Google Sets Its Sights on Apple

It's been a busy week for Google with the announcement of a number of new initiatives. We've covered them here on MacRumors because it's clear that Google has its sights set squarely on Apple. If there was any doubt about the growing animosity betw...

Google Unveils Android OS 2.2 - Will It Be A Threat To iPhone OS 4.0?

AT&T raises some early termination fees

Come June 1, AT&T will raise its early termination for smartphones and netbooks, sparking speculation about the next iPhone and Apple's potential for offering it on Verizon. Customers of "feature phones," however, can enjoy a lowered fee.

iPad App Store And iBookstore Now Available To International Users

AT&T Changing ETF Policy as of June 1st

Looks like AT&T is making some changes to their ETF Policy as of June 1st, 2010, including raising iPhone (and all smartphone) early termination fees from $175 to $325. After that, every month you keep service with AT&T, the ETF will continue to drop $10 each month.

For basic phones and messaging phones, the ETF will drop a bit, from $175 to $150. After that, every month you keep service with AT&T, the ETF will continue to drop $4 each month.

That’s great for regular phone users, but it’s quite the opposite for our readers. When asked if this had anything to do with iPhone exclusivity, AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel had this to say,

“..The idea is, and we think that it’s fair approach, that if you spend less on a device, your early termination fee should be less,” he said. “If you spend more, your early termination fee should be more. … This move, what we did today, is unrelated to any device announcement or future plans…”

Hmmm, sounds kind of sketchy to me. There’s been rumors flying around about the iPhone’s exclusivity running out for a while now.  With the iPhone HD/4th Gen probably right around the corner, if the Verizon iPhone in the Fall rumors hold any truth at all, it would make it pretty expensive to abandon AT&T.  Or could it have something to do with stopping all the unlockers and iPhones that flood eBay after release for people looking to make a profit? Or hey, maybe AT&T’s telling the truth, and it really doesn’t have anything to do with the iPhone.

What are your thoughts?

[via Dallas News, AT&T]

AT&T Changing ETF Policy as of June 1st is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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

Review: LinkDew for iPhone and iPad

This app gives you a more visually engaging way to scroll through recent photos on Twitter than what you would expect from a typical Twitter client. The trouble is, it has a limited feature set and very little customization.

Financial Times iPad app offers free access through July

The newly released Financial Times app for the iPad will give you full access to the publication, including offline viewing options, for free until July 31st.

Scosche Flipsync puts USB to Dock Connector in keychain form

The Scosche Flipsync is an innovative, keychain-sized USB to Dock Connector.

AT&T to Raise Early Termination Fee for iPhone and Other Smartphones from $175 to $325

The Wall Street Journal reports (subscription required) that as of June 1st, AT&T will nearly double the early termination fee for customers on smartphone contracts such as for the iPhone, going from $175...

Seeing is not believing – Eye Illusions app is available on App Store

Eye Illusions is an iPhone and iPod touch application released by Apalon to give users a great variety of optical illusions, eye tricks and color tests. This app can be used as an entertaining app featuring various kinds of illusions, as well as color test app, allowing users to test their vision and find out [...]

FTC won’t oppose Google’s acquisition of AdMob

The FTC won't oppose Google's acquisition of mobile ad provider AdMob.

White iPhone HD Rendered - Do You Like It?

More White Next-Generation iPhone Parts Surface as Renderings Gain Publicity

iPhone repair site uBreakiFix earlier this week claimed to have received next-generation iPhone front panels in both white and black. The parts appear similar if not identical to the ones that surfaced at about the same time on a Chinese e-c...

Crystal iPhone dock will help rid you of your excess cash

The Calypso CrystalDock is a line of hand crafted crystal docks for iPhone and iPod touch.

Bump shares contacts between iPhone, Android

Longtime iPhone app Bump will now not only let you knock contacts between iPhones, but share with Android friends as well.

Our good buddy Phil Nickinson, General Grievous of the Android Central army, got some video at Google I/O, so check it out after the jump and let us know — blissful cross-compatible future or cats and dogs living together?

YouTube link

Bump shares contacts between iPhone, Android is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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

Google’s PAC-MAN Doodle Playable On iPhone, iPad And iPod Touch

FullForce for iPad – Jailbreak app review

FullForce for iPad is jailbreak app that will automatically format iPhone apps to the resolution of the iPad without the distortion of the 2x zoom.  Anyone who owns an iPad knows that all the apps you had for your iPhone will run on the iPad, and you can zoom them in, but they get pretty grainy.  It makes me sad to see grainy apps when the iPad screen is so beautiful. FullForce tries to solve that sadness.

Fullforce works through your settings panel.  You will see a new Extensions section.  FullForce lists all your apps and you can toggle them on or off. There are still compatibility issues with a lot of apps, but for free, you can get some of your iPhone apps formatted for iPad goodness. Some common ones I noticed that format well are Facebook, Beejive, and Reeder. Some I noticed that didn’t were games such as Plants vs Zombies and Doodle Jump.

The developers have a running list of compatible apps and issues going in a shared Google docs spreadsheet you can access and edit through Cydia with a Google login. I liked the fact that it formatted Beejive so nicely. I almost bought the $5.99 iPad version (I bought Beejive back with it was still a whopping $16 or so dollars). But this will work just fine for me.

Anyone else here used FullForce on their iPad? What were your experiences and with which apps? Mine have all been good so far. Let us know about yours in the comments!

YouTube Link

FullForce for iPad – Jailbreak 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

Starting from zero on the iPhone home screen

Filed under: iPhone

This is what my iPhone looks like right now. No, it's not because iTunes went crazy and deleted all my apps.

I've downloaded over 150 apps from the App Store. Of those 150, I have roughly 100 of them still in iTunes. I've tried grouping them using springboard pages, but I find it frustrating because I don't usually have 12 related apps. (I'm really looking forward to Folders in iPhone OS 4.)

Here's how I have been organizing my pages:

Page 1 and 2: anything app I use a lot or that may pop up a "badge" that I want to see.

Everything else: launch using search.

Here's the thing: I've gotten used to putting some apps on page 1 or 2 because I think I'm going to use them. The Phone app? I finally moved it off my Dock, but I left it on Page 1, even though I bet it's one of the apps that I actually use far less frequently than others.

Read on for more...

Continue reading Starting from zero on the iPhone home screen

Starting from zero on the iPhone home screen originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 21 May 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Starting from zero on the iPhone home screen originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 21 May 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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FTC Won’t Block Google-AdMob Merger, Cites Apple’s iAd as Competitive Factor

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) today announced that it has closed its investigation of the proposed acquisition of mobile advertising firm AdMob by Google. The FTC had been seen as likely to oppose the move over antitrust issues, bu...

Survey: iPad making inroads, users satisfied

A pair of recent surveys say that not only has the iPad gained significant traction among consumers, but its users are overall pretty happy with the device.