UPDATE: Skype seems to be live now in the US App Store [iTunes Link]. If you find it in any other App Store’s please let us know in the comments. [Thanks daveizzle for the tip!]
UPDATE 2: According to CBC News, Skype will NOT be available in Canada (though it will be everywhere else). The reason, a patent-license restrictions on Skype’s end that they won’t discuss. Apparently that means no iPhone Skype App for Canada and crippled Skype-to-Skype and IM only for the BlackBerry come may. Sort that out, will you Skype. Now? [via arcterex]
UPDATE 3: Important note for JAILBREAK users: if you’re experiencing constant crashes, be sure to update MobileSubstrate via Cydia.
ORIGINAL post after the jump!
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DIRECTV for the iPhone is now live in the iTunes App Store. Features include:
- Search for any television show up to 14 days in advance
- Browse programs by channel or date & time
- Get program information instantly, including description, length and rating
- Record a single episode or an entire series
- Program Pay Per View movies to be recorded and ready to watch anytime
- Record to any DIRECTV DVR in your home
Any DIRECTV iPhone users giving it a try? How’s it working for you?
[Via Engadget Mobile]
Ok, don’t worry, the above image is actually from Activisions version of Ghostbusters for the Apple II that appeared in 1984 and not from this upcoming version. Most Ghostbuster fans out there are aware that the Ghostbusters are making their comeback this June on all of the major video game consoles with the original cast doing the voice acting. Well, most of you will be excited to know that your favorite ghostbusting trio will be making an appearance on the iPhone this June as well. Details are pretty much nil at the moment though hopefully Sony Pictures does it justice.
Sony says the Ghostbusters iPhone game will see you playing as the traditional team from the Ghostbusters movies, tackling New York borough by borough, trapping pesky poltergeists and stopping innocent citizens from being slimed. Think Halloween Harry, only with Ghostbusters’ Peter Venkman deadpanning it all the way through.
It should be interesting to see how the developers take advantage of the iPhones accelerometer in terms of control. So what do all of the fans think of this comeback? This is pretty big for those of us who here at TiPb grew up in the 1980’s, so we’re pretty excited to this game is coming.
[Via Electricpig]
Yep, the iPhone has won Engadget’s Gadget of the Year and Smartphone of the Year awards, not just from the editors, but from the readers as well. That’s quadrupal honors for those keeping score at home.
For the Engadget Awards in general, the editors also picked the unibody MacBook, and iPod touch (handheld and portable), and gave the BlackBerry Storm the worst gadget honors. Readers, meanwhile went far more Apple, with for iMac, unibody MacBook, 24″ LED Cinema Display, the iPod touch (for both handheld and portable), and Time Capsule for storage. Zune was worst gadget.
TiPb’s own Editor Awards and Reader’s Choice Awards were handed out on New Year and Oscar Sunday respectively.
Macworld has just sent out an email telling interested parties that they’re changing the dates for their annual Expo from the traditional early January, to roughly a month later:
As we began the planning process for 2010, the Mac community – exhibitors, attendees, media and fans of the show – made it clear that February would be a more ideal time to hold the event, so we listened. The Conference programs are scheduled for Tuesday through Saturday, February 9 – 13 and the Expo will be held Thursday through Saturday, February 11-13th.
Now that Apple will no longer be attending Macworld, of course, not going up against the juggernaut that is CES — which is already, and controversially, wooing Mac and iPhone exhibitors — could also be A Good Thing.
On our end, we’re wondering if, between CES, Macworld, MWC, and CTIA we’re going to have to clone Dieter sooner than we anticipated! Were you thinking of attending Macworld 2010? Do the new dates make you more likely to attend now? And are there too many iPhone-involved shows too closely lumped together now?
We received a note via Twitter that there may be a problem:
wondering if you’ve heard any reports of an iPhone service outage in SF Bay Area? My iPhone and 7-8 other friends no service.
Some comments have popped up on older posts making us wonder as well. Anyone in San Francisco or California in general experiencing any AT&T outages? If so, please sound of in the comments and let us know where and when, and whether it’s back or not in your area.
And, hey, if this is isolated or already over, outage-fans fear not, there’s still CTIA in Las Vegas coming up, and we know what massive amounts of iPhones at big trade shows do to AT&T’s network…
We’ve talked about this several times before on TiPb, but Jeremy Horwitz over at iLounge takes an interesting journey via the game Peggle, what it’s release looks like for the Nintendo DS at $30, how retail sales prices break down, and what it might mean for iPhone gamers if they’re forced by market conditions to give us a barer-boned $5 version.
We know Apple said “free apps stay free”, so there’s still no model for demos to get people hooked, but the idea of ScaleWare, so a low introductory price can be followed by a few level/feature pack upgrades is something we’re fond of. Horwitz rightly points out that if devs over use this, however, it could make things worse:
just imagine the commercials showing someone actually playing a full Sony or Nintendo handheld game alongside someone clicking on iPod touch dialog boxes to the sound of a cash register.
iLounge likes the idea of regular games (i.e. cheap) with the in-app option to upgrade to deluxe versions (i.e. full price). Sounds good to us. We want great games on the iPhone, and we’re willing to reward developers with fair prices for their work. Are you?
Is it real, or is it photoshop-fiction? Almost certainly the latter, but since our editor-in-chief, Dieter, went and bought himself a Dell Mini 9, it stands to reason Apple leaked this just to give him a little pay back for the stray Mac.
Gizmodo runs down the speculative specs:
- 10.4″ WXGA display.
- 1280 x 768 pixel with LED backlighting.
- NVIDIA MCP79
- Intel Atom Z740 1.83GHz with 1MB L2 cache.
- 2GB DDR3-800.
- NVIDIA GeForce 9400M
- 64GB Solid State Drive.
- Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n
- 1 x USB 2.0
- 1 x Mini Display Port
- Battery Li-Ion 5100mA
Do we want a low-yield baby Mac? Would it be even more interesting if, as Apple Insider reported some other rumors suggest, carriers like AT&T, Orange, etc. start offering subsidized MacBook’s when you sign a contract for a data card?
Every week I will be bringing you what I think are the week’s biggest stories and articles. Let’s get started, after the break! Read the rest of this entry »
