January 2009: Monthly Archive

*Slightly* More on 3rd Generation iPhone

No specks, no blur-cam shots, not even a Kevin Rose post yet, just a few more tiny little details on Pinch Media’s timeline via MacRumors:

  • 1st spotting of the “iPhone 2,1″ device occured in early October 2008
  • Usage picked up in mid-December 2008
  • A few dozen distinct “iPhone 2,1″ devices have been detected
  • Almost exclusively located in south San Francisco Bay Area
  • Both AT&T and Wi-Fi connections

Dear Apple, CrackBerry Kevin got that wonderful pre-release BlackBerry Bold last year, and he will never let the rest of us live it down, so for the sake of all things righteous, just, and uber-cool, howsabout slapping an iPhone Mark 3 (iPhone HD?) in some bubblewrap and fedexing it our way? We don’t even care if cut/copy and paste is working yet, b’okay?

Still on iPhone 2.2 and Want Emoji? FrostyPlace Free Right Now!

Act fast, because this ain’t gonna last, but if you’re still on iPhone OS 2.2 and want to activate Emoji as detailed by iJustine (see previous post for details), act fast and scoop up FrostyPlace now. It’s FREE for today only (and who knows what time zone today ends for them!)

(Via Daynah on Twitter)

TiPb Presents: iPhone Live! Podcast #6

Joined by special guest, Mickey Papillion, the Cell Phone Junkie, Rene and Chad FINALLY get into some iPhone vs. Palm Pre (technical and legal!) action with Smartphone Expert’s editor-in-chief — and resident Palm expert — Dieter Bohn who was live at the keynote and got quite a bit of hands-on time with the Pre at CES.

Is the Pre better? Can it compete? How will Apple answer? Or will those multi-touch patents stop Palm dead in their tracks? Listen in the find out!

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Polaroid Wants More iPhone Bluetooth Access — So Say We All?

TiPb received a note from Andy at Polaroid concerning a campaign they’re starting encouraging iPhone users to file a feature request with Apple for Bluetooth file transfer access. Polaroid wants this for their Pogo Instant Mobile Printer, but TiPb thinks it’s a grand idea for better Bluetooth access of all sorts.

I’m pretty sure we don’t have stereo Bluetooth (A2DP) because, well, it’s not very good quality and Apple doesn’t do “not very good quality” (outside of MobileMe launches, mice, and corporate printer support, of course), but how about letting that gorgeous Apple Bluetooth Keyboard (or any Bluetooth Keyboard) hook up with the iPhone?

There’s a full range of Bluetooth functionality we haven’t gotten on the iPhone yet. Sure, engineering talent is limited and Apple no doubt has a list of priorities based on maximum results for minimum dev time, but even Apple’s been known to re-prioritize based on customer feedback, so if this is something you want, let Apple know! (Just don’t ask for copy/cut and paste, MMS, video recording, Push Notification, and everything else at the same time, b’okay?)

iPhone 101: How to Put the iPhone Into Recovery Mode

Welcome to iPhone 101, our helpful new how-to series for new iPhone users (or experienced users who want a handy link to send to their new-user friends and family!). Previously, we’ve shown you how to Force Quit applications to free up memory if things seem a little stuck or stalled. But what happens when your iPhone is completely non-responsive, even when connected to iTunes via the USB cable? Don’t worry, it’s not a time to panic, just time to put your iPhone into Recovery Mode. We’ll show you how… after the break!

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Quick Review: Pogo Stylus

Our fearless leader/editor was able to meet some great vendors at Macworld 2009 this year and got a sampling of their products. I am rounding them up in a series of posts, so, let’s take a look at what we have this time!

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$19.99 “Premium Gaming” Section to Hit App Store?

MacRumors is reporting a… well, rumor, that Apple may introduce a new section to the App Store for “premium” games with a price point at (or above?) $19.99.

The rumors suggests WWDC in June as a likely introduction event, and it would be exclusive to big publishers and allow them to side-step the $0.99 domination of cheaper Apps (some awesome indie fare but also a lot of… well, CrApps) that suck all the air out of the current Top lists.

This could actually be an interesting solution, allowing for both the cheap games many want to consume, but also providing a viable business option for developers who want to invest more resources into bigger games. (Grand Theft Auto: Cupertino Chaos anyone?)

I’d be willing to pay more for really good, in depth, immersive, highly optimized, and expertly rendered games, and think it will continue to push the iPhone and iPod touch into Nintendo DS and Sony PSP territory.

How about you?

iTunes Plus Upgrades: Now Serving Singles

When Apple first announced it was going DRM-free at Macworld 2009, they set up a system where users who previously bought the old, lower quality, copy-protected music could upgrade to the new, higher-quality, non-protected music for $0.30 per single track.

Problem: it was all or nothing. If you had 100 tracks, you had to upgrade every single one of them, all at once, which would set you back $30 (or $300 for 1000 tracks). Now, Macworld (via TUAW) says Apple has seen the light, bowed to pressure, or otherwise fixed the lame, and is allowing users to pick and choose, and upgrade only the music they want on a per track basis.

So, head on over to iTunes to see which of your music tracks [iTunes link] are eligible for upgrade, but make sure you have 1-Click enabled (for now, to avoid some sort of glitch in the system).

Seems like a great step in the right direction for us. Anyone more likely to upgrade now that we don’t have all-or-nothing dangling over us?

Dev Team Explains: Why NOT to Update to iPhone 2.2.1

So if you don’t live under a rock you would have noticed that Apple released a iPhone/iPhone 3G firmware update this past Tuesday. TiPb then warned all of you jailbreakers/unlockers out there not to proceed with updating your firmware… Judging from the comments, some of you took heed to our warning, while others were not so lucky.

To get a better understanding of what is going on with this latest Apple firmware and why you should not update just yet, be sure to check out the video above from iPhone Dev Team member, musclenerd.

[Via blog.iphone-dev.org]