Couple days ago the developers of MitAPP held a lecture at the University of Bologna on programming for the iPhone and using the SDK. The entire mini-course consists of 3 classes. Here are the first slides about the development environment (XCode and Interface Builder):
Apple has launched iTunes Preview, a feature that shows what music is available on iTunes from the convenience of your Web browser. iTunes Preview lets anyone browse through the entire iTunes catalog’s worth of music, info, and user reviews for any region.
You can access iTunes Preview in one of two ways, either through iTunes Charts on Apple’s Website or through any link generated from the iTunes Store’s Copy Link feature. Unfortunately, it’s still not possible to listen to music outside of iTunes.
For now, this feature only works with music. Hopefully someday it will be be extended to movies, TV shows and the AppStore.
We have seen a video from Verizon named iDon't and an ansfer from iPhone fans - the video named iDon't Care. Here's a new one, called iCan. It describes what a jailbreaked iPhone can do:
Here is the list of apps for that:
Can be customized: using Winterboard
I can run applications simultaneously: thanks to Backgrounder and Kirikae
I can always use the tethering: thanks to the tweaks available in Cydia
I call with Skype on 3G network: using VoiceOver3G or 3GUnrestrictor
Support an open development: with applications to be released via Cydia
Here's the first video preview of CoughMultitasking, the application from Steven Througton-Smith that will allow us to switch between different applications, leveraging the multitasking.
The application is only in early stages of development, but we already see 4 thumbnails per page and multiple pages.
Here's a little guide that allows you to enable tethering on the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS with firmware 3.1.2. A hack that changes the CommCenter is used. It eliminates the need for a digital signature.
Here is a step-by-step tutorial:
1. First start Cydia and search for "iphone-notes". Install this repository and return to the tab "Search".
2. Now look for "tethering 3G - 3.1.2" or "tethering 3GS - 3.1.2" depending on the model of your device and install the package.
3. Restart the iPhone and then connect to the site www.unlockit.co.nz directly on the iPhone to create a custom APN. Create and install the profile.
After you restart you should see the field "Tethering" in the Settings.
Apple has just announced that all iPhone developers can now use the In-App Purchase in free applications! In the past the use of these APIs was reserved only for commercial software.
This is great, because developers can completely eliminate the Lite version, creating only a limited free version with full function unlock through an in-app purchase. All this is also intended to provide greater security for developers.
Pinch Media has shared some data they presented at 360iDev on the state of app piracy on the iPhone, and there are a few key take-aways:
These analytics show roughly 4 million jailbreak devices, 38% of which are using pirated app(s) (aka cracked apps).
Piracy is highest in China, Russia, and Brazil, with Europe and Canada being the mid-ground, and the USA, Great Britain, and Japan having the lowest rates.
Of paid apps that use Pinch Media’s services, 60% have been pirated.
Of those pirated apps, 34% of all installs are the pirated version.
Like legitimate app downloads, pirated apps are used a lot at first, but drop off quickly (more quickly than legitimate app usage, in fact).
Pirated apps on jailbroken iPhones crash more, which may be why they’re used less.
Those who claim to use pirated apps as a way to “try before they buy” are full of it. While 7.4% of legitimate “Lite” app downloads up-convert to the paid version, only 0.43% of pirated apps lead to purchase of the legitimate paid version.
It looks like Google and Apple have been steadily moving from friends to enemies. Google created Android and CloudOS, Apple rejected Google Voice and Google Latitude, Google’s CEO left Apple.
So Back in July Apple stealthily acquired Placebase, a mapping company that provides a service similar to Google Maps, but with more robust customizations and set of APIs, called Pushpin.
The obvious interest Apple would have in the company would be the mapping content and expertise that they are currently relying on Google for in their iPhone maps application. Placebase, however, also offered additional functionality that is not currently available in Google's offerings that Apple could theoretically take advantage of.
Given that Apple wrote the iPhone Maps app themselves, and just used Google for the backend, a switch to Apple Maps might even be transparent to the end user.
Placebase CEO Jaron Waldman LinkedIn profile now listed his position as part of the "Geo Team" at Apple.
Dropbox is a service similar to Apple's iDisk. It lets you store your files on a server and immediately share your pictures, documents or programs on different computers. It is quite popular on desktops. Now there is a version for the iPhone. The official free application is already avaliable in App Store.
So with iPhone you can download files, view them immediately, upload your own photos and videos to the Dropbox server, share links and sync it all with your computer.
It is a great service, especially because there is a "Basic" plan completely free of charge. With this plan you get 2GB of web space and it is absolutely free.
You can register and download the application for your desktop computer here (Windows, Mac, and Linux). Here is a link to application in AppStore.
AdMob, a company that supplies advertising services for iPhone developers, says that between September 15th and 22nd only 23% of devices were updated to iPhone OS 3.1. This counts only devices that run apps with AdMob ads.
Some more statistics: 51% are still running OS 3.0, and 19% are still running v2.2.1, while 7% are still running v2.0 or earlier.
The reasons, as always, are very different. The update for the iPod Touch costs money, there are problems with internet tethering in 3.1, there is no firmware 3.1 jailbreak tool for Windows and it is impossible to jailbreak iPhone 3GS.
Have you perfomed the upgrade or not? Please, leave a comment why.
Here are new iPhone ads: 'Dine', ' Nature', and 'Pass'. Each one feature six applications per ad. All three commercials also mention that there are now 75,000 applications available in the App Store.
The first one is named "Dine". Here is the list of apps used in the video and the video itself:
- TripCase [App Store, Free]
- New York Subway 09 [App Store, $4.99]
- Epicurious Recipes & Shopping List [App Store, Free]
- Zagat To Go '09 [App Store, $9.99]
- Quickoffice Mobile Office Suite [App Store, $9.99]
- Gap StyleMixer [App Store, Free]
Action Menu is a new utility that extends traditional Copy / Paste functionality. You can now "Copy All" or add text to a stack ("Favorites") that allows you to paste phrases frequently at any time and in any application.
The application is free but you can also buy an extension pack (costs $2.99) which will add new features, such as:
History: keep the history of all copied sentences / words / numbers;
Lookup: find online matches for phone numbers and words, using Google Search, Wikipedia, Dictionary, and Google Translate;
Tweet: send selected text through a Twitter client installed on your iPhone (currently support Tweetie, Twitterific, Twittelator and TwitterFon).
We found this utility quite useful. It can be installed via Cydia on a jailbreaked iPhone (iPod Touch).
Wikitude Drive is a revolutionary new navigation software which will be launched soon for Android and iPhone. Unlike regular navigation applications like iGo, TomTom, Garmin and other programs the WikiTude Drive will use the Augmented Reality!
The software will also include all the classic features such as Turn-by-turn navigation, voice prompts, points of interest. In short, just point the iPhone on the road and we shall see an arrow that will point the way forward. The data for the route is downloaded in real time via the Internet.