IPhone news, updates and Iphone information

Archive for December, 2009

myfoxny.com

On Your Side: iPhone BAC Apps WJLA But new this year, there's an iPhone app that can help warn people if they've had too much to drink. How much have you had? Just how drunk are you? ... RU Buzzed? An iPhone App Can Tell YouABC News Are You Drunk? iPhone Appsmyfoxny.com Your Phone Says You're Drunk, Call a TaxiWall Street Journal Toronto Star -USA Today -Livingston Daily all 22 news articles »

After the iPhone 3.0 firmware update, we wondered whether the the next gen iPhone would bring a new chip with support for 802.11n. Now a job posting on Apple's website is feeding that theory.

We've already seen that the newest iPod Touch has a Broadcom BCM4329 chip with support for 802.11n and FM transmission—something missing in our most recent iPhone generation—but we've also learned that the hardware is dormant, perhaps to be brought to life by later additions in software support.

A recent Apple job posting teases that such software support might come soon along with some kind of upgrade allowing for 802.11n capabilities in the next gen iPhone, because it's asking for a Wi-Fi software engineer to join the iPhone team and bring experience in:

• Implementation of 802.11 a/b/g/n & related specifications.
• 802.11i/802.1x Security protocols
• Good understanding of wireless RF technologies & co-existence issues of 802.11 PHYs with other Wireless interfaces like Bluetooth.

Ooh la la. Yes, it's just a job posting and pure speculation regarding what we'll see in the next generation of iPhones, but addition of Wireless N capabilities and support are a logical addition and seem rather likely.[Apple—Thanks, A!]

Filed under: Hardware, iPhone, App Store

Coming this CES (which is actually next week): a complete credit card transaction accessory and service for your iPhone. If this thing works as expected, you might actually see it in more than a few places (think: street vendors that will take credit card payments). A company called Mophie is planning to show off an add-on that works with an app to deliver credit card payments through Square, a payment service recently started up by Jack Dorsey, a Twitter alumni. This is one of a couple such systems that will be vying to fulfill the function (and probably take a few cents from each transaction for their troubles), but so far all we've really got is demos, no actual releases planned.

But maybe we'll hear more at CES. There's all kinds of applications here -- a solid, working implementation of a service like this could end up being extremely popular for anybody that regularly needs to conduct transactions out in the field.

TUAWiPhone credit card reader to be demoed at CES originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 31 Dec 2009 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Times Online

Nokia files second lawsuit against Apple San Jose Mercury News The Finnish phone maker filed a federal lawsuit in Delaware this week claiming Apple is infringing on seven Nokia patents in products from the iPhone to ... Nokia increases legal pressure on Apple's iPhoneTG Daily Nokia ups ante against AppleWhite Hat News Nokia steps up its fight with AppleLos Angeles Times iPhone FAQ (blog) -Reuters -BusinessWeek all 666 news articles »

The Guardian

Apple blocking Dalai Lama, Kadeer, iPhone apps: report AFP WASHINGTON — Bowing to Chinese law, Apple is reportedly blocking iPhone users in China from downloading applications about two figures Beijing considers ... Apple Censors Dalai Lama IPhone Apps in ChinaPC World Apple Blocking Some iPhone Apps in ChinaThe Mac Observer Apple colludes in censoring Dalai Lama on iPhoneTG Daily all 41 news articles »

Los Angeles Times

Apple Orders 10 Million Tablets? Sound Fishy PC World I did some checking at Apple's site to see what sales figures were like for the iPhone in its first year. Here's the breakdown: Add up the quarterly numbers ... Enigmatic Apple tablet looks like a bigger iPhoneTG Daily If You Already Have An iPhone And A MacBook; Why Would You Want A Tablet?The Business Insider The Apple Tablet: 10.1'' iPhoneI4U BusinessWeek -Fone Arena (blog) -NewsFactor Network all 517 news articles »

iPhone FAQ (blog)

New Year's Eve Toast with iPhone Redmond Pie On this very special occasion, an iPhone developer has come up with an iPhone and iPod touch app to exchange contact information by giving a toast to the ... ShowTime 2 Adds Video Recording to iPhone, iPhone 3GThe Mac Observer iPhone Buzz Year in Review 2009iPhone Buzz (blog) Resort Technology Partners launches REALSKI v1.1 iPhone AppTMCnet Fone Arena (blog) -iPhone FAQ (blog) -Online PR News (press release) all 322 news articles »

TheCarConnection.com (blog)

App Update for Navy Patrol: Coastal Defense Zero for the iPhone and iPod Touch Appmodo Download our free iPhone application and receive updates directly to your iPhone! Appmodo is a iPhone game reviews and mobile applications blog, ... ShowTime 2 Adds Video Recording to iPhone, iPhone 3GThe Mac Observer iPhone Buzz Year in Review 2009iPhone Buzz (blog) The Top 10 Useful iPhone Apps of 2008 | The Top 10 Useful iPhone Apps of 2008 ...Benchmark Reviews Fone Arena (blog) -Redmond Pie -iPhone FAQ (blog) all 321 news articles »

Entelligence is a column by technology strategist and author Michael Gartenberg, a man whose desire for a delicious cup of coffee and a quality New York bagel is dwarfed only by his passion for tech. In these articles, he'll explore where our industry is and where it's going -- on both micro and macro levels -- with the unique wit and insight only he can provide.

As the year comes to a close, it seems appropriate to cast my vote for the best (and some of the worst) gadgets I've seen. These are my personal choices for products that I felt were best of breed and really managed to differentiate themselves (or didn't at all). In no particular order, here are my picks and pans.

Best Phones: This was a tricky category, and I'm not breaking it down into different segments. This is just the best on the market in my opinion -- no matter how smart it was considered to be, or how well it did in school.

• iPhone 3GS. It was a simple choice. Take the coolest phones on the market, bump up the memory and make it twice as fast. Add in some new features like a digital compass and toss in an ecosystem of 100,000+ apps. Sure, it's still locked to AT&T but the iPhone is still the phone that many others aspire to be.
• Palm Pre. At this point last year many had written Palm off entirely. Instead of fading away, Palm came back on strong with webOS, a new way of integrating diverse content called Synergy and two devices launched across the globe. Along the way, the Pre garnered much mindshare from consumers, and Palm showed that you don't need to clone the iPhone to drive the state of the art forward.
• HTC HD2. When Microsoft released Windows Mobile 6.5, there was a chorus of groans about more of the same. HTC took up the challenge and proved that there was more to Windows Mobile than slow devices and resistive screens. The HD2 takes Windows Mobile to places never seen before with a capacitive touch screen, a Snapdragon processor and HTC-created extensions that make multi-touch work the HD2's gorgeous 4.3-inch display. Wrap it all up in HTC's Sense UI and you've got the best Windows Mobile device on the market today.

Continue reading Entelligence: Gartenberg's best of 2009 in personal tech

Entelligence: Gartenberg's best of 2009 in personal tech originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 31 Dec 2009 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Now I want you to close your eyes and squint really hard. Because I'm going to tell you about a time that feels ancient, a time when Sony made some of the baddest laptops around.

Way before the internet made the idea plausible, Sony was ripping optical drives out of laptops to make them as portable as possible. One such computer, the $1,500 Sony VAIO PCG-SRX99 (circa 2001), weighed just 27.6lbs and made do with a 10-inch screen.

Inside, it had plenty of power, an 850MHz Pentium III-M, 256MB of RAM, and 802.11b for wireless networking (if you could find a wireless network, that is). Plus it had 20GB of storage, FireWire and even one USB port.

(I'd mention that it ran XP, but that part is a bit too familiar for nostalgic comfort.)

Today, the closest analog to the PCG-SRX99 is a netbook. For about $300 and a weight just shy of 3lbs, you can score a system that, from the outside, is remarkably similar. And on the inside, its clock speed has about doubled, plus there's anywhere between 4x and 8x the amount of RAM and storage.

But if you were willing to look a bit beyond skin deep, I'd argue that the contemporary smartphone is more similar to the PCG-SRX99 than the netbooks of today. Take the iPhone 3GS. In terms of sheer tech specs, it's pretty much a midrange smartphone...and it's about identical to our retro Vaio.

The 3GS has a 600MHz processor and an identical amount of RAM to the PCG-SRX99—256MB. And it holds anywhere from 16 to 32GB in flash storage. Amenities like Wi-Fi (faster 802.11g). Turn to a company like HTC, and you can double the RAM while including a processor as fast as 1GHz.

Still, while Sony's Vaio PCG-SRX99 couldn't fit in our pocket, we've championed its form in an entire wave of cheap, portable computers today. Oh, and that whole ditching the optical drive idea? Sony spotted that trend a mile away. [Product Page and Review]