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At the weekend, the Wall Street Journal reported an intriguiging detail about the upcoming iPhone nano: the new iPhone would feature “voice-based navigation.” (It will also be streaming-only, according to our report).

Could this be true system-wide voice control, as programming legend Bill Atkinson predicted at Macworld?

As we previously reported, Atkinson said it’s clear that iPhones would one day be controlled by voice, but he predicted the development to be several years away — two to ten years, he said.

But Atkinson reminded us we can get a sneak peek at the technology if we tune into Jeopardy! tonight. The history-making show features IBM’s DeepQA Project Watson supercomputer versus previous champions, Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter.

It’s likely to be a first public demonstration of the kind of natural-language and real-world knowledge technology to make it work.

“When we see computers interacting with a natural language interface, people are going to want it,” Atkinson said.

“I’d ask you all to watch Jeopardy on February 14,” he said. “It may be a momentous occasion.”

This is probably the best iPhone nano mockup so far from our friend Tyler Hojberg, who writes:

Hey, just thought I’d share my concept idea of the “iPhone nano.” Creating a smaller chunkier screen allows more room for a full sized keyboard and contrary to popular belief, I decided to keep the home button. I don’t believe Apple is ready to do away with the iconic home button just yet, as I believe it’s one of the distinguishing form factors of the iPhone. Notice the change in antenna at the bottom which I believe would be blocked because of the way a smaller iPhone is held, leaving only one at the top. It’s conceptual, but not too far-fetched.

What do you guys think? Would it work?

While the wait for iOS 4.3 and in-app recurring subscriptions continues, free access to The Daily has been extended beyond the original two-week trial period until February 28th, sparking rumors that suggest Apple’s next iOS update could also drop on the same date.

The extension to free access was picked up by German Mac blog Macerkopf, after the expiry date of their subscription changed within the “Account Information” in The Daily application. Because the application’s billing method relies on the recurring subscriptions feature iOS 4.3, customers cannot be charged for access to the service until the update is available.

Of course, Feb 28th may be nowhere near the release date of 4.3, and The Daily could be just extending its free trial to a random date in the hope that the update is available by then.

There have been rumors that the public debut of iOS 4.3 would be at 10 AM EST today, however, a quick glance at your clock right now will show that predication was an inaccurate one.

[via 9to5 Mac]

There is an app for practically anything and now there are apps that will help you to impersonate a cop. Especially a cop making traffic stops as one woman reported to Northwest Indiana police recently.

The woman called 911 late one night recently with the suspicion that the black Pontiac GTO with flashing blue and red lights at the top of its windshield wasn’t really a cop. She thought that the driver of the car was following her and attempting to pull her over.

Rumors have been running rampant on the internet about AT&T’s response to the Verizon iPhone and one of those rumors was about adjustments that AT&T will be making or could be making to current data plans. Retention of current customers seems to be on AT&T’s mind lately and we can thank Verizon for that.

It all started with the fairly generous offer of 1,000 rollover minutes for customers who simply sent the word “yes” in a text message to 11113020.  The system responded telling those customers that they would receive these minutes on their account within four weeks. However, the generosity hasn’t stopped there.

The iPhone nano mockups are coming in thick and fast.

The one above is by iOSboy. It has the same screen size as the full-size iPhone to make it easy for app developers. But he’s put the camera on the bottom. Does that make sense?

Here are some other interesting mockups:

For many users, the Verizon iPhone is a big step-up from AT&T when it comes to quality service. Service on Verizon is simply more dependable: calls don’t drop as much, the person you’re speaking to seems clearer, etc. That’s 95% of what most people care about.

That’s not to say the Verizon iPhone’s a slam dunk for everyone, though. It has its drawbacks. Verizon’s CDMA network can’t handle the simultaneous juggling of data and voice. 3G speeds are inferior to AT&T’s. And, if you’re a business user, the Verizon iPhone has some serious limitations when it comes to conference calling: not only are you limited to conference calls with just two other people, but you can’t switch between conference calls either.

These aren’t problems with the hardware: just limitations with Verizon’s CDMA network, and ones that every Verizon user has to deal with. This isn’t likely to be an issue for more than a small percentile of customers, but if you’re one of them, and need your network to handle conferencing robustly, you might want to think twice before making the switch.

The iPad 2 isn’t the only new Apple product that is likely to hit stores in March. For weeks now, supplies of existing MacBook Pro models have been plummeting, and given Tim Cook’s obsession with supply, that indicates a refresh across the board.

So when can you expect the new MacBook Pros? Unknown, but according to Danish Blogger Kenneth Lund, the date he’s hearing in Denmark from Apple Resellers is March 1st.

You only need to take the quickest and most cursory glance at the newsf eeds to know that the iPad 2 isn’t just coming, and it’s right around the corner, hitting Apple Stores no later than sometime in April.

But if you need more proof, consider this: AT&T is having a massive sale on all iPad accessories. They’re clearing house of all the accessories that in a few short months won’t work with the current-gen iPad, and they’re desperate enough that they’re slashing prices literally in half.

Yup, all iPad accessories are now 50% off at AT&T. You just don’t discount accessories on a successful current product like this if you aren’t expecting them to be obsolete soon. As for how soon, if AT&T knows something the rest of us don’t, my guess is that we’re looking at a March launch for the iPad 2 instead of April. Why clear house now if there’s still two months to go?

For the second year running, Apple has been named Barron’s most respected company in an annual survey of money managers.

If you use online streaming service Spotify, you’ll know that the client software required for controlling it is pretty good.

It’s simple to use, and not too cluttered with controls and extras. Since I started paying £5/month for Spotify’s advert-free Unlimited service, I’ve been listening to it for many hours on end, and found only one problem: I have to switch back to Spotify to control it.

Now it’s true that Spotify can be controlled with your Mac’s existing dedicated iTunes buttons – F7 for previous track, F8 for play/pause, and F9 for next track. But this only works well if iTunes isn’t running at the same time. If both apps are open, they both respond to these commands, and audio chaos ensues.

Spotify Menubar is a simple free utility that solves this problem by allowing you to set up your own system-wide keyboard shortcuts for Spotify, so you can avoid the conflict with iTunes and still have easy keyboard access to your favorite songs.

It would be nice if Spotify Menubar had some clickable controls of its own, which would better justify its position on the Menu Bar in the first place. But for those of us who spend hours a day with our heads inside Spotify playlists, it’s a useful little widget to have around nonetheless.

More deals from the supply front, as Apple reportedly inks a deal worth $7.8B with tablet rival Samsung to supply components for the upcoming iPad 2 and other mobile devices created by the Cupertino, Calif. tech giant. The report follows earlier talk the tablet maker had signed agreements with several manufacturers in a bid to corner the supply of parts required for a high-resolution ‘retina’ display.

This latest agreement reported by the Wall Street Journal would make Samsung Apple’s largest supplier, something which has raised eyebrows. Samsung makes the Android-based Galaxy smartphone and Galaxy Tab tablet, which are alternatives to Apple’s MacBook and iPad.

New over at Photojojo is this bizarre $35 add-on for iPhone 3GS or iPhone 4: an 8X zoom lens kit.

You get more than just the lens. The kit comes with a slide-on case for your phone, on to which you attach the lens itself. There’s also a mini tripod so you can keep the whole thing steady.

It certainly looks weird, but it’s so cheap that I can see plenty of photo nerds jumping at the chance to play around with iPhone zoomery.

If you do, let us know what you think of it, or link to some of your sample images.

It’s not often Apple and the corporate boardroom are mentioned in the same sentence, but an increasing number of analysts say the Cupertino, Calif. company’s iPad is a big hit with business. As CEO Steve Jobs puts it: “We’ve got a tiger by the tail…”

Apple’s secret weapon in what Barclays analyst Ben Reitzes calls “the consumerization of IT” is the infiltration of the iPad, iPhone and other products not originally aimed at the enterprise. And as for the iPad, the tablet is “running far ahead” of competitors, making competition for corporate dollars Apple’s game to lose, according to the analyst.

UPDATE: The big question about a streaming-only iPhone is apps: How will users download apps? My source compared it to the second-generation Apple TV, which is a streaming-only device but includes 8GB of onboard memory (for the OS and buffering media). “I’m not 100% sure on the amount of memory available for the user,” he said. “I know there is some memory but it acts more like the memory on the AppleTV. There is some there, I’m just not sure how much.”

We have more detail on Apple’s iPhone nano, which according to Sunday’s Wall Street Journal is real and may be headed to market this year.

But what we have will blow your mind.

Back in 2005, after his battle with cancer and first medical leave of absence from Apple, Steve Jobs gave a rare glimpse into his personal passions and motivation in an inspiring commencement speech to Stanford University graduates. As Jobs once again takes leave of his child – and prognosticators debate what may become of Apple – Matt’s Macintosh has created this lovely compendium of an excerpt from that address, with music and great old photos from Before the Turtleneck.

Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish. It’s what has made Apple so special. It can still change the world.

This week, Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal and TechCrunch all published rumors that Apple plans to compete in the mid-ranged smartphone sector, with the launch of a smaller, more affordable iPhone, to be sold alongside the iPhone 4. At Cult of Mac, we predicted as much six weeks ago.

Of course, rumors of a smaller, cheaper iPhone are nothing new. They’ve been around for almost as long as the iPhone itself. And with good reason. Any seasoned Apple watcher will recognize this as Steve Jobs’ standard MO. Launch an iconic, up-market product, allow the market for it to grow and mature, and when the underlying technology becomes cheap enough, introduce a smaller, more affordable mass market version.

The recently released Greenpois0n jailbreak tool has been updated to release candidate 6 today, and this particular version will allow you to jailbreak your second-generation AppleTV and install the popular NitoTV software, adding a few great new features to your device.

The process is exactly the same as that used for release candidate 5, and just as before, this will provide an untethered jailbreak for all devices, meaning you won’t need to plug them in to your computer when you want to boot them.

Greenpois0n RC6 is available for both Mac and Windows, and you can download it now from here.

Going around town today, I didn’t have time to plop myself in front of a television, and so I constantly checked my iPad when at WiFi hotspots to update myself on the exciting developments in Egypt.

Oh, there’s gonna be a bumper crop of iPhone musicians born this weekend if Frontier Design Group has their way. Practically all their music-slinging iPhone apps are on sale to celebrate the iPhone coming to Verizon, including the highly regarded iShred app — sister app to the free iShred LIVE app required to use Griffin’s GuitarConnect and StompBox accessories — GuitarStudio and PianoStudio, all three of which are normally $5 each, but on sale for a buck apiece.

As musician and fellow Cult of Mac contributor Lonnie Lazar says, these apps won’t turn you into a Rock God; but they’re certainly a truckload of fun and great tools to learn with. Sale ends tomorrow, so don’t mess around if you want ’em.

Now that Apple’s killed off the XServe once and for all, there’s not a lot of options when it comes to fitting the existing Mac server options into a standard 1U rack space… or is there?

The RackMac mini by Sonnet Tech allows system admins to install two Mac minis in a standard rackmount enclosure while allowing full access to the CD drive, power LEDs and even the IR port on the unibody mini.

I’m no admin, but Sonnet seems to have thought of everything here, right down to a wiring and ventilation system to prevent the Mac mini from overheating. Each kit costs $16.

Apple doesn’t let app developers assign functions to the iPhone’s physical buttons. It’s easy to understand their point in the matter — those physical buttons are for system settings, not as function keys — but I’ve always wished Apple would make an exception when it came to camera apps. Using an onscreen shutter button just isn’t very nice, especially when you’re trying for a self-portrait.

The Camera Mic App is an ingenious dodge against the prohibition against using the iPhone’s physical buttons as a shutter in a camera app: instead, it uses the iPhone’s mic itself as a shutter button. Just load the app and tap the mic when you want to take a picture.

Briilliant, and only $0.99. If you take a lot of duck-lipped Facebook self-portraits, this is the app for you.

Over at Geek.com, I took Sparrow — the new Tweetie-esque Gmail client for Mac, now available on the Mac App Store — for a spin.

What’d I think? I really liked it… so much so that it has dislodged Postbox 2 as my e-mail client of choice.

Here’s a bit of my review:

Sparrow treats email a lot like Twitter, a four-year old micro-blogging medium still in the process of evolving. It’s a presumptuous move on the part of Sparrow’s developers, and one many users will just never be able to get beyond, either because they needmore functionality from an email client… or, after decades of using email one way, they just can’t believe that they could be more productive treating it more ephemerally…

How seriously do you take your email? How much can you go with its flow? Power users will be driven mad by the lack of sophisticated mail wrangling functionality in Sparrow, but that’s the whole point. Sparrow wants you to treat your inbox like a stream that can be dipped into, not an ocean to be tamed; it’s the equivalent of skipping stones, not piloting a submarine.

You can read the whole review here, and stay tuned to Cult of Mac for an interview with the Sparrow team next week in which we discuss the philosophy and future of the app.

When I wrangled a brief listen to Antec’s new soundscience rockus 3D 2.1 system at CES last month, I was pretty sure this was a direct challenge to Bose’s venerable Companion 3 system. All the pieces are there: subwoofer, two satellite speakers and the stand-alone volume dial; even the price, $250, is the same.

Antec’s take, though, takes more style risks and adds this: an active system that feigns 3D, giving the impression of a 5.1 system by processing incoming signals and “placing” the sounds in a virtualized 3D soundscape to create the effect. At least, that’s the idea; the little taste I received at CES certainly inicated they might have got it right. Full test coming.

The profile image on Twitter for Egyptian activist Wael Ghonim shows him wearing a Pharoah’s crown, typing away on a Mac laptop. Ghonim, a Google marketing exec in Cairo, was released after 12 days in custody by authorities for a  Facebook page Facebook Page about the death of everyman activist Khalid Said that catalyzed protests.

I got to talk to a researcher this week about social media in the Arab world – and how the services many of us use to keep in touch with far-flung old flames and cousins serve as portable microblogging and news distribution tools in places where most media is state-run or party-funded.

We’ll try to catch up to Ghonim after the euphoria dies down to ask him what role Apple devices play in these historic events.

UPDATE: we corrected the FB page thanks to reader ademsemir who says that iPhones played a big part in recent events. 

Via @ghonim