Speculation About Background Processing Running Rampant

FreeBit offers another iPhone’s server app

Thursday Fun: Gizmodo Wishes Darwin a Happy Birthday Via iPhone Natural Selection

Gizmodo is running a series of posts highlighting the evolution of various technologies in honor of the birthday of Charles Darwin, who many years ago realized one thing killing another thing wasn’t mean, but was the reason we all now have fast cars and hot tubs (or something like that, I texted my way through bio).

Coming as no surprise to any regular reader of this book, the chart Gizmodo chose clearly shows the original mega-cell phones giving way to Moto’s StarTac, the PalmOS Treo, the blue BlackBerry, and finally the new king of jungle, the iPhone 3G.

How utterly appropriate.

Happy birthday Darwin, and sorry frenemies, but like dinosaurs and Jurassic Park movies, and mullets, nature gave you your shot, and is now selecting you for extinction.

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

Thursday Fun: Gizmodo Wishes Darwin a Happy Birthday Via iPhone Natural Selection

Apple Releases Security Updates, Addresses Safari RSS Vulnerability

Leaked Photos of New iPhone?

Review: Days of Thunder for iPhone

iPhone management tools: Are they enough?

And So it Begins! Next Gen iPhone Case Leaks Start NOW!

With a Schiller-confirmed June product cycle, it’s a bit early for iPhone Next-Gen case leaks, innit? Not that time or likelihood will stop the internet. MacRumors says:

This new iPhone case is said to “shed its glossy appearance for a matte black look” and also introduce a new case-back made of metal. [iPodObserver] seems confident in the photo and reminded readers that they were also responsible for publishing an early back-case photo of the iPhone 3G.

Has Apple ever done matt finish anything? And would Apple really milk the 16GB capacity in a next-gen iPhone? Or would they do 16GB and 32GB next time, the way they did 8 and 16, and 4 and 8 for the previous generations? And will this simply be another iPhone 3G, or will include any (or all) of the guts we’ve been clamoring for in an iPhone HD?

First questions first, though, is this for real?

Internal comparison photos after the break!

iPhone 3G Casing [via iFixit]

Leaked/Rumored iPhone Next Gen Casing

Dieter thinks the screws and slot for the rumble/vibrate motors match. What do you think? The next iPhone or simply the next Chinese iClone knockoff?

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

And So it Begins! Next Gen iPhone Case Leaks Start NOW!

Leaked Photos of Next Generation iPhone?

Review: Spreadsheet editing apps for the iPhone

Is this a matte black iPhone? (answer: probably not)

So, this is sort of fun. The leaked photo above appears to be of a new iPhone back -- in matte black. Sure, we have to be highly suspicious of all kinds of purported evidence of new products in general, and we've heard enough crazy Apple rumors over the years to fill an issue of US Weekly. Regardless, this one's worth at least considering: it's got a model numer, A1303, that's previously unseen, but has all the other requisite data, including FCC ID numbers, that we've grown to know and love on the back of real, actual, undoctored iPhones. Look, it's probably fake. Discuss.

[Via Electronista]
[Thanks, Ryan]

Filed under: Cellphones

Is this a matte black iPhone? (answer: probably not) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 Feb 2009 15:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

How-To: Find Your Car with iPhone 3G

Have you ever experienced the frustration of parking your car in a massive parking lot or parking garage and then almost panicked when you couldn’t find it? If you haven’t, well, good for you. Your pink Hummer with curb feelers and fuzzy dice must make things REAL easy for you. Me, on the other hand, not so lucky. Let me tell you how your iPhone 3G can be your best friend for finding where you parked! After the break, of course.

Long before I had my iPhone 3G, I had the good fortune of watching a college football game at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. Having never attended an event there, I was a bit fascinated how the golf course adjacent to the stadium is literally used as a parking lot for event attendees. Yes, that’s right. The entire golf course is one ginormous parking lot and one lost car fiasco waiting to happen.

After the game, it was dark and disorienting. Even though there were large balloon markers spaced avery 100 yards or so, it was nearly impossible to find my car and almost an hour was spent tracking it down. If only I had my iPhone 3G! If only it had been conceived!

Why, you ask? GPS. Fast forward a couple years to CES in Las Vegas a few weeks ago. Driving down the strip in the heart of Vegas on a Saturday night is NOT for the patient. I was meeting up with Dieter Bohn and several others bloggers for a fancy-pants dinner and quickly realized that I would reach my location much faster if I abandoned my ride and hoofed it - the good old “ankle express.”

I found a massive parking garage that barely accommodated the height of my truck, parked, and then froze. I knew I had a good jaunt in front of me and I wanted to be sure I could easily and quickly locate my truck again. I’m easily disoriented and have a poor sense of direction - when people call me “Magellan”, it’s NOT a compliment. My iPhone 3G to the rescue! I simply opened up my Maps app, tapped the “target” in the bottom left of the screen, and dropped a pin for my current location and bookmarked it (just tap the pin after you drop it and then “Add to Bookmarks” in the bottom right of the following page).

Is the iPhone 3G’s GPS precise to the foot? Not exactly, but I was able to easily return to my truck because I could rely on my iPhone’s GPS to point the way and return me to the parking garage, even in the busy hustle and bustle of the Las Vegas strip. So if you need to leave a trail of virtual breadcrumbs the next time you park your car or plan on wandering far and wide from your base camp, give your iPhone 3G’s Maps app a try, drop a pin, and have fun!

[Note: Above photoshops are for comedic value, no actual trucks were empaled on giant map pins in production of this how-to]

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

How-To: Find Your Car with iPhone 3G

Apple Retail Stores to Receive Facelift Highlighting Software?

According to plans still being rolled out, hardware will become a secondary focus of the st...

uSirius StarPlayr: Sirius XM Radio on Your iPhone

This past week has not been a good one for Sirius XM Satellite Radio. Reports of the company preparing for a bankruptcy filing have been all over the news. On the bright side of things, uSirius StarPlayr, which allows you to listen to all of your favorite satellite stations streamed directly onto your iPhone, is on the horizon.

It seems the only delay at the moment is the final approval from Apple. Looks like it may be 2-4 more weeks before we see this in the App Store. Some of the features of StarPlayr are:

• Works with iPhone, iPhone 3G, and iPod Touch
• Edge, 3G, WiFi
• Sirius or XM accounts
• US and Cananda
• Suggested Retail Price $12.99

So with a price tag of $12.99 how many of you are willing to pick this up to carry your favorite channels with you on the go?

Update: Yes, you indeed do need a monthly subscription to Sirius Xm.

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

uSirius StarPlayr: Sirius XM Radio on Your iPhone

Mophie to introduce Juice Pack Air

New iPhone apps let you control Amazon cloud services

Review: Satellite for iPhone

Review: Egrips for the iPhone 3G

Let me start off by saying I’m not usually a fan of any protective skins for any cell phones that are currently on the market. I’ve found that Egrips for iPhone 3G have to sway me in a different direction, however, and I’ve found they can be quite valuable. If you’d like a more confident grip on your iPhone 3G, then Egrips available from The iPhone Blog Store for the price of $14.95, just may be what you are looking for.

For a more in depth look, keep reading after the break!

Design

Egrips are made from a specially formulated silicone elastomer that has an extreme amount of friction that prevents your iPhone 3G from sliding around on almost any surface, as long it is dry. You name it, it will stick — things like car seats, center consoles, counter tops, desktops, laptops and even your shirt sleeve. Egrips are only 0.5mm thick so if you decide these are for you, the days of bulky silicone skins and cases.

In the package you get 4 separate strips to apply to your iPhone 3G. The back piece, two pieces for each side of the home button, and one last piece for the upper right hand corner next to the handset speaker. You may be wondering, where is the piece for the left of the handset speaker? Well that’s an easy one to answer: there is none (it would cover the light sensors). Don’t fret just yet, you can still place your phone face down without it getting scratched. The three pieces do a fine job. Something else worth mentioning here is that Egrips comes in two variations: black (what I went with), or clear.

Usability

How many times have you set your iPhone 3G down on the passenger seat while you were driving only to take a turn and see your precious phone go flying off of the seat and crashing into the door or onto the floor? Scary moments, I know. I was a bit skeptical when I first received my Egrips but I put it to the test by placing my my iPhone 3G on the leather passenger seat in my car and took a nice quick ride. While I was nervous that my phone would go flying, to my surprise it didn’t move an inch. Success!

While some of you who don’t use a case may really enjoy Egrips on their own, I can understand there may be a concern for those who do use a case. I have eight or nine cases for my iPhone 3G, with the Egrips applied to my phone I was able to still use all of my holstered cases. Vertical or horizontal, it did not make a difference. For those of you who use hard cases or silicone cases, I am afraid you are out of luck. That add extra thickness of .05mm is just a bit too much for those types of cases.

A few more questions I had were: how long and how well would it stay on my iPhone 3G and would it stay clean? Honestly, I’ve only been testing out Egrips for about a week and I can say that I see no signs of them coming off anytime soon. None of the corners have peeled up or are showing any signs of that happening, which is a good thing. If you do want to remove it for whatever reason it does indeed come off without leaving any residue or damaging the phone in any way shape or form. Now the other all-important question: how clean would this sticky material actually stay over a period of time? Again, Egrips did not disappoint. What I expected was something similar to a silicone case. You put it in your pocket and when you remove it, it’s covered in lint. Not the case with Egrips, which was nice to see.

Conclusion

So if you are someone who likes the whole “naked” look of your iPhone 3G but you want a little more reassurance in terms of grip, Egrips are just the sort of product you should consider trying out. If you are someone who loves a hard case or simply wants the best protection you can get, you might want to pass on Egrips.

Pros

• Gives you excellent added grip
• Does not add much extra bulk to your iPhone
• Fairly cheap

Cons

• Does not offer the overall protection that a normal case can
• Hinders your ability to use some cases while Egrips are on iPhone

TiPb Rating

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

Review: Egrips for the iPhone 3G

iPhone developer says 99 cent price point not sustainable

TiPb Presents: iPhone Live! Podcast #7 — Jailbreak Live!

• Our podcast feed
• Download Directly
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Dieter, Chad, and Rene, joined by Jeremy and a plethora of our amazing TiPb readers in the chat room, get together for a fairly wild ride this week. Rene jailbreaks his iPhone live! Running OS 2.2.1, on an OS X 10.5.6 Mac (using a USB hub), he wants it done so he can install and test xGPS before the show ends, can he make it?

Sponsored by the TiPb iPhone Store, this week we highlight the Seidio Innocell External Battery and chat about both the RichardSolo and Mophie Juice Pack.

Google’s first on our agenda, and we discuss their removing the optimized iGoogle page, but adding optimized Gmail Tasks and Google Books WebApps. The big news, however, is Google Sync: what is it and how’s it working for us so far?

As much as Google hearts Apple, is Apple hating a little on Google? We get into the whole missing Android G1 multi-touch (and 3.5mm headset jack) melodrama.

Not to be left out, Microsoft decided not only to iClone MobileMe, but call it… My Phone. Not so funny: it has some features we’d really like to see in MobileMe!

And yeah, CrackBerry.com totally launched their cartoon assault. Fortunately, the iPhone was still the funniest.

Credits

Thanks to the the iPhone Blog Store for sponsoring the podcast, and to everyone who showed up for the live chat, or sent in questions!

Our music comes from the following sources:

• I Called You — iPhone Remix by Pete Leidy
via Sneakmove iPhone Ringtone Challenge

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

TiPb Presents: iPhone Live! Podcast #7 — Jailbreak Live!