Tag Archives: iPhone

Apple iPhone rumor roundup: iPhone HD, CDMA iPhone coming to VZW, & more predictions

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According to the Wall Street Journal, Apple is “developing a new iPhone to debut this summer.”  This bit of news isn’t too surprising if you look at Apple’s track record; since the inception of the iPhone, new handsets have been announced each and every summer.  But wait–there’s more!  Apple is also “working on another model for US mobile phone operator Verizon Wireless.”  In other words, the best smartphone is coming to the best network.  We’ve heard these rumors before, but hearing it come from the WSJ make it sound that much sweeter.

Some manufacturing details have surfaced as well.  According to “people briefed on the matter” and relayed by the WSJ, the “next iPhone is being manufactured by Taiwanese contract manufacturer Hon Hai Precision Industry” (the same company behind all previous iPhones) and the first CDMA iPhone (purported to go to VZW) will be manufactured by Pegatron Technology.  Mass production of the CDMA iPhone could start as early as this September.

Engadget was tipped about a June 22 unveiling for the next-gen iPhone, dubbed the iPhone HD.  Long-time Apple product seer John Gruber added his latest predictions to the mix.  He claims the next-gen iPhone will feature the A4-class system-on-a-chip, a 960×640 display, a front-facing camera, and third-party mulititasking support with iPhone OS 4.0.

To sum up: A new iPhone (possibly the “iPhone HD”) will be announced this summer; said iPhone will boast a high-res display and front facing camera (among other predictions); and a CDMA version of the iPhone is headed to Verizon Wireless, with manufacturing to commence as early as September, ending AT&T’s death grip on what is arguablly the world’s best smartphone.  Sounds about right to me.  Now it’s time to start the waiting game.  Summer isn’t that far away, is it?

[Via WSJ; Engadget; DaringFireball]

Dr. Horrible comic comes to the iPhone

Comics, News, , , ,

Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog was a hit 3-part web series.  Then Dark Horse Comics brought the hilarious, musically-inclined story to the comic book world.  And now you can read Zack Whedon’s piece on the iPhone, iPod touch, and soon on the iPad.  Just as a refresher:

In this one-shot comic, Zack Whedon and artist Joelle Jones (Token) establish how a young, impressionable, but brilliant Dr. Horrible was drawn into a world of crime. Readers are reacquainted with the charming, brawny, crime-fighting superhero extraordinaire Captain Hammer when Dr. Horrible crosses paths with his greatest enemy in an all-out showdown of immeasurable proportions. Special guest appearances include Dr. Horrible’s love interest, Penny; his sidekick, Moist; and a meter man.

Though its comic form lacks the music it’s still a great read if you’re a fan of all things Horrible.  And though the iPhone format lacks features like zoom and tap-to-turn pages, the promise of comic book readers for the iPad is all the more exciting.

SkiFree is back! On the iPhone!

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This itty bit of news has just made my week.  Remember that game SkiFree that came preloaded on Windows 3.1?  It was a very simple game; you used the arrow keys to direct the skier speck to the bottom of a hill, trying your best to not run into obstacles like trees and rocks.  Today gameplay utilizes iPhone goodies like the built-in accelerometer for steering and the touchscreen for jumping.  The developer promises a future update will add a new slalom mode, easter eggs from the original SkiFree, and the absent and totally necessary Snow Monster.  That little basterd would always get me once I reached near the bottom of the hill!  Download SkiFree here; it’s free!

[Via BusinessInsider; Gizmodo]

The Creepy La-La-La Guy gets an app

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We all knew this was coming.  The latest Internet meme is now featured in an app for the iPhone/iPod Touch.  Edward Anatolevich Hill is ‘The Creepy La-La-La Guy’ you’ve seen belt out those lalala’s and get impersonated by the great Christoph Waltz.  You can now bring the nightmare-inducing man to your iPhone with the Trololo app.  In it Hill sings his tune over and over again as you try to unlock the following powers: Applause, Funny Hat, Tone Invasion, Lava, Earthquake, and Chicken Of Death.  Normally priced at $1.99, the app is free today!  So go on and download it.  Or don’t.

[Via Krapps; Gizmodo]

AT&T & Sling make nice; Slingplayer to stream live TV over 3G

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When Sling released the $29.99 Slingplayer app for the iPhone back in May, AT&T restricted it from streaming live TV over its 3G service because they were worried the overload of data would bring its cell service to its knees.  Poor AT&T.  This week AT&T has come out and stated they have been working closely with Sling to optimize Slingplayer’s streaming capabilities so that it would not hurt AT&T’s customers.  As soon as Apple approves it, a free update will allow Slingers to stream their content over 3G, in addition to WiFi.  With news of AT&T approving VoIP calls and now Sling streaming over 3G, it seems as if AT&T at long last has come to accept the fact that restricting significant features on its most popular device is a major no-no.

[Via Engadget]

Apple reports 2010 Q1 earnings: $3.38b profit, Macs up 33%, iPods down 8%, iPhone sales double

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Apple recently announced their first quarter financial results and per usual, they made quite a hefty profit.  $3.38 billion to be exact (or $3.67 profit per share).  They brought in revenues of $15.68 billion.  Note that these numbers are up from last quarter’s profit of $2.26 billion on $11.88 billion in revenue.  More to the point, this is the best quarter they have ever had.  Let’s break it down by product: Apple sold 3.36 million Macs (representing a 33 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter), 8.7 million iPhones (representing 100 percent unit growth), and 21 million iPods (representing an eight percent unit decline).  No surprise there; iPod sales have been declining for some time now.  Note that this decline factors general iPod sales; iPod touch sales were up 55 percent.

According to the earnings PR, “The new products we are planning to release this year are very strong, starting this week with a major new product that we’re really excited about.”  *Cough–Apple Tablet–cough.*  Sorry, I was just clearing my throat.  Might as well throw in a possibility of seeing the next iLife, iPhone OS 4.0, and maybe even witness AT&T’s iPhone exclusitivity fall by the wayside to Verizon.  Remember to check back here tomorrow night for all Apple announcements.

Every quarter seems to surpass the last financially for Apple.  With Steve Jobs at the helm, what else more could you expect?  The man is an inspiration, and his company is his vision.  “Apple at the core, its core value, is that we believe that people with passion can change the world for the better.”  Watch as Steve Jobs (in shorts!) motivates the industry in a video captured about ten years ago when he returned to Apple.

[Via Apple; Engadget; Gizmodo]

Catch your spouse snooping around red-fingered with iTrust app

Technology, Video, , , , ,

Do you think your spouse is cheating on you?  Do you have trust issues?  Is your name Elin Woods?  In any case, the iTrust app is for you!  It works like this: You take a snapshot of your iPhone’s homescreen (holding down the home button + the power button), open the iTrust app, select the homescreen image you just took, and tap start.  That’s it.  Now when someone tries to go snooping on your phone he/she will get passed the lock screen to find a frozen image of your homescreen.  The culprit will think the still image is actually the homescreen and will go about pressing various apps trying to pry into private text messages or emails.  All the while the app is recording his/her every move.  When you get back to your phone you can open iTrust and playback a log to see what exactly the culprit was trying to find.  Neat, huh?  Obviously there are many ways to bypass the iTrust mirage but the concept is interestingly sneaky, isn’t it?  iTrust is available in the App Store for a buck.  Full demo in the video above.

[Via Gizmodo]

Voice Band app turns your voice into a myriad of instruments (freakin’ awesome!)

Music, Technology, Video, , , , , , ,

From WaveMachineLabs comes a new innovative app for the iPhone called Voice Band.  Simply put, the app turns your voice into an instrument in real time.  Instruments include 2 guitars, a bass, sax, 2 synths, drums, and a mic.  Basically you make sounds with your voice and the app converts and records these sounds into instrument sounds, allowing you to layer them on top of each other to create a final product that may actually sound like an intricate, well thought out song.  In mic mode you can even top it all off with your own vocals; don’t worry, a built-in auto pitch helps you stay on key.  You also have the option to play your iPod library in the background and “play along with your favorite music.”  Songs can be saved and emailed to friends within the app.  Voice Band is available in the App Store today for $2.99.  It works with all iPhones and the 2nd gen iPod touch; you must have OS 3.0 or later installed.  One more stipulation–a pair of headphones (with a built-in mic) is required for iPod touch and original iPhone users.  See it in action in the video above.  Definitely one of the coolest apps I’ve come by in a while.

[Via Gizmodo]

Ring in the New Year, “let there be courage”

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Get your first look at the 2010 New Year’s Ball set in Times Square.  Though they didn’t add to the previously installed 32,256 Philips LED lights, they did include new Waterford glass panels.  Every year “a new hope” is constructed onto the ball, and this year the theme is “let there be courage.”  This year’s ball is going to be a shining colorful beacon of brilliance.

For 2010 Waterford Crystal has designed a new sparkling “Let There Be Courage” triangle. The crystals feature a unique interlocking ribbon pattern woven into the Celtic knot. The triangles, each about 3/8″ thick and 6.8 ounces in weight are custom made and built to exacting standards to withstand the stresses of high winds, precipitation and temperature fluctuation that exist over 400 feet above Times Square. 288 are being installed alongside crystal installed in previous years.

And get this–a Waterford iPhone app has been developed for the special occasion.  It’s called Clink-Clink and it’s a a virtual toasting application.  When two iPhones tap each other and “clink” glasses, contact information is shared and can even posted on Facebook.  Ah, ’tis the year of “there’s an app for that.”  Am I right?  Head after the break for an additional video showcasing the New Year’s Ball and watch how the Waterford app works.

[Via Gizmodo, here & here]

Continue reading Ring in the New Year, “let there be courage” →

Apple: iTunes subscription based services, more iPhone/tablet rumors

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Let’s get right to it, shall we?  The Wall Street Journal reports that CBS and Walt Disney Company (among other major TV networks) are “consideringparticipating in Apple’s plan to offer television subscriptions over the Internet.”  CBS will offer shows from CBS and CW and Disney will offer selections from its ABC, Disney Channel, and ABC Family networks.  Though details are being kept under wraps, word has it that Apple will offer its iTunes customers a $30/month subscription to choose from the TV networks’ selection of shows.  This is all starting to make sense now that Apple has ate up streaming company Lala; they might just have a Hulu-esque TV streamingservice in the works.  Whatever it may be, “sources” claim that Apple could finalize licensing deals and switch on the service sometime in 2010.

The Financial Times delves further into this matter and regurgitates the followinginformation:  “Apple has contacted other broadcast and cable networks, including Time Warner’s Turner Broadcasting System and Viacom, which have so far been unconvinced by Apple’s proposal. The computer maker has also courted the book publishing industry, sector executives say.”  This is all very interesting, to say the least.  Major publishers like the WSJ and the FT reporting on a potential iTunes subscription-based service can only mean that something is brewingat Apple HQ.  Talks with CBS (Viacom), Time Warner, and ABC are vital if Apple plans on making such a TV show subscription plan work.  And let’s not forget about their “court[ing] [of the] book publishing industry”…cue the Apple tablet/iPhone rumors.

Addional news comes from the Financial Times, and this time it’s about the impendingannouncement of the Apple tablet: “Apple is preparing an announcement next month that many anticipate will be the official unveiling of its tablet, but the company has so far declined to confirm the existence of the device. Wall Street analysts expect mass production of an Apple tablet to begin as early as February.”

To spread to the gaining hype around the tablet and the next-gen iPhone comes news today from a Silicon Alley Insider report: “Apple is preparing to show off a new, larger mobile device with a higher resolution display in January — probably a version of the Apple tablet we’ve been hearing about for months — according to a plugged-in source in the mobile industry.”  This source says that Apple has asked a select group of app developers to prepare their apps to support a full-screen resolution (rather than the fixed 320×480 rez the iPhone currently uses) and to demo on a “new, larger mobile device.”  In addition, the report says that the tablet will be demoed in January but not released into the market until a later date.  This matches up with the FT news posted above; Apple will unveil it in January, ramp up production in February, and have it ready for the public by March 2010.  And there’s more!  DigiTimes reports that the next-gen iPhone will be packed with a 5 megapixel camera sensor.

And that’s it for now.  Exhausting, huh?  I think Apple just needs to come out with it already and unveil this coveted (albeit non-existent) tablet to calm our nerves and get us excited for something that we at least know is real.  With Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster claiming that there’s a 75% chance that an Apple January event is coming and word that the tablet will be the main focus of the event I am waiting in much anticipation.  An overhaul of iTunes, the next-gen iPhone, the tablet…so many potential topics to discuss!  Here’s hoping that Apple hits at least one of them next month.

[Via Engadget, here & here; Gizmodo, here & here; Apple Insider]

Unreal Engine 3 running on iPhone/iPod touch (watch out PSP, DS)

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Thanks to the iPhone’s internal OpenGL ES 2.0 graphics capability, Epic has no reason to hold back from porting their Unreal Engine 3 (the same engine that runs mega-games BioShock, Gears of War and Mass Effect) to the iPhone 3Gs and iPod touch (3rd gen).  Do you know what this means!?  Soon Apple’s little genius devices will turn into real portable game machines.  Not that they aren’t already gaming machines; but the integration of such a powerful graphics engine backing future games should definitely give the Sony PSP and Nintendo DS a chill down their spines.  Check out the video above for a quick snippet of  Unreal gameplay and look forward to the iPhone and iPod touch becoming synonymous with “portable gaming machines.”

[Via Engadget; Gizmodo]