Archive for May, 2008

While we're still waiting for the next-gen version of the Palm OS (Nova), you may want to use some of the older Palm OS apps on other, non-Palm OS powered devices. Thanks to StyleTap's Palm OS emulators you can do that on various platforms. Back in February, we saw they're thinking about porting their work to iPhone/iPod Touch, but at that point they said the application is still in the "experimental prototype" phase without being clear whether they'll actually release it to the general public, at all.

Lucky for us, their demo video has been viewed over 800,000 times prompting StyleTap's CEO Gregory Sokoloff to comment, "…And the response to our video has convinced us that many, many consumers, and companies, will eagerly jump at the change to buy iPhone devices if they can continue to run their must-have applications."

See they're suddenly serious about this "thing." Now we only have to wait for early July, when further information about the product, including how it will be marketed and sold, will be made available.

[Via: Engadget, PalmInfocenter]

Most modern smartphones sport a GPS. iPhone is an exception, but that's about to change. Or at least we hope that will be the case…

According to GigaOm's sources, the new iPhone sports a GPS and "the contract has been nailed down by Broadcom, a relatively new entrant into the GPS market," which had acquired Global Locate in July of last year.

Of course this is everything but an official information, hence we're posting it under our rumors section. Again, I want to believe there's some merit to these words and that those containers have what it takes. WWDC couldn't come fast enough…

[Via: GigaOm]

Anyone out there remember how awesome the TurboGrafx-16 gaming console was? Well, it always lagged a bit behind the more capable gaming consoles, but we're still fond of "Bonk." We've come a long way since then, but true gamers will remember the TurboGrafx 16 and it's under-dog greatness.

So, with the other gaming consoles already emulated on the iPhone, it's good to see that iPhone developer ZodTTD has released a TurboGrafx-16 emulator for the iPhone. The emulator, dubbed Temper4iphone, is only available for beta-testers and donaters for now. But, ZodTDD plans on releasing the app to the general public in the near-term.

Peep the video to see what's in store for TurboGrafx-16 fans.

[Via: Engadget Mobile]

For those of you still able to use an FM radio transmitter to beam the pop-hits in your iPod or iPhone through your car's audio system, Griffin has just announced their newest iTrip offering. The Griffin iTrip AutoPilot transmits all your tunes to your car's radio through an unoccupied FM channel.

Thanks to a cigarette lighter power plug and a dock connector, the iTrip AutoPilot not only broadcasts your favorite music over the air, but also charges your iPod/iPhone at the same time. And, to kill the hassle of searching for an available FM frequency, the iTrip AutoPilot will automatically scan for the clearest FM channel using its "SmartScan" technology and conveniently displays the broadcast frequency for your listening pleasure.

Grab the Griffin iTrip AutoPilot for the iPod or iPhone in your life. A penny shy of a C-note ($100) will get an AutoPilot of your very own.

Griffin iTrip AutoPilot 

[Via: Macworld]

A few grains of salt would be prudent in this case, but with the 3G iPhone launch imminent, any and all iPhone-related rumors are at least worth considering. Especially when such speculation hints that Apple might have to delay the launch of the high-anticipated next-generation iPhone.

According to UBS Investment Research analyst Nicolas Gaudois, Infineon has issued a profit warning tied to the chip-maker having "received lower orders than expected" for 3G/HSDPA baseband chips for a certain "high-speed Internet phone." Infineon didn't go so far as to say that the 3G chips were destined for the 3G iPhone, but the consensus is that the next-generation iPhone will be powered by 3G chips from Infineon.

Furthermore, Gaudois has tied the lower than expected hardware orders to delays in Apple's 3G iPhone ramp. "In our view the profit warning has been caused by ramp changes of next generation iPhone, into which Infineon is supplying the main High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) chipset," said Gaudois.

Apple's supply chain prowess was highlighted with their flawless launch-logistics in the initial iPhone launch, so it would be a shame if Apple dropped the ball in ramping-up production for the next-generation iPhone. It would be more unfortunate if these ramp delays led to launch delays of the 3G iPhone.

[Via: Apple Insider]

In yet another rumor pointing towards some sort of subsidization or discount pricing schedule for Apple's next-generation iPhone, Orange is said to be offering upgrade deals and discounts for current iPhone customers.

According to French-language PCInpact, France-based Orange has contacted customers regarding a possible upgrade deal for the iPhone. In on possible deal, Orange would allow current iPhone customers to trade-in their iPhones for a new, 3G iPhone. The swap would subsidize the purchase of the next-gen iPhone with just a €50 difference left for the customer to pay.

Another possibility would have Orange giving current iPhone users a "generous discount" when buying the 3G iPhone.

If true, we could see the next-generation iPhone offered through at least one carrier at subsidized price-points - perhaps departing from the revenue-sharing model required by Apple for the current iPhone.

Why oh why can't June 9 come any faster?

[Via: WorldOfApple]

Today Hutchison Telecommunications released the following statement:

Hutchison Telecommunications (Hong Kong) Limited today announced that it has signed an agreement with Apple to bring the iPhone to Hong Kong and Macau later this year.

Mainland China, Japan, Russia and interestingly Spain remain relatively big untapped markets for Apple's handset. At least officially, users from the countries mentioned can't get their hands on the iPhone.

[Via: Engadget Mobile]

The iPhone SDK Beta 6 is available, roughly three weeks after the previous build was released. We're not sure what's new inside, but whatever it is, an updated version of Leopard (10.5.3) is required. As usual, it is suggested to keep your apps up to date, so if you still haven't upgraded your Mac OS, now may be the right time to do so.

And while we're talking about the latest Leopard update, you should know it brings GMail/Address Book syncing for iPhone users. ArsTechnica has more about that…

[Via: Gizmodo]

As we close in on the June 9 Apple WWDC event in San Francisco, more and more iamges of the next-generation iPhone are coming to light. So much so that we already know, with a fair degree of certainty, just what kind of aesthetic changes to expect in the 3G iPhone.

There are already confirmed changes to the iPhone's exterior that include more tapered edges, revised docking port connector/speaker area, narrower chrome bezel, and a glossy plastic backing that replaces the Mg-Al cover on the current iPhone.

The latest pictures of the next-generation iPhone casing fall in line with mock-ups gleaned from 3G iPhone case molds.

With the month of May almost done and over with, it's only a matter of a couple weeks before we get to see the 3G iPhone go live.

[Via: AllAboutPhones]

Remember that cool handwriting recognition software that I mentioned some time ago? Well, it seems that the HWPen application that was developed by Hanwang.com.cn has been acquired by Apple for use in the next major firmware release for the iPhone - the iPhone OS 2.0 firmware.

Hanwang claims that Apple has acquired their handwriting recognition software. It seems that Apple has chosen to acquire the recognition code rather than develop the software in-house - as previous iPhone OS 2.0 screenshots led us to believe.

Unfortunately, it seems that Apple may have crippled the handwriting recognition software to only work with Chinese character input - effectively keeping English text input restricted to the on-screen keyboard. We'll have to wait for iPhone OS 2.0 to go live before we can confirm whether or not Apple has integrated HWPen into the iPhone, or if they decided to go with their own code to recognize handwritten text.

You can still grab HWPen for free for your jailbroken iPhone (this is how). If Apple really did take HWPen under its wing, expect free versions of the application to disappear right quick.

[Via: iPhone Atlas]

Remember that $100 million iFund money-pie that was supposed to spark innovation amongst iPhone application developers? Right, well it seems that "sparking innovation" isn't exactly how we'd describe the state of iPhone applications seeking iFund approval.

Since its inception, iFund has been flooded with 1,700 application submissions. But, only two of those iPhone applications have been approved to take a bite out of the iFund. The iPhone application Whrrl and iControl's home-automation entry have been granted a piece of the iFund-pie.

Whrrl, from iPhone developer Pelago, is basically a location-based application that helps users find nearby businesses and places of interest. By integrating the iPhone's location-mapping features (hopefully with GPS in the next-generation iPhone), Whrrl allows users to browse nearby businesses as well as reviews and recommendations.

iControl brings the convenience of remote-home access to the iPhone. The company makes Home Security 2.0, and the new iControl application is basically a mobile version designed for the iPhone. iControl puts the power of home automation in the palm of your hand. The application allows iPhone users to control appliances, electronics, and even view live video feeds wherever they may be.

We can't wait to see what else lies in store for the AppStore when it launches next month. There will likely be a flood of half-baked iPhone applications on offer, so it will be nice if we see more than 0.112% (that's 2 out of 1,700) of those application actually passing muster.

[Via: BusinessWeek]

And the latest Apple's iPhone partner is… TeliaSonera. The short release says:

TeliaSonera today announced it has signed an agreement with Apple to bring the iPhone to Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia later this year.

It will be quite interesting to see how Apple's handset sells in the lands of Nokia and Sony Ericsson. I doubt we'll see many "spoiled for 3.5G" Finns and Swedes jumping on the Apple's bandwagon. At least until the 3G version is out…

P.S. It's good to be spoiled, sometimes.

[Via: Engadget Mobile]

One of the cooler applications being developed for the iPhone, using the iPhone SDK, has got to be iPhone Earth. Earthscape is developing the application to bring Google Earth-like functionality to the iPhone and, from the looks of it, iPhone Earth is sure to be a killer app when it goes live. It may not offer the most functionality from an iPhone application, but iPhone Earth definitely has the "cool" factor that will be hard to ignor.

Using the iPhone's multi-touch display, iPhone Earth allows the user to pan around and zoom in (through the pinch gesture) on different portions of a 3D globe. Neat, right?

Well, it doesn't end there. iPhone Earth leverages the accelerometers built in to the iPhone to tilt and rotate the map-view as you like. The video pretty much explains what Earthscape has in store for iPhone Earth - and I can't wait to try it out for myself.

[Via: Macenstein]

iPhone may be a beautiful phone but without a proper case it can easily slip away. On the other hand, that same case makes the device look uglier, but I guess that's a trade off for protecting it against falls.

Now, thanks to Brando's Super Grip your iPhone won't slip any more. As matter of fact you will be able to grip your shiny toy virtually everywhere, including such slippy surfaces like boats, tables, chairs, desks, etc. At the same time the "gripping, but not sticky" pad will protect iPhone's aluminium back cover from scratch. The only problem I see beside again making the device bit uglier, is putting out the iPhone out of your pocket. If the pad is that sticky, won't it stick to your pants? Or I'm wrong?

Anyway, the iPhone Super Grip costs $10.50 and is available in either black or white. More images that demonstrate just how gripping this thing really is follow after the jump.

Back in November of last year, we wrote about Zinio and their "free magazines for iPhone/iPod Touch" offering. Apparently, people liked the idea, and Zinio is now going one step beyond its initial offering to include additional magazine titles.

A total of 20 new magazines are included in the mix and include such titles as Readers Digest, Elle, Esquire UK, Macworld Spain, Macworld UK, Outside, PC Magazine, Popular Photography, and U.S. News & World Report.

Want to try out the service or check out the new magazine offering (if you already enjoyed it on your iPhone/iPod Touch)? Simple point your Safari to www.zinio.com/iphone and take it from there.

[Via: jkOnTheRun]