iOS Devices

Hey, while the Mac industry has happily spent the summer speculating about the rumoured Apple tablet device, we’ve kind of let notions of the next-version iPhone slip under the radar – now it looks like Cupertino’s plans for iPhone 4 are really advanced, and here’s a picture of the casing.

Now, we’re not taking credit for this rather nifty spot – that belongs to Gizmodo, and while we can’t verify if there’s any truth at all to this story, we’ll join Gizmodo in pointing out that the Chinese manufacturer publishing this device has accurately made available images of other Apple components before their release.

Go take a look…

Here’s the short version: You jailbreak your iPhone and SSH access is opened on it.  If you don’t change your default root password, a hacker can log into your iPhone (or iPod touch) and gain full control very easily.  A Dutch hacker takes this a bit further by throwing up an SMS popup after breaking into unsecured iPhones and asking €5 for instructions on how to secure the iPhone.  We’ll save you €5 — do a restore. 

The long version is at Ars.

If you want to stay clear of this kind of nonsense, change your password after jailbreaking, or obviously, don’t jailbreak.

"iDon’t do multi-touch"

This one from Gealog might be a typing error but it seems a bit conspicuous.  Motorola Droid for Europe (A.K.A. the Milestone) lists pinch-and-zoom as one of the features in the Interface section. The U.S. Web site for the Droid does not list pinch-and-zoom as one of the features in the Interface section.  Is Google still afraid to enable full multi-touch on Android (in the US) based on the fact that Apple asked them not to.   Or is Apple legal doing the asking?  Or Elan?  Or even Palm?

http://www.cnet.com/av/video/flv/universalPlayer/universalSmall.swf

Most of this stuff is last week’s news but at 1:49 left in the video (feel free to fast forward), he mentions that his sources at Best Buy say there are new part numbers showing up in their systems that correspond to new MacBook Pros.   He correlates this to last week’s information that new MacBook Pro families were spotted in the 10.6.2 software.    He then goes on to recommend those on the fence about  purchasing a MacBook Pro to wait a few weeks before buying.

If you try to go to a Flash site on your iPhone, you are often taken to Adobe’s "Get Flash" page because the site thinks this is an option for you.  It obviously isn’t, of course.  But for those who go to the "Get Flash" page on their iPhone, Adobe is adding some sass to their "iPhone doesn’t support Flash" message.

This message has been around for awhile (as far as we remember) but it has only lately specified iPhone.  Perhaps to differentiate between mobile Webkit browser that support Flash like Android and Blackberry will and those that don’t.[Gear Diary via Engadget]

Strategy gamers take note – impatiently awaited title, Command and Conquer Red Alert is available now for the iPhone.

The $9.99 app includes a 12-map single player campaign and a Skirmish mode, with multiplayer support promised within a future update.

In-apps purchasing means additional expansion packs will also be made available, with the first such set, ‘Assault Pack’ available now for $0.99.

A additional expansion pack is in development.

Video originally made available by TouchArcade

Orange UK has published the prices and tariffs it will offer new iPhone customers when it makes the device available in the UK on November 10.

Expectation the carrier would spark a price war with iPhone incumbent, O2, seem dashed by the initial offering, which also includes options for Pay-as-you-go and/or business customers.

A number of Orange stores will celebrate the arrival of the iPhone with early opening at 7 am on 10 November. The company has seen more than a quarter of a million customers register their interest on our website.

Competition in the UK market is however set to intensify, with Vodafone expected to offer the device from next year, when the UK’s smallest carrier, 3, has also said it expects to begin offering Apple’s device.

More information on Orange iPhone pricing here.

iPhone users running the latest, greatest Microsoft OS, Windows 7, have encountered an interesting little error on behalf of the iPhone hating-Steve Ballmer led company – PC’s using a new Intel chipsets seem unable to sync with the Apple device.

According to a Register report, PC’s running Intel’s P55 chipset face an error which prevents iPhone sync through iTunes on various WIndows PC’s that use the chips.

Apple Discussions are carrying reports of the problem, which Microsoft and Intel are allegedly looking into.

“For the past six weeks, complaints from users running this trifecta of pain have been clogging a thread on Apple’s discussion board. The posts report that – in most cases – iTunes 9 for Windows will recognize the iPhone, but when a sync is attempted, users are greeted with a cryptic "error 0xE8000065" – an iPhone-connection failure notification,” also reported The Register.

While Apple’s keeping quiet on the problem, Microsoft told The Register: “Microsoft has not seen this particular question posed in the Microsoft Answers for Windows 7 community forum, nor in any of our call centers. We reviewed the issue raised on the Apple Discussion Board and are currently investigating. If we determine this to be a problem specific to Windows 7, we will post an update on the Microsoft Answers site."

Today is October 31, when many of us go horror crazy and you’re likely to find yourself sharing public transport seats with crazed zombies, random vampires and the occasional flesh-eating ghoul (if that’s unusual). Yep, it’s Halloween (Samhain), and we’ve been trawling the App Store for something that epitomises the season – and works on an iPhone.

Imagine our delight when we came across the really rather spiffing $1.99 app, Zombie Me, which you can use to transform pics of you or your friends into the kind of zombie effects-riven visage you rarely get outside of a make up department.

We like this app because it’s simple, cheap, offers a liberal dash of ‘oh so scary’ special effects, and should make for a new generation of funked-up, freaked-out, frightening horrow show zombie profile pics on Bebo, iChat, wherever.

Make scary eyes, highlight bloody mouths, add horrifying wounds and “lots of scary elements” to your pictures, the company says. You can save the images, email them, download them and more. And the developers promise new features ahead.

It’s all very ghoul. (sorry). Get the app right here.
Happy Halloween.

No doubt this will become one of the better selling games on the iPhone, the original Doom was released today by id Software (iTunes Link $6.99).

From the developer:

Welcome to Hell! Prepare to relive the First Person Shooter that defined a generation with the legendary original DOOM – now on the iPhone. As a space marine stationed on the planet Mars, you are all that stands between the armies of Hell and their invasion of planet Earth!

DOOM Classic includes the original three episodes as well as Episode Four, Thy Flesh Consumed, spread across 36 levels of non-stop carnage and action.

Choose from customizable control schemes, all designed by id Software co-founder and industry legend, John Carmack. Wield unforgettable weapons like the Chainsaw and the BFG 9000 while fighting through notorious monsters like the Imp, Cacodemon, and Hell Knight!

In DOOM Classic, multiplayer action is reborn! With a wireless connection, battle up to four players in Deathmatch mode, or work together cooperatively and fight back against the demons of Hell.

Features:
• Play the legendary first person shooter, DOOM, with an iPhone or iPod Touch.
• Fight through 36 missions in four action-packed episodes: Knee-Deep in the Dead, Shores of Hell, Inferno, and Thy Flesh Consumed
• Experience DOOM multiplayer on your mobile device, including Deathmatch and Cooperative play for up to four players via wireless internet.
• Choose from three different control types and customize the interface to suit your style
• Explore the depths of Mars while utilizing the topdown map to help you explore and save your game on the fly.
• Listen to the original soundtrack or disable it and use your own iPod music

This App is something special, Jibbigo will translate English speech into Spanish, or Spanish into English, without going online.

All you need do is launch the $25 app, speak into your iPhone microphone, and the translation is played over the speaker (and shown in text on the iPhone’s screen).

We think this system’s going to be extended into other languages, and while it’s clearly not going to help you navigate the complete linguistic lexicon, we suspect it’s a sign of applications to come, which in future could enable better communication between people, whatever their foreign language ability.

On the iPhone 3GS, the app will translate both languages at once (so you can talk naturally to one another), while earlier model iPhone users must choose which direction they want translation done.

It carries a dictionary of 40,000 words, and performs best if limited to one or two sentences at a time.

Quite overwhelmed at how this advanced technology can be held inside a multi-use device that fits inside your pocket. It’s promising, we think.

Developer’s site.

In a report issued to clients Friday, RBC spoke of the opportunities their executives see in the emerging video space.

Mike Abramsky met with Eddy Cue, Apple’s vice president for iTunes and Internet services, David Moody, vice president for worldwide Mac marketing and CFO Peter Oppenheimer.  While he didn’t get any straight talk, he did get their impressions of "market opportunities".

Video/Content Opportunities. After music, video content is expected to be the next "exploding" opportunity, but requires overcoming industry rights dysfunctionality, competing with subsidies (cable box, video), and developing the right consumer "offer". Apple TV, while still a "hobby", is well positioned to benefit from evolving market dynamics. Apple was less enthusiastic about the online book/newspaper market, given unattractive industry structure.

It also appears that the Apple TV mystery deepens.  Many were put off by the minute scope of yesterday’s AppleTV update, especially after two years since the last major upgrade (Take Two).  Perhaps Apple is being slowed by the movie/TV industry which is overcome by "rights dysfunctionality"?  Hopefully, along with the tablet, we’ll see a real AppleTV product.

Hey Hey comics fans – Marvel Comics are now available on the iPhone via comiXology and Panelfly, with the ever-popular XMen titles (among others) leading the eBook-focused charge reports Macworld.

Titles including Astonishing X-Men, Captain America, X-23, X-Men: Age of Apocalypse, Marvel Zombies, Iron Man and Amazing Spider-Man, all of which are available now.

In an exclusive interview with MTV News, Marvel president and publisher Dan Buckley, "We’ve been kind of wrestling with developing a motion comics product for the last several years," Buckley told MTV News.

"Vestiges of it were even done when Bill Jemas was here with the ‘Ultimate Spider-Man’ piece, but it wasn’t quite what we wanted."

He added: “With the advent of the iPhone, it became an item where we felt we could get a lot more mass-market distribution.”

http://media.mtvnservices.com/mgid:uma:video:mtv.com:433166

Joining the never-ending wave of musicians making a move to the Apple App Store platform, KISS have introduced VIP Pass.

The app offers backstage videos and photos, chat features, ticket and merchandise links, and streaming song previews.

It has been released to coincide with the band’s extensive US tour, which is taking place now.

Features include:

Exclusive videos and pictures from KISS backstage
Exclusive wallpapers of KISS for your phone
Talk with KISS and fans about what’s going on
Get latest tour info – venues, tickets, & merchandise
Stream previews of all the songs across 28 albums!!!

The $1.99 application is available now.

Apple’s iPhone launched in China this morning, but the introduction of the hot US product has hit a little snag – the first iterations to reach market lack WiFI, even though local law was recently changed to permit inclusion of support for the standard.

Carrier, China Unicom, has reportedly contracted to buy five million iPhones at a cost of $1.5 billion. The ban on WiFi was enforced by central government in Beijing, but lifted in May – when manufacturing of the device had begun.

Lack of the standard may give some Chinese consumers the perception that they are being sold a sub-par version of the product, impacting sales.

A Unicom spokesman, Yi Difei, said the company hopes to have WiFi in the next batch of phones: "We are talking with Apple and expect the problem to be solved by the end of this year," he said.

Unicom’s prices range from 4,999 yuan ($730) to 6,999 yuan ($1,025) for the high-end, 32-gigabyte iPhone 3GS. This poses a second challenge for Apple in China – unlocked grey import iPhones (with WiFi) cost around 5,700 yuan ($835) in China’s street markets.

The availability of unlocked iPhones and the lack of WiFi could impact Apple’s success in this new territory.
 

When Apple says AppleTV is just a hobby, they really mean it.  A lot of you were hoping for more with Apple TV 3.0.  After two years since the last update, we were too.  But Apple’s big surprises for AppleTV 3.0 are, in the words of Eddy Cue, Apple’s vice president of Internet Services:

with Apple TV 3.0 they get great new features including iTunes Extras, Genius Mixes and Internet radio.

Apple TV 3 also includes a new Interface and redesigned main menu that put recently purchased and top media content on top.  We’ll get some screenshots as soon as we do this update (we’re not sure we want to kill Boxee for this).  Press release follows:

Apple Introduces Apple TV 3.0 Software With Redesigned User Interface

Enjoy iTunes Extras, iTunes LP & Genius Mixes on Your HD TV

CUPERTINO, California—October 29, 2009—Apple® today introduced new Apple TV® 3.0 software featuring a redesigned main menu that makes navigating your favorite content simpler and faster, and makes enjoying the largest selection of on-demand HD movie rentals and purchases, HD TV shows, music and podcasts from the iTunes® Store even better on your TV. You can now enjoy iTunes Extras and iTunes LP in stunning fullscreen with your Apple TV, as well as listen to Genius Mixes and Internet radio through your home theater system. The new Apple TV software is available immediately free of charge to existing Apple TV owners, and Apple TV with 160GB capacity is available for just $229.

“The new software for Apple TV features a simpler and faster interface that gives you instant access to your favorite content,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s vice president of Internet Services. “HD movies and HD TV shows from iTunes have been a huge hit with Apple TV customers, and with Apple TV 3.0 they get great new features including iTunes Extras, Genius Mixes and Internet radio.”

The redesigned main menu on Apple TV gives you instant access to your favorite content. Recently rented or purchased movies, as well as other content including TV shows, music, podcasts, photos and YouTube, are accessible directly from the new main menu. The new software also allows Apple TV users to enjoy stunning fullscreen iTunes Extras and iTunes LP, including great new movie titles such as “Star Trek” or classics like “The Wizard of Oz” and albums such as Taylor Swift’s “Fearless (Platinum Edition)” and Jack Johnson’s “En Concert.” iTunes Extras gives movie fans great additional content such as deleted scenes, interviews and interactive galleries. iTunes LP is the next evolution of the music album, delivering a rich, immersive experience for select albums on the iTunes Store by combining beautiful design with expanded visual features like live performance videos, lyrics, artwork, liner notes, interviews, photos, album credits and more.

Now Apple TV users can enjoy Genius Mixes through their home theater system and listen to up to 12 endless mixes of songs that go great together, automatically generated from their iTunes library. Customers can also enjoy Internet radio, allowing them to browse and listen to thousands of Internet radio stations, as well as tag favorite stations to listen to later. Apple TV’s support of HD photos is enhanced with iPhoto Events, which simplifies finding your favorite photos on Apple TV, as well as iPhoto® Faces, which gives access to photos organized by people identified in iPhoto.

Apple TV users have direct access to a catalog of over 8,000 Hollywood films on iTunes including over 2,000 in stunning HD video available for rent or purchase. Users can also choose from a selection of 11 million songs, 10,000 music videos and over 50,000 TV episodes to purchase directly from their Apple TV or browse and enjoy the iTunes Store podcast directory of over 175,000 free video and audio podcasts. Purchases downloaded to Apple TV are automatically synced back to iTunes on the user’s computer for enjoyment on their Mac® or PC or all current generation iPods or iPhones.* iPod touch® or iPhone® users can download the free Remote app from the App Store to control their Apple TV with a simple tap or flick of the finger.

Pricing & Availability
The new Apple TV software is available as a free automatic download to all Apple TV customers. The 160GB Apple TV is available from the Apple Store® (www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers for a suggested retail price of $229 (US). Apple TV requires an 802.11b/g/n wireless network or 10/100 Base-T Ethernet networking, a broadband Internet connection and a high definition widescreen TV. Video availability varies by country.

Apple TV easily connects to a broad range of widescreen TVs and home theater systems and comes standard with HDMI, component video, analog and optical audio ports. Using high-speed Wi-Fi, Apple TV automatically plays your iTunes content without setup or management.

*Movie rentals work on iPod classic®, iPod nano® with video, iPod touch, iPhone, iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS.

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Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Today, Apple continues to lead the industry in innovation with its award-winning computers, OS X operating system and iLife and professional applications. Apple is also spearheading the digital media revolution with its iPod portable music and video players and iTunes online store, and has entered the mobile phone market with its revolutionary iPhone.

Press Contacts:
Randi Wolfson
Apple
randi@apple.com
(408) 862-1225

Jason Roth

Apple

jroth@apple.com

(408) 862-2633

The Baltimore Sun today found an Apple Patent on a device that would integrate a media player into a wireless headset.  While only shown in one of the images, the display does show up in some of the diagrams and in the application itself. (marked "214" below)

11. The wireless headset of claim 9 wherein said display comprises a video screen.
35. The wireless headset of claim 34 wherein said display comprises a video screen.

The device itself isn’t just a set of headphones, it also incompases a media player and could be considered an "iPod", perhaps a successor to the Shuffle.  Would you buy something like this?  Drawings below:

With at least 202 million websites worldwide powered by the blog publishing application, interest should be high in the newly-released WordPress 2 App for iPhone and iPod touch.

If you’re an existing user of WordPress 1.0 on the iPhone don’t expect the update to be downloaded automatically – it won’t happen – instead this is listed as a brand-new app, and you can have both installed on your device.

Improvements in this release include a better interface, which lets you moderate comments, edit pages and create new posts. This version also makes it easier to connect to self-hosted WordPress installs, though only on WordPress 2.7 or higher. Posts are automatically saved so they won’t be lost if you lose network connectivity.

“Our efforts were focused on creating a better user experience — the beginnings of a user interface overhaul that we’ll continue with the next version, and eliminating the bugs and incompatibilities with some self-hosted WordPress setups that was the source of the majority of the support requests we see in the forum,” the developers explain on their blog.

Amazon hasn’t yet started shipping Apple’s Magic Mouse (to begin today?), yet it has reached the number one spot in every mouse category and is #8 in the broad Electronics category.  Amazon sells the Magic Mouse at a whopping $1 savings and ships for free.

Today’s new EULA for iTunes throws up a pretty obvious clue that an AppleTV 3.0 update is coming up – perhaps in a matter of days.  The neglected hobby of Apple’s isn’t dead yet folks.  Besides iTunesLP, is there any possibility of something useful like Hulu or Netflix showing up on there?  Will it be enough to convince people to update and remove Boxee?  We’ll find out soon enough.