figure 1: a mockup of a device on Intel’s Moorestown chip
The Apple iPhone is currently based off the ARM processor platform, but they are reportedly considering a switch to Intel in 2009. Some sites are expanding that news as justification for no 3rd party development, but I don’t buy it. And why not? Because a web widget — the simplest form of native 3rd party development — can be written in processor-agnostic fashion. Indeed, most of them would.
The chip that they’re reportedly considering, the Moorestown MID, would give the iPhone an unprecedented amount of computing power for a mobile device in its size class as the chip is designed for use in ultramobile PCs. Moorestown can also pair with chips for 3G, wi-fi, and wimax. Speaking to Jobs’ earlier quote about horrible battery life, Moorestown can idle with 10% of the power than its predecessor chip Menlow, meaning drastically longer standby times. Of course, it could just indicate that Apple is coming out with a UMPC of their own, who can say? [picture credit]
Tech curmudgeon John C. Dvorak (the C stands for cranky) points the spotlight of criticism on Apple for its blatant act of bricking unlocked iPhones. He points out that in many overseas markets unlocked phones are common place, and a lucrative business. Hey, John… I agree with you, but trying to get Apple to change its policies is like trying to wrestle a half ton alligator. It’s a futile effort and just makes the gator angry.
Microsoft has come out with new Zune models. The original Zune is now known as the Zune 30GB, and added to the family are now the Zune 80GB and two flash models, the Zune 4GB and the Zune 8GB. It looks like they added some media formats for video and music, so the new Zunes should be more useful than the old Zunes. Also, features from the new Zunes will be ported to the Zune 30GB so the early adopters get the full Zune treatment. Still, if you’re reading this, you likely have an iPhone, and like the rest of society have no use for a new Zune when they come out in November. [via]
My iPhone came well in advance of the computer. So for nearly ten days, I had an attractive looking paperweight. Meanwhile, a box full of accessories went to a different address — I was on vacation you see — so I couldn’t do much except stare at the iPhone box. Finally, I figured I would activate the iPhone on a different computer – though there is a danger to this madness. When I finally synched it to my home computer, I’d essentially be ‘wiping’ the iPhone and starting anew. Still, I had a working iPhone for a couple of days before the device and accessories were united.
Like a giddy young girl headed to the prom, my iPhone looked at the box of accessories. Cases, screen protectors, sync and charge cables, even a fancy Motorola Bluetooth headset were ready to take her out. The question of course: what to wear. Well, the one screen protector was a no-brainer. No one wants to get damaged on a night out. The sync and charge cable was a simple retracting affair. No, it was the cases that posed the most difficulty. There were three soft rubberized cases in pink, brown (yuck), and blue. Two semi hard cases, and a Tough Skin Sport by Speck. And the prettiest of the lot was an executive deep red leather case. For whatever reason, I was attracted to the light blue bad-boy-sounding Marware Sport Grip (store link, $14.95).
Ambrosia Software, makers of iToner, a software program used to put ringtones on an iPhone, have announced that they are still working on fixing iToner for firmware version 1.1.1. They expect to have an update Real Soon Now:
“it’s our job to make iToner continue to function as a product… and we think we’re going to be able to do just that. Very shortly we will be beta testing iToner 1.0.3 which we believe will bring iPhone OS 1.1.1 compatibility to iToner.”
AT&T has modified their Terms of Service to bar their customers from griping. Their new terms of service now includes language that states they can terminate your connection for doing things that “tends to damage the name or reputation of AT&T, or its parents, affiliates and subsidiaries.” An important distinction: the threat gag is just for the DSL portion of AT&T, aka BellSouth.
I don’t expect it to work; actually, I expect it to backfire. Case in point, I’m going to slur the name of AT&T in this very sentence when I would not have otherwise:
the halls of AT&T are nothing more than a powder room for dandies, johnny-come-latelies and fops; the same is equally true if not more so for AT&T’s parents, affiliates, and subsidiaries.
The glove is thrown down, AT&T; your honor has been impugned. [via]
Last week and the proceeding weekend I was on the receiving end of some terrible misfortune; the worst series of mishaps I have endured in… well, quite a long while. Fools rush in where hackers fear to tread. And I not only rushed in, I kicked in the door and set fire to the house on my in. Very unwise.
Someone has posted a YouTube parody video of Apple’s ‘Think different’ campaign. Until folks manage to crack and hack the 1.1.1 firmware, it probably functions as a eulogy for the 1.0.2 firmware that allowed us to install 3rd party applications and unlock our iPhones. There was a nice little ecosystem going on the iPhone for a while, and it was pretty much nipped in the bud.
It is possible to downgrade your iPhone from 1.1.1 to 1.0.2, restoring some functionality of your iPhone. See here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and last but not least, here. We’ll have a guide up on how to perform this shortly if anyone is still stuck in brickville.
There’s a class action lawsuit brewing over the price cut and the discontinuance of the 4GB iPhone. I have no idea if this class action lawsuit has merit or not, but it looks like Dongmei Lee want to be a millionaire:
‘For those claims which the Court is still likely to take into account, Li is requesting compensatory damages in the amount of $1 million, punitive damages in the amount to be determined at trial, and a court order that she is entitled to “threefold her damages, the costs involved in maintaining this action, and attorney’s fees.”‘
Dongmei Lee’s class-action lawsuit doesn’t address the bricking of iPhones with the recent update, so maybe iPhoneClassActionLawsuitVille will be a two-horse town sooner rather than later.
The iPhone Blog merged with the Phone different site in May of 2008. Both sites were founded on a premise that comes one from one of Apple's old slogans: Think different. The iPhone Blog: for people who dare to phone different.
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