iOS Devices

AT&T has introduced an online credit check and account set-up service for the iPhone 3G, attempting to reduce in store wait time for customers.

The move means iPhone 3G customers can set up accounts online before heading to the nearest store to activate and complete the purchase.

New customers can perform a pre-qualifying credit check and determine eligibility to port an existing phone number to AT&T in advance by visiting http://www.att.com/iphone.

Existing AT&T customers can also determine eligibility to add a new line for iPhone. The new AT&T online service joins Apple’s existing offering to speed iPhone purchasing up.

Microsoft isn’t just suffering from Google-envy – it’s got a high dose of Apple envy, too – now it seems set to do what it can to transform the Xbox 360 into more of an Apple TV-alternate than before.

Microsoft today announced at the Tokyo Game Show 2008 that the New Xbox Experience will launch on Wednesday, Nov. 19, when the company aims to "put more entertainment at their fingertips than any other device connected to the TV."

Microsoft also announced that beginning this month shoppers buying one of these consoles will get a bunch of games for free (at least in the US).

But it’s not just games: existing film, TV and music offerings all seem set to be ramped-up with the new "Experience", which will also offer enhanced sharing and social networking features through Xbox Live (well, that’s if we’re translating this message out of Redmond correctly).

As we all know, the Xbox 360 already offers over 12,000 films and TV episodes from Netflix, and a large online library of on-demand high-definition TV shows and movies from partners such as Constantin, Disney, MGM, NBC Universal and Warner Bros. Entertainment.

However, with the company slashing console prices and offering free titles, we wonder just how much cash investors are going to allow Microsoft to fork out as it follows its imitation innovation strategy?

We’re excited about this – the South Park team are developing what looks set to quickly become one of the most downloaded applications on the App Store, the South Park iPhone app.

This app will grab clips, wallpapers, South park-related news and even lets you use South Park characters as pictures for your contact book. As reported by BoingBoing the application won’t let you download and stream full-length episodes, so you’ll have to use iTunes to buy and YouTube to forage for those (and don’t forget all South Park episodes are available legally online), but it looks great, and we think it will be really rather popular.

We also know the application has been submitted to Apple and "hopefully will be made available soon", the South Park people said. Recent weeks have seen the delay between submission and arrival on the store pan out at around seven days, so with luck we should be playing with this app come next week (It wasn’t available at time of writing).

Naturally, there’s a serious side – this kind of interactive experience is becoming a growth industry for marketing people, with a host of companies seeking to emulate the Audi driving or iPint experience by offering a little dose of iPhone fun beside their brand. Kind of "friendly advertising", which they hope we’ll be less resistant too.

And it seems this kind of mobile advertising’s emerging as THE growth sector, according to a report on CNN. That report says the mobile ads market’s about to grow into a $12 billion business by 2012, up $10 billion on what it’s worth today. T

hat’s a lot of cash to divvy out between savvy iPhone application developers. And if you want to get more savvy, Apple announced a world tour for developers this morning – check here. Now get building, even in this recession there’s an Apple-inspired Gold Rush on…

The connection between Ben Folds and Apple grows ever stronger, it seems, with the artist scheduled to perform live at the Apple retail store in Chicago this Friday.

According to Time Out Chicago in its article, "Ben Folds goes Genius Bar hopping", the artist will perform a free show at the North Michigan Ave Apple Store in Chicago (679 N. Michigan Ave.) at 3pm this Friday, October 10, just before his appearance at the Congress Theater in Chicago that night.

This news follows revelations earlier this week that Folds is working with iTunes to release an exclusive live album, releasing a single track taken from the gig the preceding night via iTunes every morning during his current tour, with the whole collection to also be made available as an album.

An even better tick to Apple’s moves in the creative industry. The recordings are made on a Mac, previewed on an iPod, Folds makes the original cover art using PhotoBooth application and sends the music to iTunes for sale the next day. 

Engadget thinks it might have found the next MacBook Pro in this spy shot.  Looks pretty good to us – One piece of Aluminum, check.  Laser cut speaker holes? Check.  Notice how much smaller those are than current Macbook Pro speaker holes.   Also, we notice that these things are somehow getting even thinner than the width of a USB port. 

Click here for more insightful analysis :P

Google has hatched a YouTube profit-making plan with iTunes and Amazon, fielding links to music purchases from both competing stores under relevant video clips.

These new features – available only in the US at present – will eventually be extended to other territories and product families in future, with casual games already in the frame. At some future point a YouTube user watching a DIY video about house decorating may find themself offered links to paint shops or ladder hire, the company suggests.

“When you view a YouTube video with a great soundtrack, you often see comments from YouTube users asking about the name of the song and where they can download it. Or when users watch the trailer for an upcoming video game, they want to know when it will be released and where they can buy it,” the company announced on its blog.

"We’re getting started by embedding iTunes and Amazon.com links on videos from companies like EMI Music, and providing Amazon.com product links to the newly-released video game Spore on videos from Electronic Arts,” Google added.

Google also announced it is expanding AdSense to incorporate casual gaming by introducing AdSense for Games.

Apple co-founder (in picture to the right, to the left is Steve Jobs) Steve Wozniak warns that the iPod’s days are numbered in an interview with UK newspaper, the Telegraph.

"The iPod has sort of lived a long life at number one. Things like, that if you look back to transistor radios and Walkmans, they kind of die out after a while", Wozniak warned.

"It’s kind of like everyone has got one or two or three. You get to a point when they are on display everywhere, they get real cheap and they are not selling as much," he added.  

One way around this inevitable consequence of change may be to slow down, Wozniak advised: "It is time for the whole computer industry to maybe have a bit of a slowdown. For twenty years we have been in this replacement and upgrade market," he said.

Woz was also critical of Apple’s tight control over iPhone development, warning, "Consumers aren’t getting all they want when companies are very proprietary and lock their products down. I would like to write some more powerful apps than what you’re allowed." 

There’s also a mumbled future product warning, where Woz, "let slip that Apple’s future could lie in an ‘iWatch’". The Telegraph doesn’t say any more…

So what is the iWatch? We say this fictional product will contain GPS sensing and a colour screen. It will be voice-activated, host a built-in phone and offer email access on the go, (read-only). What would you expect from the iWatch?

(Incidentally, we think the Woz was joking about the iWatch, but there you go.)

If you fancy yourself a bit of a star-gazer you may want to take a look at all-new iPhone applicatoin, iAPODViewer, software which lets you explore NASA’s high quality library of images taken from space.

Developed by UK firm, sendmetospace, the application takes spectacular pictures from around the universe directly from NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day website and allows them to be viewed on your iPhone, alongside an informed commentary from a professional astronomer.

Lead developer Michael Kaye said, “Although we know it will appeal to astronomy students and space enthusiasts, we also hope that the fact the application is on the iPhone will encourage a whole new generation of space enthusiasts, appealing to people to who want to look at interesting things on their phone while they’re on the move and who will be inspired by the amazing images that come from deep in space.”

Features include a keyword search of every Astronomy Picture of the Day ever published, the ability to save your favourite images, and – this is quite cool – a shuffle option, simply shake your iPhone or iPod touch and you’ll be presented with a random image. The software costs £1.19.

The US public transport system’s on the edge of an ‘i’ revolution, with Irish tech firm Mapflow offering new technology that promises to let iPhone owners look up bus transit info, check maps and pay for fares from their device.

The new tech recently made its appearance at the American Public Transit Association (APTA) annual meeting. The technology is called Avego Futurefleet and is the latest development from the firm, which has developed mapping systems for the European Space Agency and the AA.

The central notion to the software is the design of a solution that could reduce the number of empty seats on various modes of transport. The solution can be deployed in weeks and costs a fraction of other similar systems.

The system includes a free online journey planner capability to give instant scheduling and fare information and ticketing options to passengers either online or via the iPhone. Passengers can also get journey planners, scheduling and other info sent to them via SMS or email; transit operators gain web ticketing, vehicle tracking and more – and the system’s been tested by Ireland’s largest private bus operator, Kavanagh and Sons.

"In today’s environment, with rising gas prices, every empty seat represents untapped revenue potential for a transport operator," said Sean O’Sullivan, Mapflow Chairman. "Avego recognizes the tremendous cost advantage of bus systems over other forms of transport, and is helping operators tap into burgeoning customer demand by enabling operators to offer these seats in real-time to tech-savvy consumers."

Avego will be available as a free download for individuals on the iPhone Appstore in the coming months (we plan on waiting for Apple Push capability, due soon, before releasing).

The company has products for both commercial transport providers (buses, shuttle services, DRT services), as well as for the consumer, in betas and pilots worldwide. And here’s a little video clip from the company…

 O’Reilly today announced the schedule for its upcoming ‘iPhone Live’ developer conference, which takes place November 18.

In a move bound to set the scene for another round of Apple-related prognostication, the company is also offering attendees who sign-up for the event by October 14 a discount on the regular price.

Does this connect to other rumoured events on that date?

Probably not, but outside of parts of Apple HQ, no one really knows. But Apple’s recent move to liberalise its iPhone SDK will at least mean developers speaking at the event will be able to go into much more detail on their experiences building applications for iPhone than ever before.

iPhoneLive is the new O’Reilly conference for iPhone developers, entrepreneurs, and enthusiasts, focusing on both the business and development issues surrounding the iPhone platform. So if you build applications or have an idea for a business based on such applications, the show’s the place to help develop understanding of:

– Where the iPhone market is today and where it is likely to go

– How to capitalize on the explosive growth

– How to build iPhone applications

– The opportunity and reasons behind a native application vs. a web application for the iPhone

– How real-world developers have successfully delivered applications to the App Store

– What (and often what is not) the criteria for success, particularly for independent application developers

– Business opportunities for the platform

Speakers include Neil Young (ng:moco:)), Tim O’Reilly, Ryan Sarver (Skyhook) and Matt Murphy (Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers) are just a few of the confirmed speakers for the event.

Will the company ever get it? Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has confirmed a plan to make Zune-like media features available within Windows Mobile phones. Will this make a real difference, or is the company simply going through the motions to keep shareholders happy?

In a recent interview, Ballmer explained, “What you’ll see more and more over time is that the Zune software will also be ported to and be more important not just with the hardware but on the PC, on Windows Mobile devices."

Microsoft is also expected to add more multimedia features to its Xbox 360 in future, specifically access to the media store, a la Apple TV. "At the end of the day, one of the big trends is that all content is going to be digital," he said. Well spotted – we’re sure Apple CEO Steve Jobs was saying this way back when, when he introduced us to iLife v.1 and the notion of the "digital hub" at Macworld Expo, 2002. 

Jupiter Research European Media Analyst, Nick Thomas, told TechRadar, "Apple’s success with the iPod has been to build an ecosystem around software, content partnerships and hardware, making its profits from the hardware."

The analyst is far less certain Microsoft can achieve the same, pointing out, "Microsoft doesn’t have the content experience to build a compelling aggregated rival to iTunes and doesn’t have the experience of hardware manufacturing (Xbox aside) on a scale to compete with the iPod." Missing features, such as support for BBC iPlayer, also affect the company’s market position, the report suggests.

Apple already boasts 65 million active iTunes users, is the number one music distributor in the US, where iPod holds 73.4 per cent of the market in comparison with Zune’s 2.6 per cent.

The question for Microsoft, its customers and shareholders must be, is the Zune alternative really compelling, original or unique enough to dent Apple’s dominance? And if it’s not, then where can the beleagured giant software company set itself up with an early position in an emerging giant market?

The record so far says it isn’t.

Fring has finally turned itself legit.  Today it made its appearance at the app staore and amazingly, it is free.  It looks to be full-featured except for the Push Notifications.  Hopefully we’ll be seeing an upgrade around version 2.2.

Don’t just sit there, download!

From Fring:

Fring is now available on the App Store making it easy for anyone to use fring on the original iPhone, iPhone 3G or iPod touch.

All you need to do is download fring on the App Store and within minutes you can make free calls with other fringsters™ or via fring using Skype, Skype-out or any SIP providers you choose.  

You will have one searchable contact list with all your instant messaging buddies from Skype®, MSN® Messenger, Google Talk™, ICQ, Twitter, Yahoo!™ and AIM® so you can easily see whose available and where they can be reached before dialing or starting a live chat session.

 Get the App here (app store link)

OK McCain supporters, we promised you an McCain Apple story and failed.  Turns out those tech savvy Obama whippersnappers have come up with an iPhone application that is pretty durn cool…if you are into that sort of thing.  The Obama ’08 Application(iTunes link) is available from the app store and has a flurry of features for those actively supporting Obama:

As a peace offering, here’s a clip of John Stewart and Bill Maher both supporting McCain (@1:00) over Al Gore.  Oh the humanity!

http://www.thedailyshow.com/sitewide/video_player/view/default/swf.jhtml

 Security researcher Aviv Raff has gone public on a pair of security vulnerabilities within the iPhone that he first warned Apple about months ago.

The researcher says he decided to publicise the workings of these security flaws on his blog because Apple has released at least three iPhone software updates since he informed the company of the flaws, and has made no move to patch the mobile system against the vulnerabilities. He let the company know about these problems way back in July.

The vulnerabilities are within Mail.

Mail automatically downloads images – images which could be compromised, and when they are downloaded, the image URL checks back with its source, enabling spammers to harvest an email address. 

Fault two concerns Mail’s handling of URL’s.

"The iPhone’s Mail application can be used to view both HTML and plain text mail messages. When the mail message is in HTML format, the text of links can be set to a different URL than the actual link. In most mail clients (e.g. on your PC / Mac), you can just hover the link and get a tooltip which will tell you the actual URL that you are about to click," the researcher explains.

Because an iPhone user who clicks on the link may only get to see the beginning part of the link, an attacker can, "set a long subdomain (~24 characters) that, when cut off in the middle, will look as if it’s a trusted domain." Effectively leaving an iPhone user at risk of a phishing attack in situations in which the shortened link pretends to be a trusted site, such as Amazon.

Best advice, of course, is not to click on links when you are preparing to hand over personal info – type URL’s in manually for this, and don’t open images from people you don’t trust. 

On his move to publicise these problems, the researcher said, "I have disclosed the technical details to Apple few weeks before that post, in a hope to get those security issues fixed as soon as possible. Unfortunately, two and a half months later, and still there is no patch for those vulnerabilities. I’ve asked Apple several times for a schedule, but they have refused to provide the fix date."

 PBS is making its US election coverage available through YouTube and iTunes this month, offering its Frontline documentary series through both outlets

The network will broadcast its election special "The Choice 2008,"

premiering Tuesday, 14 October, from 9-11p.m. ET on PBS – but you won’t be uninformed if you miss the show, as it will be made available for free download from iTunes the next day and for free viewing on YouTube, as well as through the PBS website. 

The two hour show comprises a dial biography of John McCain and Barack Obama. These bios are PBS traditions – the network has offered them for five elections across two decades.

Here’s a preview:

"Now more than ever, new media plays an important role in how Americans learn and share information about the election," says Frontline executive producer David Fanning. "It’s important that we continue to fulfill the mission of public broadcasting by extending free viewership of "The Choice 2008" to as wide an audience as possible and by reaching out to voters across these digital platforms."

This is interesting. Apparently the day nVIDIA was slated to introduce the integrated graphics chip the new MacBook will use has been moved… from September 30th to October 15th. Recall the fact that the MacBook event was originally scheduled for September 29th, and was postponed to October 14th. I find it hard to believe that the announcement wasn’t moved because the MacBook event was moved, so look at this as further confirmation to Mac Soda’s report: the MCP7A-U chipset will be in the next MacBook.

As you all probably know by now, there will be an Apple event on October 14th (it will be announced "officially" October 7th, but we know its coming). It is widely expected for Apple to update their MacBooks and MacBook Pros at this event. Mac Soda offers all of its predictions for the event.

Apple today gave up the fight to keep the NDA on released iPhone applications built with the iPhone SDK.  The NDA has recieved much bad press and complaints from developers who wanted to communicate their experiences with developing programs for the iPod/iPhone platform.  From Apple:

To Our Developers

We have decided to drop the non-disclosure agreement (NDA) for released iPhone software.

We put the NDA in place because the iPhone OS includes many Apple inventions and innovations that we would like to protect, so that others don’t steal our work. It has happened before. While we have filed for hundreds of patents on iPhone technology, the NDA added yet another level of protection. We put it in place as one more way to help protect the iPhone from being ripped off by others.

However, the NDA has created too much of a burden on developers, authors and others interested in helping further the iPhone’s success, so we are dropping it for released software. Developers will receive a new agreement without an NDA covering released software within a week or so. Please note that unreleased software and features will remain under NDA until they are released.

Thanks to everyone who provided us constructive feedback on this matter.

 You may remember we recently observed that the new iPods don’t work with some accessories, including things like speakers, the Numark iDJ and more. 

At the time we were curious as to why – now one of our contacts within the world of iPod peripheral production told us the details – and it’s all in Firewire…

"The recently launched iPod nano G4 and iPod touch G2 have changed slightly from their predecessors in terms of how they charge," our contact said. "The new models will now only charge via USB, whereas previous iPods also charged via Firewire, both over the 30 pin connector. Because of this, for speaker docks to charge and play an iPod, they must provide charge over USB."

"This is important as many major brands followed the Firewire technology route and so their speaker docks will not charge the new iPods."

So there it is, just a quick detail to clarify things.

 This one’s circulating – the unbreakable, eternal, ever-working iPod touch!!

Seems someone at the iPod touch Fans forum had a little accident – out walking he dropped his player and didn’t notice it had gone until some time later when a friend found the ‘touch – well, after accidentally running it over with a pick-up truck (well, that’s the story).

The glass screen of the device is shattered but intact – safe to touch except in one corner of the screen, and the device is dented at the back – but, surprise, surprise – it works.

“As sad as I was, I was still delighted when I pressed the little black button to turn on the iPod. It worked perfectly: the touch screen, the music, the WiFI. Everything was exactly the same, other than the crippled screen and dented back,” the poster declares.

Nice story, good to know how strong this device is – perhaps it should be called the ‘iPod tough’? But there’s two questions I can’t seem to ignore:

1/ How did this man’s mates notice they’d run over such a small object when driving a pick-up truck?

2/ How come he wasn’t listening to the music while walking along the road, (though perhaps the prevalence for running things over while driving pick-up trucks is answer enough for that one).

Still, nice story.