Polaroid: Help us convince Apple to add Bluetooth transfer support

Filed under: Accessories, Peripherals, iPhone, Jailbreak/pwnage

We received an interesting email this morning from Polaroid -- they are asking for the assistance of iPhone owners to convince Apple to provide Bluetooth transfer support for the platform. Adding Bluetooth transfer support would make it possible for the iPhone to print to the new Polaroid PoGo Instant Mobile Printer (photo at right).

The PoGo (US$99.95) is a pocket-sized inkless printer that prints full-color photos from cell phones using Bluetooth. Unfortunately, the iPhone doesn't have Bluetooth transfer capabilities, although a solution for jailbroken iPhones has been in the news lately. As a result, the PoGo and iPhone don't play together.

Polaroid would like to change that:

To encourage Apple to become compatible with the Polaroid Pogo printer, we are asking iPhone owners to submit an enhancement request form at the following link and to express their interest for better Bluetooth transfer capabilities including OPP profile so they can print to the Polaroid Pogo printer.

http://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html

Thanks in advance for your help!

Would you consider a pocket printer for your iPhone if Apple made the necessary changes to the OS? Leave us feedback.

Continue reading Polaroid: Help us convince Apple to add Bluetooth transfer support

Polaroid: Help us convince Apple to add Bluetooth transfer support originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 30 Jan 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Polaroid: Help us convince Apple to add Bluetooth transfer support originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 30 Jan 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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6 Years Later: Was Steve Jobs the Smartest Man in Music?

CNet takes a look, 6 years later, at Steve Jobs’ 2003 interview with Rolling Stone Magazine and the checklist of predictions — make that accomplishments — is impressive. Then again, Steve Jobs did make his name, and Apple’s, with just that kind of market savvy:

• iPod (and now iPhone) could be more important to Apple than the Mac
• Big media doesn’t understand technology
• iTunes would be non-trivial for others to copy in 6 months (make that 6 years?)
• Copyright is important. Theft corrodes the soul. Apple will provide a legal alternative
• iTunes could sell 1 billion songs a year (now selling 1 billion in 6 months)

What’s even more interesting is seeing how Steve Jobs’ insight not only helped change the face of computers (Apple, Mac), Music (iPod, iTunes), retail (Apple Store), movies (Pixar) but now also cell phones (iPhone). Mostly linked together (Pixar more tangentially), but with the same focus on premium quality, unsurpassed user experience, and utter simplicity of execution.

Makes me even more eager for the iPhone 2,1 (iPhone HD?) to really bring it all together…

[via Daring Fireball]

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

6 Years Later: Was Steve Jobs the Smartest Man in Music?

Apple’s iPhone Advantage — Profit, not Volume (Plus, Friday Dell Fun!)

Yeah, yeah, Michael Dell once said Apple should be shut down and the money returned to shareholders. We all know the can of whupApps Steve Jobs has unleashed on the industry since then. These days, Apple’s profits look as good as their products and Dell’s… likewise.

So it’s with no small amount of trepidation we notice WMExperts noticing the world noticing Dell might just be making an entry into the smartphone market…

What’s wrong with that picture is pretty much what’s wrong with the exhibit in general. While Apple holds a fairly small percentage of the global cellphone market (as it does the global computer market), it happens to enjoy among the largest percentage of profit in the market (also, as it does with computers).

MacDailyNews highlights that while Apple ships an insignificant number of units compared to a behemoth like Nokia, it makes DOUBLE the profit of Nokia. Likewise, while rivals such as the Palm Pre are getting some much deserved attention, their finances (and thus ability to pay talent and fund much needed R&D) are on the brink — while Apple has nearly $30 BILLION in the bank.

So, while carriers are increasingly desperate for “hero” phones to make a splash and attract high-spending customers, according to mocoNews.net, current performance is showing few — if any — can currently match either the return on investment, or user experience, of the iPhone.

Sure, the smartphone market in general is continuing to grow, and may even be recession proof according to Forbes, but is anyone outside of Apple really poised with enough creativity, cash, and cunning to leverage it?

[Thanks to Jeremy and Dieter for source links!]

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

Apple’s iPhone Advantage — Profit, not Volume (Plus, Friday Dell Fun!)

iPhone OS 2.2.1 Jailbreak — Incredibly Complicated Instructions Edition

The illustri-notorious Dev Team has blogged about Jailbreaking iPhone OS 2.2.1, released by Apple earlier this week.

Simple version: You can now Jailbreak, if you haven’t already upgraded to 2.2.1 via iTunes, are using a Mac, aren’t affected by the OS X 10.6 DFU-mode bug, and — if you want to keep using yellowSn0w for unlock — are happy to spin your own custom firmware.

Complex version: involves closing the barn door — see here.

(For community-based jailbreaking advice and support, please check out our Jailbreak Central Forum)

Hopefully an easier solution will surface when the Dev Team has spent more time hacking away at iPhone OS 2.2.1. Until then, the cat and mouse game continues!

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

iPhone OS 2.2.1 Jailbreak — Incredibly Complicated Instructions Edition

iPhone SDK “Hostile” Compared to Palm Pre’s Mojo?

Our sibling-site PreCentral.net points us to an interesting developer commentary up on Ars Technica which provides this little golden spitball of insight:

he had a lot of good things to say about how Palm is handing the extremely nascent developer community and his hopes for the future of the platform. The developer told us that he has explored mobile development on Apple’s iPhone SDK and found much of the company’s position towards their community to be “developer-hostile”—an obvious reference to their insistence on enforcing a pointless NDA well past its expiration date and their strong hand in regulating what can and cannot be developed for its platform.

Apple, of course, is providing Cocoa Touch, an iPhone-optimized version of their Objective C frameworks that, while highly administrated by Apple, provides desktop-class power with a hefty of amount of access to developers. Palm, by contrast, is using Mojo as an open, web-standards based framework for the webOS, which we’re guessing will be something similar to how Widgets work (half way between WebApps and native apps).

Every solution comes with compromises, so in the end it will be up to each developer to choose which platform(s) best suit their needs and the apps they want to build, but is the way in which Apple treats developers — something entirely outside the SDK — going to be a concern as competing alternatives like Android and webOS become increasingly available?

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

iPhone SDK “Hostile” Compared to Palm Pre’s Mojo?

Rowmote brings Apple Remote functions to iPhone, iPod touch

A new iPhone and iPod touch application, Rowmote, duplicates the features of the Apple Remote.

Dell may be planning smartphone

Dell is reportedly considering bringing a smartphone into the market as early as this spring.

PwnageTool and QuickPwn updated, compatible with 2.2.1

Filed under: iPhone, iPod touch, Jailbreak/pwnage

Early this morning the iPhone Dev-Team announced the impending availability of the latest release of PwnageTool and QuickPwn. The feature most touted was compatibility with the recent update of the iPhone's OS to 2.2.1.

The announcement over at the Dev-Team's blog also provides some very useful information regarding unlocking and jailbreaking iPhones and iPod touches. It gives heads-up warnings for users in different situations, such as factory-unlocked iPhone owners, YellowSn0w users, and iPod touch owners. It covers what they should or should not do regarding upgrading to 2.2.1 and using PwnageTool or QuickPwn; the Dev-Team also details a fix for entering DFU mode when using OS X 10.5.6.

Currently the release is Mac-only, but a Windows-friendly version of QuickPwn is said to be "coming soon." You can grab the release from the official BitTorrent download. Alternatively, there are several unofficial HTTP mirrors available. The team recommends comparing the SHA1 checksums when downloading from an unofficial mirror. Given the recent string of security-related downloading incidents, TUAW cannot recommend highly enough that users download from an official source or follow the Dev-Team's security advice.

I tip my hat to the many fine folks that sent this in!

Continue reading PwnageTool and QuickPwn updated, compatible with 2.2.1

PwnageTool and QuickPwn updated, compatible with 2.2.1 originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 30 Jan 2009 13:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

PwnageTool and QuickPwn updated, compatible with 2.2.1 originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 30 Jan 2009 13:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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TapIt4Me released for iPhone

TapIt4Me is Ettore Software's iPhone text "snippet" software.

Satellite Radio finally coming to iPhone

Filed under: Audio, Software, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch

Ever since the iPhone could run applications people have been really excited about the possibility of streaming XM-Sirius on the go.

After a lot of buzz, it appears the uSirius StarPlayr will finally be submitted to the app store this weekend. Then Apple will decide when to release the player to eager consumers.

The player, developed by nicemac LLC has been getting positive reviews from beta testers.

The bad news is that streaming services will no longer be free. Despite a promise from Sirius-XM that prices would be capped for 3 years, as of March 11, 2009, streaming will be an additional US $2.99 a month. Additional radio charges will be US $2.00 extra monthly. Costs of the base service will stay the same. and subscribers can lock in their current rates by agreeing to a 3 year contract extension. People rushing to do that may help the beleaguered merged companies in the short run. On the other hand, a lot of customers may not be anxious to throw a lot of money at a service that may not survive 3 years.

As far as the streaming app goes, nicemac hasn't released a price yet, but says once it is purchased updates will be free until they bring out a major upgrade.

Sirius-XM haven't released their own player. That may happen, but this third party app will certainly be first on the scene.

Satellite Radio finally coming to iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 30 Jan 2009 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Satellite Radio finally coming to iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 30 Jan 2009 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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PwnageTool 2.2.5 and QuickPwn 2.2.5 for iPhone Firmware 2.2.1 Released for Mac

Apple’s iPhone dominates mobile-phone gaming downloads

The iPhone is, by far, the most popular mobile-phone gaming platform in the U.S., according to market research company comScore.

Today on the Forums: Slacker Radio Plus Give Away, TiPb Reader’s Choice, Favorite iPhone Function, Twitter on iPhone

Today on the forums we have a few threads that are not to be missed.

First up we have the Slacker Radio Plus give away thread! 10 lucky members of our forum have a chance to win a month free of their premium service. For more details head into that thread now!

Next up are the Official TiPb Reader’s Choice threads! All 10 of them! Rene has worked very hard putting this together for all of the TiPb faithful so please be sure to participate. This is your chance to make your voice heard, so don’t let another minute pass without voting! For more information take a look here.

This one is a older a thread that was brought back to life, and it is a good one. How do you spend most of your time on iPhone? Do you use it mostly for the phone? Email? SMS? How about Internet? Let us know!

Last but not least we have a Twitter thread. Twitter has exploded and is very popular as of late. Are you addicted to it like all of us here at TiPb? You can follow TiPb on Twitter for all our latest updates, and feel free to add all of your favorite TiPb personalities! Here are some links to us: Myself, Rene, Chad, Brian, Casey and last but not least — Dieter.

To get in on all of this action be sure to register for the forums, it’s simple and free.

See you on the forums!

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

Today on the Forums: Slacker Radio Plus Give Away, TiPb Reader’s Choice, Favorite iPhone Function, Twitter on iPhone

17″ Unibody MacBook Pro Begins Shipping

Apple has quietly updated their pages for the new 17" unibody MacBook Pro to reflect a change from accepting pre-orders to offering shipment in 7-10 business days for new orders. In addition, several international Apple online stores have added a "N...

How About the iPhone as Controller for Apple TV Gaming Console?

Hot on the heels of the premium “App Store Plus” (TM Erica Sadun) $19.99 rumor we helped propogate yesterday, in his (its?) weekly column, the Macalope pulls a follow-up rumor out of his rear port (actually makes it up on the spot) for a concept that’s actually pretty darn intriguing:

You know how Apple’s still trying to figure out the Apple TV? Sure, you do. You’re smart and sexy and you keep on top of these things. Well, last summer the brown and furry one’s old sparring partner Adrian Kingsley-Hughes actually hit on a great idea: making the Apple TV into a gaming platform and selling games from the App Store. The only thing Adrian thought was missing was a controller. [... The controller is] your iPhone or your iPod touch with a brand new game-controller app. Remember how Apple likes to make its products interdependent so you have to buy all of them to unlock Super Steve God Mode? And, really, who has an Apple TV and doesn’t also have an iPhone or iPod touch?

Personally, I’ve got an Apple TV and an iPhone, and I love the Apple Remote App for watching video, so this idea appeals to me quite a bit. Casual gaming, Wii-style, on the big screen, with an amazing multi-touch controller? Yes please.

Anyone else want this like now?

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

How About the iPhone as Controller for Apple TV Gaming Console?

Appigo Sync brings iCal todo syncing with iPhone app

Filed under: iPod Family, iPhone, App Store

I've always thought that the lack of iCal todo syncing was one of the strangest omissions on the iPhone and iPod touch. Now, finally, it's possible thanks to Appigo Sync (beta), a free small helper application for the Mac designed to interface with Appigo's $10 Todo iPhone app (iTunes link).

Todo on the iPhone has been able to sync with online services Remember the Milk and Toodledo for a while now. With the addition of Appigo Sync, however, you can now get your todos from iCal (though, unfortunately, it cannot sync with both your Mac and an online service). Like most other desktop syncing solutions for the iPhone, it works over WiFi and requires your iPhone and Mac to be on the same network.

Appigo Sync is a free download. Todo for iPhone is $9.99; there's also a free Todo Lite limited to seven tasks, but which will allow you to test out the syncing (both iTunes links).

Continue reading Appigo Sync brings iCal todo syncing with iPhone app

Appigo Sync brings iCal todo syncing with iPhone app originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 30 Jan 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Appigo Sync brings iCal todo syncing with iPhone app originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 30 Jan 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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GroceryIQ acquired by Coupons.com

Filed under: iPhone, App Store, iPod touch

We first told you about Grocery IQ in October of last year. Grocery IQ allows iPhone users to completely organize a shopping list, and even arrange the list by aisles in the store. While the application has grown since its first release, it is about to see some major improvements.

Grocery IQ was recently purchased by Coupons.com (a website for finding coupons). According to a press release by Coupons.com, the application could see a 2.0 update as soon as February and include the ability to find coupons right from the device.

The update will be free for previous purchasers of Grocery IQ. The application is currently the number one seller in the Lifestyles section of the App Store. Grocery IQ is available on the App Store for a US $.99.

Thanks, Kim!

GroceryIQ acquired by Coupons.com originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 30 Jan 2009 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

GroceryIQ acquired by Coupons.com originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 30 Jan 2009 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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*Slightly* More on 3rd Generation iPhone

No specks, no blur-cam shots, not even a Kevin Rose post yet, just a few more tiny little details on Pinch Media’s timeline via MacRumors:

• 1st spotting of the “iPhone 2,1″ device occured in early October 2008
• Usage picked up in mid-December 2008
• A few dozen distinct “iPhone 2,1″ devices have been detected
• Almost exclusively located in south San Francisco Bay Area
• Both AT&T and Wi-Fi connections

Dear Apple, CrackBerry Kevin got that wonderful pre-release BlackBerry Bold last year, and he will never let the rest of us live it down, so for the sake of all things righteous, just, and uber-cool, howsabout slapping an iPhone Mark 3 in some bubblewrap and fedexing it our way? We don’t even care if cut/copy and paste is working yet, b’okay?

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

*Slightly* More on 3rd Generation iPhone

First ever iPhone Bluetooth!

An app called iBluetooth is bringing you one of the most awaited features ever for the iPhone: Bluetooth file transfer. Not only between iPhone and iPhone 3G, but  iBluetooth also can support file exchange between both the Apple smartphone and computers, as well as other Bluetooth-capable devices. As you can see ...

Video: New iPhone commercial “Read”

Apple just released a brand new iPhone commercial titled Read, showing off the iPhone’s ability to read multiple file types. Click here to view the embedded video. [via MacBlogz]