iPhone - page 438

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.

The Uffizi Gallery in Florence is one of the largest treasure troves of Renaissance art in the world, but getting around the meandering rooms searching for sparse or missing signage can be a challenge.

Getting good information about the paintings usually means bringing a guide book and often overlooking anything but the A-list paintings.

Enter the official Uffizi iPhone app, which will get you from Giotto to Botticelli and back again in Italian and English.  The best part:  you can download it for free for the first two weeks, until April 26.

This isn’t the first time the gallery has tried to get more hands on with visitors: they also recently launched a touch screen system to give more info about the paintings.

Via the Uffizi web site

Even with a little boost to 20MB over a 3g connection, and VoIP recently being allowed thanks to an SDK update, the iPhone’s potential continues to be impaired by data restrictions set by AT&T. If you’ve taken the plunge and jailbreaked your device, there’s a $2 app that will let you stick it to the man with unlimited data access over 3G. Incidentally, 3G Unrestrictor was one of my reasons to jailbreak way back in 2009.

Assuming that the price of Tiffen’s soon-to-be-released Smoothee iPhone Steadicam would be beyond his budget, Babyology writer Ben Gurnsberg built this amazing iPhone steadicam robotic arm out of spare LEGO Technic pieces.

It looks cool, but how’d it work? Not well, says Gurnsberg.

Apple has just unveiled a new iPhone app that, as usual, focuses on taking existing iPhone apps and functionality and applying them to a relatable real-world experience, as conveyed by a pleasant and unassuming narrator.

The “Backpacker” ad follows a young traveler in Barcelona as he uses his iPhone 3GS to find hostels with the free Hostelworld.com application, email pictures to his mom and use the $24.99 Jibbigo app to translate for him on the fly.

Not covered in the commercial? The kidney the narrator had to sell to afford the AT&T 3G international roaming charges he incurred when he returned from his trip. You should have switched to WiFi only, my son.

Inside every iPhone is a moisture sensor: a small dot of liquid-sensitive material that turns bright pink if the iPhone’s insides have been exposed to being submerged. It’s the method Apple uses to protect itself from having to replace iPhones that clumsy customers have dropped in a puddle, their beer or a toilet.

Now a California woman is suing Apple over these moisture sensors, claiming that two separate iPhones died and were then denied replacement by Apple because the moisture sensors had been triggered. The woman, Charlene Gallon of San Francisco, claims otherwise.

Want porn on the go? Go buy an Android phone is the advice of none other than Apple founder Steve Jobs.

When it was first unveiled at CES 2009, one of the things I really liked about the Palm Pre was its integrated Facebook functionality. Instead of merely adding contacts to your phone manually, you had the option of subscribing to their Facebook contact details, which would automatically merge their phone numbers, email addresses and profile pictures into your local address book.

To me, it represented a much welcome paradigm shift in the way contacts are handled: instead of entering contact details manually, you subscribe to them and have them automatically updated on your handset.

So I’m delighted to see that the Pre’s approach to Facebook / Address Book integration looks like it will be heading to iPhone OS 4.0 too, at least if this rogue PLIST file in the SDK is anything to go by.

Apple sent Gizmodo a formal letter asking for its iPhone back (proving it was genuine) — and Gizmodo is returning it, along with a nice note asking Apple to go easy on the kid who lost it.

Gizmodo editorial director Brian Lam says Apple called him today asking for its iPhone back. He said he’d be happy to oblige, if he received a formal written request from Apple’s legal department.

He duly received the following:

It has come to our attention that Gizmodo is in possession of a device that belongs to Apple. This letter constitutes a formal request that you return the device to Apple. Please let me know where to pick up the unit.

Sincerely,
Bruce Sewell,
Senior Vice President & General Counsel
Apple Inc.

Lam wrote back putting him in contact with his colleague Jason Chen, who actually has the phone.

Happy to have you pick this thing up. Was burning a hole in our pockets. Just so you know, we didn’t know this was stolen when we bought it. Now that we definitely know it’s not some knockoff, and it really is Apple’s, I’m happy to see it returned to its rightful owner.

P.S. I hope you take it easy on the kid who lost it. I don’t think he loves anything more than Apple except, well, beer.

As well as mentioning that Gizmodo didn’t know the iPhone was stolen when they bought it, Lam also says the guy who sold them the iPhone had earlier tried to return Apple it to Apple. Apparently, he called customer service but go the runaround.

The “sorry Apple engineer” who lost a 4G iPhone at a Bay Area bar has been identified as Grey Powell, Gizmodo reports. Powell is a 27-year-old software engineer with a taste for the sauce (judging by his pictures, like this one above with a PBR). He left the test unit at the Gourmet Haus Staudt in Redwood City several weeks ago.

“I underestimated how good German beer is,” he typed into the next-generation iPhone he was testing on the field, cleverly disguised as an iPhone 3GS. It was his last Facebook update from the secret iPhone. It was the last time he ever saw the iPhone, right before he abandoned it on bar stool, leaving to go home.”

Left on a stool, the iPhone was handed to a guy sitting next to Powell. The guy asked around to see if anyone had lost it, but when no one claimed it, he took it home.

When he woke up after the hazy night, the phone was dead. Bricked remotely, through MobileMe, the service Apple provides to track and wipe out lost iPhones. It was only then that he realized that there was something strange that iPhone. The exterior didn’t feel right and there was a camera on the front. After tinkering with it, he managed to open the fake 3GS.

However, Gizmodo does not explain how the iPhone came into their possession — which may be the most important part of the story. “Weeks later, Gizmodo got it,” is all that is said. Gizmodo publisher Nick Denton paid just $5,000 for the iPhone, he admitted to the AP. According to California law, the iPhone is stolen even it was accidentally left at a bar. The finder is legally obliged to return it to Apple. Instead, they sold it to Gizmodo, who at the time of purchase knew it was Apple’s property.

Via 9to5Mac.

This is pretty funny (except for the poor schlub at Apple who lost the iPhone, of course).

Posted to SFBay Craigslist:

So I did it again this last week, consumed way too much straight vodka within perhaps an hour. The party started at 7, I had to be removed by 10pm because I was biting/attacking/wanting/insulting people and in the process lost my employers iPhone 4G prototype model. It was lost at Fahrenheit Ultra Lounge & Restaurant downtown San Jose. The phone was hidden inside of an iPhone 3G case. The device has a front facing camera, 80GB of storage. The device, when found was probably running a newer version of iPhone OS but my employer bricked it remotely within a few hours. Pretty sure i’m going to lose my job over this so if you find the phone please email me. Thanks

Apple’s next iPhone seems to answer a lot of geeks’ prayers. It’s got a forward-facing camera, a flash unit, and a super high-resolution screen. Combine that with multitasking and and universal inbox in OS 4.0, and who could say no?

Well, plenty of people, it seems. There’s lots of haters out there put off by the iPhone’s boxy industrial design. Many prefer curves it seems.

Let’s put it to a poll. Will you be buying the new iPhone this summer?

Gizmodo publisher Nick Denton says the “sorry Apple engineer” who left the 4G iPhone at a bar may have been identified. He says he’s calling the poor bastard, and the story is likely to follow.

Earlier in the day Denton promised to reveal the full story of how Gizmodo acquired the next-gen iPhone. The story will is a “corker” (a good story), Denton tweeted earlier.

Minutes ago Denton tweeted the following:

iPhone update. We think we’ve identified the sorry Apple engineer who left the next-gen phone at the bar. Calling in a min.

Earlier Denton tweeted that Gizmodo had paid for the pre-production iPhone, raising the likelihood that Gizmodo is in possession of stolen goods. According to California law, the iPhone is stolen even it was accidentally left at a bar. The finder is legally obliged to return it to Apple. Instead, they sold it to Gizmodo, who at the time of purchase fully knew it was Apple’s property (how could they not?).

Techcrunch and a couple of other sites are saying the price was $10,000 – but no one is offering any evidence.

Apple still hasn’t officially responded to the story.

UPDATE: Denton paid just $5,000 for the iPhone, he told the AP. As Merlin Mann tweeted: “Denton inflates traffic for a gadget blog by buying a stolen phone that doesn’t work? It’s like Christmas Morning for why the web sucks.”

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYVIHf9KBSE

This mini Apple store is the latest awesome creation from Gary Katz, who has been turning shoe boxes into iPhone theaters.

This time, it took him a weekend to make a store mock-up, and this one requires two iPhones for the full effect. One iPhone slots into the back wall, playing a loop of the iPad intro and Apple ads and another iPhone provides the Apple logo to light the store sign.  The minuscule iPads, iPhone and iMacs are the fruit of long hours with an Exacto knife.

Katz put tiny versions of his own business cards in here, too, in case computer engineer Barbie has some tech dilemmas.

This is a one-of-a kind labor of love to avoid tussles over trademarks, but his other clever iPhone theater kits can either be bought or downloaded, including this drive-in version.

It’s been a content rich morning from the Chinese gadget sweatshops, but this latest handset will undoubtedly give the true Mac faithful the vapors: the TEG W3000 is the spitting image of the unholy, cross-species union of an iPhone and a Nexus One.

We were pretty confident that the iPad-like, unibody-looking iPhone 4G leaked in grainy pictures last week was utterly bogus. Heck, we still think it was probably bogus, but bogus or not… maybe the renderer of those images was on the right track.

You probably remember the picture above. It was leaked to Engadget a day before Steve Jobs announced the iPad, and it was our first look at Apple’s much-rumored tablet. At the time, no one really paid much attention to the iPhone-like devices to the right of the iPad and captured in the iPad’s reflection: what people really cared about was the tablet itself.

Now, though? Those two pointing arrows seem to provide strong indication that Apple will extend the iPad’s design to the iPad 4G, with further confirmation provided by these MacRumor shots of alleged iPhone 4G components.

At this point, we seem to know what the iPhone 4G will look like and what it’s specs will be. What will Apple surprise us with when it’s officially unveiled in June?

The latest in a long and veritable line of Chinese iPhone knock-offs is this button cute Leady Apple… although we think they probably meant “Lady Apple.”

As the name implies, it’s like the iPhone 4G redesigned by the Powerpuff Girls.

A variety of circumstances, all of them terribly uninteresting, have prevented me from commenting on the recent introduction of iPhone OS 4 hot on the heels of the iPad launch. Since I’ve missed the window, I’ll keep the big picture thinking short: I think Apple has done exactly what it needs to maintain its lead in mobile operating systems. I wish I had it now. I will be annoyed if paid apps get over-run with iAds, but I don’t think such paid apps will sell well enough to survive.

But there’s a lot more to discuss in the details, and here, I have one big quibble with iPhone OS 4 – and it’s also a strength of WebOS and Android. Why haven’t notifications been fixed yet? If you own an iPhone, you know exactly what I mean. As you browse the web, or play a game, or even compose an e-mail, a blue box with white text pops up in the middle of the screen, letting you know about an imminent appointment, an incoming text message, a bill due through Mint.com, or even a Facebook friend request from your high school nemesis.