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News, Reviews, & Opinion
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Protection
iPod and iPhone Deals
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News, Reviews, & Opinion
iPhone 3G Does Not Suffer from Faulty Hardware
AppleInsider's
Prince McLean reports:
"After lab results demonstrated that the iPhone 3G's antenna
actually functions normally, critics complained that the tests didn't
represent their own experiences. So the tests were performed again on
two phones that had been experiencing severe problems for some users;
the verdict was the same: no hardware problems found."
Link:
Repeat Tests Show iPhone 3G Doesn't Suffer from Faulty Hardware
AT&T Source Explains Details of iPhone 3G
Problems
Daily Tech's
Jason Mick reports:
"The iPhone 3G is one of Apple's flagship products. Many would argue
it stands far above its most able competitors in terms of capabilities.
Yet, the iPhone has been having some problems.
"The iPhone's problems began when users started to become frustrated
with dropped calls and poor call quality. They took their frustrations
and poured them out on Apple's message boards. Sources in Apple said
that CEO Steve Jobs was unconcerned with the problems as he said they
likely only affected 2 percent of iPhone customers, or about 60,000
people.
"Then came the report from Sweden's foremost tech weekly Ny Teknik,
saying that it had test the iPhone's 3G and it fell well below the
standards set for 3G, and should not be certified and as a 3G product.
Many, including sources inside Apple, seemed to place the blame on the
Infineon chipset in the phone."
Link: AT&T Source
Explains Exact Technical Details of iPhone 3G Problems
Why iPhone 2.0.2 Fixed Problems for Some Users
ITWire's
Stephen Withers reports:
"When Apple released the 2.0.2 software for its iPhone 3G, a
proportion of users found it improved connectivity and reduced the
number of dropped calls. Others reported no difference. What's going
on?
"According to Roughly Drafted, a 'source close to AT&T'
reportedly claimed that a faulty power control algorithm caused iPhone
3Gs to request more power than was necessary...."
Link: Why iPhone 2.0.2 Fixed
Problems for Some Users
Behind the iPhone Software 2.0.2 Fix
AppleInsider's
Prince McLean reports:
"The recent iPhone 2.0.2 software update addressed a problem with
the iPhone 3G's power control that was causing dropped calls, according
to a new report.
"Last week, Apple's Jennifer Bowcock told USA Today that 'the
software update improves communication with 3G networks.' However,
Roughly Drafted is now reporting addition details from 'a source close
to AT&T' that explained what the real issue may have been, and why
some users didn't notice any immediate impact after installing the
iPhone 2.0.2 update."
Link:
Behind the iPhone Software 2.0.2 Fix to Reduce Dropped Calls
Critics Give Apple a Pass on iPhone 3G Woes
The position of Associated Press (AP) is that you may
not quote more than 5 words from any of its copyrighted articles
without paying $12.50 or more for a "quotation license". Rather than
pay this fee or risk the wrath of AP, we are removing all AP quotes
from the site along with links to those articles.
We regret any inconvenience to our readers, but we will never pay
for what is considered Fair Use under copyright law. We consider brief
quotations in our news roundups to be Fair Use and a benefit to the
site that we quoted from and linked to. (We adhere to the Open Link policy, and our Fair
Use policy specifically allows quoting up to 50% or 300 words of
our original content, whichever is less.)
UK Bans 'Misleading' iPhone Ad
Yahoo! Tech
blogger Ben Patterson reports:
"'All the parts of the Internet are on the iPhone,' the TV ad crowed
- well, all the parts except for the Flash and Java ones, that is.
"The BBC reports that the Advertising Standards Authority of the UK
has banned
the ad, which you can watch right
here, from running again in its current form.
"Apple had argued that the phrase 'all the parts of the Internet'
meant every page on the Web, but the British ad authority disagreed,
concluding that the ad 'gave a misleading impression of the Internet
capabilities of the iPhone.'"
Link:
UK Bans 'Misleading' iPhone Ad
iPhone Passcode Bypass a Cinch
ITWire's
Stephen Withers reports:
"Did you think putting a passcode lock on your iPhone would help
keep your personal information safe as well as stopping people from
using the phone without permission? Well think again because it turns
out that the iPhone is as easy to crack as a soft shelled peanut."
Link: Whoops! iPhone Passcode
Bypass a Cinch
GM to Offer Radios with USB Ports in 2009
Models
The position of Associated Press (AP) is that you may
not quote more than 5 words from any of its copyrighted articles
without paying $12.50 or more for a "quotation license". Rather than
pay this fee or risk the wrath of AP, we are removing all AP quotes
from the site along with links to those articles.
We regret any inconvenience to our readers, but we will never pay
for what is considered Fair Use under copyright law. We consider brief
quotations in our news roundups to be Fair Use and a benefit to the
site that we quoted from and linked to. (We adhere to the Open Link policy, and our Fair
Use policy specifically allows quoting up to 50% or 300 words of
our original content, whichever is less.)
US Army Using iPods as Field Translators
AppleInsider's
Aidan Malley reports:
"Apple's iPod has been easing tensions with Iraqi citizens in a
real-world experiment that has seen the music player provide
on-the-spot translating for a fraction the cost and size of earlier
systems.
"Instead of carrying around a relatively bulky PDA or notebook, the
US Army's 10th Mountain Division has for a year been using 260 iPods
and iPod nanos modified to run a special app from Vcom 3D known as
Vcommunicator Mobile."
Link:
US Army Increasingly Using Custom iPods as Field Translators
iPhone Makes Gains with Businesses
WSJ.com
says:
"Apple in July released a software update for its iPhone that was
intended to help get the popular device into businesses. A month and a
half later, the plan seems to be working, according to two new
surveys.
"ChangeWave Research surveyed close to 2,000 technology pros and
found that 17% planned to buy iPhones this quarter. That's up from 13%
in May. Also, 19% of tech pros said that the July software update made
them more likely to buy iPhones for their businesses. The same survey
found that those planning to buy Research In Motion's BlackBerry
dropped three percentage points from May to 79%. Obviously, the
BlackBerry is still far and away the leader, but Apple is starting to
make a dent."
Link:
The iPhone Makes Gains with Businesses
Apps
iPhone Users Can Track Hurricanes on Weather
Underground
PR: Weather Underground, the nation's first online provider
of weather related content, has announced the launch of a Tropical
Weather section for iPhone users at <http://i.wund.com/tropical>
The service enables iPhone users to access a
wide range of hurricane tracking maps including 5-day forecast maps,
computer model maps, satellite maps, wind maps and historical maps. The
service also provides a number of text products such as public
advisories, marine advisories and discussions.
''We have brought the product to market as quickly as possible in
light of the active hurricane season we are experiencing in the
Atlantic this year,'' said Alan Steremberg, President and co-founder of
Weather Underground. ''People in areas threatened by severe tropical
weather can use the new iPhone service, along with our regular mobile
site, to keep themselves and their families safe when they don't have
access to a computer.''
This iPhone service is the latest in a suite of online products that
Weather Underground provides for people wishing to keep track of
tropical weather. Its flagship web site www.wunderground.com provides
access to an even greater range of hurricane tracking maps and model
data. Weather Underground's Director of Meteorology and former
hurricane chaser, Dr. Jeff Masters, provides in-depth hurricane
analysis and commentary on his widely read WunderBlog. Dr. Masters is
currently posting regular updates on Hurricane Gustav at:
http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/show.html
Weather Underground also launched its US Severe Weather service on
the iPhone site. This service provides a map of the US highlighting all
areas with severe weather advisories - including tropical storms,
thunderstorms, heat advisories, winter weather statements, fire alerts,
flood warnings and tornado alerts. Text advisories can also be viewed
by state and city.
For other mobile users, Weather Underground's Tropical and Severe
Weather services are also available on its regular mobile site
<http://m.wund.com>
The nation's first online weather service, Weather Underground is
committed to delivering the most comprehensive, reliable weather
information possible. The company's state-of-the-art technology
monitors conditions and forecasts for locations across the world. With
thousands of international users contributing local observations from
personal weather stations, Weather Underground is able to provide
up-to-the-minute weather conditions for the most finely targeted areas.
In addition to serving free online weather information to millions of
Web users, Weather Underground delivers custom-designed weather page
solutions to an array of businesses and media clients - both online and
in print.
Link: Weather
Underground (only available through the
iTunes App Store)
Plum Record Turns iPhone into an Audio
Recorder
PR: Plum Amazing announces their second iPhone application,
Plum Record, turns your iPhone into a digital audio recorder which tags
sound files with photos and text and costs only $5. Plum Record for the
iPhone is now available in the iTunes App Store in English, German,
Spanish and French. There is a link below which will open iTunes to the
Plum Record page in the iTunes App Store.
There are so
many interesting and important sounds in our lives. Wouldn't it be nice
to record them conveniently on your ever present cell phone? Now with
Plum Record and the Apple iPhone you can.
Easily record interviews, lectures, songs, shopping lists, medical
notes, to do lists, bird calls, legal notes, environmental sounds,
meetings, lyrics, car sounds (to play for Clik and Clak on Car Talk),
reminders, ideas, audio books, diary entries, your childs first words,
singing, instrumentals, street musicians, comedy, sermons, book clubs,
choirs, news, podcasts, science notes, observations, the list goes on
and on.
Sounds in Plum Record can be tagged with photos, and text. Multiple
tags can be added at different locations in a sound file. These tags
can then act like bookmarks allowing you to jump to different sections
of the sound file instantly.
Once you have your sounds you can transfer them using our (free)
Plum Record Server for the Mac (Win and Linux coming soon) which is on
our website.
Features:
- Record, pause, continue, rewind easily using familiar controls and
a beautiful interface.
- Record secs, minutes or hours at a time. See elapsed time and time
remaining.
- The very familiar scroll wheel for interface and controls.
- Files named automatically, rename sound files easily.
- Library to keep sounds in and arrange by dragging into
folders.
- Create hot tagged (colored) folders for sounds.
- Folders and sounds can be selected and deleted or rearranged by
dragging.
- Tag sounds quickly with multiple photos or instances of text.
- Easy to use and view even outdoors.
- Plum Record Server to transfer even big files to your Mac and soon
Win and Linux.
- Works with larger interface in rotated mode.
- Choose the sampling rate for high or lower res (and size)
files.
- Change the skin/interface for recording.
- Change files recorded on the iPhone to other formats like WAV, MP3,
MP4, AAC, 3GP, AC3, AIFC, AIFF, AMR, Next/Sun, Sound Designer II,
3GPP2, etc.
- Doesn't use a microphone for an icon. :)
- Big surprises on the way...
Link: Plum Record (only available
through the
iTunes App Store)
Macvide iPod Converter for Mac OS X
PR: MacVide announces iPod Converter 1.7, their video to MP4
conversion utility for Mac OS X. With a focus on ease-of-use, iPod
Converter allows conversion of the most popular video files to MP4 iPod
video. It fully integrates the process into the Mac experience by
allowing human interaction on the content during conversion.
All of the most popular formats are supported, including MOV, 3GP,
MPEG, AVI and helps bridge the gap between many video standards. iPod
Converter is a great tool for using with Apple's iTunes.
MacVide iPod Converter provides powerful functions to set different
settings for your video files. It allows you to select crop video area,
the bit rate, frame rate, video resolution. Video preview with
"rangebar" allows you to choose the exact video footage you want,
anywhere between the first and last frames. With MacVide iPod Converter
you will able to convert your entire movie to .MP4 and watch it
anywhere and anytime. It's very easy to use and it supports most
portable MP4 devices.
Feature highlights include:
- Input format supported: all popular Video formats including AVI,
WMV, MOV, MPG, ASF, DivX, etc.
- Playback on multiple players including iPod, iPhone, PSP and Apple
TV, Creative Zen, Archos, etc.
- Crop your video area to remove the black video sides.
- Powerful video/audio output settings
- Allows to set video resolution and frame rate
- Allows to set video and audio bitrate.
- Customizable dimensions for exported video
- Auto Determination of Movie length
- User can control Movie over Capturing
Minimum Requirements:
- Mac OS X Version 10.4 Tiger or 10.5 Leopard
- Universal Binary for PowerPC and Intel
- 19.4 MB Hard Drive space
iPod Converter 1.7 is available for only $29.95 for a Single
License, and may be downloaded directly from the MacVide website.
Link: Macvide iPod
Converter
aMaze! Turns iPhone into Wooden Labyrinth
Game
PR: International game developer FunGyre has released the
iPhone and iPod Touch game, aMaze!. aMaze! is very realistic transition
of the classic wooden balance game Labyrinth, where players guide steel
ball through a maze avoiding holes, to the iPhone. aMaze! is unique for
playing exactly like its real world prototype by tilting device to
control the labyrinth attitude thus moving the ball.
FunGyre has announced the
release of aMaze!, the game that turns iPhone and iPod Touch into a
classic wooden balance game Labyrinth, where players move a steel ball
through a maze avoiding holes. aMaze! is unique for playing exactly
like its real world prototype, by tilting device to control the
labyrinth behavior and, thus, moving the ball. It is the most intuitive
game control since everyone, who has ever played original Labyrinth
game, knows how to play it.
Open AL 3D sound makes aMaze! game even more realistic. The sound
models every movement of the ball, adjusting the volume and pitch to
reflect the changes in the ball speed and position.
Moving a ball to an exit is just one among potential gameplays.
Within this simple scenario, there are levels requiring bonus
collection to complete them successfully, which results in longer and
more attractive gameplay. More than 100 nicely designed game boards
will enable broad audience of players to test their balance sense. Some
levels are easy, other throw quite the challenge, while several require
all of your skills to pass.
"One of our first feedbacks on aMaze! told us that the player
remembers playing this game with a steel ball and the wooden maze, once
he was a kid. He was totally astonished by the game. It's a real
pleasure for us to ensure the game you've never experienced since your
childhood!", said Alex Dubov, FunGyre CMO.
aMaze! is available through App Store at $4.99. More information
about aMaze! could be found at their website.
Link: aMaze! (only available
through the
iTunes App Store)
Protection
QuickFlipCase for iPhone and iPhone 3G
PR:
Grantwood Technology, LLC has announced the release of the
QuickFlipCase for iPhone and iPhone 3G, a premium leather case designed
to comfortably secure the iPhone in place on your belt or waist.
The QuickFlipCase features a horizontally designed case with a
smooth leather exterior with classic contrast stitching and a sturdy
permanent belt clip. It also uses a secure magnetic enclosure for the
lid, and simple center push-up hole to allow easy removal of your
iPhone. When the iPhone is inside the QuickFlipCase, you can still
access the headphone jack and sleep/wake button. Furthermore, the
iPhone speakers are not covered when inside the QuickFlipCase to allow
full speaker volume.
The soft
leather covering was designed to not only to be protective but to allow
easy removal of the iPhone with just one hand. The magnetic closure is
strong but not overpowering and unlike Velcro, it quietly opens and
will not wear out. Simply open the lid and slide out the iPhone with
ease. Every aspect of the QuickFlipCase was designed for durability,
comfort and style.
"Building on the success of our tuneband armband for the iPhone,"
states Michael Banks, co-founder and CEO of Grantwood Technology, LLC,
"we wanted to have a leather iPhone case designed with all the best
features without the expense of competing products."
The QuickFlipCase for the iPhone is compatible with both the
original iPhone and the new iPhone 3G, and retails for $18.99.
Link: QuickFlipCase for
iPhone and iPhone 3G
