Flash coming to the iPhone after all?

Filed under: iPod Family, Rumors, iPhone

The iPhone Flash saga is a long-running show. First Adobe said they were going to do it come hell or high water, then they backed off, then Uncle Steve seemed to put the kibosh on the thing permanently. Now, however, Bloomberg is quoting the Adobe CEO as saying that "It's a hard technical challenge, and that's part of the reason Apple and Adobe are collaborating. The ball is in our court. The onus is on us to deliver."

The surprising part there is the admission that Apple is working with Adobe on the project. It didn't seem like Jobs was at all receptive to the idea back in March of last year, but maybe a new iPhone-specific Flash player could avoid the pitfalls of the resource-hogging desktop version on the Mac, while still maintaining enough power to surmount the objections to Flash Lite. I have to admit that I'd love to go straight to Hulu or Sling for streaming video on the iPhone, but given their record on the Mac desktop I'm a little skeptical that Adobe can deliver a good solution.

[via AppleInsider]

Flash coming to the iPhone after all? originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 01 Feb 2009 01:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Flash coming to the iPhone after all? originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 01 Feb 2009 01:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Adobe and Apple Working on Flash for iPhone

Bloomberg reports that Adobe's Chief Executive Officer Shantanu Narayen has revealed that Adobe with Apple on bringing Flash support to the iPhone:

“It’s a hard technical challenge, and that’s part of the reason Apple and Adobe are co...

Apple teams up with Adobe for iPhone Flash at long last

With Android getting all Flash-ey, Apple's "Goldilocks" position on Flash -- the full Flash player is too hefty, Flash Lite is too weak -- seemed pretty untenable. Now Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen has revealed that Apple and Adobe are "collaborating" on making Flash a reality on the iPhone, citing the technical challenge it presents. What's clear is that with all this work to do, it doesn't seem they're going the watered-down Flash Lite route, but we're trying not to hold our breath for a full-on, Hulu-friendly version that will finally help us get that Doogie Howser fix on the go. Naturally, there's no word on when this will hit.

[Via AppleInsider]

Filed under: Cellphones, Portable Video

Apple teams up with Adobe for iPhone Flash at long last originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 31 Jan 2009 21:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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TapIt4Me brings snippet expansion to the iPhone

Filed under: iPod Family, Productivity, iPhone, App Store

One of the first things I install on a new Mac is a snippet expander, one of those extremely handy utilities that automatically expands typed abbreviations to longer text strings (TextExpander, in my case). So, for instance, you can have a standard email sign off triggered with just a couple of letters. Given the extra challenge of typing on the iPhone keyboard, a snippet expander seems like a perfect addition to the App Store, and sure enough one has now appeared from the developer of the long-time Mac snippet expander TypeIt4Me (whose earliest versions even pre-date OS X).

TapIt4Me (iTunes link) brings snippet expansion to mail and notes on the iPhone. You can even import your pre-existing snippets files from both TypeIt4Me and TextExpander. Unfortunately, it will not work in other applications like Safari, SMS, etc. You actually compose your emails in the TapIt4Me application and then it sends them to the iPhone's email app. Admittedly it's a little clunky, but getting snippets on the iPhone may just be worth the extra hassle.

TapIt4Me (iTunes link) is available from the iTunes store for $4.99.

[via Macworld]

TapIt4Me brings snippet expansion to the iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 31 Jan 2009 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

TapIt4Me brings snippet expansion to the iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 31 Jan 2009 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Adobe and Apple Sitting in a Tree, F L A S H To Be?

Just when we thought it was safe to forget about Flash on the iPhone, after Adobe said they were making it, after Steve Jobs said Flash Lite was too little and Flash was too much, after Adobe was reportedly strong-arming PDF for Flash, after Apple advocated AJAX and WebApps instead, after all the tears, and all the fears, is Flash once again on its way to the iPhone? Apple Insider says it might be:

In an interview with Bloomberg at the Davos, Switzerland event, Adobe chief Shantanu Narayen describes development as a complicated two-way process [...] “It’s a hard technical challenge, and that’s part of the reason Apple and Adobe are collaborating,” he says. “The ball is in our court. The onus is on us to deliver.”

While many complain about the lack of Flash on the iPhone, it’s best to remember that while the iPhone provides the best mobile web experience, it’s not a desktop, and real Flash (not old, outdated, limited Flash Lite) is heavy lifting. Adobe has never properly optimized Flash for OS X, and it remains bloated, buggy, and a battery drain, which are annoying on a laptop but terminal on a mobile device like the iPhone.

If Adobe could make a real iPhone optimized version — preferably a viewer like the QuickTime app so we don’t suffer really poor load times under the assault of all those “punch the monkey” banner ads, it could be a game changer for mobile video.

Or Apple could just use the next time they’re on mic to tell Adobe: “we’re just not that into you”.

Of course, if sites like Hulu start doing what Ustream did, and just making an H.264 version for the iPhone… likely Adobe’s nightmare scenario. And a lot of incentive!

Could this really happen? Do we want it to? And if so, would the world turn upside down? Would it be…

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Adobe and Apple Sitting in a Tree, F L A S H To Be?

iPhone, Apple, iPod in top 10 social brands of the year

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Hardware, iMac, Developer, iPhone, iPod touch

Put on your buzzword protectors, because here comes a whole hive: Vitrue, a company that "helps organizations leverage consumer-generated content" has released a list of the top 100 "social brands" for 2008, according to their "Social Media Index," which... meh, we give up. Basically, they have a list of the most-talked about brands of last year, and surprise, surprise, the iPhone tops the charts. We're not much for any company that uses the phrase "paradigm shift" completely unironically, so "Vitrue" isn't exactly the end-all authority here, but you have to admit, no gadget, device, or tech brand has been more dissected and discussed and "empowered" (ugh) than Apple's own iPhone.

And speaking of Apple, they're sitting on the list at number three, and the iPod brand reached number 7. The Mac brand comes in at number 16, and AT&T is two steps below T-Mobile and Verizon at number 64. Say what you want about Apple and the day-to-day issues of the iPhone or their ongoing battles with developers, but when it comes to "mindshare" (look, now they've got us doing it!), the Cult of Mac reigns supreme.

[via Joystiq]

iPhone, Apple, iPod in top 10 social brands of the year originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 31 Jan 2009 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

iPhone, Apple, iPod in top 10 social brands of the year originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 31 Jan 2009 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Saved from a ticket by an iPhone

Filed under: Odds and ends, iPhone

A lot of days the iPhone is a big help in getting us through our lives, but it's not everyday an iPhone saves one of our readers from a world of County Sheriff hurt.

TUAW reader Paul tells us he was driving on a Midwestern road covered with blowing snow. He slowed down for a car stopped on the side of the road, but the car behind him hit his rear bumper, doing damage to both cars.

The officer who arrived to investigate asked Paul for his insurance card. Of course, that was when Paul realized it had expired the month before, and he didn't have the latest card in his wallet. The officer said it would be $200 for not being able to prove insurance coverage, and since Paul didn't have the cash it meant putting his license up for bond.

While the officer was doing the paperwork, Paul used his iPhone to log into his Geico Insurance account via the web. He was able to request a PDF copy of his card, which was emailed to his iPhone; then he displayed it to the officer. Happily, the deputy accepted the card as proof of insurance and did not issue the citation.

I expect most police agencies wouldn't be so open to the idea of looking at a downloaded document, but in this case, at least, it is yet another reason to love the iPhone.

Thanks Paul!

Saved from a ticket by an iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 31 Jan 2009 16:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Saved from a ticket by an iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 31 Jan 2009 16:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Review: LED Football 2

Touchgrove brought back a flood of memories with LED Football, which was inspired by the classic Mattel Football handheld game. This sequel follows in the footsteps of Mattel Football 2, adding passing capabilities.

Turn off Airplane Mode before updating your iPhone firmware

Filed under: iTunes, iPhone

I finally updated my iPhone to 2.2.1 today, and after a reboot I got the screen that says it needs to verify or authenticate the SIM card. Unfortunately, that failed because, while I do have a SIM card in there, I do not have AT&T service -- and I had the cell radio turned off. My iPhone is never used as a phone (I don't have T-Mobile in my area, so even unlocking it would be useless). I wound up restoring the iPhone, which took a couple of hours, but apparently there's a better way.

Danny Goodman on the Apple Discussion boards posts this "2.2.1 Upgrade and SIM Error (and Solution)" tip. My advice? Always turn off Airplane Mode before applying a firmware update. The phone wants to access the radio hardware during the upgrade, it seems, and disabling the cell radio makes this impossible. Thus, I was locked out of my phone for several hours today. As luck would have it, I stumbled upon this tip about 5 minutes after I started the restore process.

Turn off Airplane Mode before updating your iPhone firmware originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 31 Jan 2009 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Turn off Airplane Mode before updating your iPhone firmware originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 31 Jan 2009 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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UPDATED: FIXED! Google Search Broken? Flagging “May Harm Your Computer” For All Links!

UPDATE: Looks like it’s fixed. Anyone still seeing the problem?

Looks like Google Search may be having some trouble this morning! As I write this, every search on Google, including searches for Google, get flagged as “may harm your computer” and if you click the link, you get an intercept page with an even bigger warning.

I’m guessing the engineers in Mountain View are on it, so enjoy the fun-making while it lasts!

NOTE: It only seems to be broken (for me!) if you’re not logged in (i.e. not logged into Gmail or any other Google service). If you’re logged in, Google search returns results normally.

[Thanks Antony for the tip!]

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

UPDATED: FIXED! Google Search Broken? Flagging “May Harm Your Computer” For All Links!

New version of Clippy Brings SMS Copy & Paste; But ℏClipboard Still the Best

Review: Griffin RoadTrip with Smartscan

With my original iPhone 2G, I used a Monster solution to output the audio to my no-dock, no-RCA equipped car. Along came the iPhone 3G and while the Monster still worked, it no longer provided power. See, Apple in their Infinitely Looped wisdom decided to remove the FireWire pin from the iPhone 3G dock connector, and that was precisely the pin many peripherals used to transmit charge.

That was a problem for me, since my daily commute to work is an hour to an hour-and-a-half, and I typically listen to podcasts and audio books there and back again. Without power, my iPhone’s charge was taking a hit!

Enter the Griffin RoadTrip with Smartscan. It transmits iPhone (or iPod touch) audio to your car’s FM radio, and most importantly for our perpetually draining devices — it charges as well.

I’ve spent a month with it now, putting it through it’s paces on the Hoth-like roads of a Montreal winter. How did it hold up? Read on to find out!

Hardware

The end of the Griffin RoadTrip with Smartscan plugs into your car’s cigarette lighter (is that still what we’re calling it?). A long, malleable neck connects the end to a head which is solely composed of a few buttons and, at the very top, an iPhone dock.

The buttons on the face of the head include FM (which scans for usable frequencies), Play/Pause, and Skip.

Also included in the box are dock adapters for the iPhone 3G, iPhone 2G, and both generation iPod touches.

Usability

The tail plugs easily enough into the cigarette lighter, and the neck is very easy to position into just about any position that best suits your car setup and personal preferences. However, when an iPhone is plugged atop the RoadTrip, gravity has a tendency to slowly (or not so slowly) drag the whole thing down. As it rotates in the cigarette lighter, it also tends to come a little loose. So, I found myself losing FM reception quality from time to time and having to push it back in. Not a huge deal, but definitely a problem with this type of form factor.

My car has lousy radio reception — the Monster worked fine but most others were nearly unusable. The RoadTrip worked well. It was incredibly easy to choose a usable station. Audio quality was excellent in general. Again, my lousy reception meant I had to carefully position the RoadTrip and make sure nothing came between it and my radio (including my hand!), but otherwise everything from music to podcasts to Audible books came in 5×5.

Aside from the FM selector, the buttons may seem to duplicate the functionality of what you can already do using the iPhone interface itself. That’s true. However, in below 0 temperatures, when your fingers are going numb inside of your gloves, not having to touch bare skin to capacitive iPhone screen is very welcome. For those in warmer climes, they’re also useful in saving you having to navigate to the iPod app (or double-tapping the Home button) to get the on-board media controls. Just hit pause/play or skip, and no matter whether it’s on or off, locked or unlocked, in the iPod app or doing something else, your iPhone will listen.

The only real trouble I had with the device was the dock connector itself. It fit well enough, but because winter reduces the already terrible Montreal streets to ice and snow covered, cratered battlefields, I found that as my car bounced up and down, my iPhone would often become disconnected. This seldom happened on the major highways or roads, but on the less well cared for side streets, it was pretty frequent. I can easily imagine people who frequent dirt roads, go off-roading, or otherwise travel over rough terrain on a regular basis will have a similar problem.

Conclusion

If you live in an area with fairly smooth roads and have a car that allows the device to sit in a fairly straight-up position, the RoadTrip is a fantastic FM transmitter and charger solution.

If you have poor driving conditions and need to set up the device in a way that will tend to make it sag down, your mileage may vary.

If they could somehow beef up the dock connected — perhaps use an old-school locking dock-type connection where you have to squeeze to remove it — it would be darn near perfect for my needs.

Pros

• Charges iPhone 3G (and other modern iPods)
• Flexible positioning options
• Handy controls
• Good FM transmission

Cons

• Can droop down if left in a horizontal position
• iPhone can become disconnected when going over bumps

TiPb Rating

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Review: Griffin RoadTrip with Smartscan

iPod touch 2nd Gen Jailbreak (redSn0w) Now Available — Experts Only Need Apply

The iPhone dev team have posted a tethered “redSn0w” Jailbreak for the 2nd generation iPod touch. They are providing it with expert-only instructions, and a strict warning that they won’t be providing ANY support for it (if you ask for help, it means you shouldn’t be using it, and they’ll literally ban you from their site).

However, they also say they’re working on an un-tethered Jailbreak, which will hopefully be both much easier to use, and enjoy some level of support.

If you’re a supra-command-line ninja, however, and absolutely can’t wait, go get it now…

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

iPod touch 2nd Gen Jailbreak (redSn0w) Now Available — Experts Only Need Apply

Next iPhone OS Update?

Now that MacWorld's come and gone, the questions in a lot of users minds are: when is the next iPhone OS update going to be and what is it going to include. The answers to these two questions are very elusive as seemingly no information is available on them. At ...

Apple releases iPhone software 2.2.1

Apple released a software update for its iPhone and iPhone 3G devices. Plug your iPhone into your computer now and clicking on the Check for Update button in iTunes. The firmware update 2.2.1 addresses two issues: (1) improved general stability of Safari; and (2) fixed issue where some images saved from ...

QuickPwn 2.2.5-2 for iPhone Firmware 2.2.1 Released for Windows

Review: Surf Report for iPhone

Put Oakley’s Surf Report on your iPhone or iPod touch, and you’ll always know what the surf conditions are no matter where you happen to be.

‘Duck Hunt’ iPhone game pulled at Nintendo’s request

Duck Hunt, an iPhone game that mirrored a Nintendo game, is no longer available, allegedly due to copyright concerns.

Opinion: Putting a premium on iPhone games

Rumor has it that a “premium” section for $20 games will soon appear at the App Store. Peter Cohen doesn’t buy it.

Limited iMac Availability Suggests Possible Refresh

Several forum users have reported that that they have been told by various resellers that iMac availability is currently limited. Meanwhile, another user reports that their orders for 20" iMacs have been unexpectedly delayed:

This ce...