I remember back in the day while driving, I would take an audio note on my Palm Tungsten, T, before smartphones really took off. My, have we come a long way.
Jott (recently out of beta) is a way to take audio notes, then have them transcribed into SMS, email, or just a web note. This truly takes my Tungsten Audio recording days to the next level.
There are a couple ways to use Jott; either the iPhone application or via an 800 number. This review will focus on the use of the iPhone app., but will touch on different ways to you can access your Jott.
Last week the UK ruled that Apple was misrepresenting the iPhone’s provisioning of “just the internet” due to the lack of support for two ubiquitously popular 3rd party plugins: Flash and Java. We’ve previously covered the will they/won’t they drama surrounding development and deployment of Flash and Java pretty much ad nauseum infinitum, as well as some seldom discussed yet surprisingly frightening concerns about Flash and its downright sneaky use of 3rd party advertising cookies.
More recently, however, another issue has come to light. Primarily concerned with Windows Vista security and how it can be circumvented, this issue throws a renewed focus on the danger of 3rd party plugins like Flash and Java, on how they interpret and run code on our machines, and how they provide an increasingly popular attack vector for bad guys (hackers, malware authors, identity thieves, etc.)
How does this all relate to the iPhone, and what about ZOMG! Can has my Flash vidz? Read on to find out!
Engadget confirms it, Apple is going to be giving us the new hotness on September 9th. All signs point to new iPod Nanos, but many are hoping that we’ll see a revision of iTunes with new features, from iTunes Unlimited to something a bit more scaled back. Others (me) are hoping for the 2.1 update with background notifications and another killer app: stability.
‘Course, there’s a Magic 8-Ball vs. Analyst riding on this one, and so far the 8-Ball appears to not be holding up too well — only time will tell for sure, though.
In the wake of Bloomberg’s faux-pas to end all faux-pas’ last week, Forbes gives their list of the top 5 things they’d still like to see from a Steve Jobs run Apple. Sure, they tack on an unnecessarily morbid title, but at its core it’s an intriguing question: Macworld 2009 or 2010, what shiny new toys do we most want to see on the receiving end of a Jobsian “Boom!”?
Forbes includes, in ascending order, an iTablet, a TV, a remote control (not the tiny white one they already make — they want a Harmony killer), an eBook reader (Kindle Killer), and another paradigm shift in computing to follow the Apple II and Mac.
My list? Well, it would start with a hyper-miniaturized communicator that’s all but invisible, and makes whatever they used on the Berman-era Star Trek look old and lame. The Minority Report Cinema Displays and iMacs are high up there as well (though they’d need to keep the traditional inputs as well, lest my arms tire out before I finish blogging…) Location-based services that are truly useful would be nice: (Alert! You’re approaching mom’s house, she wanted help cleaning the gutters. Turn right to avoid…) Also, I’d like a real Apple TV, that does for the set-top what Apple’s done for the desktop, laptop, and palmtop. Time to move past hobby on that one, Mr. Jobs. (And it already has the ultimate remote — the iPhone/iPod Touch. C’mon!) But #1 on my list?
A truly integrated, location free computing experience. Bill Gates showed off the concept many years ago at CES, but I think only Apple could deliver it with any elegance or grace: I work on my iMac, pick up my iPhone (which has synced my entire environment, coordinated with the “cloud”), go to the office, and keep right on working on my MacBook as though it were the exact same machine. And more: stop over at a friend’s house and jump on her Mac Mini as though it were the same machine as well. No more location-locked environments or data. Back to my Mac becomes My Mac Anywhere, a truly MobileMe. (Though hopefully — for Jobs’ sake — with better branding…)
That’s the top 5 things I want from Steve Jobs’ Apple.
Not evil twin to theiPhoneBlog.com Week in Review, not an invasion by Fake Steve, This Week in Smart Phone Schadenfreude brings you all the feel-better news you need about the smartphone world outside Apple’s current media dominator. (Who knew there was such a world? We were just as surprised! Inelegant, interface challenged, keyboardy, crashy, single-touchy place — best not to linger…). Join us as we mock review the big news from last week at our sister sites. Everybody loves sibling rivalry!
This week: Boldly browsing (or not), AppClones, HTC’s dreaming, and Treo requiem.
Oh, Apple, you tease! It’s not enough we’ve all heard the iPhone began life as the Safari Pad tablet? That Intel has leaked Atom-powered portable hints? That the rumors start up again every time the blogsphere even thinks you have a “Special Event” coming our way? Do you really have to go and show us your patents?
Much of the 52-page filing describes methods for accurately detecting and deciphering a plurality of simultaneous contacts on a touch screen, which sets the foundation for future tablet-based products that users can manipulate using not only more than one finger, but more than one hand.
Design guru Jonathan Ive, among others, is credited with the innovation, which includes examples of window control, virtual keyboards, and virtual scroll-wheels.
No word, of course, on when or if we’ll ever actually get to hold such awesome mobile power with our own multi-touching hands…
When Gizmodo honcho Brian Lam found out via Twitter that one of his readers was experiencing a brutal 8-hour iPhone sync, he did what any EiC worth his postings would do: secured time-lapse video! To put 8 painful hours fully into perspective:
That’s a full night of sleep. That’s a full day of high school. That’s longer than it takes to fly cross country, or drive from SF to Los Angeles. After seeing this video, I stopped complaining and tried to figure out what caused Brandon’s problem with him.
Heck, it’s a wait in an launch day Apple Store line! They tried syncing via a MacBook Air and an iMac, and even switched out cables, but the 74 App sync just wouldn’t — indeed couldn’t! — be tamed.
Atypical? For certain. Incredible? Pretty much. If it were us? We’d probably nuke the thing, bury it upside down, cover it in concrete, and salt the earth — then politely ask Steve Jobs to start over…
Luckily, my longest sync has probably never topped 5 minutes. What about you? What’s your longest sync been to date?
We had mentioned the prototype of iControlPad more than a couple months ago, but it has popped up again looking a little bit more finalized and a lot BIGGER. Back in May, I had compared the original model to a PSP, but I think this edition looks more like the Sega Game Gear from years back. This thing is huge!
It promises to be glossier in the final production model and hopefully it’ll look a little bit nicer. Shouldn’t it look flush with the iPhone? At least steal some of the iPhone’s design cues! I will reserve my excitement and temper my expectations until I see the final product. Because even though it is kind of ugly, it might take iPhone gaming to another level.
Remember that phishing scam that targeted MobileMe users a while back? The one that may have nabbed hundreds of account holders’ information? Well Apple must, because the latest in their series of MobileMe Updates addresses the issue head on:
You will never receive a message from MobileMe asking you to send personal information over email. If we are ever unable to charge your credit card, for instance, we will send you a reminder email, but will not directly link to any web pages. The safest way to respond and update any necessary information is to type www.me.com into your browser and log in to your account directly. That way you can be confident you are at me.com and your personal information is secure.
Apple further provides a support document on how to better determine the actual destination hidden behind a link, and an email address — reportphishing@apple.com — where users can forward any questionable content for investigation by Apple legal and law enforcement.
Together, MobileMe users can help take a byte out of Apple-targeted crime!
Bluetooth headsets are becoming increasingly popular, on a common day you’d run into plenty of people using these hands-free devices. Some make you look like a bionic man, others simply look bland, but there are a rare few that makes your head turn. The Motorola H9 Bluetooth Headset ($89.95) falls in that head-turner, borderline sexy category.
Sculpted to be no larger than a quarter, the Motorola H9 is sleek, lightweight, and unmistakably TINY. How can they fit a capable Bluetooth Headset in such a small package? Does it sacrifice performance for the sake of good looks? Is it even useful?
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.
I remember back in the day while driving, I would take an audio note on my Palm Tungsten, T, before smartphones really took off. My, have we come a long way.
