A minor tweak in iPhone 3.0 Beta 4 changes the language for the — still-unannounced by Apple — “Find My iPhone” feature from simply saying it uses your MobileMe account at me.com, to saying it uses a MobileMe Web application.
The assumption has always been that this feature would let you track a lost iPhone (or perhaps the child for whom you bought it), web application sounds — at least to us — a tad more substantial in terms of implementation.
Since Apple will have to build out MobileMe to support this, and since we’re speculating anyway, we’re also still hoping a revamped MobileMe in general might make a guest appearance at WWDC (where Phil Schiller introduced it last year). With note sync finally available, adding it to MobileMe seems an obvious move. Tasks/Todo sync, as well as Photo Sync (currently photos can be shared and stored, but sync only to iPhoto web albums, not to the iPhone) and perhaps — some of the other improvements we’ve dreamt of?
/Tangent
(Thanks to Cody for the tip!)
Business Week (via Daring Fireball) is adding fuel to the rumors of Apple’s iPhone 3.0 may not only be shooting video come WWDC, but editing and sharing as well:
I’ve spoken with a source that is familiar with Apple’s plans for the next iPhone, which may well be announced at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference in early June. Evidently, shooting video is as easy as it is with a Flip, the ingenious device made by Pure Digital (recently purchased by Cisco). Then there’s an iMovie app that lets you quickly save the sections you want, right there on the phone itself. There may also be support for MMS, so the clips can be shared wirelessly with friends. And because of the iPhone’s relatively large screen, your friends don’t have to schlep to your PC or their Facebook page to see that video of your kids or your safari. Just hand them your iPhone.
Questing — will this only be available on the next generation iPhone or will current (and older) iPhones be so blessed, lower-quality camera and processors not withstanding?
We mentioned the new Store Setting tab just a short time ago. daveizzle on Twitter made the observation that this functionality makes it seem like you could theoretically sign into one account, download apps, sign out, sign into another account, and download apps from that account as well, all onto the same iPhone or iPod touch. Boom. Support for multiple iTunes accounts right on the device.
Why would that be interesting? Say your spouse had already bought a $9.99 app. App Store lets the same account re-download that app to the iPhone without a second charge, so it becomes a way to “share” applications (as long as you trust the person enough to put your iTunes password into their device). Another scenario would be a UK users wanting to download a US-only app. They could log into a US account, download the region-restricted app, then log out and log back into their own, local account.
Note: This has been possible all along via syncing from iTunes. Any apps downloaded from any account would transfer over to the iPhone. This merely extends the purchase and/or download process to the iPhone, further releasing iTunes tethered hold.
(Of course, since you can’t re-download music for free, and you can’t download movie or TV show videos directly to the iPhone, this pertains only to App Store content — likely to prevent Big Media heads from ’sploding).
No sooner has iPhone 3.0 Beta 4 been released, then our tip-lines have been filling up with finds. So far the big news looks to be that that mysterious “Store” tap, icon-less and empty in previous betas, now sports user info.
Also, the camera is now polite enough to ask if you like the photo you just took and want to save it, or if you don’t and want a chance to re-take it. Note: we’re not sure about this change yet, it may only be implemented for MMS, and may have been around in previous betas (lots of maybes, we know, we’re trying to sort through everything as efficiently as possible.) If it is system wide, some of us will lament the loss of our ability to rapidly snap photo after photo without the interruption of requesters…
(Thanks Andrew and anons!)
Like clockwork, Apple has released iPhone 3.0 Beta 4 along with iPhone SDK 3.0 Beta 4 to developers. This marks the 3rd consecutive alternate-Tuesday update following the original Beta 1 release. Beta 2 and Beta 3 were both heavily scoured by code-divers who discovered several new, as-year unannounced features (see our updated iPhone 3.0 walkthrough for more!).
Will Beta 4 be any different? We certainly hope not!
Note: We’ve gotten reports that developers must install the iTunes 8.2 pre-release before attempting to install iPhone OS 3.0 Beta 4.
Also remember iPhone 3.0 is a real Beta intended for developers and testers, not for daily use on a primary phone. If you don’t need the beta, don’t install the beta, and for Jobsake don’t buy it off of eBay. Yikes!
(Thanks Danny, Andrew, and all those who sent this in!)
Back before the iPhone, I was using one of GRC.com’s long, pseudo-random passwords for my WPA-protected Wi-Fi network. Typing it into iPhone 1.x, even iPhone 2.x was a non-starter, however, so I shrank it down considerably.
Similar security-conscious folks have lamented not only the lack of copy and paste on the iPhone, but especially the lack of “paste-into-password field” to support just those kinds of super-secure strings.
Well, it looks like we might be getting them — along with the previously discussed copy and paste features, in iPhone 3.0.
Whether this makes it or not into the final release version is something only time will tell (because Apple, of course, isn’t saying).
But we want it.
Ars Technica has heard from those ever-enigmatic “sources familiar with” that there might just be more going on behind the rumored new Voice Control feature in iPhone 3.0 than we’ve seen so far:
Jibbler appears be an enhancement to the iPhone SpringBoard application, the Finder-esque app that acts as a launcher and will support the newly announced 3.0 Spotlight search. Jibbler may be controlled via the iPhone headset—button squeezes could be used to record short voice segments from the user, which Jibbler will then interpret. Voice synthesis can then be used to give the user a response, similar to the latest generation iPod shuffle, which can “read” playlists and track names—the difference being that the iPhone hardware itself could handle real-time voice synthesis.
Okay, so the code-name is worthy of a Microsoft de-branding exercise, but the technology is intriguing. Apple certainly has taken steps towards voice implementation with the latest iPod shuffle’s VoiceOver and recent headsets have raised the bar (perhaps too much) on control clicks.
Many users have asked for simple voice dialing. Is Apple providing that and, in typical fashion, wondrously more with “Jibbler”, or is it a case of breaking a simple function by stretching it too far?
We covered some new finds in iPhone 3.0 over the weekend, including MobileMe data merge and commercial Wi-Fi auto-join, but we’ve also updated our complete iPhone 3.0 walkthrough with all that and more, so if you haven’t checked it out lately, go take a look.
It’s still months from Apple’s nebulous ‘”summer” release date, so more will change, and maybe even a bit more will be added before it drops, let us know if there’s anything specific you’re looking for, from Apple, or from us!
Following up on the MobileMe data merge screenshots… We’d heard mention of this when iPhone 3.0 was introduced, but it’s the first time we’ve actually seen how it actually works. WiFi Settings now includes and option for auto-join, which we’re assuming saves passwords for commercial, web-fronted WiFi services like you’d find at a hotel or coffee shop.
Also, when you log in, you get a special slide-up window with some new controls and an embeded web-view — no more app-jump to Safari.
Very nice!
Again, for more iPhone 3.0, check out our giant walkthrough…
We’ve now gotten a few reports and some screenshots of yet more new functionality in iPhone 3.0 Beta 3.
First is “merge”. If you already have bookmarks, contacts, or other data on your iPhone (for example, if you synced it over via iTunes) and you enable MobileMe, a menu will slide up asking if you want to merge the data, not merge (i.e. replace), or cancel.
Next are “Publishing to MobileMe”, which shows a direct upload status bar, and new options to view published items on MobileMe, or “tell a friend” (via MMS?).
More screenshots after the break, and for a far more detailed look at the beta releases so far, including WiFi Auto-Join also posted today, check out our massive iPhone 3.0 walkthrough.
