iPhone Launching Big in South Korea

An AP story indicates that the lead up to the iPhone launch in South Korea on Saturday is a much bigger event than the China launch. KT Corp. reported 53,000 iPhone pre-orders prior to the Korean launch day.

These numbers suggest that ...

Get a New iPhone or iPod touch for Black Friday? Here’s What You Need Next!

So you just picked up a new refurb iPhone 3GS or discount iPod touch G3 for Black Friday, and you’re eager to know what to do with it next? TiPb’s got you covered. Here are some helpful tips and tricks, apps and accessories, and reviews and overviews to get new users on their way. (Or, if you’re already a pro, to send to those new users who would otherwise be bugging you all night for help).

Know Your iPhone (or iPod!)

• iPhone 3GS Hardware
• iPod touch G3 hardware
• iPhone OS 3.1 Walkthrough
• iPhone OS 3.0 Walkthrough
• iPhone Help and How-to Guides
• Jailbreak and Unlock Resources

ABCs — Apps, Bluetooth, and Cases

• TiPb’s Top 5 Must-Have iPhone Accessories
• TiPb’s Top 5 Apps Series
• TiPb’s Staff Picks of the Week Series

Finally, the Forums

• iPhone and iPod touch Discussion and Help Forums

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

Get a New iPhone or iPod touch for Black Friday? Here’s What You Need Next!

Busted Palm Online Service Reminds Us Again to Backup, Backup, Backup

Palm recently had a problem with online profiles, and following on the infamous Sidekick failure, it becomes yet another cautionary tale and reminder for us all — backup, backup, backup.

That’s right, the process so nice vitally important we repeated it thrice. Yep, data doesn’t exist if it it isn’t in at least three places: source (device), local backup, and offsite backup (which can be the “cloud” or it can be a little USB hard drive you take to work or leave at the parents’ place). Your device can be lost, stolen, or bricked. Your local backup can error out or burn up or get flooded, and the cloud can eat your data. Having all three puts the odds of having one available version considerably more in your favor.

iPhone users rely on MobileMe, or Google services like Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Contacts, etc., and since the App Store lets us re-download applications we’ve bought, some even rely on that as de facto cloud-storage for our priceless personal information and our costly purchases.

iTunes automatically backs up your iPhone to your PC hard disk. If you have an automated backup to a second hard drive (including Time Machine), along with MobileMe, Google, or a dedicated online backup service, good on ya. You’re doing it right.

If you don’t, set it up now. 1 second after failure is an eternity too late.

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

Busted Palm Online Service Reminds Us Again to Backup, Backup, Backup

AT&T Now Offering iPhone 3GS Refurbs Online

Just in time for the holidays AT&T is now offering up refurbished iPhone 3GS devices online for a discounted price with free overnight shipping and no activation fee. Both 16GB and 32GB flavors are offered as well as both black and white models.

The 16GB model is on sale for $49 while the 32GB is going for a cool $149.00. Of course the regular two-year contract is mandatory along with new activation if you want these low prices.

If any of you are in the market for a iPhone 3GS on the cheap, this is the deal you may have been looking for. Any takers?

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

AT&T Now Offering iPhone 3GS Refurbs Online

Motorola’s Brand Loyalty Among Men 18+ Passes Apple

According to a study, Motorola recently surpassed Apple in brand loyalty among men 18 years old and up since the release of the Droid on the Verizon network. The study by YouGov’s BrandIndex scale ranges from -100 to 100 and is based on weekday interviews with 2,000 interviews per day from a panel of 250,000 people.

This past week Apple has dropped from a November peak high of 48.1 to 22 and Motorola is staying strong with 29.3 with an error margin of +/- 2 percent. The real loser in all of this? Research and Motion and their BlackBerry smartphones as they have dropped to a lonely 9 in the study.

All of this may have started from the much talked about Verizon map and Droid commercials. It would seem that the first round of the Verizon vs AT&T battle has gone in favor of Big Red and Motorola. It should be interesting to see if the latest iPhone commercials will be able to swing things back into Apple’s favor.

[Via AppleInsider]

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

Motorola’s Brand Loyalty Among Men 18+ Passes Apple

4iThumbs: Screen Overlay to Make Your Touch Screen Typing Easier

Review: Addicus for the iPhone

Addicus, an arcade puzzle from Get Set Games, looks like Super Mario Brothers (toadstools, green grass, blue skies) but tests your 1st grade addition skills instead of your princess-saving prowess.

Is your iPhone your wingman for Black Friday?

Filed under: Cool tools, Deals, iPhone, App Store

Happy Turkey Hangover Day -- or, as it's otherwise known, shopping chaos day 2009. As Mike S. noted earlier, Business Week is calling this season "mobile shopping's first Christmas," and indeed there are plenty of shopper-assist apps in the App Store to help you plot, plan and navigate your gift-grabbing course:

• Apple's collection of essential Black Friday apps
• The full suite of apps in the store tagged 'Black Friday'
• ReadWriteWeb's shopper hints and app list
• CNET's list of Black Friday apps
• The BF app from our deal partners at dealnews [iTunes link]
• The $2.99 MallMaps [iTunes link], which has been featured in scores of breathless news reports and is now the #1 reference app in the US store

Meanwhile, the App Store itself isn't immune to sales fever: plenty of games and other apps have reduced or free prices for the weekend. There are also plenty of discounts on Mac apps as well.

What we'd like to know is this: Did any of this advanced technology improve your experience out in the field today? Did you use Twitter to share bargains or Loopt to track your buddies down? Did MMS give you the power to send pictures of presents to your spouse, or did RedLaser [iTunes link] help you find a better price at the next destination? Give us the scoop in the comments below; we'll highlight the most intriguing shopping stories in future posts.

Photo via Flickr / plain_jane53177 http://www.flickr.com/photos/10558398@N02/ / CC BY-ND 2.0

Is your iPhone your wingman for Black Friday? originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 27 Nov 2009 12:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Is your iPhone your wingman for Black Friday? originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 27 Nov 2009 12:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Improve Your Golf Game with Golfshot: Golf GPS App for the iPhone

Every golfer on the planet is susceptible to buying gadgets that will help them improve their game. Unfortunately, most of them end up in the closet with all of the rest of the scams that do nothing more than make us look like fools out on the course. Well the iPhone has an app that [...]

Review: Derek Jeter Real Baseball for iPhone

All too often, Derek Jeter Real Baseball fails to live up to its title -- there's not much realism in this flawed baseball game.

ReelDirector can spiff up your holiday iPhone videos

Filed under: Multimedia, Video, iPhone, App Review

A few years ago getting video on a cellphone would have seemed out of the question. Now you can not only shoot passable videos with your iPhone 3GS, you can even edit them in style. What better way to capture those holiday moments without dragging around a lot of equipment?

ReelDirector [iTunes link] has updated the popular iPhone editor to version 2. The U.S. $7.99 app from Nexvio now allows you to do multi-track sound editing and mixing, use stills in addition to video and do a Ken Burns effect. You can also trim and split imported clips. Owners of the older version can update to version 2 for free.

Other features include the ability to change the length of opening and closing titles, and automatic flip of clips that came in upside down.

I kind of marvel that you can do this all in a phone, but you can and it works pretty well. When you are done you can email your finished video (there are limits to the size of videos you can mail) or just put in in your camera roll and export it later.

There are still some weaknesses to the app. The biggest is an inability to use iTunes music for background sound. Apple does not allow this on the iPhone, but they do allow it in iMovie on the Mac. Go figure. You can record sounds live of course, and always hold the iPhone up to a speaker to get some music, but that is a pretty low-tech way to get that done. The Ken Burns effect is limited to one simple zoom-in. You also can't title projects in the middle, only at the beginning and the end. Documentation is pretty slim, and the linked video of instructions is for version 1, not version 2.

Having said all that, ReelDirector is a remarkable app. No, it's not Final Cut Pro, but it runs on a dang phone! The developers are very responsive to customer suggestions, and this update added a lot of asked-for features. If you want to get those pictures of Uncle George eating his turkey dinner edited and sent out before dessert is served -- and without leaving the table -- you can do it.

What a world.

ReelDirector can spiff up your holiday iPhone videos originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 27 Nov 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

ReelDirector can spiff up your holiday iPhone videos originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 27 Nov 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Review: Camera Genius for iPhone

This app -- which adds a number of features to improve on the iPhone's built-in camera -- is a handy tool to have if you use your smartphone to shoot a lot of pictures.

Microsoft Working with Apple to Bring Silverlight to iPhones - Should Adobe Be Concerned?

iPhone App Store Black Friday to Cyber Monday Sales

Apple’s iTunes App Store is featuring tons and tons of sales this weekend, some for Black Friday, some for Cyber Monday, some for the entire weekend. We know that no matter how cheap some apps start off, there’s always a commenter who says “meh, I’d buy it for half that” — so now we’re looking at you, sir! Put your money where your anonymous internet chatter is and go get some great, and greatly en-cheapened apps!

What exactly is on sale? What isn’t! But Touch Arcade and 148apps are doing their best to keep lists together. Check them out, or just browse the store. And if you find any really great deals, any hidden gems, let us know in the comments!

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

iPhone App Store Black Friday to Cyber Monday Sales

Need an iPhone Case? Got $3.2 Million Bucks?

22 carat gold, 190 diamonds, and a cool $3.2 million dollars for this designer Stuart Hughes iPhone case. We’re just wondering if that includes ring, necklace, and earring mounts?

What do you think, ultimate iBling Blang or just gauche iDang?

[Stuart Hughes via Engadget via Phone Arena/Tech Ed Blog]

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

Need an iPhone Case? Got $3.2 Million Bucks?

Apple Black Friday Sales Live in North America

Black Friday Sales are now live for both the US Apple Online Store and it’s slightly anemic cousin to the north, the Canadian Apple Online Store. So, if you’ve been waiting to save up to $5 on a Magic Mouse, $11 on an iPod nano, $21 on an Apple TV, $41 on an iPod touch, or $101 on a MacBook Pro or iMac, get ye a shopping! (And let us know what you grab!)

(You can also hit up Amazon Online in the US, or brave the crowds at Best Buy or other resellers and save some additional dollars — don’t tell Steve we told you!)

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

Apple Black Friday Sales Live in North America

Report: Twitter gets phone users to surf the Web

Micro-blogging site Twitter is having a positive effect on the number of consumers using their mobile phone to access the web, says Novarra.

iPhone 3GS Supreme is diamond encrusted, spectacularly expensive

Seeing as how the iPhone's exclusive status has been slipping, it was inevitable that the bourgeoisie would invent a new way to distinguish themselves from the lowly masses. Enter a designer by the name of Stuart Hughes, already expertly familiar with slapping precious metals onto slightly less precious mobile phones. He classes up a 3GS handset with a 22 carat solid gold body, which he then sprinkles with no less than 190 diamonds. And just to make sure none of the riff raff can get their hands on it, this creation is priced at £1.92 million ($3.2 million), which places it precisely £1.92 million outside our budget. Completing the, erm, value proposition is a storage chest cut from a single block of granite, which you may peep after the break.

Continue reading iPhone 3GS Supreme is diamond encrusted, spectacularly expensive

iPhone 3GS Supreme is diamond encrusted, spectacularly expensive originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Nov 2009 03:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Black Friday/Cyber Monday Sales 2009, Other Major Discounts on Macs

While Apple's Black Friday sales are over, 3rd party sales remain in effect throughout the weekend. See Chart below.

Apple has officially unveiled their U.S. Black Friday sales for their online and retail stores. The discounts are in ...

Apple’s Black Friday Sales 2009, Other Major Discounts on Macs

Apple has officially unveiled their U.S. Black Friday sales for their online and retail stores. The discounts are in line with past year events, ranging from 4-10% depending on the product.

- MacBook Pro ($101 Discount, 4-8%)
-...