Category: I-phone

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 17, 2011 originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 17 Oct 2011 18:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Guy Kawasaki was an early Apple evangelist and helped market the Macintosh in 1984. As a result, he worked closely with Steve Jobs and experienced his leadership first-hand. To remember his former boss, Kawasaki compiled a list of the 12 qualities that set Steve apart from other CEOs.

Kawasaki paints a picture of a CEO that hires the best people, delivers products in a timely manner, intimately knows and designs his own products and listens to his own instincts, not that of experts. Kawasaki’s full list and details are on his blog and Google + page. It’s definitely worth a read. It’s not very long and it’s chock full of wisdom gleaned from one of the top visionaries of our generation.

Guy Kawasaki on what he learned from Steve Jobs originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 17 Oct 2011 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Guy Kawasaki was an early Apple evangelist and helped market the Macintosh in 1984. As a result, he worked closely with Steve Jobs and experienced his leadership first-hand. To remember his former boss, Kawasaki compiled a list of the 12 qualities that set Steve apart from other CEOs.

Kawasaki paints a picture of a CEO that hires the best people, delivers products in a timely manner, intimately knows and designs his own products and listens to his own instincts, not that of experts. Kawasaki’s full list and details are on his blog and Google + page. It’s definitely worth a read. It’s not very long and it’s chock full of wisdom gleaned from one of the top visionaries of our generation.

Guy Kawasaki on what he learned from Steve Jobs originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 17 Oct 2011 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

For budding moviemakers who want to shoot cinema-quality 1080p video, the Canon 5D Mark II digital SLR camera is a favorite. It’s a lot less expensive (starting at around US$2,400 for the body alone) than a Red Epic-M (rock-bottom price of about $43,000). Now Robino Films is showing that the 1080p, 30-frame-per-second video capabilities of the iPhone 4S might be a new and really inexpensive low-end video camera for the next Stanley Kubrick.

The filmmakers took a Canon 5D Mark II and an iPhone 4S, mounted them on a rig for simultaneous shooting and then put the resulting video side by side for your viewing pleasure. They made sure that they were matching the exposure, shutter speed, frame rate (30 fps) and picture style as much as possible.

The results are spectacular, at least for the iPhone 4S. The image is a bit warmer than what you see with the Canon footage, and of course you have no way to change lenses on the iPhone 4S (well, you do have those fun lenses from Photojojo…), but it’s a remarkable example of just how good the video capabilities of the 4S really are.

Bumping the video up to full-screen on a 27″ iMac, I could see the difference between the 21.1 Megapixel sensor on the Canon versus the 8 Megapixel sensor on the iPhone 4S — some details seemed a bit fuzzy on the iPhone footage. Also, the rolling shutter of the iPhone 4S causes the digital billboards in the Los Angeles footage to have scrolling black lines on it. For those of us who just want to shoot some amazing vacation footage without carrying around a bag full of equipment, the iPhone 4S can’t be beat.

iPhone 4S / Canon 5d MKII Side by Side Comparison from Robino Films on Vimeo.

iPhone 4S video compared to Canon 5D MK II originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 17 Oct 2011 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

It seems as though Apple is designing a lot of new Mac and iOS features from the perspective of people whose internet access is the equivalent of an all-you-can-eat buffet. Photo Stream is a perfect example. The feature, built into Apple’s new iCloud service, automatically uploads photos taken on any of your devices to iCloud, which gives you near-instant access to them on all of your devices.

It’s a great feature, and it’s already streamlined the process of getting photos from my iPhone onto my iPad and Mac. But it was only this morning that I realized with grim horror what might happen if I imported 8 GB of RAW files from my DSLR into Aperture. With Photo Stream’s default settings, those multiple gigabytes of data would be uploaded to iCloud automatically — and since I live in an area with strictly metered data and very expensive internet access, a single import session in Aperture could cost me dearly.

Fortunately, both Aperture and iPhoto allow you to disable automatic uploading very easily. Go into the preferences for whichever application you’re using and select the Photo Stream pane. Once there, uncheck the box next to “Automatic Upload.” As easily as that, your photo manager of choice will no longer send hundreds of photos into the cloud the next time you connect your digital camera.

The followup question you must be asking now is, “That’s great, but what if I want some of my imported photos to go to Photo Stream?” Fortunately, Apple made it easy to manually upload photos to Photo Stream. Just select the photos you want, then drag them to the Photo Stream item in the sidebar. You should see a green plus sign when you hover over Photo Stream. Release the photos, and they’ll be uploaded into the cloud.

Whether you’re trying to avoid massive data charges or simply don’t want hundreds of photos clogging up your Photo Stream all at once, it’s quite fortunate that Apple has made it so simple to disable automatic uploading and manage your Photo Stream uploads manually instead.

Mac 101: Disable automatic uploads to Photo Stream originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 17 Oct 2011 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Apple’s launch of the iPhone 4S, iCloud and iOS 5 has been wildly successful. The Cupertino company announced today that it has sold over four million iPhone 4S handsets in the first three days of sales. Says executive Phil Schiller, “[The] iPhone 4S is off to a great start with more than four million sold in its first weekend — the most ever for a phone and more than double the iPhone 4 launch during its first three days.” That’s not too shabby for a device that launched in only seven countries and was considered a “missed opportunity” by many.

Apple also confirmed there are more than 25 million customers running iOS 5 on their devices and over 20 million who have signed up for iCloud.

Apple sells four million iPhone 4S handsets in three days originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 17 Oct 2011 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Apple’s launch of the iPhone 4S, iCloud and iOS 5 has been wildly successful. The Cupertino company announced today that it has sold over four million iPhone 4S handsets in the first three days of sales. Says executive Phil Schiller, “[The] iPhone 4S is off to a great start with more than four million sold in its first weekend — the most ever for a phone and more than double the iPhone 4 launch during its first three days.” That’s not too shabby for a device that launched in only seven countries and was considered a “missed opportunity” by many.

Apple also confirmed there are more than 25 million customers running iOS 5 on their devices and over 20 million who have signed up for iCloud.

Apple sells four million iPhone 4S handsets in three days originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 17 Oct 2011 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Apple updated its “How to Buy” iPhone 4S page earlier today with instructions detailing how US and Canadian customers can go about getting an iPhone 4S. The company is now insisting that prospective buyers first reserve the new phone online before heading into an Apple Store to buy it. From the page:

iPhone 4S is available in store by reservation only. Reserve yours after 9:00 p.m. tonight for pickup tomorrow. When you come in, you’ll choose a carrier and plan, and we’ll get your iPhone up and running before you leave the store.

This shouldn’t be too much of a shock after Apple announced an astounding 4 million iPhone 4S sales in the first weekend. Apple obviously wants to control the flood of people heading for retail stores; reservations are a way to avoid sending people away disappointed should they show up expecting to get an iPhone 4S only to be told the store is sold out.

However, MacRumors notes that it seems unlikely that Apple would refuse to sell unreserved phones to walk-in customers and theorizes that Apple will take reservations online, but will then sell any extra daily stock to customers on a walk-in basis.

North American iPhone 4S sales now reservation-only at Apple stores originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 17 Oct 2011 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Remember just about two weeks ago, when some naysayers were sure that the iPhone 4S wasn’t going to sell because it wasn’t a totally new design and wasn’t that different from the iPhone 4? As you learned on TUAW this morning, Apple sold four million of the new phones over the weekend. Federico Vittici over at MacStories.net created a nice visual representation of just how successful the launch of the iPhone 4S really was.

How good a weekend was it? The iPhone 4S sold more units during its launch — four million — than the previous device launches put together. Those kind of figures make me wonder if part of the “delay” in the launch of the iPhone 4S was due to Apple simply trying to manufacture enough of the devices to be able to meet demand for the first couple of months.

If the number of Siri-related tweets over the weekend is any indication, Apple has a real winner on its hands with the iPhone 4S.

A visual representation of iPhone launches originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 17 Oct 2011 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Games are popular on the App Store right now (check out the lists of top paid and free aps), but several readers have asked us to extend beyond games with the Daily iPhone App series. So, here you go. Wolfram Alpha for iPhone is a mobile version of the very useful “computational knowledge engine” service.

Just like the online version, Wolfram Alpha for iPhone provides answers to your questions about math, almanac-style timetables, or just about anything else you need to know. Answers are provided in the form of text, images, tables, charts, graphs, grids, and so on.

The app does require an Internet connection, unfortunately, but it’s recently been tuned up and streamlined, so it should be faster than ever. The app has also gotten support of Facebook sharing, so if you find something interesting, you can make sure your friends see it as well.

WolframAlpha can be super helpful whenever you’re out and about. The universal app is available on the App Store for US$1.99.

Daily iPhone App: Wolfram Alpha originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 17 Oct 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Games are popular on the App Store right now (check out the lists of top paid and free aps), but several readers have asked us to extend beyond games with the Daily iPhone App series. So, here you go. Wolfram Alpha for iPhone is a mobile version of the very useful “computational knowledge engine” service.

Just like the online version, Wolfram Alpha for iPhone provides answers to your questions about math, almanac-style timetables, or just about anything else you need to know. Answers are provided in the form of text, images, tables, charts, graphs, grids, and so on.

The app does require an Internet connection, unfortunately, but it’s recently been tuned up and streamlined, so it should be faster than ever. The app has also gotten support of Facebook sharing, so if you find something interesting, you can make sure your friends see it as well.

WolframAlpha can be super helpful whenever you’re out and about. The universal app is available on the App Store for US$1.99.

Daily iPhone App: Wolfram Alpha originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 17 Oct 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

After facing setbacks in Germany and Australia, Samsung is striking back at Apple by filing an injunction request for the iPhone 4S, the iPhone 4 and the iPad in Japan. Samsung filed the injunction based on one patent the company holds for HSPA connectivity and three it holds for UI design. The three UI patents cover the airplane icon for airplane mode, aspects of home screen customization and an on-phone method for browsing apps on sale.

Samsung also filed an injunction request in Australia claiming Apple’s iOS devices violate three patents it holds for WCDMA and HSPA connectivity. Australia is a hotbed of legal action between the technology giants. After several legal volleys and an attempt by Samsung to reach a compromise, Apple was recently granted an interim injunction against Samsung that bans the sale of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in the country. This legal victory is a major setback for Samsung and could cause problems for other Android handset makers as the patents are broad and can extend to other devices.

Samsung seeks iPhone 4S sales ban in Japan, Australia originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 17 Oct 2011 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

A 65-page document recently filed in Australia by Apple in the Samsung patent case says that not only does Apple own “a thicket of patents” (which I’ll guess just means “a whole lot”), but that Apple is willing to license some of its patents, while still keeping others for itself.

According to FOSS Patents’ Florian Müller, Apple does have an extensive set of patents for its mobile devices. But rather than companies like Microsoft, who will often nail down patents only to make as much money as possible licensing them out to other hardware companies, Apple prefers to hold patents in order to differentiate its devices. It would rather benefit from having original features on its devices rather than just charging something like a per-unit fee.

This of course matters in the Samsung case, because Apple is alleging that Samsung knew that patents on certain features were held by Apple, and Samsung went ahead and released phones with those features anyway. If Apple really did plan to license the patents out, then Samsung could just pay the damages, and the agreement would go down as if it were a simple licensing deal. But if Apple really didn’t want to ever share the patented technology, then the damages to the company would be more extensive.

Indeed, the document does state that Apple was willing to license some “lower-level” patents. But all in all, it’s fairly clear that Apple was planning on keeping most of the patented technology for itself. And that means that the outlook for Samsung in this case is getting worse and worse as time goes on.

[via AppleInsider]

Apple lawyer says it owns a “thicket of patents” originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 17 Oct 2011 17:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Now that I’ve had my iPhone 4S for a couple of days, I’m amazed with what Siri can do. I’ve asked a number of questions — real ones, not questions like “What is the meaning of life?” — and have been totally impressed with how my interaction with the iPhone has changed. But there are more things I’d love to be able to do with Siri, which is the reason for this post.

Everyone should understand that Siri is currently a beta product from Apple. A lot of the things I’m talking about here should happen once the product is out of beta and developers are given access to a Siri API. This is my way of letting some iOS developers know that I’d love to see Siri integration in their apps. Here we go:

1. I’d love to be able to check into FourSquare using Siri: “Check me in here”
2. I want to be able to send tweets through Siri without having to use text messaging as an intermediary: “Tweet @NikFinn that I’m sorry to hear that you dislocated your finger”
3. I want to be able to have Siri check for reservation availability at OpenTable restaurants (I understand that the “original” Siri app did have OpenTable integration): “Make a reservation for two at Tamayo for 5:30 Friday evening”
4. Likewise, for a fun evening you might want to buy tickets at a local movie theater. Adding the ability to pick a movie time by asking “What time is ‘Moneyball’ playing near here?” and getting a choice of times, then saying “7:30 at the AMC 24 would be fine, and I need two tickets” to have Siri purchase those tickets would be a time saver.
5. How about being able to shop with Siri? Integration with Amazon.com would be wonderful: “Find the lowest price for a 3 TB FireWire 800 disk drive.” Once you see the specs, Siri asks “Would you like to buy this item?” Answer yes, and you’ve purchased it, answer no and Siri asks if you’d like to look at other similar items.
6. Healthcare could benefit from this. Imagine having Siri integration with apps such as WebMD, and being able to hold a conversation about symptoms before getting a list of possible conditions. Or asking what the side effects of a certain drug are, and having Siri read back a list of those effects. Cool.
7. Healthcare providers could also make life easier for their patients. My provider, Kaiser Permanente, has a wonderful online system for making appointments, contacting my doctor, and getting refills on prescriptions. Doing that by just saying “Order a 90-day refill of my Zantac” or “See if Dr. Healey has an appointment time available tomorrow,” and then being able to pick from a couple of open appointment slots would be a time saver.
8. My wife uses an app called Grocery iQ to create a grocery shopping list each week. I’d love to be able to have Siri read me the list one or two items at a time without having to stop, look at the screen, and physically scroll the list. How about being able to say “Read me the first two items on my grocery list” and have Siri respond with those? Follow that up as you walk around the store with “OK, what are the next two items?” and so on.
9. For business travelers, the ability to make reservations on the run would be priceless. How about adding Siri integration to apps like TripAssist by Expedia or Kayak? While you’re running through an airport trying to catch a flight, being able to say “Get me a hotel room near the airport in Frankfurt, Germany” and have it respond with “Would you like me to book a room at the Sheraton Frankfurt Airport at €163 per night?” could make the difference between having a room when you arrive or not.
10. Finally, what about being able to do something like ask Siri to get a bunch of articles about a particular subject and put them into your Instapaper account? You say “Get me ten articles about terraforming Mars” and Siri grabs ten of the most popular web pages about the subject for you.

I think that Siri has the ability to become the intelligent agent that the mid-90s MagicCap mobile operating system always wanted to be. While MagicCap’s TeleScript agents suffered from the lack of cheap and ubiquitous Internet service as well as public acceptance of electronic commerce, those barriers are no longer a problem. Add Siri as a super-friendly interface, and the future is going to be very nice indeed.

What are some of your ideas for “serious” integration of Siri into your daily life? Leave your comments below.

Ten things I want Siri to be able to do for me originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Sun, 16 Oct 2011 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Now that I’ve had my iPhone 4S for a couple of days, I’m amazed with what Siri can do. I’ve asked a number of questions — real ones, not questions like “What is the meaning of life?” — and have been totally impressed with how my interaction with the iPhone has changed. But there are more things I’d love to be able to do with Siri, which is the reason for this post.

Everyone should understand that Siri is currently a beta product from Apple. A lot of the things I’m talking about here should happen once the product is out of beta and developers are given access to a Siri API. This is my way of letting some iOS developers know that I’d love to see Siri integration in their apps. Here we go:

1. I’d love to be able to check into FourSquare using Siri: “Check me in here”
2. I want to be able to send tweets through Siri without having to use text messaging as an intermediary: “Tweet @NikFinn that I’m sorry to hear that you dislocated your finger”
3. I want to be able to have Siri check for reservation availability at OpenTable restaurants (I understand that the “original” Siri app did have OpenTable integration): “Make a reservation for two at Tamayo for 5:30 Friday evening”
4. Likewise, for a fun evening you might want to buy tickets at a local movie theater. Adding the ability to pick a movie time by asking “What time is ‘Moneyball’ playing near here?” and getting a choice of times, then saying “7:30 at the AMC 24 would be fine, and I need two tickets” to have Siri purchase those tickets would be a time saver.
5. How about being able to shop with Siri? Integration with Amazon.com would be wonderful: “Find the lowest price for a 3 TB FireWire 800 disk drive.” Once you see the specs, Siri asks “Would you like to buy this item?” Answer yes, and you’ve purchased it, answer no and Siri asks if you’d like to look at other similar items.
6. Healthcare could benefit from this. Imagine having Siri integration with apps such as WebMD, and being able to hold a conversation about symptoms before getting a list of possible conditions. Or asking what the side effects of a certain drug are, and having Siri read back a list of those effects. Cool.
7. Healthcare providers could also make life easier for their patients. My provider, Kaiser Permanente, has a wonderful online system for making appointments, contacting my doctor, and getting refills on prescriptions. Doing that by just saying “Order a 90-day refill of my Zantac” or “See if Dr. Healey has an appointment time available tomorrow,” and then being able to pick from a couple of open appointment slots would be a time saver.
8. My wife uses an app called Grocery iQ to create a grocery shopping list each week. I’d love to be able to have Siri read me the list one or two items at a time without having to stop, look at the screen, and physically scroll the list. How about being able to say “Read me the first two items on my grocery list” and have Siri respond with those? Follow that up as you walk around the store with “OK, what are the next two items?” and so on.
9. For business travelers, the ability to make reservations on the run would be priceless. How about adding Siri integration to apps like TripAssist by Expedia or Kayak? While you’re running through an airport trying to catch a flight, being able to say “Get me a hotel room near the airport in Frankfurt, Germany” and have it respond with “Would you like me to book a room at the Sheraton Frankfurt Airport at €163 per night?” could make the difference between having a room when you arrive or not.
10. Finally, what about being able to do something like ask Siri to get a bunch of articles about a particular subject and put them into your Instapaper account? You say “Get me ten articles about terraforming Mars” and Siri grabs ten of the most popular web pages about the subject for you.

I think that Siri has the ability to become the intelligent agent that the mid-90s MagicCap mobile operating system always wanted to be. While MagicCap’s TeleScript agents suffered from the lack of cheap and ubiquitous Internet service as well as public acceptance of electronic commerce, those barriers are no longer a problem. Add Siri as a super-friendly interface, and the future is going to be very nice indeed.

What are some of your ideas for “serious” integration of Siri into your daily life? Leave your comments below.

Ten things I want Siri to be able to do for me originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Sun, 16 Oct 2011 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments