Sébastien Page

Sebastien is the Founder and Editor in Chief of iDB. Once a BlackBerry user, Sebastien instantly fell in love with the iPhone when it was first announced in 2007. Shortly after, he decided to start sharing his knowledge of the iPhone and its nascent ecosystem, which led to the creation of this blog. Sebastien currently owns 14 iPhones, 4 iPads, a MacBook Pro with Touch Bar, a MacBook Air, 2 Apple Watches, 3 Apple TVs, countless HomePods and AirTags as well as a few pairs of AirPods.

How People Really Use The iPhone

Strategic design and research firm Create With Context published a very interesting survey about how people use the iPhone. Originally created for developers, the survey reveals a lot on how we interact with our favorite device.

Here is a brief overview of what the survey reveals:

Understand how people interact with the iPhone platform What works, what doesn’t work, and why? Are there mismatches between expectations and platform? Where are there usability and/or usefulness issues? Where does the iPhone UI excel, and where doesn’t it? Observe how the mass market - not the experts - uses the iPhone

Click here to read the full survey.

Transformer app makes your iPod Touch look like an iPhone

Do you want to push the customization of your iPod Touch a bit further? Then the new Transformer application might be what you're looking for.

Available for free in Cydia, this app will make your iPod Touch look like an iPhone by adding various icons to your springboard. It will for example add the signal bars, the phone and the camera icon.

I don't have an iPod Touch so I was not able to try this app but if you do, please let us know in the comments.

Installer 4.0b9 update

The RIP Dev Team posted today on their blog about new updates they brought to Installer. Here is what you can find in the new package:

Added user-driven ratings. We encourage you to submit your votes for various packages. Once more data will be collected (in a few days), that will be reflected on the Featured page. SpringBoard is no longer terminated after the software was installed or removed. Proxies are (again) supported. The support was broken after we moved to libcurl. Introduced download timeouts (again) that were disabled after the move to libcurl. Reworked many parts of the engine in an effort to get rid of the occasional GUI stalls. If a particular source fails to update, it will be moved to "disabled" state for 6 hours and will not be included in the all sources refresh process. The disabled state is listed as the source icon with a red "stop" sign over it. This is done to prevent unnecessary stalls at the sources refresh if one of the sources goes offline for whatever reason. If you'd like to retry it before 12 hour interval, open its info and hit Refresh button there. Removed custom Info support as it was mostly used for unnecessary ads that were disturbing many people. These pages are normally reachable from the "More Info" link. Much better error reporting. Forget these "error 3"s and such. The descriptions are much more human readable now. And for script errors, it will show an actual script command that caused an error. Installer will prevent iPhone/iPod touch from sleeping when it's downloading or installing something. The app icon badge should behave better now. Lots of smaller fixes and optimizations I won't list.

With the popularity of Cydia, I really wonder if there is still room for Installer. I guess time will tell.

i.TV gets an update. Now allows you to manage your Netflix queue

One of my favorite apps, i.TV got an update earlier today and it now allows you to add movies and manage your Netflix queue.

Here’s what is new with this update:

NetFlix

Search results now include over 100,000 DVD titles from Netflix, in addition to TV programs, in-theater movies and detailed show information and cast lists. Discover Netflix DVD titles by tapping the ‘Watch’ button from any TV or movie details screen. Easily reorder or delete items in your Netflix queue from within the My Media tab. Add movies and TV episodes to your Netflix instant watching queue, allowing you to instantly stream content to your Windows PC, Xbox 360, Roku box, TiVo® Series3, TiVo HD, or TiVo HD XL digital video recorders and select Blu-Ray players. (Mac support by end of 2008).

Wikipedia

Wikipedia articles now linked to most show, movie and actor screens.

TV Listings Improvements

Many new TV service providers added Over The Air digital sub channels now available Indicator when a show is NEW Display option to show only NEW programming

Movie and Theater Improvements

Movies can be displayed alphabetically, by star rating, by content rating, and now by location. Use device location services to find movies and theaters near your current location. Movie and theater data is now separate from TV listing data, allowing you to specify a different location for your theater and movie listings. Trailer quality improvements

Other Improvements

Reviews now easier to navigate Simplified account creation Bug fixes and performance improvements

i.TV [iTunes Link] is still free and still one of the best TV apps out there, if not the best. Give it a try!

iPhone Theme Generator

New website iPhone Theme Generator does exactly what its name tells you: it allows you to create your own iPhone theme, in just a few clicks. Simply choose your wallpaper, dock and status bar from a library or upload your own. You also have the ability to choose your own icons.

Once you're done, click "Compile Theme" and it will generate a download link. Download the zip file, unzip it and install the theme through SSH or using iPhoneBrowser.

I think this website has great potential, expecially for theme freaks like me that love to create their own.

iPhone Video Projector Coming Soon… This Time It’s Official!

We've had our share of rumors and hopes about a mini projector to work with your iPhone or iPod Touch but it seems that something is officially on its way. Engadget reports that Texas Instruments' DLP Pico Projector will launch on December 1st for sale in Apple Stores in Japan. The miniature projector allows you to display a 60-inch 480x320 video image from up to 8.5 feet away.

David Pogue of the NY Times reviewed the device and seems to love it:

You’d have to be a jaded gizmophile indeed not to be impressed the first time you turn on this tiny, shiny black box. In the center of the short end, there’s a very bright light-emitting-diode lamp. Inside, there’s a miniaturized Texas Instruments digital-light-processing (D.L.P.) chip, similar in principle to the ones that drive some full-size HDTV sets. Together, they produce an astonishingly bright, clear, vivid video or still image. That’s right -- from a projector you’ve pulled from your jeans pocket.

The DLP Pico Projector will be priced at about $500 in Japan and there is no word of when this long-awaited device will be available in the US.

That happened in the iPhone world today 11/10/08

PhotoArtist adds Photoshop-like effects via iPhone

Big Canvas has launched a new photo manipulation program through the App Store. PhotoArtist allows users to add Photoshop-like filters to an image, using an iPhone or iPod touch. Images are selected from an existing library, or in the case of the iPhone, photos from the onboard camera; there are currently six different filters, including illustration, watercolor, cartoon, mono, pen and halftone.

Mophie intros Juice Pack iPhone 3G battery extender

Mophie has introduced its latest accessory for the iPhone 3G, the Juice Pack 3G battery extender. The device features a lithium polymer battery that is claimed to offer an additional 350 hours of standby time, 6 hours of 3G talk time, 12 hours of 2G talk time, and 6-7 hours of internet use.

Apple Rejects CastCatcher 1.3 App for "Transferring Excessive Volumes of Data"

I think Apple's rejection of the latest update to CastCatcher—an internet radio app—is the first we've seen because it "transfer[s] excessive volumes of data over the cellular network." Interestingly, the current version, 1.2, is still in the store, and return7's co-founder, Amro Mousa, told us that CastCatcher 1.3 doesn't "use more bandwidth than prior versions (or any other streaming app)."

iPhoneize your website, instantly!

If you don't know anything about the iPhone, the MobileSafari browser, or web design in general, creating an iPhone version of your website can be daunting. Intersquash.com makes it easy. Just put in the address of your site's RSS feed, give it a name, and click iPhoneize. If you want, upload an icon. That's all you have to do: Intersquash gives you a little bit of code to paste into the body of your site, and it's magically optimized for iPhone viewing.

Richard|Solo 1800: More of everything!

We reported on the Richard|Solo Smart Backup Battery for iPhone a few months ago. Now Richard|Solo has released a much improved version of the Backup Battery that not only provides more power for your iPhone or iPod, but some excellent new features that trash the competition.

New iPhone ad series features wide range of apps

Another week, another Apple ad on TV -- a new entry in the series of iPhone commercials that have dropped the "This is how you enter the App Store" opening. Eagle-eyed readers have also noted that some of the new ads include a subtle "Sequence shortened" caption that reminds us things may go a bit slower in real life than they do on TV.

NPD reports iPhone was top US handset in Q3

There's word this morning that the NPD Group's latest research shows a surprising finish for the iPhone in the 3rd-quarter sales competition among US cellphones bought by consumers; for the first time in three years, there's a new top model. The Motorola RAZR, long the most popular handset for adult consumers, has fallen before the touchable juggernaut from Cupertino, CA.

Classics: The iPhone e-reader to rule them all?

The application comes with a dozen public-domain books ready for you to read: with more promised in future (free) updates. As you might expect, there's plenty of attention paid to the application's handling of your reading too: pressing home places a neat ribbon bookmark on the page you were reading, for example.

Group claims iPhone twice as reliable as BlackBerry

The iPhone is an extremely reliable smartphone, a study from a warranty extension company claims. SquareTrade says that within one year of ownership, the failure rate for the iPhone is just 5.6 percent; this is half the rate for Research in Motion's BlackBerry phones, and almost three times less than the 16.2 percent for Palm's Treo line.

Onyx Online Could Turn iPhones Into Nifty Social Gaming Devices

Onyx Online, for the iPhone, is kind of like Xbox Live. Sort of. The ambitious service is the brainchild of Trism developer Steve Demeter, who hopes to add a slew of "social media" features to iPhone games, like leaderboards, achievements, forums, and the like. There's even a pissing contest feature, wherein Onyx-enabled games will allow players to view each other's profiles, scores, challenge friends, and see what games people are playing. Like we said, just add a headset and some 15-year-old boys screaming "your gay" and you have Xbox Live (and no, there's no typo there— even when they scream it, they use the wrong spelling, just like in the forums).

Hey New York Times! Fix Your Stupid iPhone App

If you'll allow me, I'd like to unleash a small personal diatribe. I promise it'll be brief. But I've been suffering through the buggy pile of crap that is the New York Times iPhone app for long enough.

DIY iPhone Landscape Stand

Inspired by Nathan Barry's iPhone alarm clock stand, gbzphoto decided to create his own DIY alarm clock stand. The result is pretty amazing. gbzphoto has more images on his Flickr account.

iPhone 3G tethering officially on its way

After several rounds of rumors about an official iPhone 3G tethering plan, it seems that AT&T finally decided to offer a tethering plan for 3G users. In an interview today with Michael Arrington of TechCrunch, AT&T Mobility President and CEO Ralph De La Vega said the company is working with Apple to let the iPhone serve as a tethered wireless modem for laptops "soon".

What does "soon" mean exactly? I don't know but I think it's about time that AT&T offers such a plan for business users that had been requesting this since the 3G came out a few months ago. Also unknown is the cost of this future data plan. I can't imagine it being under $40/month.

Our jailbreaker friends out there know that there are a couple alternatives to tether your iPhone. The first on is iPhoneModem, which I haven't tried myself. The second option is PDAnet, which I reviewed before. Both apps are free but are against AT&T TOS.

I am very curious to see what the adoption rate will be for this tethering plan.

Photo Gizmodo Via Technologizer

iPhone Programming Course

Sounds exciting, doesn't it? Well not so much because is not like you can just go in there and sign up! But if you are a member of Stanford University and there's one out of the fifty seats available then this is for you!

Apple employees are giving this course, the same who appereantly have been giving Cocoa lessons in the same place. For the rest of us who are not going to this event, then we can check out this link to some of the Cocoa lessons already given at Stanford.

iPhone 3G Gets External Keyboard

If you've been complaining about the lack of external keyboard on the iPhone, rejoice! Well, don't rejoice too much as this hack is very close to being useless but I guess what's interesting is that some people spend time on that kind of stuff.

It seems that the person behind this hack is running some type of Ruby code on a jailbroken iPhone and plugged and external keyboard via USB. You can see the final result in this boring video.

We’re looking for an iPhone blogger

Dear iPhone lover,

The audience of this blog is growing pretty fast but I don't always have as much time as I'd like to blog about the iPhone. That's why I think it's time to bring more people on board to join me and dannyswrld.

Ideally, I would love to have a few more people to blog about:

iPhone news - there are numerous newsworthy things happening everyday in the iPhone world and we don't have time to report or comment on them. If you're addicted to your RSS feed reader and want to share every piece of news related to the iPhone, then I want to talk to you! iPhone apps - with hundreds of new apps every week, we barely have time to go over 1% of these new apps. The team has done a great job at reviewing many apps but I'd love to have someone post more app reviews, or even simply inform us of the new apps coming out. Cydia apps - this is another area we could focus on. With all these jailbreak apps coming everyday in Cydia, that would be great to have someone to report about them on a daily basis. customizations - this is kinda related to Cydia. I really would love to write more about customizations, themes, wallpapers, WinterBoard, etc... iPhone business - there are billions of dollars at stake in the mobile industry, with Apple trying to get its share of it. I think it's time we develop a "business section" dedicated to the iPhone's business impact. accessories reviews - having someone to review accessories from time to time would be great.

Now, I don't want to bring just anyone on board. While there is no rigorous selection process, I expect anyone that wants to apply to meet these requirements:

have an iPhone or iPod Touch and know A LOT about it be an iPhone addict! be able to post on a regular basis know how to use WordPress (if you don't, sign up for a free account and try it out; it's easy as 1 2 3)

So far, this blog makes just enough money to pay for the hosting but I have big hopes for it. If you're part of the team when this blog starts generating revenues, you'll get your share!

If you're interested, get in touch with me through the contact form. Please no one-liner! Shoot me an email and tell me about:

you: your age, where you live, what you do for a living, etc... your iPhone/iPod Touch: what model? Is it jailbroken? etc... your writing experience: do you know how to write? Please send me samples your experience with WordPress: how comfortable are you with wp? the topic that you'd like to cover: news? Reviews? Let me know what you'd like to blog about how often you think you can write

Thanks very much and I look forward to hearing from you guys.

Sebastien