The Competition: Android 2.0 Eclair Screenshot Leaks!

The first screenshots of Google’s upcoming Android 2.0 Eclair OS have leaked and, aside from being a cream-filled, chocolate covered confectionary of a codename, eh… we’re not quite sure what to make of them. They’re better, but are they HTC Sense UI better?

TiPb made no secret about thinking Android 1.0 (did that one have a tasty codename? Snickerdoodle maybe?) looked a tad under-polished, and 2.0 certainly improves on that, and adds in Exchange support (like iPhone 2.0), Facebook integration (like webOS Synergy), improved WebKit browser (as fast as the iPhone 3GS?), maps with data layers (like PlaceBase?), unified email inbox (yes!), YouTube widget, big honking buttons for use while driving, voice control (like iPhone 3GS).

Check out Boy Genius Report for the full gallery and Android Central for Casey’s commentary, then come back and tell us if this is the Android you’ve been looking for…

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

The Competition: Android 2.0 Eclair Screenshot Leaks!

Quick App: Layar (Augmented) Reality Browser for iPhone

Layar Reality Browser [Free - iTunes link] is technically an augmented reality browser for the iPhone 3GS (it depends in large part on the compass to work its wonders).

For the uninitiated, augmented reality typically uses GPS location and internet data to layer information on the screen over live video. In Layar’s case, for example, to show local search results for “pizza” over the restaurants in an intersection you’re looking at on your iPhone.

Whether cool translates into usefulness — we’ll see. But on cool alone, it’s definitely worth a look. (You can also view search results in map and list view, but what’s the fun in that?”

[Layar via TechCrunch]

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

Quick App: Layar (Augmented) Reality Browser for iPhone

iPhone Users Receiving MMS With Incorrect Sender Number

Motorola’s CLIQ & RIM’s Storm2 Coming Soon to Challenge iPhone’s Dominance in the Smartphone Market

Review: Pastie for iPhone

This app makes it easy to send short messages from your iPhone or iPod touch by storing canned text for later use in e-mails or SMS messages.

EyeTV App Error Allows Streaming TV over 3G?

Unlike the recently redeemed VoIP, streaming TV over 3G to an iPhone is still a no-no according to AT&T’s terms of service, but has an error (or “error”) on the part of EyeTV [$4.99 - iTunes link] developer Elgato allowed them to go where SlingPlayer is still forbidden to tread?

Apparently so, if instead of tapping okay to dismiss the warning, you tap the message text instead. Then it’s 3G away you go.

Of course, AT&T lets other devices use SlingPlayer over 3G, and of course Apple’s YouTube app, and apps from Ustream and Stickam stream non-TV over 3G, so who while the whole policy makes the kind of sense that doesn’t, it will be interesting to what reaction, if any, AT&T and Apple have to this little workaround…

[Via AppAdvice - Thanks Tyler!]

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

EyeTV App Error Allows Streaming TV over 3G?

U.S. TV body approves mobile standard

ATSC, which oversees TV standards for the U.S., has approved a standard for mobile digital broadcasts.

Found Footage: iPhone as remote control

Filed under: Accessories, Software, Odds and ends, iPhone, iPod touch

Earlier this week, news of iDriver hit the Internet. In case you missed it, it's an app that was developed by computer science researchers at Berlin's Free University to drive a modified minivan, the "Spirit of Berlin." Steering, break and accelleration commands are sent over Wi-Fi. In the demo video, researchers are driving it around an airport for testing. I'd really like a turn.

Of course, this isn't the first iPhone-controlled vehicle we've seen. Here's a video roundup of iPhone- and iPod touch-powered vehicles both big and small.

[Via Popsci]

Continue reading Found Footage: iPhone as remote control

Found Footage: iPhone as remote control originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 16 Oct 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Found Footage: iPhone as remote control originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 16 Oct 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Developer sells off iPhone apps, gets out of App Store business

New indie outfit BitBQ has purchased iPhone apps FitnessTrack and Emergency Information from developer Second Gear, which is getting out of the iPhone app business.

Review: iPhone Halloween apps

Looking to get revved up for October 31? The App Store offers plenty of Halloween-themed apps aimed at appealing to your inner ghost or goblin. But which ones are worth your time? Lex Friedman sorts through half-a-dozen apps to separate the tricks from the treats.

Apple Seeds Mac OS X 10.6.2 Build 10C527f to Developers

World of Apple reports that Apple has seeded a new version of Mac OS X 10.6.2, termed Build 10C527f, to developers. The new build comes one week after the previous seed of Build 10C519f.

Apple today gave developers the latest built o...

Safari for Windows Receives Prominent Placement on Microsoft’s European ‘Browser Ballot’

Apple's Safari for Windows browser has received some attention today due to a proposal from Microsoft to use a "browser ballot" system to allow users to select Internet browsers for use on their Windows PCs in Europe, where the company has fa...

Gizmodo: App Store Economy a Road to Oblivion?

Gizmodo has an interesting post up on Apple’s iPhone App Store, and how it might be headed straight down the road to oblivion. Their basic take is that downward price pressure, users conditioned by iTunes to expect $1 songs and $2 TV shows, Apple recommending (and wanting) cheaper prices, high development costs with low chances for visibility, all combine to put iPhone (and iPod touch) development on the endangered species list. Further, yesterday’s announcement of in-app purchase for free apps, they argue, makes things like the Top Lists nebulous going forward.

And it doesn’t just apply to the iPhone:

don’t forget, Palm and Android fans, this App Store Effect sends ripples well beyond the App Store. Customers expect to see functionally identical apps priced the same way across platforms, because to us, that’s what makes sense. Can devs really afford to port an app to the webOS to sell to the tens of thousands of Pre owners, when they’re expected to tag it with iPhone prices, calculated for a base of millions? Whether by Apple’s design or totally by accident, everyone who doesn’t own an iPhone will suffer for it.

See their chart, above, showing the pricing differences between platforms. Some would argue the market can correct for anything. If premium developers leave in frustration, users will tire of CrApps, a premium developer will sense the voice, fill it, make a killing, and other premium developers will flock back. Others believe Apple controls the market and so it’s their job to make it as good a market for developers — and ultimately users — as possible through proper policies and procedures (BlackBerry, for example, won’t allow paid apps under $2.99 into the App World).

We’ve all discussed this a lot in the past, and no doubt will continue to discuss it moving forward, but give Giz’s article a read and let us know what you think.

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

Gizmodo: App Store Economy a Road to Oblivion?

Apple Announces In-App Purchase for Free iPhone Apps; Will Allow Users to Upgrade from Demo to Paid iPhone Apps

TapLynx media-based iPhone app builder from NewsGator released

Filed under: Cool tools, iPhone, iPod touch

The iPhone app platform TapLynx from NetNewsWire was released yesterday, after months of anticipation. TapLynx provides you with a way to build media-rich iPhone applications without having to write any code. It's basically NetNewsWire's way of leveraging their RSS expertise along with their iPhone development skills, in the form of Brent Simmons.

Although TapLynx users don't need Cocoa knowledge, if you're a Cocoa developer you can use TapLynx to quickly add media management features to your app. In fact, NewsGator distributes TapLynx as a Software Development Kit, making its development roots fairly obvious. Beyond the ability to customize the user interface and choose the feeds you want your app to display, TapLynx offers the unique feature of being able to do remote updates to the app. This means that you can change a number of things in the app including the look-and-feel without requiring an update to be submitted to the frustratingly slow App Store.

Brent Simmons, the developer behind TapLynx, is the guy behind the perennial Mac favorite RSS reader, NetNewsWire. What many people don't know is that before he did NetNewsWire he worked at UserLand, creating tools for developers. So in some ways this is Brent returning to his roots.

TapLynx media-based iPhone app builder from NewsGator released originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 16 Oct 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

TapLynx media-based iPhone app builder from NewsGator released originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 16 Oct 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Will Apple Meet Quarterly iPhone Sales Expectations Next Week?

Over the past several days, a number of analysts have raised the possibility that Apple may have some trouble meeting expectations for quarterly iPhone sales, currently pegged at about 7 million, at its earnings report scheduled for next Monday.<br /...

Follow Friday Poll: What’s Your Current Go-To iPhone Twitter Client?

What’s your current go-to iPhone Twitter client?(poll)

The iPhone and Twitter go together like peanut butter and chocolate, so it’s no wonder we enjoy an unparalleled quantity and quality of Twitter apps for the iPhone. From the earliest jailbreak version of Twitterrific to the latest releases of Tweetie and Twitbit, with everything from TweetDeck, Twittelator Pro, Birdfeed, SimplyTweet, Echofon/Twitterfon, and even Twitter.com’s mobile site thrown in-between (and that’s not counting the specialty clients like Birdhouse, qStatus, and Reportage), it’s really an embarrassment of riches at this point.

So, to help us sort through all the amazing Twitter apps, we want to know which one you use. Granted, like us you might have several installed — you might even have them all! — but we want to know your primary, number one, go-to Twitter client. If you could only have one, today, which would it be? (And feel free to tell us why, and drop your Twitter user name for Follow Friday in the comments below).

TiPb Twitter Team: @theiphoneblog, @reneritchie (Rene), @backlon (Dieter), @iChadman (Chad), @JFSikora (Jeremy), @jamesus (James), @llofte (Leanna), @JHamilton24 (Josh), @justin_horn (Justin), @msproductions (Matt), @skeetobite (Chris).

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

Follow Friday Poll: What’s Your Current Go-To iPhone Twitter Client?

3GS shortages expected overseas due to demand

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Apple, iPhone

It's like Econ 101 with the iPhone lately, says our old friend Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster. Demand is high, supplies are low, and so shortages are apparently expected. Especially in international markets, there just aren't enough iPhones to go around -- Munster cites a fellow analyst's report that 3 Italia, the Italian company charged with selling Apple's smartphone in that country, is selling 20K iPhones, but could be selling many more if they had the stock to do so.

Of course, they probably don't need to -- iPhone sales are already holding the company up above expectations, and Apple may even be figuring that a little demand never hurt anybody. Why sell a ton of phones when you're already selling more than you expected to? I doubt it's as mysterious as that (they probably expected to sell a certain number and it turns out there are more iPhone fans than they counted on overseas), but even if shortages happen, no one's going to be second guessing Apple's strategy. As far as straight results go for the iPhone, they haven't done anything wrong yet.

[via 9to5Mac]

3GS shortages expected overseas due to demand originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 16 Oct 2009 09:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

3GS shortages expected overseas due to demand originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 16 Oct 2009 09:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Don’t Expect AT&T iPhone Tethering Until 2010

Could it be we won’t see iPhone tethering on AT&T’s network until 2010? 9to5mac recently posted a saying to expect tethering on the network before the end of the year. An AT&T spokesman responded with the following statement:

Just reading again – where did anyone promise tethering by EOY? Where did you see that? We promised MMS by end of summer and ended up being a few days late for that…

More bad news for all of us waiting patiently for the official service, but it’s hard to be optimistic after comments like that, isn’t it? Of course, international iPhone users such as Rene have had this feature for quite some time now making a lot of us AT&T users a bit jealous.

Feel free to vent your frustration in the comments below!

[Via 9to5mac]

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

Don’t Expect AT&T iPhone Tethering Until 2010

Dear Apple: If You’re Releasing a New Wireless Keyboard, Please Make it Work With iPhone

Dear Apple, if you’re releasing a new wireless keyboard, why not take this opportunity to make it work with iPhone? If the rumor-mill is to be believed, you’re set to release new iMacs and Mac Minis (and hopefully a 27″ or 30″ LED display!) perhaps as soon as next week (hey, there was a Spotlight Turns to Notebooks event last October!). And if the FCC filings are accurate, you’ll have a new multitouch mouse and wireless keyboard to go with them. Apple, in the name of everyone whining on the internet for it — let that wireless keyboard work with the iPhone.

You introduced enhanced peripheral functionality last March during the iPhone 3.0 SDK event, including dock and Bluetooth access, but you didn’t add the Bluetooth profile or any drivers for keyboards. That led to many sad, irritated messages sent our way via comments, email, and tweets. Now, with MMS in the US finally off your miss-list, wouldn’t it be nice to scratch external keyboard off that list as well? Since we haven’t even seen a beta for iPhone 3.2 yet, mightn’t you not introduce said drivers there?

No need to answer now. We’ll just wait for your next event (which we’ll be liveblogging right here at TiPb, ‘natch) and hope for the best.

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

Dear Apple: If You’re Releasing a New Wireless Keyboard, Please Make it Work With iPhone