iPhone - page 327

The first thing the vast majority of us would do in the event that our precious iPhone is stolen is load up the Find My iPhone feature within iCloud and then call the Police and tell them where the shameless thug is located, in the hope that they’ll find the time to go and recover our device. Some of us may even take matters into our own hands and try to recover it ourselves (but that’s not really recommended.)

But when Michael Meehan’s son had his iPhone stolen, he took advantage of his position as Chief of Police in Berkeley, California, and ordered ten of his officers to track it down. All off the books.

We already know that between hundreds of different Android builds and handsets, Google’s smartphone OS is hopelessly fragmented, and requires immense expense and time on the part of developers to get even a simple app working reliably.

But the problem with Android — and why it’s such a bitch to develop for — goes deeper than just too many handsets and OS builds to support. Even developing a simple music app for Android is a nightmare due to Android fragmentation, because Google couldn’t even get volume control on Android right out of the box.

The Pebble watch is pretty neat and all ($10 million can’t all be totally wrong), but even with e-ink and low-powered Bluetooth it still needs charging way more than a regular watch. It’s also rather plasticky and dorky-looking.

The Cuckoo might not be able to fix the second part, looking as it does like a rather dull take on a Swatch, but it can certainly fix the first.

May is Mobile Management Month at Cult of Mac, where we will be profiling a different mobile management company every weekday. You can find all previous entries here  and read our Mobile Management manifesto here.

Tarmac is a fairly focused device management option from Mac and iOS developer equinux (makers of the Mac utility VPN Tracker). Tarmac focuses on delivering the core iOS management needs with low overhead. equinux’s narrow focus on just iOS allows the company to provide a wide range of enterprise systems integration options. Tarmac specifically targets the small business market with separate small/medium business and larger enterprise versions.

Sometimes a good idea doesn’t have to be radical. It doesn’t have to have a $70,000 Kickstarter goal. Sometimes a good idea is just simplicity itself: easy to produce, affordable to own, beautifully designed and genuinely useful.

That’s what makes our eyes pop about The Wrap. Designed by Michiel Cornelissen, the Wrap is a simple plug that fits on the USB end of a European iPhone wall charger. Thread your 30-pin dock connector cable through The Wrap and you can easily wrap the whole cord around it. That’s it. Just EUR 9.95.

I love this. It’s just beautifully useful and wonderfully understated. And while The Wall is Europe-only for now, Cornelissen says that if 100 people email him saying they want a US version, he’ll make one. Get clamoring, people.

Source: Michiel Cornelissen

Ever wanted to check out the ghost of your city past? Interested in experiencing the history of the spaces around you? Well, you just may be able to do that with this free app from Enlighten Ventures, LLC.

Brains have been dashed out and arteries spilled over the perfect parking space. Finding a good spot in a busy neighborhood and keeping it secret and safe is the kind of thing many commuters approach with Gandalfish intensity. The rule of thumb is: if you find a good parking space, by all means, never, ever give it up willingly.

Here’s a better idea, though. Instead of fighting tooth and claw for that el primo parking spot, why not keep it in the family instead, passing it onto others in exchange for information about other awesome, open parking spots in the same neighborhood? In other words, why not let parking generate you some good karma? That’s the idea behind a new app, Kurb Karma, and it looks awesome.

There has recently been a lot of concern into the way in which our iOS apps access our personal data, and then what they do with it once it has been collected. Since the whole Path debacle in particular, users seem to be more concerned by the issue than ever before.

BitDefender is one security firm looking to capitalize upon that concern with a new app called Clueful, which promises reveal what each of your apps is doing with your data and identify the “misdemeanant apps on your iPhone.”

Remember that snazzy “fold to unlock” concept for the iPhone that we told you about last week? Just like a lot of software concepts, developers have now turned it into a fully functional tweak for jailbroken devices, and it’s available to download now via Cydia.

Check your App store updates people because Drafts was just updated to version 1.2 and includes new actions to post to Facebook, Evernote, create a calendar item, and add to OmniFocus.

May is Mobile Management Month at Cult of Mac, where we will be profiling a different mobile management company every weekday. You can find all previous entries here  and read our Mobile Management manifesto here.

Zenprise focuses on the complete lifecycle management of mobile devices in enterprise environments. The company provides the core set of device and app management needs and offers integration with enterprise systems. Zenprise puts a particular emphasis mobile device inventory for both company-owned and BYOD devices.

Making a list of tasks is a great way to be sure you’re getting things done, right? Without being able to see those reminders across all the devices and computers you may use in a given week, though, that list is going to be fairly useless. That’s the reason services and apps like Evernote have become so ubiquitous: instant access to your notes across all the digital environments you frequent.

Apple’s Reminders system is the company’s foray into a task list, but figuring out how to sync the lists across devices is somewhat non-intuitive. Here’s how to do just that.

Apple has been a major force in the BYOD movement. You can even argue that Apple ignited the BYOD flame with the release of the iPhone and iPad. While there have a number of studies looking at how companies in the U.S. are reacting to the trend, numbers haven’t readily been available from other markets.

That changed today with a new study that looks at BYOD in EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa) business and institutions. The results show Apple devices as a clear preference in these markets, somewhat more limited BYOD adoption, and many of the same security concerns discussed by U.S. firms.

Zipcar was one of the first companies to showcase the potential of iOS apps using location services. The company’s demo during Apple’s 2009 WWDC keynote was one of early harbingers of the ways that mobile devices and data have become integrated with our daily lives. Zipcar continues to have its finger on the pulse of what’s possible when local services are transformed by iOS and other mobile platforms.

Speaking today at the MIT Sloan CIO Symposium, Zipcar CEO Scott Griffith spoke about how quickly smartphone apps revolutionized Zipcar and the ways it interacts with its customers and offered  insights into the company’s success.

Russian news website The Village got sick of douche parking (apparently a big problem there) and decided to do something about it. How? By using an iPhone app tied into social media sites.

The app lets users snap photos of badly parked cars and upload them, but what happens next is pure genius.

You know the Pebble, that iPhone-compatible wristwatch which raised ten million dollars on Kickstarter? Turns out somebody else made one already. It’s called The Meta Watch, and has been available for Android for more than half a year.

Of course, being an Android accessory means that nobody has heard of it. That’s about to change, though, as a new Bluetooth 4 update means it will also work with the iPhone and new iPad.

One thing that frequently keeps me awake at night is the worry that my digital devices won’t survive the next ice age. But the guys over at ZooGue have proven that Apple’s latest iPad can be frozen deep within a block of ice without losing any of its functionality. Just be sure you wrap a sandwich bag around it first.

With Apple’s sixth-generation iPhone set to make its debut this year, there’s no doubt the company has a number of prototype devices — all with different designs and specifications — in testing within its Cupertino headquarters. One of those handsets is said to feature a 3.95-inch widescreen display with a 640 x 1136 resolution that’s taller than all the existing 3.5-inch iPhone displays we’ve seen to date.

May is Mobile Management Month at Cult of Mac, where we will be profiling a different mobile management company every weekday. You can find all previous entries here  and read our Mobile Management manifesto here.

Tangoe is a company with a long history of wired and mobile telecom expense management. The company offers incredible hand-on services for evaluating communications expenses and offering cost saving advice for small/mid-size businesses and large enterprises alike. Tangoe’s biggest advantage is that it offers real-time review of telecom bills tied to specific departments, users, and device – and that it uses that data to build a specialized telecom expense plan for its clients.  The company also offers a solid range of device and app management. However, Tangoe’s real-time expense management capabilities are the company’s signature features.

Facebook has launched its official iPhone app for managing Pages. After a slow rollout throughout other parts of the world, Facebook Pages Manager for iPhone is free and available now in the U.S. App Store. If you manage Pages on Facebook, this app will let you check statistics, post, comment, and more on the go.

The rumor mill has been saying for many months that Apple is planning a 4-inch iPhone for release later this year. Two major publications, The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg, recently hopped on the bandwagon to “confirm” the rumor. All signs are pointing to a larger iPhone, but what does that mean for iOS developers?

People have hypothesized all kinds of ways Apple could make an iPhone with a larger screen and still make it easy for developers to update their apps. The general consensus seems to be that Apple could change the aspect ratio for a taller display, but now the people that actually make apps have weighed in on the topic. While it’s unclear exactly how a new screen size would be implemented, developers feel confident that Apple won’t “pull an Android” and create a fragmented mess.

AT&T is one of 48 carriers worldwide which have a network vulnerability that allows hackers to intercept cellular data and inject malicious content into the traffic that passes between smartphones and the websites they visit. The flaw can be used to transfer code to unencrypted pages which causes a user to perform unintended actions, like sending messages or friend requests from Facebook and Twitter. And your iPhone may be vulnerable.

Finally, a magnetic iPhone mount that won’t embarrass you, either when actually mounted on the wall or in transit. It’s called the Wallee M, and it is about as sleek as a mounting set could get.

One way to look at the consumerization of IT is as a democratization of workplace technology decisions. Executives and employees alike have become much more sophisticated users of technology. Through iPhones and iPads, they see how well-designed devices, platforms, and apps can create enjoyable and, more importantly, productive user experiences. As a result, they don’t tolerate clunky business systems and slow IT responses as much as they did a few years ago.

Many executives and pundits believe this has already changed the balance of power between the CIO/IT management and the CFO and other executives. A recent Gartner survey found that overall, CFOs are leading IT decision-making more than they were just two years ago. One could even argue that in addition to disrupting industries like music and mobile technology, Apple is subtly disrupting IT and business itself  (with some help from other tech and business innovators).

You know those awful bendable lamps that coil from your computer’s long-suffering USB port and let you point the cold, bluish-green LED light in any direction except the one you want? Well, somebody took one of these silvery snakes, improved it, turned it into an iPhone charger and gave it a ridiculous name: The Une Bobine. It’s probably French or something.