Apple has improved their new iTunes Preview service by activating in-browser previews for iPod and iPhone applications.
iTunes Preview was launched by Apple in November. It worked for those iTunes links, which used to simply open the application. Before that your browser would open a blank page and prompt you to open the link with the iTunes application. Now you are also able to view screenshots, changelogs, descriptions and reviews for iPod Touch and iPhone applications.
Besides, last month Apple also started using QuickTime to offer 30 second song samples encoded in 44.1 AAC 300+ kbits/second.
BroadPoint AmTech analyst Brian Marshall calculated the real price of the Apple iPad. His numbers are based on the price of all components.
The flash memory and the aluminum case both cost about $25, while the Apple A4 processor is just $15. The total cost for 16GB Wi-Fi iPad (US$499) is just $270.50. Manufacturing adds $10 and warranty service costs add up to $20.
Thr 32GB and 64GB Wi-Fi models add even more margin. The 32GB model costs only $25.50 more than the 16GB, but the suggested retail price is $100 more. Apple will really make money on the 64GB model, which costs $76.50 more than the 16GB device but sells for $200 more.
Google released a software update for Android-based Nexus One smartphones. The update offers a number of enhancements, but the most interesting one is a support of the multi-touch technology in phone's Browser, Gallery and Maps applications. The new functionality is called "pinch-to-zoom".
Google previously had an agreement with Apple, that Android OS would not support multi-touch in the U.S. Now it looks like all the agreements are gone.
Engadget posted a video of the Nexus One's pinch-to-zoom functionality:
iPhone hacker Geohot, who created popular utilities blackra1n (jailbreak) and blacksn0w (unlock), posted a message on twitter about the new firmware 3.1.3 released by Apple:
Hopefully some vulnerability in the new firmware will be found.
Once Apple began allowing VoIP over 3G we can now expect this functionality to apper in real iPhone applications. Fring already implemented it. Skype has announced via it's blog that a new version of Skype app for iPhone will support 3G calling:
You may have seen other apps offering calls over 3G, but we’re holding ours back for a little bit longer. Why? So that we can give you the very best audio quality we can. When our 3G-capable Skype for iPhone app is released, it’ll let you make calls in wideband audio, giving you greater clarity and fidelity – because that’s what you expect from Skype.
Here is an iPad papercraft for those, who want to have their own paper-based recreation of the last week’s event. Сlick on the plan and put it together by yourself. Enjoy!
Enagdget reports that new facts about the 4th generation iPhone were discovered in iPad’s 3.2 SDK:
Buried way inside the platform simulator lies a set of folders dedicated to specific models of iPhone OS-ready devices, including the iPhone 3GS, second generation iPod touch, something called the "K48" (yep, the codename we were told was the internal name for the iPad), and... the "N89."
This "N89." is rumored to be the codename of the next iPhone. Previous versions of the iPhone were named the M68, N82 and N88.
They also have found a bit more than that:
Apple's just released firmware (3.1.3) also includes another new model, the "N80," which we're told will most likely be the next version of the iPod touch.
Rumors say that 4th generation iPod Touch is likely to ship this September, while the next iPhone is expected this June-July.
Along with a new firmware for iPhone and iPod Touch Apple released a new version of SDK - 3.1.3. It's a required update, otherwise Xcode will not recognize or work with your 3.1.3 device. You can download it at iPhone dev center.
As usual the iPhone SDK includes Xcode, the iPhone simulator, and other tools for developing applications for iPhone and iPod Touch. If you want to develop for the iPad, you'll need the SDK version 3.2 instead.
So this is a minor update, which fixing only the accuracy of the 3GS battery meter and the stability of some third-party app launches. This update is avaliable via iTunes.
New firmware 3.1.3 also introduces a new version of the baseband, the 05.12.01. So if you need unlock do not update! DevTeam also warns us:
If you care about your jailbreak and unlock, don’t update your device - 3G and 3G(S) owners should pay particular attention to this warning.
PwnageTool and redsn0w are not yet compatible with 3.1.3
Experimenters show that the latest version of redsn0w 0.9.2 is able to jailbreak iPhone 2G, iPhone 3G and iPod touch 1G. Just point it at the 3.1.2 IPSW (download here) after doing update or restore to firmware 3.1.3. Sounds like DevTeam will release an updated version of redsn0w that will handle firmware 3.1.3 officially. They say iPod touch 2G with firmware 3.1.3 is also jailbreakable.
Users report that unlock software, blacksn0w and ultrasn0w, doesn;t work with the new baseband.
Newsworthy events are often targeted by hi-tech criminals. The iPad wasn’t the exception.
On the last week terms like “Apple” and “iPad” were among the most popular on different search sites and services because of the Steve Jobs’ presentation. That caused hi-tech scammers to tune their booby-trapped webpages to show up near the top of search results with that terms. So when the user enters such words as “Apple iPad rumor” or “Apple iPad size”, he has a probability to go to the sites that will peddle rogue security software to him.
Moreover, some sites were tuned in such way they could define user’s OS and choose a different type of attacking it. Other sites send users to web pages that pose Google’s search engine and manipulate the results people see. The only way to stay protected from these scammers is to be attentive to strange sites and links, to have an up to date security software installed and the latest OS system patches.
After the iPad announcement the pre-orders for the Joojoo went up, said Fusion Garage CEO Chandra Rathakrishnan in an interview with SGEntrepreneurs. Though he did not reveal any actual numbers, Chandra did drop some interesting details. He hinted that his company will soon announce a partnership with a "major mobile phone player", which has a “significant” market share in Southeast Asia. This “player” will also probably take care of the Joojoo manufacturing cost. And yet there is no information about the shipment date for the Joojoo, which still stands 8-10 weeks.
The Joojoo is a Linux-based tablet PC designed for Web surfing by the TechCrunch resource. Some photos from the official site are listed below.
The specialists from RedmondPie made a video showing how to turn the interface of the iPhone into that of an iPad. They used simple packages that are already available via Cydia (for jailbroken iPhone).
Everything is very simple, just follow these steps:
Install Winterboard from Cydia.
Install the Winterboard theme "Simple iPad Theme" from Cydia.
Install MakeItMine from Cydia. This utility is needed to change the Carrier name to "iPad".
Download the application Shrink to reduce the size of the icons.
Install NYTimes, Classics and Kindle applications from AppStore.
A month ago John Gruber, author of the Daring Fireball blog, posted on twitter: “Shouldn't the iPhone shoot 16:9 video? Who wants 4:3 video nowadays?”
Many people admit that they expect all screens to be closer to 16:9 aspect ratio. However from the first look it is obvious that iPad does not have 16:9 screen. We can see from the picture above the iPad screen is apparently equivalent in its aspect ratio to 2 iPhone screens, stacked in landscape mode, which is 4:3. It is primarily meant to be used in portrait mode, and it looks like a video playback is a secondary function. Indeed a 16:9 video looks a bit skinny on the iPad.
So will 4:3 video get back to business or it is just another feature of more comfortable e-book reading?
On the next day after the iPad presentation Steve Jobs gave a conference at Town Hall. Among others the Google and Adobe subjects were discussed.
According to a person, who was not authorized to speak with the press by Apple, but was present on this event, Jobs didn’t mince his words in his speech. This is what he exactly said about Google:
- We did not enter the search business. They entered the phone business. Make no mistake they want to kill the iPhone. We won’t let them.
After this one of the journalists tried to discuss another subject, but Jobs continued his thought that caused audience to roar:
- I want to go back to that other question first and say one more thing. This don’t be evil mantra: “It’s bullshit.”
A few minutes later Apple’s CEO also commented the situation with Adobe:
- They are lazy. They have all this potential to do interesting things but they just refuse to do it. They don’t do anything with the approaches that Apple is taking, like Carbon. Apple does not support Flash because it is so buggy. Whenever a Mac crashes more often than not - it’s because of Flash.
Also Jobs added:
- No one will be using Flash. The world is moving to HTML5.