black spots for AT&T.

With the recent explosion of speech recognition on the iPhone (Dragon Speech, Google, even Bing Map search) some might consider revisiting speech recognition on the Mac desktop platform where the technology can be more effectively utilized.  About five years ago, both IBM (ViaVoice) and Dragon (Naturally Speaking) both released Mac versions of their Speech recognition applications but both stopped their programs a few years ago and they are no longer supported.

By far the best speech recognition on the Mac platform today is MacSpeech, which recently upgraded its speech recognition engine to use Nuance’s Dragon (the same engine used in the iPhone app).  Their new application is fully able to integrate with Snow Leopard and works out of the box much better than the iPhone application.  The accuracy becomes eerily good after spending a few minutes of teaching it to get used to your voice and way of speaking.

As bloggers, we’ve had run-ins with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and other RSI disorders which would have sidelined us for weeks had we not had access to MacSpeech.  If you haven’t tried speech recognition in the past few years on the Mac, you might want to give it another try – it is head and shoulders above previous versions.

As MacSpeech affiliates, we can offer MacSpeech applications 25% off of the list price using this link and the coupon code: “9TO5MAC” at checkout.  That puts the regular application at $149 (including free headset), which is the lowest price we could find.

Those in favor of removable batteries might want to consider this one:  A Droid with a loose removable battery cover receives this official remedy from Verizon:

Took my phone to the Verizon store, and this is their solution. It’s better than what the original rep tried to do, which is put scotch tape on it. IMO, for a $200 phone, this is unacceptable. 

We’re not saying it is a “Band-aid” solution but…ok, yes we are.

Flickr via DF

At least they use classy Verizon band-aids, not cheap aftermarket ones.

Verizon’s PR team is hitting AT&T while they are down as Verizon’s CTO, Anthony Melone , is saying that they are “capable of handling extra traffic that would be generated by the iPhone”…

“We have put things in place already,” Melone tells Bloomberg BusinessWeek. “We are prepared to support that traffic.”

And another winner:

Melone says the company is ready for the deluge should Verizon Wireless land a deal with Apple for the iPhone. “We will handle it if we ever get it,” says Melone.

Yep. That’s it.  Nothing like “we’re working on Visual Voicemail” or “Apple is answering our calls”.   

Let’s just say we aren’t convinced that the iPhone will be heading to Verizon (as much as we might wish it so).

Remember, it isn’t just vagueness here.  Businessweek is behind such famous stories as this one from April:

http://bizweektv.pb.feedroom.com/businessweek/bizweektv/pboneclip/player.swf?site=bizweektv&skin=pboneclip&SiteName=bizweektv&fr_story=816e6f8e0ae953ce1c952ae3b0cac12dd829fd61&stories=&AutoPlay=false&mute=false&setvolume=.5&tilenumber=&tilemargin=&videoratio=&detailsheight=&env=&SendEMailURL=http%3A%2F%2F%25SiteID%25.feedroom.com/custom/playerbuilder/feedroom/sendMail.jsp

Verizon Wireless is in talks with Apple to distribute two new iPhone-like devices, BusinessWeek has learned. Apple has created prototypes of the devices, and discussions reaching back a half-year have involved Apple CEO Steve Jobs, according to two people familiar with the matter.

One device is a smaller, less expensive calling device described by a person who has seen it as an “iPhone lite.” The other is a media pad that would let users listen to music, view photos, and watch high-definition videos, the person says. It would place calls over a Wi-Fi connection. One of these devices may be introduced as early as this summer, one person says.

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We all know The Beatles are/aren

Spotify may not be launching into the USA until 2010, but the innovative streaming music service may already face stiff competition from all-new and soon to launch service, Rdio.

This new streaming subscription service was founded by Skype/Kazaa pioneers, Janus Friis and Niklas Zennstrom. What the service will do on launch remains shadowy, but the company has now released an iPhone app, making this available to all via the App Store.

Snag is, to use it you have to be a member of the private beta tester

AT&T has received a great deal of criticism for the abysmal quality of its network in major cities.  They’ve always countered that they were going to, at some point in the future, upgrade the quality of service in those areas where it is poor.  But according to their own SEC filings, they’ve actually been pulling back on spending on their network.  

All this time they’ve been taking more and more iPhone owners on unlimited plans, they’ve actually cut their spending on the network that is supposed to carry their data.  Is it any wonder that people are so mad?

Images via Gizmodo

AT&T has dismissed speculation it intends changing the way it charges iPhone users for data plans on its service, but hopes to encourage customers to use other methods to get their data in future.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YkKmuQRayQ&w=560&h=340]

Tired of reading? Take a video break with Apple

Amazon

If you

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkuOAY-S6OY&w=480&h=385]

As Rage Against The Machine

Today, Elgato announced that EyeTV 3 users can now stream live television over a 3G connection to an iPhone using Elgato

 http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=8157582&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=00ADEF&fullscreen=1

Your iPhone just won a new Clipboard app offering some steroids to the Apple device

Apple has introduced an updated version of its MobileMe iDisk app for the iPhone, raising this to version 1.1.

The free application lets MobileMe users view and share files on their iDisk using their iPhone. There

Daring Fireball has a video rundown of Apple’s ‘pastrykit’ Web app framework that was used to build the iPhone User Guide (demo below).  That includes Mobile Safari’s ability to run full HTML5 applications with offline database storage.  Google uses this offline storage DB for Gmail, for example, so that you can write emails from Safari when AT&T is being AT&T.

But PastryKit is much more than just offline storage (Gruber is gaga over scrolling but there are other features, such as blocking out the nav and URL bars, as well).  This looks like the beginings of a new way for developers to build quality iPhone apps but bypass the App Store.  But will Apple release it to the public?

 It seems like a lot of effort to build a framework this rich just for this iPhone User Guide, so I