Tag Archives: iPhone

By Staff | Published: February 5, 2008

Apple updates iDevices – 16GB iPhone, 32GB iPod Touch

Today Apple announced relatively straightforward storage capacity upgrades for both of the “multi-touch” iDevices, doubling the standard versions of each to 16GB and 32GB for the iPhone and iPod Touch, respectively.

Other than the storage space upgrades, according to reliable sources in Cupertino, the new iDevices use a somewhat different type of Flash storage that should offer substantial transfer performance improvements (especially for large files, since part of the difference is better buffering and sustained stream optimizations, as well as some improvements in the loading of large numbers of small {1024K or less} files — such as in a Web browser’s cache).

Overall, the iPod Touch should see between 50 and 300% depending on the size of the file, and an average of about 75-125% faster when syncing typical-sized MP3/AAC songs to the iPod. Read more

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Posted in Apple Hardware | Also tagged , , , | 1 Response
By Staff | Published: January 29, 2008

iDevice gaming “set to explode,” say game industry insiders

The sheer number of companies actively planning or already executing projects with target platforms like the modern day iPod Nano, iPhone/iPod Touch, and even AppleTV is much bigger than public perception seems to acknowledge. We’ve recently talked with a number of our friends in the gaming industry — from die hard Mac developers now focusing on “Cider” (DirectX –OpenGL abstraction layer, allowing “Windows games” to be developed once and deployed simultaneously on OS X) development, to console companies and newcomers to the gaming world, virtually everyone is very excited about the future of game-style entertainment on Apple devices.

Cute little arcade games like those we see on the Classic iPods are all well and good, but a modernized Breakout with 3D graphics can only keep you amused so long; even Bejeweled gets old after a while. Read more

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Posted in 3rd Party Software | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment
By Staff | Published: January 18, 2008

The iPhone SDK, Hackers, and Malware

Back when the iPhone was officially released in June of 2007, Apple had already made their position on 3rd party applications quite clear, users would never be permitted to install software on the device themselves. Apple releases firmware in an encrypted form to prevent tampering and to protect iTunes purchases, making modification or installation of new apps difficult at best. Apples solution for these 3rd party developers was to treat the iPhone as a web platform, with Asynchronous JavaScript and XML, or “AJAX” providing the needed functionality for anything developers or users would want to use on the phone in the future. Apple expected these AJAX applications to provide users with applications that would have a native look and feel, while still running in the relative protection of the Safari web browser. Read more

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Posted in 3rd Party Software, Apple Software, Articles | Also tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Responses
By Staff | Published: January 17, 2008

New 1.1.3 update fixes bricked iPhones

Back in late 2007, Apple made no secret of the fact that AT&T would be the only supported network on the iPhone for the next few years, and that unlocked iPhones would re-lock and in some cases quit working entirely upon updating the firmware. Accusations flew back and forth, and everything from revenge to unintentional firmware problems were offered up as reasons for the bricking. The truth of course is never black and white, and the real reason may be a bit of both.

Apple obviously has a responsibility to keep customers phones working and secure, which means they must be able to update the phone and fix problems even if it means overwriting the areas of code hackers had altered to unlock it. Read more

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Posted in Apple Software | Also tagged | Leave a comment
By Staff | Published: January 15, 2008

iPhone v1.1.3 “January Update” released to much fanfare at MWSF

One of the accurately predicted rumors, the “January Update” to the iPhone’s firmware, v1.1.3, has been released with all of the predicted features we’ve seen in various developer/beta releases of the firmware leading up to the Expo.

The most in-depth description of the new iPhone update’s features is here: http://www.apple.com/iphone/gettingstarted/guidedtourupdate2/

Highlights include the ability to customize the Home Screen, the “wiggling icons” indicator which shows you when you are in edit mode on the home screen(s), multiple home screens that can be switched between with a sideways “flick,” a major overhaul of both Maps and GMail functionality by Google with tons of new features including location triangulation, Drop Pin, Hybrid View mode (overlays street names and map info with satellite imagery) and much more; numerous enhancements to the iTunes Wifi Store including the ability to use gift codes and integration with the new Movie Rental system to let you know how much time you have left on a rental……and the ability to switch between chapters in iTunes downloaded content. Read more

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Posted in Apple Software | Also tagged | 3 Responses
By Staff | Published: January 1, 2008

December 2007 highlights

It turns out your iPhone could be running almost twice as fast! One of our Xerces sister sites, The Black Hole general-interest discussion forum, recently tackled a topic that has come up numerous times on Mac OS Rumors: Is the latest mainstrean media news about “Mac Malware” for real, or just greedy security companies looking to make a buck?!

Rumors has confirmed that a new, larger AppleTV flagship model will be added to the lineup along with two enhanced versions of the existing AppleTV devices — all sporting larger hard drives. The new “AppleTV Unity” as it is sometimes referred to at Infinite Loop, will include a faster Intel CPU, enhanced media decoding DSP chipset, more RAM, an optical drive and numerous other improvements over the “standard” models. Read more

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Posted in Apple Hardware, Apple Software | Also tagged , | Comments closed
By Staff | Published: September 7, 2007

September Highlights

Apple is reportedly having a growing number of iPhones that experience partial failures of the touch-input system — often starting from the top and sometimes moving down the screen vertically in “rows” roughly equal to the height of the application icons on the “Home screen.” Many users contact Apple and get replacements before the problem worsens beyond the uppermost ‘row,’ but the problem does appear to be progressive in most cases if left uncorrected. More on this as reports come in.

As our contributors and writing staff have had the chance to use Apple’s new Keyboards in both Wired and Wireless forms, it’s remarkable how much they match the prototypes we’ve been talking about for months….but also striking how different they are from anything that has come from Apple or anyone else in the past. Read more

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By Staff | Published: January 1, 2007

Macworld 2007 preview

With Steve Jobs’ MWSF keynote address fast approaching the grapevine has reached a fever pitch and is bursting at the seams with a whole spectrum of speculation and rumors about what will be announced at this year’s event.

Here is, in short order, a list of the most credible rumors about tomorrow’s announcements and a short analysis of the more controversial items:

  • “iPhone”….this one needs little explanation, and has been detailed in many articles on Rumors over the past three years or so. The real questions are what its real name will be, whether or not it will really be introduced at MWSF (there is more doubt & debate about this than the grapevine may seem to indicate lately!), and whether the device will be a true Mac OS Embedded type device, or simply a cellular phone with a suite of Apple-style applications and an iPod-like interface.
Read more
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Posted in Apple Events, Apple Hardware, Apple Software | Also tagged , , , , | Comments closed