Students launch protest of AT&T coverage

College students have long been known to protest against war, racism and other social maladies. But now students at Santa Clara University are taking aim at a new form of injustice: poor cell phone reception.

PC World Study Ranks AT&T 3G Network As Nation’s Fastest

Modern smartphone radio design partly to blame for AT&T, O2 network woes?

Even though AT&T's already committed both carrier and backhaul upgrades in an effort to buck the butt-of-the-joke trend it's been experiencing for the last couple years, there's some evidence that it's a recent trend in the way phone radios operate -- not a lack of overall capacity -- that should shoulder at least some of the blame for the issues. An O2 staffer (O2 carries the iPhone and has coincidentally experienced many of the same growing pains AT&T has in recent months) that reached out to Ars Technica says that Apple's baby was one of the first widely popular phones to immediately drop data connections as soon as transfers were complete and re-establish them only when needed; that tactic saves battery power, but can overwhelm cell sites pretty easily if they're not configured to handle it -- even if there's plenty of spectrum and backhaul available. Other handsets now employ the same strategy, compounding the problem. This seems like an awfully odd thing to miss during carrier testing, but who knows -- we wouldn't put it past anyone to gladhand the iPhone through the toughest parts of the gauntlet.

Modern smartphone radio design partly to blame for AT&T, O2 network woes? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 24 Feb 2010 14:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple Publishes Annual Progress Report on Supplier Responsibility

Apple yesterday began promoting on its home page the release of its annual Supplier Responsibility progress report, describing the company's commitment to responsible business practices on the part of its suppliers and other partners around t...

Will Opera Mini get approved, 7m iPhone users want Flash, iPhone photo exhibition

We learned yesterday that Opera Mini web browser was going it be announced for the iPhone. The real question is will Apple approve the app since it clearly competes with Safari. Adobe has announced that 7 million users of the iPhone want Flash on their device. Adobe says the 7m ...

Plants vs. Zombies, Photoshop app hits 6M, Final Fantasy for iPhone trailer

CNET figures that the Plants vs. Zombies game for the iPhone is the perfect iPhone app, which is saying a lot. The app is a variant of a tower defense game that has the player setting up plants to destroy zombies that are getting on their lawn. The mobile version of ...

Source: Google cancels Android developer event in China

Google's row with China has led it to cancel an event for Android developers in China next week, according to a person familiar with the situation.

iPhone devs can now mark apps as ‘explicit’

Apple has added a new Explicit category to the App Store submission form, allowing developers to tag their content as potentially objectionable.

Review: Battle for Vesta for iPhone

Battle for Vesta from Insight Industries is a first-person 3D space combat game with smooth gameplay but little frills. You pilot your spacecraft while mining for crystals, avoiding asteroids, and fighting off enemy spacecraft in a sci-fi adventure not yet seen on the iPhone.

Apple Adding “Explicit” Category to App Store?

Cult of Mac is reporting that Apple has added an “Explicit” category to iTunes Connect, the portal through which developers submit and manage their App Store apps. According to their developer source:

“It’s available for selection when adding a new app to iTunesConnect although I can’t see any sign of it in the actual App Store yet.”

MacRumors says they’ve confirmed the information, so where does this leave us now? Apple removed 5000 sex-based apps last week and stirred up a ton of reaction (cheers and jeers alike), only to come up with an organizational alternative a few days (and hundreds of blogs posts, thousands of tweets and comments) later? If it wasn’t a reconsideration, wouldn’t they have just added the category and reshuffled the apps without all the fuss and muss? Or did they want to force a re-submission to start the new category off with a clean slate?

Either way, hopefully this will include a better ratings implementation to go with it, so parental controls can turn off “explicit” apps without turning off apps that access the web along with them.

What think you?

Apple Adding “Explicit” Category to App Store? is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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Apple creating “explicit” category for App Store

Filed under: Apple, iPhone, App Store, SDK, iPod touch

After all of the kerfuffle earlier this week about Apple shutting down racy apps in the App Store, it appears that the company might be creating a special place for all of that suggestive and sexy content.

We received a tip and a screenshot (seen above) from a developer who pointed out the new "Explicit" category in the tool used to submit apps into the store.

While TUAW has not yet been able to confirm this, The new category could be the first sign that Apple may provide enhanced parental controls or even a separate "adult" App Store. This would not only maintain the revenue stream from these apps for both Apple and the developers, but would stifle comments that Apple is being too strict with providers of adult content.

We will update this story as it develops.

Update: The new category is corroborated by Cult of Mac and MacRumors as well.

Apple creating "explicit" category for App Store originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 24 Feb 2010 11:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Apple creating "explicit" category for App Store originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 24 Feb 2010 11:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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PC World study: AT&T network has undergone “drastic makeover”

Filed under: iPhone

According to AT&T's commercials, they provide both "a better 3G experience" as well as "the nation's fastest 3G network." And, based on PC World's latest 3G wireless performance study, they've got more meat and potatoes (as if Luke Wilson wasn't enough) to back up their claims.

The study, a collaboration between PC World and wireless analysis firm Novarum, took place from December 2009 to January 2010, and compares the four major U.S. wireless carriers (AT&T, Sprint, Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile) in 13 "broadly representative" cities in the U.S. During the study, 51,000 separate tests were run, in which 850 square miles, and 7 million wireless subscribers, were covered.

AT&T showed marked improvements over their figures from a similar study conducted during March and April 2009. Highlights of the most recent study include:

• Using notebook computers (e.g., with a built-in or external 3G card), AT&T had the fastest download speed in 11 of the 13 cities, and the fastest upload speed in all 13 cities.
• For smartphones, AT&T had the fastest download speeds in nine of the 13 cities, and the fastest upload speed in all 13 cities.
• Of the smartphone-carrier-based combinations, the AT&T-iPhone pairing had the fastest download and upload speeds, although its reliability slightly trailed the T-Mobile-G1 combination, which posted the highest figures.

Given the nasty back-and-forth between AT&T and Verizon Wireless, which resulted in AT&T taking legal action (which they dropped in December 2009) against Verizon Wireless, the study could serve as a feather in AT&T's cap.

Readers, what do you think? Does the study mesh well with your experiences with AT&T Wireless? Let us know in the comments!

[Via PC World].

PC World study: AT&T network has undergone "drastic makeover" originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 24 Feb 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

PC World study: AT&T network has undergone "drastic makeover" originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 24 Feb 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iPhone + AT&T Fastest Smartphone/Carrier Combo in PCWorld Test

If PCWorld’s second 3G, 13-city performance tests are to be believed, AT&T’s investment in their network just might be starting to pay off:

• 84% better download speeds than 8 months ago
• 64% faster than Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon
• Average download speed of 1410kps
• 3x faster in Chicago, 40% faster in San Francisco
• 94% connection reliability (up from 68% last spring)
• iPhone on AT&T had the fastest downstream/upstream performance of any smartphone/network combo (worst was Verizon/Droid)

The representative cities chosen for the test were Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Denver, New Orleans, New York City, Orlando, Phoenix, Portland, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, and Seattle.

Here’s hoping AT&T can keep it up, what with those sweet iPad data deals, and most likely a 4th gen iPhone heading their way this summer. For now, though, let us know how fast and reliable your iPhone on AT&T has been lately…

iPhone + AT&T Fastest Smartphone/Carrier Combo in PCWorld Test is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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TomTom intros ProClip car kit for iPhone

TomTom has introduced its latest car kit for iPhone users designed to securely integrate into your car with the ProClip.

Apple Adds ‘Explicit’ Category for New App Store Submissions [Updated]

Just days after Apple removed over 5000 "overtly sexual" applications from the App Store, the company appears to have taken a curious turn that could result in the reinstatement of many of these applications.

Cult of Mac reports and Ma...

Apple Adds ‘Explicit’ Category for New App Store Submissions

Just days after Apple removed over 5000 "overtly sexual" applications from the App Store, the company appears to have taken a curious turn that could result in the reinstatement of many of these applications.

Cult of Mac reports and Ma...

Interest in iPad higher than it was for 2007 iPhone?

Thinking back to the hype surrounding the launch of the first iPhone, with podcasters stomping their Treo’s on the floor of Moscone West and customers waiting in line outside the New York Apple Store for weeks, it’s hard to imagine that interest in the iPad could be even bigger, but that’s what ChangeWave’s survey just may be telling us.

Gizmodo notices something interesting as well:

The lowest end and the highest end [iPad] win, with 19% each. With the 64GB Wi-Fi getting only 8% and the 16GB Wi-Fi and 3G version getting 9% of the interest. 68% of the people interested in it want to surf the internet, 44% for email, 37% for eBooks, 28% for the reading magazines and other periodicals, and only 24% for watching video.

Is 2007, a lot of people wanted something new from a smartphone and the iPhone was the first thing in a long time with that promise. In 2007, there are 75 million iPhone-platform devices on the market, so is there simply more awareness? Most people need a phone, we can’t see most people needing a tablet… or is this measuring more want than need anyway?

[Digital Daily via Gizmodo]

Interest in iPad higher than it was for 2007 iPhone? is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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MacRumors Turns 10 Years Old Today

Today marks MacRumors.com's 10 year anniversary. It's a shocking realization that I've been doing this now for a decade. For those unfamiliar with the history of the site, I started it as a hobby back in early 2000 as a place to consolidate interes...

Engadget for iPhone / iPod touch 2.0.1 now available!

Hey guys, some fun news to share: Engadget for iPhone / iPod touch 2.0.1 was just approved by Apple and is now available on the App Store! The big new feature is landscape mode in article, comment, and sharing views, but we've also bumped up font sizes, made some improvements to the commenting experience, and added the ability to edit tweets directly in the app. Oh, and you can also now email photos from galleries from within the app, and customize the toolbar. Of course, that's in addition to our regular features like offline viewing, built in streaming for The Engadget Show, and in-app tip submissions -- you know, for when you see the iPhone 3GT leak out.

So what are you waiting for? You can download the app right here, or just click the image above -- if you've already got it installed the update should be waiting for you right this second. Full changelog after the break.

Once again, a big thanks to the team at AOL that makes these apps happen: Sun Sachs, Andy Averbuch, Hareesh P, Anibal Rosado, Rajesh Kumar, Rich Foster, Claudeland Louis, Mike Wolstat, Eric Wedge, Vikas B R, Milissa Tarquini, Asha Indira and Bob Gurwin. High fives all around.

P.S.- Updates for the BlackBerry and webOS apps should hit in March, and that's also when we're scheduled to launch our Android app -- stay tuned!

Continue reading Engadget for iPhone / iPod touch 2.0.1 now available!

Engadget for iPhone / iPod touch 2.0.1 now available! originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 24 Feb 2010 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iPad A4 Chipset Uses PowerVR SGX Graphics Core

MacRumors is reporting that the iPhone 3.2 SDK for iPad officially outs the PowerVR SGX as the graphics core inside Apple’s A4 chipset:

Using OpenGL ES on iPad is identical to using OpenGL ES on other iPhone OS devices. An iPad is a PowerVR SGX device and supports the same basic capabilities as other SGX devices. However, because the processor, memory architecture, and screen dimensions are different for iPad, you should always test your code on an iPad device before shipping to ensure performance meets your requirements.

Since Apple is a major stakeholder in PowerVR creator, Imagination, this was widely assumed, Bright Side of the News had suggested otherwise.

Whether or not it’s the same PowerVR SGX in the current iPhone 3GS, or the latest generation announced back in January at CES remains unknown. We’re hoping for the latter, of course, and that the 4th generation iPhone gets it as well…

iPad A4 Chipset Uses PowerVR SGX Graphics Core is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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