iPhone OS 3.0 Beta 5 Released & AT&T to Lower Monthly Fees?

Yesterday in an somewhat out of normal release schedule, Apple released iPhone OS 3.0 Beta 5....just 8 days after the release of Beta 4. This is most likely due to the upcoming World Wide Developers Conference in early June as Apple needs to complete the OS's feature set. As some ...

Next Gen iPhone Details…

From what seems to be a questionable post from a forum poster at a Chinese site, it seems that the 3rd generation iPhone may be a small upgrade. So far, the features unveiled are:600 Mhz CPU256 Mb RamDigital Compass & FM tuner3.2 MP Camera w/autofocus32 GB Flash StorageNo changes to ...

SlingPlayer Mobile Appears in AppStore

On Wednesday, after what seemed to be forever in the techworld, Sling Media's SlingPlayer  appeared in the iTunes AppStore.  And, although the hotly anticipated app does allows users to watch TV over the internet, it does come at a heavy cost to the network and the wallet.First off, before we ...

Get iSwipe FREE with Merchant Account Signup!

I just got word from AppNinja's that they are running a special promo where you can get iSwipe for FREE by signing up for a Merchant account through their website. They are offering this to the first 30 customers until the end of May. Details and more on their website. ...

Job listing reveals upcoming processors & graphics for iPhone

Everything can be used as a clue for the next gen iPhone --this time is Apple job listing: “The successful candidate will have excellent understanding and knowledge of processor architecture, specifically ARM and its vector unit NEON. Additional Intel SSE or PowerPC AltiVec is also very helpful. Being able to ...

AT&T lowering iPhone costs?

BusinessWeek says that AT&T may offer a limited data plan with a $10 monthly reduction.  Since AT&T has been widely criticized for the cost of the iPhone plans since the device was first released, the report speculates that it's a part of the negotiations to keep AT&T as the exclusive ...

Gmail for iPhone gets labels

Awesome. Google has added labels to Gmail for iPhone, allowing users to use color-coded tags to manage their inbox. The new Gmail for mobile supports iPhone/iPod Touch OS 2.2.1 or above. To label an email, select a message then tap 'Label as..." from the drop-down menu on the Floaty Bar. In ...

Kindle for iPhone 1.1 released

Amazon updated its free Kindle app for the iPhone, adding features that many people been waiting for. The version 1.1 features include the ability to pinch to zoom in on images in Kindle books, to read in either portrait or landscape mode with auto-rotation and added a couple of new ...

Apple doubles iPhone market share

The newest data from research firm Gartner shows that Apple's share of global smartphone market more than double on a year-over-year basis during the first quarter of the year --grew from 5.3 percent to 10.8 percent and (in term of unit sales) jumped from 1.7 million to 3.9 million. While the ...

What Will Apple’s Next Generation iPhone 2,1 be Called?

I was hoping Apple’s third generation iPhone — widely expected to be announced at WWDC 2009 — would have a huge screen and lend itself perfectly to the name iPhone HD. After all, Apple has been promoting HD a lot lately with their iTunes offerings.

Absent that huge screen, however, the last Phone different podcast had Dieter and I wondering what else Apple could have up their black, turtle-necked sleeves when it comes to branding?

• iPhone 4G would require 4G LTE wireless networks, which haven’t even begun to be rolled out yet, so last year’s scheme is out.
• iPhone 3.5/3.9G is likewise a non-starter. HSPA+ radio or not, that’s just too inelegant for Apple,
• iPhone 32GB is what the telco leaks have been splashing all over the internet. This too seems unlikely, as it paints Apple into every bit as much of a techno-corner as the radio-based names.
• iPhone Pro fits with Mac Pro and MacBook Pro (and even Final Cut Pro), but Dieter points out that beyond my little Apple-verse, that terms is already used and abused by Palm Treo Pro, HTC Touch Pro, and a variety of other stylus-wielding Windows Phones. That alone might sour Apple.
• iPhone, sans descriptor is always a possibility. After all, it’s not iMac X, Y, or Z, it’s just iMac. Whether internal documents say iPhone 2,1 or iPhone 3rd Generation, Apple could be ballsy enough at this point to just stick with the unadorned moniker.

What do you think, one of the above or something else entirely? Come WWDC, when Schiller or Joz or whomever whips out that new iPhone, what are they going to call it?

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

What Will Apple’s Next Generation iPhone 2,1 be Called?

Quick App: Zen Jar Karmic Social Networking for iPhone

Zen Jar looks like an interesting experiment in social networking. You write something, send it off into the iPhone inter-ether, and see what karma — good or bad — other users ascribe to it. Personally, I prefer the direct bludgeoning I take for ill-conceived comments on Twitter, but for those tiring of the same-old micro-blogging, status-updating experience, Zen Jar is certainly an alternative. It comes in Lite (Free - iTunes link) and Paid ($0.99 - iTunes link), and you can check out Bela’s review in our iPhone Apps & Games forum for more.

If you give it a whirl, let us know how your karma turns out — mellow harshened, or child-like sense of wonder restored?

Namaste!

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

Quick App: Zen Jar Karmic Social Networking for iPhone

New Yorker cover drawn entirely on an iPhone

Artist Jorge Colombo used the iPhone app Brushes to create this week's New Yorker magazine cover.

Next Gen iPhone Icon in iPhone OS 3.0 SDK Reveals No Major Physical Changes?

Cartier kerfuffle bags bogus bangles

Filed under: iPhone, App Store, iPod touch

French jeweler / watchmaker Cartier provided some unexpected humor over the long Memorial Day weekend after the company filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against Apple regarding two iPhone apps. The lawsuit and the quick response by Apple were covered by the Wall Street Journal in several posts and noted briefly in our weekend news roundup.

A small iPhone development shop, Digitopolis Game Studio, had created two apps -- Fake Watch and Fake Watch Gold Edition -- that showed the time on a choice of high-end timepieces. Among the "watches" were images of Cartier's luxury "Tank" watch. Although the free Fake Watch app had first appeared in January of 2009, Cartier apparently didn't notice until Friday, when lawyers representing the company filed suit against Apple for allowing the apps to be sold in the App Store.

Apple's response was quick; they pulled the apps from the U.S. App Store almost immediately. Cartier responded late Friday by withdrawing their lawsuit, stating that their "concerns had been addressed".

What do you think? Did Cartier have a valid concern that their trademark was being infringed upon or do you think they ought to spend more time chasing down the guys selling Cartier knockoffs in Times Square? Leave your comments below.

Cartier kerfuffle bags bogus bangles originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 25 May 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Cartier kerfuffle bags bogus bangles originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 25 May 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Review: Little Red Sled for iPhone

This downhill racing game is fun, but it would be even better with more emphasis on the racing part.

Can you believe it? New Yorker cover done on iPhone app.

Filed under: iPhone, Graphic Design, App Store, iPod touch

Looking at the cover of the June 1 New Yorker Magazine it is pretty hard to believe that it was created with a US$4.99 app on an iPhone.

The app is Brushes [App Store] and it allows painting on the iPhone /iPod touch screen using your fingers and a variety of brush styles. If you have a Mac, you can export your work at resolutions up to 1920x2880. The app also saves a record of your brushstrokes and other actions and can replay them on your Mac. The artist who did the New Yorker cover, Jorge Colombo, obviously has impressive talent. You can see some of his other iPhone work here.

Colombo told the New York Times he loves the app because it "made it easy for me to sketch without having to carry all my pens and brushes and notepads with me, and I like the fact that I am drawing with a set of tools that anybody can have easily in their pocket."

This video will show you a stroke by stroke look at how the cover was created.

If you're looking for more info on this app try the developer site here. Another similar app at the same price is Colors, [App Store] which has also been responsible for some impressive artwork.

Wow. Just wow.

Can you believe it? New Yorker cover done on iPhone app. originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 25 May 2009 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Can you believe it? New Yorker cover done on iPhone app. originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 25 May 2009 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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CES expands iPod, iPhone exhibit space at next year’s show

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Software, Odds and ends, Other Events, Apple, Developer, iPhone, App Store

CES expands iPod, iPhone exhibit space at next year's show originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 25 May 2009 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

CES expands iPod, iPhone exhibit space at next year's show originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 25 May 2009 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Artist Paints Cover for New Yorker Magazine — on iPhone!

The New Yorker (via Engadget Mobile) has an amazing cover for their June issue that was painted… on an iPhone!

Jorge Colombo used the app, Brushes ($4.99 - iTunes link) to create the work. He told the New York Times that the iPhone:

“made it easy for me to sketch without having to carry all my pens and brushes and notepads with me, and I like the fact that I am drawing with a set of tools that anybody can have easily in their pocket,” he said. There is one other advantage of the phone, too: no one notices he is drawing. Mr. Colombo said he stood on 42nd Street for about an hour with no interruptions.

The editors liked the more organic, dream-like quality of the iPhone image, not as sharp or technical as typical electronic renderings.

We like it too.

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

Artist Paints Cover for New Yorker Magazine — on iPhone!

Kids Corner App Review: 100 Sounds

(100 Sounds Forum Review by cjvitek For more Forum Reviews, see the TiPb iPhone App Store Forum Review Index!)

This is going to be a fairly short review. 100 sounds is just what you would think it is: hundreds of various sounds effects to play on your iPhone (more than 100!). They are organized alphabetically by name, and to hear a sound, you simply tap the name of the sound.

There are various settings you can adjust – having a sound repeat, having a time delay, and utilizing the shake to replay a sound or choose a random sound effect. The sounds themselves are varied – ranging from things like airplace, air raid sirens, and clapping to more abstract sounds like “correct”, down, “ouch”, or ditty. Some of the sounds are clear and concise, some are a little more difficult to comprehend. The previously mentioned “ouch” for example, sounded like someone with a helium voice saying ouch in 1/10th of a second!

This app was billed as being fun for kids, but one of the problems I found was that unless the kid can read (which my daughter can’t do yet), there is no way to identify the sounds. Having some sort of icon or image associated with the sounds would be much more fun for kids. Also, some of the sounds could be stretched out somewhat. A sound effect that lasts less than one second (in some cases) seems sort of pointless to me.

It would also be cool to be able to view categories out sounds – animals, human, speech, machine, abstract, etc. That might help clarify some of the more random sounds effect – for example, is the “fabulous” effect – is that someone saying “fabulous”, or is it some musical effect that is supposed to denote “fabulous”. (It turns out it is the former, but that isn’t always the case).

The quality of the sounds are very good, although some of them were a little short (as I mentioned before). For the most point, I could make out what the sounds was supposed to be very easily. One nice feature that they are offering is that they will email you a ringtone of 5 sounds effects if you like. This is nice, since some of these could make cool ringtones (I don’t know why Apple won’t let an app make a ringtone!)

The last feature that I think would be really cool would allow a user to program their own sound track. Create a routine of sound effects (which effects, how long, et) that you could start and it would play over a certain length of time.

The breadth of sound effects included in this app are nice – much better than the previous sound effects app I downloaded. But there are a few “tweaks” that could be utilized to make the app better organized and more enjoyable. It is my hope that eventually 100 sounds will continue to add effects, even ones that may seem redundant so you can have more than one option for each type.

Pros:

• Nice array of sound effects available

Cons:

• More organization options,
• images for kids would be nice

(Note: the developer responds in the forum thread)

All in all, the sounds effects app does exactly what it claims to be – a repository of sounds effects. Some of them are fun, some of them are a little random, but there is a nice library available. There could be better organization, or since it is listed as a kids app it could have better identification for kids, but for general use this is a nicely designed app. At $.99, the price is not prohibitive and if you wanted to create your own sound track, this app can help you out.

TiPb Review Rating

[<a href="100 Sounds is available for $0.99 via the iTunes App Store]

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

Kids Corner App Review: 100 Sounds

Weekend Rumor: Next iPhone stats coming into focus

Our favorite rumor for the holiday weekend comes from John Gruber and the Daring Fireball site. One of the best things about this one is that Gruber is said to have a quite strong track record for his Apple-related predictions. And he has some very positive thoughts on what’s in store for us with the [...]