3.2MP next-gen iPhone, new 5MP Apple device later this year?

Apple will upgrade the next-gen iPhone's camera to 3.2-megapixels, according to market sources in Asia.  Manufacturer OmniVision is believed to have won the Apple contract to supply the 3.2-megapixel CMOS image sensor used in the smartphone, which would be a step up from the 2-megapixel unit in both the original ...

Microsoft still hopes for iPhone birth of Office

Stephen Elop, President of Microsoft's Business Division, made a suggestion at the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco. This suggestion pointed to Microsoft exploring methods of bringing their Office suite of applications to the iPhone. Rumors have been going around for about 12 months of the subject. Through this time, there ...

New iPhone/iPod Touch Game : Iron Fist Boxing 2.0

Version 2.0 of Realtech VR iPhone and iPod touch 3D Mixed Martial Art and Boxing game 'Realtech Iron Fist Boxing' is now available on the iTunes App Store. "This version is the long await updated, after 1 month of public beta test, it includes the much requested training mode, featuring 10 different opponents (2 new ...

iTunes U: Stanford Releases iPhone Application Programming

iTunes U has posted the first in what promises to be a series of video lectures on iPhone Application Programming [iTunes link] from Stanford University. Led by Evan Doll and Alan Cannistaro, it’s recommended for people with previous C, UNIX, object oriented programming languages, and graphics tookit experience, but will likely prove of value to anyone interested to in coding the next great iPhone app. Ars Technica says:

Videos of all the lectures, lead by Apple engineers, will be posted on iTunes U two days after each class meeting [...] The slides from the lectures will be available to download as well. The school notes that the material will be the same that enrolled students get, but unfortunately, following the lessons via iTunes U won’t make you eligible for college credit.

So, who’s adding it to their feed?

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

iTunes U: Stanford Releases iPhone Application Programming

2 Days Left for MacHeist 3: 12 Top Mac Apps for the insanely low price of $39

2 Days Left for MacHeist 3: 12 Top Mac Apps for the insanely low price of $39

If you’re not familiar with Macheist, they’re the sometimes controversial, always entertaining Mac software marketers who put together variety pacs of Mac apps at super-discounted prices. I’ve bought the previous two bundles, and I bought this year’s bundle as well. I never really have use for all the apps, but there’s always one or two that are worth the price of the bundle all by themselves (this year, for me, it’s Acorn, WireTap Studio, Espresso, and maybe Kinemac).

25% of the sale price goes to charity, and for iPhone users on the Mac, this year’s pack contains PhoneView, which lets you access SMS logs, your call history, disk storage, and more. Also bundled up are iSale, Picturesque, SousChef, World of Goo, LittleSnapper, Acorn, Kinemac, WireTap Studio, and — and still to be unlocked — BoinxTV, The Hit List, and Esperesso. If you’re one of the first 25,000 buyers (currently at 20,017!) you get Big Bang Board Games thrown in. And with the guys at Macheist, you never know what else might pop up.

Want $981 of Mac software for the mind-boggling price of $39? Hit up TiPb’s referral link and check out Macheist now!

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

2 Days Left for MacHeist 3: 12 Top Mac Apps for the insanely low price of $39

2 Days Left for Latest MacHeist Bundle: 14 Mac Apps for $39

A few times a year, MacRumors partners with MacHeist to promote their Mac application bundle deal. Their latest bundle delivers at least 12 Mac applications for $39 (a $981 value if all purchased separately) including:

- iSale ...

2 Days Left for Latest MacHeist Bundle: 12+ Mac Apps for $39

A few times a year, MacRumors partners with MacHeist to promote their Mac application bundle deal. Their latest bundle delivers at least 12 Mac applications for $39 (a $981 value if all purchased separately) including:

- iSale ...

Best of SPE, CTIA 2009 Edition

This week three of our intrepid editors headed out to CTIA 2009 in Las Vegas to catch as much coverage as we could — and catch it we did. From the Palm Pre emulating the PalmOS to BlackBerry App World to Hands-on time with the Nokia E71x to hands-on time with half a dozen Windows Mobile devices, it’s been a pretty crazy week.

It wasn’t all Vegas Baby, however. TiPb has been all over the rumors of next-gen iPhone hardware and both the iPhone and Android picked up new document editing capabilities.

You’ll find the details on all of that and much more inside as we round up the best of Smartphone Experts!

Android Central

Stop us if you’re heard this before: a huge cellphone trade-show and Android news is nowhere to be seen. That was once again the situation at the CTIA 2009 conference. Nevertheless we did have plenty of Android news outside the conference. First and foremost, it’s clear that Samsung is getting in the game soon, but just whether their Android devices will be “Google-like” or “Samsung-like” is an open question — one we endeavor to answer. We’re also well-pleased to have Documents to Go available on Android, as it helped ease the pain of finding out that while tethering apps are available in the Android Market, they aren’t available for T-Mobile users

CrackBerry.com

The big big news of CTIA from RIM has to be the release of App World: it’s live now, so get your download on. Outside of RIM there were plenty of BlackBerry partners and developers presenting, see our Special Coverage of CTIA 2009 for more from Qik, Netflix, iHeartRadio, and more. We couldn’t help ourselves, we pulled a little April Fools Day action. To help you recover from the (possible) shock of that story, be sure to settle down with part 2 of our BlackBerry 9630 Review!

Nokia Experts

Our resident Nokia Expert, Matt Miller, got some hands-on time with the Nokia E75 and the finally-its-landing-on-AT&T-and-holy-cow-it’s-only-$99 Nokia E71x at CTIA 2009. Meanwhile, we’re happy to say that the best Twitter client on Symbian — or on any smartphone, now that we’re mentioning it — it Gravity. Here’s why.

PreCentral.net

After a few weeks of relatively little news (outside of release date rumor-mongering, the Pre world absolutely exploded this week. PreCentral.net broke the story that webOS will support PalmOS emulation via an app called Classic — an app we demo’d on video the very next day. We also brought you a video of new 3rd party apps on the Palm Pre, were live at the Web 2.0 Expo, and are even looking forward to Push services for the webOS. As far as Pre news goes, every one of those links is pretty much as momentous as it’s gonna get before the Pre launch, but stay tuned to PreCentral.net, because we have no intention of slowing down!

The iPhone Blog

Previously on theiPhoneblog.com: iPhone 2.0 Beta 2 hit fast, but next generation iPhone rumors are hitting faster — faster CPU, faster GPU, faster 3G networking, and low-power 802.11n WiFi. They’ll likely need all that to handle the 3.5 or 5 megapixel camera…

Meanwhile, Skype landed on the iPhone (everywhere but Canada!), was downloaded over 1,000,000 times in 2 days, was almost banned by AT&T’s new TOS, though AT&T quickly backpedaled, and was the subject of a lawsuit by the Free Press over it’s WiFi-only restriction. Saved SlingPlayer as well, though you’ll still be forced to buy a new SlingBox if you want to use it…

TreoCentral

We were happy to see that the Treo Pro landed on the Vivo Network in Brazil and would be just as happy to find out it’s hitting Telus in Canada too. Naturally, being Treo fans, we kept a close eye on the Classic emulator story and, as always, kept an eye on the Treo’s growing television stardom!

WMExperts

Last week over at WMExperts.com can be summed up with two four letter words; CTIA and Snap.  The biggest buzz of the show was all about HTC’s newest phone, the QWERTY-based Snap. The 2009 CTIA electronics conference was held last week in Las Vegas and was mostly a Windows Mobile recap from the 2009 Mobile World Congress.  We did run across new Bluetooth accessories from Jabra as well as software updates for Bolt and Iris web browsers.  Celio announced a Beta version of Redfly Mobile Viewer that duplicates your smartphone on your PC.  Combined with the news generated from the 2009 Mobile World Congress, the 2009 CTIA served as a pleasant reminder that 2009 is shaping up to be a very good Windows Mobile year.

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

Best of SPE, CTIA 2009 Edition

iPhone Firmware 3.0 Reveals Video Editing Features

Free iPhone app for 2009 Masters Tournament

AT&T Tees Up 2009 Masters Tournament free with exclusive three-screen coverage from Augusta National Live Feeds and On-Demand Footage. Available Across AT&T U-verse TV, Broadband and Wireless Services.   AT&T today announced its complete three-screen coverage of the 2009 Masters Tournament, available on AT&T U-verseSM TV, the AT&T FanZone and exclusively on AT&T ...

App Review: Nintaii for iPhone

Nintaii Forum Reviews by llofte. For more Forum Reviews, see the TiPb iPhone App Store Forum Review Index!

The Japanese term ‘nintai’ means “patience,” “perseverance,” or “endurance” - all three of these attributes will be needed to play the puzzle game Nintaii. The objective of Nintaii is simple: roll a rectangular block through the board activating switches and going around obstacles in order to deposit the block through the square hole at the end.

Game Play

The Nintaii game board is a maze-like structure built from squares tiles. Your block can be rolled along it’s rectangular sides or to a standing position on its square sides. The challenge is to strategically manipulate the block through the board. There are obstacles, switches, and arrows to hinder and/or help you along the way. In order to activate a switch or arrow, the block must be standing on a square side, as if to be putting down all of it’s weight.

Obstacles/Switches - Throughout each level, you will encounter red blocks in the middle of the course. Activating a switch will move these obstacles up or down. Any given switch may control one or more obstacles, causing some obstacles to go up and others down. As the levels become more difficult, the switches become more complicated.

Arrows - Some squares on the board have an arrow. Standing the block on one will immediately push it to the tile that the arrow is pointing to. Sometimes this helps you position the block to your advantage, other times it makes positioning more difficult.

To complete a level, you must drop the block into the hole. The iPhone vibrates when you do. (There is an option to turn off vibration).

Controls

The controls of Nintaii are simple. Just swipe your finger up, down, left, or right to move the block accordingly. There is also an option to use tilt controls, which are intuitive. If you use tilt controls, you can set them to be continuous or to reset after each move. When set on continuous, if you tilt (for example) left, the block will keep rolling left until you stop tilting. Otherwise, you must tilt left each time you want to roll left. The tilt angle can be changed from settings.

To survey the level, swipe with two fingers or select “Scroll Mode” from the menu. In scroll mode, you only need to use one finger to move around. “Scroll Mode” scrolls through the level much faster than with two fingers. I find two fingers to be too slow; It reminds me of using a mouse set on a very slow speed (i.e., annoying). Another thing I find slightly frustrating is that your block must always be in the center of the screen. You cannot scroll to a different view and move your block while in that view. Many times I have changed my view so I could watch the obstacles move when I landed on a switch, only to have the view change when I moved the block.

Menu/Settings

The choices from the main menu are: Play, Settings, Select Level, Instructions, and About. Play, Instructions, and About are self explanatory. Within Settings you can disable/enable vibration, tilt controls, background music, and tutorials as well as set your background theme to Retro or Modern and set the tilt angle. The attached files compare the two themes.

I played with tutorials enabled but never saw anything other than the following message at the beginning of each level:

The Select Level option allows you to jump to any of the 100 levels regardless if you have beaten it or not. Levels you have completed will have a green check mark, and levels you haven’t will have a red minus sign. HOWEVER, it isn’t initially correct. This screenshot shows what it looked like for me before I engaged in any game play.

As I progressed through levels, check marks appropriately appeared, but it still shows that I’ve completed many more levels than I have.

Conclusion

If you love puzzle games, Nintaii is a must have! Other than the minor issues I mentioned, this game is well polished and will provide hours of fun. Even the background music is calm and relaxing. The concept is simple, the controls are easy, and there are 100 levels of block rolling fun. Nintaii is currently at an introductory price of $0.99, so go snatch it up!

PROS

• Simple Concept
• Easy controls
• 100 levels

CONS

• Two-finger scrolling is slow
• Level completion info is incorrect
• Cannot move block from any view

TiPb Review Rating

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

App Review: Nintaii for iPhone

Next Gen iPhone to Include Video Recording, Editing?

When iPhone 3.0 Beta 1 was released, we saw what looked to be an errant video upload screen. Next it was the apparent ability to receive video MMS. Now more deep diving into the 3.0 beta has turned up resource files that show not only may the next generation iPhone allow not only video recording, but perhaps video editing, including trimming as well. This might be similar to the already surfaced Voice Memo app’s ability to trim audio recordings on device.

Would make a nice addition to that rumored 3.5 or 5 megapixel camera, enhanced CPU and GPU, and fast cell and WiFi networking, wouldn’t it?

[BenM.at via TUAW]

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

Next Gen iPhone to Include Video Recording, Editing?

Next Gen iPhone: 802.11n and Video Editing?

Since the iPhone 3.0 beta release, developers have been digging through the firmware looking for evidence of future iPhones and capabilities. An early finding revealed that a number of unknown iPhone model numbers already appear in the beta firmware...

NY Times op-ed on the hate that dare not text its name: iPhone rejection

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Cult of Mac, iPhone

Considering that it's turned out to be one of the most successful products in consumer electronics history, the volume of nay-saying on the iPhone has been constant and ongoing -- many dismissed the phone when it came out, when it was announced, and even when it was just a glimmer of a hint of a rumor. Now the New York Times Sunday Magazine (and the accompanying blog The Medium) is featuring Virginia Heffernan's tale of hesitancy, anomie and frustration under the surely-not-meant to-draw-online-traffic headline "I Hate My iPhone." Interestingly, just pages away, the paper profiles several successful iPhone developers in a story about the App Store gold rush.

Heffernan's criticisms of the iPhone swing between the rational (the challenge of adapting to the on-screen keyboard, AT&T's mediocre coverage) and the surreal (dislike of the device's "tarty little face" and how it "kept aloof from the animal warmth of my leather wallet"). In fairness, she does admit that she's not thinking particularly clearly. In the end, she returns to the AT&T store where the sales rep seemed to know that she was a troublesome case, and swapped out her iPhone for a Blackberry.

It may be heretical to admit it here, but it's true: the iPhone is not for everyone... excuse me, they've come to take away my fanboy badge, this will take just a second. There, all done; I'm back.

Yes, if you're looking for a high-speed texting and email platform because you live your life in text messaging, the iPhone's keyboard will frustrate you; if you don't care about the incredible universe of apps, the first-rate media player and the best mobile browser, you'd be better off with a Blackberry and a permanent keyboard.

Yes, the iPhone's phone is probably its weakest offering, and the AT&T network has bigger dead zones than Anthony Michael Hall; if you can't tolerate the intermittent dropped call or fuzzy audio (or my personal top annoyance, the "I'm on 3G and my phone just doesn't ring" issue), and you want to focus on the phone, get a free RAZR or shiny Samsung.

In my personal transition from the Blackberry to the iPhone, I found plenty of gotchas and things that took adjustment (#1 is not being able to keep an IM application running in the background, #2 is having to cycle through the home screen to switch apps, and #3 is not being able to easily copy URLs or phone numbers for use elsewhere), but I'm still finding new and enjoyable things about the iPhone every day; my Blackberry was staid and predictable, a useful tool but not a spark of innovation or a way for me to accomplish things I never could do before.

I know there are thousands of unhappy iPhone users, and thousands more who haven't upgraded to the 2.x firmware, visited the App Store or explored one-tenth of the capabilities of their mobile computing platforms. When I saw a family friend a few weeks ago, a lady of a certain age, she was surprised and puzzled when I asked her where she synced her not-that-new iPhone ("I don't understand. If I want to put music or apps on it, I have to connect it to a computer? I have my grandchildren put photos on the phone for me!"). The iPhone isn't for everyone, and there's no judgement in that; you aren't obligated to love it, want it or find it useful. Forgive us, still, if we think that many of you (NY Times columnists excepted) will love it once you try it.

[Hat tip to Apple 2.0]

NY Times op-ed on the hate that dare not text its name: iPhone rejection originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 05 Apr 2009 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

NY Times op-ed on the hate that dare not text its name: iPhone rejection originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 05 Apr 2009 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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CoreCase April Fools Day Sitewide Sale - Everything is $5

If you missed my review of the CoreCase Aluminum Slider for the iPhone 3G, take a look and if you like what you see and read, then today's sitewide $5 sale will blow you away.This is NOT an April Fool's joke...if you don't go now, the joke will be on ...

32GB iPhone coming in June

Daniel Amir, analyst with Lazard Capital Markets released reports that Apple is to begin production of the largest iPhone yet. The model housing 32GB of flash memory and a low-end 3G. Amir discusses the development of the model however says that it may firstly be released in emerging markets of Brazil, ...

iPhone 3.0 BETA Part II

A second beta release of iPhone Software 3.0 is being released with the essential Push Notification Service. The release is being labeled iPhone OS BETA 2 build 7A259.   Main factors are the server side for the Push Notifications feature will be opened gradually to developers. Push Notifications are Apple's way to ...

To quench thirsty iPhone batteries use Mophie Juice Pack

iPhones are thin in the grand scheme of things and you can only pack so much punch into the battery life. If compared to a human, an iPhone is that skinny it needs a good home-cooked meal. If a home-cooked meal is not that easy to find, then an energy beverage ...

Vuzix “Works with iPhone” cable adds 3D to iPhone

Vuzix have announced a "Works with iPhone" certified cable for their full range of AV video eyewear.  The cable not only carries Apple's compatibility branding, but is the first to market to support 3D video in side-by-side, interlaced and anaglyph formats. While 3D content for the iPhone is limited, the iWear ...

4 Track Recording for the iPhone with Four Track

When I was in highschool, I saved all of my money to buy a Tascam 4 track portastudio so I could learn how to record my own songs. One of my friends had one and was creating some really cool music using it. Buying that 4 track machine was my ...