Tag Archives: iPod Touch

By Staff | Published: March 1, 2009

Will Mac OS X 10.6 “Snow Leopard” really support PowerPC?!

Ever since we posted our first ‘sneak peek’ at Mac OS X 10.6 “Snow Leopard” two weeks ago, one of the most frequent questions and lingering doubts amongst readers surrounds the issue of support for PowerPC (G4/G5) based Macs. Will it really be present in the final version? Tonight we took a moment to answer that question as best we could for a reader who asked about it in the comments section of the aforementioned article.

“Mizhou” wrote: “A friend of mine just tried to install on a 1.8 GHz G5, and the installer just says that it is an unsupported architecture.”

Quoted from the response by our founder, Ryan C. Meader (@dalaixerces on Twitter):

Internal builds we’ve worked with have (and continue to) support PowerPC but there are increasing signs that the final version may not. Read more

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Posted in Apple Software | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 17 Responses
By Staff | Published: February 4, 2009

Will new iDevice features (Flash, multitasking) premiere first on Pro devices?

Recently, Rumors was among the first to report on references to an “iPhone 2,1” in last week’s v2.2.1 iDevice OS firmware release, and suggest that this was almost certainly the forthcoming iPhone Pro. Now, along with emerging suggestions of a corresponding high-end iPod Touch, the grapevine is abuzz with rumors about background tasking, Adobe Flash and other features which may be tied to the powerful new “Pro” iDevice hardware.

These are fast-emerging & -developing rumors which we are monitoring around the clock with the help of our sources and the grapevine at large….so keep a close eye on this site for ongoing posts which will add detail and analysis to these early reports.

That said, in the wake of the exciting early iPhone “2.1” Pro rumors we have been able to talk to our oldest, most reliable sources who have shared with us significant new information. Read more

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Posted in Apple Hardware, Apple Software | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Response
By Staff | Published: January 31, 2009

iPod Touch 2nd gen jailbreak released


For the past few weeks users have been waiting patiently (or impatiently as the case may be) after news that the dev-team had managed to jailbreak the 2nd generation iPod touch, but there’s a catch: the device cannot be restarted without being connected to a desktop machine, restarting while out and about will result in a device that will not boot.

The dev-team had been waiting until they could get around Apples restrictions at a lower level, but stated on twitter and elsewhere that if they could not find a way to get into the device at a lower level, they would release a limited, tethered jailbreak for those who were willing to take the risk. So what exactly is the risk? Read more

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Posted in 3rd Party Software, Apple Software | Also tagged , | 2 Responses
By Staff | Published: January 30, 2009

iDevice OS 2.2.1 points to “iPhone 2,1” product

According to numerous readers and grapevine-lurkers who’ve looked under the hood of the new 2.2.1 iPhone OS firmware, it contains multiple references to a new iPhone — version “2,1” in the terminology used by Apple in all its operating system/firmware variants — better known to some as the “iPhone Pro.”

Given how soon a new iPhone would have to be introduced for it to make any sense at all to include references & support code inside as minor and early-in-year of a release as 2.2.1….we don’t think that this is a replacement for the 3G model. Rather, it is a complementary model intended to broaden the range of options that iPhone adopters have when they decide to purchase one.

Since the 8GB 3G is already as low as $199, we think that this “iPhone 2.1” (not to be confused with the “2.5G” 1.0 or “3G” 2.0) will instead be a high-end model similar to the iPhone Pro we’ve reported on previously, with some or all of these enhanced features:

*Major overhaul/upgrade of the ARM based system mainboard which handles almost everything but the functions dedicated to the “iPod” and “Phone-Modem” chips which are unto themselves nearly complete system boards….those chips will most likely remain unchanged, but the ARM based mainboard will most likely be upgraded to something similar to, or faster than, the ARM Cortex A8 used in the Palm Pre. Read more

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Posted in Apple Hardware, Apple Software | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Responses
By Staff | Published: January 28, 2009

iDevice firmware 2.2.1 released

Apple released version 2.2.1 of its iPhone/iPod Touch operating system firmware today with many under the hood changes & bug fixes but relatively few “front end” changes — most of them in Mobile Safari.

From Apple’s release notes for the iPhone version of the 2.2.1 package, which weighs in at 247MB:

iPhone Software Update 2.2.1

This update contains bug fixes and improvements, including the following:
– Improved general stability of Safari
– Fixed issue where some images saved from Mail do not display correctly in the Camera Roll

Products compatible with this software update:
– iPhone
– iPhone 3G

The iPod Touch version does not appear to include release notes, but is believed to have the same Safari changes and kernel revision. Read more

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Posted in Apple Software | Also tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Response
By Staff | Published: January 28, 2009

iStat for iPhone review

App Store link

To start off, we would like to thank Bjango for making such a nice application and for allowing us to take it for a test drive. We think they have a real winner here that could be of use to many people for different purposes. Those who manage servers day to day will be glad to have a nicely presented and easy to use view of their servers statistics on the device they already carry around every day (you DO carry an iPhone everywhere you go just like us, right?). While the server daemon is OS X only right now, Bjango tells us that a Windows and Linux server daemon are a definite possibility for the future, and we think their success with this app will skyrocket once a Linux daemon is available since many IT admins use Linux on the back end. Read more

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Posted in 3rd Party Software, App Store, Articles | Also tagged , , , , | Leave a comment
By Staff | Published: January 26, 2009

The Mac’s 25th Anniversary — Founder’s Column, Part 1

25 years ago this past weekend, an upstart development team within Apple Computer brought to market a cheaper, faster, better alternative to Steve Jobs’ pet project the “Lisa” (named after his daughter).

Though Jobs’ own feelings about the Macintosh were mixed, he undertook a famous event to introduce it to the world with a unique, historic advertisement (“1984”) and a demonstration that blew away the crowd: the very first Mac 128K seen in public spoke to the crowd that day, using a first-of-its-kind speech synthesizer technology developed specifically for that first Mac — a technology that has been a unique strength of the Mac platform ever since.

This weekend, even as the moment of the announcement event’s anniversary passed us by, the Rumors team was watching an amazing film called Welcome to Mac. Read more

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Posted in Apple Hardware, Apple Inc., Apple Software | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Responses
By Staff | Published: January 13, 2009

Latest WebKit nightly build includes built-in update functionality

As of the current nightly build (39852), WebKit — the developmental version of Safari, available for public testing — has added the capability to update to the latest build within Webkit.app itself, obviating the need for third party software like NightShift.

The Rumors team has been a very active part of WebKit development/testing since its very first day — just as we are known throughout the industry for being prolific beta testers of both hardware & software.

(If you are a hardware and/or software developer with a developmental, beta, or pre-release product you’d like us to help test — and with your explicit permission, review for our readers who are very interested in such technology — please contact us as soon as possible: rumors@macosrumors.com to make arrangements!)

We do of course use other browsers, notably Mozilla Firefox, for various purposes….but have always been passionate supporters of Safari/Webkit and its underlying technology. Read more

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Posted in Apple Software | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , | 6 Responses
By Staff | Published: January 9, 2009

Conflicted over the lack of an Apple netbook while Sony announces one?

As we watch with a certain degree of envy the announcement at CES 2009 that Sony is introducing a new 8-inch display based “netbook” Vaio ‘lifestyle PC,’ many in the community are experiencing a duality of appreciation and frustration at Apple’s apparent disinterest in this space. But it may be with good reason.

Already, the iPhone and the Macbook Air nicely bracket the netbook product space.

Between the two, one really doesn’t have much need for such a device…..but nonetheless, when one looks over the specs of the new Vaio Lifestyle PC and its elegant little industrial design, it’s hard not to feel a little bit envious that Apple didn’t do it first.

Specs like these: 1.33GHz x86 processor, 1600×768 (!!!) pixel 8-inch 16:9 widescreen display, built-in micro webcam, two USB 2.0 ports, combined display/network breakout port, audio I/O ports, SD and Memory Stick slots, and a built-in 60GB hard drive or 128GB SSD drive. Read more

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Posted in Apple Hardware | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Responses
By Staff | Published: July 10, 2008

Apple posts hidden link to iPhone 2.0 software!

If you would like to be one of the few to sneak in behind an unpublished link and download the iPhone 2.0 firmware a day early, you need merely click here! (225MB)

To use the package once it has been downloaded (using the command-line curl or ftp utils, or another downloading application which won’t auto-expand the file after download, is recommended), simply option-click on the “Check for Update” button in iTunes, and select the file.

The update will wipe all data from your phone, so it is wise to ensure that all your bookmarks et cetera are backed up. It is not generally possible to specifically backup/restore your Home Screen icons, so be prepared to start from scratch in that regard. Read more

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Posted in Apple Software | Also tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment
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 17, 2008

Sign the iPod Touch petition!

The folks over at onlinepetition.com have put up a simple page calling on Apple to free the new iPod Touch apps from their $20 shackles. We aren’t quite sure what effect this will have, even if a large number of people sign the petition it is unlikely that Apple will change their plans at this point. Apple does have a long history of expecting users to pay for significant upgrades to previously released products, so this may be just one more in a long line of for-pay product upgrades.

So what do you think? Is this petition going to change anything? Is Apple going to release these applications to previous iPod Touch owners for free?

To see the petition and sign it, click here Read more

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Posted in Apple Hardware, Apple Software | Also tagged | 20 Responses
By Staff | Published: January 15, 2008

New iPod Touch apps cost $20, released to considerable controversy

It will take time to see what the sales numbers are like, but as with last year’s decision by Apple to charge a nominal fee for the “802.11n Enabler” for Core 2 Macs that already had the supported hardware yet shipped with 802.11g-only firmware, we expect that a great many people will be tempted to pirate this package rather than pay for it.

As part of a strategy to mitigate that tendency, Apple has made the package an iTunes Store purchase and there is undoubtedly at least some degree of “digital rights management”-type protection to ensure that piracy is not a widespread problem.

Along with the five apps included in the software update — Mail, Google Maps, Weather, Notes and Stocks — (sound familiar?) — there are a number of system tweaks and improvements that come with the “January Upgrade” as well. Read more

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Posted in Apple Software | Also tagged , | 26 Responses