This is the second Apple Store to be robbed in just 2 weeks. This time, it's my local Apple Store at UTC Mall in San Diego that got robbed, as reported by 9 to 5 Mac. Two guys dressed in jeans and hoodies showed up at the front of the store and smashed the glass doors. They grabbed 12 iPhones and left...
It hasn't been long since we speculated that releasing the iPhone 4 so soon to the iPhone 3GS might not be the best business move for Chinese provider China Unicom. According to The Inquirer we were right on the money with our predictions and that China Unicom has reported an astounding 54% profit drop for the 2nd quarter.
It's appropriate to be clear about how Unicom ended up carrying Apple's iPhone in the first place. China Mobile is the top dog in chinese cell service with over 500 million customers. Consequently they weren't about to acquiesce to Steve Jobs and his stern business model, so they told Apple to take their iPhone and have a nice life...
Thank Buddha it's Friday! With the weekend approaching it's also that special day of the week where yours truly vents about a recent story that rubbed me the wrong way. This weeks session is dedicated to a story we reported on regarding Apple's new patent that would enable them to remotely wipe your iPhone. You may be rolling your eyes but hear me out because I think a lot of you will be even more irritated by the spin I apply here...
SwitcherPlus is a new jailbreak application that brings your iPhone app switcher to the lockscreen. I have been trying it, and while it's still in beta, I find it very stable. As a matter of fact, I haven't had any issue at all with SwitcherPlus since I installed it.
When on your lockscreen, simply double tap the home button and the switcher will show up. You can choose to add some favorites to the switcher. These favorites will always be the first 4 apps that will appear in your switcher no matter what.
Those of you who purchased an iPhone 4 and are using it on an unofficial carrier were not able to activate FaceTime. There is now a fix for this. It's called MiTime and from what I read, it's working well.
MiTime is an app/service for activating FaceTime on phones that are operating on unofficial carriers. It should work worldwide and will use two text messages to activate. You must be able to receive an international SMS message to get activated (see here if you can receive international SMS).
Please meet the KeyCase iPad Folio, an interesting iPad case that integrates a Bluetooth keyboard to the casing. It seems that the iPad really wants to be a netbook killer and it's getting closer to it. Or is it?
I love the concept, but personally, if I had to carry that stuff around, I'd rather just buy a netbook, which let me remind you, can be a much better business companion than the iPad if you need to do some real work while on the road.
At about $95, the KeyCase iPad Folio is not a bad deal though, if that's what you're looking for. It's currently out of stock but I'm sure it will be available again soon on the company's website.
[Simon Blog]
The Dev Team confirmed earlier today in a blog post that they will not be releasing a jailbreak for iOS 4.0.2. The last jailbreak released was JailbreakMe, which allowed a quick and easy jailbreak directly from the Safari browser, taking advantage of a security hole in the way PDF documents were handled. The patch has now been fixed by Apple with the recent release of iOS 4.0.2.
Remember back at the WWDC when Steve Jobs talked about Netflix coming to the iPhone this summer? It turns out they met their deadline because the recent update is up in the App Store and includes iPhone and iPod Touch support. Highlighted in the apps description is the following:
We reported earlier in the month about AT&T downplaying and avoiding questions about the effects it will suffer if and when their iPhone exclusivity runs out. The tune is staying the same from the telephone provider but now they are citing tablets such as the iPad as their future lifeline.
Without getting specific about the rumors of a Verizon iPhone, Glen Lurie (AT&T emerging devices president) says that the company plans to keep "plugging along" at the same rate of success they are now. Yeah, right...
Apple is infamous for creating amazing devices that have one too many steps involved in utilizing them fully. The video camera on the iPhone 4 is a great example of this. Uploading HD video to YouTube was a hassle to master. Not anymore because 720tube lets you do just that.
You choose your video from your camera roll and login to YouTube both from within the app. Then just add a title, description and other information about the clip like you normally would. Upload and enjoy...
You know that virtual beer you can buy your friends on Facebook? It just became even more ridiculous. Mobile Crunch discusses an app entitled Bartab, which lets you send real booze tickets to people whether you know them or not.
The unique application is free in the App Store and lets you purchase the drink coupon for $1, and then you send it by way of Facebook or text message. When the lucky recipient gets the announcement they show it to the bartender and pay $1 to redeem their beverage. The whole having to pay the bartender makes it a bit less cool but state laws require it...
Surprisingly, we didn't get an invite for this, but TechCrunch did, and according to it, Apple will be holding a "special event" on September 1st, at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater in San Francisco at 10 am.
The invite comes with the image above, which strongly indicates the event will most likely be focused on music. Let the speculations go wild! What are they going to unveil? My guess is we're going to hear about the new iPod Touch with a nice Retina Display and a front-facing camera for FaceTime. Apple will also probably unveil a cloud-based version of iTunes...