Category: I-phone

We’re live at CES this week, and things are kicking off here in Vegas. The show floor itself opens tomorrow, but electronics manufacturers have already started up with all of their announcements and reveals showing off all of the new hardware for 2011. Here’s one interesting gadget: the Tivizen is a device created by Korean company Valups which plus into the iPad’s dock connector, and along with a free app, allows for the iPad to recieve digital over-the-air broadcasts of television. That’s pretty handy — depending on standards and availability, you should be able to watch most major broadcast channels in large US metro areas directly on your iPad.

The Tivizen is priced at $99, which puts it in line with something like the EyeTV. Hopefully not for too long, though — the device requires its own battery, which only lasts a couple of hours. If you’ve been looking for a way to watch a broadcast show you can’t otherwise see, specifically on your iPad, the Tivizen might be just what you’re looking for. Odds are there’s some other way to watch that video on Apple’s tablet, no?

The Tivizen, over-the-air TV antenna, coming to iPad originally appeared on TUAW on Wed, 05 Jan 2011 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Razorianfly announced that it received exclusive news that Tweetie 2 for Mac will be available when the Mac App Store is released tomorrow.

The site has few details, but it does have a screenshot and promises that they’ve gotten an exclusive look at the client.

Tweetie 2 for Mac is a long time coming, and we’ll be happy to finally get our hands on this Twitter client.

Tweetie 2 for Mac slated for Mac App Store release originally appeared on TUAW on Wed, 05 Jan 2011 18:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple quietly released My Support Profile, which offers a hardware purchase history and access to Apple’s VoicePass, its trademark filed shortly before Christmas.

Once I signed in, I set up my iPhone to use VoicePass and receive SMS messages (available only in the U.S.) from Apple Support. VoicePass will link Apple Support to your product history and allow them to provide personalized service.

The right side of the page features a list of repairs and products that you’ve purchased and registered with Apple. You can also add nicknames to your purchases. The purchase history area is a bit spotty — it registered my very first Apple product (15 GB 3G iPod from 2004), but missed the 5.5G iPod purchased two years later, iPhone 4 and iPad. But, it’s easy to add your other products. Clicking on the product will show you if it’s still under AppleCare and extend your AppleCare if it’s available.

The support profile is a handy place to update your contact information with Apple as well. It’s worth taking a few minutes to go make sure your Apple profile is up to date and remind yourself of some of your past Apple purchases and repairs.

Apple support profile lists purchase history, sign up for VoicePass and SMS originally appeared on TUAW on Wed, 05 Jan 2011 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Car audio company Pioneer just held a press conference here at CES, and TUAW was in attendance to see the reveal of their new SmartCradle product, a mounted iPhone-specific dock for the car. As car docks go, this one is pretty solid — it is iPhone-specific (though the latest iPod touch will also work), and it’s a “smart dock,” which means that it will send its own built-in GPS information (“enhanced,” Pioneer told us, by an onboard gyroscope and accelerometer) to Core Location for any location-based app you happen to pull up. In other words, it’s a superpowered GPS device that also serves as a Bluetooth mic-and-speaker enabled in-car mount.

The dock also has what’s called “automatic sound leveling” (which monitors your in-car environment and adjusts its speaker level to make sure you hear GPS directions or other output when things get loud), and has actual audio and video output, which will send video from apps with video-out enabled to another screen in the car. No pricing or date has been announced for the SmartCradle, but Pioneer is supposed to have it out sometime later this year.

And speaking of video out, Pioneer also showed off a concept called Network Vision Heads Up Display at the show (and will have a unit running on the show floor featuring the technology). You can see a picture of what they showed after the break — the idea is that you would plug your smartphone into the car, and then get video from the device projected directly on the windshield as a display. This is still just a concept, but it’s an interesting idea. We’ll take a look at how it works on the show floor and let you know.

Continue reading Pioneer reveals SmartCradle for iPhone, shows display concept at CES

Pioneer reveals SmartCradle for iPhone, shows display concept at CES originally appeared on TUAW on Wed, 05 Jan 2011 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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I’ve been waiting for the ability to share a Keynote presentation as an actual presentation on iWork.com, and it’s finally here.

In another update (yesterday brought iLife updates for iPhoto, iMovie, and Garageband) squeaking in before the Mac App Store launch, Apple has released an update for iWork 9.0 and later as both a download and a software update.

The release notes mention the usual miscellaneous bug fixes as well as some improvements:

• Adds support for playback of Keynote presentations on iWork.com public beta, with over 15 animations and effects, when using the latest version of Safari.
• Adds support for Keynote Remote 1.2, including high-resolution slides for the Retina display.
• Addresses an issue in Keynote with ruler numbers when moving or resizing a shape or scrolling.
• Addresses an issue when exporting a Keynote presentation to iTunes/iPod when iTunes 10 is installed.
• Improves the readability of ePub documents exported from Pages.
• Includes public sharing and private upload document sharing options for iWork.com to Keynote, Pages, and Numbers.

Apple is recommending this update for users of iWork 9.0 and later, and those of you using the iWork.com beta are invited to test the sharing options and provide feedback.

For more detailed information about this update and individual application changes, see Apple’s iWork Update 5 knowledge base article.

iWork 9.0.5 Update adds ability to share presentations on iWork.com originally appeared on TUAW on Wed, 05 Jan 2011 17:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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TUAW TV Live viewers will know that we had so much fun last on last week’s show with our very own Mike Schramm and Megan Lavey that I invited the inimitable Doc Rock to join me this week. That’s Doc getting the latex glove treatment at right.

Doc’s our unofficial Hawaii correspondent for TUAW, supplying us with a stream of commentary and laughs every Sunday night on the TUAW Talkcast. Today marks his first appearance on TUAW TV Live, although he’s been an active voice in the chat room.

Trust me — you get two guys who love to talk and put ’em in the same virtual studio, and you’re bound to have a lot of fun. How do you join in? From your Mac or PC, go to the next page by clicking the Read More link at the bottom of this post, and you’ll find a livestream viewer and a chat tool. The chat tool allows you to participate by asking questions or making comments.

If you’re driving somewhere and would like to watch TUAW TV Live while you’re stuck in traffic, please don’t — keep your eyes on the road! However, if someone else is doing the driving, you can watch the show on your iPhone and join the chat by downloading the free Ustream Viewing Application. If you’re on an iPad, you should be able to use the Skyfire Browser to watch the stream, although you will not be able to participate in the chat.

We’ll start at about 5 PM ET, so if you’re seeing a prerecorded show, be sure to refresh your browser until you get the live stream.

Continue reading TUAW TV Live: Talking to the Doc

TUAW TV Live: Talking to the Doc originally appeared on TUAW on Wed, 05 Jan 2011 16:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Via Boy Genius Report, we’ve seen a video from a company called GlobalDirectParts which claims to show parts from the next-generation iPhone, or iPhone 5. The company’s video shows several differences between the metal case of the current iPhone and the purported next-gen model. Most notably, the “break points” in the case (the black bands) have shifted position, presumably to address the iPhone 4’s antenna attenuation issues.

The case design is not radically different compared to the iPhone 4, which could mean that rather than being a next-gen model, it’s a slight “iPhone 4.5” redesign for the (supposedly) forthcoming Verizon model of iPhone 4. The case does have a cutout for a SIM card, however, which makes this a somewhat less likely proposition — unless this “iPhone 4.5” is intended to be a universal GSM/CDMA phone. Naturally, the part could also either be an earlier prototype design or an outright fake.

It may seem early for possible iPhone 5 part leaks, but repair firm iResQ got hold of the iPhone 4’s front faceplate as early as February of 2010. The similarities between this new case and the iPhone 4 case also gel with what I’ve suspected, that the iPhone 5 will most likely be a 3GS-style mini-update of the iPhone 4 rather than a major design shift. GlobalDirectParts claims to have details on this supposedly new iPhone’s display and motherboard, too, and will be showing those off next week. In the meantime, click “Read More” and have a look at the video of the case.

Update: The video has been taken down due to a copyright claim from Apple. That certainly strikes out “fake Chinese knockoff” from the TUAW office betting pool. Now we’re just wondering if this is an iPhone 5 or iPhone 4.5. Time will tell.

Continue reading iPhone 5 parts caught on video?

iPhone 5 parts caught on video? originally appeared on TUAW on Wed, 05 Jan 2011 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Withings, the same company that brought you the world’s first Internet-connected bathroom scale and announced an iPhone-based blood pressure cuff yesterday, has now announced the Smart Baby Monitor at CES 2011. This device, which features a wide-angle lens, 3 MP sensor, and night vision with infrared LEDs to light up your spawn.

The Smart Baby Monitor is primarily made for use with the iPhone, and it’s more than just a one-way monitor. Sure, you can check to see if the baby is doing OK through video and audio beamed to your iPhone, but you can sing lullabies to your little one from another room as well.

But wait, there’s more! Withings equipped the Smart Baby Monitor with humidity and temperature sensors, so you can check on the ambient conditions in the nursery while you’re in Vegas partying making dinner. The monitor is a small, white box that turns on when you open the lid and shuts down when you close it. If you’re not paying attention to the video or sound, you can set alarms to go off when there’s a certain amount of activity or movement in the crib, or if the temperature or humidity goes out of pre-set limits.

Withings has not yet determined a price for the Smart Baby Monitor. The product is expected to arrive in late March, 2011.

Withings Smart Baby Monitor spies on infants, beams info to iPhone originally appeared on TUAW on Wed, 05 Jan 2011 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you’re musically-inclined techie, you probably noticed the introduction of IK Multimedia’s iKlip late last year, we certainly did. And since several of you probably received an iPad last month, we thought it was worth a mention today. Especially for the musicians out there.

Musicians have embraced the iPad from the beginning, but have struggled to find a practical way to use to read music while playing an instrument. Thankfully, IK Multimedia has come up with an obvious yet effective solution to this predicament, the iKlip.

The light weight, multi-angle iKlip, attaches your iPad to just about any microphone stand with ease — vertically or horizontally, with access to all your iPad’s buttons. Built with “…thermoplastic molded components for extreme durability and secure holding abilities under the most demanding situations,” you’ll have no further difficulty reading musical score while playing your instrument, tweaking settings for your guitar effects app or even singing the lyrics to your favorite kareoke song. Hey, if you’re a public speaker, this is probably worth you checking out too.

The iKlip is available for US$39.99 from IK Multimedia’s website here.

[Thanks to commenter hankermac for pointing this out.]

iKlip attaches iPad to mic stand, musicians rejoice originally appeared on TUAW on Wed, 05 Jan 2011 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Other World Computing (OWC) wowed us today by announcing its Mercury Aura Pro Express Solid State Drive (SSD) line, an SSD upgrade option for all 2010 MacBook Airs. They offer greater speed than Apple’s factory offerings and much more storage.

OWC claims peak data rates of 275MB/s, making them up to 22% fatster than what’s currently available. There are four models to choose from: the 180GB model sells for US$499.99, the 240GB costs $579.99 and the whopping 360GB model bears an equally staggering price – $1179.99. That’s more than a stock 11.6″ Air. Each comes with a three year warranty. Pre-orders are being taken now, and OWC hopes to start shipping “…on/around Wednesday, January 12th.”

You’ll remember that Apple recently ended PhotoFast’s intention to sell SSD upgrade kits for the MacBook Air, but that could have been due to PhotoFast’s affiliation with Apple’s MFi Program. If you get one of these kits, please let us know how it goes.

MacBook Air SSD upgrades to ship next week from OWC originally appeared on TUAW on Wed, 05 Jan 2011 14:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Did you see those Barnes & Noble ads over the holidays where they were showing off those nice interactive color children’s books that run on the company’s US$249 NOOKcolor ebook reader? Well, if the kids were drooling at the NOOKcolor, now they can start hounding you for their own iPad.

Barnes & Noble has released a new free NOOK Kids for iPad app which is specifically designed to play over 230 interactive picture books. More than 50 of the books have professional narrations, including the Thomas and Friends, Richard Scarry, and Olivia series.

Parents can decide what books are appropriate for kids of different ages by using the “Parent’s Corner” to set limits. To sweeten the pot, Barnes & Noble is offering two free interactive books — RIchard Scarry’s Colors and Kipling’s The Elephant’s Child — when you sign up for the NOOK service and place a credit card number on file with the bookseller. For the adults in the family, Barnes & Noble also provides the free NOOK for iPad app.

[via The Mac Observer]

NOOK kids for iPad app — another reason to buy the kids their own iPad originally appeared on TUAW on Wed, 05 Jan 2011 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you’ve watched TUAW TV Live on any Wednesday afternoon over the last year, or joined in on Sunday night to listen to the TUAW Talkcast, then you’re familiar with Doc Rock. He’s fun, always opinionated, an Apple fan (and former Genius Bar employee), a blogger, and a podcaster.

Today I’m happy to have Doc Rock on the show as my guest, live from Hawaii. We’ll be talking about CES and the onslaught of Android and Windows-based tablets, the unveiling of the Mac App Store tomorrow, and anything else that happens to keep us rollin’ for an hour.

You can join us at 5 PM ET (2 PM PT / 10 PM GMT) here at TUAW. We’ll have full instructions on how to watch the video stream and join in the text chat, so just drop by about five minutes before the show is scheduled to begin. TUAWloha!

TUAW TV Live at 5 PM ET: The Steve and Doc Rock show originally appeared on TUAW on Wed, 05 Jan 2011 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Comcast has announced its intention to offer 3,000 hours of on-demand, streaming video content to the iPad. Details are scarce (in fact, that sentence just about wraps the story up), but we do know that the service will include both TV shows, live news and movies. How or when (other than “later this year”) the ball will get rolling is still unknown.

Comcast explained a bit more about the Play Now feature that will be a part of its Xfinity TV iPad app in the future. Users will be able to access content anywhere there’s a Wi-Fi connection. I could have used such a thing when I was stuck with lousy hotel TV a couple of weeks ago.

We’ll keep an eye on this and let you know when it goes live.

Comcast to offer 3,000 hours of live streaming content to iPad originally appeared on TUAW on Wed, 05 Jan 2011 13:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iHome’s first AirPlay compatible wireless speaker system didn’t make it out for the holiday season as expected, but they have just released further information on the system, now known as the iW1.

We first got wind of the iW1 last September. Back then we simply knew that it would be a wireless speaker that incorporates Apple’s AirPlay technology, and that it runs off of a rechargeable battery. It streams digital lossless audio from your iTunes library and compatible device (using Apple’s Remote app or iHome’s own custom app).

Today, iHome has shared some additional tidbits, including:

• Multiple iW1 speaker support — enjoy music streamed all around your house simultaneously with AirPlay and multiple iW1 speakers
• Built-in rechargeable li-ion bettery with included charging base
• Studio Series speakers — high performance audio featuring Bongiovi Acoustics DPS with specially tuned woofers and tweeters with a clean, efficient Class-D amplifier
• iPhone / iPod / iPad docking, charging and local audio playback via USB cable
• A capacitive, backlit, touch-sensitive control panel

Electricpic reports that the iW1 will retail for £299 (roughly US$465 as of this writing) and should be available around February or March of this year. That’s quite a steep price, but just slightly undercutting Sonos ZonePlayer 120 at US$499 (we recently reviewed the $399 Sonos S5).

[Via MacRumors]

iHome gives further details on AirPlay-ready speakers originally appeared on TUAW on Wed, 05 Jan 2011 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Well, we did not see that coming. Although there’s been a flurry of development around the AirPlay service for iOS 4.2 devices, iTunes and the current iOS-based Apple TV model, expectations for ever seeing the instant-play capability on the older Mac OS X-based Apple TV models were quite low. Of course, where official support is not forthcoming, enter the legions of eager hackers.

The team at FireCore (producers of the aTV Flash unlock & enhancement suite for both original and new Apple TVs) have relayed the news today that the Remote HD iPhone app (US$3.99), when paired with an unlocked first-gen Apple TV, enables AirPlay video playback from iOS 4.2 devices to the older ATV models. Audio-only streaming isn’t in this build, but is coming soon. You can unlock your Apple TV 1st-gen using the open-source atvusb creator, or with the $40 full-featured aTV Flash product.

It’s not clear exactly how the Remote HD device-side plugin is performing this fancy trick, but we’ll try to get word from them and expand upon it soon. Meanwhile, if you’ve got an unlocked original ATV, check it out!

Thanks to Pratik & Tomek for the tip.

Remote HD brings AirPlay to older Apple TVs originally appeared on TUAW on Wed, 05 Jan 2011 12:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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