Category: I-phone

Now, let’s be honest: the burgeoning tablet market is not a race. But if it was, says analyst Chris Whitmore of Deutsche Bank, the iPad would be winning. We’re going to see quite a few tablet devices come to market before all is said and done, including the Blackberry PlayBook and products from manufacturers like Dell, Microsoft, and maybe Google. Even after those other tablets come out, Whitmore says the iPad’s lead is going to be tough to overcome quickly, if ever. “We expect the slew of upcoming competition to fall flat from a user experience standpoint while struggl[ing] to materially undercut the iPad on price,” Whitmore reported.

User experience is a no-brainer — that’s something Apple has always done well, and it’s arguable that the iPad is its finest hardware from an accessibility standpoint. But price is something else; Apple has made deals and even manufactured its own chip to create the tantalizing mix of performance and cost found in the iPad. Other manufacturers will have trouble doing the same, especially with the lead Apple already has. According to Whitmore, the App Store has also given Apple a head start on applications, deals with media companies have brought big-name content to the platform, and a slew of competition versus Apple’s one-device strategy will create problems for anyone attempting to climb the tablet mountain.

That’s not to say that there can’t be another successful tablet, it’s just that if anyone wants to have another iPad, they’ve got a lot of work ahead of them. That’s not surprising — Apple has already reaped the benefits of its early grab at a tablet-style computer, and there are much more earnings where those came from.

[via MDN]

TUAWAnalyst: Apple has created ‘overwhelming’ lead for iPad originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 05 Oct 2010 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We continue to keep track of Apple TV‘s hacking potential; here’s another quick update of the new hardware.

iFixit confirms that there’s an on-board Bluetooth chip: “The Broadcom BCM4329XKUBG 802.11n Wi-Fi/Bluetooth/FM chip on the Panasonic board is exactly the same as the one we found on the iPad.”

iOS developer Matthias Ringwald tells TUAW that it shouldn’t be hard to get his custom Bluetooth stack running on Apple TV once it’s openly jailbroken. “I managed to hook the communication between BlueTool and BT chipset before, so I can record that exchange on iPad which sets up the Bluetooth chipset and just do a playback. Chances are good.”

Read on…

TUAWApple TV hacking update: Bluetooth, white lists, ports, cables originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 04 Oct 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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While I wait for Movie Peg to make a little doohickey for my iPhone 4, Dan Provost and Thomas Gerhardt have been working on a doohickey of their own, called the Glif. It will allow you to prop your iPhone 4 in a variety of positions for reading, typing with a Bluetooth keyboard, watching video, and so on.

The neat part is that it’s also a tripod mount. Since the iPhone 4 shoots HD video, you can attach it to your tripod to shoot and then prop it up on a desk to review your footage. Neat, eh?

The guys are looking for funding to get an initial run produced, and they’re looking for supporters. For US$20, you’ll essentially pre-order a Glif while pushing them towards their goal of $10,000. (We don’t know what happens if you donate and they fail to reach their goal.)

It’s a cool-looking device. Good luck, guys. Click here to watch a promo video.

[Via Daring Fireball]

TUAWGlif would be an iPhone 4 stand, tripod mount originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 04 Oct 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Here’s a clever repurposing of an older MacBook. Matt of Enigma Penguin took it upon himself to convert the MacBook into a touch-based tablet with interesting results.

After taking the MacBook apart and removing non-functional hardware, Matt ordered a third-party touchscreen. Once it arrived, he removed the MacBook’s original display and cut the lid to accommodate the touchscreen. After fiddling with drivers and other finalities, he’s got the thing up and running. It’s even using Ink, the Mac OS X input alternative.

Nice work, Matt! It reminds us of the Axiotron ModBook, but of course, this is much cheaper.

[Via PC World]

TUAWHacked MacBook reborn as a tablet originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 04 Oct 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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PlainText, which is free, but costs $4.99 for an ad-free version, is an extremely basic yet helpful text-editing app, available for the iPhone, iTouch, and iPad, that syncs with Dropbox. It allows you work with .txt files right on your device, and then wirelessly sync them to your computer with your dropbox.com account, allowing you to easily view and edit these documents on the computer as well.

Features

Although this is a simple app, it still has plenty of very useful features, primarily because it syncs with drop box. PlainText allows you to create, view, edit, rename, and delete .txt files on your device. These files can be synced to your computer via Dropbox, and this is an extremely simple process that will be discussed later.

Review

First off, I highly recommend you create a Dropbox account because this is what allows you to sync documents from your device to your computer, and vice versa. Once the account is created, you will have access to a myriad of helpful features that greatly enhance PlainText, and Dropbox is generous enough to give you 2GB of free storage with the option to pay for more.

Within the PlainText app, which has a bland black and white interface, there is a main folder called “Documents,” which is where all your documents are stored. Within this folder you have two options: you can create a document, or you can create a folder. When you create a document, you simply give it a name and type away. However, you can also create folders, and within that folder you can create documents, and if you want you can make even more folders. This makes organization much easier than with the default notes app, and it a great feature of PlainText. What’s even better is that with your Dropbox account, any documents and folders you create are automatically and wirelessly synced, almost instantly, to any computers on which you have installed Dropbox. This means you can create a document on your iPhone, and view or edit it on your home or work computer, assuming the computer has Dropbox installed. Dropbox creates a folder titled “Dropbox” on your computer, so to find your documents simply navigate to this folder.

Although documents and folders sync automatically, one small complaint is that the contents of folders do not sync automatically. The folder itself will sync to your computer, but the documents within that folder will not sync until you either visit the folder or modify a document within the folder. I’m not quite sure why it is like this, but it would be nice to see an update that automatically syncs everything.

Another great feature is that any documents you put into the Dropbox folder are automatically backed up online, which means that you will still have all of your documents even if your computer crashes. So now your documents are stored on your mobile device, all of your computers that have Dropbox, as well as the Internet, so you it would be nearly impossible for you to lose your documents. Even if you accidentally delete files, Dropbox saves a history of all your changes so you can undelete documents if you need to. This makes usingPlainText and Dropbox a great replacement for emailing documents back and forth to and from your iPhone.

Even though there are many benefits to using PlainText, there is one thing that I’m sure many people would like to see. This app, called PlainText, allows you to write using no formatting other than plain text. You cannot change anything about the text. This means the font, font size, and color all must stay the same, and you cannot even make text bold, italic, or underline within the app. If you make these changes on a computer, then try to sync them to the app, they will not sync properly and you will not be able to properly read the document. It would be nice to see an update which either supports .doc and .docx extensions, so you can use all the formatting that word has, or at least be able to use different fonts and font sizes, as well as bold, italics, and underline in the .txt file. This would be excellent in allowing you to organize text within a document, as well as simply giving you more options for text appearance.

Conclusion

For a free app, PlainText [iTunes link] sure is a great deal. This app makes it easy to create and edit text files right on your iPhone or iPad, and make changes later on a computer, or vice versa. The automatic syncing and backup is also extremely beneficial, as is the option to create folders to stay organized. Although it isn’t my preference, some may prefer the lack of a nice interface or text formatting as it prevents any distractions, and allows you to simply focus on writing. Overall this is a very useful app that I would recommend to anyone who needs to create and edit text files on their iPhone or iPad, and may later need to make changes on a computer.

You know that nice Cover Flow interface (above) that Apple uses on iDevices, in iTunes, and in Mac OS X? An East Texas Federal Court has ruled that Apple infringed on patents held by Mirror Worlds, a software business started by Yale University computer science professor and Unabomber victim David Gelernter. As a result, the court has ordered Apple to pay Mirror Worlds US$208.5 million in damages. The Time Machine interface, which shows a series of screen or application images “receding” back in time, was also part of the case filed by Mirror Worlds on March 14, 2008.

As Mac Observer has pointed out, many of the Cover Flow and Time Machine concepts of showing files or album covers moving back and forth were in use by Apple in HyperCard stacks many years before Mirror Worlds received patents for the idea. Whether Apple will appeal the verdict or not is unknown at this time.

Apple was granted a patent for Cover Flow in April, 2010, which makes this ruling even more questionable. Mirror Worlds, LLC was disbanded in 2003 due to lack of sales of its software products.

Apple has not made any comments regarding the verdict or a possible appeal.

TUAWOuch! Apple dinged for $208.5 million in patent infringement case originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 04 Oct 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iLife, the software suite that is included on every Mac and is made up of iPhoto, iMovie, GarageBand, iWeb, and iDVD, hasn’t been updated to a new version since January, 2009. That, of course, is making many of us in the Apple world curious about when the next version of the suite will appear on the market. Many Mac pundits believe the next edition will be iLife ’11, and we’ve already seen several of the rumored release dates fly past without sign of the new iLife.

Now some sharp-eyed Apple fans have noticed that there’s a book listed on the German Amazon site with the title “iLife ’11: Digital pictures, movies, music and more” and a release date of December, 2010.

The translated description notes that the suite is entirely 64-bit, and that iPhoto will receive integration with social networking. iWeb has been “rewritten” from the ground up, and iDVD is no longer included with the suite. There’s mention of a “new application,” but no word on what the function or name of the new member of the suite will be.

The red banner on the cover mockup at left reads “iPhoto, iMovie and more, with Apps for Mac, iPhone 4, iPod and iPad,” which implies that iOS versions of the applications will be available as well. At this time, of course, iMovie is available for iOS, and it would not be much of a stretch to assume that iOS-compatible versions of the other applications could be developed. After all, Apple made an iPad version of iWork available on day one.

The book is written by Uwe Nerger, who has no other published titles to his name. That brings up the question how an unpublished author has been given access to a suite of applications that many published authors of Apple tomes have not seen. Take this rumor with a fist-sized grain of salt.

[via AppleInsider]

TUAWRumor: iLife ’11 to be 64-bit, iOS compatible originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 04 Oct 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Business Insider is reporting that Adidas has dropped its plans for a $10 million iAds account. The reason? Apple’s demand for near total control.

Citing two unnamed inside sources, Business Insider claims that Apple rejected three consecutive proposals from Adidas. After the third rejection, the company pulled out. Intent on making the best mobile advertising experience possible, Apple oversees nearly every aspect of an advertiser’s campaign, and even designs the ads.

Adidas isn’t the first to complain, but this story highlights the first big money pull out we’ve come across. In August, the Wall Street Journal reported that other potential advertisers had grown frustrated with Apple’s hands-on approach. At that time, only four of the 17 partners revealed at the program’s start — Unilever PLC, J.C. Penny, Disney and Nissan Co. — had launched ads.

Personally, I’ve only seen one ad for the Nissan Leaf. We think John Gruber’s advice for potential advertisers is best: Get used to it.

[Via AppleInsider]

TUAWAdidas kills $10M iAd deal originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 04 Oct 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The USA’s largest shopping mall will be the setting of an epic retail battle as Microsoft opens a massive store mere yards away from an Apple Store. Your Tech Weblog, a part of Minnesota’s Pioneer Press, has posted some photos of the massive store-to-be.

It’s directly across the hall from Apple Store Mall of America and much larger. As the video above demonstrates, the store will be longer and apparently much deeper than the existing Apple Store. All is fair in love and tech retail, as blogger Julio Ojeda-Zapata points out, so may the best retailer win.

Microsoft has opened 4 retail stores in the US so far. There are two in California, one in Colorado and one in Arizona. This will be the first location in Minnesota. Some have accused to Microsoft of copying the Apple Store’s look and feel a little too closely. Check out these photos and decide for yourself.

TUAWFound Footage: Apple/Microsoft throwdown at Mall of America originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 04 Oct 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This is it — the rumors were true! The last non-Mac holdout of Valve’s Source titles is Left 4 Dead, the zombie-killing shooter featuring four survivors and a whole lot of undead, but that’s about to change. The official site for the newest Left 4 Dead 2 downloadable content, “The Sacrifice,” confirms that the game’s sequel is coming to the Mac this very Tuesday, October 5th. Left 4 Dead 2 will be released, as have all of the Source games, under the Steam Play banner. That means if you own it on the PC, you also own it on the Mac, so all you’ll have to do is download and start shooting zombies.

Anyone who buys the game on Steam will get all of the DLC for free, which makes for the original five campaigns plus the three DLC levels to play through. That’s an excellent deal for sure.

Unfortunately, the first game is not yet ready for the Mac; apparently, it’s taking Valve a little longer than expected to get it OS X-compatible. But Valve promises that when it is released, Steam owners will get the same deal — all the DLC with the game itself. That’s good stuff. Of course, with Left 4 Dead finally coming to our platform, which game will we be stuck waiting for next? Civ V, where you at?

Thanks, Ben H!

TUAWLeft 4 Dead 2 coming to the Mac this Tuesday originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 04 Oct 2010 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There are lots of apps on the App Store for tracking numbers, like your weight, your golf score, and how many hours you’ve worked lately, but Dayta serves as one solution for all of those. You can simply create stats however you like, and then track them to your heart’s content. You can export them out to CSV files, or you can browse and visualize them directly within the app, doing whatever you want with the raw data that you collect from day to day.

Plus, the app was just revamped, so now you get full Retina Display compatibility, lots of new enhancements and performance updates, and even the ability to tweet any data that you happen to input. That seems like an excellent deal for US$1.99. Of course, if you already have a few apps set up for tracking the relevant data in your life (like apps for your calorie intake or your car’s gas consumption), that’s a fine way to do it. There are definitely apps on the store that will allow for more customization and more specialized tracking than Dayta. But if you enjoy pulling in a bunch of raw numbers and have a few spare stats to check, Dayta might be able to help.

TUAWTUAW’s Daily App: Dayta originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 04 Oct 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In a recent interview with The Telegraph, UK Prime Minister David Cameron described (among other things) his personal love of Apple’s Macs, iPad and digital music:

TUAWMacs popular with UK Prime Minister David Cameron originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 04 Oct 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Now that the iPad is officially available at Target (a discount department store here in the US), attention has turned to a suggestion that Walmart will carry the device before the year’s end.

Back in May, Walmart’s senior VP of entertainment for US stores, Gary Severson, told Blooomberg that he expected iPads to be on Walmart shelves “…later this year.” With about 2 months worth of holiday shopping time left (not to mention calendar days for 2010), the clock is ticking on Severson’s suggestion.

As of now, there are five iPad retailers in the US: Target, Best Buy, Micro Center, Amazon and of course, Apple. Adding Walmart to the list would again greatly increase the number of customers who get to physically see an iPad just as they’re strolling the aisles with holiday dollars in their pockets. As Fortune reports, there are 2,815 Walmart Supercenters and 774 Walmart Discount stores in the US.

Keep your eyes peeled, Walmart shoppers.

TUAWIs Walmart the next iPad retailer? originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 04 Oct 2010 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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