Category: I-phone

photo by flickr user renaissancechambara

While developers have been playing with 5.0.1 for a little while, it seems Apple has updated a few regular users’ phones as well, 9to5mac reports. These appear to be via the AppleSeed program, and Apple is testing with those who have reported battery issues after 5.0 updates.

Additionally, Apple has sent a memo to Apple Store retail employees about the battery issue. It essentially says to tell users to wait for the software update, and it’ll get fixed. Read the full memo at 9to5mac.

iOS 5.0.1 appears for some non-developers, Apple issues retail memo about battery issues originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 08 Nov 2011 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s only been out less than a month and Walter Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs has already made its way onto Amazon’s Best Books of 2011 list. The biography is number eight in the Top 10 Editor’s picks for 2011 and is number one in the best Biographies & Memoirs of 2011 category, both for print and Kindle versions. These lists are not based on sales numbers only, but are derived from titles chosen by Amazon’s book editors.

Isaacson’s biography has attracted a lot of attention since it launched. It paints a stark portrait of Jobs and suggests his characteristic gruff demeanor is more fact than fiction. The book also contains some juicy tidbits about Apple’s product plans, including the confirmation that Jobs had, at one point, considered the idea of an Apple-branded TV.

If you haven’t grabbed a copy of the biography, check out the excellent review written by our own Chris Rawson. It’ll give you an inside look at the book and help you decide if Isaccson’s work is worth US$18 of your hard-earned cash. (Hint: it is.)

Walter Isaacson’s Steve Jobs bio among Amazon’s best books of 2011 originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 08 Nov 2011 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Horace Dediu of Asymco is good with numbers and his latest work uses this skill to look at discarded iPhones in the US. Dediu takes monthly comScore data and quarterly activation data provided by the wireless carriers to calculate the install base of the iPhone in the US. His number crunching and resulting graph shows the number of new activations and the calculated number of iPhones being put out of service each quarter.

According to Dediu, the discard rate, which is the number of phones being discarded over the number of new phones, is 50% in the US. Most of these discards are coming from AT&T as Verizon has not carried the iPhone long enough for customers to begin replacing their handsets with a new model.

Dediu claims most of AT&T’s reported activations were from customers replacing iPhones and that the carrier only added one million new iPhones thus far this year. He also points out that AT&T’s discard rate has skyrocketed to 81% since Verizon introduced the iPhone 4 earlier this year, a figure that suggests AT&T is adding fewer new iPhone customers now that people have a choice in wireless carriers. It’s an interesting look at the iPhone that goes beyond unit sales. You can read the full report at Asymco’s website.

Discarded iPhones in the US originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 08 Nov 2011 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Strings found in the first beta of the iOS 5 suggested panorama camera mode in iOS 5. A series of strings found in iOS 5 code suggested that the company could implement a panorama camera mode in iOS…

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Binpress, a source-code discovery service and marketplace, is announcing a mobile development contest with over $20k in cash and prizes for best mobile development components.

Binpress has partnered with several big names in mobile app development, including  Amazon AWS, Tropo, Appsfire, Github and others to bring you thousands of dollars in prizes for the best submission of a source-code component for mobile development. Platforms covered include Android and iOS, as well cross platform products such as phonegap, Appcelerator, Titanium and Corona.

Over $20,000 will be given out to the best submissions in multiple categories, and all approved submissions could also be published on the Binpress marketplace.

The contest will end on November 26 and multiple submissions are allowed. You can read more about the rules and guidelines at the contest site.

This is a great opportunity for app developers everywhere to win a nice chunk of change.

On the open source apps list (now at 58 apps) I have listed several great games, and there are other game examples using Cocos2D.

Earlier today I found about another game being open sourced also created with Cocos2D that looks like a great example for anyone looking to create a Cocos2D game, especially if you’re looking to learn how to use/create your own custom level editor.

Here’s a video created by the game’s creators demonstrating the game in action:

This game is iLabyrinth and has been listed in “What’s hot” in all the app stores, and in “New and Noteworthy” in all the app stores.

Included with the source code is a level editor, you can find the Github repository here.

Thanks to the guys at UD7 for such a generous contribution to the community.

I’ve also added another app known as “Dollar Bets” and you can find all the apps on the open source iOS apps list.

©2011 iPhone, iOS 5, iPad SDK Development Tutorial and Programming Tips. All Rights Reserved.

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In a reversal of its panning of both the AT&T and Verizon models of the iPhone 4, Consumer Reports says it can recommend the iPhone 4S to consumers, saying that it doesn’t suffer from either the reception problems that its predecessor did, nor from the reported battery woes that Apple is now addressing. Consumer Reports adds that Siri, the 8-megapixel camera and A5 processor all added to the phone’s good qualities.

However, the magazine is quick to point out that the iPhone 4S doesn’t surpass recent Android models in its ratings, citing larger screen sizes and the ability to run on 4G networks, and in one case the ability to capture 3D video and images, as being the reason why these phones are better.

Your mileage will vary on Consumer Reports’ findings. None of these factors seem to have stopped anyone from snatching up the first available iPhone 4S they can get their hands on.

Consumer Reports gives a thumbs up to the iPhone 4S originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 08 Nov 2011 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dashboard has several fantastic features, including the ability to turn any web clipping into a widget. Macworld readers decided to use this feature to grab the functioning Mickey Mouse clock from the iPod nano home page and use it on your desktop. Here’s how to recreate it:

• Visit the iPod nano’s home page in Safari. Right (or control) click on an empty part of the page and select “open in dashboard.”
• Center the box that appears on the Mickey Mouse clock, or any other section of the page you wish to save. Hit the “add” button that’s appeared at the top of Safari. Adjust the handles that appear to get the size you want.

There’s more to it, and we encourage to read the rest at Macword. How does this work? MacWorld explains it’s because Apple doesn’t use Flash on its site. The clock is created from HTML, CSS, JavaScript and images.

Mac 101: Use web clippings to put a Mickey Mouse clock on your Mac originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 08 Nov 2011 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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When Final Cut Pro X debuted, it caused a stir in the professional video editing world. Long a standard tool for feature film editors, the latest version of Final Cut was designed more for the prosumer, and left some pro editors with a bad taste for the update. In a recent interview with Rick Young of MacVideo, film and sound editor Walter Murch discusses this new role of Final Cut Pro X.

Murch makes several key points about FCPX’s role in video literacy and how its friendly interface makes it easy for students and new users to develop video editing skills. Looking beyong consumers, he’s also hopeful Apple will gradually beef up the application and let third-party developers create tools that’ll make Final Cut Pro X useful for the professional.

He sees FCPX as a tool that will gradually straddle the old world of analog-based non-linear video editing and the new digital-based future. Murch is not sure Apple can pull this off and create a tool that appeals to both the professional and the consumer, but if it does, FCPX could be the foundation for a new NLE ecosystem.

The 20-minute talk is an excellent commentary on the future of Final Cut Pro and film editing, in general. You can watch the full interview on MacVideo’s website.

[Via FCP.co]

Editor Walter Murch is feeling better about Final Cut Pro X originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 08 Nov 2011 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dear Aunt TUAW,

Why can’t I have Siri on my computer? My laptop has a mic and while its not as new as a 4S its still gotta have more horsepower and bandwidth, yes?

Seriously, more opportunities to use it can only help Apple.

Your loving nephew,

Andrew

Dear Andrew,

As for Siri on computers, yes, there’s no technological limitations as to why the service could not be deployed to Macs and PCs. After all, Dragon Dictation / Nuance does.

The reason is more likely limited to the following factors. First, Siri currently defines Apple’s flagship product, the iPhone 4S. It’s exclusive to that platform and is rolling out slowly to additional languages and countries.

Second, Siri is already encountering occasional service interruptions. That might be due to load (which would require scaling) or initial rollout quirks. Either way, Apple is unlikely to extend the service to desktops until those issues have been resolved.

Finally, Siri’s strength lies less in its voice interpretation (which is superb, but so is a lot of the Dragon technology), but in its OS integration. Siri ties in directly to the address book, to the reminders app, to your calendar, and so forth. To move to the desktop, Apple would have to re-engineer major portions of its operating system to support this kind of tight Siri integration.

So will we see Siri on your computer? Auntie thinks “yes.” Will we see it soon? Unlikely.

Hugs,

Auntie T.

Dear Aunt TUAW: Could Siri appear on Macs? originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 08 Nov 2011 09:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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I’m torn on spotlighting Wizardry here — on the one hand, it’s a pretty successful rendition of the old computer role-playing games made for the Apple II and other platforms. Once you figure it out, the turn-based gameplay is nicely complex and provides for some pretty fun dungeon crawling, running your party of various classes and characters through a first person 2D dungeon.

The problem is that getting to that point can be a pain, and if you don’t have a lot of experience with this type of game, you might be completely lost as to what you’re supposed to do and how to do it. This version of Wizardry’s interface is annoying at best and confusing at worst. There’s little to no explanation of what your options do and roaming off into the dungeon (if you can figure out how to do that) will likely get you killed and make you give up right away. That’s not to even mention that apparently the iTunes reviews say it doesn’t work on phones older than the iPhone 4, and it’s buggy (though I didn’t have any issues with bugs personally).

Still, at its current price of free, I can recommend it to players who really want some excellent turn-based combat gameplay and a little nostalgic taste of the old dungeon-mapping and party creation of the old Wizardry games. Anyone not willing to fight through the very rough issues the game still contains, however, should probably go for something a little friendlier, such as Dragon Fantasy or Guardian Saga.

Daily iPhone App: Wizardry Labyrinth of Lost Souls originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 08 Nov 2011 08:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Apple Store app has received a nice upgrade, adding several new features and international support for customers in Canada and China.

One extremely nice feature is a personal pickup option, something I’ve used at Best Buy at times. Buy a product through the app and arrange for pickup at the Apple Store of your choice within an hour, depending upon stock availability. For those in a hurry, this will greatly cut down on the time and the hassle of fighting through the throngs of customers in a crowded Apple Store to grab something quickly.

EasyPay is something that I’m really eager to see in action, and if the closest Apple Store wasn’t 45 minutes away, I’d be off to try it this morning. You can purchase select accessories at the Apple Store by scanning the barcode with your iPhone or iPod touch (or iPad, but that’s probably a bit unwieldy) and complete the transaction from the app without having to go through a store employee.

The app store description doesn’t tell you what to do after you use EasyPay. Your receipts are stored on the iPhone, so if you’re challenged to show your proof of purchase by a store employee on the way out, you’ll be able to demonstrate that you’re not walking away with merchandise. It will be interesting to see how the Apple Stores adjust their security approach, if at all.

Both the personal pickup and EasyPay features are U.S. only at this time, and EasyPay requires an iPhone 4 or iPhone 4S.

Apple Store app upgrade adds personal pickup, EasyPay options originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 08 Nov 2011 07:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Numerous third-party camera apps already exist on the App Store which allow users to stitch together multiple photos into a panoramic image. 360 Panorama is the best example I can think of, and it does a really good job of creating panoramas from multiple images.

It seems Apple considered including photographic panorama functions in iOS 5 but hasn’t made them available to end users — at least not without tweaks. Developer Conrad Kramer found the code for panorama functions buried within iOS 5 and posted a series of screenshots on Twitter in addition to the finished panorama above.

According to Kramer, iOS developers can enable panorama functions in iOS 5 by setting “Enable FireBreak” to “Yes” in com.apple.mobileslideshow.plist. Non-developers with jailbroken phones can instead download chpwn’s “Firebreak” from Cydia when it becomes available.

It’s not 100 percent clear why Apple didn’t include this panorama function in iOS 5’s public release. It’s difficult to judge how well Apple’s own solution works from a single panoramic photograph, but it certainly doesn’t look as impressive as the panoramas that 360 Panorama generates.

[via MacStories]

Panorama mode for camera found buried within iOS 5 code originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 08 Nov 2011 07:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Security expert and Mac hacker Charlie Miller has uncovered an issue in iOS that would allow an app, downloaded from the App Store, to install and run malicious code on a device from a remote computer. The flaw, which Miller reportedly did upload to the App Store and got past Apple’s security checks, would create an app that appears to be innocuous (like Miller’s example app, which just runs stock information), but could then download instructions from another computer and then run any commands, steal user files (like photos and contacts) without permission, or even make the iOS device vibrate or play sounds.

Miller’s app has already been removed from the App Store, and we’re certain Apple will plug this hole in an upcoming update. Even Miller admits it is a very obscure bug, hidden away in iOS but there nonetheless, a byproduct of how Apple had to tweak the system to speed up Javascript in Mobile Safari. He plans to detail the issue at the SysCan conference in Taiwan next week.

Hopefully things will be fixed soon. If you’re really worried, it’s probably a good idea to hold off on updating or downloading any new apps, especially any that don’t come from well-established developers. Still, as Apple is aware of this problem (since Miller’s app has been pulled), it’s unlikely that any more apps this bug will make it onto the Store itself. The larger issues are the flaw in iOS, why Apple had to create this exception to begin with, and how they are going to fix it.

Security researcher Charlie Miller finds serious bug in iOS originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 07 Nov 2011 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom spoke at TechCrunch Disrupt in Beijing last week, and hinted that video sharing would be coming soon to the popular mostly iOS-driven photo sharing service. “We really want to go after something bigger than filtered photos,” he said, explaining that the service really wanted to let users share their entire lives, not just photos.

That’s likely music to many Instagram users’ ears — there are more than 9 million people using the app already, and it’s been praised quite a bit for its ease-of-use and excellent interface. And while, yes, there are plenty of ways to share video from the iPhone and the iPad as well, lots of users already have Instagram built into their social flow, so having video available on the service will be that much easier.

Unfortunately, Systrom said that while video is in the plans, it may be a while — obviously including video on the service would require major upgrades to both the app itself and of course the servers running it. But hopefully such a service would be worth waiting for.

Instagram CEO hints at video sharing originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 07 Nov 2011 21:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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