Category: I-phone

Welcome to iPhone 101, the series that explains the basics of iPhone operation. This time, it’s making sure Siri doesn’t let anyone use your locked iPhone.

Almost immediately after the release of the iPhone 4S, TUAW started receiving emails from readers who noticed that even when they had a passcode set on the lock screen, someone could pick up their device and issue commands to Siri. This means that unauthorized persons can easily pick up the iPhone 4S, press and hold the Home button and converse with Siri. Fortunately, there’s a way to disable Siri while using a lock screen passcode.

The Sophos Naked Security blog noted that those unauthorized users can do everything from writing an email or sending a text message to maliciously changing calendar appointments. Blogger Graham Cluely notes that it’s easy to disable Siri while there’s a passcode in effect, and wonders why Apple didn’t set the iPhone 4S up that way by default.

To make sure Siri is deaf to commands when there’s a passcode on the iPhone 4S, enter Settings > General > Passcode Lock, and slide the Siri option to Off. Now, when your friends try to make a prank call to your girlfriend using your iPhone 4S, they’ll find that Siri is unwilling to be a participant in the prank.

iPhone 101: Disable Siri with iPhone passcode to prevent unauthorized use originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 20 Oct 2011 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Siri is the talk of the town now that the iPhone 4S is in the hands of over four million customers. There has been a deluge of articles about using Siri, funny phrases it says and even clever hacks that let third-party companies tap into the service. Apple and its fans may be excited by the voice recognition technology, but one of Google’s executives is not overly impressed.

Speaking in Hong Kong at the AsiaD conference, Google’s Android chief, Andy Rubin, was sour on the utility of Siri. Rubin said,

I don’t believe that your phone should be an assistant. Your phone is a tool for communicating. You shouldn’t be communicating with the phone; you should be communicating with somebody on the other side of the phone.

Rubin may not look favorably on Siri, but he does give Apple credit for waiting until the technology was mature before rolling it out on the iPhone 4S. He noted,

In projecting the future, I think Apple did a good job of figuring out when the technology was ready to be consumer-grade.

Though Rubin claims not to be fond of voice recognition on a mobile phone, he does oversee Android’s development at Google and has allowed advanced voice recognition features to be built into this mobile OS.

Android’s Andy Rubin is not a fan of Siri originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 20 Oct 2011 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iOS developers around the world received a note from Apple today announcing iOS 5 Tech Talk World Tour 2011. This event, to be held in nine cities around the globe starting in November, is designed to give iOS developers access to Apple’s experts in various aspects of iOS 5.

The iOS 5 Tech Talk World Tour 2011 will be held in New York, Seattle, Austin, Berlin, London, Rome, Beijing, Seoul, and Sao Paolo. Starting at 9 AM, the one-day event begins with a kickoff keynote, a session on iPhone and iPad UI design, and the first half of a session on adopting iCloud storage.

After lunch, the iCloud fun continues in one room while other sessions start in two other rooms. The three conference tracks are roughly divided into general iOS app development, video and gaming, and books and Newsstand. After it’s all done for the day, Apple is thoughtfully providing a wine and cheese get-together. A full schedule can be viewed at the link above.

The iOS 5 Tech Talk World Tour 2011 is free to registered iOS developers. You can only register in one city and the participation is limited to the size of the venue, so register as soon as possible to insure that you’ll be attending.

Apple announces iOS 5 Tech Talk World Tour 2011 originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 20 Oct 2011 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You’ll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what’s happening in the Apple world.

You can listen to today’s Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here.

No Flash? Click here to listen.

Daily Update for October 20, 2011 originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 20 Oct 2011 16:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Listen up Apple.

We know you have a sherlocking habit. That’s the slang term referring to Apple’s apparent tendency to put a developer out of business by integrating an app’s core functionality into one of its own operating systems.

Well, Apple, Our Pad (Free, iPad-only) is a concept you need to Sherlock, asap. Of course, TUAW would prefer you did this by paying the developers large sums of money rather than via simple intellectual appropriation as is your modus operandus.

Our Pad lets you browse your favorite websites using multiple user-accounts. That means you and your partner can share an iPad while maintaining separate social networking credentials.

Each user signs in individually using a clever adaptation of the Android-style unlock pattern password. Here, you’re presented with a grid of dots, and your password is a path through those dots.

Here is a discussion of the security of this approach. I slightly prefer the new photo passwords of Windows 8, but this is an elegant solution for fast user switching.

The problem with Our Pad is that you’re stuck in the blinged-up single application browser instead of providing a system-wide multi-user solution in Safari. There are just too many single-purpose browsers.

Apps like Our Pad (as well as all the VLC clones on the market, plus the Flash-enabling browsers) point out where Apple is missing the point. You shouldn’t have to hop out of Safari to get the job. These apps shouldn’t need to exist, and when they do show up, they should not be as newsworthy as Our Pad.

So how did Our Pad do in TUAW’s testing? In a nutshell, it crashed a lot (no, really, a lot), had an eerie fixation on uppercase, had terrible design aesthetics and, in my opinion, over-promises on security. It very well may be secure but I personally would not use/trust this app because I tend to avoid any third party app that wants me to trust its safe-keeping of multiple credentials. We barely know each other, and you want me to trust you with what!!??

At the same time, this is where Apple should be: offering easy tablet-minded password-protected user-switching for devices in multi-user households.

[Via Lifehacker]

Our Pad introduces multiple-account support for iOS social networking sites originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 20 Oct 2011 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You’re a SoundCloud user. You love playing tracks on your Mac and love the idea of SoundCloud, but hate the fact that your poor old Mac sounds like a jet engine whenever you play a track thanks to Flash. SoundCloud app to the rescue.

The official SoundCloud app brings “the full SoundCloud web experience to your Mac” allowing you to play tracks directly from your SoundCloud account, search, favorite and create playlists all using a native app. The sounds stream pretty instantly, while tag search is also supported so you can go exploring either through keyword search, through users or tags and save the good stuff for later. You can even drag-and-drop SoundCloud URLs onto the SoundCloud dock icon to create playlists.

The SoundCloud app also supports the built-in Mac media keys, so you can pause and skip tracks like you would with iTunes. Growl support is bundled too, so if you’ve got Growl installed it’ll notify you of track changes.

The only disadvantage of using the desktop app over the in-browser SoundCloud site is that only tracks which have been made available for 3rd party applications within SoundCloud will appear in the app. For the rest you’ll have to resort to the website. For me that didn’t make much difference as my favorite stuff was all present in the app without issue.

Recording your own stuff is a doddle with the desktop app thanks to the nice big “Share Your Sound” tab in the top left that reveals a massive “Rec” button that you simply hit to record from your Mac.

If you’re into SoundCloud, but hate that you have to use Flash, then check out the SoundCloud desktop app — it’s free and works pretty well.

Daily Mac App: Sound Cloud originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 20 Oct 2011 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dear Aunt TUAW,

I’ve had an iPhone 4S since Friday and I love how Siri is making my life easier, and hands-free. However, what’s troubling me is that when I use Siri to send or reply to my friend using SMS, I can’t figure out how to add commas and periods.

This makes the message looks odd, and Siri doesn’t allow direct editing on the message either (at least I haven’t found out).

Is there a way to add punctuations while sending a message using Siri?

Thanks!

Your loving nephew,

William

Dear William,

Just dictate the punctuation you want to use. For example, you might say:

Message Aunt TUAW. Hey comma cap Auntie exclamation point. How are you doing question mark. I asterisk really asterisk love this whole punctuation thing full stop. Love comma William

Hope this helps!

Hugs,

Auntie T.

Dear Aunt TUAW: Help me use punctuation with Siri originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 20 Oct 2011 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple is poised to expand its presence in California by re-opening the Victoria Gardens Store in Rancho Cucamonga this weekend. The Victoria Gardens store originally opened in October 2004 and was impressive for its time. It had 3,000 square feet of retail space and was packed full of G5 Towers, G5 iMacs, and eMacs when it first opened its doors seven years ago.

Now the store has a new location and has received an architectural facelift. The new and improved store has doubled its footprint and now boasts of 6,000 square feet of retail space. Its entrance has also doubled to 60-feet wide and is made of stone and glass instead of steel, a design change that reflects Apple’s current retail store aesthetics.

The Victoria Gardens store will open this Saturday, October 22 at 10:00 a.m. PDT.

[via ifoAppleStore]

Expanded California Apple Store to open Saturday originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 20 Oct 2011 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Is your iOS device giving you grief? Perhaps your battery is draining quickly or apps are quitting spontaneously. If so, try one of the following fixes. We don’t guarantee these will work for you, at at least one is applying the nuclear option: a full restore.

At the very least, these tips give you something to do while you’re waiting for your Genius Bar appointment.

And bonus: No chicken sacrifices needed!

Reboot. A super fresh reboot can fix a multitude of woes, especially when you have runaway items. Rebooting quits all apps, re-initializes all processes and gives your device a chance to start fresh. Press-and-hold the sleep/wake button until you see “slide-to-power-down.” Perform the power down, wait, and then restart the phone by pressing-and-holding the sleep/wake button again until you see the white Apple.

Reset. Sometimes resetting your device (Settings > General > Reset) either partially or entirely can clean up lingering issues. A nice Network Settings reset may return your MIA tethering options. A simple Settings reset will clean up your system without affecting any content, data or media.

Restore. A fresh restore cleans all the lint off your system. Instead of restoring from backup, set up your device as a new unit. Then slowly add back all the items you need and see if your performance improves. Plus, it gives you a chance to proactively spring-clean everything. Re-sync all the contacts, bookmarks, and apps you need — it takes a bit of time but the result can be well worth it.

If you can, always take screenshots of problems as they occur. Press and hold the home key while pressing the sleep/wake button The screen flashes white and you hear a camera click as the screenshot gets saved to your onboard album (the Camera Roll). These photos help prove you have real problems when dealing with an Apple Genius. And yes, sometimes their diagnostics don’t match up with your real world problems. Screenshots help.

Do it yourself iPhone fixes: The three R’s originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 20 Oct 2011 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In a very neat collaboration, Moonbot, the developers behind the book app The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore, has teamed up with DODOcase to produce a custom book-bound iPad case that’s based on the app.

Morris Lessmore is a story of people who are devoted to books, and in turn the books are devoted back. The US$4.99 book app made its debut at the end of May and has had good reception since. The Morris Lessmore DODOcase is $64.99 and is handcrafted from red faux leather with Morris Lessmore’s hat and cane mark on the cover and his “M” on the spine.

The case is available now, and the book app recently updated to version 1.2 with a new puzzle. We have one of these cases on its way, and a full review of both the case and the book will be on TUAW soon.

Moonbot, DODOcase team up to offer custom iPad case for Morris Lessmore originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 20 Oct 2011 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Continuing in the vein of record iPhone launches stories, AT&T has announced it has activated more than 1 million iPhone 4S handsets as of Tuesday. They say that makes it the most successful launch in the company’s history, which might explain why some customers experienced activation delays on day one.

AT&T is so pleased with the result, it has put together a little video with AT&T staff and customers saying how much they love the iPhone on AT&T. If you’re a user of the carrier, you may feel a pang of pride!

Meanwhile, Sprint realized its best ever single-day sales on iPhone 4S launch day and Apple sold 4 million units within the 72 hours of availability. For a phone that’s not the iPhone 5, the iPhone 4S is causing quite a stir!

AT&T activates 1 million iPhone 4S handsets originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 20 Oct 2011 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The gMusic iPhone app from Interactive Innovative Solutions does what Google failed to do when it launched its Google Music Beta — natively stream your Google Music tracks to your iPhone, iPod touch and iPad (as an expanded iPhone app). The Google Music service serves as a digital online locker that can store up 20,000 tracks from your music library.

The app is a basic music player that lets you browse your tracks via album, artists, genre and song. It also accesses your playlist information and lets you add songs to existing playlists. You can also create an instant playlist on the fly. It’s great for on the go listening as your music will stream over Wi-Fi or 3G. It’ll also play in the background so you can use other apps while listening to your music.

This gMusic iPhone app is available from the App Store for US$1.99.

gMusic iPhone app is a native Google Music Player originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 20 Oct 2011 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Samsung shipped more smartphones than Apple in the last quarter ending September 30. According to a person “familiar with the situation,” Samsung shipped 20 million smartphones where as Apple shipped sold 17.1 million in its fourth fiscal quarter, which ended September 24, as announced in Apple’s last conference earnings call. [Noting that shipping units doesn’t mean selling them. Samsung may have shipped 20 million smartphones, but Apple sold nearly that many. – Ed.]

As noted in Apple’s last conference earnings call, sales of the iPhone slowed down in the second half of the last quarter (as predicted) due to speculation and rumor of a product refresh: namely, the iPhone 4S (check out TUAW’s Chris Rawson post taking a closer look at this). However, with the iPhone 4S selling a hefty 4 million units within the first three days of its launch, things could look a bit different at the end of the next financial quarter!

Samsung reportedly beats Apple in smartphone shipments originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 20 Oct 2011 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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On Monday, the scheduled release date for Steve Jobs: A Biography, Fortune Magazine will publish an exclusive excerpt from Walter Isaacson’s highly anticipated biography of Steve Jobs.

The sections to appear will focus on Steve’s working relationship with the former CEO of Microsoft, Bill Gates, which spanned nearly three decades. As stated by CNN Money, “…the co-founder of Apple and the co-founder of Microsoft were the twin pillars of personal computing — at times fierce competitors, at times key allies.”

Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs will be available on the same day, October 24, 2011. Previously the release date was set for November 21, and before that March 6, 2012. According to publisher Simon & Shuster, “…the book is based on more than forty interviews with Jobs conducted over two years, as well as interviews with more than a hundred family members, friends, adversaries, competitors, and colleagues.”

Fortune to publish first excerpt from Isaacson’s biography of Jobs originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 20 Oct 2011 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Along with Apple’s quarterly results earlier this week, there’s another report hitting today that covers a growing segment of the mobile device market: Good Technology’s roundup of device activation statistics, compiled from the company’s range of Fortune 500 clients that use Good’s service to provide secure email and calendaring to handsets and tablets. (See previous results here.) The results this time around: interesting but not that surprising. You can see the full PDF report here.

iPhone and iOS activations continue to lead the field, with iPhones representing 61% of all smartphone activations on Good’s platform and iOS devices generally covering 70% of activations (a drop from the 78% share in the previous quarter). Android smartphones, however, picked up some ground on the iPhone over the quarter, showing improvement month over month. Android phones finished the quarter with about 39% of smartphone activations, passing iPad activations again (28.3% vs. 26.3% of the total) after the iPad overtook Android last quarter.

Good’s assessment of the iPhone/Android shift is largely in line with Apple’s spin: customers put off iPhone 4 purchases in anticipation of a new iPhone release in the fall, which is exactly what we got. Good SVP John Herrema did get a look at preliminary data for the iPhone 4S launch weekend, and given the observed 25% bump in activations over the quarterly average for the iPhone 4, he’s confident about an iPhone surge: “Looking forward to Q4, 2011, we expect… the iPhone 4S to be the catalyst for an Apple rally.”

When it comes to the iPad versus the larger universe of tablet devices, the story remains that there is no “tablet market” — the iPad is the only game in town as far as big companies are concerned. The report summary puts it thusly: “To say iOS tablets dominated adoption in the enterprise is to understate the case…. Android tablet activations within Good’s customer base remain in the realm of a rounding error compared to what we’re seeing with iPad and iPad 2.” iOS tablets made up more than 96% of all tablet activations in the quarter.

As always, it’s important to note that Good’s data does not cover RIM’s Blackberry devices, as they are supported by RIM’s proprietary server infrastructure; Windows 7 phones and tablets are also not tracked by the company.

Q3 enterprise adoption: iPhone slips, Android gains, iPad owns the tablet space originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 20 Oct 2011 09:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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