Oliver Haslam

Some Scenes From “The Avengers” Movie Were Shot with an iPhone

Oliver Haslam ∙ October 20, 2011

If you're the kind of iPhone user that reads blogs about, well, iPhones, then the chances are you also fall into the category some like to call "geek." It's no longer a derogatory term; being a geek means you tend to like things like smartphones, computers, and comics.

If all that sounds like you, then chances are you'll like this latest tidbit to come out of Hollywood. It turns out that the upcoming Avengers movie was partly filmed on one of Apple's little iPhones, instead of the rather expensive cameras movie studios usually use.

How cool is that? Very, very cool indeed...

What Apple Got Right and Wrong with iCloud

Oliver Haslam ∙ Updated April 3, 2018

All the rumors and all the betas are over. Now we're all using Apple's iCloud. We're syncing, we're backing up, and (to certain extent) we're streaming. Life is good... kind of.

For those of us who remember the debacle that was Apple's launch of the now-replaced MobileMe. the initial iCloud launch is undoubtedly leagues ahead of the chaos and server failures that accompanied the arrival of Apple's previous cloud service. iCloud seems to be more robust, but does it actually do what most of us want?

First, let's take a quick look at the good parts of iCloud before moving onto the bad and the crazy...

iPhone Accelerometer May Be Susceptible to Keylogger Attack

Oliver Haslam ∙ Updated April 3, 2018

Security is something that is never far from a smartphone owner's mind. After all, these little computers, be they of the iOS, Android, or other variety, contain the keys to our lives.

Just think about the kind of information you keep on your iPhone; the kinds of passwords you enter as a matter of routine. Gmail passwords, Paypal passwords, your bank's internet banking details: it all goes through your iPhone.

According to new research by the Georgia Institute of Technology, it's possible that all these keystrokes could be logged, and all thanks to your iPhone's accelerometer. But before you rush out to change all your passwords, it's worth checking out just what such a keylogging attack would entail...

Apple: iPhone Rumors Negatively Affect Our Sales

Oliver Haslam ∙ October 19, 2011

Apple held a conference call yesterday, shortly after announcing its Q4 financial results.

The results made interesting reading, with Apple falling just short of the expected revenue figure of $29.41 billion, making a not-inconsiderable $28.3 billion instead.

The iPhone sold just 17.1 million units against the expected 22 million. But why such a difference between the two numbers, when the iPhone usually sells so strongly? According to Apple Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer, the rumor mill is to blame...

Apple Launches “Remembering Steve” Tribute Page

Oliver Haslam ∙ Updated April 3, 2018

Ever since the passing of Steve Jobs on October 5, Apple has been asking people to email their personal memories and favorite quotes of the Apple co-founder to rememberingsteve@apple.com. We didn't really know at the time what Apple intended to do with the emails once they received them, but the company has now launched a "Remembering Steve" tribute page, containing the messages they received.

Housed at apple.com/SteveJobs, the webpage features a scrolling list of the messages sent in by Apple fans and customers, along with a short introduction urging people to continue adding to the messages already received...

How to Use iCloud to Share Your Reminders on iOS 5

Oliver Haslam ∙ Updated April 3, 2018

Reminders in iOS 5 is Apple's kick in the teeth for all those To-Do apps that litter the App Store right now. A walk through the App Store will reveal more To-Do apps than you can shake a stick at, but Apple's own Reminders app does pretty much everything you could ever need in iOS 5.

There's one Reminders feature that Apple hasn't made a very good job of promoting. You can use iCloud to share and sync your reminders and tasks with other people...

iOS 5 Gives Twitter a Boost as New Signups Skyrocket

Oliver Haslam ∙ October 18, 2011

In an interview with Mashable's Ben Parr, Twitter CEO Dick Costolo shared some interesting statistics. He said that iOS 5 has caused a massive spike in signups for the social network.

According to Costolo, signups via iOS have tripled since iOS 5 was made available to iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users last Wednesday. Add in the hugely successful iPhone 4S launch on Friday, and you have a lot of people plugging their Twitter credentials right into iOS...

Siri: Why it May be Another FaceTime

Oliver Haslam ∙ October 18, 2011

We talked about Siri, Apple's new voice-controlled digital assistant, for months before it actually arrived. We didn't even get confirmation that it existed until a week before its release, yet it feels like we've been hyping it up forever. For good reason, too.

When before have we been able to talk to a piece of technology in that all-so-awesome Star Trek kind of way? The way we've been dreaming about ever since someone in a lycra suit, (three sizes too small for them of course) first asked a question of a disembodied voice. Star Trek characters often had seemingly real conversations with their computers, and we were oh so jealous.

Until now...

How to Tweet and Update Facebook Using Siri

Oliver Haslam ∙ October 17, 2011

Apple's unique selling point for the iPhone 4S is Siri, a digital assistant that knows what you mean and how to answer your questions.

For all Siri's polish and ability to take real language and turn it into emails and text messages, there is one glaring omission from its repertoire, and that's the ability to tweet or update your Facebook status.

With Twitter now very much built into the fabric of iOS, it has been a surprise to many that Apple didn't give Siri any hooks into the world of 140 characters and less. But fear not, for those of us that are addicted to Twitter can now send messages using Siri, and it's super easy to set up...

Sprint iPhone Owners Complaining About Slow 3G Data Speeds

Oliver Haslam ∙ October 16, 2011

You have to feel for Sprint customers, don't you? First they had to wait four years to get their hands on an iPhone, and now that they have it, their data network doesn't appear to be coping too well.

As Macrumors is now reporting, there is now a fairly long thread developing over at the Sprint support forums, where iPhone owners are reporting issues, mainly of the "my iPhone's 3G data connection is soo slow" variety...