iOS Devices

DRM is now officially on its death bed – for music that is.  SonyBMG became the last of the big four record labels to start distributing its music DRM-free today.  Amazon will now carry music from the big four record labels and many indies all DRM free.  While the files do contain watermarking which will allow the labels to track the usage of the files (for instance on torrent sites), they will be able to be moved from computer to computer without having to activate other computers or having limitations on how many computers they can run on.

SonyBMG has a outstanding contract with iTunes and hasn’t been given the word to remove the DRM from the music it gives to Apple as of yet, but obviously it will in due course.  The only big label that  currently runs on iTunes DRM free is EMI who removed their DRM shortly after Steve Jobs issued his open letter entitled "Thoughts on Music"on February 26, 2007.  Whether or not it was the motiation, less than one year after the open letter was published,  the music industry is DRM free.

Ironically, as DRM is now pretty much dead in music, Apple is set to release DRM in rental movies next week.

ElectricPig.tv is saying that Sling is ready to build an iPhone-iPod touch client for its popular place shifting video and TV over the Internet hardware.  Obviously it won’t work well over EDGE, but it will work over WiFi and eventually over 3G.  Their Sling source said:

iPhone and iPod touch are OS X devices, and we can write OS X apps with our eyes closed. It’s coming.

We know the 3G iPhone’s coming so that’ll obviously be better. But for now the iPod touch could end up being the best way to use Slingplayer.

The iPhone-iPod makes sense as a fantastic platform for the Slingplayer.  However,  Apple might not want them on their platform for fear of interfering with iTunes TV shows.  Perhaps Sling can build a streaming Quicktime format with web controls that can be utilized through AJAX?

As Slingbox and iPhone owning expats, we can only say to Apple….Bring the Sling!

Wired today has an incredibly good article on the iPhone, what it took to get it built and how it changed an industry.  There is no shortage of insider details throughout and it really puts a great perspective on the difficulty of making this product and the challenges Steve Jobs/Apple had to overcome

Go.  Read.  It.   (if you haven’t already)

Yeah, you heard that right.  An Opera developer has stated that they are working on an iPhone version of their browser to be released alongside the iPhone SDK – whenever it comes out.  Why?  It is hard to speculate – the Safari browser really makes the iPhone/iPod amazing.  Opera is persistant though.  They want their browser to run on every single device that exists in the universe – from toasters to spaceships, Opera wants to work on everything.  Oh and there is this thing called FLASH.

Realistically, though, they aren’t going to have much of a chance against Safari on the platform.  Opera is a solid browser and brings some awesome features to the fold (built in torrent downloading for instance) but the mobile Safari, with its panning and zooming features will be hard to beat.

I guess we’ll have to see.  Competition is always good for consumers (us) and perhaps they’ll come up with some new features that aren’t available yet on Safari.  We are looking forward to trying it out.

Video after the break…

He mentions the iPhone at the VERY end and (full disclosure) who knows exactly how seriously he’s thought about it?

An interesting blog post seems to have gotten some goods on the next version of Windows Mobile 7.  Unsurprisingly, Microsoft went to their old standby of copying Apple and getting rid of the stylus- using the touch interface, including pinching for zooming and swiping for panning, multitouch and even using accelerometers for landscaping and portaiting the screen.  It remains to be seen how "vigerously Apple chooses to protect its patents" – as Steve Jobs stated at last years Macworld..

2007 was a monumental year for iPod hacking and a major milestone looks to be acomplished just before the year ends.  The first SIP compatible VOIP solution for the iPod Touch (and hopefully soon the iPhone) should be coming our way in the next 10 hours (as we write this).

The SIP application actually requires a bit of extra hardware on the iPod touch because of the lack of an audio-in port on the device.  Thankfully they are selling the microphone as well.  The iPhone should eventually support this application without hardware modifications.

Hopefully this will light a fire under the VOIP industry, which hasn’t been quick to port their applications to the iPhone.  As of now – or in 10 hours – only SIP accounts are supported on the Tochmods VOIP client.  Raketu had earlier announced an iPhone application for their VOIP service but as the application was in Flash form, it wasn’t able to work on the iPhone.  It turns out they hadn’t even tested the device on their system.

It is about time that someone did it right!

video after the jump

http://services.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f8/452319854

You have to admire Walt Mossberg for taking his position as grand exalted leader amongst technology journalists directly to the US telecoms.  He is single handedly trying to break the hold on consumers that the Sprint/Tmobile/AT&T/Verizon Cartel has on the US Mobile industry.  To his credit, he has gotten Verizon to promise that in Q3 2008, that it will accept any device on its platform – as long as it meets a very simple set of requirements (like no VoIP?).  If he were running for Office, we’d vote for him. 

Of course, we’ll believe it when we see it.  Surely there will be a price to pay for being open.  But at least there is some movement.

In the video above, Walt also make it clear that the iPhone is the device that illuminates this anomaly.  It is a computer, not a phone.  It is much more powerful than any of the computers behind him (including – is that- a TI-99? – to the right of the Etch-a-Sketch).  Yet, you can’t change your ISP.

It is more than a bit surprising that there isn’t more flack about how the French can buy an iPhone without ties to a carrier, but Americans can’t.  French consumers clearly have it better than US Consumers.  The French laws are better than American ones.

Don’t get angry, call your congressman/woman. Ask them why the French have it better?

A few weeks ago, Net Applications showed that iPhone was much stronger than anyone could have expected in terms of browsing market share.   This week, Canalys showed that iPhone sales have surpassed Windows Mobile in North America.  RoughlyDrafted did a lot of legwork on the numbers but the short of it is that iPhone is working Windows Mobile.

Can these numbers actually be right?  Is iPhone really outselling Windows Mobile phones?

Just as a comparison, Windows Mobile was selling well over 3 million devices/quarter globally at the begining of 2007.  If all these numbers are right, Apple is not going to have any problem reaching 10 million iPhones.

You’ve seen the fake, now take a look at the real GPS on iPhone

If you ask us, we’ll take Navizon which takes ten seconds compared with a minute for a more accurate GPS.

Some mysteries are hard to solve.  Some are easy.  The "will Rakatu VoIP service work on iPhone as the company states?" falls into the "easy" category.  The answer for the moment is NO.

How did we come to this conclusion so fast?  BECAUSE THEIR IPHONE PAGE IS IN FLASH.  We shit you not.  Take a look.

http://iphone.raketu.com

Someone didn’t do their homework – even a little bit – like testing it once.  Hope this doesn’t sour anyone to the VOIP thing.  It should be be done – it has to be done!! – and hopefully soon.

As for Raketu, Suggestion: go buy yourself an iPhone and give it a whirl before you release it on your site stating that it works.

UPDATE: We’ve gotten an email from the company pasted below.  They realized the error of their ways.  Still doesn’t work on iPhone however…

So we saw this yesterday on mac4ever.com, a solid French(1) Apple site.  It looked so  fake, we glossed over it – and they did too. 

Why?

We noticed that the picture wasn’t at native resolution(2).  We also saw that they put it on top of a TomTom Card instead of plugging it into the port (3).  Wait, TomTom doesn’t make a GPS card(4) do they?  Also, if it was real, do you think they would have it on a wood table while going 14.2 Km/hr on a curvey road as the iPhone Tom Tom is showing(5)?  Maybe in a super gadget testing RV right?  – maybe that is why it is so blurry?  Also, maybe TomTom would make the adapter flush with the iPhone or at least even side to side and not skewed toward the right(6).

Plus we all know blurry images = fakes, right?

Edit: Engadget has seen the error of their ways and listed another flaw in the story – that barcode is from another fake image (7) and the image was sent from a notorious image faker(8).

Edit: The number 14.2 does not indicate speed, it shows that after 14.2km you should be staying on the right side of the road. So, that rules our fact number five (5) out…

Frankly, I don’t understand why there isn’t more hype about this.  As an expat living far away from friends and family, I rely on Skype at home to make and recieve calls.  Local calls.  Cheap local calls.  Lots of them.  When I spend two hours talking to American Airlines, trying to get my Christmas return tickets sorted, it saves me hundreds of dollars.

I use a Belkin Skype phone (which is awesome in every way except battery life).  I use Skype over Fring on my Nokia N95 which is simply amazing – especially over 3G. I use the MacOSX Skype client both at home and while at work.  But I’d sure love to use an iPod or iPhone for this.  It is just the perfectly natural fit.  The hardware can handle this.  As of today we have proof.

Now I am not saying it is Skype or bust.  I am perfectly happy to switch to any SIP or Vonage phone or whatever.  Just give me a US number and a reasonable price.  Better yet, give me a few choices, make some competition.  Turn this into a positive for consumers.  Apple, so far, has not made any movements at all on this, either on the desktop or on the portables.  A few possible scenarios exist:

• Apple could be building its own VOIP network and planning to integrate it into iChat both on the desktop and on the iPhone.  Hopefully, they use the open SIP platform that allows it to communicate with many of the other phone systems in the world. Perhaps it partners with Cisco on this – part of the "iPhone" naming deal.
• Apple could be partnering with Google and using its GoogleTalk/Jabber platform and plan integration across its line of products.  Google is likely looking to expand its Google Talk service so users can receive incoming calls.  This, in turn, could be connected with other google account services like email, calendar, contact list, etc.
• Same thing as above but instead with Yahoo!.
• Apple opens up iPod/iPhone for applications.  Vonage, Skype, Fring. SIP, etc. jump on board.
• Apple buys Skype from Ebay and turns it into a defacto communications platform.  While it has the legacy phone number/SMS system, it also includes chatting and claims over 100 million users currently.  Skype is undervalued and not being developed properly by Ebay.  Apple has $15 billion in the bank.  Oh and *cough* 700Mhz Spectrum is also for sale. *cough*
• Apple does nothing.  Waits for phones to die and instant messaging to take over in a few years.  Puts $15 billion in pork bellies and frozen concentrated orange juice.

Will we see a VOIP service at Macworld?  I certainly hope so – but if I had to bet on it, I’d say no.  Apple has kinda missed the whole VOIP boat so far.  I hope I am wrong and we see some big announcements – just about any of the above scenarios would be really exciting.  But, until Apple opens their eyes / rolls out their VOIP application, go hackers!

Steve Jobs and Apple are known for their riveting Macworld keynotes that have the technology world on edge.  They are usually pretty sharp on delivery and obviously well rehearsed.  However, not so long ago some of these keynotes went a bit wrong.  A funny and sometimes a bit embarrassing look at some Macworlds gone bad:

(BTW- check out Steve’s threads in OSLO – looks very strange with a tie!)

Thanks to JG2

digg_url = ‘http://9to5mac.com/macworld-bloopers-0230959534’;

So CNBC said a bunch of stuff.  Let’s break it down.

1. Apple is making more iPods Touch for Christmas.  Huge surprise, they rock.  Make more.

2. iPhones are coming in May/June.  No kidding.  Jobs said it at the O2 iPhone launching.  AT&T’s CEO said it...and of course we called it in early October.  Mostly…

3. Relatively inexpensive ultra-slim laptop coming out at Macworld.     No movable drive mechanisms?  

Where’s the news? 

OK, we know we can’t get over it.  Yes, the numbers from Net Applications.  It is truly amazing (and hard to comprehend!) that in 5 short months, the iPhone not only matched, but opened up a huge lead on Microsoft, Symbian and Palm COMBINED.  These are platforms that have been around for up to a decade…when the net was first catching on in the mobile space.

Then Apple releases their little device and it’s all over.  The Wall Street Journal hypothesizes why:

Companies have been making mobile devices that run Windows since 1996, according to Computer World [ed – it is Computerworld!!! – everything has gone to pot since Rupert moved in], and three million of the devices were shipped in the first quarter of 2007 alone, according to research company Gartner. Here’s some more perspective: There are approximately 1.25 billion Internet users worldwide. IPhone owners are the first people with a mobile phone to view Web pages at the same rate at people using a PC.

It’s obvious that people have a need for Web access even when they aren’t at their desks or at home or wherever else they have a PC. We think that businesses could make their employees more productive by making sure that the mobile devices they give them have a full-fledged browser. We’re not saying companies should go out and buy everyone an iPhone – although if you do we’d love to hear about it. But presumably, it’s just a matter of time until an iPhone-like browser is a standard feature on mobile devices.

 

Yes, it is the browser.  It is like a PC.  IF you don’t own one, you don’t understand.  Mobile Safari has changed everything.  Good thing we called it back in May.

It looks like the iPod/iPhone 1.1.2 upgrade did more for the platform that close security holes and add some international features.    iPhone Atlas is reporting that the iPhone got a modest upgrade in speed as well.  While the 3% upgrade in speed is modest, it does indicate that Apple has the ability to upgrade the speed of the device based on what applications are being used.  For instance, if Apple needed some more horsepower for a video chat application in the future, it could crank the iPhone’s CPU up to 500Mhz.  Reportedly, the Samsung ARM Chip inside the iPhone can be safely brought up to 624Mhz.

The downside to raising the speed of the chip is raising the operating temperature of the iPhone as well as sacrificing battery life.  While most people haven’t noticed anythign different about their iPhones, a few people have complained about the heat – especially when talking on the phone.

Few people have complained about the battery life – which might have been the green light for Apple in giving the iPhone a modest speedbump.  Perhaps a hacker may find a way to do this as well?

In other iPhone upgrade news, is this the 32GB iPhone?

When we read the news that iPhone has surpassed Windows Mobile in web market share we did a double- take.  Could this be possible?  According to our web stats (which are violently skewed toward Apple/iPhone for this site) over the past 2 weeks, the iPhone/iPod platform is BLOWING up.  Screenshot:

To even things out, let’s just compare Apples to Apples…

Macintosh: 300,000 visits

iPhone: 11,000 visits

iPod touch: 2500 visits

Stats:

iPhone is about 3-4% of Apple traffic

iPhone/iPod together almost 5% of Apple traffic

Christmas and Macworld are both coming up soon.  This certainly is going to be interesting.

Hard to argue with these numbers.  WOW

Our Canadian friend, Chris24, points us to the the fine print on the AT&T/ iPhone service agreement which states that "Charges for international messages sent from the U.S. are 20¢ for Text Messages and 50¢ for Picture/Video Messages.".

Oh REALLY?  We didn’t know the iPhone had picture and video text messages.  Heck, legit (unhacked) iPhones can’t even do video as far as anyone outside of Cupertino knows.

This might be a typo on AT&T’s part – some sloppy cutting and pasting perhaps.  Check out the full screen here.

However, Boingboing has more.  This could also be an AT&T blanket coverage thing that iPhones are unwittingly getting.  We haven’t gotten any such texts.

Oh, and $.50?  That is kinda pricey if you ask us – especially when email is free and it is using the same network.  Kinda like charging you to make a ringtone out of a song you already own.  And, as many people have pointed out, this isn’t new technology – other phones have had this capability for years. 

Props: Chris24

Update: Apple has removed said statement.  Maybe it was just a typo ;-)