New matte iPhone Video photo leak?

We’re just days away from Apple’s 2009 WWDC, which is expected to announce the new iPhone, but commenting the rumors about what Phil Schiller might be bringing on stage was unavoidable. This time from Nowhere Else's site, that already posted some interesting pictures. SlashGear wrote: The device pictured certainly seems to tick ...

Palm Pre’s WebOS & the iPhone OS - A Conceptual Analysis

One the eve of Apple's World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) and a day after the Palm Pre's launch, I wanted to take some time to step back, shed some light on these two contenders and chime in with my analysis...For purposes of this article, I'll try to just stick to ...

Live Blogging on Apple WWDC 2009 Event Now! Steve Jobs is there!

Will Apple launching a series of new iPhone 2009 with iPhone Video / iPhone 3GS in 4GB, 8GB, 16GB and 32GB? Check out our live blogging now at http://live.slashgear.com!

Apple Unveils iPhone 3Gs with 3 Megapixel Camera, Improved Battery Life

On the WWDC 2009 event, Apple has officially unveiled an upgrade model for its iPhone 3G with iPhone 3Gs. Although there isn't major changes on the hardware design, the iPhone 3Gs has a faster processing speed now and a better camera that supports macro shot, 30fps VGA video recording, auto ...

TomTom introduce full PND navigation to iPhone

TomTom’s turn-by-turn navigation app is one of the most interesting capabilities of Apple iPhone OS 3.0. Both Tomtom's software app and accompanying car kit were announced, complete with Points Of Interest (POIs) and both 2D and 3D mapping. Its major features include: Portrait and landscape modes. The kit will support the iPhone in ...

iPhone 3GS has a videoconferencing kit, too!

As we know, rumors about the front-facing videoconference camera for iPhone 3G S was wrong, but don't worry,  Apple already has a solution: The iPhone 3G S Videoconferencing Kit. The Apple Videoconferencing Kit ultra-shiny surface will be available in June 19 for $29. Apple introduces the iPhone 3G S Videoconferencing Kit WWDC ...

Full video of WWDC 2009 now available

Full video of Phil Schiller keynote speech from Apple's WWDC 2009 is now available online --as usual. So if you’re curious about the new iPhone 3G S, the new MacBook Pro family, and Mac OS X Snow Leopard, head over to watch the full 2hr video.

From the Forums: WWDC 2009 / iPhone 3G S Edition

The smoke has begun to clear now that the WWDC 2009 keynote is over and we finally know all of the details regarding the iPhone 3GS. So - surprise - this From the Forums is all about WWDC and the new iPhone 3G S.

I’ll admit, as soon as Apple gave me the ability to pre-order the new iPhone 3G S, I broke down and ordered right away. Exactly how many of you out there has pre-ordered the latest iPhone goodness to come out of Cupertino?

This next thread was started by dramos9696, and he wants to know what are the major differences between the iPhone 3G and the 3G S. A lot of people like to claim there are no major differences but if you know me at all, you know I will fight tooth and nail to prove you wrong. But take a look at that thread and add anything you see fit.

Frozen001 started this thread, AT&T Strikes Again. Now we here at TiPb don’t understand why AT&T is lagging behind with MMS and tethering but as far as upgrades are concerned it’s pretty simple - if you don’t have a upgrade available to you, you pay the normal price. That’s just the way it is. No one is forcing you to make the purchase. What are you thoughts?

Our final thread was created by Scott R and it is about the iPhone 3G S’s camera. Does it seem too good to be true Scott wonders? TiPb thinks if it performs as well as it looked during the keynote, color us impressed.

There you have it folks, some of the hottest topics on TiPb forums! To get in on the action be sure to register first.

See you on the forums!

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

From the Forums: WWDC 2009 / iPhone 3G S Edition

Apple Design Award Winning iPhone Apps: Tweetie, Topple, MLB at Bat, Wooden Labyrinth, Accuterra

Apple.com has posted up the winners of the WWDC 2009 Apple Design Awards (APA), and specifically for our interests, the iPhone winners. Like last year, a lot of our favorites got the nod. Here they are, with iTunes links where available:

iPhone Developer Showcase:

• MLB.com At Bat 2009 v1.0.1 / MLB.com
  
• Postage v1.0 / Rogue Sheep
• Topple 2 v1.1 / ngmoco:)
  
• Tweetie v1.3.1 / atebits LLC

Best iPhone Student App

• Wooden Labyrinth 3D v1.2.1 / Elias Pietil

Best iPhone OS 3.0 Beta App

• AccuTerra v1.0.0 Beta / AccuTerra

Congrats to everyone and thanks for the great apps!

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

Apple Design Award Winning iPhone Apps: Tweetie, Topple, MLB at Bat, Wooden Labyrinth, Accuterra

Apple Introduces the Next iPhone — But Have They Split the Platform?

Apple has begun their direct email campaign for the iPhone 3G S saying:

Phone 3G S features a remarkable new video camera and hands-free Voice Control. It’s a revolutionary phone, a great widescreen iPod, and a breakthrough Internet device in one. And it opens up a whole new world of applications. All that and more makes it the best iPhone yet.

It’s that second to last sentence that drew our attention. New world of applications? What does that mean for the old world? More after the break…

Up until now, pretty much every application released for the iPhone worked on all models of the iPhone, 2G and 3G. Sure, 3G had GPS where 2G did not, but thanks to CoreLocation, apps could fall back on cell tower triangulation or Wi-Fi router mapping to get by.

Things are a bit trickier when we include iPod touch, as both generations also lack GPS (but have Wi-Fi router mapping at least) and a built in microphone (though a headset mic will get you by), the first gen lacks Bluetooth (3.0 will unlock the previously hidden Bluetooth in the second gen), and the second gen adds Nike+.

iPhone 3G S also adds Nike+, to the aforementioned video recording and voice control, along with faster processors, accessibility options like VoiceOver, faster processors, and the digital compass.

Video will still downgrade to still camera, voice control to physical screen taps, and the digital compass to accelerometer and CoreLocation voodoo, and the faster processor to, well, slower processing. But the question becomes, when will the differences be enough?

So far we haven’t seen developers or users have to worry too much about app compatibility between devices, but at some point that will change more significantly. For example, if some developers — especially game developers — start targeting the faster processors to get better quality games, will that encourage users to upgrade to the latest hardware or just p!$$ them off?

It’ll happen eventually. One year Apple will release a future iPhone that’s so different from the original iPhone 2G that — like with the Mac today — we’ll see “only compatible with…” start to appear even on iPhone OS firmware. Heck, Apple already says iPhone 2G and iPhone 3G hardware are different enough that they’re not devoting resources to putting MMS or A2DP Stereo Bluetooth on the original iPhone.

Is iPhone 3G S one more step down the platform splitting path?

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

Apple Introduces the Next iPhone — But Have They Split the Platform?

Snow Leopard H.264 Hardware Acceleration and OpenCL Requirements

Apple's Mac OS X Snow Leopard specs page also reveals a number of other details about hardware support for both H.264 acceleration and OpenCL.

MacRumors had previously reported that the latest MacBook Pros offered hardware acceleration...

Mac OS X Snow Leopard Does Require Intel Processors

Despite all the reports that Mac OS X Snow Leopard would only support Intel machines, some users held onto hope that PowerPC chips might be supported. Apple, however, has posted the technical requirements for the upcoming Mac OS X operating system a...

iPhone 3G S supports OpenGL ES 2.0, but 3G only supports 1.1 — will the App Store splinter?

When we were breaking down the meaty differences between the old-school 3G and the 3G S yesterday, we made an assumption about support for OpenGL ES 2.0 3D graphics APIs in the original iPhone 3G based on the fact that it had been available in the iPhone OS 3.0 SDK for several betas. Turns out, though, that the graphics processor in the 3G S -- the PowerVR SGX -- supports hardware acceleration of both OpenGL ES 1.1 and 2.0 while the more pedestrian PowerVR MBX found in the iPhone 3G supports 1.1 alone.

What does this mean to you? OpenGL ES is the lightweight version of OpenGL, a powerful library of real-time 3D rendering APIs; many modern phones and other handheld devices support the older 1.1 specification, but 2.0 is less common -- it kicks things up a notch by supporting more complex textures and shading operations, which basically means games written to support it look more badass. Here's the problem, though: because OpenGL ES 1.1 and 2.0 are completely incompatible with each other, apps need to be written to support both if they're going to be maximally compatible. A 2.0-only app can't simply run on a 1.1-only device and not look as good -- it won't work at all.

Here's where it gets interesting. The App Store has already splintered a bit with certain applications being unavailable to iPod Touch users (dialers, for example), but language in Apple's iPhone SDK documentation leads us to believe that the company eventually intends to begin allowing it to splinter even among iPhone models, maybe as soon as the 3G S is released. That is, they'll allow apps that are only compatible with the 3G S because they're written to take advantage of OpenGL ES 2.0 and don't offer a 1.1 fallback:

"When designing your OpenGL ES application, the first question you must answer is whether your application will support OpenGL ES 1.1, OpenGL ES 2.0, or both... Your application should target OpenGL ES 1.1 if you want to support all iPhones and iPod touches."

Realistically, it was bound to happen; platform aside, hardware is always improving, and it's paralyzingly difficult to require that all apps be compatible with all of a platform's devices regardless of age -- particularly when it comes to gaming. We imagine this'll be an issue with apps taking advantage of the 3G S' other specific features like the magnetic compass and video recording support, too. Question is, what'll be that must-have game (or compass, we suppose) that spurs stubborn 3G owners into shelling out a few hundred bucks they didn't intend to?

Filed under: Cellphones, Gaming, Handhelds

iPhone 3G S supports OpenGL ES 2.0, but 3G only supports 1.1 -- will the App Store splinter? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Jun 2009 05:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Review: Cisco WebEx Meeting Center for iPhone

A recent update has resolved most of the limitations of the original version of Cisco WebEx Meeting Center, making this an ideal solution for hosting and attending meetings from your mobile device.