Perhaps it took a little longer than expected, but promise of background VoIP via the Giant Blue S has finally been fulfilled: With the Skype app’s 2.0.1 update, it’ll now run in the background (on any iPhone updated to iOS4, of course). Launch it, leave it running, and it’ll function just like your AT&T account — as long as the incoming call is from a Skype account, or you’ve paid for a Skype online number.
It also means that you’ll be able to switch the screen off or mess around with other apps on your iPhone while gabbing away on Skype.
The update arrives barely a week after Fring users suddenly lost the ability to make calls with Fring using their Skype accounts.
T-Mobile USA is very close to getting the iPhone in the fall, ending Apple’s exclusive relationship with AT&T, according to a highly placed source at the wireless company.
Talks between Apple and T-Mobile are at an advanced stage, our source says, and it’s 80 percent likely that the iPhone will be coming to T-Mobile in Q3.
The source works at T-Mobile but asked not to be quoted directly and to remain anonymous because they aren’t authorized to talk to the press.
T-Mobile’s parent company, Deutsche Telekom, which carries the iPhone in Germany, was able to influence, the source said. T-Mobile USA is the fourth-largest U.S. carrier with 33.7 million customers.
As if their already prodigious line of cameras wasn’t enough, Panasonic has bolstered it with five new models today, including two with a paparazzi-worthy 24x zoom lens, and another built for covert-op, low-light situations with an f2 lens and a high-sensitivity sensor.
Samsung have just announced two new mid-range compact digicams with a novel twist: a screen embedded in the front to assist with your subjects’ posing, activated with a simple tap.
Called the ST100 and ST600, both cameras feature 14MP sensors, ISO levels up to 3200 (you’ll be lucky to get acceptable images at a fourth of that) and come with KREUZNACH lenses featuring optical and digital image stabilization, as well as five degrees of optical zoom.
Those lenses are the only thing that really distinguish the ST100 from the ST600: the 27mm ST600 has a wider-angle lens than the 35mm ST100, and is also a bit more sensitive to light thanks to the ST600’s f4.9 aperture, compared to the ST100’s f6.3.
Both the Samsung ST600 and ST100 will be available in September and are, of course, fully Mac-compatible. Expect the ST600 to cost $349.99, while the ST100 will cost just $20 less.
You may prefer to roam the highways on your BMW bike alone, but thanks to an iPhone app you’ll always have help at hand if you need it.
Every BMW motorcycle comes with BMW Motorrad USA Roadside Assistance for three years, with the free iPhone app you can get help whether you’ve run out of gas, need a tow, have a flat or are looking for a dealer or need access to your service records.
It can hold info for up to four bikes — you can ID them with nicknames, photos or vehicle identification numbers — and is compatible with any BMW Motorrad model in the US from 1981 onward.
Developed with Allstate enterprises, BMW also provides similar service for BMW cars and Mini drivers.
Here’s hoping the concept will trickle down to the humble Vespa.
Unable to walk and chew gum at the same time, I’ve always admired how musicians can play and turn the page on sheet music without losing the plot.
They may need a little less coordination now thanks to a new iPad app and a Bluetooth foot switch called BT-105.
Still a prototype, maker Airturn says this Bluetooth version of their wireless, hands-free automatic page turner will be compatible with Bluetooth-enabled computers including the iPad.
With the tap on a foot switch, you turn to the page forward, if you hit it too soon, another tap turns the page back. On the demo, the musician flips the switch using a third-party app with a zoom feature, moving the sheet music half a page at a time.
Expect to see start seeing this page-turning app in late 2010.
With its excellent 720p video recording capabilities, the iPhone 4 is sure to gain a proper third-party steadicam sooner or later, but if you’re as impatient as Spencer Watson, you can build yourself a perfectly functional rig out of spare parts you’ve got lying around at home… or buy them straight from his online store. Looks steady enough to shoot my Evil Dead fan film, that’s for sure.
Apple has just been named co-dependent (along with nearly three dozen other companies) in a patent infringement lawsuit yesterday relating to spam filtering technology.
“Email as we know it would essentially stop working if it weren’t for InNova’s invention,” said InNova’s lawyer “More than 80 percent of email is spam, which is why companies use InNova’s invention rather than forcing employees to wade through billions of useless emails. Unfortunately, the defendants appear to be profiting from this invention without any consideration for InNova’s legal patent rights.”
And what is this amazing invention Apple stole from InNova? InNova came up with the idea of using a contextual database to identify emails a user wants from unsolicited ones according to conditions like whether or not a “From” address had been emailed before.
Spam filtering’s an amazing invention, no doubt, but it takes more to invent something than being the first to register they had the idea with the government. This is a totally scurrilous case, filed by parent troll InNova Patent Licensing in the Eastern District of Texas in Marshall, well-known as a friendly court for pursing patent infringement cases. The list of defendants include Google, Dell, HP, IBM, Yahoo… as well as the likes of JC Penney, Snapple and Dr. Pepper. Really. Dr. Pepper!
Cook: Apple's Working Around the Clock to Meet Demand
It’s an envious spot to be in: Apple’s iPhone and iPads are in such demand that the Cupertino, Calif. company spent much of Tuesday’s earnings call emphasizing it is dancing as fast as it can. “We’re working around the clock to try to get supply/demand in balance, in the scheme of things, it’s a good problem to have,” Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook told reporters.
The record third-quarter profit report and news that every category except iPods were up, did more to quiet the ‘antennagate’ controversy than all the free iPhone 4 cases in Cupertino. ”Let me be very clear on this: We are selling every unit we are making,” Cook crowed. Indeed. Although analysts were nervous about the potential effect of talk about dropped calls having on earnings, today, Oppenheimer’s Yair Reiner summed up the current feelings: “Antennagate Schmantennagate.”
Over the course of the last few years, the music industry has been struggling to cope with the way iTunes single-handedly changed the way music was consumed, from albums to $0.99 singles.
But is this earth change in the music industry simply due to iTunes’ ability to allow users to purchase just the songs they want, or could pricing fix the problem?
According to Eric Garland, CEO of Big Champagne, speaking at the New Music Seminar this week, the real thing killing the album is that $9.99 for an album doesn’t offer a significant discount over the per unit price of a $0.99 song, while historically, consumers have gotten a better deal on albums versus singles.
“Historically, the price of an album was five times greater than a single,” said Silverman, who believes setting the price at a tenth of an album’s cost was a mistake and that even $1.29 is too low. “It should’ve been a $1.99, and then we would’ve seen higher digital album sales because it would’ve been a bigger discount for buying an album.
The good news for album fans like me is that the $9.99 price of albums is slowly but surely making some headway: 14% of all Universal Music’s digital sales these days are for complete albums. iTunes hasn’t necessarily killed the album… it’s just put it in semi-hibernation.
Are you impressed by the living, breathing Wall o’ Apps on display by Apple at WWDC every year? Polish developer iApp has created a desktop simulacrum of the App Wall in the form of the AppWall screensaver.
It doesn’t work precisely like the real App Wall, in that the icons aren’t pulled from real-time purchases, but rather pulls icons from the top free or paid apps, but it’s still pretty swank. Even better, it’s free!
We haven’t seen a new iLife release since January 2009, so common sense says that the software suite is probably about due for an update early next year.
So should you take this Amazon.fr iLife 2010 for Dummies as confirmation of a forthcoming update?
It’s hard to say: one the one hand, the book is set for release on September 23rd, so unless Apple announces iLife 2010 at their September iPod conference, we’re not going to see it this year.
On the other hand, iLife 2008 was released in August, so it’s not completely unprecedented for Apple to just drop an update into the middle of the year like this without a lot of fanfare.
Personally, I’m hoping for the latter: at the very least, I’d welcome an update to iPhoto.
China Telecom has reversed course and now expresses interest in offering the iPhone to subscribers. The decision to sell the iPhone hinges on whether Apple will offer a CDMA version of the iconic handset, a Wednesday report suggests.
“If we can have an iPhone, that would be good, but we’ll just wait and see” if the Cupertino, Calif. company offers one, the Wall Street Journal quotes an unnamed China Telecom official. Reportedly, Apple is working on a CDMA iPhone, although the company has made no public comment.
For analysts worried about the impact of the so-called ‘Antennagate’ on Apple earnings, yesterday’s record revenue report was welcome relief. “To those (like us) who fretted that Antennagate might hamper iPhone sales, Apple’s guidance seems to say, antennagate, schmantennagate,” Oppenheimer’s Yair Reiner told investors Wednesday morning.
You might remember Reiner’s comments ahead of Tuesday night’s earnings report, including his decision to cut his expectations on third-quarter iPhone sales. “The perception — created by a scoop-hungry media and Apple’s newly-emboldened wireless adversaries — is that the 4 is faulty,” Reiner said. Instead of being hurt, Apple reported iPhone sales grew 61 percent to 8.4 million.
Though I’ve come very close on several occasions, I still haven’t bought myself an iPad. After seeing this video for Flipboard, an iPad exclusive app that assembles a magazine out of the articles your friends are sharing on Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks, I might need to finally pull the trigger.
The app, from a company of the same name (whose co-founder, Evan Doll, in full disclosure, is a friend of a friend), is absolutely stunning. The interactions, the formatting, the incorporation of video, the sharing capabilities — all of them are best in class. The iPad’s collection of RSS readers and Instapaper-like “read later” apps are very nice, but the premise here is different. It’s like Instapaper without having to choose what gets pulled down.
And I will say that this looks to me a lot more like the magazine of the future than that the digital version of Wired does. It’s available for free in the app store now, though from what I understand the company is frantically working to add more servers to allow new members to join. Maybe I’ll have an iPad by the time they have capacity again…
Apple’s massive data center in North Carolina will come online early next year, Apple execs said during an analyst conference call on Tuesday afternoon.
“It’s on-schedule,” said Apple’s CFO Peter Oppenheimer. “We expect it completed by the end of the calendar year.”
The $1 billion center is as big as the world’s biggest data facilities, and has been the subject of much speculation since construction started in August 2009. Occupying 500,000 square feet, the data center is about five times the size of Apple’s data center in Newark, California.
Two months ago, Apple passed Microsoft as the most-valuable tech company. Soon, it may pass its rival in terms of revenues. Microsoft makes about $61.5 billion a year: Apple is on track to make $60 billion.
Question is: As Apple gets bigger and bigger, is it in danger of becoming the new Microsoft? Did you prefer the old, underdog Apple?
The iPad is a runaway hit and is going mainstream fast. CC-licensed photo by Mat Buchanan.
The iPad is a runaway hit and it’s going mainstream faster than anything they’ve seen, Apple execs are saying.
“It is not following a typical early adopter curve and taking a while to cross over into the mainstream,” said Apple COO Tim Cook during an analyst conference call.
The iPhone 4 is Apple’s fastest-selling device to date and there’s no sign whatsoever that the antenna issue is impacting sales or returns, Apple executives said.
“The demand for iPhone 4 is stunning,” said Apple COO Tim Cook during a conference call with Wall St. analysts. “Let me be very clear on this: We are selling every unit we are making.”
Cook said the antenna issue has had no impact on sales.
“My phone is ringing off the hook with people who want more supply,” he said.
He also said there is not a significant number of returns of the iPhone 4. In fact, there are fewer returns than iPhone 3GS.
“The ones for this specific (antenna) issue are extremely small,” Cook said.
Apple has settled claims with state regulators who allege the company mishandled electronic waste. Photo: Thomas Dohmke
Apple reported another blockbuster quarter thanks to record sales of iPhones and Macs, making the most money ever in company history: $15.7 billion.
Even more unbelievable, Apple is projecting $18 billion in revenue next quarter—and the company is known for lowballing estimates.
Apple is likely to equal Microsoft in annual revenues this year, and may even pass it’s long-time rival. Apple is on track to make more than $60 billion in revenue this year, which is almost equal to Microsoft’s $61.5 billion. Apple already surpassed Microsoft two months ago as the world’s most highly-valued tech company.
Apple sold boatloads of Macs and iPhones. The iPad is also a big hit: Apple has shifted 3.27 million iPads since launch. The only downside was iPod sales.
Here are the key numbers:
Macs: 3.47 million Macs sold, the most ever in a single quarter, and 33% more than last year.
iPhones: 8.4 million sold, up 61% year-over-year.
iPods: 9.41 million sold, down 8% from the year-ago quarter.
In addition, Steve Jobs hinted at even more new products this year:
“It was a phenomenal quarter that exceeded our expectations all around, including the most successful product launch in Apple’s history with iPhone 4,” Steve Jobs said in a statement. “iPad is off to a terrific start, more people are buying Macs than ever before, and we have amazing new products still to come this year.”
It’s made big waves at the Japanese iTunes Store since its launch in March (not surprising as it was developed by Japanese developer Inforteria), and this morning Twitcal — an app that allows its users to import and update their calendars via tweets — has landed in app stores elsewhere.
The app looks pretty nifty: Just follow another user’s calendar, and your calendar is automatically updated anytime they make a change. Users-sans-Twitcal aren’t left out completely though, because the app can also send event notifications via email. As expected, Twitcal also syncs with Google Calendar and iCal.
The Pogoplug is a great little gadget that connects up to four hard drives to the Internet. It’s very handy for serving up files, music and movies to anyone, anywhere. We reviewed it very favorably.
Now there’s about to be a business version, the Pogoplug Biz, which adds a bunch of features for small and medium business (SMB) users. It’s like Dropbox, except the data is not on some other company’s servers. The Pogoplug Biz is available for pre-order for $299 and includes lifetime Pogoplug service.
Although we won’t know for certain how Apple did during the third financial quarter until after the markets close tonight, analysts this morning came out with their usual prognostications, including a surprise reduction from Oppenheimer on the target price for the Cupertino, Calif. company’s stock.
Oppenheimer analyst Yair Reiner told investors this morning he is concerned the negative publicity over the iPhone 4’s reception problems could hurt sales. “We believe the iPhone 4’s antenna performance is comparable to that of other smartphones, but in the court of public opinion, perception is reality,” Reiner writes. “The perception — created by a scoop-hungry media and Apple’s newly-emboldened wireless adversaries — is that the 4 is faulty,” the analyst adds.
Apple’s due to start sending out free cases to beleaguered iPhone 4 owners at the end of the week… and while that’s great for customers, it’s bad news indeed for companies planning on selling their own iPhone 4 cases. How do you compete with free?
Incipio is trying. They’ve just started a cute “We love our customers too” campaign. It works like this: once you receive your free bumper from Apple, you can send it in to Incipio for five bucks off one of their premium iPhon cases.
Obviously, this is only a good deal if you’re looking for a higher-quality case than the bumper, but still, it’s a nice gesture. The question is: with Apple intending on sending out third-party cases along with the bumper, what will Incipio do for people who get another free case instead? Will the same discount still apply?
