Gizmodo: Another Next Gen iPhone Concept — MacBook Air Inspired

We should start a new “Gizmodo iPhone Concept Art” category, because it seems like Jesus Diaz is throwing up one of these a week, each equal parts smart and silly in their own way. This week’s version doesn’t light my design regions on fire, but the idea of built in video iChat, compatible with desktops — even with the Google Maps/CoreLocation chrome tossed in — is very much “me want”.

What do you think? I love the MacBook Air look, but in an iPhone? And is Mobile iChat definitely a must-drool feature?

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

Gizmodo: Another Next Gen iPhone Concept — MacBook Air Inspired

Craigslist tool defers to App Store decency standards

Filed under: iPhone, App Store

The developers of the iPhone Craigslist app craigsphone [App Store link] seem to have found themselves in a bit of a pickle. Sure, most of Craigslist's content is perfectly appropriate for all audiences -- nothing too risque about buying a used bike or looking for an apartment -- but there are some more adult areas of the service, including the ever-popular Missed Connections, that might just run afoul of the App Store's ever-shifting sands of appropriateness. What to do?

Apparently, the answer is "throw up your hands and turn the URL over to Mobile Safari," as you can see in the screenshot here. I'm not sure this is a particularly well-thought out workaround; there are plenty of other apps that can pull down adult-themed content, starting with Apple's own YouTube tool and including ebook readers, RSS feed handlers, etc.

Should a developer providing a custom portal to an external website really be responsible for all the content hosted there, or would it be simpler to put up the same 18-and-up warning that Craigslist uses? It may be up to Apple to implement, or allow a third-party to build, more granular parental controls for iPhone apps, but simply handing off the same mature content to Safari for display seems like a pretty big cop-out.

Thanks xnifex & Nilay

Craigslist tool defers to App Store decency standards originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 10 Feb 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Craigslist tool defers to App Store decency standards originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 10 Feb 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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“Cell Phone Reunion” shows what happens when handsets stop being polite

Ever wonder what some think your choice of cell phone (or cell phone accessory) says about you? You could ask your friends, or you could just check out this video called "Cell Phone Reunion" that anthropomorphizes today's (and yesterday's) most popular cellies, giving them all distinctive -- and some abrasive -- personalities. We'll let you guess which one plays the role of smug braggart.

Filed under: Cellphones

"Cell Phone Reunion" shows what happens when handsets stop being polite originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 10 Feb 2009 08:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple: “Don’t Use Multi-Touch on Android!” Google: “Okay…”

We’ve heard whispers relating to this one for a while, but now VentureBeat (via MacRumors) is putting text-to-screen about it:

Apple, which of course makes the signature multi-touch mobile device, the iPhone, apparently asked Google not to implement it, and Google agreed, an Android team member tells us.

Apparently, Google didn’t want to risk their relationship with Apple or the iPhone. Google’s CEO is on Apple’s board, and Google has been releasing iPhone initiative after iPhone initiative these days.

Same Android team members is said to pleased at how this has turned out, given the recent legal noise around the Palm Pre, which decidedly does use multi-touch in almost identical — perhaps infringing-ly identical — manner to the iPhone. Though many behind the Palm Pre, like former iPod czar Jon Rubenstein came from Apple, their relationship is not said to still be as strong.

Check out the full article for more.

So, should Google have agreed to Apple’s request to remove multi-touch from the Android? Should Palm? We still don’t know the strength of Apple’s multi-touch patent portfolio, or portfolio’s lined up against it in defense, but if the Pre suddenly ships without the functionality shown in the CES Keynote, will it be a deal breaker for anyone?

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

Apple: “Don’t Use Multi-Touch on Android!” Google: “Okay…”

Kindle + iPhone = Opportunities?

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, iPhone

Buried in the announcement of the Kindle 2, Amazon also released a small nugget of information that had been flying around the Web for the past few days - that Kindle content will eventually come to cell phones.

So, how would that work? According to the announcement, the new Whispersync technology would allow readers to pause in reading a book on the Kindle and pick it back up on either another Kindle or eventually a cell phone. Not much detail was provided, though Gizmodo did confirm with Amazon's Ian Freed that Kindle content is on the way. Whether it's for the iPhone or Google's Android phone or the Blackberry, we don't know.

On one hand, the announcement is a victory for those advocating that digital content be available on more than one device. Amazon's already broken ground with music, and now wants to spread that to books. With more than 230,000 books currently available in the Kindle format, it's an impressive library to suddenly have at your fingertips.

On the other hand, Apple could see this as Amazon infringing on a potential product that could be sold and keep Kindle content off the iPhone. Yes, there is the Stanza store, but Amazon is by far a more visible and well-known competitor. And with Stanza, you still download the books to the computer before transferring them to the iPhone. Whispersync would eliminate the middle man and would go straight from Amazon to the iPhone - just like what iTunes and the App Store does now. I hope that this won't happen, as it'll just erode good will toward Apple, but it's by far not the first poor decision that Apple has made regarding what they feel belongs on the iPhone or not.

Continue reading Kindle + iPhone = Opportunities?

Kindle + iPhone = Opportunities? originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 10 Feb 2009 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Kindle + iPhone = Opportunities? originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 10 Feb 2009 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple Asked Google Not to Use Multi-Touch in Android?

VentureBeat claims that Apple specifically asked Google not to use Multi-Touch in their Android platform and Google agreed. The report comes an unidentified member of the Android team:

Apple, which of course makes the signature mult...

Amazon Unveils Kindle 2, eBooks for the iPhone?

The big non-Apple tech news yesterday was Amazon's announcement of the Kindle 2. The Kindle was Amazon's first entry into the gadget market with an electronic book reader that was described as "the iPod of reading". The original Kindle offer...