There has been an unusual shortage of rumors about a mini iPad, especially given a recent reliable assertion calling for an October launch. Macotakara, a Japanese blog with a fairly accurate track record, has gotten hold of another mockup of the iPad mini, molded according to the rumor-mill and pictured sitting next to a 15-inch MacBook Pro, giving us a feel of its size relative to Apple's notebook...
Welcome back to iDonwloadBlog's lessons in iPhoneography. You can can catch up on previous lessons here. If you need a quick start, feel free to check out my free iPhone Photography tutorial.
Today I want to talk about Black & White Photography. I'm not talking about taking photos and performing black and white conversions. Nope, I'm talking about 100% pure uncut black & white iPhone Photography. The app we are going to be using is a totally cool app called Hueless. Why is it so cool, you ask? Well, because it was the first true black & white camera app for the iPhone. It's a true camera application. There's no editing images from your camera roll. When you fire up Hueless, you have to set your exposure, contrast, focus, and filtering at the time you take the photo. Today we will only be looking at exposure, contrast, and filters...
Have an iPhone 4, iPod touch, or below running iOS 6, and would like to downgrade back to iOS 5.1.1? Doing so is easy is you have your SHSH blobs saved for iOS 5.1.1 and can follow the steps inside. Unlike the beta period of iOS 6, you must have your SHSH blobs for iOS 5.1.1 save for you device now, because Apple has stopped signing iOS 5.1.1.
To downgrade, you will need the latest public version of RedSn0w. We will use the SHSH Stitching feature to combine the appropriate IPSW file for 5.1.1 and your corresponding SHSH blob for the device you wish to downgrade. It may sound a bit confusing, but it's extremely easy if you follow along carefully.
Take a look inside for the full walkthrough and video how-to.
We know from before that countries like Russia, India and Brazil sell the most expensive iPhones in the world, both in relative and absolute terms. While the iPhone 5 is yet to launch in these markets (Apple plans to have the gizmo available in 100 countries across 240 carriers by year's end), with today's addition of 22 new countries the iPhone 5 is now officially available in 31 major territories around the world.
One thing becomes readily apparent just glancing at Apple's localized online stores: the iPhone 5 prices vary depending on the region, based on local policies, taxes and other factors influencing price calculations...
Apple's iOS 6 has been out for just over one week and already almost 60 percent of iPhone owners and more than 41 percent of iPad users are using the updated software. The figures from Onswipe are just the latest showing the new version of Apple's mobile software is being adopted at a record pace.
A survey of 100,000 visitors to website's using Onswipe's touch-friendly conversion service indicates that 59.43 percent of the iPhone users are on iOS 6, while 41.3 percent of iPad owners are using the recently-released software. By comparison, it took iOS 5 four weeks to gain 38 percent adoption...
iOS 6 Maps is stepped in controversy, but not everyone hates it, including yours truly. I've never personally experienced any navigation issues with the iOS 6 Maps app, and for me, it's a huge upgrade over the stock Google Maps app of yesteryear.
One problem that I do have with iOS 6's Maps, however, is how dumbed down the feature is on older devices. Devices like the iPhone 4 get left out when it comes to true turn-by-turn navigation and Flyover (3D) support.
As usual, the jailbreak community comes to the rescue with a new tweak that unlocks iOS 6 Maps on older devices. It's appropriately titled: Unlock iOS 6 Maps, and it's a free download on Cydia's Big Boss repo. Take a look inside for a video walkthrough...
Apple's really determined to right the mapping wrongs. In addition to posting a public apology on its web site and offering instructions on accessing mapping web apps from Google and Nokia, the Cupertino, California-headquartered designer of gadgets just posted a curated recommendations section in the App Store, listing third-party Maps alternatives for the iPhone and iPad...
Google's been on a roll these days. They brought as the official YouTube app and the awesome Chrome browser, have improved Google Contacts sync in iOS, are working on a standalone Maps app and Street View on the web and will soon launch an interesting traveling companion app called Field Trip. Plus, Google's nice Gmail app for the iPhone and iPad is getting better with each iteration.
And earlier this morning, a minor update went live bringing support for the iPhone 5's taller four-inch dispay, so you can see more of your messages in the list view and more content in the message view without needing to scroll quite as much. Another benefit of the taller display: typing gets easier as the virtual keyboard in landscape mode is a bit wider.
Also, this...
It isn't news that Apple wanted to create a streaming-music service that would compete against Pandora. But now we are learning the back-story of why the idea was nixed - and it is a familiar refrain. According to a Friday morning news report, music publisher Sony/ATV wanted larger royalties for its songs...
It's easy to get carried away with Tim Cook's "we're really sorry" apology to customers over sub-par mapping experience in iOS 6. After all, everyone is holding Apple in high regard as the company has literally become a yardstick of quality for smooth, pleasing software folks actually love to use.
"If the hardware is the brain and the sinew of our products, the software is their soul", Steve Jobs once said. And when that soul is left in darkness, Apple's brand gets tarnished. We've seen it happen with MobileMe and it sure looks like history is repeating itself as iPhone customer satisfaction drops due to the Maps fiasco.
Or is it a fiasco? Like every misstep of Apple's, this one feels like it's been blown way out of proportion by click-hungry, bloodsucking media vampires (Antennagate, anyone?). iDB is curious to hear your thoughts on the Apple Maps situation so I've put together an interesting little poll embedded right below...
If there’s one thing we all learned from Apple’s Maps mea culpa, it’s that mapping the globe is a tricky business. It took the search giant seven years and tremendous manpower to turn Google Maps into the world’s most popular mapping service. Quick to exploit rivals’ weaknesses, Google once more outlined its mapping advantage today just as Tim Cook’s apology was making rounds on the web…
Apple's boss Tim Cook just issued a mea culpa on Apple's awesome Maps in the form of an open letter published on Apple's website. What's really interesting is that the issue which threatened to snowball into a PR catastrophe has forced Apple to advise customers to use rival services "while we’re improving Maps".
It takes a tremendous amount of public outcry to force Cupertino into such a defensive position. I imagine heads will roll as Cook gives Apple's mapping team a kind of dressing down Steve Jobs once gave to the MobileMe team ("you should hate each other for having let each other down"). No matter how you look at it, the Maps fiasco has tarnished Apple's reputation, at least in my view...