ITN launches video app for iPhone

British news agency ITN has launched a video-focused news iPhone application, allowing users to watch video news reports on their iPhone, even if they have no Wi-Fi connectivity or 3G reception. Since its launch over a week ago on Apple's App Store, it has been downloaded almost 45,000 times in ...

Apple: It’s hard to bring iPhone to China

China's mobile users have to wait a quite while to get their own iPhone. Apple’s latest attempt to bring iPhone to China broke down for the third times --this time over App Store mechanism, according to MocoNews. In the latest round—their third—the two haggled over which company would sell iPhone applications ...

Google dropped Android multi-touch support

Seems Google doesn't want to fight against Apple's iPhone multi-touch patent (as Palm will do it to keep its Pre's multi-touch technology), they already dropped multitouch support from their Android platform. Android Community wrote: Multitouch support was dropped from the Android platform, and therefore the T-Mobile G1, after Apple requested it not ...

Google Adds Edit, Filter, and Sort to iPhone Optimized Spreadsheet Docs

Looks like Google still isn’t done giving us mobile goodness this month. To the list of Gmail Tasks, Latitude, Google Books, and Google (Active)Sync we can now add editing, sorting, and filtering to Google Doc’s spreadsheet WebApp. Says Google’s blog:

Today, I’m happy to announce that we’ve made mobile access even better by adding new capabilities with List View for spreadsheets. You can quickly view, edit, sort, and filter your spreadsheets on a variety of mobile devices including Android-powered devices like the T-Mobile G1, the iPhone and iPod touch, and the Nokia S60.

And to think, the month is only half over. Google, what else you got for us? Readers, what else you want?

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

Google Adds Edit, Filter, and Sort to iPhone Optimized Spreadsheet Docs

Apple Says iPhone Bullish, iPhone nano and Hard Keyboards Just Bull

Apple COO Tim Cook, CFO Peter Openheimer, and Marketing VP Phil Schiller gave an analyst briefing recently, according to Barron’s, which said, among other things:

• The trio was “most bullish about the iPhone business,” seeing a chance to gain share, with its software as the principal differentiator.
• In iPods, Apple is pushing the iTouch, which benefits from its ties to the App Store.
• Sacconaghi says the company does not appear to be pursuing his idea of an “iPhone Nano,” and that any new phones will likely include both a browser and ties to the App Store.
• Apple said “emphatically” that it did not believe in fixed keypads for phones, since the touch screen provided more flexibility for alternative keypads and for various App Store offerings, and that it is portable across geographies and languages, providing significant scale economics.

So there we have it, software is king, the nano is a no-no, and the hard keyboard just ain’t happening.

(Thanks to The Reptile for sending this in!)

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

Apple Says iPhone Bullish, iPhone nano and Hard Keyboards Just Bull

Google Adds Ability to Edit, Filter and Sort Google Docs Spreadsheets on iPhone

Review: Backgrounds for iPhone

If you’d like to liven up the background wallpaper on your iPhone or iPod touch, you can’t beat the volume of images offered by Stylem Media’s free Backgrounds app.

Google Sync Beta for iPhone

Thanks to Google, iPhone users now can sync their Gmail Contacts and Google Calendar events to their lovely device. Just visit m.google.com/sync to get started. Once you set up Sync on your phone, it will automatically begin synchronizing your address book and calendar in the background, over-the-air, so you can attend ...

iPhone apps round-up: Last-minute Valentine’s Day apps

Looking for a little love? Here’s a sampling of newly released iPhone apps with a Valentine’s Day bent.

Apple sued over screen rendering technology in iPhone

Apple is being sued for infringing on patents owned by Picsel Technologies. The patent speeds up screen drawing on images and Web pages on a mobile device.

iPhone and iPod touch shares continue to grow

Filed under: Apple Financial, iPhone, iPod touch

It's not an earthshaking surprise, but good news nevertheless, that advertising metrics show the share of Apple devices on the web continues to grow.

The latest indication is from Admob, a firm that tracks ad requests from more than 6,000 published sites in 160 foreign countries.

According to their latest report:

Worldwide requests from Apple devices grew 28% month over month to 1.2 billion in January. Building on its strong December, iPod Touch growth outpaced iPhone growth in top markets. The iPod Touch now represents 40% of Apple requests, up from 20% in September.

The Admob data confirms that the Apple iPhone (17 percent share) and iPod touch (12 percent share) are together the number one device for mobile internet useage, making 51% of all ad requests. This has to be good news for Apple, who is riding the recession along with the rest of the tech sector. Other highlights from the report indicate that Blackberrys have a 19 percent share while the G1 (HTC Touch) is the number 18 device in the U.S. with 0.9% share in December. The Google Android phone has a 3% OS share in the US, a good number for a product so new to the scene.

Apple may be rolling out even more phones to try and hold and extend past market gains. There are also continued rumors of a US $99.00 iPhone.

iPhone and iPod touch shares continue to grow originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 13 Feb 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

iPhone and iPod touch shares continue to grow originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 13 Feb 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Review: AppSniper for iPhone

AppSniper might not be the ultimate bargain finder for savvy app shoppers, but it does yeoman’s work if you have the time and patience to browse.

Attack of the iClone Daily Double: WinMo 6.5 Phone iCon Looks Strangely Familiar…

One of these things is just like the other; one of these things is exactly the same…

Wow, we just got through listing the various ways Micrsoft is iCloning our beloved iPhone and its services, and now this? Bad enough they’ve taken the old hex grid from our AD&D days, but the iPhone Phone App, all green and rounded and gradient like?

We’ve got to think this is some customized icon, like a contact photo or something, because there’s no way Microsoft includes it in even an official beta build, is there? Still, having Apple’s graphics highlighting the latest viral Windows Mobile 6.5 leaks can’t be good for anybody. Ugh.

Speaking of ugh, bonus points to anyone who can tell us what that background picture is before it hatches baby aliens and begins consuming us all…

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

Attack of the iClone Daily Double: WinMo 6.5 Phone iCon Looks Strangely Familiar…

TeleNav Makes Turn-by-Turn Navigation for Android G1 — Where’s the iPhone App?!

Our sibling site, Android Central, has posted up a story about TeleNav making a turn-by-turn GPS navigation app for Google’s Android G1:

The TeleNav software will include full color 3D graphics, speech recognition, one-click rerouting, traffic alerts, weather updates, gas prices, and restaurant reviews.

Sure, it’s not all roses. After a 30-day free trial, you need to fork over $9.99 a month, $99 a year, or $249 for four years to keep the service, but at least they have the option.

So what’s happening with the iPhone app? We asked, and this was what we got in response:

We have to stay mum at this point on an iPhone app other than to say that we’re working on it. Please stay tuned!

If it’s hard to stay mum, imagine how hard it is to “stay tuned” after months and month (and months) of waiting.

Dieter mentions that Apple, flush with success battering around the music industry and Google, may not know how to zip their lip and make nice with the map licensors. Could that be the hold up?

We won’t ask if you want turn-by-turn GPS navigation — we know you do — so we’ll just tell Apple and TeleNav to suck it up and get this done (before more people jailbreak just for xGPS), and we’ll leave the comments open for you to do likewise…

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

TeleNav Makes Turn-by-Turn Navigation for Android G1 — Where’s the iPhone App?!

Customizable 4-Finger Multi-Touch Gestures Planned by Apple

MyAppleGuide discovered an unused preference pane in the version of Mac OS X Leopard that ships with Apple's new unibody MacBook Pros. The preference pane shows that Apple was planning on offering customers a way to assign different function...

Customizable 4-Finger Mutli-Touch Gestures Planned by Apple

MyAppleGuide discovered an unused preference pane in the version of Mac OS X Leopard that ships with Apple's new unibody MacBook Pros. The preference pane shows that Apple was planning on offering customers a way to assign different function...

Apple Sez Jailbreaking is Illegal

It is a sad day for our Jailbreak Pirate, so sad that he is even sporting a frown today. Apple has finally, after a full year plus, publicly came out saying that Jailbreaking the iPhone that you paid for is illegal. Does this mean the FBI will be knocking on Rene’s door to lock him up for Jailbreaking publicly over the internet???

[No, I'm Canadian, so all I have to fear is the red surge of the Mounties - Rene]

Read more after the break!

Apple states that Jailbreaking is a copyright infringement and is in clear violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The US Copyright Office has a rule-making session that occurs every three years for the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. This is also where exemption requests can be filed. Well it seems the Electronic Frontier Foundation filed an exemption request for Jailbreaking iPhones. Apple has now responded to this request. You can see the complete filing here in this PDF file. If you don’t feel like reading all of that here is the important part:

Jailbreaking therefore involves infringing uses of the bootloader and OS, the copyrighted works that are protected by the TPMs being circumvented. Unauthorized derivative versions of the bootloader and OS have been created. Copies of those infringing works have been stored on web sites, and infringing reproductions of those works are created each time they are downloaded through Pwnage Tool and loaded onto the iPhone.33 In addition, as discussed in Section II.B.2 above, the jailbroken OS enables pirated copies of Apple copyrighted content and other third party content such as games and applications to play on the iPhone, resulting in further infringing uses of copyrighted works and diminished incentive to create those works in the first place. In sum, the jailbreaking of the iPhone that would be permitted by the proposed Class #1 exemption in 5A and 11A would result in infringing uses of copyrighted works. It would involve the creation, distribution, and copying of unauthorized modified versions of the bootloader and OS, and it would facilitate and encourage the making, distribution, and use of infringing copies of copyrighted material such as games and applications, owned by both Apple and third parties, that run only on jailbroken phones. The proposed exemption therefore does not satisfy the fundamental prerequisite of the statute that it aid “noninfringing uses” of copyrighted works and should be rejected.

It goes on and on but hopefully you get the idea. So what do you think? Will Apple now go after the Dev Team for their Jailbreaking software, QuickPWN and PWNage Tool? Lawyers will be the ones handling this one and it should be interesting to pay close attention to this.

[ViaGizmodo]

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

Apple Sez Jailbreaking is Illegal

Review: Artist’s Touch for iPhone

Even the least artistic iPhone and iPod touch user can turn their photos into beautiful works of art with Artamata’s Artist’s Touch image-editing tool.

Apple and EFF spar over iPhone jailbreaking and the DMCA

Uh oh, Ashton, it looks like Apple might have a thing or two to say about that jailbroken iPhone of yours. Every three years the Copyright Office asks for proposed exemptions to the Digital Millenium Copyright Act's rules against breaking access protections, and this time around the lovable scamps at the Electronic Frontier Foundation have asked that jailbreaking phones -- like, yes, the iPhone -- be classified as one of those exceptions. As you might have guessed, Apple's response to the EFF isn't exactly supportive of the idea: it says the proposed rule will "destroy the technological protection of Apple's key copyrighted computer programs in the iPhone device itself and of copyrighted content owned by Apple that plays on the iPhone." Both sides have filed long briefs supporting their positions with extremely detailed legal arguments, but the main takeaway from each side is that the EFF thinks that allowing jailbreaking will result in more apps and innovation, and Apple points out that the App Store is already hugely successful and that jailbroken phones are technically running unauthorized modifications of Apple's copyrighted iPhone code that allows them to run pirated applications. Interestingly, Apple's convoluted App Store approval process is the center of a lot of discussion, and Apple is totally disengeniuous about it, saying there's no "duplication of functionality" rule and as proof claims to have allowed "multiple general web browsers... and multiple mail programs." Note to the Copyright Office: if you believe this we have a very nice bridge to sell you.

Now, let's be clear: while we're definitely hoping the EFF pulls this one out, the worst thing that can result of all this is the status quo -- Apple isn't asking for jailbreaking to specifically be ruled illegal, it's just asking that it not be specifically ruled legal. If that sounds like a fuzzy distinction, well, it is, but that's the sort of gray area that keeps everyone else out of court for the time being. We'll find out more in the spring, when the Copyright Office holds hearings -- final rulings are due in October.

Read - EFF page on the jailbreaking debate
Read - EFF's brief (PDF)
Read - Apple's reply (PDF)
Read - EFF's second brief (PDF)

Filed under: Cellphones

Apple and EFF spar over iPhone jailbreaking and the DMCA originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 13 Feb 2009 12:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple files opposition to DMCA exemption for jailbreaking

Apple has filed documents opposing the DMCA exemption on iPhone jailbreaking proposed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation.