Archive for the ‘Apple’ Category

Big, Ugly Bezel
Have you seen the bezel on this thing?! It’s huge! I know you don’t want to accidentally input a command when your thumb is holding it, but come on.

No Multitasking
This is a backbreaker. If this is supposed to be a replacement for netbooks, how can it possibly not have multitasking? Are you saying I can’t listen to Pandora while writing a document? I can’t have my Twitter app open at the same time as my browser? I can’t have AIM open at the same time as my email? Are you kidding me? This alone guarantees that I will not buy this product.

No Cameras
No front facing camera is one thing. But no back facing camera either? Why the hell not? I can’t imagine what the downside was for including at least one camera. Could this thing not handle video iChat?

Touch Keyboard
So much for Apple revolutionizing tablet inputs; this is the same big, ugly touchscreen keyboard we’ve seen on other tablets, and unless you’re lying on the couch with your knees propping it up, it’ll be awkward to use.

No HDMI Out
Want to watch those nice HD videos you downloaded from iTunes on your TV? Too damned bad! If you were truly loyal, you’d just buy an AppleTV already.

The Name iPad
Get ready for Maxi pad jokes, and lots of ‘em!

No Flash
No Flash is annoying but not a dealbreaker on the iPhone and iPod Touch. On something that’s supposed to be closer to a netbook or laptop? It will leave huge, gaping holes in websites. I hope you don’t care about streaming video! God knows not many casual internet users do. Oh wait, nevermind, they all do.

Adapters, Adapters, Adapters
So much for those smooth lines. If you want to plug anything into this, such as a digital camera, you need all sorts of ugly adapters. You need an adapter for USB for god’s sake.

Update: Why stop at 8? Here are more things we are discovering that suck about the iPad.

It’s Not Widescreen
Widescreen movies look lousy on this thing thanks to its 4:3 screen, according to Blam, who checked out some of Star Trek on one. It’s like owning a 4:3 TV all over again!

Doesn’t Support T-Mobile 3G
Sure, it’s "unlocked." But it won’t work on T-Mobile, and it uses microSIMs that literally no one else uses.

A Closed App Ecosystem
The iPad only runs apps from the App Store. The same App Store that is notorious for banning apps for no real reason, such as Google Voice. Sure, netbooks might not have touchscreens, but you can install whatever software you’d like on them. Want to run a different browser on your iPad? Too bad!

8 Things That Suck About the iPad – apple ipad – Gizmodo

When we look ahead in 2010, we can see that the innovation have just begun. So here is the list of technologies, which I think, will make its breakthrough in the industry in the year 2010. Most of these technologies are related to online media and the Internet.

1. Apple’s Tablet
The noise and speculation are too loud to ignore the presence of Apple’s Tablet. If all the rumors are authentic and, if by all means Apple launches the iSlate on 25^th January, then it’s going to be the thing to talk about in 2010.

We all must admit that a tablet is a concept that has been around us for a very long time. But it still hasn’t entered the main line consumer devices. But after the increase in sales and demand of Amazon Kindle and Nook, the market is pretty sure that a tablet is soon to be the device to have. So at this time, if Apple can bring the device with the interface that people are looking for then that’s it – We have our new iPOD.

The reason I say this is because, Online Reading is something that every Internet users do and Tablet provides the best way to consume the Internet content. Though we might still be working on a Laptop, Tablet will be the way to consume the digital content.

2. NetPhone

We are already seeing the usefulness of Google Voice, which many Americans have enjoyed. We already have software like Skype which allows you to communicate through the data line.

This shows that people are still comfortable with voice communication and it is not something that will die. We would still want to call our friends and family and communicate. Hence, we might see more advancement over VOIP and its strength.

Though mobile network provider would have to play a hard battle with the VOIP services, the conflict between these two models will end once we have more and more VOIP services running in our mobile devices.

3. Net Neutrality

The rise of Smartphone have suddenly put lot of pressure on the mobile network providers. The online content consumption and communication have stressed out the network providers. One of the prominent example is the failure of At&T to meet the iPhone’s demand. This have forced the content provider and distributors into two opposite poles.

Content providers like Google (YouTube for video content) consumes lot of bandwidth and this is not good for the network providers because they have to face the burden of handling the requests. On the other hand, content providers doesn’t have to pay anything to the distributor. As a result, Network providers would have to charge the users for more. Now this brings a great conflict between the consumer, provider and distributor. Net neutrality is all about giving full access to the Internet without any restriction. But we still need to make some breakthroughs in the communication between the provider and the distributor. Hence, we might be able to see some breakthroughs on Net Neutrality in 2010 and this should solve the current problem.

4. Social Profile Management(Advanced Analytics)

Online Social Networking have blasted the news channel on each opportunity in 2009 and it will continue to do so in 2010. More and more real time content would be distributed online and consumed by people. Online networking will see more than just sharing information.

2009 had an overwhelming reaction towards social media which created a lot of junk in the Internet. Currently, so many in formations and contents goes to waste and doesn’t make its way towards the targeted audience.

2010 will see a revolution towards social profile management with advanced analytics. This will be applying spam control over your network and strengthening the efficiency of your network connections. Profile search will also be a big thing, as sites like LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook gets employed in professional hiring. Social network provides a best way to reach out to potential business and hence search (not for content) but for people should be big. Hence, social profile management with advance analytics will be the next big thing for social networks

5. Virtualization

Client desktop computing is surely the new way towards connecting people to offices. Virtual desktop

or Virtual machines will soon be employed in many offices providing better flexibility to hardware and software selection. This will reduce all the hardware cost of servers and desktops CPU maintenance in office. This will also reduce the cost of software as most will be deployed in the virtual machine. This is a key to cutting costs, lowering complexity, as well as increasing agility as needs shift.

 

 

6. Online TV

YouTube and other online video sharing sites have almost killed the TV. The new generation prefer Internet over TV channels. As with the music industry, TV channels have understood and going online is the only way towards future and they have to jump into this bandwagon before it’s too late. There are already many commercial channels shifting their attention from TV to Youtube or other sites like Hulu. Further, Google have already announced its paid content over Youtube and the new video advertising technology.

Along with TV, advertising also has to make its way to the eco-system and we already know of many rumors over Apple and Google coming with ways to prevent viewers from skipping the ads. This makes TV programs the best way to enter into Internet. Hence 2010 will certainly see the hand and hand cooperation of the Internet providers and the Online TV channels.

7. Cloud Computing

Cloud computing will be the new way of doing business over the internet. It will be more of virtual resources management, where company can optimize his/her resources according to needs and dynamic adaption to changes. This will allow companies to greatly enhance their products and services. Cloud computing will also leverage the potential of web application in the Internet and we might be seeing some great online applications for users and also enterprise solutions.

8. Augmented Reality

Augmented Reality is going to blow people’s mind in 2010. With the help of mobile computing, GPS  technology, mobile camera and Google maps, mobile application is going to have much more power to bring the experience to the user.

Further, the core of the technology will be the mobile camera and the placement of processed information on top of live streaming content from the camera.

We are already seeing some of it with mobile GPS applications, but 2010 will be clearly put these applications on the top shelf of mobile apps. This will allows users to get every information by integrating physical reality and virtual world.

9. Online Microsoft Office

Microsoft did face a lot of failures in 2009 starting with its slow rise of Bing and failure of Windows Mobile 6.5. So 2009 was not the year for Microsoft, but we could expect more from Microsoft in 2010. It’s Windows 7 have received good reviews, hence in 2010 we may get to read more about it. Windows Mobile 7 is also on its way, it might help Microsoft gain over their Smartphone market share.

But above all, we might get to read about Microsoft’s online OS. Yes, the Word and Excel. With the strength of today’s computing power over internet, the time is right for the Online Office. We have already seen the success of the Google Docs, so the speculation is high for Online Office. Hopefully this will reduce their cost and avoid nagging updates. The new competition is obviously on the Internet.

 

10. Mobile Transaction (Mobile Banking)

We all surely need to get rid of credit cards and debit cards. Once the mobile becomes more than just a communication platform but your financial manager, we will see a huge potential of mobile transactions and mobile banking.

Mobile application builders have already started making applications for enterprise solution by making it enterprise friendly. For mobile banking and transaction to be successful we need an enterprise solution over the mobile network similar to RIM’s Blackberry which will confirm security over the mobile transaction.

The year 2010 will certainly see the glimpse of future’s monetary transaction

10 Technologies That Will Rock 2010

This has got to be the cheapest (probably free for most people!) mobile broadband signal booster you can find. Now you can forget about building a diy 3G antenna or buying a high gain external aerial for your dongle, this is a completely home-grown version that everyone should be able to try out.

 

The Best (and Funniest) 3G Mobile Broadband Signal Booster | The Mobile Broadband Blog

I’m surprised it’s taken this long, to be honest. Microsoft’s posted a job offer, seeking a Principle Program Manager, who can "bring Xbox LIVE enabled games to Windows Mobile."

Based at their Redmond HQ, the right person for the job will "focus specifically on what makes gaming experiences "LIVE Enabled" through aspects such as avatar integration, social interactions, and multi-screen experiences."

I imagine to do all that, they’ll be needing some top-notch Windows Mobile handsets, and really the Snapdragon-powered HTC HD2 is the only device on the market so far capable of doing it. Not that it at all resembles a device targeted at Xbox gamers. Give me a Zune phone any day of the week. [Microsoft via Engadget and Kotaku]

Microsoft Job Posting Confirms Xbox LIVE Windows Mobile Phones – Xbox live windows mobile – Gizmodo

 

Apple and Stanford University this week will begin offering free videos and course materials on iPhone application development.

Video recordings of Stanford’s 10-week computer science class, taught by two Apple employees, will be freely downloadable through Apple’s iTunes U educational channel. The course’s syllabus and slides will be freely available on iTunes as well.

This move toward open, free information is particularly surprising coming from Apple. The tight-lipped corporation is especially peculiar about guarding its secrets, and its products are designed under a restricted, closed platform. However, as Apple continues to expand its product line and partnerships, the corporation has recently been forced to open up — just a peep.

"Stanford is very interested in not just creating knowledge but in sharing that knowledge with anyone who seeks it," said Brent Izutsu, product manager of Stanford’s iTunes U program. "I think there definitely is a little modification at Apple, at least within the education realm, to open up a little bit."

Apple did indeed modify its modus operandi for its iPhone 2.0 software development kit  — under the pressure of widespread scrutiny. Previously, Apple imposed a non-disclosure agreement on iPhone developers, which prohibited them from making public any information on coding software for the iPhone.

Most notably, the NDA barred programmers from exchanging tips with one another on iPhone coding — and critics said this was antithetical to how a scientific community works. The NDA also blocked publishers from releasing books on iPhone software development.

Finally in October, Apple lifted its NDA, agreeing that it was only stifling the iPhone’s potential.

"We put the NDA in place because the iPhone OS includes many Apple inventions and innovations that we would like to protect," Apple wrote in a letter published on its developer site. "However, the NDA has created too much of a burden on developers, authors and others interested in helping further the iPhone’s success, so we are dropping it for released software."

The removal of the NDA led to the launch of Apple’s iPhone University program, giving instructors and students all the software needed to code for the iPhone for free. This program made Stanford’s iPhone development course possible, and other universities have plans to offer iPhone classes as well.

Universities could teach courses on competing mobile platforms as well. But the unique, attractive factor about the iPhone is its phenomenally successful App Store, which made some independent developers rich. For example, independent developer Steve Demeter announced earning $250,000 in just two months with his game Trism. And Ethan Nicholas, developer of the iPhone game iShoot, raked in $600,000 in a single month with sales of his app.

Stanford is posting its first video of this quarter’s iPhone development course Friday at iTunes U.

Apple, Stanford Teaching iPhone Development for Free | Gadget Lab from Wired.com

 The iPhone event just ended, and the upcoming iPhone 3.0 software update adds a ton of new functionality to the iPhone—claiming over 100 new features, including long-awaited copy and paste, MMS messaging, and more.

Copy and Paste

This one was no surprise. Copy and paste is finally available on the iPhone through a double-tap and a little dragging of the paste boarders. Any text can be copied, but you can also now copy and paste photos—which means that you can also send more than one photo at a time. Developers can also integrate copy and paste into their apps.

MMS Messaging

The iPhone’s terrible multimedia messaging always seemed like us to be just as bad as the lack of copy and paste on the iPhone, requiring you to jump through absurd hoops to view photos that someone shared via MMS (you couldn’t even do it from the iPhone). Not only can you send pictures via MMS, but you can also share contact vCards and audio files using the new voice notes application.

The one catch: MMS will be iPhone 3G only.

Spotlight Search

3.0 adds Spotlight to your home screen (and search to many different apps), allowing you to launch an application or find a contact or note through one central application and document launcher.

File Sharing Between iPhones

iPhones will now be able to connect directly over a Wi-Fi network for sharing files directly between phones. The first thing we’d consider sharing is music, but it seems unlikely that that’s the kind of functionality Apple will enable for this. Still, sharing a document, vCard, or photo with a direct peer-to-peer connection is pretty cool.

Turn-by-Turn Directions

Though not enabled in anything provided by Apple in this release, the 3.0 update will enable developers to create turn-by-turn apps.

Push Notification (For Real This Time?)

Apple promised this one last year—a feature that allows developers to send push notifications of updates without the cost of running the app in the background. We’ll believe it when we see it.

VoIP

It’s not clear if this means we can expect to see Skype or something like Google Voice on our iPhones or iPod touches any time soon, but Gizmodo is reporting that voice communication will be available in applications. They point out that this means users could chat with people they’re playing a game with, but we’d be much happier to see a simple VoIP application for talking with people when you’re on a Wi-Fi network without wasting your minutes.

Notes Sync

Gizmodo didn’t mention much about this one, but Notes sync is clearly listed as a new feature. Guess that doesn’t mean all that much to the guys at Giz, but we’ve been dying for this one forever.

Much More

We cherry picked some of our favorite new features, but head over to the Gizmodo Liveblog for a look at their play-by-play, or just check out their exhaustive iPhone 3.0 guide.

When Can I Get It?

According to the Apple, the public release will be sometime this summer. However, it looks like eager early adopters may be able to join the Apple Developer Connection to start testing it today. We’ll let you know when we find out more.

What’s Missing?

We’re sort of reeling at the thought of all the new features, leaving us at a bit of a loss for what’s missing. Was there a feature you were hoping for in the iPhone 3.0 update that it doesn’t look like we’ll be seeing? Let’s hear about it in the comments.

IPhone 3.0: iPhone 3.0 Adds Copy and Paste, MMS, Search, Notes Sync, and Tons More

 

One of the best products so far to emerge from Microsoft’s Live Labs has got to be Photosynth, an amazing tool that lets you transform your photos into three-dimensional worlds you can then virtually explore. In the past, we’ve seen Photosynths integrated with Live Maps, turned into slideshows, geotagged, changed into Point Clouds, and even used to document historical events like President Obama’s inauguration. Now you can add one more to that list: Photosynth has come to the iPhone.

With the new iPhone application iSnyth (iTunes URL: http://www.itunes.com/app/isynth) just released today in the iTunes App Store, you can view photosynths with your iPhone or iPod Touch. Within the application, there are buttons for the most recent and most viewed synths as well as a funny category called “nice and synthy,” which apparently means they have tons of photos per synth. In the ones I saw, for example, most were “100% synthy.” There’s also a search option that lets you search for synths using keywords.

Clicking on a synth first gives you a brief description of the image including number of views, number of photos used, date, percentage “synthy,” and a thumbnail from the image. You can then press the “View Synth!” button to delve into the synth on your phone. As with the viewer application on your computer, you can explore the synth using the directional arrow keys, tap to zoom in and out, and even hit a button to see the point clouds.

Unfortunately, you can’t turn your iPhone images into snyths using the new viewer app – you still need to use your Mac or PC to do that. But you can show them off to others here when you’re finished.

iSynth was developed by Greg Pascale with permission from Microsoft. Greg was an intern on the Photosynth team during the summer of 2008. He’s currently a student at Brown University, class of 2009. However, iSynth isn’t a Microsoft product nor is it officially supported by Microsoft. Instead, Greg will provide his own support via GetSatisfaction. 

Photosynth Comes to the iPhone | Sarah In Tampa | Channel 10

Several people have asked me about jailbraking.  It  has become very simple with the software called QuickPWN. 

Here are a few links and steps. 

Links:
Click here to download QuickPWN 2.2.5 version 2 for Windows http://blog.iphone-dev.org/
http://thepiratebay.org/user/iphonedev/ : It is not the official site, but if you don’t know about torrents, you can get it here.  
www.Sleepers.net

Jailbrake at your own risk.  This is not as complicated as it looks. The software walks you through much of this.

bigBrains steps

1. Create a folder called “QuickPwn” on your desktop. Download your appropriate iPhone firmare from here. Also download the QuickPwn  from here and place it. Place these files in the newly created QuickPwn folder on your desktop.
2. Sync your iphone and back it up.
3. Close iTunes
4. Extract QuickPwn zipped file.
5. Launch QuickPwn and select your iPhone version.
6. You will be asked to select your iPhone firmware. Select the firmware your downloaded in Step 1.
7. If the firmware you selected is valid, QuickPwn will show a green checkmark. Click Continue.
8. You will then have the opportunity to select Cydia, Installer and to choose a custom boot logo. You have to select Cydia. You may also choose to install Installer. Click Next.
9. You will now have a message saying that you are ready to launch the QuickPwn process in a new Window. Click Go.
10. You will then be asked to power off your iPhone and press Enter once it has been turned off.
11. QuickPwn 2.1 will now help you put your iPhone into DFU Mode (aka recovery mode). Read the instructions carefully then type in Y for YES and press Enter.
12. You will be asked to hold down the Power button for 5 seconds. Then you will have to also hold down the Home button for 10 seconds without letting go of the Power button. At the end of 10 seconds you will need to release only the Power button.
13. After a few seconds of holding down just the Home button QuickPwn will detect the your iPhone in DFU mode and start performing some “operations”. After 8 operations are performed QuickPwn will tell you to “Please wait while your iPhone is Jailbroken”. Press any key to continue.
14. Your iPhone will display a turning wheel and in a few minutes will be jailbroken! Sometimes this step can take a long time.  Be patient.

 

Windows will run soon on the iPhone using Citrix Receiver, a remote screen software that connects to a PC and gives you the illusion you are running Microsoft’s operating systems, including copy and paste functionality.

Why is this useful? It will give you the ability to run full Windows apps in your iPhone over the network. According to Citrix, you will have full Windows capability, including cut and paste inside Windows.

IPhone: iPhone to Run Windows and Get Copy and Paste (It’s Not What You Think)

What you will need: WinRAR or 7-Zip and Orca (download Orca here: http://www.softpedia.com/get/Authoring-tools/Setup-creators/Orca.shtml)

and the 64bit Download page. The standard iTunes page will point you only to the 32bit version.

1. Extract iTunes64Setup_v8.0.2.20.exe using WinRAR or 7-Zip
2. Right click on iTunes64.msi and click Edit with Orca
3. In the Tables (left), right click on Error and click Drop Table… and click yes.
4. Save the file.

Enjoy iTunes 8.0.2 x64 on Windows 7

 

Windows only: Freeware application ToneShop creates ringtones from a variety of formats, for a variety of formats supported by most popular mobile phones (including the iPhone). To use it, just point ToneShop to the WAV, WMA, M4A, or MP3 file you want to use as your source, and then use ToneShop’s simple editing tools to choose the start and end time of your ringtone. Choose the output format supported by your cell phone, hit convert, and voilà—you’ve got a new ringtone. ToneShop could use a bit of polish on the interface, but as young as it is, it still makes it dead simple to create ringtones for your phone in just a few clicks. ToneShop is freeware, Windows only. If you’ve got a preferred ringtone tool that puts ToneShop to shame, let’s hear about it in the comments. – thanks lifehaker.com

Download file: techlogg.com-toneshop-build21-i386-win32.exe

Techlogg.com ToneShop » Download ToneShop

It’s a dark day, Apple fanboys. Installs of OSX Leopard have led to the dreaded Blue Screen of Death for many Mac users (sure, it’s sort of happened before, but the headline cracked us up…sorry). We can’t yet be certain just how widespread this problem is, but an Apple thread on the topic has 263 posts with several incidents documented through the responses.

The problem appears to occur only for users who are upgrading from old OSs, which is just one more reason that any computer owner should pony up, backup their files and do a clean install on any new operating system. Whether or not the software "works" either way, clean installs tend to be less buggy over the long run. The Apple-using segment of the Gizmodo crew has performed both types of installs without incident—but you know how it goes—you’ll be the unlucky one. [apple via fortune]

Oh Nos: Apple Catches Microsoft Cooties, BSOD Attacks Leopard!