Toshiba announces 64GB NAND packages: Apple winks, gives a nudge

Outside of the occasional leaked roadmap, one of the best ways to predict the future of consumer electronics is by looking at the evolution of the components within. Take this Toshiba NAND package for instance. While the launch of a 64GB embedded NAND flash memory module (the highest capacity in the industry) that combines sixteen 32Gb NAND chips fabricated with 32nm manufacturing processes might sound a bit boring, consider its uses. As you'll recall from the iPhone 3GS teardown, Apple's lovely uses either a single 16GB or 32GB Toshiba NAND module depending on the model purchased. The fact that Toshiba is now sampling its new high-capacity chips with mass production set to begin in Q1 2010 hints at what we can expect from the next-gen iPhone rumored to have landed in Foxconn's lap. That's enough capacity for 1,070 hours of recorded music (at a 128Kbps bit rate), 8.3 hours of 17Mbps high definition video, and 19.2 hours of 7Mbps standard definition video according to Toshiba's calculations. The iPod touch, you'll remember, differs by using a pair of NAND packages for a total of 32GB or 64GB of flash today. Anyone for a 128GB iPod touch? Check the module's internals after the break -- fascinating stuff, really.

Continue reading Toshiba announces 64GB NAND packages: Apple winks, gives a nudge

Toshiba announces 64GB NAND packages: Apple winks, gives a nudge originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 15 Dec 2009 02:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nexus One: The iPhone killer?

Google is working on a new phone, and it’s called the Nexus One. No, Nexus One is not a code name, it’s the real name of the phone that you see in the picture above. You can see more pictures of this at Engadget. The Nexus One is a slim phone running Google’s Android 2.1 operating system. HTC is manufacturing the Nexus One.  No price, specs, or other official dates have been confirmed. According to rumors, this phone will be unlocked and will sell for around $500. Reuter’s sources are saying that there will be two versions of the Nexus One:  One will be sold through T-Mobile with a service contract and the other will be sold through Google unlocked. Reuter’s sources are also saying that the Nexus One will be released around January 5.

The one question many people are thinking about is, will this phone be the iPhone killer? It’s too early to judge this as the phone is not even out yet, and Google hasn’t even confirmed that they’ll be releasing it. As far as we know this could even be just a phone for developers. This phone is running Android, and from my experience with Android it was not as user friendly as the iPhone. The main reason why many people choose the iPhone is because of the ease of use it offers. Apple has done a perfect job developing a great software, the iPhone OS, and it’ll take a lot for other competitors to catch up.

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Apple Owns the Decade on AdWeek’s Marketing Awards

Apple won much of the decade in AdWeek’s Best of 2000s Awards, which given their long and successive history of brilliant advertising shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise to any of us in tech. And it starts right at the top with the big apple himself, Steve Jobs, Marketer of the Decade:

“Think different.” The effort relaunched the Apple brand, but carried an equally important message: Steve was back. Visionary, iconoclastic and fearless, Steve Jobs the marketer is inseparable from Steve Jobs the personality. His inimitable blend of competitive skill and design savvy hasn’t just saved a fading brand, it’s recast two businesses that used to have nothing to do with computers: music and mobile phones.

Apple also took honors for Brand of the Decade, iPod for Product of the Decade, “Get a Mac” for Campaign of the Decade, “Silhouettes” (the iPod+iTunes commercials) for Out-of-Home Ad of the Decade, and “Nike Plus” for Digital Campaign of the Decade.

Phew. Hope Steve had Phil Schiller help him cart away those trophies!

[via MacRumors]

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

Apple Owns the Decade on AdWeek’s Marketing Awards

New Versions of iPhone OS Traced In Website Visits

Epson releases iPhone printing app

Epson has released an iPhone app that allows photo printing via a Wi-Fi connection. The Epson iPrint lets users send photos stored on the phone to any network-capable Epson printer.

Kindle App for iPhone goes international, starts to get a little annoying at parties

We get it, Amazon Kindle App: you've just become available in over 60 countries, you're something of a jet setter now. But you don't have to go around and rub it in our faces. So what if we've only been to Mexico that one time by accident and can't sync books and page placement via Amazon's Whispersync technology... that doesn't make us any less valuable as a person. Oh, and you're coming to the Mac and BlackBerry "soon," huh? Well, aren't you special.

Kindle App for iPhone goes international, starts to get a little annoying at parties originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 14 Dec 2009 17:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dragon Dictation, Pizza Hut, What’s On, TED Talks, SmartScreen, ESPN ScoreCenter, BabyBump, Waze, Tweetie 2 – TiPb Picks of the Week

Every week a few of us from team TiPb, bloggers and forum crew alike, will bring you our current favorite, funnest, most useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone (or iPod touch) related, they’re fair game.

So who’s on deck this week and what are our picks? Find out after the break!

Chad’s Pick: Dragon Dictation

Dragon Dictation is one slick app. You can dictate then email, text or copy your text to the clipboard. I found the app to be accurate as long as there is no background noise. Oh, did I mention it’s free? [Free - iTunes link]

Chris’ Pick: Pizza Hut

Scenario: you are at a bar, loud music, a couple of beers, and you are hungry. How can the iphone help? Pizza Hut app! Set up an account, order your pizza through the app (no talking and not being able to hear on the phone), and in 30 minutes- fresh, hot pizza. Used it each of the past Fridays during the faculty bar night, and saved many a faculty from , well, being hungry. [Free - iTunes link]

Derrick’s Pick: What’s On TV

What’s On allows you to see what’s playing the not only on your TV but also what’s in the movies, Its one of my favorite apps and did I mention its free? This app is definitely a must have. [Free - iTunes link]

Georgia’s Pick: TED

The TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) Talks application allows you watch their cutting-edge videos on your iphone. Each year TED hosts some of the most awe inspiring, fascinating people. No matter what I am interested in learning about there is a TED talk about it. Here are some of my favourite iphone related TED talks: Jeff Han – Multi-Touch Interaction, David Pogue – Simplicity sells, Sir Ken Robinson – Do schools kill creativity? (And is that why Steve Jobs dropped out?!) I would be really interested to hear which are your favourite TED Talks as well! [Free - iTunes link]

James’ Pick: SmartScreen (for Jailbreak)

If there is one thing I would like to see in iPhone 4.0, it would be widgets on the lockscreen or any one my my app pages. Android does and it really adds a nice customization touch. Luckily I don’t have to wait until 4.0 for widgets, as SmartScreen offers that functionality. Only a few widgets are currently available, but the developers behind the app have released a SDK for others to develop widgets. [$5 - via Cydia]

Jeremy’s Pick: ESPN ScoreCenter

My pick this week is ESPN ScoreCenter. If you want to know why you can read all about it here… [Free - iTunes link]

Leanna’s Pick: BabyBump

When I found out I was pregnant a few days ago, I started looking for a pregnancy app almost immediately and BabyBump is excactly what I was looking for. For each new week of the pregnancy stage, BabyBump provides information about the developmental progress of my baby including its approximate size/weight, an object that is similar in size (this week, Baby is about the size of a poppyseed), and a picture of what my baby looks like. BabyBump also gives weekly information on what changes I can expect with my body and a place for me to store a picture of my belly for my records. In the journal, I can keep a daily record of my weight, waist size, moods, and anything else I want to record. BabyBump also has a kick and contractions counter that can be shared directly with Facebook and Twitter. BabyBump is the pregnancy app to have and I highly recommend it for all pregnant women. [$4.99 - iTunes link]

Matt’s Pick: Waze

Waze is a community map navigation application. Waze has an initial base map in it, which users then help verify the roads by simply leaving the app running while driving. The application will also notice if traffic is getting heavy (live traffic reporting) and reports it to the community map so other people that might be traveling that route can avoid that area. That is one of the numerous features that Waze offers. Overall, the routing was decent and the turn-by-turn prompts are is very good. [Free - iTunes link]

Rene’s Pick: Tweetie 2

Trying to do this year’s @SPERoundRobin (#RoundRobin) without a good, nay — great Twitter app would be very, very difficult. I’m not using Tweetie 2 with it’s excellent re-tweet, search, saved-search, and other functions has been a sanity savor. I use tons of Twitter apps. I try new ones whenever they come out. Thus far, I’m still going back to Tweetie 2 because it’s a powerhouse and it just suits my brain — such as it remains. [$2.99 - iTunes link]

Your Pick?

You’re part of team TiPb too, so what’s your pick? What app was your absolute fav last week? Let us — and everyone — know in the comments!

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

Dragon Dictation, Pizza Hut, What’s On, TED Talks, SmartScreen, ESPN ScoreCenter, BabyBump, Waze, Tweetie 2 – TiPb Picks of the Week

Review: Captain Galactic for iPhone

This space-age game is that rare combination of gaming that gets more difficult as the game progresses without getting more fun. The bugs, crashes, and shoddy controls render the pleasantly cartoonish artwork and long gameplay length a waste.

Apple Wins Assortment of Advertising Awards in Adweek’s ‘Best of the 2000s’

AdweekMedia today announced the winners of its "Best of the 2000s" advertising awards, and Apple figured prominently in the selections. Apple took home top honors in a number of categories, including Steve Jobs for "Marketer of the Decade",...

Kayak’s business model upended by iPhone

Filed under: Enterprise, Developer, iPhone

Developers are learning that iPhone users want sophistication and features in their apps, not watered-down functionality. A report in GigaOM shows that not only are companies finding that slimmer isn't better when it comes to apps, but that one company is actually changing their business model based on what they found out about how iPhone users were using their app.

Travel search service Kayak based its first iPhone offering on the assumption that a mobile user would most likely use the app if her flight had been canceled and she needed a replacement reservation. As a result, the initial app didn't have features like flexible date search.

While the Kayak app [free, iTunes link] was very successful for the company, with over 600,000 downloads since February now accounting for 5% of Kayak's search volume, users demanded the full functionality that they found on the company's website.

Kayak went back to the drawing board and recently released version 2.0 of the app, with some major improvements. However, since Kayak is a search engine, iPhone users still end up being pushed to other travel websites, which means that they have to put up with tiny renditions of full pages and non-loading Flash sites. This "concierge" model obviously needed some work for the iPhone client.

The growing movement towards iPhones and other handheld devices becoming laptop replacements has forced a change in Kayak's business model. In 2010, Kayak will introduce an iPhone-friendly wallet system that will give users the chance to book travel from their devices. That wallet will save credit card, frequent flier, and flight preference information. Kayak will use the wallet to enter data into travel provider sites, and then send the users an alert when the booking has been completed. This change, forced by the growing use of iPhones, will most likely be reflected on the main Kayak website as well.

Do you know of any other companies that have had to change their business model because of the success of the iPhone? We'd like to know -- please leave a comment below.

Kayak's business model upended by iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 14 Dec 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Kayak's business model upended by iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 14 Dec 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Analysis: AT&T iPhone users irate at idea of usage-based pricing

With AT&T hinting that it could move from an all-you-can-eat data plan to usage-based pricing, analysts wonder what impact that might have on iPhone users.

Other shoe drops: TomTom cuts price of US and Canada GPS app by 30%

Filed under: Odds and ends, iPhone, iPod touch

It was just last week that TomTom offered a new version of its nav app for the US (minus Canadian data) for $49.99US [iTunes link]. That didn't make people who bought the full version for a hundred bucks and never needed the Canadian info anyway filled with joy. Now, TomTom has dropped the price of the version that does include both the U.S. and Canada to $69.99 [iTunes link] until December 28, making those earlier customers even more unhappy.

Price cuts, of course, are a way of life, and no one should be surprised that competition drives down prices. In my view, most of the iPhone GPS navigators are priced too high. I think somewhere between $35 and $50 is about right considering that you are providing all the hardware. Hardware solutions have really plummeted in price, with many selling for close to $100.00. The advantage of the iPhone solution is there is only one device to carry, but navigation stops when a call comes in.

I'll have a roundup of my favorite GPS apps in a couple of days, but if you are ready to go a 30% discount on the TomTom is a pretty good deal, especially if you need to navigate in both Canada and the U.S. The well regarded Navigon app [iTunes link] is selling for $89.99, but watch for sales on that product as well. I know a lot of people are holding out for the free Google Navigator for the iPhone, but there is no guarantee that it will ever hit the App Store.

Thanks to Steve for the tip!

Other shoe drops: TomTom cuts price of US and Canada GPS app by 30% originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 14 Dec 2009 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Other shoe drops: TomTom cuts price of US and Canada GPS app by 30% originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 14 Dec 2009 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iTunes Bug: Users Notified of iPhone App Updates Even After Updates Are Downloaded

App Store redesign meets with mixed reviews

Apple redesigned the App Store listings late last week, but the new layout has not met with universal approval.

Report: AT&T network problems are iPhone’s fault?

A New York Times story says that AT&T network issues are due to faulty iPhone design, but there's plenty of room for skepticism.

Google’s ‘Nexus One’ test phone: Details emerge

Over the weekend, Google set off a fury of speculation when employees tweeted they were testing a new Android-based mobile device -- possibly a phone developed entirely by Google.

Review: Shrek Kart for iPhone

Both kids and adults seem to love Shrek. The comedy-fantasy films were all huge commercial successes, in large part because the humor appealed to audiences of all ages. Gameloft harnesses that widespread appeal for the first official Shrek iPhone application, Shrek Kart.

Apple Set to Sell 10 Million iPhones This Quarter?

A DigiTimes report about growth in smartphone growth for Taiwanese component suppliers is gaining a fair amount of notice this morning for its citation of a market research firm's claims that Apple is set to sell 10 million iPhones this quarter, well...

Send virtual 3D gifts with Little World Gifts

Filed under: iPhone, iPod touch

When Apple launched the App Store, there were no in-app purchases, but it quickly became apparent that some mechanism for buying stuff within an app itself would be needed. I remember thinking a store of virtual gifts seemed like a no-brainer, but the in-app purchase block was a show-stopper.

Kisky Netmedia isn't the first company to enable in-app purchases, of course, but Little World Gifts [iTunes Link] is precisely what you'd expect to evolve on the iPhone: a little store of 3D trinkets which you can purchase and share with friends. Little World Gifts (which we covered a few weeks ago) would be relegated to a "gee whiz" factor were it not for the Facebook component. My purchases appear in the Facebook LWG app (as seen in the gallery below) and from there I can share with my friends who also enable the Facebook app. No iPhone required. Uh oh.

The implementation is simple: you see a series of little shelves with little 3D items, and you can buy them. Some are simply 3D objects you can rotate and zoom in a little staging area, while some have associated animations (none that I tested had sound). You will need a network connection to browse this store, as new items may appear periodically. I found the store pretty easy to use, as most in-app purchases tend to be low friction. Viewing an item is a little tricky sometimes, and you have to intuit to double-tap to bring up a "close this view" button, but the models are quite wonderful to behold.

You can send gifts to people via the app or into Facebook, and there's even a tracker to see who has picked up their gift. As I said, this is the practical evolution of virtual gifting on the iPhone, and via Facebook, frankly. I can envision a raft of new, branded stores popping up, too. Perhaps someday your Sims could wear Abercrombie or your virtual villagers in Pocket God could get a dancing Elvis? I'd be happy to ship toxic waste to Farmville.

Currently the gifts on the store are rather limited and have a holiday theme. I'm sure there will be more items to buy as time goes on, but I'd love to see a "real" market a la Second Life, where users could build their own 3D trinkets and sell them on this store. Hey, maybe we could resurrect the 3DMF format? Who threw that virtual tomato?

The Little World Gifts app is free, of course. The gifts normally range from $.99 to $3.99 or more (or less), but for a short time all gifts are only $.99US to celebrate the app's debut.

Send virtual 3D gifts with Little World Gifts originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 14 Dec 2009 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Send virtual 3D gifts with Little World Gifts originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 14 Dec 2009 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Rogers iPhone Reception Problems Due to “Dummy” Bell and Telus HSPA Towers?

Are recent iPhone reception problems on Rogers Canada the result of Bell and Telus putting up “dummy” HSPA towers? That’s what a Rogers rep told one customer who complained about calls cutting in and out for the last couple of weeks.

I apologize for the inconvenience that is happening with you’re iphone. It is probable due to the new hspa dummy towers being put up by other carriers that it is interfering with you’re signal. So I would advise to manually select the rogers network instead of the phone doing an automatic selection which it does by default. To manually connect on an iphone do the following. On the phone go to ’settings’ then go to ‘carriers’ uncheck automatic and only select rogers from that list.

I’ve been having similar problems, only while in the western part of downtown Montreal, and also only for the last two weeks, and I know of almost a half-dozen others with the same problem in the same area.

Are dummy HSPA towers a likely explanation? We’ll give Rogers’ proposed solution a try and get back to you. If you’ve been having the same problem, let us know if it works, or if you have other ideas.

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

Rogers iPhone Reception Problems Due to “Dummy” Bell and Telus HSPA Towers?