April 2009 Archives

Freeverse has announced that Flick NBA Basketball, a new game created exclusively for the iPhone and iPod Touch, is available on the Apple App Store. Flick NBA Basketball allows gamers to choose their favourite NBA player and play mini-games such as 3Pt-Shootout and Longshot.

Seskimo makes a clever plastic stand for iPhone and iPod Touch called the Crabble, which folds and fits in a wallet. The stand's legs can be extended or contracted to suit a variety of viewing angles and new rubber feet on the legs makes sure the stand doesn't slip and/or slide.

The Crabble accommodates both vertical and horizontal viewing, as long as you don't use a case. If you’re not using a case, or you can quickly pop your device out of its protective shell, the Crabble is a versatile, highly portable stand for iPhone and iPod Touch.

There is a choice of colours, solid construction, and crucial usability perks like rubber feet.

CBS Interactive announced Tuesday the addition of a continuous play function to its TV.com application for the iPhone and iPod Touch, and also said that the app - which was released in February - has already been downloaded over a million times.

The company bills the TV.com iPhone/iPod Touch app, which complements the eponymous online video service, as offering viewers quick and easy access to shows across all networks with the option of creating custom video feeds based on TV shows, channels and topics.

It says that the app's new continuous play feature lets viewers watch full episodes of shows that have been divided into chapters, without having to constantly click to the next chapter: at the end of each chapter, the next chapter in the sequence begins automatically.

SuperSync has announced the release of SuperSync 3.1, a new version of its music library synchronisation software for Mac OS X and Windows. It costs US$29 for a two-license registration, and updates from the previous version are free.

SuperSync lets iPod and iTunes users display two music libraries at once, allowing users to visually merge libraries, duplicate files, make backup libraries, update metadata and synchronize play lists.

New to the 3.1 release are two new Web-based interfaces. One interface is optimised for iPhone Safari, while the other is optimized for modern Flash-enabled Web browsers.

Let's Golf is a new game for the iPhone and iPod Touch that lets users play 63 holes in four distinct locations that have been remodelled in 3D. Those locations are referred to as Fiji Beach, the American Mountains, the English Countryside, and Scottish Lochs.

You can choose to play as one of four customisable characters, and you can compete with friends via a Wi-Fi multiplayer mode. Let's Golf boasts scalable game difficulty levels ranging from advanced to causal.

The player control scheme is fairly simple: using the touch screen to hit the ball, you just bring your finger back in a semicircular motion and then forward again. Let's Golf is compatible with the iPhone and iPod Touch (version 2.2.1) and can be downloaded from the App Store.

Sales of  iPod Touch, once discounted as a pricey niche product, have more than doubled over the past 12 months to rates nearly in line with the iPhone, fuelled by an explosion of attractive gaming titles on the App Store that are boosting overall multi-touch device shipments into Nintendo DS territory.

Apple for the second time in as many months, Wednesday offered data sufficient for breaking out sales of its touch-screen iPod, something it has historically avoided in an effort to limit competitors' views of its success.

Specifically, Apple said last month that it ended 2008 with 30 million multi-touch users, 17 million of which were iPhone owners, and therefore 13 million of which were iPod Touch users. During the first quarter of 2009, that multi-touch audience swelled to 37 million units, according to Apple interim chief Tim Cook, driving surprising growth of a novelty product during a tough macro environment and further distancing Apple from any potential competitors.

While the iPhone OS 3.0 beta is all set to be released this summer, blogs seems to be red hot with a number of rumours and speculations about the features the new operating system would have.  

Fresh set of rumors is indicating that the new iPhone OS 3.0 beta incorporates driver support for Broadcom Wi-Fi chip that may support the high-speed 802.11n Wi-Fi as well as enhanced support for 5GHz Wi-Fi networks.  

As of now, iPod Touch and iPhone devices support the 5GHz 802.11a, or 2.4GHz 802.11b/g networks only, compelling users looking for speeds of the standards of 802.11n but compatibility with 802.11b/g networks to establish 2.4GHz compatible networks, which further thwarts the users to deal with the interference from various other networks found in the band. 

A survey released Tuesday on American teenagers shows interest in iPhone holding steady despite increased competition from Google and Palm.

In the survey “Taking Stock with Teens”, Piper Jaffray reported that the iPhone remains popular among U.S. teenagers – although it’s not as hot as it was immediately following the launch of the iPhone 3G last July.

Sixteen percent of those surveyed in March planned to buy an iPhone in the next six months, down from 22% in October.The number of teens who actually own iPhones, however, remained flat at about 8%.

A Michigan man has pleaded guilty to fraud and money laundering in a scheme to acquire more than 9,000 replacement iPod Shuffle music players.

The twenty-three-year-old man of the Kalamazoo area appeared in federal court in Grand Rapids on Monday, less than a month after charges were filed.

The fraudster had an iPod repair shop and knew that owners could get a replacement if their Shuffle had problems. He guessed valid serial numbers and entered them into Apple's website. He then resold the iPod Shuffles shipped by Apple.

Apple's next iPhone and iPod Touch may both include an updated chip called the Broadcom BCM4329, the sharp eyes over at AppleInsider assert.

The chip would add support for 802.11n wireless capabilities, compared with the current models' slower 802.11b/g support. That change could lead to better power management, faster and more reliable Wi-Fi connections, and even the ability to transmit over FM radio signals.

In theory, such a system could let you not only listen to the radio but also send your own signal, making it possible to play tunes on your car stereo without an expensive adaptor.

Two dozen young engineers at Banff Academy were rewarded for their skills last week with iPod shuffle portable music players.

They had competed in the Schlumberger Schools' Engineering Challenge 2009 for second year classes across the North-east, and come out top of their class groups.

They received their iPods from Banff and Buchan College engineering lecturers Bill Odger and Heather Sim. Mr Odger was impressed with the skills of the pupils: "It's amazing how fast they can do it”.

Doctors with an iPhone or iPod Touch will be able to view patients' electronic health records using a new application available on Apple's Apps Store.

Allscripts-Misys Healthcare Solutions created the app, called Allscripts Remote, so physicians will be able to help patients no matter where they are. A doctor called for an emergency in the middle of the night, for example, would be able to access a patient's health records immediately on their iPhone so they could talk with emergency room staff.

The doctor could also use Allscripts Remote to fax a patient's medical summary to the emergency room, complete with any notes the doctor deemed vital to include.The software includes ePrescribing to a patient's regular pharmacy. But doctors will only be able to make use of Allscripts Remote if their hospital or clinic already uses Allscripts' main software product lines, Enterprise or Professional editions of Allscripts' Electronics Health Records.

Rumours suggest that Apple's next generation iPhone and iPod are to benefit from an improved 3.2-megapixel camera.

Digitimes revealed that OmniVision, a company specialising in image sensors, has beaten rival companies STMicroelectronics and Aptina for orders for the 3.2 megapixel camera modules.

Reports suggest that Apple has also ordered 5-megapixel camera modules for a product to be released later in the year too. Apple's quest for a better camera has been confirmed by the company who is currently advertising for an iPhone camera project manager who will be tasked with driving the design, development and integration of camera modules across iPhone and iPod.

Fast & Furious the game for iPhone and iPod touch will be available in the iTunes App Store soon. The title follows the storyline of the new Fast & Furious movie released in this week.

Developed in partnership with Universal Pictures Digital Platforms Group, the new Fast & Furious iPhone game is the sixth title in the racing game series. It puts players behind the wheel of over 32 muscle, import tuner and exotic cars in a total of 7 racing modes, including: Road Race, Drift Race, Drag Race, GPS Race, Tunnel Run, Pursuit and Evade. Stunning visuals, accelerometer-based controls, one-on-one Wi-Fi Pink Slip racing and online scores are just some of the title's main attractions.

“Having sold over 13 million downloads across the franchise, The Fast and the Furious series stands as the best-selling racing and movie-based game in mobile gaming history today – an unparalleled accomplishment,” Don Ryan, COO, Oberon Media, I-play's parent company, comments.

Orange has done it again, introducing great mobile solutions but restricting them to France. Over the Channel, Orange iPhone users will have access to 60 TV channels, live, in high definition quality, over the 3G network.

The application itself will be free from Apple’s store, whilst several of Orange’s tariffs will incorporate unrestricted access to the service itself. For those without the relevant tariff, an add-on can be purchased for nine euros per month.

Navigating the channels takes full advantage of the iPhone’s interface. They can be browsed in a Coverflow fashion, and double tapping the screen will bring you out of the full screen view to access details of the programme, or alternative options. Since Orange don’t have the iPhone contract in the UK it’s unlikely that this service will appear on our shores any time soon, making this, and the strength of the euro, two of the strongest reasons to decamp La Francais.

The iPhone 3.0 firmware upgrade will bring with it a key change to the handset's 'Springboard' home screen, with a major increase in the number of applications users can have at any time. Previously the number of applications or links was limited to eight screens' worth, but that will be upped to 11 in the next iteration of the iPhone.

The news was revealed by Ars Technica, crediting a blogger for revealing the change – which will bring a maximum number of 180 applications to the iPhone. The change will be welcomed by many iPhone users who find themselves struggling to pick which 148 applications they can currently have. Seriously.

Of course, if Apple were really looking to be cool about the Springboard interface they would have allowed for the user to place screens above and below the main screen as well as to the sides as is currently the case. Apple's 3.0 software is scheduled to arrive in the summer, with many speculating that it will also mark the arrival of a new version of the popular iPhone.

The difference between a empty iPod and a full one is only a 0.4 gram say the team from Blackpool University. Tests showed that a empty 16GB iPhone weighed 133.2 grams compared to 133.6 for the same model filled with 3,500 songs.

Professor Roger Banks said: "This is the first time the weight of computer data has been measured. We all know it is made out of ones and zeros, but the ratio of ones to zeros seems to make a difference."

The boffins will now investigate whether the weight of different types of files music, video or pictures varies when they have the same file size. The discovery could mean that trading standards force makers Apple to repackage all unsold iPods and iPhones in the UK to state that weights may vary.