Apple

Apple to Unveil iPhone OS 4.0 On Thursday

Sébastien Page ∙ April 5, 2010

Engadget got words that Apple announced an iPhone 4.0 event that will be held on Thursday where the company will give a "sneak peak into the future of iPhone OS".

A few months ago, I wrote about 28 features I would like to see in OS 4.0 and I'm pretty sure the big news of the event will be around:

multitasking theming ability to save attachments unified inbox better iPod library management and more...

These are just a few of my predictions. We'll see how much I'm right/wrong. I'll be staying up late here in Vietnam so I can give you a run down of the new OS as soon as it is unveiled.

In the meantime, tell us what you would like to see in iPhone OS 4.0.

iPhone User Guide

Sébastien Page ∙ April 1, 2010

The other day as I was trying to figure out how to add songs being played on the iPod to my on-the-go playlist, I landed on Apple's website.

As I was already bitching at Apple for not even bothering creating a mobile version of their website, I was positively surprised to see that they actually had an iPhone User Guide formatted for the iPhone.

I wasn't aware of this iPhone User Guide and even though it didn't solve my problem, I found it pretty interesting to browse for a while (I actually learned a new trick).

You can access the mobile version of the user guide by going to http://help.apple.com/iphone/.

I might be a little late on that one but if you haven't been there yet, it might be worth to go check it out. Now that I think about it, doesn't this iPhone User Guide comes with the stock Safari bookmarks of the iPhone?

So Long iPhone Screen Protectors and Thanks for Nothing

Guest Author ∙ Updated November 25, 2016

We've learned from iLounge that Apple is pulling the plug and banning the sale of film based screen protectors and removing them from their retail and online store fronts. This includes all stand-alone screen protectors as well as film-based screen protectors that come as part of a package. The ban will affect all iDevices ranging from the iPod Touch to the new iPad due out early April 2010.

iPhone screens are made of durable glass that nearly impossible to scratch. This move comes as no surprise but it should make one wonder why Apple decided to sell these screen protectors in the first place.

Most screen protectors are nearly impossible to install and, with time, collects dirt around the edges. Not to mention the cost. Most of these screen protectors are $20 or more, depending on where you go; online markets are usually cheaper.

Just because Apple has banned film based screen protectors from the retail outlets, we are not completely without screen protectors. Film based screen protectors will still be available at 3rd party stores such as Best Buy, Fry's or other electronic superstores. Odds are you'll find them cheaper at an electronic superstore too.

Since the purchase of my iPhone [3GS] last July, I have invested roughly $100 on different screen protectors in hopes of finding the perfect one. Today, I swear by not using screen protectors since the iPhone screen has proven itself to be very durable and nearly scratch resistant. I do have a small scratch towards the bottom right corner but it's nearly unnoticable except when screen is black. I can even recount how it happened and, to this day, I am still amazed the scratch is as small as it is.

Do you use a screen protector? If so, will this move affect the future of your iDevices? Please share you opinion.

Why the Apple/Google Feud is Good for Us

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated May 16, 2016

A few months ago I wrote an article titled Apple Vs google: the war is on. As often, I saw things coming fast and the feud between Google and Apple is now a big deal. For those of us who have bad memory, here are a few events that heated up the rivalry between the two giants.

First, Google entered the mobile market with Android, competing with iPhone OS Then Google entered the browser market with Chrome, competing with Safari Now Google wants to enter the OS market with Google OS, competing with Mac OS Google CEO Eric Schmidt resigned from Apple's board Apple tried to buy mobile ad platform AdMob, to compete with Google Google outbid Apple and snatched AdMob Apple bought out PlaceBase, a company that does what Google Maps does Apple bought Lala in a hurry, lest Google buys it out first Apple bought digital ad agency Quattro Google enters the hardware business by making its own phone, directly competing with the iPhone

Both companies have lots of businesses overlapping each other and that's good for us. Google and Apple are now competing on the following grounds: hardware, software, advertising, location services, and probably more that I forgot.

I don't know if you realize this yet but this is the beginning of an amazing war between Google and Apple. Apple is not just a computer company anymore. In the same way, Google is not just a search engine anymore.

Why is the rivalry between Google and Apple good for consumers?

This war between Google and Apple is good for 2 main reasons. First, let's talk about innovation. When 2 (or more companies) fight for a market, one of the several ways they can outdo each other is by innovating. With Apple in the same room as Google, they won't have any choice but to provide users what they really want, and not slow down feature releases like Apple has been doing for a while.

Remember how we were waiting for copy/paste on the iPhone? Remember how we're still waiting for multitasking? Remember this shitty camera on the iPhone? Well this is a thing of the past. With new phones like the Nexus One delivering the quality that you might expect from such a device, Apple will have to come up with at least as good as Google.

The second reason this war between Google and Apple is good for consumers is that prices might go down just a bit. Apple is not the kind of company that sells cheap products. That's part of their marketing. They know people will pay more for quality product with a little apple on it.

However I believe that in the long run (I'm talking a few years from now), Apple will have no choice but reducing its prices to align its strategy on Google's.

I really don't think the price war is coming anytime soon. As I said above it will take a few years. But one thing I am sure of, it's that Apple will now move its butt and come up with an amazing iPhone 4.0 in a few months. They won't do that to please you. They will do that because Google leaves them no choice.

Go Apple, go Google. Beat each other up. We users are waiting to see what good is going to come out of your feud.

[Image: Business Week]

US Army and Apple Consult, iDevices For Combatants

Guest Author ∙ March 25, 2010

War? You bet. There’s an app for that and Ground Zero is Cupertino, CA. The US Army’s IT department paid a little visit to Apple recently to consult using Apple products on the battlefield. While there are some huge advantages, one can probably guess there are just as many disadvantages.

Imagine the situation of a battalion of kids with their sergeants and commanders carrying iPhones. There’s some downtime and some soldiers are ordered to stand guard at certain posts. Hours and hours drag by with no action, boring some soldiers. One soldier walks over to an empty chair, drags it back to his post, sits down and starts playing games. Or perhaps he launches his favorite Twitter app. Or maybe Facebook. As the illumination of the iPhone grabs his undivided attention, an enemy combatant sneaks past him.

OK, OK. So the odds of that scenario are slim, but this is an interesting venture for Apple nonetheless. Apple is known for developing revolutionary devices so it’s impossible to tell whether the Army will use existing devices or have Apple build a custom device from scratch.

“The Army is moving away from big-green-box solutions and toward those that will adapt along with our Warfighters on the battlefield,” says Major Gen. Nick Justice.

Given that the iPhone is chipped for cellular communication, comes packed with GPS, is razor thin and ultra light, it makes for an enticing and ideal device for soldiers already adapted to the device. Even if the soldier has never held an iPhone, they can adapt to the device within a day.

While adapting the soldiers may be easy, there is still some cause for concern. Does the US Army expect our soldiers to place their trust in a device that can’t have the battery removed and replaced? If our soldiers are going to be putting their trust into a communications device such as the iPh0ne, the battery issue must be addressed or else we risk having soldier getting stuck in situations without means of communication.

It seems that world militaries should keep up with trending technologies especially when most militaries consist of the younger generations that do keep up with trends. It would be a shame for any combatant to get caught with a dead battery.

What are your thoughts concerning Apple mingling with the US Army? Please share your opinions.

Apple Develops iGroups, Applies For Patent

Guest Author ∙ March 24, 2010

Where would we be if Apple did not invent things. Between the mid-1970s and early 1990s, they blessed us with the Apple II in various releases. In the late 1990s they blessed us with the iMac. Fast forward to 10 years later, 2007 to be exact, and they bless us with the iPhone. But really, is the iPhone worth anything if you cannot communicate and collaborate with your friends, contacts and/or anonymous persons?

Enter iGroups. Not the application that's currently available in the App Store but rather Apple's iGroups. Whether the name is official or not, it's Apple's attempt at entering the SocNet world. iGroups attempts to socialize groups of friends or strangers, while attending events, so information can be shared as it happens.

Seems pretty simple and straight forward. Using Ad-hoc technology, a technology all modern celluar devices can become, users at the same event do not need to rely on wi-fi nor celluar service to communicate with one another. They do, however, need to be in close proximity of one another in order to broadcast anonymously and/or communicating.

Bluetooth has a weak encryption algorithm, so while in Ad-Hoc mode, is data protected? Is data encrypted? Can strangers eardrop? Apparently, data is protected. According to patent #20100070758 (originally filed in 2008) for which Apple has applied for, new encryption technology is at the front end of iGroups and not the SocNet application itself.

Cryptogaphic keys employed for sharing information are implemented to guarantee information shared remains encrypted and safe from prying eyes. Sounds good to me. I don't mind encrypted data as long as the battery tax is kept below 0.01%.

Over the past 4 years, we have seen social networking sky rocket humanity into new forms of staying in touch and has given us the ability to share information almost instantaneously. There are several SocNet sites available to us at any given time, whether it be from our desktop or our mobile devices (hopefully iPhones). So why does Apple feel the need to enter the SocNet competition? It appears they have invented a new bluetooth encryption algorithm and they want us to use it.

Apple Starts Selling Contract Free iPhones

Sébastien Page ∙ March 23, 2010

Gizmodo got their hands on a leaked Apple internal documentation that says that they are now selling iPhones without a contract.

Until now, if you wanted to buy an iPhone from Apple, you had to show proof that you were an AT&T customer. This policy is a thing of the past and you can now go to the Apple Store and buy one iPhone a day at full price without a contract.

Why is Apple doing this? Probably to make some room in their inventory for new iPads, but most likely to start getting rid of these "old" iPhones, since they will be refreshed in just a few months now.

If you were thinking about buying one of these babies, keep in mind that you will not be able to jailbreak and unlock for a while as these iPhones are locked on firmware 3.1.3 with baseband 05.12.07.

Apple Finally Makes Links In App Store Apps Descriptions Clickable

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated May 26, 2017

Until now if you wanted to click on a link in the description of an app in the App Store on your iPhone, well, you couldn't. Links were not clickable, which sometimes was very inconvenient.

A Small but noticeable change, Apple finally made these links clickable. I found out about it today while updating Tweetie.

Or maybe it's been here forever and I'm just figuring it out?

Update: @TouchReviews told me on Twitter that links have been clickable only in the 'updates' section. Very amateurish of me; I should have know that.

Hey Apple, Ban This!

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated December 23, 2015

You may have heard that Apple removed over 4,000 sexy apps from the App Store. Apple SVP of Worldwide Product Marketing Phil Schiller explained in the NY Times the reason behind the ban:

It came to the point where we were getting customer complaints from women who found the content getting too degrading and objectionable, as well as parents who were upset with what their kids were able to see.

I think it's very hypocritical from Apple to do that, especially because they still allow apps such as Sports Illustrated Swimsuit or Play Boy. Why keep those apps then?

When asked about the Sports Illustrated app, Mr. Schiller said Apple took the source and intent of an app into consideration. “The difference is this is a well-known company with previously published material available broadly in a well-accepted format,” he said.

So I guess parents won't be as upset at what their kids can see on those 2 apps because they come from well-known companies. I fail to understand the reasoning behind this...

Next step for Apple might be to ban Google or even Safari from the iPhone because a simple search on Google Images brings up the following results.

I could have gone much more graphical with the image but you get my point.

I understand the App Store is Apple's own playground and that they can do whatever they want there. What's bugging me though is the dictatorship they have put in place. Not allowing sexy apps in the first place would have been one thing, but removing thousands of sexy apps that were perfectly ok a few days ago is just a Hitler-like move.

Whether you like it or not, it's just the way it is. Personally, I really don't care about these sexy apps but I think it is scary how Apple can change the rules at will. But what are we going to do? Meh, we'll just write a blog post about it, and let it go, because that's all we can do. Once again, I feel like Apple has stabbed iPhone users and developers in the back.

What do you think?

Does Apple Have to Worry About Fakes?

Sébastien Page ∙ February 20, 2010

A very good friend returned from a recent trip to China and called it the country of fakes – from Apple to Blackberry, China had all the recent models of mobile phones cloned and selling at less than half their original prices. They’re not exactly the same as the originals of course, although they look strikingly similar and are built with even more features than the models they’re supposed to be aping.

The fake iPhone for example is available at one-fourth of the price of the original, and it looks and feels like the real deal although those who know their Apple products and are blessed with sharp eyes will realize right off the bat that the dimensions are a bit off (the screen is not as wide as in the original).

While I do admit that Apple does a great job with quality, I do have a grouse against them not only because their products are priced exorbitantly, but also because they don’t standardize their offerings.

In short, it bugs me that I have to pay a bomb to buy from Apple and yet not be able to use their products with other gadgets. When there is no USB port on the new, much-hyped-about iPad, how on earth are you supposed to connect it to most other storage and communication devices?

Well, the fakes take care of that for you – the copycat iPhones include a mini USB connector instead of the iPod dock connector and they also have many more features that the real iPhone does not. Also, if you’re buying a fake iPod, you know you can use it as a mass storage device as well and just plug it to play or load songs from your PC.

And for those of you who worry about the size of the iPhone, well, there’s a miniature alternative available – the CECT m188 is exactly like a dwarf iPhone which is available unlocked and which supports dual SIM cards. It comes with an MP3 and MP4 player and also supports GPRS connectivity.

But even with all this direct attack on, I don’t think Apple has anything to worry about – whatever their faults, you do have to admit that they come out with products of the highest quality with efficient operating systems and attractive features and that look really great. They make great status symbols, and this is one thing the clones can never take away, the power of the brand called Apple.

What Apple does have to worry about is the threat of legitimate competition from manufacturers of other smart phones and gadgets, companies who are known for their status and quality too, and who finally may score over Apple just because they allow for standardization in their products and are not as hoity-toity as Apple.

This guest post is contributed by Brenda Harris, who writes on the topic of executive mba programs. She can be reached by email at brenda.harris91@gmail.com . If you would like to guest post on this blog, please check out the guidelines.

Apple Store Manager Calls Mall Cops On Jailbreaker

Sébastien Page ∙ February 19, 2010

That's a funny story that HotRod1964, one of my Twitter buddies, sent me the other day. It's quite a long story but I'll try to make it short.

Basically, our friend went to the Apple Store to kill time for an hour. While in the Apple Store he talked with one of the employees and showed him his jailbroken iPod Touch. The employee then called up the manager who wanted our friend to turn his "illegal" iPod in.

So what did Mr Manager do? He called the mall cops, who pretty much told him to F off as there was no reason why he would have the power of taking our friend's iPod from him.

You can read the full story below:

Went to local APP STORE about 2 weeks ago. For nothing other then I was in the area and had an hour to kill. Figured I'd browse around. Obviously, they were very polite and a salesperson approached me to see if I needed some help (store was not busy at all). Told him "Nope, just browisng". Being that they were not busy he starts asking me what type of comp I have, what kind of phone and etc...When I told him I dont have an iphone he asked why and if I was interested in 1. I explained why and told him I am not interested due to apples unwillingness to allow owners to 'do their own thing' and that I have no intention of paying for an iphone if apple is going to handcuff me....he kept going on and on about what I was missing out on......I then told him I was more then happy with my new droid and I was more then happy with my Itouch. he said "Oh, so you do have an iTouch then?" I said yep and pulled it out. Flipped the case open and hit the home button and he saw my lockscreen, which is the Grateful Dead with some other 'goodies' on there. he sort of stepped back and his eyes popped wide. he asked if he could look at it..I would NOT hand it to him, but what the hell, it is my device so screw em....I slid the lockscreen to access the device and very obviously (i'm sure he knew as soon as he saw my lockscreen) at first look he knew it was JB'd. he didnt say anything other then going sort of quiet and saying "wow"......He walked away.....I was then approached by the manager. He said " I was informed you have an ILLEGAL iTouch".....I replied "I do have an iTouch but that it was not ILLEGAL". he then asked if it was 'modified'.....I said ( and happily I may add) "Yep, it IS MODIFIED...You should get one yourself as you dont know what you are missing out on"....he then said "Sir, that is an ILLEGAL device"....I said "Your NUTS....It is my device I paid for. I own it and can do anything I damn well please with it".....he then said "Sir, the device you have IS illegal....I must now ask you to turn over the ILLEGAL device at once". I responded and said "Dude, your nuts, it is not illegal and if you think I am giving it to you, I have a bridge in the sahara desert I'd like to sell you"....he then said "sir, if you refuse to turn over your ILLEGAL device I must have a copy of your drivers license"......I said " Dude, you really are nuts..your not taking my itouch and you have no right to ask for my DL"..he then said I had to either give him my itouch or my DL or he will contact security...LOL..Oh boy..the MALL POLICE!!!.....I told him "go right ahead..I'll make myself comfy and wait".....Instead of the MALL POLICE..and actual Police Officer came....They spoke to the manager..then came to me.....I told them I am breaking no laws and there is no way in hell anybody is taking my itouch unless the COURTS order me to turn it over...I said..here is my info...take me to court.....Otherwise, get off my friggin back or I will sue apple and file complaints against you as just because you have a badge does NOT give you the right to detain me or ask me to give you my personal possessions unless you can tell me WHAT LAW I AM BREAKING.....They walked away.....talked to the manager...came back and said "sorry for the inconvenience. You have a pleasant day"......and I left.........Anyway, just thought I'd share this since I see others posting about geting banned from their stores and etc, and I want to make sure everybody knows..DO NOT LET THEM CON YOU INTO GIVING UP YOUR DEVICE...some are intimidated by the authorities so may give up their device out of 'fear'....DONT DO IT.....Tell them to explain what law you are breaking and to either arrest you or get F*cked...do not let them CON you into giving up YOUR PERSONAL iphone/itouch!!!!!

Everything You Need to Know About the iPad

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated September 28, 2018

As usual, Apple event started with Steve Jobs throwing some big numbers in our face: 250 million iPods sold, 284 retail stores that saw over 250 million visitors, 140,000 apps, 3 billion applications downloaded, all this wrapped in some exciting adjectives such as "amazing", "exciting", "wonderful", "phenomenal", "incredible", etc... Uncle Steve sure knows how to warm up a crowd!

Let's cut to the chase. Here is everything you need to know about the iPad.