Join Chad, Matt, Leanna, and Rene to discuss Apple’s Sept. 9 music event, Mac OS X Snow Leopard and what it means for iPhone and iTablet, MMS on AT&T, and your questions live! Listen in!
Congrats to Paul who won our live give-away for a RexRegina Hamilton Case for iPhone 3GS and iPhone 3G. Join us live next week for your chance to win iPhone accessories!
On Friday, Apple shipped Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, their latest computer operating system (which is jailbreaker safe!), and for the first time focus wasn’t on fabulous new consumer-facing features, but on internal re-architecting, the (far too often quoted) refinements and enhancements.
Many of these advancements, as we’ve discussed before, were leveraged from work done for the iPhone version of OS X. QuickTime X, with its yellow trim bars and built-in sharing are an obvious example.
We’ve already seen Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard technology like Data Detectors cross-over to the iPhone, but with this newest, arguably greatest version of Mac OS X now on the market, what can we look forward too for the next generation(s) of iPhone OS X?
Note: We’ve renumbered the episode to #64 to reflect both Phone different and iPhone Live!) Join Dieter, Chris, and Rene for FCC vs. Apple, AT&T, and Google fallout, more iTablet and Apple Music Event rumors, and all the news… and appoplexy! Listen in!
Congrats to Brandon who won our live give-away for a Motorola MOTOROKR S305 Bluetooth Stereo Headphones. Join us live next week for your chance to win iPhone accessories!
I love Facebook and this is a preview of the hotly anticipated Facebook for iPhone 3.0, coming soon to the iTunes App Store for iPhone and iPod touch.
Where to begin? When I first installed the app, I was frozen with anticipation. I have seen some sneak peeks on Facebook’s app page, but that was it. Now with it in my hands… Let’s begin by looking at the basics.
Join Dieter, Chris, Rene and special guest, Patrick Norton to talk about Revision3’s new AppJudgement show, as well as all the latest iPhone, iPod, iTunes, and iTablet news and rumors. Listen in!
What are the top 5, must-have board games currently available on the iPhone? Many of you have taken a liking to our Top 5 Must-Have Jailbreak Apps features, so TiPb figured why not expand the series and cover some of the better apps directly from Apple’s own iTunes App Store as well? So that is exactly what we did. Today we have compiled what we feel are the current top 5 must-have board game apps available. For the full run down, follow us after the break! Read the rest of this entry »
Join Rene, James, and Chris for more iTablet, iPod touch, and iTunes 9 rumors, Apple VP Phil Schiller’s email spree, the latest competition from BlackBerry and Microsoft, and all the news. Listen in!
The Plantronics Voyager PRO Bluetooth headset [$89.95 - TiPb Store link] sounds great, fits fantastically, and makes you look like something in between a SWAT team member and a Battlestar comms officer.
I’ve said many times before that I have trouble finding a Bluetooth headset that stays in my ear. Admittedly, my ears have been ground-down by years of punches, kicks, and grappling, but even those that came with various types of loops have left me hanging, or just plain left by falling out.
The Plantronics Voyager PRO, which I’ve been using it as my daily driver (literally — it’s the law where I live) for just over a month now, hasn’t let me down yet. It’s larger than some competing devices, but that size is put to good use wrapping over and behind the ear to house the guts of the device, while the slender boom extends down across the cheek. The look is hardcore sci-fi, the sound is crisp and clear, with noise-reduction and a host of control features (and with the upcoming iPhone 3.1, Voice Control will work over Bluetooth as well). Plus, the battery just seems to keep going and going, with 6 hours talk time, 120 hours stand-by.
For complete tech specs and purchasing details, check out TiPb’s iPhone Accessory Store. For more pictures, look below the fold…
Let’s just ask it: is it time for an open letter from Steve Jobs concerning the state of the iTunes App Store? Apple’s CEO has written several of these over the course of the last few years — rare public statements typically addressing wide-spread perceptions of critical problems or situations facing Apple. He’s taken on DRM in music (but not video) to prevent the EU from forcing Apple to license FairPlay DRM, offered $100 to early iPhone 2G buyers incensed by a rapid post-launch price drop, addressed the lack of native apps on the iPhone amid massive developer dissatisfaction, espoused Apple’s commitment to the environment given Greenpeace’s constant PR pressure, and spoken about the uncertainty surrounding his health prior to Macworld to help assuage investor panic. There was even a “leaked” internal letter regarding the troubled MobileMe launch, one of the worst customer relations situations Apple has faced in recent years.
While the App Store is not yet a large-scale consumer facing problem like the iPhone 2G price cut or MobileMe were (some consumers don’t even use the App Store, many others don’t follow any backstage news about), nor a regulatory issue like DRM-music threatened to be (Apple is hardly a monopoly in the smartphone space) or Jobs’ health might have been to investors, it is and will continue to cause Apple pain in one very important area: tech savvy, power users (and media) who typically influence friends (and readers) and generally presage public perception.
Jason Calacanis, who’s frustration at this point clearly overcame his reason (see Marco Arment’s retort), and Mike Arrington, who might again garner Leo Laporte-esque responses himself, are easy to dismiss given their bombastic personalities, passion, and self-interests. Others aren’t so easily dismissed. Long time Mac developer Steven Frank is one example. Daring Fireball’s John Gruber is another. Dieter’s ranted about it on iPhone Live! and Jeremy and I have even written a word or two. Heck, even Apple’s highly operational COO Tim Cook and perennially affable Senior VP of Marketing, Phil Schiller, have mentioned it.
But Steve Jobs hasn’t.
Granted, Jobs is just getting back to work after an extended leave of absence and has been letting his team do their share of heavy lifting, but despite Apple’s highly innovative, world class executive team, Steve Jobs is still the voice of Apple, and there’s likely very little else — aside from carefully watching and tracking tiny improvements over an extended period of time — that will help ease the growing concerns about the App Store and grant Apple a little renewed faith along the way.
An open letter from Steve Jobs in Apple’s news feed, symbolic though it may be, stating a clear “we want a delightful App Store experience for developers” manifesto, reflecting an understanding of the current concerns, offering a “Mobile Me News” olive branch of openness — doing what he did for DRM, the $100 credits, the green initiative, the native apps SDK — would not only address the immediate perception problem, but could start fixing the root cause. Even a “leaked” letter like the one that followed MobileMe’s launch would be a start.
Apple’s often effective, often decried, culture of secrecy is widely thought to emanate from Steve Jobs. He’s shattered it before for Apple’s benefit. Is it time for him to shatter it again?
Join Dieter, Chris, and Rene for iPhone 3.0.1, iProd 1,1 speculation, more App Store craziness, top 5 jailbreak apps, and a dramatic reading! Listen in!
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The iPhone blog (TiPb) is for those who dare to phone different.
Send us news:
Tip line - @theiphoneblog
Rene Ritchie, Editor
rene@tipb.com - @reneritchie
Chad Garrett, Writer
chad.garret@tipb.com - @ichadman
Jeremy Sikora, Writer
jeremy.skiora@tipb.com - @JFSikora
Dieter Bohn, Editor in Chief, SPE
@backlon
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Copyright 2008 Smartphone Experts Ltd. All rights reserved.
