‘iPhone 4GS’ Case and Detailed Parts Video

At this point, we have a very good idea of what the next generation iPhone will look like. It seems specs and spare parts of the device are also readily available in Chinese markets. We still can't be sure if these specs are entirely legitimate or ...

INNOWEBTECH releases Dropozoid 1.2 for iPhone – Entertaining Puzzle Game

INNOWEBTECH LLC today is pleased to announce the release of Dropozoid 1.2 for iPhone and iPod touch. The entertaining puzzle was created specifically for those who appreciate solving logic problems. The game will also be interesting to those, who simply want to relax and not ponder over the most productive strategy. After all you can [...]

iPhone OS 4: iTunes streaming audio

I mentioned this during the iPhone live! #100 podcast, but iPhone OS 4 has taken a huge leap forward when it comes to streaming audio via the iTunes app. Since iPhone OS 2.2 you’ve been able to tap the title of a podcast to begin streaming (rather than downloading) the audio, even in the background while using other apps, but it was sometimes hit or miss. It would drop out, it would time out, you couldn’t really scrub through it, and if you left it for a while it would lose its place and start over.

In iPhone OS 4 it’s rock solid. You can scrub and it re-buffers and keeps playing flawlessly. You can stop it and come back hours or even days later — even after using the iTunes app to search for other things or the iPod app to play different audio — and it still knows where you left off and starts playing again instantly without missing a beat.

It’s so good you may find you no longer download or sync podcasts but just stream what you want to listen to. (If they let you “subscribe” and receive notifications of when a new podcast appeared in the feed, it would be perfect).

Maybe this is architecturally laying the underpinnings for a grander Apple streaming service, or maybe they just wanted this app to work great for this functionality. Either way, iTunes streaming audio in iPhone OS 4 is a significant improvement.

iPhone OS 4: iTunes streaming audio is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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

iPad live podcast #6 – Flight delay

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iiPhone international launch… with delayed deliveries, will the iPad replace your desktop, Apple TV to get iPhone OS and $99 price tag, B&N eReader, Wired, OmniGraffle and the rest of the week’s news and apps. Listen in!

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Credits

Thanks to the the iPhone Blog Store for sponsoring the podcast, and to everyone who showed up for the live chat!

Our music comes from the following sources:

• I Called You — iPhone Remix by Pete Leidy
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iPad live podcast #6 – Flight delay is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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Google Switches Away from Windows (Mostly to Mac) Due to Security Concerns

Google is phasing out the use of Windows company-wide due to security concerns. The move comes after news in January that Google was hacked in an attack originating in China. Those attacks used a security vulnerability in Internet Explor...

Verizon iPhone Might Be Available During Holiday Shopping Season

Propellerheads ReBirth for iPhone 1.1 review

Continue reading Propellerheads ReBirth for iPhone 1.1 review

Propellerheads ReBirth for iPhone 1.1 review originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 31 May 2010 17:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Steve Jobs to Take Stage at 8th ‘D: All Things Digital’ Tuesday Night

Apple CEO Steve Jobs will take the stage on Tuesday night at All Things D. The interview will be conducted by Kara Swisher who has hinted at the topics of discussion:

There is much to talk to Jobs about, obviously, including the new...

Apple to Offer Subsidies to Foxconn Workers?

A number of high profile suicides amongst Foxconn workers has generated a lot of headlines over the past few weeks. The incidents have resulted in increasing scrutiny of the company prompting a number of investigations. Foxconn is a manufacturing p...

Netflix iPad App Hacked To Work On The iPhone Briefly

The Elements for iPad- app review

The ultimate in interactive elements has arrived in the form of The Elements for iPad. I was a little late getting to this app seeing as how it came out at the iPad launch, but I am really soaking up what the Elements has to offer now. It’s is basically an interactive book made by the folks at Periodic Table. They make printed books, etc for the education market around the world. This is their first foray into the iPad/iPhone and I have to tell you; wow. I wish they had this stuff when I was a kid.

The way The Elements works is you have a complete listing of the periodic table of elements in front of you. These objects are not just photos of the elements, but actual 3D renders that move. Tap on an element and it takes you to that element’s custom page of discovery.

The element page consists of a big render of the element or an example of it’s use on the left of the screen and all the information you could want to know on the right including the atomic radius, structure, weight, density and more of the element. WolframAlpha provides additional information and proves to be an awesome resource.

The bottom right corner gives you additional navigational tools. Tap the right arrow to bring up more information about the element along with even more 3D renders of the the element or it’s uses. You can spin/rotate all of the element examples in real-time; there are over 500 renders in this app. You also get a detailed history and story about each element to give even more insight. Of course just having interactive 3D renders aren’t enough. No, double tap a render and you are presented with a fullscreen object. Tap the double circle icon and you can view the object stereoscopically. Focus your eyes, you can see a “real” 3D render of the object. Of course, some of us just can’t do that. So The Elements gives you a convenient link to order the special 3D glass for $4.95. That is rather cool. I can imagine students sharing the glasses to examine all of the elements in this way and it is really exciting to see the future of interactive education for students.

Alas, there is always another side to the story and regretfully this app has crashes constantly even with the most recent update. I so am looking forward to a few more updates to make it ultra-stable.

The newly formed company TouchPress is responsible for creating The Elements and are on a mission to make more books like this one. What is on my wish list? The human body and the universe, I can’t wait.

[$13.99- iTunes Link]

Pros

• Fantastic view of the elements in our world
• Unparalleled level of involvement and depth for this subject matter
• Background on the element and its uses
• Wolfram Alpha integration

Cons

• Hefty size, almost 2GB
• Crashes constantly

The Elements for iPad- app review is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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

Fake Steve goes Android for fake reasons

There’s a legitimate argument to be made for leaving the iPhone and going to Android, but Newsweek’s Dan Lyons (aka Fake Steve Jobs) utterly, bitterly failed to make it last week in his column on switching from Apple to Google’s mobile platform.

It was so outlandish I wrote most of this up and then decided not to use it, but a combination of slow news day (US holiday) and some of the switcher and technorati commentary that’s followed made me reconsider reconsidering. So here it is. And before you start calling me an “Apple fanboy” or apologist, I’d preface it by saying we have one heck of an Android team here at SPE, led by Phil Nickinson, and each and every one of them could have nailed a switcher article with style and grace — what Newsweek ran did just as much a disservice to Android as it did the iPhone.

Okay, so Lyons feels the new version of Android 2.2, Froyo, “blows the doors” off the iPhone OS. Only Froyo hasn’t shipped to consumers yet, just like Apple’s next generation operating system, iPhone OS 4, hasn’t shipped to consumers yet. (We’ll see the final version of iPhone OS 4 at WWDC next Monday.)

Flash is one of the first things Lyons mentions. Froyo will support it, Apple has said it will decidedly not. Apple’s point is at least understandable given their usual behavior. Google’s reeks of being reactionary and tactical. Apple is a controlling company exerting control by not allowing Flash. Google is a company that has championed open web standards suddenly throwing full throated support behind a proprietary plug-in which is not open. If anything, I’d of expected Google (and even more so Palm) to take the lead against Flash and towards HTML5.

But politics makes strange bedfellows.

Lyons says Froyo beats OS 4 because it supports tethering (which he lumps in with the separate but admittedly far more interesting mobile hotspot service), and Apple and AT&T do not. He’s halfway right there. Somewhat. The iPhone has supported tethering for almost a year, since iPhone OS 3.0 shipped in June 2009. AT&T has chosen not to offer it. And guess what? AT&T could easily choose not to offer Android 2.2 tethering either and just strip it out. Or they could choose to offer it and charge for it. So could any other carrier. Case in point, mobile hotspot for the EVO 4G on Sprint will cost you. The pipes belong to the carrier, you can’t complain bitterly about Apple’s penchant for control when one of the issues you’re complaining about involves an area where users suffer due to the lack of Apple control.

I use free iPhone tethering on Rogers HSPA 7.2 all the time. It’s fantastic.

Froyo’s ability to let you buy songs over the air (OTA) and download them directly to your phone is likely awesome. It’s been awesome on the iPhone since OS 3.0 as well. Tap iTunes Store, tap the song you want, and it downloads directly. Apple thought it was important enough to give up the $0.99 price point for and it’s nice Lyons finally learns about it via Google I/O nearly a year later. Streaming songs from your music library is also great in Froyo, and something iPhone OS leaves for 3rd party apps, which previously included Simplify, and app bought by Google, likely to power their streaming. Smart move.

Why doesn’t Apple do this directly? I’d like them too as well. Now that Google has removed Simplify from the App Store, maybe they will. Maybe it will involve the iTunes.com service they’re rumored to be working on. Either way, right now it’s not there. Fair point.

Lyons lauds Google’s tone towards Apple at Google I/O. The tone where Andy Rubin likened Apple to North Korea. The tone where Vic Dundotra said Google developed Android because they “faced a draconian future where one man, one company, one carrier would be our future.” — which was utterly laughable considering Google bought (not developed) Android 2 years before Apple announced the iPhone and 3 years before Apple announced the App Store (which Google CEO Eric Schmidt was on Apple’s board of directors!). Never mind Google’s position in search and online advertising is far, far scarier than Apple’s tiny share of the smartphone market.

Google didn’t come off as mature or professional in any of those statements. They came off as frightened and duplicitous, and it was disappointing given the strength and growth of Android.

A proud, straightforward Google would have admitted that both open and closed models have their good and bad points. Apple’s control gives them a remarkable user experience but results in frustration for segment of their developer community and user base. Google’s open platform gives them amazing diversity but results in fragmentation (not legacy) that also frustrates a segment of their developer community and user base. There’s no magic model. Everything is about making choices. If that makes Apple North Korea it makes Google any of a number anarchistic, warlord-strewn territories. Hyperbole is unfortunately just another double-edged sword.

He also trots out the Q1 results of Android outselling iPhone in the US. Where the iPhone is on one carrier and Android is on almost 4 (we don’t really count that AT&T Backflip, do we?). Where the iPhone has been on the market since the previous summer and Verizon had just given the then-brand-new Droid a huge marketing push. Where users on Verizon desperate for an iPhone that still hadn’t gone CDMA, and not willing to go Storm, had not competent touch-screen rival other than Android. In markets like Canada and the UK where the Droid (Motorola Milestone) competes directly against the iPhone on the same carriers, the results haven’t been the same. That’s another difference between Apple’s “one phone” and Google’s “many phones” model — there’s no direct comparison.

Lyons finishes with a bizarre diatribe against Apple and Steve Jobs and another conflation of AT&T into his argument against the iPhone.

The reality is Apple and Google (and others) are giant corporations who keep control over what makes them money (Apple hardware and ecosystem, Google search and advertising) and use open, free offerings to compete in areas that don’t make them money. Neither are good or evil, neither are better than the other.

There’s a legitimate case to be made for someone switching from iPhone to Android — deep integration of Google services, especially in the US where Navigation and Voice are included, CDMA options in the US, a less regulated application market, form factors that include a keyboard, etc.

Lyons just doesn’t make that argument. He doesn’t even try.

[Newsweek]

Fake Steve goes Android for fake reasons is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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

Skype quietly delays charges for iPhone app calling

Filed under: iPhone

People were rather agitated about Skype deciding to charge for what had been free calls, but were pleased that the updated app finally supported calls over the 3G network.

Now the prospect of payment has at least been delayed, possibly because of the outcry from users -- comments on the changes haven't been pretty. The Skype folks haven't explained the change, or the reason for the charges to begin with. We'll stay tuned, and keep our ears open for why Skype might have delayed the planned charges.

Skype quietly delays charges for iPhone app calling originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 31 May 2010 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Skype quietly delays charges for iPhone app calling originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 31 May 2010 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Review: TvvitterBug for iPhone

This mobile Twitter client is a multidimensional iPhone app with a nicely organized interface and tons of potential. But it comes up short in executing some of its ideas.

Nvidia CEO: Hardware makers uniting behind Android

Hardware makers will unite behind Google's Android as the primary operating system for tablet computers, Nvidia's CEO says

iLuv App Station Review

We know that this next bit of information will most likely shock and upset you, but it has to be told: the current Engadget editor doesn't own an iPod dock. In fact, he doesn't even own an alarm clock. Of course, it would be nice to listen to Pandora or the BBC's Desert Island Disks without switching on the computer during those rare times when we weren't working -- but it was never a priority. Not a priority, that is, until we laid eyes on that cute Alarm Clock app (or, at least, a cardboard simulation thereof) at CES. Now that we have had the iLuv App Station in our hot little hands (and on our bedside table) for a week, the jury is in. Is iLuv's App Station all that it's cracked up to be? Read on, dear readers, to find out.

Continue reading iLuv App Station Review

iLuv App Station Review originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 31 May 2010 12:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google and AdMob ready to take on Apple iAd

Tony Bradley gives an overview of the upcoming battle between Google and Apple for mobile advertising.

Skype 2.0 for iPhone enables free calls over 3G — for now

At long last, Skype 2.0 for iPhone has hit the App Store, bringing along the much welcome ability to make calls over 3G -- and the less-welcome news that said ability won't be free for long.

Review: Hand of Greed for iPhone

In Hand of Greed, you have to collect valuable coins, jewels, and healing rubies by tapping them with your finger. The catch is you have to avoid getting hit by the spinning blades, guillotines, and saws as you grab the items.

Square Enix’s first iPad apps include 3D image gallery, game

Square Enix has released its first two apps designed specifically for Apple's iPad. One is a photo gallery of Final Fantasy XIII images that can be viewed in 3D...