Got a PlayStation 3? Sony has just released their official PlayStation app for the whole world — or, at least, America, France, UK, Germany, Spain, Italy, and the Netherlands — to download.
Don’t expect to use your iPhone as a thin client to play some PlayStation 3 games, though. Instead, the app lets you log into the PlayStation Network, follow your friends, check out the games they own, read their status updates, monitor trophies you’ve earned and check out the official PlayStation blog.
The PlayStation app is a free download. You can get it here
Feeling pinched for space in your new MacBook Air? I know I certainly am, even (or, perhaps, especially) with a 500GB USB hard drive perpetually tethered to my 11-incher.
I’m interested, then, in OWC’s recently unveiled Mercury Auro Pro Express Kits, which are compatible with both the late 2010 11-inch and 13-inch MacBook Pros. They are available in three sizes: a $499.99 180GB dSSD, a $579.99 240GB SSD, and a $1,179.99 360GB SSD… all of which are not only bigger than Apple’s in-house drives, but faster as well.
Much as I’d like a bigger SSD in my MacBook Air, at those prices, I’m tempted to wait until they come down a bit… but that might not be an option. Apple has already shut down one company selling MacBook Air SSD upgrade kits, and it’s likely they’ll do the same here, so if you’re going to get one, better scrape that $500 together fast.
iOS 4.3 Beta Build 8F5148B has just been seeded to developers, and there’s some big changes across all devices to get your head around:
• iOS 4.3 officially drops support for the iPhone 3G and second-generation iPod Touch. iOS 4 never ran particularly well on these devices anyway, and it looks like Apple knows it: they’ve now left all support for less-than-third-gen devices at iOS 4.2.1.
• As predicted, iOS 4.3 brings the Verizon iPhone’s “Personal Hotspot” feature allowing WiFi tethering for up to five devices to all iPhones… or, at least, all iPhones that are blessed with their carrier’s approval.
• A new software option to choose what your iPad’s side switch does: lock rotation or mute. This is a pretty big change: Steve Jobs himself basically said the change in iOS 4.2 from a lock switch to mute was permanent, but it seems user complaints eventually made Apple see sense. Mute just doesn’t make any sense on a non-phone device.
• A new FaceTime icon and full-screen iAds.
• New multitouch gestures for iPad users. You can use four or five fingers to pinch to the Home Screen; swipe up to reveal the multitasking bar; and swipe left or right between apps.
Sprint and T-Mobile each announced Wednesday special media events set to take place in New York in coming weeks. Neither carrier is expected to announce anything related to Apple or its mobile devices, though the Sprint invitation sent to some tech industry journalists did allude to an “industry first” up its sleeve.
Sprint’s event is scheduled for February 7, while details on the T-Mobile announcement were unavailable at press time.
With the same uncanny knack for odd timing that led to the launch of the much-ballyhooed “iPhone killer” Palm Pre being completely overshadowed by Apple’s release of iPhone 3G in June 2009, Sprint’s event comes both well in the wake of Tuesday’s big Verizon iPhone announcement and just days before its widely-anticipated launch on the #1 carrier in the US.
Speculation as to which bright and shiny things Sprint might use to draw attention away from iPhone and its two largest competitors seems centered on potential new webOS devices such as the Pixi 2 or Topaz tablet, but which “industry first” either of those devices would bring to the table is anyone’s guess.
Perhaps the star of Sprint’s show, illusionist David Blaine will transform the company’s stock chart into something that hasn’t flat-lined after doing a Dive of Death.
We’ll all be videoconferencing like crazy in 2012, predicts Barclay’s analyst Ben Reitzes.
By the end of 2012, Apple’s installed base of FaceTime devices will exceed 200 million, Reitzes predicts.
That’s based on more than 85 million FaceTime-enabled devices by the end of 2011:
50 million FaceTime iPhones
15 million FaceTime iPods
12 million FaceTime Macs
10 million FaceTime iPads
In 2012, Apple’s video conferencing platform will only gather momentum, driven by what he’s calling the “FaceTime networking effect.”
“While Android and competitive devices either have or are working toward incorporating a similar feature, we believe this particular feature benefits from Apple’s vertically integrated model,” Reitzes said. “Experiences across disparate hardware platforms tend to vary–with Apple’s one of the most reliable in our trials. Also, this feature allows Apple to mine the millions of iTunes users who have Apple ID’s–and provide an attractive feature across devices that can be put into use immediately. We believe the ‘FaceTime networking effect’ could enhance a halo effect on Macs and iPads as the feature becomes available.”
Even if you haven’t heard of Michael Göbel before, perhaps you’ve encountered his software. A prolific worker, Michael’s been building an impressive portfolio of applications over the last few years.
Like all developers, he now faces the new challenges of selling via the Mac App Store, and today sent out an email to customers explaining his plans for the future.
We start the day with three deals for your iPhone. First up is a new crop of free iPhone applications from the App Store, including “Glow,” a catalog of wallpaper and backgrounds. Next is a new batch of price cuts on iPhone apps, including “Texting of the Bread,” a typing instructor. We wrap up our spotlight deals with an iPhone 4 bumper that also serves as a holster.
Along the way, we also check out some deals on the Xserve server, discounts on iPad cases, as well as deals for the iPod touch and Mac. As usual, details on these and many other items can be found at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the jump.
The 5th Avenue Apple Store is already one of New York’s most iconic locations, but now Apple wants to bring some of their keen architectural sense to Brooklyn… specifically, by putting their sixth NYC store near the new Atlantic Yards arena, which will be the future Prospect Heights’ based home of the New Jersey Nets.
According to the New York Observer, Apple’s been in discussions with developer Forest City Ratner about moving into a retail slot.
Writing about mobile for a living, it can be hard to keep the names of all of the competing App Stores straight. Apple has the App Store, Google has the Android Marketplace, HP has the Palm App Catalog and Microsoft has the most unwieldy name yet in the Windows Phone Marketplace.
Microsoft seems to be as embarrassed by their app market’s name as we are, because they’re now trying to take Apple to court over Cupertino’s 2008 trademark on the the “App Store,” arguing that the term is too generic to be exclusively used by Apple.
Much of the talk surrounding the impact of Verizon gaining the iPhone has centered on a potential loss by AT&T. However, a new theory is gaining a foothold that a Verizon iPhone could instead hurt Apple’s rival Google. Indeed, one analyst Wednesday goes so far as to predict Tuesday’s announcement will “suck the wind out of Android’s growth on Verizon.”
Here’s how the theory goes: although smartphones comprise a small segment of the overall cell phone market, they are a growing portion. Until now, feature phone owners looking to move to smartphones could either switch from Verizon to AT&T and get an iPhone, or stick with their carrier and buy one of the many Android phones flooding the airwaves. Now, yesterday’s announcement means Verizon customers can have their cake and eat it too – they can stay with their network and have an iPhone.
During yesterday’s Verizon iPhone event, one journalist asked Apple COO Tim Cook whether or not Verizon had an “exclusive” on the CDMA iPhone.
Although the Verizon iPhone seems like a huge deal over in the States, in the grand scheme of things, one carrier’s not particularly important… but there are an additional hundreds of millions of CDMA-subscribers in other countries like China and India who Apple would also like to sell an iPhone.
Needless to say, then, Tim Cook said that Verizon’s deal was a multi-year contract, but not exclusive, meaning that the so-called Verizon iPhone is really the CDMA iPhone, and will creep out to other CDMA networks in the coming months.
Sure enough, Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty told investors on Thursday that Apple was likely to strike deals for the CDMA iPhone with China Telecom and Reliance in India in the next few months. Those are the two fastest growing mobile markets on Earth: CDMA subscribers in India account for 20% of the country’s 670 million subscribers as it is.
The CDMA iPhone may be a big deal for Verizon subscribers, and people who want more competition and choice in the American mobile landscape, but let’s not forget the international importance here, which is arguably much, much bigger.
Although there’s still many things we don’t know about about the Verizon iPhone — namely, in the details of their pricing and the generosity of their data plans — one immediate advantage Verizon has over AT&T is that you can tether up to five different devices to the handset’s 3G connection over WiFi, when AT&T only offers one.
For road warriors, that’s a big perk to the Verizon iPhone compared to the AT&T one: you can drive an entire mobile office with just one Verizon device. Another benefit is that AT&T tethering service only works via Bluetooth or USB.
So will AT&T cave and match Verizon’s offer? AppleInsider asked the question, and was told by an AT&T representative that they would not “speculate” on their own plans.
Following Tuesday’s long-predicted announcement of a Verizon CDMA iPhone, one analyst sees Apple stock rising to $450 per share, up from a previous target price of $365. Peter Misek of Jeffreries & Co. seems to base his Wednesday note to investors on a belief the Cupertino, Calif. is not done surprising consumers.
Misek predicts Apple will unveil an iPhone for Long Term Evolution networks (sometimes known as 4G) by October, a GSM-based iPhone 5 in June and a 4G-based iPad in late 2011. Also, the analyst describes “multiple products to assault the living room” and cloud-based services also appearing this year.
If you saw our previous posts about light painting using an iPhone or iPad, you’ll enjoy this brief video demonstration of how to make a very cool New Year greeting.
The lightpainting was done using Penki, an app developed by the people who sparked off this idea in the first place, Dentsu London/BERG.
All that’s needed in addition is a ruler, a camera with a flash (for the portraits), and a shiny table. And perhaps a few rehearsals to get the timing right. There’s a pile more lightpainting images in the Penki Flickr pool, if you feel the need for some further inspiration.
Steve Jobs didn’t make an appearance at the Verizon iPhone launch, instead delegating an official Cupertino presence to his number one, Tim Cook… but according to Yahoo, Jobs won’t miss the January 19th launch of Rupert Murdoch’s new iPad-Only newspaper, The Daily.
The news comes apparently from Murdoch himself, who apparently briefed some reporters on the Daily at CES, although that information is still under embargo. The Daily’s team of reporters and staffers have apparently been engaged in full-scale dry runs for weeks in preparation for launch.
The first thing you’ll notice about Twitter v2.0 for the Mac, which is available for free via the Mac App Store, is that it doesn’t look like a regular Mac OS X application. The applications author, Loren Brichter, has completely tossed Apple’s Human Interface Guidelines for the Mac aside and Apple not only allowed him to do so, but allowed his application into the Mac App Store — much to the surprise of many developers.
I’m surprised that Apple, which has been so overly anal about iOS apps in the iTunes App Store, would allow this in the first place. I don’t know about you, but I’m beginning to wonder about Apple and the future there. It’s probably the forgone merger of the iOS and Mac OS X GUI interfaces. I’m not sure I’m ready for that – I’ve always boasted about the Mac OS X interface and how it improves my work flow.
So outside of the controversy about Twitters unique GUI it isn’t all that bad if you are looking for something simple. Some of it is actually kind of neat, yet that doesn’t overshadow the fact that it falls short of the iPad version that it appears it is trying to emulate.
Come launch day on February 10, Verizon’s iPhone customers needn’t worry about the 3rd party accessory market being ready to wrest a few dollars more from them in the name of style and security.
iLuv a premier provider of accessories for the Apple smartphone, is all set to launch a new line of stylish cases and protective films for the CDMA iPhone 4, the dearest of which will set consumers back almost $50. Nine cases and two kinds of protective films should be available at leading retailers and iLuv’s online store by late January.
And if you can’t wait that long, be sure to check out the Impactband from BaseOneLabs. They were prescient enough to design their case with 3mm of extra room above and below the volume and rocker switch, which allows plenty of room for access to the CDMA version’s moved left-side buttons.
Comedy Central’s Jon Stewart devoted seven minutes of his show Tuesday night to putting his team’s indelible spin on the Verizon iPhone announcement. The second half is actually pretty funny.
It remains to be seen whether 1/11/11 will heretofore be known as VZ Day, but it’s a thought.
Steve Jobs introduced iTunes ten years ago this week, on January 10, 2001 at the MacWorld Conference and Expo in San Francisco, where he proclaimed a belief in the “revolution” of “digital music on computers.”
At the time, Macs still ran on OS 9 and iTunes was all about “ripping audio CDs onto your computer disk;” tens of billions of dollars in digital music sales were yet a glimmer in Jobs’ eye.
At the time, iTunes launched as a competitor to existing products from companies such as Real Networks and Microsoft, and Jobs admitted at MacWorld that his company was “late to the game.”
iTunes, of course, quickly became the only game in town, as Apple soon launched OS X and seamlessly integrated its music software with iPod, the line of portable music players that “changed everything” and helped Apple become the tech industry powerhouse it is today.
While many tech pundits equivocate over the Verizon iPhone now that it’s finally almost here, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has no qualms about plunking down for another device on a new network.
“I’m definitely going to get one,” Wozniak said. “I always have at least one Verizon phone on me at all times, just in case I’m in one of those bad areas. You can find those areas where Veriozn doesn’t work and AT&T does, but in truth, it’s usually the opposite.”
“And I also love the mobile hotspot,” Wozniak added. “I hope it’s the standard $30 a month. I wish it was free like the Palm Pre, because that made the Pre a cheaper Mi-Fi. Anyway so I’m expecting that it’s no big new iPhone, not even a new color. It’s just going to be on the Verizon network.”
Wozniak is not your average cell phone user, however. Aside from being far more fabulously wealthy than 99% of the people in the US, his Verizon iPhone will bring the number in his phone holster up to four.
“I’ll have three activated AT&T iPhones, so if the battery runs down I have a spare,” Wozniak said. “And I’m in Europe a lot of times, so maybe one of them will be Verizon, one of them will be AT&T. So I’ll have two AT&T, one AT&T with the international plan, and one Verizon if I need it. Although the tethering’s only to a computer. Although maybe I can give one number up and give it to Verizon. And I’ll keep the Droid X. And I’ll probably give up the Palm Pre, because I now have another Mi-Fi.”
The day millions have waited for finally arrived Tuesday when Verizon announced it would begin offering customers Apple’s iPhone.
Well, perhaps more accurately, the day millions have waited for will finally arrive on February 10, when Apple iPhone users in the US get their first opportunity to sample the services of a network other than at&t, which has enjoyed the longest reign of exclusivity on the planet as the sole US carrier for iPhone since its launch in the summer of 2007.
Some say pent-up demand for iPhone on Verizon could “demolish” at&t’s business.
“I can tell you that the number one question I’ve gotten is ‘when will the iPhone work on Verizon’,” Apple COO Tim Cook said Tuesday at the launch announcement in New York — and some have predicted the boon to Verizon’s bottom line from iPhone sales will be massive.
Apple has released the sixth developer preview of the forthcoming Xcode 4. The new update has been posted to Apple’s developer websites for Mac OS X and iOS. Primarily it offers iprofiler a new command-line tool along with a new framework for measuring application performance. It also wouldn’t be your typical Apple software update without additional enhancements and bug fixes from the previous version released last November.
The iprofiler command-line tool helps developers to measure an applications performance without having to launch the Instruments application. However, its output can be analyzed by Instruments later for a complete performance evaluation.
The new framework introduced in the update is called DTPerformanceSession and it allows an application to create performance measurements of itself or other applications.
Complete information about the Xcode 4 Preview 6 and a download link are available to registered Apple Developers through Apple’s Developer website.
According to Verizon Wireless CFO Francis Shammo, it’s not just the iPhone 4 that’s going CDMA and joining Verizon. In an interview with Bloomberg, Shammo declared that a CDMA iPad, which connects directly to the Verizon network without the need for the carrier’s MiFi device, will be available in the future.
Shammo did not give any details on when the device might be available, how much it might cost, or whether it would use the network’s 4G service over LTE, however.
Although the iPad has been sold through the Verizon website for some time, it’s the Wi-Fi only model bundled with the carrier’s MiFi hotspot device, which is required to connect to the Verizon network. Some may argue that the benefit of having the MiFi device is that you can connect multiple devices and share the data connection, however, it’s possible the CDMA iPhone’s new ‘Personal Hotspot’ feature in iOS 4.2.5 could also be introduced to the CDMA iPad.
The announcement delivers another blow to AT&T, who currently have iPhone exclusivity until the device is also made available through Verizon in February.
