If you go to Apple.com right now, you will be greeted with the image above. What can it be? Well, the rumors have been running around for a while that Apple is preparing a cloud version of iTunes which would allow you to stream your iTunes music from anywhere.
Apple spent 1 billion dollars in a top-of-the-art data center so it's about time they get some return on investment for this. But again, with Apple you never really know what to expect...
In the recent Steve Jobs keynote, Apple introduced the next major version of Mac OS X. "Lion" boasts many new graphical innovations, and iOS seems to have been sewn into the new interface. One of the most interesting additions to Lion was the "Launchpad."
Launchpad brings the iOS home screen to OS X. In OS X Lion, when you activate your Launchpad, your desktop wallpaper is blurred and given a nice vignette so that you can clearly see your app icons. The effect is very pretty. And, fortunately, it's fairly simple to duplicate this visual effect with your iPhone's locks screen and home screen...
We recently linked to a Cydia app that was rumored to enable HD video recording on the iPhone 3GS. Apparently, that app didn't work. There is, however, an easy way to enable HD recording through some file modifications on your iPhone 3GS.
The 3GS has had the ability to shoot in HD since it was released. Apple, for whatever reason, places a software limitation on the 3GS video recording capabilities. The ARM Cortext processor inside the 3GS is more than capable of handling 720p video encoding. I'm going to walk you through the easiest way to enable HD video recording on your 3GS...
Does an iPhone-integrated keyboard for your Mac or PC sound interesting? The Korean tech company, Omnio, thinks so.
The WOWKey device is a desktop keyboard that boasts iPhone integration through a built-in dock. This "made for iPhone" keyboard is the first of its kind, offering extensive integration with iOS. This inventive gadget opens up a world of possibilities...
Jay Freeman, better known as saurik, recently gave a TED talk on the philosophy of mobile software. He compared the iPhone's App Store and the jailbreak mentality to how consumers buy and modify cars. He made the case for what he has based his career on: that consumers do not want the software limitations that Apple maintains on iOS.
The first half of saurik's TED talk explains the state of the car industry, and the consumer approach to buying and modifying cars. His comparison is interesting, and it definitely merits his point about Apple's App Store philosophy...
Apple doesn't like for users to be able to see what's "under the hood." OS X and iOS are very design and aesthetically driven. Apparently, Apple feels that "viewing processes" is an archaic feature. There is no real way in iOS to get a bird's eye view of everything that's running on your phone.
There are, however, some of us out there who would like to know things like which processes are running and the current distribution of system memory. Luckily, App Switch, by XCool Apps, is here to remedy our need for total control...
A recent study has shown that over 50% of mobile developers prefer the iOS platform. Millennial Media surveyed over 500 mobile developers and advertisers and asked them what their current and future plans were in terms of mobile application development. The survey complied a pie chart of the responses, and iOS is still on top.
Factoring iPhone and iPad, iOS made up 51% of the current development support. Android is currently being supported by less than half of the respondents. However, when asked about their development plans in 2011, mobile developers favored the Google Android platform...
Apple has filed another interesting patent detailing some extremely interesting multi-player gaming possibilities. Patently Apple has referred to the patent as an "Interactive Laser Gaming Application and/or Framework." Essentially, the new framework would allow iPhones to recreate what amounts to a game of laser tag.
Most people are familiar with laser tag, a game in which players wear light-sensitive vests that register a "hit" when shot by an infrared laser from another player's gun. This new Apple patent describes a similar environment, in which the iPhone would act as the vest and gun...
Consumers rarely have the opportunity to see what life is like for the people that work in large factories around the world. However, some light has been shed as of late on what life is like behind the smoke stacks of certain industrial giants.
Foxconn, the manufacturer that Apple contracts to make iPhones, has been under the microscope lately over employee suicides. Recently, Gizmodo got an exclusive look at Foxconn's factory in Shenzhen, China. The article focuses on the living conditions for the 420,000 workers...
We already knew that the app approval process could be somewhat random. Some apps that shouldn't be approved in the first place manage to show up in the App Store, while others that shouldn't have any problem are rejected, sometimes for false reasons. In the end, Apple is always right: their store, their rules, right?
But what if Apple decided to reject applications simply because they contain the word "gay"? It seems that's what the developer of a gay networking app has discovered while submitting his application for review...
After recently becoming the largest tech company in the world, Apple just passed RIM to become the 4th largest vendor of mobile devices in the world, just behind Nokia, Samsung, and LG Electronics (who the hell owns an LG phone?).
Apple shipped 14.1 million units within the last 3 months, while Nokia, Samsung, and LG respectively shipped 110.4 million, 71.4 million and 28.4 million units. RIM is just behind Apple with 12.4 million devices shipped.
Apple is still pretty far behind the first 3 but remember that the company got into the mobile space only 3 years ago. You can only imagine where it's going to be in 3 more years...
[RWW]
When you think the drama is almost over, some good ol' rumors show up, throwing yet a little more oil on the fire. According to BGR and their insider ninjas, Apple has absolutely no plan of ever releasing the white iPhone 4.
The plan is actually to delay the White iPhone 4 again in the Spring, which would inevitably lead us to an iPhone 5 release...