Dear Aunt TUAW,

Dunno if you’ve seen this before! Is it a Verizon iPhone leaked screaanshot?

Hugs,

Francis

Dear Francis,

Auntie isn’t sure if this falls under the basic rule of “Don’t teach Auntie to suck eggs — or change carrier names,” but given Auntie’s general familiarity with the subject matter, she’s leaning towards “fake.”

What do you other nieces and nephews think? Let Auntie know in the comments.

Love,

Auntie T.

TUAWDear Aunt TUAW: Is this a Verizon iPhone? originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 22 Sep 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Have you heard? Apparently iPods cause hearing loss. A Journal of the American Medical Association study published in August found that 14.9 percent of teenagers aged 12-19 suffered from hearing loss from 1988-94; 19.5 percent of the same age group had hearing loss from 2005-06. Throw in another statistic, a 100 percent increase in the number of iPods in existence from 2005-06 as compared to 1988-94, and it’s clear what’s behind this statistically significant rise in teen hearing loss.

Or maybe it’s not so clear, after regarding a meta-study from the University of Minnesota. Researchers there found that 15 percent of the university’s marching band members suffered from hearing loss, but after tracking them for a year and averaging out multiple test results, researchers found that more than half of the noise-induced hearing loss disappeared. Those same researchers said that false positive results can account for around 10 percent of the 14.9 percent hearing loss discovered in the 1988-94 JAMA study.

Listening to anything at a high volume for a long enough period of time will induce hearing loss. That goes for your car stereo, speakers blaring at a concert, and yes, iPods. Are more people listening to music via headphones now versus 1988-94? Probably. Is a portion of that increase due to the iPod’s popularity? Almost definitely. Does that automatically mean there’s an epidemic of iPod-induced teen deafness? It certainly sounds like a plausible theory, but with one study already questioning the JAMA results, the question is far from settled.

I will say that I’m occasionally astonished at the volume of music bleeding from people’s white earbuds as they pass by. I can’t listen to music on my iPhone at more than about 60 percent of maximum before it starts to hurt my ears, so I can’t imagine what kind of damage these people are doing to their hearing. There’s really no excuse for it, either. If you’ve got a child with an iPod, setting a volume limit on it is trivial. And if you’re just trying to drive away the noise of the outside world, a decent set of canalphones is a whole lot cheaper and more convenient in the long run than a hearing aid.

[via Cult of Mac]

TUAWNew study questions extent of iPod-induced hearing loss originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 22 Sep 2010 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The latest revision to FileMaker’s two mobile database apps, FileMaker Go 1.1 for iPhone and for iPad (two separate products), gives the Go team a few vital new features for users on the move. First up: PDF creation in-app, which allows you to take a database report page or form and instantly create a saveable or mailable PDF — great for invoices, site reports or price quotes.

Second, the apps now support image capture from the iPhone camera or from the iPad’s photo library; you can populate image fields in a database directly, a great tool for real estate or inventory applications.

Other new features include scripted record imports from remote or local databases, the ability to email an entire DB from your device, file embeds (like a spreadsheet or document) into database records, and some additional security options. The URL handling for FM Go has also been souped up, meaning that other iOS applications can hand off data more easily; the first example is barcode scanning, which uses a separate app to do the scan and then hands off the result to Go.

FileMaker Go works with all desktop versions of FileMaker from 7 to 11. The iPhone/iPod touch version is US$19.99 and the iPad version costs $39.

TUAWFileMaker Go update adds PDF creation, photo import originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 22 Sep 2010 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We could finally be nearing the end of the lost iPhone saga. Way back in April, police launched a probe into the alleged sale of the lost prototype iPhone 4 that was found in a bar near San Jose earlier this year, and CNET is now reporting that the investigation is almost over. Chief Deputy District Attorney Stephen Wagstaffe of California’s San Mateo County says that the final report on the probe could be sent to his office in the next few weeks, at which point he’ll look at what evidence was collected and see if charges need to be brought.

Wagstaffe also says that multiple Apple employees were interviewed in the case, including Steve Jobs himself. Police also searched Gizmodo editor Jason Chen’s house at one point (the phone was reportedly sold to Gizmodo by a college student who found it in the bar), but that warrant was withdrawn a while back, and the seized items were returned.

It’s certainly possible that police could still bring criminal charges in the case, but given that the matter seems to have blown over (it’s not like iPhone 4 sales were hurt by the leaks anyway), it seems unlikely that anyone will get arrested and charged. But we’ll keep a lookout for the case closing anyway — I’m sure there will be one or two documents coming to light that will provide a better look at exactly what happened. Stay tuned.

[via Mac Rumors]

TUAWLost iPhone investigation almost done originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 22 Sep 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Undercroft is an iPhone RPG that’s reminiscent of the old Elder Scrolls games; it’s turn based, and seen from a first-person perspective (even though you actually play a party of adventurers). This is strictly fantasy fare, and it doesn’t do a lot that’s new. For the first few quests, you’re fighting rats and spiders, and you’ll need to level up, deal with loot, and do lots and lots of exploring and quest completing before getting anywhere. But as traditional as it is, it’s actually a lot of fun, and the retro format translates well to the iPhone’s touchscreen. We’ve seen elsewhere that the iPhone can do next-gen games, but it’s nice to see older forms like this finding a tidy home on the App Store.

And what the heck, … it won’t cost you anything. The game is sponsored by developer Jagex’s Runescape at the moment, so you can download and play the whole thing for free. With that news in the equation, there’s really no reason not to try this one out. Make a party, go kill some monsters, and see if it doesn’t take you right back to a much simpler fantasy RPG time.

TUAWTUAW’s Daily App: Undercroft originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 22 Sep 2010 08:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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For the seventh straight year in a row, Apple has topped the American Customer Satisfaction Index survey, ringing in at number one on the annual list of PC manufacturers as ranked by customers. And it earned its best score ever — an 86 out of 100. That’s nine points ahead of its closest competitors, which are Dell, Acer, and HP. As you can see from the chart above, Apple is on its way up as well.

It’s tempting to lay success like this at the feet of the iPod, iPhone, and iPad, but keep in mind that this is strictly about PC manufacturers. Consumers are more satisfied than ever with their Macs, and it shows on the sales side as well, with Macs selling in record numbers. Apple now calls itself a mobile device company, but it turns out that branching out to mobile devices from personal computers was one of the best things that ever happened to the Mac.

Who’s at the bottom? Compaq is the only PC brand that didn’t improve from last year, and it was the lowest of every brand on the index for the ninth straight year. If Apple’s winning, somebody’s got to be the loser, right?

TUAWApple tops consumer satisfaction survey again originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 22 Sep 2010 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Guild Wars 2 is going to become the latest big PC game to get a satellite iPhone app. Our friends at Massively have a post up about the “extended experience” that ArenaNet is going to offer in the MMO sequel. You won’t be able to play the full game on your iPhone or iPad, but you will be able to chat with friends, browse the world of the game, access character and achievement information, and even wiki information about the game, either from a mobile location or just using the mobile device alongside you as you play. It all sounds really interesting, and actually very forward-thinking; lots of gamers have an extra device around them as they’re playing these PC games, so why not use the iPhone or iPad to enable mobile connectivity and add on to the experience as you play.

Guild Wars 2 is, of course, the sequel to the very popular first ArenaNet title, and it’s expected out sometime in 2010 or 2011. The app will presumably be out sometime close to the game’s release, though some of the functionality is mentioned as future plans, so we’ll have to see. Meanwhile, there’s a growing trend of supplementing PC gaming with iOS apps. Both Blizzard Entertainment and Fallen Earth developer Icarus Studios have released apps designed to work in tandem with their desktop titles. It’s an intriguing idea — most of the viewpoints on the App Store have it replacing traditional desktop computing, but these companies are using Apple’s devices to supplement their other products.

TUAWGuild Wars 2 uses iOS apps for ‘extended experience’ originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 22 Sep 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A previous update of Facebook’s iOS app completely messed up a handful of features, particularly its push notification services. I’d be browsing through status updates, exit out of the app, and see a notification badge had popped up. Curious to see what was new, I’d go back into the app and check out the notifications … only to find notifications for stuff I’d already read. This wasn’t a “once in a while” kind of bug, either; it happened nearly every time I used the app.

Facebook’s app has been updated to 3.2.3, and it claims to fix not only the push notifications issues but also crashes associated with viewing messages and errors involving Facebook’s Places feature. So far, things seem to be running smoother for me. However, based on the feedback that this update’s received so far on the App Store, it hasn’t been a universal fix. Download the update and see for yourself if it fixes any issues you may have been having, then let us know in the comments if the Facebook app is running better or worse for you.

[Via TiPb]

TUAWFacebook for iOS updated, fixes what last update broke originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 22 Sep 2010 03:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple has updated iWork for iPad making iPad productivity apps Keynote, Numbers, and Pages little more useful by adding export to .xls and .ppt formats and numerous improvements.

Keynote, Numbers, and Pages complete Changelogs after the jump…

New in Keynote

• Export presentations to Microsoft PowerPoint (.PPT) format.
• Copy presentations between Keynote and your MobileMe iDisk or a WebDAV service.
• Support for audio in builds when importing Keynote ’09 presentations.
• Ability to group and ungroup objects.
• Add animated builds to grouped objects.
• Lens Flare, Spin and Wipe build animations.
• Revolving Door, Swoosh and Wipe slide transition animations.

New in Numbers

• Export spreadsheets to Microsoft Excel (.XLS) format.
• Copy spreadsheets between Numbers and your MobileMe iDisk or a WebDAV service.
• Ability to group and ungroup objects.
• Open CSV files from Mail and other apps.

New in Pages

• Copy documents between Pages and your MobileMe iDisk or a WebDAV service.
• Option to display the word count for your document.
• Support for opening .txt files from Mail.
• Ability to group and ungroup objects.
• Import and export existing footnotes, endnotes, sections and tables of contents.
• Import and export Pages ’09 tables with image background fills in cells.

You can purchase and download Keynote, Numbers, and Pages for $9.99 each (iPad only) from the App Store:

• Pages for iPad
• Keynote for iPad
• Numbers for iPad

Dropbox for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch has been updated to version 1.3. Dropbox 1.3 comes with Retina Support, Offline Caching, New UI and More.

Dropbox 1.3 complete changelog after the jump…

New in Dropbox 1.3

• UI re-design with numerous visual enhancements including retina display support
• File caching (no need to re-download files you’ve already viewed!)
• Fullscreen landscape file viewing on iPad
• Finish uploads and downloads while in the background
• Create folders
• Bug fix for viewing CSV and some broken HTML files

For those you who don’t know, Dropbox is the easiest and free online file storage and sharing solution. It let you sync and share your files online and across computers.

Download Dropbox 1.3

You can download Dropbox for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch from the App Store for Free! [iTunes Link]

Also checkout:

• Safari Download Manager
• LockDown Pro – Password protect iOS apps
• FaceBreak – Enable FaceTime over 3G
• MyWi 4.0
• SwirlyMessage – Send MMS/SMS from iPad

Disney released an update to its TRON app, fans can play an updated version of the classic Tanks game from the TRON Arcade, which includes both Singleplayer and Multiplayer modes. TRON is a classic so I had to include this little tidbit.

In other app news Dropbox has updated their popular app with a couple of new features which includes support for HD video and high-resolution photo captures and a few other things.

AppleInsider is reporting that analysts claim Apple will build the first batch of CDMA iPhones in December, which will be just in time for that January release that was being talked about. So is Verizon actually getting the iPhone this time?

AT&T CEO said there are 500,000 iPads in use on their network. He also says he is not worried about losing exclusive rights to the iPhone.

A patent infringement suit has been filed against Apple concerning the sale and enabling of downloaded video content and HDTV programming on iTunes to all of Apple’s hardware.

The Wall Street Journal has a story on what your choice of smartphone says about you. Seems pretty accurate to me, what do you all think?

Finally, an app has been released that adds noise cancellation to any headphones, this one is complete with video.

That is it for today.

In April, when I stopped publishing Mobile Orchard, I said I’d leave the site up as long as I had the server. I figured the traffic would gradually dissipate and that’d be that.

A few weeks ago I checked the site’s Google Analytics dashboard on a whim and was surprised to see that the site’s traffic is about what it was before I left! More details on this in a minute…

This tells me that the audience of iOS developers has grown, and that the site’s content is still useful. In fact, the site is still the number one Google result — beating even Apple — for iPhone Developer News, iPhone Developer Podcast, iPhone Development News, and iPhone Development Podcast.

I was, and am, proud of the site and enjoyed that it’d earned a respected place in the community. I’d like to see that continue in the hands of the right person or people. So: I’m putting Mobile Orchard up for sale.

In the past, I’ve received unsolicited offers to buy the site from charlatans whose motivation was to abuse the site’s PageRank, to mercilessly flog jeweled iPhone cases, or who would otherwise abuse the community. I’m not interested in offers from folks thusly motivated. On the other hand, if — like I did — you find a way to blend your commercial interest with the community’s interest, then I’m all for it.

What’s You’re Buying

To keep this simple, you’re buying exactly (1) the mobileorchard.com domain, (2) a tar-archive of the site’s WordPress installation, and (3) a database dump. These are the pieces you’ll need to transfer the site to another server.

I’m formally limiting the asset purchase to those items because they’re things I have absolute control over. That said, I’ll make my best effort to transfer the Twitter and Twitter Feed accounts, but obviously those are run by third parties that I don’t control.

As a sweetener, I’ll also include our community-links sister-site iPhone Flow (with its thousand feed subscribers and thousand Twitter followers), a few related domains and the podcast archive.

Google Analytics, Feedburner and Twitter Stats

Here are reports with data from the last month and the last year.

Feedburner is reporting 6818 readers. Twittercounter reports 3077 followers.

How To Make An Offer

If you’d like to make an offer, please email me the amount (for simplicity’s sake: in even thousand dollar amounts), your plans for the site, and details to prove that your offer is credible.

I’ll accept offers through Friday, August 27. If you make an offer I’ll try to keep you informed about other offers that are in contention. I’ll pick a winner and, after we execute the asset transfer agreement and you wire the funds to my account, I’ll transfer the domain and provide the WordPress files and data.