iPhone

Nab free AT&T Wi-Fi on your Mac, for now

Posted on May. 2, ’08, 10:42 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Internet

If you follow our sister site iPhone Central, you’ll know that Starbucks is switching its Wi-Fi provider to AT&T, and some of the stores seem to be offering free Wi-Fi access to iPhone users (well, specifically those who are also AT&T subscribers). I tried this out at my local Starbucks and it seemed to work well enough, but since I spend more time working on my MacBook than my iPhone, it’s not exactly compelling for me.

The always clever Lifehacker team points out that a little subtle massaging of facts can nab you free Internet access on your computer. If you use Safari, you can change the User Agent to make it look like you’re on an iPhone by enabling the Develop (née “Debug”) menu (here’s an easy way to do that, courtesy of Mac OS X Hints) and selecting “Mobile Safari 1.1.3 — iPhone” from the User Agent submenu. Firefox readers can install an extension that will let them do the same thing.

You’ll still need a valid iPhone phone number in order to get access, which is fine if you’ve got an iPhone yourself, but you might need to convince your friend to let you use their number otherwise.

Of course, once AT&T gets wind of this, I’d expect them to find a way to close the loophole, so take advantage of it while you can.

Adobe drops restrictions on Flash, AIR

Posted on May. 1, ’08, 10:44 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Video

The battle for Internet video continues. Not satisfied with the dominating presence of Flash, Adobe is making moves to spread their influence even further. Their latest thrust in the constant lunge/riposte is the Open Screen Project, which hopes to help extend the presence of Flash and Adobe’s AIR framework to all the devices you use to get on the Internet: your computer, your set-top box, your microwave, etc.

Among the partners Adobe has lined up are device makers like Samsung, Motorola, Sony Ericsson; hardware component makers like Marvell, Intel, and ARM; content producers like BBC, MTV Networks, and NBC; and networks like NTT DoCoMo, Chunghwa Telecom, and Verizon Wireless. Sure, that’s a lot of names, but come on: companies will put their name on pretty much any initiative or alliance that gets bandied about. Where’s the beef?

What’s really important here is that Adobe plans to remove restrictions on the use of Shockwave and Flash formats, publish the device porting layer API and the Adobe Flash Cast protocol, and remove licensing fees for Flash Player and AIR. While Adobe will still be holding back some proprietary info, such as their own implementation of Flash, these developments will significantly lower the barrier of entry for those looking to support Flash video on other devices.

We notice Apple is absent from the list of companies, which is little surprise, since they’re still intent upon pushing MPEG-4/H.264 as the future. Still, in theory, there would be nothing to stop them from creating their own Flash player for the likes of the iPhone and iPod touch, or any other devices they happen to have—you know, if they wanted to.

[via Macworld]

Apple, Canada, and international inequity

Posted on Apr. 6, ’08, 10:46 AM PT by Thomas Gagnon-van Leeuwen

Category | Business

Canada’s largest newspaper, the Globe and Mail, asks: “Just what does Apple Inc. have against Canada?”. The article in question cites higher prices despite the almost-equal dollar and delays in bringing new products North of the border, especially the iPhone.

So why does Canada get the short end of the stick? Well, the Globe and Mail has a few good explanations: it’s a relatively small market, thus not a priority, and negotiating with potential partners for movie rights or cellphone plans takes time and effort. Specifically for the iPhone issue, it’s not secret data plans are outrageously expensive here, which doesn’t help.

As for the higher prices, Apple rarely adjusts its prices between products refreshes, so the most recent products are often closer to the current exchange rate, but a noticeable 5-10% premium is always added on top of that. I believe Cupertino’s explanation is that doing business internationally costs more.

Overall, the article makes valid points, but I think all international users can relate to these issues. Compared to the rest of the world, the Great White North does have a few TV shows, a few Apple stores and prices are relatively low. So go outside and play, eh? Spring’s finally here!

[Hat tip: Lawrence & Sarah]

Apple patents a clamshell device. iPhone 2.0 in the works?

Posted on Mar. 18, ’08, 12:25 PM PT by Aayush Arya

Category | iPhone

Just when you thought the iPhone was reaching the end of its tether (why would you think that!), Unwired View uncovers an Apple patent filed on 6 September 2006 that describes a handheld device with a clamshell form factor, two multitouch surfaces and, among other things, an FM radio.

When closed, the device would be your usual iPhone, a tad shorter and sans the buttons—because, clearly, it has way too many of those. On flipping it open, the top half would lose the multitouch goodness but the translucent bottom half will retain it, presumably to enable you to have an overlay of a regular phone keypad on it.

In my opinion, however, the whole concept is inherently flawed because it does not solve one major problem with the current iPhone—tactile feedback. Unless it facilitates having more buttons for the SMS-junkies, I’m not sure there’s much of a point in having a clamshell iPhone.

Of course, it is just a patent so there’s about as much chance of Apple releasing this exact device as my becoming a guitarist one day (and I’m not even trying)—take it with a huge chunk of salt. Our improbability meter went off as soon as we heard the words “radio” and “tablet” mentioned in the Unwired View story.

Look at the diagrams and let us know whether any of it makes any sense to you. Would you buy the iPhone shown in that patent application, assuming that it was released?

Hacking a problem for enterprise users? Only in the iPhone of the beholder.

Posted on Mar. 12, ’08, 9:38 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | iPhone

Over at our Computerworld cousins, blogger Seth Weintraub writes that the recent hacking of the beta 2.0 iPhone firmware is bad news for enterprise adoption. While I won’t dispute that security is obviously a primary concern for many corporations and that the perception of security loopholes is certainly not good for Apple’s hopes of moving into business, it seems to me that Seth’s article just piles on to that flawed perception, instead of looking at the facts.

What is this saying to enterprise IT? When 13-year olds are hacking into the devices that are supposed to hold all of their corporate information, how are users going to feel secure that their data is protected?

First off, that’s not how the hack works. What the iPhone Dev team has done here is create their own custom, hacked version of the firmware and loaded it onto the phone. Unless they’re going to sneak into your house and install the firmware on your phone while you’re sleeping, this isn’t a matter of people hacking into your phone; this is a matter of you deciding to hack your own phone. And, let’s face it, if they’re sneaking into your house, then you have bigger problems you should be worrying about.

Like, potentially, ninja burglars.

iPhone SDK Event streaming video now available

Posted on Mar. 6, ’08, 10:00 PM PT by Aayush Arya

Category | Events

Apple’s iPhone Special Event today was an exciting and pleasant surprise. They unveiled the long-awaited SDK and showed some amazing native applications and games that are going to be available in June, along with the iPhone Software Update v2.0.

Sure, we all followed the live-blogging and joined in on the fun, but nothing beats a good old fashioned streaming video of all the action. Continuing the long-standing trend, Apple has now made the presentation available as a QuickTime stream.

You don’t get to see much of Steve Jobs (what with all the tech jargon floating around), but we’re pretty sure he won’t be missed-what with all the SDK goodness to make up for his limited presence.

Touch-y SDK finally touchable

Posted on Mar. 6, ’08, 2:03 PM PT by Dan Pourhadi

Category | iPod

Today was the holiest of High Holies: the iPhone Event where Apple officially took the wraps off the highly-anticipated SDK (or “software development kit,” for those of us with girlfriends), and laid out its enterprise strategy, for the iPhone and iPod touch.

Here’s a quick run-down of the NTK (“need to know”) deets:

• Use available OS X development layers: Core OS, Core Services, Media, and a new, mobile-focused interface API called Cocoa Touch.
• A whole bunch of new features: Push email, calendar, and contacts; Cisco VPN; remote wipe; ActiveSync and Microsoft Exchange (!!) support; etc.
• They demoed a few third-party iPhone/touch apps, including Epocrates, Salesforce.com, AOL IM (!!), SEGA’s Super Monkey Ball, and a mobile version of the upcoming Spore. Jobs says Apple will not limit VoIP capabilities on WiFi, only on the cell network (!!).
• The SDK is available as a free public download, and developers can sign up for the iPhone Developer Program to get access to a beta of the iPhone 2.0 update, which has all the new features and SDK support.
• All apps will be distributed through a new “App Store”; no official way around that.
• The iPhone 2.0 update will be free and available to the public in June; the iPod touch update will cost a small fee, like the last touch software update.

There’s plenty more, along with more in-depth analysis of all the features and revelations, at iPhone Central and Macworld. So CIO (“check it out”) and gawk eagerly at June on the calendar. Summer’s gonna be hot.

iPhone Software Roadmap. March 6th. Town Hall.

Posted on Feb. 28, ’08, 1:00 PM PT by Aayush Arya

Category | Events

Well, would you lookee at what just arrived in the mailbox? It’s an invitation from Apple to a special event on March 6 to discuss the “iPhone Software Roadmap.” At last, a week from today, Apple will discuss the promised SDK. The invitation, as usual, is terse:

Please join us to learn about the iPhone software roadmap, including the iPhone SDK and some exciting new enterprise features.

Are you thinking what I’m thinking? What “exciting new enterprise features” are we talking about here? Are we going to see the iPhone get Microsoft Exchange support?

Hopefully, Apple won’t be dilly-dallying anymore and will release the SDK during this event. Jobs promised to have the SDK “in developers’ hands” by February and March 6—well, let’s just say it ain’t February, no matter how much you stretch it.

Sound off in the comments; it’s free of charge.

Apple inflates capacities on iPhone, iPod touch

Posted on Feb. 5, ’08, 6:15 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | iPod

You want capacity? We’ve got capacity. The Apple Store has been updated this morning with new models of the iPhone and the iPod touch. The iPhone has added a long-awaited 16GB model at the top end of the line, costing $499 (the same price, we’ll note, as the 4GB model at the time of its introduction). The iPod touch, meanwhile, has added a 32GB model, also for $499.

So two new models, same price point, but one has double the capacity of the other. Seems like Apple’s trying to avoid sales cannibalization. It’s not terribly surprising to see a capacity bump like this, though it is less than a month after Macworld. The one thing that this does bode well for is the drop in flash memory prices. It is, after all, less than a year since its introduction and the iPhone has quadrupled the amount of storage available for the same price. And 32GB for the touch is finally a capacity that’s more reasonable for such a high-end device. Of course, both units come with the latest 1.1.3 software.

So commence the whining from those who bought recently bought their 8GB iPhone and 16GB touch. We know: love hurts. Especially when it’s Apple’s love.

[hat tip: Milind]

Create a custom WebClip bookmark icon for your site

Posted on Jan. 16, ’08, 1:00 PM PT by Aayush Arya

Category | Tips

If you own a website and want it to look good on the home screen of an iPhone or iPod touch should the user choose to make a web clip out of it, Dan Dickinson has a handy little tip for you from Apple’s iPhone Dev Center.

“To specify a bookmark icon for all pages of a web site, place a PNG image named “apple-touch-icon.png” at the root directory of your web server” and if you want to override the default icon on certain pages, you can “insert a <link> element similar to <link rel=”apple-touch-icon” href=”/customIcon.png”/> within the <head> element of the page”. You don’t need to try to make it look like one of the default icons though because Safari automatically adds a glassy overlay and masks your image into the rounded square shape before adding it to the home screen.

Check out Dickinson’s blog for a little more clarification on this one.

[Via Daring Fireball]