SMS texting and voicemail support come with latest Skype update

Filed under: iPhone, App Store

Skype (iTunes link) has been updated to 1.1, which brings it some new features making it more closely resemble its desktop sibling. So, what's new? Well, there's now support for Skype voicemail (subscription needed) and SMS text messaging.

However, SMS texting is not bidirectional. Which means that you can send SMS texts, but not receive them. And while a dialog box states that sent SMS texts will show up as sent from the sender's Skype screen name, in my case it displayed the "999-99" caller ID that typically accompanies calls from a Skype-based client. Perhaps that's because I don't have a SkypeIn number?

The 1.1 update also provides additional language support as well as more help when dialing phones.

SMS texting and voicemail support come with latest Skype update originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 30 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

SMS texting and voicemail support come with latest Skype update originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 30 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iPhone making a splash in the arts

Filed under: Cult of Mac, Odds and ends, iPhone

Not too long ago we told you about an artist creating a cover for the New Yorker magazine using a paint program on the iPhone. Now an Australian photographer has won an award for a photo he took on his iPhone.

Steve Turner created a rather striking collection of images he put together, and manipulated to create a print that caught the eye of the judges at the Photo Marketing Association show in Sydney.

I tried to contact the photographer, and we had a brief email back and forth. He's traveling so I don't have too many details and the time difference between us has made communications spotty. His messages, of course, are all coming via iPhone. Steve says he has about $200,000 worth of camera equipment but loves shooting on the iPhone. He used CameraBag for the effects, and scaled the photos up on his Mac at his studio. If you go to Steve's web site you'll see the photo pop up. It's the photo with 9 small images and a larger image of a car. His non- iPhone work is pretty impressive as well. My guess is the image was taken with the older 2MP camera, allowing for time to submit his photo for consideration, but it is impressive.

There's just no predicting how creative people can be even if the equipment is not top notch. As I remember learning some years ago from an instructor in a photography course when I was complaining about my little camera, 'If Ansel Adams uses my camera, he gets great pictures. If I get his camera, not so much.' Great lesson for us all, and congrats Steve.

Thanks to photographer Gavin Blue for the tip

iPhone making a splash in the arts originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 29 Jun 2009 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

iPhone making a splash in the arts originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 29 Jun 2009 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Found Footage: More new Stack features for jailbreak iPhones

Filed under: iPhone, iPod touch, Jailbreak/pwnage

Looks like Stack for Jailbreak has some new improvements. For those of you unfamiliar with the application, Stack adds a quick-launch menu directly to your iPhone dock, letting you expand your dock space to hold all your favorite apps. With it you can add 16 items (using grid view) or 5 items (in fan view) for easy access in each stack. And stacks are not just limited to the dock. You can add stacks anywhere in the home screen as well.

As this video shows, you can now rename your stacks as well as use drag and drop editing. So you can create a 'Games' stack, an 'Internet' stack, and so forth. Removing items from a stack is just as easy as adding them. Just drag them out from the stack for an Apple-standard "puff of smoke" animation.

Stack, which is developed by iPhone expert Steven Troughton-Smith is donor-ware. Although not ready for public release, he has regularly been seeding early alpha builds to people who have donated to the project. But as you can see, it's making great progress.

Stack is a jailbreak-only product as Apple does not permit this kind of OS-based enhancement in App Store. That's a pity, because the relative difficulty and fear of jailbreaking keeps this kind of groundbreaking software away from the general public. It's an enhancement that Apple really should have built into the iPhone -- and hopefully someday will.

Found Footage: More new Stack features for jailbreak iPhones originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 29 Jun 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Found Footage: More new Stack features for jailbreak iPhones originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 29 Jun 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Doom Resurrection released for iPhone, iPod touch

Doom Resurrection, a new Doom game from Id Software, is available for download from the App Store.

Review: President for iPhone

Part who's-who, part search tool, part news app, President gives activists, journalists and interested citizens a one-stop shop of vital data on the current presidential administration.

Two years with the iPhone

Filed under: Cult of Mac, Apple, iPhone

On June 29, 2007, Apple and AT&T released the iPhone for $600 to crowded stores throughout the United States. A whole lot has changed in the iPhone-world in just 2 short years. The 1.0 software is just a distant memory, and looking back I'm a little surprised how limited the original iPhone was at release. I thought for the 2-year anniversary, we could take a little walk down memory lane and see how far things have come.

Apple announced the iPhone at Macworld in January 2007, explicitly stating they were doing it because otherwise the FCC would have outed them. Cingular/AT&T was named as the exclusive carrier. The phone would cost $600, which was a completely unsubsidized price.

Continue reading Two years with the iPhone

Two years with the iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 29 Jun 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Two years with the iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 29 Jun 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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What Were You Using Before the iPhone?

Inspired by Gruber, who was rocking the Nokia freebiephone, on the eve of the original iPhone’s 2nd birthday, we want to know:

What were you using before the iPhone?

(I was on a Treo 680 that crashed almost as often as it successfully made or received calls).

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

What Were You Using Before the iPhone?

Step-By-Step Guide to Jailbreak iPhone 3G running iPhone OS 3.0 using Redsn0w (Mac)

Fake Steve Also Returns

With the return of Steve Jobs to Apple comes the return of Fake Steve to the interwebs. Fake Steve also returns to being bitingly satirical, something that had been lacking before its own hiatus. Recent gems include the excoriation of the New York Times, and lambasting Palm (twice) for focusing on Apple rather than the Pre in their own advertisements:

Do you remember what the ads for the original iPhone looked like? You remember seeing anything in those ads about the BlackBerry or the Treo? No. It was a whole new thing — sui generis, as the French say. It had to be. If all we could do was to make a slightly less s****y BlackBerry, and offer it for a few bucks less than what RIM was charging, we would not have bothered to make the product.

(Though he may be reaching in his claims of just how far Jon Rubinstein will go to be like “him”.)

If you’re easily offended, stay clear. Otherwise, enjoy it while it lasts…

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

Fake Steve Also Returns

Rumor: iPhone 3.0.1 Already on iPhone 3GS. iPhone 3.1 to Fix Bugs, Battery Charger Problems?

I recently tried out a friend’s battery charger case and my iPhone 3GS began to buzz and flash between locked, wallpaper, and temperature warning screens.

Not to be all Wall Street Journal about it, but according to sources in a position to know, this is not an uncommon problem and Apple is set to address it in the next firmware update, which should be coming soon — 3.1.

3.1 you ask? It’s what we asked as well, and were told the iPhone 3GS is already running what’s considered 3.0.1 and the next update would likely be 3.1 (though 3.0.2 or an “official” cross device 3.0.1 still sounds more like as a bug fix release to us).

Consider it a rumor for now, but at the very least, if your charging case is giving you headaches, rest assured help is on the way.

(And it’s recommended you don’t use it until the problem is addressed).

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

Rumor: iPhone 3.0.1 Already on iPhone 3GS. iPhone 3.1 to Fix Bugs, Battery Charger Problems?

Apple agrees to produce standard phone charger in Europe

Apple has joined with nine other mobile phone manufacturers in standardizing phone chargers on the micro-USB connection.

Steve Jobs Returns

Welcome back.

[via CNN]

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

Steve Jobs Returns

What iPhone hardware feature or accessory do you want most?

We're surveying our followers on Twitter about their iPhone use. Today's installment covers the hardware features and accessories people would most like to see.

Keep an eye on your website’s Google serp’s on your iPhone with SEO Search Ranking iPhone App.

Here’s a great little app for all you webmasters out there that like to keep track on your websites search engine results position on Google that won’t break the bank. SEO Search Ranking allows you to easily monitor your websites’ search engine ranking for unlimited amount of keywords. Key features: - Unlimited websites - Unlimited keywords - History of your [...]

Apple supporting universal European handset chargers

Filed under: Accessories, Hardware, iPhone

Last week I ordered my iPhone 3GS from the AT&T Store (no Apple Stores out here in the boonies). Five days later it was ready to be picked up and I drove out to the mall to get it.

While the AT&T employee activated it and performed the soul-stealing voodoo that accompanies a new sale, a woman at the next counter was exchanging her own AT&T phone (not an iPhone). I only heard a part of her conversation, but it went something like this:

"Can I use my old adapter with this one?"

"No, m'am. You'll have to buy a new one."

"What about my car charger?"

"No, that will need to be replaced, too."

"Ugh. OK. I'll just throw them away."

What a nuisance. She's got to spend extra money and those plastic and electronic doodads will occupy the bottom of a landfill until The End Of Days. The problem is even worse in the Europen Union. Fortunately, a group of manufacturers, including Apple, is working to change that. Apple, Nokia and Research in Motion have agreed to support a European Union-backed initiative to standardize these devices across the EU. It's a good idea that would benefit consumers and the environment.

The agreement is limited to smartphones for now, but if all goes well, will be expanded in 2012. Good luck to everyone involved.

Apple supporting universal European handset chargers originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 29 Jun 2009 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Apple supporting universal European handset chargers originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 29 Jun 2009 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Stock-looking MMS support hacked onto 2G iPhone

Way back in the heady days of 2007, there was an iPhone without 3G data (hard to believe, we know, but trust us -- we were there). This iPhone, though revolutionary in some ways, was marred by the love-hate relationship its users suffered for missing out on some very basic features that they'd grown used to on mobiles of yore. One of those missing features, of course, was MMS -- and now, some two years later, here we are with a truly integrated MMS experience courtesy of the all-powerful hacking community. Granted, there have been MMS apps available for ages, but there's a difference: this is the same action 3G and 3GS owners are getting in conjunction with OS 3.0, which Apple curiously decided to hold back from original iPhone owners. As you might imagine, getting this going on your own phone is marginally more complicated than downloading from the App Store, so here's the question, you non-upgraders: just how badly do you want it?

[Thanks, Paul]

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Stock-looking MMS support hacked onto 2G iPhone originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 29 Jun 2009 12:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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PhoneSuit to turn iPhone, iPod touch into portable projector

PhoneSuit plans to introduce the PhoneSuit MiLi Pro in September. The handheld video projector is an accessory for the iPhone and iPod touch.

Apple Confirms: Steve Jobs Back at Work

Bloomberg has received confirmation from Apple that Steve Jobs has returned to work at Apple following his liver transplant, currently working part-time at the company's headquarters in Cupertino and part-time from home. Jobs reportedly returned to ...

TUAW First Look: Cellar puts your wine collection in your pocket

Filed under: iPhone

Beverage choice should be simple: coffee or tea to rev up, wine or beer to spin down (App Store links). Of course, when it comes to drink choices, there's definitely an app for that: from the makers of espresso-instructions app Barista, we now have the $0.99 Cellar (under App Store review and appearing momentarily). Cellar's slick UI and quick data entry make keeping track of your wine library almost as fun as actually drinking the wine you collect.

When you start up Cellar, you face an empty winerack; you can add bottles one by one, entering both vintage details and customizing the look/label of the bottles with photos of the bottle labels. You can adjust the number of bottles of each kind of vino you have stored away, and then as you polish them off the 'empties' are stored in the Garage area of the app for reference or repurchase.

Cellars isn't an industrial-strength wine database or collection manager (My Wine or Velvet Vine Wine Pro might be better choices there, or a general-purpose database like Bento), but it is a handy way to remember what you've bought and liked. I'd like to see future versions support importing label images from the photo library (for iPod touch users) or download them from online wine libraries.

Check out the gallery for more Cellar shots.

TUAW First Look: Cellar puts your wine collection in your pocket originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 29 Jun 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

TUAW First Look: Cellar puts your wine collection in your pocket originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 29 Jun 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Not sure whether your local store has the iPhone 3GS? Use this tool

If you are interested in purchasing an iPhone 3GS, but are not sure about whether your local Apple store has any in stock then the Apple iPhone 3GS availability Web tool is for you. According to the page: “The Apple Retail Store likely has your iPhone 3GS in stock. You can check the most up-to-date availability [...]