Scott Adams, the evil henchman behind the Dilbert Comic Strip, posted two comics about the drunken misplacement of the iPhone Prototype today on his blog. What’s cool is that these strips will never reach the funny pages and are exclusive to Adams’ blog. Thanks for sharing, Scott.
I’m never one to lol when reading print material, but the third frame of the top comic is priceless. Definitely loled.
Rhapsody has released an update to its iPhone/iPod Touch music app that does what Spotify in Europe has done for ever: you can download any song you want to your iPhone for a flat $10 monthly fee.
Rhapsody’s music subscription offers virtually limitless musical selections from a library of about 9 millions songs available. And you don’t have to be online to use it. You can create downloadable playlists that play whether you have an Internet connection or not.
“This is the first time Apple has approved this capability for a music app — at least in the U.S.” said Rhapsody spokesman Matt Graves. “While Apple has previously approved apps from many streaming music services, including Rhapsody’s, until now it has never okayed downloading subscription music to its devices.”
Graves noted that Steve Jobs was famously dismissive of the music subscription model, calling these services “bankrupt” in a 2003 interview with Rolling Stone. Of course, subscription models compete with the per-song download model of iTunes.
You don’t even need to pay their reasonable $10-a-month fee to try it out. Rhapsody offers a free trial of their service.
I recommend signing up with your computer: it seems that if you register using a non-mobile device, you get a 14-day free trial. I signed up on my iPhone and only got a 7-day trial period free. Weird.
Jon Maples, Rhapsody Product Lead, brags about his experience using Rhapsody’s Downloadable Playlist feature on the Rhapsody blog and it makes for an interesting read.
My main beef with Rhapsody is the audio quality. I wasn’t able to use Google to divine a solid source for audio quality, but I can tell you it’s not 192-256 kbps which is what it should be.
I love to travel. Whether it be for work or for pleasure, nothing beats exploring the country or the world. What I don’t like about work travel is keeping up with expenses. It sucks out any fun I may be having and adds on to any frustrations I might be experiencing.
The only way to make expense reports even worse is to try and tackle them on the flight home in coach with a one-year-old behind you screaming and kicking your seat. But a free new iPhone app, Expensify, makes expense reports easier for those who travel with an iPhone.
Read on for the full review:
Nokia’s forthcoming N8 smartphone has been touted as the beleagured Finnish handset maker’s long-coming answer to the iPhone… but judging from Mobile Review’s preview of a leaked N8 handset, Nokia’s dropped the ball yet again.
The N8 looks great on paper — it has a 12-megapixel camera, HDMI output and a huyge touchscreen with multitouch support, as well as Nokia’s new Symbian3 operating system — but in practice it’s nothing special. The camera takes decent pictures, but the 720p HD video isn’t particularly special compared to other handsets, and the HDMI port uses a non-standard connector, making it unlikely to ever be used.
Worse, the much ballyhooed Symbian3 update is apparently just a cosmetic upgrade that isn’t even fit to lick the shoes of the features that both the iPhone OS and Android OS are boasting.
It’s strange to think that a mere three years ago, Nokia was pretty much the most popular handset maker in the world, but they have failed time and time again to be competitive with the likes of Apple and Google. With the N8’s failure, it may now be too late.
In an age when voice and video from half a world away can be sucked up from the soup of electromagnetic radiation invisibly swirling around us, plugging in my iPhone to sync with iTunes makes me feel like a caveman. I’ve been waiting for an app that would allow me to wirelessly sync my iDevices for awhile, and now, it looks like it might be here: Wi-Fi Sync by Greg Hughes allows you to pair your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch to your computer through WiFi, no wires required.
Here’s a interesting story about secrecy and making mistakes at Apple. The story is told by Woz, Apple employee number one (check out his hilarious shirt).
While Woz was waiting in line to buy the iPad last month, an Apple test engineer showed him a prototype iPad. It was just a few hours before the device went on sale. Woz, who is still an Apple employee, fired up the Numbers app. Little did he know, the unit was 3G test prototype, and was not to be shown or used outside of secure areas at the company HQ. Unfortunately, Woz’s playing with it must have somehow sent up a warning flag at Apple.
“… I can tell you that the test engineer who showed me an iPad after midnight, for 2 minutes, during the iPad launch was indeed fired. I opted to spend 2 minutes with Numbers on this iPad, trying some stunts I’d seen on Apple’s website demo video. I was not told that it was a 3G model and I had no way to know that. I was told that this engineer had to wait until midnight to show it outside of Apple’s secure area. And I’m an Apple employee who he was showing it to. My guess is that he was allowed to take the iPad outside of the secure area but still not supposed to show it.”
The test engineer was fired for betraying Apple’s ironclad rules on secrecy. The device was not to be shown to anybody — not even Woz. (And worse, Woz told Steve Jobs about seeing the iPad that night. Jobs himself said it was “no big deal.”)
On the other hand, Gray Powell, the Apple engineer who lost an iPhone 4G prototype at a bar, is still employed at Apple.
“Product secrecy is good for Apple and should be strictly enforced, but maybe 10% of niceness and 90% of strictness is OK too,” writes Woz.
It seems mistakes are forgiven, but betrayals are not.
Gizmodo: Steve Wozniak On Apple Security, Employee Termination, and Gray Powell
If only we could have experienced the iPhone in all of its glory from the initial release. 3G has only recently been opened to multimedia streaming. Tethering is still not available though the iPhone is fully capable. Why are we not video chatting with our loved ones these almost perfect devices?
Jailbreaking that iPhone is currently the only way to tether your device to you Mac and get that sweet 3G data access to you 13″ Macbook. In fact, with MyWi, a jailbreak app from the Cydia Store, you can create your own WiFi hotspot similar to the Verizon MiWi. Better charge up that battery now.
It’s time for our weekly digest of tiny iPhone reviews, courtesy of iPhoneTiny.com, with some extra commentary exclusive to Cult of Mac.
This time, we review Beat It!, Beatwave, Bee Spelled, LEGO Photo, and WhatTheFont.
There’s another juicy wrinkle in iPhonegate. The Silicon Valley cops are investigating, reports CNet:
Silicon Valley police are investigating what appears to be a lost Apple iPhone prototype purchased by a gadget blog, a transaction that may have violated criminal laws, a law enforcement official told CNET on Friday.
Apple has spoken to local police about the incident and the investigation is believed to be headed by a computer crime task force led by the Santa Clara County district attorney’s office, the source said. Apple’s Cupertino headquarters is in Santa Clara County, about 40 miles south of San Francisco.
The German airline Lufthansa is offering a free flight to Germany to Gray Powell, the unfortunate Apple employee who lost a prototype iPhone 4G.
Powell lost the prototype iPhone in a German beer garden in Redwood City. It ended up being sold to Gizmodo and became the biggest tech story in recent memory, catapulting Powell into unwelcome notoriety. To make him feel better, the airline is offering to fly Powell to Munich on Business Class, and wants him to check out their new Bavarian Beer Garden Business Lounge.
“We though you could use a break soon,” said the airline’s open letter to Gray, posted to the company’s Twitter account. “And therefore would like to offer you complimentary Business Class transportation to Munich, where you can literally pick up where you last left off.”
The full letter of invitation is below.
[via iClarified and MacDailyNews]
One of the few real advantages Android has over iPhone OS is free turn-by-turn navigation: why spend $100 for the likes of TomTom when your smartphone already does the same thing for nothing? If you do a lot of driving, it’s pretty much Android’s killer app… except now it’s coming to the iPhone.
Or is it?According to a Google representative speaking at a London press conference, Google plans to bring free turn-by-turn satnav to the iPhone and other handsets soon, although they wouldn’t say when. But according to a spokesperson speaking to PC World, they have no definite plans.
I can understand Google’s confusion here. As a company, Google’s all about making information freely available, but free turn-by-turn navigation is a big reason why someone might choose an Android handset over the iPhone. They’re torn: on one hand, they want to get their services in as many hands as possible, but on the other hand, they don’t want to eliminate one of the advantages of the Android platform by offering it on a competitor’s device. It’s a pickle alright.
Does the iPhone make the man?
If you think your gear speaks volumes about you, a survey of 1,500 women says you’re kinda right.
A little over half the women surveyed by mobile phone purveyor Phones4U, 54 per cent, said they’d be more likely to give their digits and date an iPhone owner than a non-iPhone owner. (Though it appears the 46% of females unswayed by Apple devices may be more street smart, see below).
iPhone owners were also deemed better groomed, more likely to have a good sense of humor and have the gift of gab than other mobile phone owners.
Mirror, Mirror, on the iPhone…
The iSkin Solo FX iPhone case has a special mirror film that allows you to gaze at yourself when your iPhone is off. It can be a bit frighting — especially in the morning. But used like a compact, it’s great for applying lipstick.
In a world of plastic cases, Trexta’s iPhone covers stand out.
Made from natural materials like leather and wood, they bring back fond memories of bowling trips in the old two-toned station wagon.
In other words, they’re retro badass.
No matter where you fall on the 4G iPhone story, I think we’re all united in feeling bad for poor old Gray Powell, otherwise known as the most unlucky S.O.B. in the universe. Heartless automaton that I am, even I tear up a little bit when I think of what he must be going through right now. I think all of us — Powell most of all — need a dose of levity right about now.
Courtesy of McSweeney’s, then, comes this wonderful imaginary email from Gray to his colleagues at 1 Infinity Loop on the morning after he lost the iPhone.
If I could give back those last five beers, I would do it in a heartbeat. I don’t know why I let that girl look at it. That was a total disregard of our phones before hos mantra. Worst mistake of my life. I should have never taken the prototype out of its case, or taken the case from the protective cover, or taken the protective cover out of the lockbox. I should have never taken the lockbox out of the safe and I definitely should never have signed the contract that requires your right testicle if you lose the phone. It was a pretty painful morning, and I’m not referring to a hangover, though that didn’t help.
It’s worth a few chuckles, especially for this line “Mr. Jobs screamed at me so much that his turtleneck was totally drenched with sweat.” Somehow I doubt that’s very far from the truth.
It’s way buggy still, but hats off to jailbreak hacker David Wong who not only figured out how to get the iPhone to dual boot, but to actually run Google’s Android operating system.
Of course, the entire exercise is one of utter futility — why would you run Google’s inferior Android operating system when you can tool around in iPhone OS (my only tentative answer: maybe tethering?) — but even so: this takes some brain meats. Well done, sir.
From the “oh that’s awesome” category — which quickly leads to the credit card coming out of the wallet — some of the most unique and whimsical iPhone stands I’ve seen from Forked Up Art.
Stands are $30 each, come in portrait and landscape orientations, and are made of genuine used cutlery. The best form of recycling I’ve seen recently. It’s earned a place in my kitchen!
Thanks to iPhone Savior for the tip.
Apple has filed a very interesting patent for a travel app called iTravel that books flights, hotels and car reservations. But the most interesting part is how it uses a radio chip to check you in at the airport, whisk you through security and allows you to wireless board your flight.
The iTravel app uses Near Field Communications, a short-range wireless technology that is starting to become widely used in cell phones for mobile ticketing, payment and electronic keys, especially in countries like Japan.
Apple is rumored to be adding NFC chipset to the next iPhone. If so, it could turn the iPhone into an electronic wallet, allowing you to for everything, from a cup of coffee to a subway ride. Your iPhone could unlock your car, pick up e-coupons at the local mall, and pay for all your supermarket groceries just by laying it on top of the checkout.
While there was, up until recently, at least one next-generation iPhone outside of Apple’s possession and in the wild, could there be another one still lurking out there… a golden ticket for one would-be “source” to sell to the highest bidding practitioner of checkbook journalism?
httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOSSz5G41zI
Apple’s most recent iPhone ad, “Dog Lover,” is pretty clearly some Cupetino employee’s excuse to get their cute new dog some face time while simultaneously appealing to squealing canine lovers country-wide. That’s okay though. That pooch is pretty cute.
And that’s the bloody towel flying into the middle of the ring.
Software makers Adobe, mercilessly pummeled on the release of their Adobe CS5 suite by a new provision in Apple’s iPhone Developer Program License Agreement that prohibits apps made with translation tools, have just announced that they officially intend to abandon their iPhone app building technology included in the upcoming Flash CS5 software.
iFixit is famous for its authorative Apple product teardowns. I just emailed the CEO, Kyle Wiens, with some questions about Gizmodo’s teardown. Here’s Kyle’s take:
Gizmodo emailed me asking the same thing.
I asked them why they didn’t remove the (very removable) EMI shields.
It’s closer to production than I was expecting. I’d say this thing is very very close.
What sucks for Apple is if they have to cut features for some reason. Of course the prototypes would have all the features they’re considering (flash, camera, etc.). But realities force feature removal at the last minute, like they did with the iPod Touch. I’m sure the iPod Touch prototypes had cameras in them.
Before returning the iPhone it bought from a guy in a bar for $5,000, Gizmodo performed a teardown. It has just published the results. Unfortunately, it’s pretty uninformative. The teardown reveals the iPhone has a much bigger battery (19% larger), while the rest of the components are much smaller to make room.
The big question — whether the new iPhone runs Apple’s A4 chip — is unanswered because Apple bonded a non-removable metal plate over the motherboard.
The main logic board is one very weird piece of this puzzle… Unfortunately for us, Apple intends to keep this a secret. There are no markings on the board, but even so, the board was encased in metal all around so nothing could get through and would be very difficult to remove without breaking the device. Anyone trying to take this part off the phone would damage the device irreparably. On top of this metal, there was a thermal paste-like material. And on top of that, black tape. They really didn’t want people looking inside.
Obviously, Apple was afraid of this device falling into the wrong hands, which is exactly what happened. One clue whether it runs the A4 is the smaller circuitry. The A4 is a system-on-a-chip, which would require less supporting components.
Apple is sweeping up PC switchers and new iPhone users by the millions.
Take the 8.75 million iPhones Apple sold in the March quarter. Add them to the 42.4 million sold at the end of the last quarter. That makes 51.15 million iPhones sold to date. That’s a lot of iPhone users.
Also consider that half of the Macs sold in the quarter from Apple stores were to people who have never owned a Mac.
The March quarter was Apple’s best ever for iPhone sales, racking up more than double the number of units sold in the same quarter last year. Mac unit sales are up 33 percent. Apple is projecting similar numbers for the next quarter.
And there’s no end in sight. On the analyst conference call right now, Apple COO Tim Cook is talking about increased retail distribution points (like Radio Shack) and the massive growth opportunities in China. And all this during a recession.
The beta 2 of iPhone OS 4 has just been posted to Apple’s Developers’ site. The build is 8A248C, and developers can get it here.