The | Apple iPhone | Thread

SRASC · Posted: Fri Apr 10, 2009 12:52 am Post subject:

you get installer and cydia via jailbreaking. iClarified.com has guides concerning this. Check there.

SRASC · Posted: Fri Apr 10, 2009 4:18 pm Post subject:

Apple has put up a webpage to countdown the 1 billionth iPhone app downloaded from the App Store. To celebrate this significant milestone, Apple will be giving away prizes such as a $10,000 iTunes Gift Card, an iPod touch, a Time Capsule, and a MacBook Pro.

Click for full-size.

The number of iPhone apps has crossed the 33,000 mark but since Apple has removed, rejected or banned iPhone apps from the App Store for reasons such as copyright issues, duplicating functionality, offering tethering functionality, based on limited utility, content or materials found objectionable, just a ridiculous app etc, the active iPhone apps is just above 31,500 (and counting) as per AppShopper.

The approaching milestone of 1 billion iPhone apps downloaded reveals some interesting details:

If you purchase all the iPhone apps from the App Store, it would cost you $87,856.17.
The most popular price for an iPhone app is still $0.99. There are 14,159 iPhone apps available at that price range. If you had thought it would be free apps then it is still a distant second with 7,863 iPhone apps available for free.

The average cost of an iPhone app is $2.63 including free apps which indicates that the average cost is slowly coming down. The average cost was $2.79 when the App Store had crossed the 25000 mark, it was $3.12 when the App Store had crossed the 10,000 mark.

The number of the iPhone apps that are being added every month to the App Store is increasing steadily. 3,808 iPhone apps were added in Dec 2008, 4,843 added in Jan 2009, 5,549 iPhone apps in Feb 2009 and a massive 6,719 iPhone Apps in Mar 2009.

iPhone games is the most popular category of iPhone apps with 6,660 and Weather is the least popular category with 170 iPhone apps.

Apple also published the all-time top 20 iPhone apps, both paid and free.

Top 20 All-Time Free Apps:
1. Facebook
2. Google Earth
3. Pandora Radio
4. Tap Tap Revenge
5. Shazam
6. Pacman Lite
7. Backgrounds
8. Touch Hockey
9. Labyrinth
10. Flashlight
11. Urbanspoon
12. Movies
13. iBowl
14. Lightsaber Unleashed
15. SOl Free Solitaire
16. MySpace Mobile
17. Virtual Zippo Lighter
18. The Weather Channel
19. BubbleWrap
20. Remote

Top 20 All-Time Paid Apps:
1. Crash Banidcoot
2. Koi Pond
3. Enigmo
4. Bejeweled 2
5. iBeer
6. Moto Chaser
7. Pocket Guitar
8. Flick Fishing
9. Tetris
10. Texas Hold Em
11. Super Monkey Ball
12. Pocket God
13. Cro-Mag Rally
14. Ocarina
15. Fieldrunners
16. iFart Mobile
17. Touchgrind
18. iHunt
19. iShoot
20. Monopoly

SRASC · Posted: Sat Apr 11, 2009 1:01 pm Post subject:

RiP Dev has released version 1.2 of their Icy Installer application for iPhone and iPod touch.

What's new?
* Ability to hide categories you don't need.
* Category names are now localizable.
* Icy will now auto-refresh sources if it is on Wi-Fi and didn't refresh in past hour.
* Various GUI fixes in regard to Installed/Updates section.
* Fixed a script issue causing some package not to be installed.
* Add email maintainer button for the console error log sheet to quickly report on errors.
* Fixed sources refresh so stalled repositories won't affect others.
* Added Polish localization.
* Added Chinese localizations.
* Other fixes.

You can install the Icy Installer from Cydia by adding the http://apt.ripdev.com repository.
__________
The Wall Street Journal reports that Steve Jobs is actively involved in running Apple from home and that he is expected back in June.

People inside the company, business partners and others who are familiar with the situation say life at the Cupertino, Calif., company remains much the same as it did before. Those at other corporations who deal with the company also say their interactions with Apple haven't changed. Mr. Cook, who had already been handling most of Apple's day-to-day operations, has kept tight control over the company, say business partners and those inside Apple.

The WSJ also suggests that Jobs is working on a new device smaller than the MacBook Air and bigger then the iPhone.

Apple co-founder Mr. Jobs, who is considered the company's creative leader, is also involved in the development of future projects, they say. People privy to the company's strategy say Apple is working on new iPhone models and a portable device that is smaller than its current laptop computers but bigger than the iPhone or iPod Touch.

Apple spokesman Steve Dowling is quoted as saying "Steve continues to look forward to returning to Apple at the end of June."
_________
Based entirely upon a leak of abstract new marketing graphics from Microsoft, bloggers have announced a new generation of music players that will apparently do most of what the iPod touch did when it arrived in 2007.

The product concept is so deep in vaporware territory that Microsoft hasn't even publicly acknowledged any real plans to clone the iPod touch yet. The marketing graphics below, initially published by Engadget, referred to as a "draft" artist's conception, suggest the same minimalist, single home button as the iPod touch along with a wide screen that is smaller than the iPod touch but housed in a significantly thicker overall box.

This would make the rumored Zune HD device a fitting tribute to the original Zune, which targeted the popularity of the original iPod with a lower-density screen but thicker box a year after the video playing, fifth generation iPod shipped, only to be blindsided by Apple's move to flash RAM-based video players with the iPod nano and shuffle.

The second generation Zunes caught up with a flash-based player just in time to be trampled by the stampede of interest in 2007's video playing iPod nano and the web browsing iPod touch. Microsoft had been able to clone the iPod classic and nano fairly easily, as both used largely off the shelf components and simple software; reviewers reported that the Zune was nearly identical internally to the iPod nano. Copying the iPod touch would take significantly more work, however.

Now two years behind

Last year, Microsoft caught up to Apple's 2006 release of iPod games with its own new mobile XNA initiative in its third generation Zune firmware, although poor sales of Zune units have prevented major developers from showing much interest in the platform.

If Microsoft is able to release a touch-based Zune by the end of this year using either the same technology it showed off for Windows Mobile 6.5 or a simultaneously created alternative, it will remain no more than two years behind Apple. A variant based partly on Windows Mobile would require shipping the functional new version of Internet Explorer Mobile the company announced was in the pipeline for new WiMo 6.5 smartphones.

Microsoft's version of the iPod touch has also long been expected to eventually deliver a full-fledged WiFi music store, similar to the one Apple released in 2007; in 2008, the company updated the Zune with a limited ability to find tracks on the Zune Marketplace. If the Zune HD arrives on the one-year anniversary of last year's Zune update, by September, it will deliver a version of most of Apple's features within that two year copy window, with the notable exception of being able to run the same mobile software.

However, Microsoft already has its own software platform in Windows Mobile. The problem is that all of these programs are oriented around stylus tapping or button pushing, not finger-driven touch. As RIM discovered with the BlackBerry Storm, releasing a touch version of an existing brand is not easy nor without its own risks, as key interface choices at least temporarily diminished the Storm's appeal.

Apple's iPod touch shares a platform with the iPhone, with a user base of 30 million devices sold within the last two years. Selling enough Zune HD and Windows Mobile 6.1 phones to give developers a reason to rewrite mobile apps around a touch interface could be a difficult undertaking, particularly given the already lucrative option of developing for the existing iTunes App Store market, paired with its existing library of apps for consumers.

Vaporware advertising?

With such long odds, Microsoft may be smart to keep its plans secret and allow the blogosphere to build anticipation itself. That's what the company did in 2006, which resulted in the Zune originally being touted as a juggernaut that would destroy the iPod by pundits who speculated that Microsoft would deeply discount the new player as cheaply as $99 and give it more features and flexibility than anything else on the market.

The downside was that Microsoft didn't attempt to meet those expectations. It has consistently priced the Zune and its accessories near Apple's pricing and has regularly had enough earlier inventory left over to clear out through significant discounts. Further, most of its imagined features ended up being underwhelming in ability and scope, such as its wireless file sharing, or "squirting," which was eventually supplemented by basic wireless sync and download features in its second and third years on the market.

While not without risk, allowing fan sites to chat up the Zune HD's potential features will still be far more effective than Microsoft's current efforts to advertise Windows by calling Macs "too cool," "so sexy," and "popular" among kids, while implying that lower quality machines with cheaper components deliver more value.

SRASC · Posted: Sun Apr 12, 2009 5:58 pm Post subject:

Geohot has found a bug in the 5.8 iPhone bootloader which can be exploited to downgrade your baseband.

Unfortunately most people who need to downgrade are already on the 5.9 bootloader. Geohot is "convinced theres a way to make it run the 5.8 ramloader instead of the bb in ram." Meaning unlocks for all firmware versions.

Both Geohot and the iPhone Dev-Team are looking ways of accomplishing this and hopefully in the near future those who accidentally upgraded will be able to get their unlock back!

-----

TURBOT · Posted: Sun Apr 12, 2009 8:51 pm Post subject:

great news !!!!!!

SRASC · Posted: Mon Apr 13, 2009 1:42 pm Post subject:

An iSuppli teardown estimates the cost of the shuffle's components, the headphones, and the packaging it ships in at $21.77.

Business Week says 'that's about 28% of the device's retail price. The smaller the component cost as a percentage of price, the higher the potential profit. This suggests the per-unit profit margin on the shuffle is higher than on other iPod models. The component cost for the first iPod touch released in 2007, for instance, amounted to about $147, or about 49% of its $299 retail price. The component cost of the third-generation iPod nano, also released in 2007, amounted to about 40% of its retail price.'

The main application chip used in the device is made by Samsung. Other suppliers include Toshiba, Hynix Semiconductor, On Semiconductor, NXP Semiconductor, and Texas Instruments.

__________
The Commercial Times has published a report which expects Apple to launch three different iPhone models in June.

They believe that a 2.75G (EDGE) version, an upgraded 3G version and a China-oriented model (CDMA?) are being worked on.

Its likely that the 2.75G (Edge) model would be intended for the budget minded consumer. Its believed that the form factor will remain the same.

The report estimates an initial production run of 4 million units.

SRASC · Posted: Tue Apr 14, 2009 8:33 pm Post subject:

iPhone Atlas has already covered a number of complaints from iPhone users about iPhone OS 2.2.1. Frequently, faulty Wi-Fi connections were the source of these complaints. Recently, that problem has resurfaced, and one user is linking the Wi-Fi problems to heat generated by the iPhone and its battery.

A discussion in the Apple forum describes a problem in which some iPhones are randomly dropping Wi-Fi signals, then failing to reconnect to any network for a period of time. Many people think the problem is caused by the iPhone overheating, and some go so far as to place their iPhone into a refrigerator to speed up the cooling process. (We don't suggest you do the same; refrigerating your iPhone could cause water damage and void your warranty.) We recommend letting the iPhone cool at room temperature for 30-60 minutes or until cool to the touch.

Apple Discussions user ScottieWil goes a step further and actually opened his iPhone to apply a nitrogen stick directly to the relevant chip. His Wi-Fi immediately returned to working order. ScottieWil researched the problem further and said in one of his posts:
I have now found the common factor in my Wi-Fi working and not working .... its charge level of the battery. If the cell is under 50 percent, Wi-Fi just works .... if it's above, it has problems. If the charge level is 90 percent or more and I try to use Wi-Fi, the phone can reboot with[out] warning. This, as I said before, may be the cell not being able to provide the current demand of the phone.

He also suggested that the iPhone's battery is very sensitive to temperature, which explains why Wi-Fi would work temporarily when the phone was cool, but not later after the phone heated up.

Due to the varied nature of Wi-Fi problems reported, we suggest you follow some of the troubleshooting tips we wrote about previously here and here before contacting Applecare.

If the tips above fail to resolve the problem, some people on the same discussion thread are reporting that Applecare is replacing iPhones experiencing this heating problem. However, Apple is only doing so after the iPhone is examined by a local Apple store.
__________

Apple on Tuesday evening made available to iPhone developers a third beta of iPhone Software 3.0 showing some early signs of optimizations and carrying with it an updated version of the iPhone SDK 3.0.

Available in four distinct distributions -- iPhone, iPhone 3G, first-gen iPod touch, and second-gen iPod touch -- the third beta of iPhone OS 3.0 carries build number 7A280f and arrives exactly two weeks after the second beta.

People familiar with the software in the brief time that its been available have been reporting speed optimizations during keyboard input and use of the included App Store application.

Spotlight also reportedly saves its last search results and offers options for excluding applications from searches, though it's unclear if these two findings are new to beta 3.

Arriving in tandem with iPhone Software 3.0 beta 3 was a similarly labeled beta of iPhone SDK 3.0 carrying build number 9M2728. Among the changes included with the new build is an updated beta of the Xcode IDE that showcases a new Overview toolbar and a "completely revamped" assistant interface for creating new projects, targets and files.

Meanwhile, updates to Interface Builder introduce new drag-and-drop capabilities for repairing objects and reordering files in document outline view, as well as a new string table interface that simplifies the process of making textual changes across multiple documents.

Apple did warn developers that an issue with beta 3 of iPhone Software 3.0 will prevent them from running iPhone apps that have been compiled for earlier version of the iPhone software, but said it hopes to resolve the issue with the release of the next beta.
__________
Microsoft's Mac Business Unit this week is making available to Mac users a "fully functional, no strings attached" free trial of Office 2008 so that prospective buyers and users of previous versions can 'kick the tires' on new suite before plunking down the cash for a permanent copy.

The 545 megabyte download is available after a quick registration over at the Redmond-based company's MacTopia website. The registration is required to generate an trial product key that will expire 30 days thereafter.

Although Office 2008 for Mac made its debut over a year ago, this is the first time Microsoft has offered customers the option of trying the software before they buy it. The trial copy will run side-by-side with earlier versions of Office and includes a year's worth of maintenance and security improvements.

"The MacBU is aware that a number of customers have wanted to try Office 2008 for Mac before purchasing, and they have been working to make this available in tandem with updates to 2008," a representative for the software giant told AppleInsider. "Today customers can now check out Office 2008 with the fixes and performance enhancements that have been made since launch."

Once the 30-day product key expires, users will have the choice to either purchase a copy of the suite from an Apple authorized reseller or buy a product key from Mactopia online and be up and running without reinstalling.

Of course, Microsoft fragments the office suite into various versions like it does its Windows operating system. A "Home and Student Edition" costs $149.95, the standard version is priced at $399.95, and the Special Media Edition fetches 499.95. However, Amazon.com has these same editions listed for $111.99, $240.00, and $224.95, respectively.

Meanwhile, readers interested in familiarizing themselves with Office 2008 and the history of Office without downloading the software may want to check out AppleInsider's six-part series: Road to Mac Office 2008.

SRASC · Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 9:37 am Post subject:

Skype for iPhone has been updated to version 1.0.2 and now warns that jailbroken phones are not supported.

iClarified reader Francois reports that “upon launching the new app, there is warning saying: “This version of Skype is only supported on unmodified iPhone OS 2.2. Quick tests on my jailbroken iPhone 2G showed me it still works anyway…” You can find a screenshot of the warning below.

It is likely that Skype has included this warning due to the many incompatibilities with jailbroken applications that do not use MobileSubstrate. You can find more information on how to correct these problems and why they happen here

Whats New in This Version:
- Improved support for calling phone numbers that don’t have a country code
- Improved error handling when making calls to landlines and mobiles, which previously may have failed if you had a monthly subscription
- Resolved a problem with new account creation, which caused customers to be redirected to an incorrect web page, when making a purchase
- Fixed a problem, which caused the application to crash, when tapping a contact image (avatar) within a chat.

Skype 1.0.2 for iPhone can be downloaded free from the Apple App Store.

SRASC · Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 10:47 am Post subject:

A new ZuneHD image showing the user interface of the device has been leaked online by WMPowerUser.

They received the following details on the device from a source:
The ZuneHD will have a capacitive, multi-touch OLED screen with a 16:9 aspect ratio and TV out, from what looks to be a HDMI port on the side. The radio will now be HD and the device will support HD media playback, which will be available from the updated Zune Marketplace.

The ZuneHD will also support 3D Xbox games, but it is unclear what form this will take.

The device will come in 16 and 32 GB versions, and will support wireless sync. It will also finally come with a browser that supports multi-touch.

It is believed that the ZuneHD will ship in September and be available to the US, Canada, UK, France, and possibly other European countries.

The image has also been confirmed by the ZUnited Zune Community site.

kerr · Joined: 03 Nov 2008 Tech posts: 0 My 2NRide:

guys i got an iphone 2g , and im getting "no service" in areas where i used to getting service . somtimes one bar . went to digicel placed a new sim card in and still no service . gave a guy to upgrade the phone , still no service . what can i do ? before all this happen , my sim is crossed with someones number , got worst . need help this is frustrating . its not even a year yet since i got this phone .. plz help

kerr

SRASC · Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 6:11 pm Post subject:

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Randall Stephenson, AT&T’s CEO, is in discussion with Apple to extend the lucrative deal to be the exclusive carrier of iPhone in US.

It's speculated that the current deal is expected to expire next year (2010) though reports back in 2007 had suggested that AT&T had cracked an exclusive deal for 5-years.

Wall Street Journal is reporting:

"But AT&T's exclusive deal to carry the iPhone in the U.S. expires next year, according to people familiar with the matter, and Mr. Stephenson is now in discussions with Apple Inc. to get an extension until 2011."
AT&T had added whopping 4.3 million iPhone subscribers in the second half of 2008; of which about 40% were new customers. So if the exclusive deal with Apple is indeed expected to expire next year then I'm not surprised that AT&T is looking to extend it further.

It might not be the best thing for users in the US as it doesn't give them an option to opt for a carrier of their choice that might have better network coverage in their area. Competition would have also helped in lowering the data charges for the iPhone plan which are on the expensive side.

But to be fair to AT&T, they have been constantly improving their network performance and coverage. We recently heard that AT&T is aggressively rolling out a major upgrade to its 3G mobile data services in anticipation of a spike in network traffic from Apple's new iPhone.

AT&T has also started offering free Wi-Fi access to iPhone users across the US at thousands of hotspots nationwide including Starbucks.

SRASC · Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2009 9:46 am Post subject:

Patent requests from Apple continue to provide clues as to where the company may take its iPhone interface in the coming years, such as a new filing which depicts a version of the handset with a front-facing video camera and a software interface capable of adjusting itself for more precise interaction when the user carrying the phone is in motion.

While the former discovery hints towards the inevitable adoption of video conference capabilities by the iPhone in the coming years, the adaptive software interface concept could materialize much sooner, improving a user's accuracy in making touch selections by increasing the size of user interface elements on the touch-screen when it's determined that the user is operating the device while jogging or participation in some other kind of motion-based activity.

For example, Apple notes that some users may use their iPod touch of iPhone while out for a run or hustling between business meetings. At these times, it may be desirable to simultaneously place a call by making a selection from the contact list or change to a different music track by making a selection in an album list. However, these simple tasks can be slightly more challenging on the go than when stationary because they require the user to divert their attention from their primary activity to make an accurate selection on what could be a sweat-slicked or jittering dislay.

To solve this problem, the Cupertino-based company proposes an updated version of iPhone software that can detect when the device is in motion and then compare the detected degree of motion to one or more predetermined "signatures of motion." The iPhone software could then adjust itself by enlarging selection areas on the screen to a degree suitable for the current motion of the device and user.

"For example, if the user wishes to view the contact information for 'John Adams,' the user touches the display over the area of the row for the contact 'John Adams,'" Apple says. "While the device is moving, the motion of the device can be detected. The device can change the size of the rows of the contacts in the contact list application to give the user a larger target area for each contact. For example, the height of a row can be increased. This gives the user a larger touch area with which to select a contact. In some implementations, the height of the toolbar can be increased as well."

Similarly, changes to the size of the elements on the iPhone's home screen can be made after similar detections, in most cases increasing the size of application icons based on the degree of detected motion. This same concept could also carry over to the on-screen keyboard, the company adds, by which the size of each key could in some way be enlarged for more accurate text input while on the go.

Click for full-size.

The 16-page filing made back in November of 2007 also suggests that interface elements -- such as an array of home screen icons -- could shift their position on the screen based on predictions of where the user may touch the screen, though the need for such adjustments isn't entirely clear from Apple's description.

Click for full-size.

"The shift moves the target touch areas of the display objects to a different position. In some implementations, the new position is a predetermined distance from the original position," the company says. "In some other implementations, the new position is determined by the device based on a prediction of where the user will touch the touch-sensitive display if the user wanted to select the user interface element while the device is in motion."

The filing is credited to Apple employee John Louch. For those interested, the front-facing video camera depicted in Apple's illustrations is the element labeled "180" near the proximity and ambient light sensors.

__________

Having locked down the iPhone for at least three years, AT&T is now expected to take one more shot at an exclusive deal for the Apple handset and may keep it away from competitors until 2011.

Talking to the expected "people familiar with the matter," the Wall Street Journal hears that AT&T has a deal to keep the iPhone in its stable until 2010 and that negotiations are underway to have the device onboard for one more year.

Not surprisingly, there is no word from AT&T on the subject, and an Apple spokeswoman would only say that the two companies have a "great relationship."

The supposedly inside information echoes a report from last year that also said AT&T had struck a deal to keep the iPhone until 2010 and may provide insight into current talks. At the time, the cellular carrier reportedly agreed to allow iPhone 3G subsidies in exchange for a one-year extension of the iPhone's US exclusivity. Although the cost of discounting those phones has been severe -- as much as $1.3 billion to date, according to an estimate -- the agreement renewed interest in AT&T and gave it millions of users paying at least $60 per month (on grandfathered plans) for service.

Also, the iPhone gives AT&T a way of keeping customers from jumping ship to Verizon or another alternative at a time when the market is saturated and customers are more likely to have switched than sign up for the first time. The company added 1.9 million iPhone users just in the fall 2008 quarter alone and notes that many of these are less likely to give up on service than those who use other phones.

No matter how successful AT&T may be in lengthening its time spent with the iPhone, the firm is likely to maintain an inherent technological basis for holding the device close until two years later. As the only major US carrier with 3G using the HSPA standard on the 850MHz band, the iPhone as-is only supports its service for full data. Adapting the phone to T-Mobile USA would most likely require adding the 1,700MHz band, while switching to Sprint or Verizon would, for now, need a complete overhaul that swaps in CDMA calling and 3G access using EVDO; either of these is expected to gradually phase out.

Eventually, AT&T and Verizon will share the same network format when they both move to 4G using the Long Term Evolution format, but neither expects to have any significant networks until 2010, rendering any truly multi-carrier US iPhone impractical until the possible new expiry date for the agreement between AT&T and Apple.

SRASC · Posted: Fri Apr 17, 2009 12:30 pm Post subject:

Developer sources familiarizing themselves with betas of Apple's iPhone 3.0 software have uncovered a handful of additional tweaks and improvements to the system in recent weeks, including changes to Safari's window handling, new battery status indicators and notification preferences, as well as the advent of data detectors in certain apps.

Safari

With the release of iPhone 3.0, Safari will let you close out and clear all your open browser windows without having to first create a new blank page to get rid of the contents of the last active window.

For example, you can have eight open Safari windows in the existing version of the iPhone software, seven of which you can close rapidly by using the red "x" icons in the upper left-hand corners of the pages. However, there's no "x" icon to close out the last page standing. Therefore, the only way to get rid of the contents on this last remaining page is to first create a "New Page," then cycle back to the page and close it out.

With iPhone 3.0, Apple has enabled the option to close out the lone remaining page. Once the "x" icon is triggered, the page disappears and a new blank page quickly slides into view. This process is reportedly difficult to capture in a screenshot, though an example illustrating part of the process can be seen below.

Battery indicators

Meanwhile, it appears that iPhone 3.0 will also introduce an option of showing you how much battery life you have left on your iPhone or iPod touch in a numerical percentage.

Resource files contained within the new version of the device's Springboard application include 22 new PNG files to facilitate this option. Half are numerical characters (and a "%" sign) in black typeface for representing healthy battery level percentages while the other half are in red typeface for when battery life falls bellow a certain threshold.

It appears, though it's not confirmed, that users will have the option of selecting how their battery status indicator appears in the menubar -- such as an icon-only view (per current versions of the software), an icon + numerical view, or a numerical-view only. This would be similar to fast user switching menu option for Mac OS X that lets you display the accounts by "Name," "Short Name," or "Icon."

Push Notification preferences

Also visible in the latest betas of iPhone 3.0 software is a new Push Notifications preference pane that will allow you to enable or disable any of the three types of notifications that third party applications can push to your handset: Sounds, Alerts and Badges. Alternatively, notifications can be disabled as a whole. This should provide users with tighter control of their battery usage.

Click for full-size.

Data Detectors

Finally, it's also noted that Apple is enabling Data Detectors in a variety of new applications. Data Detectors automatically detect text fragments like email addresses, phone numbers, and street addresses, so you can execute actions on those fragments via touch selections -- like dialing a phone number automatically by clicking on it or adding it to your address book.

Click for full-size.

The example above shows Data Detectors in action in the new Notes application. The detectors are only visible and executable when viewing a note, not while editing one.

SRASC · Posted: Fri Apr 17, 2009 12:31 pm Post subject:

Photos taken by Ludle International, a wholesaler company in China, show the iPhone and Palm Pre side by side.

The poster says the Palm Pre feels smaller than the iPhone, the Pre's plastic screen is less scratch resistant than iPhone's glass screen, and the back of the Pre is much more scratch resistant than the iPhone's but loves fingerprints. The Palm Pre is reportedly being mass produced right now for release soon.

Click for full-size.

TURBOT · Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2009 1:44 pm Post subject:

iPhone | How to Downgrade Your iPhone 3G 2.30 (2.2.1) Baseband for Unlock
http://www.iclarified.com/entry/index.php?enid=3583

TURBOT · Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2009 2:05 pm Post subject:

HOW BESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
IT WORKS!!!!!!!!!!!!
tthank god i had 2.2.1 with 5.08 bootloader
i back down to 2.28 from 2.30 Mr. Green

NO MORE TURBO SIM FOR MEEE NO MORE TURBO SIM FOR ME!!!!!!!!!
y do i feel sooo happy lol

SRASC · Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2009 2:07 pm Post subject:

SRASC · Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2009 5:06 pm Post subject:

SRASC · Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2009 8:33 pm Post subject:

If you blinked again, you might have missed it: several days after Apple released an update to the iPhone OS 3 beta, hackers have already jailbroken the OS 3 beta 3 release.

A new version of QuickPWN for Windows only (direct download link) has been released. This version should work with all versions of the iPhone or the iPod Touch. We have not yet tried the jailbreak, but our sources have not reported any trouble with the hack. (As usual, however, download and use QuickPWN at your own risk.)

Jailbreaking is competitive in the hacking community. The Dev Team, the favored jailbreak provider, has an opinion and some words of warning about hacks like this.
___________
Quickoffice, the maker of office productivity software for Symbian and BlackBerry handsets, has released its first suite for the iPhone.

Quickoffice for iPhone, which was released Monday, allows full editing of Microsoft Office documents and spreadsheets, and incorporates cut-and-paste functionality–a feature that will not be natively supported by the iPhone until the summer.

File-sharing and content-management capabilities are also built into Quickoffice for iPhone. Aside from allowing editing of Office documents, the suite also supports the viewing of iWorks and PDF format files.

The new suite also incorporates access to MobileMe iDisk accounts. However, that functionality was already enabled in Quickoffice’s free MobileFiles application, which was released in November. Quickoffice for iPhone can be downloaded from iTunes for $19.99.
___________
One of the few disappointments with the Apple iPhone is its camera. PCMag has published 22 suggestions on how to get the most from it.

Even if you are waiting for an iPhone that has a 3.2 or 5MP camera, the tips and apps that follow will come in handy for improving your image collection on Apple’s handheld marvel.

Tips for Taking Better iPhone Pictures:
1. Learn a bit about photo composition
2. Don’t take pictures in direct sunlight
3. Check that the lens is unobstructed and clean
4. Switch to landscape orientation occasionally
5. Mind the background
6. Hold the iPhone still with two hands
7. Get close to people you’re photographing
8. Take several pictures of your subject, varying the angles and poses
9. Get the light right

Apps for Shooting Better Photos:
10. Camera Genius 1.3 (US$2.99)
11. Fast Tap Camera 1.3 ($0.9)
12. Photon (Free)
13. Real Cam SP ($2.99)
14. CameraBag 1.4 ($2.99)
15. ColorSplash ($1.99)
16. PhotoArtist ($1.99)
17. PhotoCanvas ($2.99)
18. Photo fx ($2.99)
19. Photogene ($2.99)
20. Photo Lab 1600 ($1.99)
21. Photobucket for iPhone (Free)
22. Facebook for the iPhone (Free)

SRASC · Posted: Wed Apr 22, 2009 2:07 pm Post subject:

A leaked internal document from AT&T compares the iPhone 3G to the Palm Pre. The document highlights the Pre's shortcomings compared to the iPhone.

Especially noted is that the Pre does not allow for CPU-intensive apps like 3D games, it does not allow for global roaming, and does not have music sync.

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The next version of the Bluetooth short-range wireless protocol officially launched this week, promising an eightfold speed increase that could help device makers offer faster wireless syncing and data transfers on their handheld products in about a year's time.

Presenting at its annual All Hands Meeting in Tokyo this week, the Bluetooth SIG -- the special interest group that oversees the development of Bluetooth standards and licensing -- formally adopted Bluetooth Core Specification Version 3.0 High Speed (HS), or Bluetooth 3.0.

In addition to better power savings and unicast connectionless data, the new specification features an 802.11 Protocol Adaptation Layer (PAL) that will increase throughput of Bluetooth data transfers to approximately 24 Mbps, up from 3Mbps in the current 2.1 EDR version.

Put more simply, any two devices that feature both Bluetooth 3.0 and an 802.11 wireless chip will pair with each other over Bluetooth but then perform the bulk of their data transfers over the faster WiFi protocol using a specialized 802.11 connection. When the speed of a transfer becomes overkill, the connection will drop down to normal operation on a Bluetooth radio for optimal power management and performance.

"This is the wireless technology equivalent of 'low hanging fruit,'" said Michael Foley, Ph.D., executive director, the Bluetooth SIG. "What we’re doing is taking classic Bluetooth connections -- using Bluetooth protocols, profiles, security and other architectural elements -- and allowing it to jump on top of the already present 802.11 radio, when necessary, to send bulky entertainment data, faster."

For end users, this could mean the ability to synchronize bulky music libraries at high speeds between an iPhone (or iPod) and a Mac (or PC) without having to tether the devices with a USB cable or sign onto a WiFi network. Once paired, an iPhone could theoretically sync to a Mac running iTunes every time the two devices come within range of each other.

Other applications of the technology will include bulk download of photos to a printer or computer, and sending video files from a camera or phone to computer or television. And while theoretical speed maximums touted by specification bodies don't always ring true in real world situations, Foley maintains the users will routinely see Bluetooth 3.0 transfers sustain rates at or above 22Mbps.

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"Like Ricky Bobby in Talladega Nights, this latest version was ‘born to go fast,’" he said. "Utilizing the 802.11 radio was a natural choice as it provides efficiencies for both our members and consumers -- members get more function out of the two radios they are already including in devices, and consumers with Bluetooth v3.0 HS products will get faster exchange of information without changing how they connect."

As with all versions of the Bluetooth specification, Bluetooth 3.0 HS is backwards compatible with earlier versions. Already, Bluetooth SIG member companies and Apple partners like Atheros, Broadcom, CSR, and Marvell are working on chips to support the new specification. Those chips should begin turning up in consumer products within the next 9 to 12 months.