John Brownlee - page 237

Last week, we got our first sneak peek at iPhone OS 4.0, and if history’s any guide, we shouldn’t expect to see Steve Jobs strut back on stage until WWDC in June to introduce the fourth generation iPhone and iPod Touch models.

What day should you block out? According to ModMYI, June 22nd, on which date Apple has once again booked the Yerba Buena Center for Arts at San Francisco’s Moscone Center. Needless to say, Cult of Mac will be collectively turning our nostril hairs white as we tensely live blog the announcements.

It’s about two weeks later than Apple usually holds its WWDC event, but if you’re waiting to pick up a video-conferencing iPhone HD packing an A4 CPU, history suggests you can expect it within a couple of weeks of June 22nd.

I think I speak for many Europeans when I say that Apple’s promise of a late April international iPad launch elicited a small incredulous groan. Coming just a few weeks after the US April 3rd ship date made it appear like Apple’s international launch date was flexible according to the supply demands of US consumers. With the iPad likely to be a smash success just based on Apple’s previous iDevice home runs, I didn’t put a lot of stock in Apple’s late April promise, no matter how earnestly they seemed to mean it. The US market would come first.

Looks like I was right to be cautious: Apple has sent out a press release this morning explaining that because of strong domestic sales of the iPad, they are delaying international delivery by a month to late May.

In case you doubted that an iPad jailbreak was imminent, this gorgeous little image posted by hacker extraordinaire George Hotz should prove the point: Cydia running on the iPad. Now stop being coy and give us a hint at a release date already, George!

httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wbco58GnS9c

iPhone OS 4.0’s new iPod Out functionality didn’t get a lot of attention when it was briefly shown at last week’s event, but TUAW has posted a good overview of what to expect, along with the informative video above, which prominently features the horftastic caterwauling of country singing nightmare Wynonna.

iPod Out is a new application that displays a simplified, iPod Classic like interface for controlling music playback, with the menu system piped to the display of a car stereo system, which could not only handle the iPhone’s audio but support hands-free integration.

TUAW only mentioned stereos, but obviously, as long as the connector required isn’t to esoteric, this could potentially be used when hooking the iPhone up to a television as well. The only problem with the latter theory is the current lack of support for video in iPod Out, but that feature may simply be MIA until the official unveiling of the next iPhone model, which will hopefully be able to output video through HDMI.

Lengthily discussing Apple’s heroic focus on iPhone OS 4.0 for the past few month’s, Daring Fireball says not to expect the next version of Apple’s other operating system until at least 2011.

Gruber writes:

A few months ago, I heard suggestions that Apple had tentative plans to release a developer beta of Mac OS X 10.7 at WWDC this June. That is no longer the case. Mac OS X 10.7 development continues, but with a reduced team and an unknown schedule. It’s my educated guess that there will be no 10.7 news at WWDC this year, and probably none until WWDC 2011.

Frankly, this doesn’t concern me too much. Snow Leopard was a solid effort that deep cleaned and tightened the bolts on an already excellent operating system. Short of the addition of multitouch or the addition of deeper integration with the iPhone OS, I’m hard pressed to think of any new features I would really like to see in OS X… although knowing Apple, they’ve thought of some I have not.

Either way, even in 2011, OS X 10.7 won’t be overdue: Snow Leopard’s barely been out for eight months, and it took thirty months to see Tiger transition to Leopard. The real question is whether or not the proud and noble Bornean Clouded Leopard (pictured) can gain enough support in the next two years to get the nod as 10.7 spirit cat.

httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gew68Qj5kxw

Atomic Antelope’s Alice in Wonderland app for the iPad is certainly plenty frabjous — and makes a strange case for the iPad as the twenty-first century’s digital successor to the pop-up book — but what I really want to see is how the iPad changes the reading game when it comes to drier books.

As beautiful as this adaptation of Alice in Wonderland is, it’s also an easy approach. But how will people use the iPad’s capability to expand upon the text of a book like Mervyn Peake’s Titus Groan or Nabokov’s Ada, or Adror, or Eco’s The Name of the Rose, or other less playful and anarchic works? I can’t wait to see.

Last week, I wrote about an upcoming bullet hell SHMUP from Cave called ESPGALUDA II due to hit the App Store last Saturday. As promised, it did, and at a special low introductory price of $4.99 to boot.

Unfortunately, though, ESPGALUDA II came with some big problems.

For one, it would only run on the iPhone 3Gs or iPad. Even worse? Due to a developer error, third generation iPod Touches like mine were inexplicably incapable of running the game, even though the hardware supports it. This put iPod Touch owners in a nasty position: they either dropped five bucks on the ESPGALUDA II app now and hoped an update came along soon to fix the install problem, or waited for the fix and risk paying an extra four bucks for the game later.

If you’re a SHMUP-loving iPod Touch 3rd Gen owner, though, don’t despair. There’s an easy way to get ESPGALUDA II running on your device right now. Just follow the instructions below.

Jon Berg injected some fresh life into his broken 17-inch iMac G4 by cramming a touchscreen PC’s guts inside and re-skinning the desktop to resemble OS X.

I wonder, though, why he didn’t decide to make it a dual-boot hackintosh. Windows 7’s multitouch is a total hack job. It’s hardly worth sacrificing OS X as your day-to-day operating system.

It’s certainly exciting that the iPhone is getting multitasking… but with only the very last generation of iDevice’s supported, a lot of people are going to be left behind. Even Apple seemed a little bit embarrassed not to be rolling multitasking out across all devices.

Presumably, the issue is one of horsepower, but not complete inability for pre-3Gs devices to multitask. A developer has discovered that by switching just one variable, you can enable multitasking on the iPhone 3G fairly easily.

Personally, I wonder if Apple wouldn’t have been wise to be a little more flexible on their rigid performance expectations for multitasking. When Apple introduced the App Store, they essentially eliminated the biggest and most obvious reason why the average iPhone owner would choose to jailbreak their devices: the ability to run third-party software. Getting multitask on older iPhones and iPod Touches is going to be a big reason for people to start jailbreaking again.

The evidence continues to mount that the next iPhone, iPad or both will support video conferencing. Just a few days after the iChatAgent process was found running under iPhone OS in the 4.0 Beta… and now 9to5Mac has unearthed the motherload of all video chat references.

According to Mark Gurman, “We’ve found references to moderators, chat rooms, encrypted video conferences and other features which could be even be used by developers in the future to add video chat to gaming applications, perhaps with ties to Gamecenter.”

A built-in video chat API for game developers to use in their apps is exciting enough, but 9to5Mac have also found that Apple is testing iPhone video conferencing services and have opened four servers (one external, three internal) to test out the feature.

Finally? According to 9to5Mac’s sources, iPads and iPod Touches are going to get video in the fall, simultaneous with the next iPhone release. And you thought you’d have a year before you had to upgrade your iPad.

Introduced way back in iPhone OS 2.2, the “Rate on Delete” feature was a great example of how even Apple sometimes get it wrong.

The intention, of course, was to prompt users to actually rate the apps on their iPhone in a non-intrusive way, but if you never deleted an app, you were never prompted to rate it. Combined with the fact that people deleting apps tend not to care much for them and you had a system that promoted app reviews but with a slant to the negative.

Now MacRumors is reporting that Apple has fixed its mistake and removed Rate on Delete from OS 4.0

I’m not sure this is the right tack. You still want user ratings, it’s just the current system skews towards bad ratings. Why not supplement Rate on Delete with a one-time Rate prompt the fifth time you open an app? That would cover all the bases.

Yesterday’s announcement of the Apple Game Center was exciting news for serious iPhone OS gamers: it’s a defragmentation move by Apple to consolidate all of the many social gaming services like OpenFeint, Plus+ and others. Gamers can expect a uniform social gaming experience across all their iPhone games with features like universal friends lists, matchmaking and achievements.

There’s a lot to like here, but you’d expect the people behind the existing systems to be upset. Not so: OpenFeint and Plus+ are thrilled by Apple’s move. Why? They anticipated it, and have been moving their networks in the direction of supporting the freemium model of selling virtual goods in ostensibly free games as a way to profit.

Although the iPad doesn’t contain a camera, references in the iPhone OS 3.2 software to the functionality strongly implied the addition of video chat to future Apple devices. We probably won’t see video come to the iPad until the next generation of devices to debut next year, but video conferencing on the next iPhone isn’t just a long wished for feature… if the iPhone OS 4.0 beta is anything to go by, it may well be a lock.

A TUAW reader sent in a screenshot that shows the iChatAgent process running in iStat under iPhone OS 4.0. That’s a strong indication that Apple plans to introduce iChat to the iPhone OS, and while that doesn’t confirm video chat, it doesn’t make sense for Apple to hold off on an IM client for the iPhone OS for so long if they don’t intend on also going the video troute.

Well, that didn’t take very long. Less than a day after the iPhone OS 4.0 beta was released to developers, iPhone hacker Musclenerd has already jailbroken it.

So as not to jeopardize a working jailbreak technique before the final iPhone 4.0 update hits handhelds, no one’s talking about the exact jailbreaking method being employed here. I suppose it could be the same Spirit technique that’s being pursued to finally bring untethered 3.1.3 jailbreak to the third generation iPod Touch.

It’s unlikely that any solution this early in the game will last to the final beta, but if the jailbreaking community’s recent efforts both here and in with the iPad suggest that 4.0 won’t stymie hackers for long.

[via 9to5Mac]

You’ve probably got your own preferred method of propping your iPad up on your work desk, whether that’s a cheap Staples’ laptop stand or a could of clip binders stuck in an ancient block of verdantly fecund cheddar (my preferred method). These solutions are for the plebs. Meet the Joule.

The Joule is simple: it’s a CNC-machined cylinder of polished aluminum with a velvet lined slot in which your iPad’s bottom lip can be ensconced, as well as a cut-out for your iPad’s home button and speaker. The Joule stays upright thanks to a metal rod on the back which can be repositioned magnetically for extremely fluid control of angle adjustment.

It’s a gorgeous stand that wouldn’t look out of place on the desk of Ive himself, but the price, alas, is horrible: $130.

[via Gadget Lab

OPINION: The scuttlebutt was pervasive and we all hoped it was coming, so when Steve Jobs announced iPhone OS 4.0 multitasking at today’s event, it was more a pleasant confirmation than a surprise. It may have more than surprised Apple’s mobile partners, though: the addition of background VoIP functionality will, at the very least, finally force wireless carriers like AT&T to compete with companies like Skype on their own networks.

Courtesy of John Gruber, here’s a tasty little morsel from the new iPhone OS 4.0 SDK App Store Dev Agreement:

Applications that link to Documented APIs through an intermediary translation or compatibility layer or tool are prohibited.

Adobe’s Flash-to-iPhone program? It just bit the big one.

Right after the announcement of the many new and exciting features going into iPhone OS 4.0, Steve Jobs walked into a Q&A and, asked about widgets on the iPad, casually made this Old Testament reference:

Q: Why have you veered away from widgets on the iPad?
A: We just shipped it on Saturday. And then we rested on Sunday.
Q: So widgets are possible?
A: Everything is possible.

Interesting. You know who else rested on the Sabbath, right? Say what you will about Steve, but he always leaves his ego check in at the door.

[image via Gizmodo]

I think I speak for everyone at Cult of Mac when I say that the last hour has been incredibly exciting. I didn’t expect much from a small, post-iPad event about iPhone OS 4.0: multitasking and iAds, sure, but I still expected it to be something of a snoozer.

Instead, Apple blew my socks off. iPhone OS 4.0 is a huge game changer… and it’s a massive challenge not just to Google’s Android operating system, but their whole mobile advertising business.

When Jobs took the stage, he promised the presentation would touch upon seven “tentpoles” of iPhone OS 4.0. Here’s a short breakdown of each.

Well, looks like that purchase of Quattro really paid off. Steve Jobs just announced iAd, Apple’s own mobile advertising network for app developers.

According to Jobs, an average person spends 30 minutes in an app each day. If an ad is served every 3 minutes, it’s ten ads a day. Multiply that by 100 million devices, and it’s a billion ads a day.

iAds will function in-app. You click on them, but you never get pulled to a browser: they work like innate features of the app. You can even make them games.

It’s a great idea: ads can be freely explored without stopping what you’re doing or psychologically breaking up the experience of an app with getting information.

This is such a simple innovation, but it’s huge. Apple’s done something truly unique here: they’ve figured out a compelling way to compete with Google in the mobile advertising space. I didn’t think it can be done.

And what do developers get out of this? 60% of the revenues, after Apple has sold the ads.

Holy cow. I think iAds just made “Free” the new “$0.99” on the App Store.

[image via Gizmodo]

Boy, this one’s a mixed bag for guys like me with rather prodigious OpenFeint achievement scores: Apple’s just announced their own social network for gamers.

Think of it like Xbox Live for your iPhone (or a native OpenFeint, for that matter). You can use the app to make friends, earn achievements, compare scores and even invite friends to play multiplayer matches against you.

This is fantastic, but I feel really bad for the OpenFeint guys. They’d really made some headway, and now Apple’s just going to casually crush their business.

[image via Gizmodo]

If you haven’t got an iPad, you’ve probably been depressed that iBooks isn’t available on your iPhone.

As if that was going to last for long.

Steve Jobs just announced iBooks support in iPhone OS 4.0. It works very similarly to the way it does on the iPad: in fact, it’s almost a one-to-one translation.

The real improvement here, actually, is the way that iBooks will now automatically sync your page and bookmarks across devices, just like the Kindle. What that means is if you leave your iPad at home, you can read your iBook on the iPhone from the page you left off.

Wow. Apple sure is getting serious about reading… given that the company’s headed by a man who once claimed people didn’t read anymore.

Sick of all your iPhone apps being arranged higgledly-piggledly across multiple screens? iPhone OS 4.0 takes care of that. Now you get folders.

The way it works is you just drag an icon from one app onto another app to create a folder containing both. For example, drag Plants vs. Zombies onto Sword of Fargoal and you create a games folder.

Now, when you want to play a game, all you have to do is tap on the folder, then tap on the game you want.

This is such a brilliantly simple, down-to-earth take on app classification. Say goodbye to the ten horizontal swipes it takes you to get to the end of your iPhone apps: folders will organize everything nicely under a single page.

The third tentpole feature of iPhone OS 4.0 Apple just announced isn’t as big as the last two, but is still quite nice: persistent location.

Basically, it’s just a setting you select under Location Services. When persistent location is on, a special icon shows up on the status bar.

The big deal here is the iPhone will save battery power by not enabling the GPS unit all the time, but by triangulating a phone’s location according to which cell towers it’s near. that’s good enough for most apps, and if you want to be more precise (like in Tom Tom or Foursquare), you just go through GPS like normal.

This doesn’t seem like such a big deal to me at first… but I can’t wait to see what developers do with the API. Things I haven’t dreamed of yet, I bet.

This iPhone OS event is turning out to be a lot less boring than expected. Apple has just announced the next major new API for the iPhone, and it’s a doozy: VOIP.

Skype demoed the concept. Essentially, now, if you want to run a VOIP program on your iPhone, it doesn’t have to be open: it just runs in the background. Want to get incoming calls while you’re on your iPhone through Skype? It’s not a problem… they just pipe right on in, and can be answered at your leisure like a regular call… right down to the same default ring.

This is big, and something I don’t think anyone expected. It also shows some maturity on the part of Apple’s wireless partner, AT&T: it seems like they realized that data’s data, and it doesn’t much matter how you make your call, as long as you pay them.