iOS Devices

You illustrators might not want to throw away that $5000 Mac Pro/Adobe CS4 rig just yet, but this story makes it seem like one day that might be an option.  Jorge Colombo drew this week’s New Yorker magazine cover using Brushes ($5 iTunes store link), an application for the iPhone, while standing for an hour outside Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum in Times Square.  Passers-by just assumed he was checking his email.

http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f8/1827871374

“I got a phone in the beginning of February, and I immediately got the program so I could entertain myself,” says Colombo, who first published his drawings in The New Yorker in 1994. Colombo has been drawing since he was seven, but he discovered an advantage of digital drawing on a nighttime drive to Vermont. “Before, unless I had a flashlight or a miner’s hat, I could not draw in the dark.” (When the sun is up, it’s a bit harder, “because of the glare on the phone,” he says.) It also allows him to draw without being noticed; most pedestrians assume he’s checking his e-mail.

via TUAW

Engadget got the lowdown on Apple’s newest competitor on the AT&T network.  The specs aren’t too special and the processor is a bit last generation, but it does mark the first direct carrier competition between Google and Apple.  Due in August, it will have a special AT&T’ed up version of Android on it, which of course, will be horrific. Also, we’re not sure if it is a misprint, but it says the resolution will be 240×320, half the picels of the iPhone.

You’ll be able to throw a non-AT&T version of Android on there once you get it home so you don’t have to click thru 8 AT&T pay-ware apps to check your email.

Yesterday it was Tmobile Austria.  Today, AT&T’s website (update: tradups isn’t AT&T affiliated) is referencing a 32 GB iPhones in a tradeup program.  Anyone out there left who doesn’t think we’ll see a 32GB iPhone in the coming months?

According to the graphic below, AT&T will take $335 for the 32GB iPhone.  We’re thinking there aren’t going to be too many people trading in new iPhones for Blackberry Bolds.

via Phone Arena

 

Orange announced today that it sold its one millionth iPhone.  While that is a significant number for the nation of 60+million, there are lots of non Orange iPhones running around the country as well.  Until the iPhone was launched in November of 2007, many unlocked iPhonees were floating around the country (including ours;).  Then, at the end of last year, France’s competition council ruled that the iPhone must be carried by all vendors.   All of the other mobile vendors are now carrying the iPhone and have for the last six months.

Apple doesn’t break any of its iPhone numbers out by countrybut it is pretty clear that it has been a success internationally.

Orange is celebrating the occasion by giving its customers a free live coverage French Open Tennis app.

 

Tmobile’s Austrian website (since corrected) briefly displayed a placeholder for a 32GB iPhone.  Tmobile is the official iPhone carrier in Austria.

In other "Apple’s about to update its iPhones news", Vodaphone Australia is out of 16GB iPhones and they’ve been EOL’d by their supplier.  Is this the begining of the early summer global iPhone shortages?  If so (and you need one), you might want to grab a quick refurbished iPhone 3G at half off before they run out.

 

Someone has to be right here.  Yesterday Gene Munster said no Apple tablets until 2010.  Today Digitimes’ Cage Chao and Meiling Chen said the Apple tablet products should hit the streets by the end of 2009.

Wintek has been selected as the panel module supplier for Apple’s upcoming e-book form factor netbook product, according to Taiwan notebook related IC designers.

Taiwan IC designers are optimistic about demand for notebook related products in the second half of 2009 as more diversified products will hit the market during that time.

This is another confirmation (there were three others) of Apple ordering a Wintek touch screens for H2 2009.  We think Apple would love to have these things on store shelves this holiday season, if not earlier. How bout you?

 

John Gruber, is also predicting faster processor, more battery life, better camera and digital compass for the iPhone 3.  While nothing new is noted on the iPhone, he adds another voice to the changes we’ve been hearing for awhile now.  He also agrees that a major feature of the next touch devices from Apple will be the cameras.

Based on our information, we believe the next iPhone chip will be the S5PC100.(Google it).

He also thinks that 13-inch aluminum Macbooks will all now be called MacBook Pros (not Airs of course) and we’ll see minor updates to the MacBook Pro line at WWDC.

 

Ralph de la Vega, the head of AT&T’s mobility and consumer business, told Rueters that AT&T is indeed considering a discounted iPhone rate plan.  However, this discounted plan will only be for limited, tiered data plans and would cause iPhone users to be conscientious of how much data they were using.

The executive said it would be costly for AT&T to cut the price of its unlimited Web surfing service. The minimum plan for iPhone users is $70 a month, which includes unlimited Web surfing and a certain amount of voice calls.

Instead, AT&T could offer more limited Web surfing on cellphones for a lower fee, similar to its trial offer of 200 megabytes of data downloads for wireless netbook users for $40 a month in Atlanta and in Philadelphia. 

"Right now we continue to study what is the best thing that is available, not just from an iPhone point of view, but what you can do to stimulate additional demand," said de la Vega, who is responsible for all of AT&T’s consumer sales along with his role as chief executive of the mobile business..

As someone who has racked up absurd data roaming bills overseas by just letting my IMAP email sync, I can tell you this isn’t going to fly well.  iPhones are notorious for using many times more data than other smartphones and worrying about data ruins just about every fun and cool aspect of the device. 

De la Vega also announced:

• They wouldn’t be selling a Data-only iPhone plan
• AT&T would be expanding its netbook (tablet?) selling to all of its stores
• Getting hairplugs can totally fool people into thinking you aren’t bald

http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f8/1079049304

We’re betting he and Gene Munster are wrong.  Who is in?

UpNext looks like a cool little app.  We’re not sure if it beats Google though.

From CoM:

The 3D NYC iPhone App from UpNext is unbelievably cool. It renders Manhattan in 3D, allowing you to zoom up and down the city streets, in-between buildings, finding places to eat and things to do. The rendering is amazing — see the video above.

It overlays the subway map and crowdsources popular destinations. All this for only$2.99 from the iTunes App Store. Worth buying even if you don’t live in NYC.

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=4418454&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1

 

Screw June 6th, why not order a Palm Pre from Best Buy now?  Oh, you don’t have $849 burning a hole in your pocket?  Damn.

It isn’t clear if this is the "without plan" version we’ve heard about but you might want to hold off until closer to release when the pricing becomes more plain.

Additionally, we’ve heard that the amateur hour rebate that Palm is imposing to get its Pre under $200 will be an instant rebate at Best Buy.  If you are getting a Pre, Best Buy might be the place to get it.

These stories are always a downer.  SAI reports that Apple isn’t likely to build the much talked about MediaPad/Tablet device until 2010.  All hope isn’t lost for 2009, however.  They source (often incorrect) Gene Munster:

"We expect the development of such an OS to be underway currently, but its complexity, along with our conversations with a key company in the mobile space, leads us to believe it will not launch until CY10," Munster says.

With the Android-based Archos 3G media tablet with WWAN only months away, we’d love to see Apple in this space ASAP…but as SAI says, it probably doesn’t matter.  How long were there MP3 players (including Archos) before the iPod came out?

 

Is Apple re-entering the camera business it left in 1997 with a Camera iPod? I laid out my opinion over at CW.

Yes, that picture isn’t real, it is just there to illustrate a point.

According to their official Twitterer, Christchurch-based Telecom New Zealand is in negotiations with Apple to get the third generation iPhone (as opposed to iPhone 3G).  Currently Vodafone is the only mobile company to carry the device on the island nation of 4 million potential customers.

BTW Telecom New Zealand, the first rule of getting the iPhone is that you don’t talk about getting the iPhone.

Update: The New Zealand Herald has more:

Telecom is in negotiations to sell Apple’s iPhone, says the telco’s retail boss Alan Gourdie.

It announced the handset and plan line-up for its new high-speed 3G ‘XT’ network this morning, and Gourdie admitted that the iPhone may be in the pipeline for Telecom customers.

"We don’t have the iPhone at launch," he said, "but we are in deep discussion with Apple."

AppleiPhoneApps.com (unknown until now by us) says it has the latest iPhone specs. They’ve put out a lot of what we’ve already heard but also have some new "info".  We’ve bolded what we consider new stuff.  Here’s their list:

• 32GB and 16GB to replace current capacities
• $199 and $299 price-points to be maintained
• 3.2 Megapixel camera
• Video recording & editing capabilities
• Ability to send a picture & video via MMS
• Discontinuation of the metal band surrounding the edge of the device
• OLED screen
• 1.5X The battery life
• Double the RAM and processing power
• Built-in FM transmitter
• Apple logo on the back to light up
• Rubber-tread backing
• Sleeker design
• Built-in compass
• Revolutionary combination of the camera, GPS, compass, and Google maps to identify photo and inform about photo locations.
• Turn by turn directions
• July 17th, 2009 release date

If there is a lighting Apple logo on the back, it will be powered by the screen light, just like MacBooks.  There is no way Apple will use extra juice to illuminate a logo, when battery power is so important in mobile devices.  The rubber tread backing also seems hard to imagine.

We’re split on the FM transmitter.  It is a very cool and useful feature, but one Apple hasn’t been keen on using up until this point.

Palm’s Pre will be available nationwide on June 6 for $199.99 after a $100 mail-in rebate (bad idea) and with a two-year contract on Sprint’s Everything Data plan or Business Essentials with Messaging and Data plan. The Pre will also be sold online and at Best Buy, RadioShack, and some Walmart stores (alongside iPhones). Accessories like the $69.99 TouchStone wireless charger will also be available at launch.

As we mentioned, we think the rebate pricing is a really bad idea.  We should also mention that we are excited to see how well Pre does.  Any competition to Apple is only likely to make the iPhone a better product and AT&T a better service provider. 

Oh and yes, June 6th is two days before WWDC…so that will also be interesting.

For those outside of AT&T’s coverage (or where AT&T is horrific – like NYC), the Pre will be an very enticing.

 

We just got passed along this screengrab. Looks like testing on the Push Notification service has begun. We’ll let you know when we start seeing smiley faces.

Some of the new Snow Leopard features are being shown on these videos and images by Brazilian MacMagazine. Check below for more images and some words you probably don’t understand.

Finder

Nos dois primeiros vídeos ( 1 e 2 — o segundo, em HD —, ambos gravados no build 10A261 ), encontramos: In the first two videos (1 and 2 – the second in HD – both recorded in the build 10A261 we find:

• Opção “Put Back” no Lixo, que leva arquivos apagados de volta ao local de origem. Option "Put Back" in the Trash, deleted files that leads back to the place of origin. Já havíamos falado dela aqui e postado uma screenshot aqui . We talked about it here and posted a screenshot here.

 

• Barra deslizante para redimensionar o tamanho de ícones em janelas, à la iPhoto. Slider to resize the size of icons in windows, a la iPhoto.

• Barra de rolagem na visualização de Stacks em “Grid” e navegação por pastas. Scroll bar on the visualization of Stacks in "Grid" and navigation by folders. Veja mais sobre esta funcionalidade aqui . See more about this feature here.

• Uma atenção ao maior ao menu Services , com janela de preferências dedicada. A greater attention to the Services menu in the Preferences window dedicated.

• Novo painel de preferências Keyboard & Mouse . New panel of Keyboard & Mouse preferences. Outro que já havíamos mostrado . Another that we had already shown.

• Quick Look direto nos ícones. Quick Look in the right icons. Também já sabíamos . Also we knew. :-) O legal é que ele funciona até mesmo em PDFs com múltiplas páginas , o que, como nota bem quem publicou os vídeos, é ótimo para touchscreens. :-) The law is that it works even in PDFs with multiple pages, which, as well note who published the video, is great for touchscreens. Hum. ;-) Hum ;-)

• Novo padrão de nome para screenshots com data e hora de quando foram registradas. New standard name for screenshots with date and time when they were recorded.

Mas temos mais um: But we have one more:

Aqui, ele mostra uma nova preferência do Finder que permitirá aos usuários definir o comportamento padrão de buscas pelo Spotlight: buscar em todo o Mac, na pasta que estiver aberta ou ainda do jeito que a pessoa deixou-o pela última vez. Here, he shows a preference of the new Finder that will allow users to set the default behavior of search by the Spotlight: get around the Mac, the folder that is opened or the way that the person left it last.

Abaixo, veja uma screenshot da definição relacionada à suavização de tipos ( anti-aliasing ) em funcionamento no Finder do Snow Leopard: Below, see a screenshot of the definition related to the types of smoothing (anti-aliasing) operating in the Snow Leopard Finder:

QuickTime X QuickTime X

Este outro vídeo resume boa parte das novidades que já cobrimos sobre o QuickTime X aqui no MacMagazine . This other video summarizes much of the news already covered on the QuickTime X in MacMagazine here. Agora, o build do Snow Leopard é o 10A286 . Now the build of Snow Leopard is the 10A286 Vemos: See:

• Nova interface com fundo preto, bem mais básica, parecida com o modo em tela cheia do player atual. New interface with black, more basic, like the full screen mode in the current player.

• Janela About indica versão 10.0, build 14.2 . About window shows version 10.0, build 14.2
• Nova opção Trim no menu Edit , acessível pelo atalho Command + T . New Trim option in the Edit menu, accessible by the shortcut Command + T. Curiosamente, processo e visual são muito semelhantes à mesma funcionalidade encontrada no aplicativo Gravador de Voz , do iPhone OS 3.0. Interestingly, visual process and are very similar to the same functionality found in the Voice Recorder application of iPhone OS 3.0.

• Modo de visualização Panoramic no menu View , acessível pelo atalho Command + 5 . Panoramic view mode in the View menu, accessible by the shortcut Command + 5.
• Menu Share , com opções de compartilhamento para iTunes e MobileMe Gallery. Share menu, with options for sharing iTunes and MobileMe Gallery.
• Opções de exportação de vídeos pré-definidas para Desktop, Apple TV, iPhone e iPhone (Edge). Options for exporting video pre-set to Desktop, Apple TV, iPhone and iPhone (Edge). O progresso é mostrado numa nova janela Share Progress . The progress is displayed in a new window Share Progress.

Dock e Substituições Dock and substitutions

Ainda com o build 10A261 : Even with the build 10A261

Daqui: Here:

• Permite que o usuário designe aplicativos para seus respectivos Spaces via um menu contextual no Dock, ao invés de ter que ir às Preferências do Sistema ( System Preferences ). Allows the user to designate their space applications via a contextual menu in the Dock, instead of having to go to System Preferences (System Preferences).
• Novo menu Substituições ( Substitutions ) na edição de textos em aplicativos Cocoa, facilita copy & paste , aspas inteligentes, traços e travessões, detecção de links e dados, troca de textos, etc. New menu substitutions (Substitutions) in editing the text in Cocoa applications, easier copy & paste, smart quotes, dashes, and dashes, detection of links and data, exchange of texts, etc..

. . . . . .

It has been awhile since we’ve run antivirus software on our Macs.  Most Mac antivirus software has traditionally been buggy or slowed our machines to a crawl.  That’s not to say that we’re complacent on security issues.  In fact, we have ClamAV sitting in our applications folder ‘just in case’.  We’re probably not alone in this sense.

McAfee and Symantec are taking the unnecessary protection one step further by readying security software for the iPhone.  We’re not sure what specific advantages this software would provide as there hasn’t even been a proof of concept iPhone virus yet and Apple already allows you to adjust security settings on the iPhone.  Furthermore, the API’s probably won’t allow the low level access that these types of applications traditionally require. (Last year a fake version of McAfee also came out for Jailbroken iPhones – see image)

We don’t really feel the need.  With Android Linux hitting photo frames, perhaps antivirus makers should focus their attention there.

Intego also  released iPhone antivirus software last year.  We’re not sure how well it is doing.