Geohot Discovers Working Exploit For iPhone OS 3.1.3 Baseband

Daimler’s Smart Drive kit for iPhone gives you big buttons, a dent in your wallet

If you're one of the trendy hipsters driving a Smart Fortwo, here's another way of pimping up your ride: Daimler has announced a Q2 2010 launch for its Smart Drive kit for the iPhone. As pictured above, the kit consists of a cradle for handsfree communication plus charging, and an app that "combines all the features needed on the road" by the means of "extra-large buttons and extra-large letters." You'll get access to your usual music library (plus Internet radio), contacts, phone functions and map by Daimler (points-of-interest data from Microsoft Bing). There's also the handy "Assist" feature that can automatically mark your parking location when undocked, and can provide GPS coordinates to the Smart hotline for roadside assistance. What's more, Daimler's currently working on a camera for this kit that can identify speed limit signs, and can then warn you if you're speeding. Want it? You'll need to fork out a dear €240 ($326) for the cradle (which may or may not be necessary), then a one-off €9.99 ($14) for the app, and finally the optional annual €49.99 ($68) for on-board European and US maps plus live traffic data. We'll reconsider if the app can also start our car.

[Thanks, Jason]

Daimler's Smart Drive kit for iPhone gives you big buttons, a dent in your wallet originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 20 Feb 2010 18:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple iPad Pre-Orders to Begin February 25th? Speculation about Other Features?

AppAdvice claims that the iPad pre-orders could start as early as February 25th. The pre-orders are said to be for the U.S. Wi-Fi model initially. It's really not much to go on, but Apple hasn't given any indication about their launch plan...

iPad Simulator Settings Reveal HTML5 YouTube, File Sharing, Lock Screen Media Controls

9to5mac continues to dive into the iPhone 3.2 Beta 2 SDK and its iPad simulator, this time showing off HTML5 YouTube, file sharing, lock screen media controls, and more.

HTML5 H.264 YouTube video is shown playing right in the iPad Safari browser, just as it does on Mac or Windows. It looks good enough for 9to5mac to wonder if the YouTube app is still needed!

File sharing has an on/off toggle, and TiPb’s really excited about this one. The text reads “File sharing allows you to transfer application files to and from your iPad and computer”, and there’s a (currently empty) header that reads “Applications”.

We’ve already asked for a file repository, sort of like the Camera Roll does now for images, and some apps have gotten in trouble for using the DCIM folder to do just that. And official place to load, share, and save documents and other files would fill a huge functionality gap for iPad and iPhone both.

Lock Screen media controls are interesting, as we saw Apple demonstrate the iPad lock screen woking as a digital photo frame, but it does make sense for watching movies as well.

There are a few more finds, including some new things like built-in Google suggestions in iPad Safari, and some things we’ve already seen in the iPhone like percentage battery readout and Chinese character handwriting input.

If anyone else is digging around in the simulator and comes across anything more, let us know!

iPad Simulator Settings Reveal HTML5 YouTube, File Sharing, Lock Screen Media Controls is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

Apple Opens Up iPhone App Store To Lottery And Sweepstakes Applications

Review: Chromixa for iPhone

Chromixa is a puzzle game with a twist: though you manipulate basic shapes and colors to create a bigger shape in a particular hue, you can’t rely on the color mixing rules from your grade school art classes.

How To Set Up A More Secure Passcode For Your iPhone Or iPod Touch

Gameloft says they’ve got iPhone locked down

Filed under: iTS, Software, iTunes, Developer, iPhone, App Store

Gameloft is one of the bigger iPhone-specific (or at least mobile-specific) game developers out there, and in fact they're so big, they tell Mobile Entertainment that they're not scared of their development partner Ubisoft and other big game developers headed to the iPhone. Ubisoft developed the most recent Assassin's Creed game for the iPhone, but Gameloft developed the first, and Gameloft's Gonzague de Vallois says that their game had better ratings and sales.

To a certain extent, yes, the App Store creates a level playing field for game developers, and allows companies even smaller than Gameloft to get their games out to a mass audience and gain a following based simply on gameplay, not necessarily marketing or other factors. But despite Gameloft's bragging, some of the most popular titles on the App Store, from Rock Band to Call of Duty: World at War Zombies, are able to tie a successful brand into an app that features solid gameplay. Yes, Gameloft has been able to shine on the App Store. But I wouldn't count big developers out yet -- they're still learning how to use the iPhone's marketplace, and I think we'll continue to see big successes from bigger developer in the future.

[Via Slide-to-play]

Gameloft says they've got iPhone locked down originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 20 Feb 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Gameloft says they've got iPhone locked down originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 20 Feb 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hulu Could Be Coming To iPad As Paid Subscription Service

TiPb Gear: mophie Marketplace and mophie juice pack TV (Macworld 2010)

mophie was a good friend of mine during Macworld 2010 as I literally walked the show floor with two (2!) mophie juice pack airs ($79.95 – TiPb Store link) to get me through the near-constant use of my iPhone required for the the live coverage — and yes, I typically drained them both and then some!

New at Macworld, mophie’s Jon Bradley was showing off their mophie Marketplace, which combines a case and a credit card reader to handle transactions on the go and the mophie juice pack TV, which combines a juice pack battery with FLO TV service.

Marketplace will be available April 15 while juice pack TV is shooting for March at a price point probably a bit north of the juice pack by itself, but may include some month of free FLO TV service to offset it.

Check both out after the break and let us know what you think. You want to swipe credit cards and watch TV on your iPhone?

TiPb Gear: mophie Marketplace and mophie juice pack TV (Macworld 2010) is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

Gear4 ups the iPhone alarm clock ante with SmartDock

These things are a dime a dozen, sure, but you can't fault Gear4 for trying. In fact, it has managed to create something that's marginally unique in a world full of me-toos, as the SmartDock relies on hardware and software aspects in order to shine. At first blush, the actual dock isn't much to look at, but the bundled app enables you to search through stations using the iPhone's touchscreen and pause / rewind at will. You can also sync the alarm clock to play through the dock's speakers, and it'll work just fine on the iPod touch. We certainly wish a remote would've been thrown in for good measure, but hopefully the whole package will be cheap enough to make us overlook the omission. Wink, wink.

Gear4 ups the iPhone alarm clock ante with SmartDock originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 20 Feb 2010 08:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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