News tagged ‘iPhone’

Today we will take a look at an interesting accessory - external microphone for iPods and iPhones. As for the iPod everything it is quite simple - in order to record something you need an external mic. iPhone has it's own internal microphone. However the quality of the recording would be better with external one.

We performed a simple test: recorded the iTunes radio using Voice Memo application on the iPhone. First we used internal microphone and later we attached the external one. The quality of the external is slightly better. It is more sensible and the level of noise is lower which is good. Here are the sample recordings (m4a format): Internal, External.

This external microphone is compatible with:
- iPhone 3G/3GS
- iPod Touch 2G/3G (you need to download and install some recording application from AppStore)
- iPod Nano 4G/5G (with pre-installed software)
- iPod Classic 120G (with pre-installed software)

You can buy one for $3.12 at BudgetGadgets. They have free shipping worldwide. Use the coupon name VM5OFF5 during checkout, it will give you additional 5% discount.

More photos:

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Apple announced a launch date for the iPad. The result is very exciting - Apple stock (AAPL) closed at an all time high, almost 219. This puts Apple's market cap near $199 billion dollars.

This week Steve Jobs answered an email question from Sweden. The question was from Jezper Söderlund:

I'll keep it short.

I'm Jezper from Sweden, a long time Apple fan, currently about to replace the very last computer at home with a brand spanking new iMac i7. I'm also awaiting the release of the iPad. However, I have one question:

Will the wifi-only version somehow support tethering thru my iPhone?

Two devices, based on the same OS, with already built-in technology to share one data plan suggests a secondary contract could possibly be redundant.

From the look of your keynote, where the iPad sits well between my MacBook Pro and my iPhone, I was hoping the three of them could interact as seamless as possible.

All the best,
Jezper Söderlund

This is a very interesting question, since iPad's network settings with tethering were found recently. Here is Jobs' answer:

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Changewave published their latest iPad survey findings today. Quite interesting. For example, only 37% of iPad buyers are going to read ebooks, while 68% will use it for internet surfing. Take a look at other results:

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According to Wall Street Journal, Sony is planning to launch a line of products, potential competitors of Apple devices. With the smartphone from Sony a user will be able to download and play Playstation games. Underway are the plans for another device, which will combine e-reader, PSP and netbook. Sony is also planning to create Online Service to distribute television shows, movies, games and music to the devices.

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This year list of Fortune's Most Admired Companies, based on a polling of 4,200 executives from the world’s biggest companies, was again topped by Apple. This is the most favored mobile device manufacturer with the best brand management. Google was the company’s main competitor, but, according to analysts, Apple is sure to take the same record next time due to the popularity of iPad and introduction of updated versions of iPhone.

According to Gartner, PC shipments will increase worldwide from 305.8 mln. devices in 2009, to 366.1 mln. units shipped in 2010. The figures comprise not only traditional laptops and PC towers, but tablets and notebooks as well.

The variety of applications force vendors to provide users with something else rather than conventional general-purpose-PC-with-fast CPU approach. The new Apple's iPad belongs to the devices that will not only change PC ecosystem, but also overlap it with mobile phone industry. According to Gartner estimates, up to 10.5 mln. tablets (including new-generation devices) will be shipped in 2010. Analysts from Wall Street predict that iPad shipments will equal 5 mln. in 2010.

TomTom is discounting their navigation apps. For example, US and US+Canada are down to $50 and $70 respectively, Western Europe is $90. They've done this before, so it's not unprecedented. However $10 discount is a good deal if you're looking for an iPhone Navigation.

Here is a link to AppStore.

(different search engine strings on SDK on the left, Firefox 3.6 for Mac on the right)

Here's some more interesting information from the iPhone OS 3.2 SDK. Users will be able to set search to something besides Google in the search bar of the iPad's Safari in upcoming iPhoneOS releases.

Right now, the two options besides the current default Google are Wikipedia and Yahoo, but plugins could be developed to do things like Amazon and Bing searches directly from the search bar in the Safari browser.

There is even a suggestion manager for both Google and Yahoo depending on which search engine you choose. Unfortunately, no Bing… yet.

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Apple announced today the date when iPad will go on sale in the USA - it is April 3rd. Models with 3G-module will be available in late April. Preorders for all iPad models will start on March 12th.

Apple today announced that its magical and revolutionary iPad will be available in the US on Saturday, April 3, for Wi-Fi models and in late April for Wi-Fi + 3G models. In addition, all models of iPad will be available in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the UK in late April.

Beginning a week from today, on March 12, US customers can pre-order both Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi + 3G models from Apple's online store (www.apple.com) or reserve a Wi-Fi model to pick up on Saturday, April 3, at an Apple retail store.

Earlier we wrote that Apple is planning to expand their iBookstore service internationally. Well, in their press-release Apple noted that iBooks will be available for other countries "later this year".

On the iPad's presentation Steve Jobs noted that the iBookstore will be available only in the USA at launch. But few days ago new Apple job listing confirmed that company is planning to extend its book-selling business to other countries. Their new vacancy for manager of "Asia Pacific & Canada" iBooks divisions shows that in the nearest future their efforts will be concentrated primarily on Australia, New Zealand and Canada.

The role includes: working with management, regionally and in Cupertino to determine strategies and priorities for iBooks in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and other countries; identifying content providers to target, establish and develop relationships; working with legal and production teams to finalize relationships and secure content; and coordinate launches with partners, production, and marketing. This role will also be responsible for marketing the books offering on the iBooks store by coordinating with Apple's production teams, the marketing team, and the production and marketing teams of partners.

The successful employee will work in Sydney, Australia or Markham, Ontario.

It is possible that Apple looks for the possibilities to expand in other countries, though there are no open positions for that at the moment.

We really thought that Korean sausages era will be ended after the presentation of capacitive gloves on MWSF2010. But no such luck! They're back - reborn and improved!

CaseCrown present a sausage-like stylus for only $0.99 (dropped from $3.99 regular price). The product is compatible with any iPhone and allows you to keep your gloves on when it is cold outside. You can purchase it here.

This is good news for for those who use Cydia, an alternative to Apple's AppStore for jailbreaked iPhones and iPod Touches. Saurik has uploaded a new version of APT that has an optimized cache generator and greatly improves Cydia performance:

"I also uploaded a new version of APT I've been working on: it has an optimized cache generator and more error tolerant repository parsing."

When launching Cydia the next time you will find updates for some APT packages (up to 3 depending on what you have installed). Perform the install and enjoy the speed improvements!

Site 9to5mac posted several interesting screenshots with iPad's Network System Preferences. These settings even  include Tethering via Bluetooth or USB. Do you think AT&T will allow this?

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This amazing iPhone stand was made by designers at ForkedUpArt with their own hands. It is fully functional as the device can be charged while being held up by spoons for legs. Also it allows using not only iPhone but many other devices as well. The price is only $30 and there are two variants depending on what "head" you prefer - a spoon or a fork.