Archive for the ‘ apple ’ Category
- Download the iPhone 4 Case Program app from the App Store. (iTunes Link)
- Select your Bumper or case.
- Launch the app on your iPhone 4 and sign in using your iTunes Store account or Apple ID.
Two words: Game. Changer.It’s one of those moments again when Apple brings the heat on new innovative products. Okay, maybe not so innovative in the sense of a new idea or concept but innovative in the way they execute things. Reflecting back to some of their earlier products such as the iPod back in October of ’01, we see how Apple changes the game. Portable digital media players made their mainstream debut starting with the Rio PMP300from Diamond Multimedia back in 1998. It featured a whopping 32mb of memory for the retail price of $200. Thanks to Napster and other popular peer-2-peer networks, mp3′s became very popular to what is sometimes called the ‘upload generation’. Fast forwards to October 2001, Apple introduced iPod, a portable media player capable of holding 1,000 songs thanks to it’s 5gb hard drive. Apple since then and continues to maintain market majority for portable media player. Why you ask? Well partly due to it’s simple clean interface and partly due to it’s sleek design, something that could not be found with any media player on the market at the time. January 2007 – Apple unveils the long rumored iPhone. Why was this revolutionary? Well just about every smartphone on the market contained a resistive touchscreen rather than the capacitive we seen on many devices today. While in theory multitouch is possible on a resistive display, it is no match to what capacitive displays have to offer. Some argued that the iPhone could not do many of the task that were available on the some of the most basic phones such as Multimedia Messaging or record video. That did not stop the iPhone from achieving world dominance. Smartphones had already been around for years from RIM’s Blackberry, Palm’s Treo and various Window Mobile offerings. What enabled Apple to gain such a huge market share is from the way the executed things. Just as with the iPod, those minor attention to details in both software and hardware set them apart from the competition even if they do lack some of the most basic features. Today we are greeted with the iPad. Tablet based computing is definitely not a new concept. Since 2001, Microsoft has been trying to push for Tablet PC’s, but still continues to struggles to put it into mainstream. Again, as with both the iPod and iPhone, it was the way Apple executed it.
THE NETBOOK IS DEAD. That’s a pretty bold statement to make but here’s why. For one, netbooks are simply too small. Yes there are some 10-12″ offerings, but where is the line drawn between a netbook and a laptop? The idea behind the netbook was to produce a small, lowcost laptop for doing basic web browsing and such; not what Alienware seems to think. If you ever used some of ASUS’searlier offerings, you’re met with a cramped keyboard and small track pad, all bundled with a less than stellar processor. There is no way anyone would want to type a whole novel using most keyboards found on these netbooks. iPad allows you to use any bluetooth keyboard of your choice and from what I gathered on the web, Apple’s Camera Kit for iPad will allow you to hook up any USB keyboard and other peripherals alike. Browsing the web on the iPad is truly a different experience than what any device has to offer. I thought Mr. Steve Jobs was talking a bunch of crap back in January, raving about how revolutionary and magical the experience was. Although something I don’t like to admit quite often, I was wrong. It is very enjoyable to use anywhere. Often times I would lay in bed and catch up one some news or read a few blogs. The orientation lock was genius! Often times it would feel frustrated when browsing the web on my iPhone because the screen would constantly changing between landscape and portrait.
The Apps. I know people are sick and tierd hearing about the iPhone and ‘the apps’, but application on this device is what truely separates it from other devices. Yes, with netbooks you can install a good handful of standard computer programs but it’s not the same. Gaming for example is not a very good experience on a netbook (unless you pick up one of the Alienware’s “netbook” offerings I suppose). Games such as EA’s Need For Speed Shift or Mirror’s Edge will change mobile gaming. The board game is acutally making a comback, virtually. Scrabble for iPad from EA’s is very slick. There are many multiplayer options but the one I would like to touch base on is the ‘party mode’. Players can use their iPhone or iPod Touch as the title rack using the ”Scrabble Title Rack“ advailbe on iTunes for FREE! Now let’s look at productivity. Although you can be very productive on a netbook, how effective is it? Remember you’re doing this on a cramped keyboard and mouse. How effective is Microsoft Office on the netbook? Okay i’ll admit pretty decent but it’s no where as nice as what Apple did with iWork. Developers took the same iWork found on the Mac and completely redesign the interface to be very effective on the iPad. A few other apps I’d like to mention are ABC Player, Pandora, FlightTrack Pro, iTeleport, WeatherHD, and Dropbox.
The Future. 2010 will mark the year of a new generation of mobile devices – eReaders (Kindle, Nook), Superphones (Nexus One, 4G iPhone) and most notably Tablets (iPad, WePad WeTab). It will be intersting to see what the competition has to bring to match or surpass Apple’s offerings. As for now, the iPad will pave the way to a new type of mobile computing.
Yes, Steve Jobs just broke news of Apple’s new 9.7″ IPS multi-touch display device – iPad. iPad runs a special custom Apple system-on-chip known simply as – Apple A4. It’s good to see Apple finally putting that P.A. Semi acquisition into good use. 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB will be offered at $499, $599, and $699, in addition to a 3G modem for an extra $130 on top. AT&T will be the sole provider of the 3G services advalible on iPad starting at $14.99 a month for 250mb or $29.99 if you opt for unlimited data. The contract free device will indeed be unlocked out of the box but is using a micro SIM instead of your traditional SIM found in most existing devices GSM devices. iPad will run just about every iPhone app advalible outside the box. A few things currently being critize about iPad is the lack of front or rear facing camera, Flash support in Safari, and the need for adapters in order to transfer images from a digital camera to the device. More after the break.
Apple announced iTunes 9 at today’s “It’s only rock and roll, but we like it.” keynote event, revealing new features such as iTunes LP, Home Sharing, a redesigned iTunes store, and improve syncing to name a few. iPhone 3.1 was also released alongside with iTunes 9. Key features include “Genius” for apps, wireless ringtone downloads, and the ability to organize your apps within iTunes. Some of the minor improvement I appreciate are VoiceControl via Bluetooth and the ability to remotely lock iPhone via MobileMe.
As for iPods, Apple has bumped the 120gb Classic back to 160gb while leaving the price at the previous $249. iPod Touch 8gb version drops to $199 (down from $229) while maintaing the previous hardware. Major improvements to the $299 32gb and $399 64gb versions, including OpenGL|ES 2.0., bringing it close to iPhone 3G S performance level.
Not much change to the iPod shuffle except now comes in 5 different colors and 1 Apple Store exclusive polished aluminum. Now comes in 2gb at $59 and 4gb will remain at $79, although the polished aluminum version will run you a cool $99 to have an exclusive.
Now for the main attraction, iPod Nano 5G with a video camera, speaker, and microphone. Key features:
-VGA quality (640 x 480) H.264, with up to 30fps and AAC audio. Also 15 real-time special effects including Sepia, Black and White, X-Ray, Film Grain, Thermal, Security Cam, Cyborg, Bulge, Kaleido and Motion Blur
-built-in FM tuner with Live Pause and iTunes Tagging
-a pedometer (enhanceNike+ integration)
-VoiceOver and support for voice memos
-larger 2.2-inch display (up from 2.0-inches) with a 376 x 240 resolution.
Will run 8GB for $149and 16GB for $179 available now!
First things first, it’s 09/09/09 – kinda freaky.
Today marks the tenth anniversary of the Sega Dreamcast in North America. Boy was that a lovely video game console that suffered an unfortunate 2 year life cycle. I still have mine from when I picked it up for $49.99 during Black Friday years ago.
Palm just announced the Palm Pixi on Sprint to sell along side with the current Pre. Now I have a decision to make whether or not to upgrade to Blackberry Tour or Plam’s Pre or Pixi. There is also HTC’s Android phone coming to Sprint. Ugh decisions, decisions.
Apple has also dropped the prices on iPods before today’s event. For the Touches, the 8gb model is now $189 (was $229), the 16gb model is $249 (was $299), and the 32gb model is just $279 (was $399). The Classic has been cut to $229 (was $249) while the Nano now starts at $129 (was $149) for the 8gb model or just $149 (down from $199) for the 16gb nano
Ultrasn0w for iPhone 3G is ready!
- Ensure you have upgraded to iPhone OS 3.0
- Jailbreak your iPhone 3G using redsn0w or PwnageTool (this will also install Cydia/Icy)
- Run Cydia or Icy
- Please add the repo repo666.ultrasn0w.com to Cydia or Icy. That last “o” is actually the number zero “0”! If you use the letter “o” you’ll get an error.
- Search for ‘ultrasn0w’ in cydia or icy and install ultrasn0w
- Reboot your iPhone 3G
T-Mobile USA users should disable 3G before using ultrasn0w
REDSN0W PROVIDES SIMILAR FUNCTIONALITY TO QUICKPWN.
If you want to build custom firmware files with more flexibility it is suggested that you use ‘PwnageTool’ on Mac OS X.
To use redsn0w simply upgrade the device in iTunes to firmware version 3.0 and run redsn0w to activate and jailbreak the device (and if you are using an original iPhone 2G, it will unlock it too!)”
DOWNLOAD(mac only): PwnageTool_3.0.dmg
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