Category: I-phone

Intel is credited as being the brains behind the new Thunderbolt I/O technology, but Apple is the one who holds the original trademark for the name. According to recent reports, this may change as Apple is reportedly transferring ownership of this trademark to Intel.

Intel originally created the I/O technology using optical cabling and marketed it under the name Light Peak. Apple approached Intel about Light Peak, and the two companies began collaborating on the project. Over the course of a few years, Apple pushed Intel to drop the optical connection and replace it with copper, which permits the transmission of electricity as well as data. The name was also changed.

The technology was unveiled earlier this year and made its market debut in Apple’s current line of MacBook Pro notebooks and iMac all-in-one computers. Apple may be an early adopter and have unrestricted usage of Thunderbolt, but this technology is open to any third-party company that wants to license it and use this I/O port in its devices.

Apple transfers Thunderbolt trademark to Intel originally appeared on TUAW on Fri, 20 May 2011 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Via MacRumors and M.I.C Gadget, there are reports coming in of a substantial fire and possible explosion at a Foxconn plant that is said to be dedicated primarily to iPad 2 production.

M.I.C Gadget has several video clips of the scene, including smoke billowing from a building, people evacuating and reports of multiple fire engines responding to the emergency. There are reports of some injuries and speculation that the fire/explosion was caused by airborne dust.

Our thoughts are with the victims of this emergency, and we hope that all the remaining employees are able to evacuate the plant safely.

Foxconn Chengdu plant fire, possible explosion originally appeared on TUAW on Fri, 20 May 2011 11:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you’re looking for a way to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Apple Store, look no further than this YouTube video. In it, a much younger-looking Steve Jobs gives a video tour of the first store in Tyson’s Corner, VA six days before the grand opening. The video was presented to an enthusiastic crowd, apparently at WWDC 2001 (since Jobs makes reference to “we’ll provide shelves for as much as you can write,” and Macworld NY didn’t happen until July), which was held at about the same time.

It’s amazing to see how the Apple Store concept has evolved in those ten years. In the video, Steve shows off the huge black shelves that used to dominate the center of the store, covered with rows of boxes of Mac applications. Those, of course, have disappeared with the advent of the App Stores. Jobs also notes that they’ll be selling third-party hardware, including digital video and still cameras, MP3 players (the camera lingers for a moment on a Creative Labs Nomad) and PDAs.

Now, of course, the MP3 player market has been dominated for nearly ten years by the iPod, and PDAs are just a distant memory that has been outshadowed by the iPhone. Click the read more link to watch the video, and enjoy a trip down memory lane.

Continue reading Steve Jobs in video tour of the first Apple Store

Steve Jobs in video tour of the first Apple Store originally appeared on TUAW on Fri, 20 May 2011 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Verizon iPhone launched with an unlimited data plan, but that all-you-can-eat option may be disappearing this summer. During the Reuters Global Summit, Verizon chief Financial Officer Fran Shammo hinted that the carrier’s unlimited data plans would be replaced by a mega-data plan.

These new data plans would offer data in the same way a family share plan handles voice minutes. A subscriber would buy a tiered data plan whose GB allotment could be shared by multiple devices. Shammo did not mention pricing or even when these mega-plans would roll out. He said these plans were “a logical progression” for the carrier. Such a plan would make sense for someone with a Verizon iPhone and a 3G iPad, as long as the pricing is kept in check.

No worries if you are already on an unlimited data plan, you will be able to keep your plan as long as you keep your iPhone. If you switch to another phone or buy a new phone, then you will have to upgrade to these new plans.

Verizon Wireless may end unlimited data plans this summer originally appeared on TUAW on Fri, 20 May 2011 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Three down, one to go. Just a day after CNET suggested that EMI joined Warner Music Group in allowing Apple to distribute their music over a cloud-based service, now Bloomberg is claiming that Apple has also officially inked a deal with Sony Music. That leaves just one of the big four music labels — Universal Music Group — left to sign on with Apple. And as Bloomberg states, Universal is supposedly close to signing with the iPod maker soon.

As I mentioned yesterday, getting all four major music labels to sign on to a cloud-based service is seen as a serious win and another vote of confidence for Apple’s rumored streaming media services. Both Google and Amazon launched their online music services without any major music label support. Apple’s cloud music service, expected to be dubbed iCloud, may be unveiled at WWDC on June 6.

Sony joins EMI and Warner in Apple cloud music service originally appeared on TUAW on Fri, 20 May 2011 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Chromanoids is Hothead Games’ second title for the App Store. The first was Bunny the Zombie Slayer, and it’s done pretty well (even though most of the studio’s previous work was for PC). This one’s a more retro affair — it’s basically Missile Command, though obviously with the touchscreen rather than the traditional wheel. But the twist here is that the action is color based — you need to not only line up shots against invading ships, but you need to match shot colors with ship colors, which means red ammo takes down red ships, and so on.

Things do get more complex as the game moves on, with ships that use colored shields and even ships that change color as they fly, but despite those changes, this still isn’t much more than Missile Command — you’re still just lining up shots with ships and hoping to hit home before they hit you. That said, Missile Command is plenty of fun, and if you like that game, you’ll like this one as well.

Chromanoids is US$0.99 for a universal version, and there are in-app payments for credits, which allow you to buy things like power-ups (though they aren’t really needed to enjoy the game). Game Center integration is a nice bonus, and there are a few different modes to check out as well. For the price, this is a great sophomore title from Hothead Games, though I’m a little surprised it’s coming so soon after the first one. We’ll have to see what else the studio has in store.

TUAW’s Daily iOS App: Chromanoids originally appeared on TUAW on Fri, 20 May 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Earlier this week, Gartner issued a press release about the Western European PC market. For most PC manufacturers, things aren’t looking good. For the first quarter of 2011, PC sales in the region were down 18 percent year over year. However, as usual, Apple has bucked the trend. For the same period, Apple’s Western European PC sales were up 10-15 percent in the same markets. That growth helped the Mac maker spring into the top five PC vendor list in both the UK and Western Europe.

“Apple made its debut among the top five vendors in Western Europe, displacing Toshiba in the first quarter of 2011. Apple was the only one among the top five vendors to increase shipments, with volumes for mobile PCs growing 32 percent in the first quarter of 2011,” Gartner said.

The top five PC makers for Western Europe are now HP, Acer, Dell, Asus and Apple; in the UK, the top five are HP, Acer, Dell, Toshiba and Apple.

Apple vaults into top 5 PC maker spot in UK, Western Europe originally appeared on TUAW on Fri, 20 May 2011 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s that time of the month again — another report is out from Millenial Media about advertising on the smartphone platforms, with more conclusions about what the market’s been up to lately. This month, the big news is… that there’s not a lot of big news at all. Apple continues to sit on top of the manufacturers list, Android tops the list of operating systems, and the smartphone market continues to grow, increasing its impressions shares 6 percent month-over-month in the mobile device market as a whole. In fact, for the first time in the history of the report, the top 20 list of devices doesn’t list any feature phones at all; it’s all smartphones, all the way down.

Apple’s own share continues to grow. Overall iOS impressions on Millenial’s network have increased 47 percent since January, probably due to the release of the white iPhone 4 and the iPad 2. Across all of the advertising revenue collected, iOS accounted for 50 percent, a 6 percent growth month-over-month. This means that even though there are more Android users out there, iOS continues to be more profitable.

In general, this hasn’t been a very surprising month in the smartphone advertising market. But all of the trends we’ve seen lately continue to develop in their various directions — Android keeps getting more users, but Apple’s still the one making most of the profits.

Report: Not much has changed in the growing smartphone market originally appeared on TUAW on Fri, 20 May 2011 06:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Amazon has added a host of electronic devices — including iOS devices — to its trade-in program. The Electronics Trade-In program is currently in beta and allows users to mail in their old, unwanted devices in exchange for Amazon gift card credits. Devices must be in working order and good cosmetic condition. A third-party merchant, not Amazon, is actually the one buying the used devices.

The prices are actually more generous than I thought they’d be. I sold an original 4 GB iPhone on Craigslist a while back and had trouble getting US$75 for it. Amazon’s trade-in program currently offers up to $69 for the same iPhone. A sampling of other iOS device trade-in prices includes up to $114 for iPod classics, $235 for first-gen 16 GB Wi-Fi iPads and $162 for an 8 GB iPhone 3GS. That’s definitely way more than you’ll get if you let your old iPhone rattle around in a desk drawer after upgrading to a new one.

Amazon adds electronics, including iOS devices, to trade-in program originally appeared on TUAW on Fri, 20 May 2011 05:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A new class action lawsuit claims that AT&T “systematically overstated data usage by 7-14 percent and sometimes up to 300 percent” on users’ iPhone and iPad data plans, according to MSNBC. The lawyers for the suit have said that they have spent over US$80,000 testing iPhones on AT&T’s network to prove AT&T’s overstating data usage.

As part of the testing, the lawyers turned off every feature on the iPhone that could use 3G data. Even after shutting off all 3G data connections, there were still 35 transactions for data usage on the lawyers’ AT&T bill. The lawyers say that while the cost to some affected users is relatively small — $10-15 a month — AT&T is illegally reaping huge profits from overstating data usage on the bills of millions of iPhone users.

AT&T has responded to the claims, calling them “without merit.” The company says that the lawsuit doesn’t take into account “automatic app updates in the background that customers may not be aware of.” However, unless they are talking about push notifications, apps don’t automatically update. Plus, if 3G is turned off as it was in the lawyers’ tests, there is no reason any “automatic app updates” should incur data usage fees.

Lawsuit says AT&T overcharging users for iPhone, iPad data originally appeared on TUAW on Fri, 20 May 2011 04:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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An Apple patent filed back in 2009 shows the Aperture app running on a larger touchscreen — something akin to the iPad, though, of course, it didn’t officially exist back then. The image is actually part of a larger patent that goes through the whole process of how user interface elements work on touchscreen displays, but as you can see above, Aperture is clearly the app being shown.

Apple hasn’t released that app for iPad yet, though it has released a few iWork apps and even a pretty comprehensive version of iMovie on the iOS platform. The iPad didn’t even have a camera at launch, but now that there is a camera in the iPad 2, it’s possible Apple could be putting together a high-end photo editor for the iPad’s touchscreen.

Since this is a patent that’s already a few years old, this only means Apple at least considered such an app at some time in the past. But it’s not a huge stretch to think we’ll see more complicated iOS photo software from Apple in the future.

Patent shows Aperture on iPad originally appeared on TUAW on Fri, 20 May 2011 02:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A prototype of the original Apple TV, or “iTV” as it was known when Jobs first unveiled it in 2006, has been sold on eBay for a Buy It Now price of US$350. As you can see from the image above, the prototype unit has an Apple Development Team barcode and a sticker that marks the unit as a “DVT” prototype. Another difference between the prototype unit and the final shipping unit is the logo on the top of the device. The iTV only had the Apple logo on top, while the final Apple TV had the Apple logo plus the letters “TV” marked on its top.

The listing first gained traction earlier today when MacRumors posted about it. As could be expected, the prototype sold fast. The $350 asking price is relatively low for an Apple prototype, and there’s a big collectible market for such devices. Apple is usually quick to put a stop to eBay auctions that sell Apple prototypes, as it did with this iPhone prototype, but sometimes sales are completed before the company can end them. Other prototype/odd Apple items that have appeared on eBay include a prototype MacBook Air, a prototype Macintosh Portable computer and… a glass stair.

Apple TV prototype sold on eBay originally appeared on TUAW on Fri, 20 May 2011 01:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Augmented reality SDK coming to the iPhone thanks to Qualcomm.

Apple takes 50% of mobile revenue for the month of April.

Verizon and AT&T will get the iPhone 5 at the same time.

Intel CEO sees chaos in the world of Android.

According to WPP 2011 BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Companies, Apples is number one with 153.3 billon dollars.

If you have been wanting to include vector graphics directly within your Cocoa based iOS apps I’ve found an excellent solution for that.

Using an Open Source project known as SVGKit from Matt Rajca, you can load SVG files directly into your apps and not only that.  Each individual shape within your SVG image becomes a CAShapeLayer so that you can scale and animate your graphics.

Examples for both iOS and Mac are included.  One noted limitation is that gradients do not work as they are unsupported by the CAShapeLayer class.

You can find the instructions, examples and download the class on the github page located here:
https://github.com/mattrajca/SVGKit

If you’ve wanted to render vector graphics in your apps, this is a working solution.

©2011 iPhone, iOS 4, iPad SDK Development Tutorial and Programming Tips. All Rights Reserved.

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Space shooters with horizontal scrolling starscapes are a staple in the app store just as they have been on every other game system.  They also make for a great way to learn game development.

Ray Wenderlich has just released an excellent tutorial on how to create a side scrolling space shooter with Cocos2D.

In the tutorial you’ll learn how to set up Cocos2D, add in the game resources, create an accelerometer controlled player ship, a scrolling background, collisions, sound effects, and more.

You can find the tutorial here:
How To Make A Space Shooter Game

A great tutorial for anyone new to Cocos2D or just looking to create a side scrolling game.

©2011 iPhone, iOS 4, iPad SDK Development Tutorial and Programming Tips. All Rights Reserved.

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