Keith M
Articles by Keith M
Ben & Jerry's app adds augmented reality "Moo Vision"
When I heard about the updated version of Ben & Jerry's iPhone app, "Scoop of Happiness," now with augmented reality, I really wanted to give it a try. After all, I've finally upgraded to a phone that can do all that neat/gimmicky augmented reality stuff, so why not? The app has a few typical (and not-so-typical) features you'd see in a restaurant or store chain app, such as a store locator. Then it has something new called "Moo Vision," which has that added augmented reality flavor. You point your iPhone's camera at the lid of one of several qualifying pints of B&J's, and, after a few seconds, you're staring at the lid with an odd 3D image atop of it. I'd love to show an example of this first-hand. The problem is, I don't eat Ben & Jerry's ice cream. So, short of looking like a real loon in the frozen food isle at the local grocery store, it wasn't happening. However, I had a little luck fooling the app by pointing it at an image on my laptop screen of one of the qualifying flavor lids. Give it a try yourself (only Milk & Cookies in the image works). I'm all for doing neat things with the iPhone camera, compass and gyroscope, but this usage appears to be severely lacking. It's more fun trying to see if you can trick the camera with a web image than it is to actually see it in full action. The Ben & Jerry's Scoop of Happiness app is currently available and free in the App Store. [via Mashable]
iPhone OS 2.1 on 3G had signal problems too
Once upon a time, iPhones had an OS update known as version 2.1, and there was much rejoicing. Actually, there was a little bit of the rejoicing and a bit more of the griping. What was the griping about? Well, some of you kiddies might not remember this, since it was so two years ago, but the story may ring familiar: it was all about degrading signal indicator issues with the iPhone 3G. Part of what that article notes is the existence of the field service test mode that was, then, present in the iPhone OS. It used to be pretty trivial to access this mode, which would give us gadgety techno-nerds information like more detailed signal strength. A feature like that would be dandy for troubleshooting the iPhone 4's recent disappearing bars problems, but Apple decided to remove access to test mode in iOS 4. Seeing as this issue cropped up in the early days of the iPhone 3G, AT&T's response to it then seems to indicate that, quite simply, a software update will fix the signal strength indicator problem in the iPhone 4. Let's just hope it comes out sooner than later so that we can stop talking about this issue already. Thanks Ilkyone for the tip!
iSSH updates, supports multitasking and port forwarding
One must-have app for me with any smartphone is a decent SSH client; I wouldn't move over to the iPhone until I was sure it had one. When Zingersoft's iSSH came along and I was able to kick its tires a bit, I knew I could safely move my life over to the iPhone. RSA/DSA key import support, an X11 client ... what more could I want or need? Well, Zingersoft answered me with its latest update, officially released a few days ago. In this update is multitasking support, allowing you to keep connections open in the background for up to ten minutes on compatible devices. And because there's now multitasking capability, the update allows one to setup port forwarding tunnels. If you don't have access to a VPN server to pass through firewalls in order to gain access certain systems, the port forwarding feature of iSSH is a godsend. As for the ten minute timeout, that's only to be expected. Though, I'm assuming all one has to do to reset the timeout counter is occasionally switch back to iSSH and back out again. iSSH is a universal iPhone and iPad app, currently available for US$9.99 in the app store.
Jason Bateman pulled out of LA Apple Store line
Update: The NY Nightlife Examiner quotes a store employee regarding Bateman's tenure in The Grove store's iPhone 4 line: "T he paparazzi had spotted him first and swarmed him like bees in an angry hive. As he was not able to find cover from this (or he'd lose his spot in line, like anyone else would) we quickly decided that this was unfair to one of our customers and offered to extract him from the frenzy. Inside the store he was given no special treatment. After all, he deserved to be just another customer that day, just like everyone else." While we're waiting for more independent reporting from folks who were present, we apologize for the suggestion that J-Bate was pulled out of line for no reason at all, and we hope he's enjoying his new iPhone. Obviously with such an sought after item as the newest iPhone, there's going to be a slew of sightings of famous people hoping to get their mitts on one as well. Like Conan O'Brien, for example. Another celebrity sighting didn't go off as well as the CoCo one did. Jason Bateman stood in line with others at the Apple Store at the Grove in Los Angeles. After waving his hands about at Apple Store employees, screaming "Hello! Jason Bateman here!" he was escorted into the store, ahead of the multitude waiting in front of him. Alright, I made up that screaming and waving part -- the employees likely saw him and promptly kissed butt. Needless to say, the remaining crowd booed Bateman relentlessly as he emerged with the telltale white Apple shopping bag and a new iPhone 4. If you were one of the folks standing/sitting/laying down in those long lines of your fellow bretheren, waiting to get your hands on a brand-spankin' new iPhone 4, would you accept an offer to be brought to the front of the line? What if it was made a public spectacle? And then you were booed because you were offered it for no apparent reason? Yeah, I probably would too.
Farmville for iPhone available
Facebook farmers with iPhones and iPod Touches, your wait is finally over. Zynga -- the maker of incredibly addictive and lucrative, Flash-based Facebook games such as Farmville -- has released the much anticipated iPhone version of Farmville. You might remember that the title was touted at the recent WWDC keynote speech, along with the iPhone 4 announcement. The game features everything you'd expect from the iPhone version of the game, minus the use of Adobe Flash, of course. It even features push notifications for certain events, much like the similar game We Rule. Also like We Rule, Farmville is free to purchase, with in-app goodies fetching prices anywhere from cheap to absurd. If you were one of those who left Facebook but sometimes miss your beloved Farmville fix, hold onto your hats; you still need a Facebook login to play.
Adobe Audition for Mac confirmed
Your choices for premium audio editing on the Mac are soon to gain a most welcome addition. Adobe has announced that its all-things-audio editing software, Adobe Audition, will soon be making its way to the Mac platform. While the company hasn't yet announced an official release date for the product, there will be a public beta made available. Apparently Adobe wants to get some feedback from the end-user community before putting the spit and polish on the released product. Those interested in participating in the public beta can do so by signing up at Adobe Labs. You'll be notified when the beta is available, which is said to be sometime this winter. Not that this will be a concern to many, but in order to use many of the many of the DSP algorithms and processes present in Audition, you'll need a 64-bit processor. [via The Loop]
The fix for your iPhone 4 display blotching problem: Wait
Just yesterday, we reported that many tipsters were coming to us with proof that the Retina displays on their new iPhone 4s were exhibiting strange, discolored "blotching" issues. Since then, many more people have come forward, noticing the same issue on their own phones. According to an AppleInsider forum post that claims to be from a person closely connected to the company that sold Apple and/or Foxconn the glass bonding adhesive for the iPhone, this is to be expected. Well, it's to be expected for a device shipped very quickly from the factory, where the bonding material (known as Organofunctional Silane Z-6011) hasn't had time to dry. Apparently, all you need to do is wait a few more days & use the screen normally to allow the adhesive to dry, and your iPhone should be cured from its case of the measles ... or whatever the heck you want to call it. [via MacRumors]
Official DC Comics app is live
ComiXology has done it again. First the Marvel Comics app was released, powered by the company's familiar engine, and then one recently for BOOM! Studios. Now DC Comics has finally released its own app, running on ComiXology's familiar interface. So far the DC store's offerings are rather slim, especially when you take into account all of the titles the publisher handles. Most of the titles available are the more recent ones, such as Green Lantern: Rebirth and Frank Miller's Batman. One very awesome offering of note in the store: Neil Gaiman's Sandman; it's only one issue so far, but that's a much better start than zero. ComiXology also has their own comics app and, just as the DC, Marvel and BOOM! apps are, it is free. Some of the same titles offered in the individual comics apps are available within the ComiXology app, though you can only get DC titles within their official app. [Update: ComiXology's official app was just updated with a specific DC Comics section.]
iPhone 4 early shipments include some defective Retina displays
Which is worse: the heartbreak of knowing you're not getting an iPhone 4 by launch day, or receiving one early but slightly defective? I'm going with the latter, myself. Several folks who've received an iPhone 4 early are tipping us and reporting to Apple that the fancy, new Retina displays on their new iPhones are defective and showing odd, colored splotches near the bottom edges of the screen. One report notes: "In the bottom 10% of the screen there are three blotches about the size of shirt buttons that discolor the screen a brown/yellow color." You can see a demonstration of that anomaly in the image to the right. Seeing as there's quite a shortage of iPhone 4's right about now, if you're experiencing this issue and report it to Apple, it may be some time before you see a fresh, undamaged one in your hands. In fact, we're told Apple won't take tech support calls for the iPhone 4 until after its official release tomorrow. Thanks Robert!
Your Radio Shack iPhone 4 pre-order may be a late arrival
Add another mark up on the board tracking the major confusion going on regarding iPhone 4 pre-sales. On its official Facebook page, Radio Shack has posted a statement to customers who recently placed pre-orders for the iPhone 4. In short, Radio Shack says that the store you placed your pre-order through may not get the new phones on launch day (tomorrow, June 24). From the company's statement: "In some cases, stores that took requests will not receive the iPhone 4 on June 24. We are sorry for any confusion and disappointment regarding this and will share future availability as soon as we have more information. We are making every effort to contact all customers who placed requests to let them know the status of phone availability." They go on to say you should call the Radio Shack store where you placed your order to confirm it'll be there before you arrive, rather than having your hopes and dreams dashed when you get there. The question now is whether or not these late pre-order arrivals will be made available on the 29th of June. Since AT&T recently announced that it doesn't have enough iPhones to sell to walk-ins until then (reservations only at the company's retail outlets, so no point in lining up for a purchase if you didn't book ahead), it's looking like it may be a wait through the weekend for new purchases. Of course, even if you did reserve a phone with AT&T, you still might have issues if you're among the unlucky buyers who had their orders unexpectedly cancelled (see this rather daunting Apple support thread). Thanks Justin! Photo by DioMakr / Flickr CC
No non-preorder iPhones at AT&T stores until June 29th
Remember that guy who's supposedly been camped out for a week or so, in order to be first in line for an iPhone 4? Well, it's a damn good thing he's in front of an Apple Store and not AT&T. If you were one of the unlucky ones who didn't get into the AT&T pre-ordering window, then hoping you could simply wait in line later this week to buy an iPhone 4 in person, you may have more waiting to do. AT&T has released an official announcement stating that in-store iPhone 4 purchases won't be happening until June 29th, a week from today. It looks like those lines at Apple and Best Buy just got a little bit longer. Then again, if you're under a corporate account, the AT&T store is pretty much your only option, which means you'll have to wait a few days. Good luck with that. [via Engadget]
Apple wants the FCC to keep quiet on iPhone 4
What could be lurking among the iPhone 4's innards that hasn't already been disclosed to the public? Apparently Apple isn't just hinting that there's more than meets the eye with the new iPhone 4, they're flat-out admitting it. In a recent letter filed with the FCC, Apple has requested that several details from its filings for the iPhone 4 not be released to the public. Apple explains that these documents (including schematics and user manuals) contain trade secrets that have not yet been exposed to the public, and to reveal them now could harm the company. Apple is asking that the FCC keep these documents from the public until 45 days after certification of the licenses are granted. Obviously the question on anyone's mind here is: what are they hiding? Haven't there already been enough iPhone 4 tear-downs that we should know if there's anything significant there? And will we get the full skinny before those 45 days have elapsed? [via Patently Apple]
Steve's D8 interview now available on iTunes
As you know, a few weeks ago Steve Jobs took the stage at the eighth annual D: All Things Digital (i.e., D8) conference, where he was interviewed by Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher on the recent goings on at Apple HQ. Unfortunately, most of us couldn't be there and had to sit back and read the tweets and blog postings from the lucky ones at D8, to get a good sense of what was going on. Blog postings! The horror! Fortunately, Apple has provided full video and audio downloads of Steve's D8 interview on iTunes, both free and clocking in at just over an hour-and-a-half long. Maybe someone can answer this for me: why is it that many of these conferences aren't simply streamed for the general public, as they happen? Is it because they want to give those in the audience more reason to be there, rather than watching from home, or are servers really incapable of handling the onslaught of traffic? [via All Things Digital]
Rumor: Apple considering HD radio in future devices
Way back two or three years ago, we first heard about some HD radios coming out that would allow for iTunes tagging of songs for later purchase. I guess Apple thought that was a mighty nifty idea, as they later gave similar capability to the latest iPod nano, and the company has recently filed for a patent that integrates HD radio right into future iPhones and iPods. Unlike with traditional FM radio, HD radio transmits with it information on the song, artist and album you're listening to. The most recent iPod nano has a song tagging feature for its built-in, traditional FM receiver, though it relies on later syncing the device with iTunes to make sense of what song you tagged. With HD radio capabilities built into an iPhone or iPod, theoretically you could set your device to search for a particular song title via HD radio information. You'd also be able to quickly tag the song for purchase and be brought immediately to the iTunes app. With iOS 4's multi-tasking capabilities, most likely one would be able to listen to HD radio stations while performing other tasks, much like you can do now while listening to iTunes. While streaming apps like Pandora are popular and will have backgrounding capability, HD radio does one thing Pandora doesn't: it won't use up your data plan. Of course, as with any number of the slew of patents Apple files for, there's no telling whether we'll actually see HD radio built into future devices. [via AppleInsider]
Best Buy stops iPhone 4 pre-orders
If you're thinking you can overcome AT&T's move to stop taking iPhone 4 pre-orders by power-walking over to Best Buy to get your pre-order on before anyone notices: not so fast. Following AT&T's move, Best Buy pulled a big ol' "me too" today and, according to their iPhone 4 FAQ page, are no longer taking pre-orders of the new phone. The Best Buy website assures those who were already successful in placing an iPhone 4 pre-order with them that their orders will be honored. However, it's still possible latecomers won't get their phones until the early-July timeframe due to their processing them on a first-come-first-served basis. As you might recall, Apple boasted pre-sales of about 600,000 units before AT&T had to stop accepting new pre-orders. That number was said to include those that Best Buy processed. I'm just wondering what percentage of that 600k was processed through Best Buy rather than AT&T and Apple stores. I can't believe one is considered a "latecomer" a mere two days after this all started. [via The Mac Observer]
iPhone 4 may natively support Facebook video uploads
Maybe this is the kind thing that would make Facebook head Mark Zuckerberg like his iPhone a little more. The folks over at 9to5Mac.com dug into the iOS 4 SDK, and found some XML code that seems to indicate that video uploads to Facebook will be integrated with the new OS on the iPhone 4. Most likely they'll show up as an option for submitting your recorded videos direct from the native iOS video app. While this is a little bit of an brow-raiser, it's not completely surprising. When you consider the reported Facebook integration coming for calendars and contacts, among other things, it's a natural progression It's a bit odd, however, to have this capability native to iOS, when the official Facebook iPhone app already supports video uploads. I'm just wondering when Facebook's remaining iOS developers are going to get around to an iPad native Facebook app; I mean, how hard can it be? [via Engadget]
Mac OS X 10.6.4 is in Software Update
Head on over to Software Update to find the latest OS X dot release.10.6.4 is now available -- and in addition to the usual split between delta and combo updates, and regular/server versions, there's another wrinkle here: the Mac mini released today gets its very own flavor of the 10.6.4 update, presumably because of late changes that couldn't be tracked back into the trunk version of the OS. The size of the update may vary if you pick it up via Software Update -- we saw 315 MB on a MacBook Pro running 10.6.3. The combo update for all 10.6 systems weighs in at a bandwidth-hogging 887.4 MB. Here's Apple's write-up on the matter: The 10.6.4 Update is recommended for all users running Mac OS X Snow Leopard. It includes Safari 5 and general operating system fixes that enhance the stability, compatibility, and security of your Mac, including fixes that: resolve an issue that causes the keyboard or trackpad to become unresponsive resolve an issue that may prevent some Adobe Creative Suite 3 applications from opening address issues copying, renaming, or deleting files on SMB file servers improve reliability of VPN connections resolve a playback issue in DVD Player when using Good Quality deinterlacing resolve an issue editing photos with iPhoto or Aperture in full screen view improve compatibility with some braille displays For overall details look here, or find security information here.
App store pushes past 10,000 iPad apps
It was December of 2008 when the app store boasted carrying over 10,000 apps, back when something called an iPad was just a sparkle in our eyes (and probably called something much different). That feat took six months to accomplish. The 20,000 app mark took another three months. Today -- only three months since the iPad's release -- the app store is listing the current iPad-native app count at over 10,000. To see this, you can visit the "Featured" section of the app store on an iPad, then select the "Release Date" tab. It's likely that, by the time you do this, your number will be a hundred or more higher than ours (pictured at right). At first notice of this, I was pretty impressed. I mean, the iPad halved the time it took for the iPhone to reach the same app count. But really, this isn't all that surprising or remarkable when you consider the number of pre-existing iPhone apps that needed very little tweaking to become iPad native, plus the success of iPad sales. Now, when is TapTapTap going to make an iPad app mosaic to celebrate this feat? [via TechCrunch]
Chocolate covered iPad looks tasty
Your wife loves chocolate, and you know she's been eying that 1.5+ lb. bar at the local Trader Joe's like a lion does a gazelle. She's also a massive Apple fan who's been dying for a shiny new iPad for months. Birthday time: the bar, or the iPad? If you're a cheap SOB, you get the bar and call it a day. If you're looking for an excuse to have an iPad in the house, you get the iPad. Or, you can do what this chap did and not only give her both, but fuse them together. Not only did this guy encase the iPad gift in chocolate (after having carefully wrapped it in plastic first, thankfully), he had to have it shipped from London, England because they're not sold yet in South Africa, where she lives. I don't know about you, but I was cringing as I watched her slice away the chocolate with a knife from the precious prize within. The sad part of this story, for me, is that my wife would be severely disappointed that she was shorted 1.5+ lbs. of chocolate for a piece of gadgetry goodness. [via Engadget]