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Posts tagged iPhone
Big iBrother – Steve Jobs’ response to the tracking controversy
Apr 26th
The recent discovery of a “location history database” built into iOS (the OS employed by the humble iPhone) – which effectively tracked users’ locations and activities – has finally been addressed by the Big Apple himself: CEO of the company, Steve Jobs.
According to the website MacRumors (macrumors.com), a concerned reader wrote directly to Jobs regarding a file built into iOS named “consolidated.db”, which keeps a record of precise locations via longitude and latitude co-ordinates. A visualisation of this data, which could be effectively used to pinpoint an iPhone user on a map, was created by enterprising researchers via a program for Mac OS X, sparking media attention and rather a large amount of paranoia in iPhone users. The anonymous reader who wrote to Jobs cited the idea as “unnerving” and threatened to switch to Android – an OS designed for smartphones which is becoming an increasingly popular rival to the iPhone and other competitors such as the BlackBerry – unless Jobs gave a response. “[Android] don’t track me,” claimed the reader.
Steve Jobs’ response was to call the idea that the information could be circulated “false”, saying verbatim that, “we [Apple] don’t track anyone.” While there is no evidence to suggest More >
Apple bring the App Store dream to the desktop
Jan 13th
Apple have opened their new ‘Mac App Store’ for business. For those of you who use an iPhone or any similar smartphone, you will know that the ‘App Store’ is a marketplace for the quick purchase and download of mobile applications. It would seem the quick and easy process of purchasing new software has proven very profitable for Apple, as they have now brought the concept to their Mac desktop operating system.
After running a software update, Mac users will find a new App Store icon on their Dock. The Mac App Store is already quite well populated, with the most prominent offers being the Apple iLife and iWork suites. iLife consists of photo organisation, music production and video production software, whereas iWork is an office suite which provides word processing, multimedia presentation and spreadsheet software. Previously you would have to purchase each suite in its entirety, costing upwards of £60. But the App Store allows users to download the components of each suite separately for £9-12, depending on the software – a bargain!
Other popular items on the App Store include the official Twitter desktop client, ‘Twitter for Mac’, and a desktop adaptation of the popular mobile game ‘Angry Birds’.
Users may More >
Apple remove unofficial WikiLeaks iPhone app from App Store, claim it is “harmful”
Dec 22nd
A developer who created an unofficial app that accessed content from the controversial whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks has had their app removed the iOS App Store by Apple. The cheeky developer was charging $1.99 for access to the US embassy cables being issued by WikiLeaks, which can be accessed free of charge online through various ‘mirror’ sites.
Apple have released a statement saying the app was pulled for not complying with local laws and not ensuring that individuals and groups were kept out of “harm’s way”, possibly referencing allegations by the US government that the leaks are endangering American diplomats and military services around the world.
This move comes after PayPal, everyDNS, Bank of America and Amazon have all terminated services they provide to WikiLeaks, prompting controversial online organisation ‘Anonymous’ to mount DDoS cyber-attacks against some of their websites.
Julian Assange, the leader and founder of WikiLeaks, is on bail in the UK and appealing against extradition to Sweden for rape allegations. You can find out more about the story so far in the special report on the BBC News website. See our other posts about WikiLeaks here.
The Hype Machine re-launch website with HTML5 technology
Dec 17th
Popular music discovery service The Hype Machine has rolled out a major upgrade to its website interface. The Hype Machine is a service with a social media element which aggregates posts from music blogs across the internet and allows users to listen to them and ‘like’ them. The most ‘liked’ songs posted in the last three days show up in the Hype Machine chart, allowing users to get a great overview of what’s popular online at that very moment.
The website previously relied on Flash technology to play music to users, but has now switched to the up and coming standard ‘HTML5′. This allows the website to be used on many of the latest smartphones and tablets, including the iPhone, iPod touch [update: iPhone/iPod touch support is not confirmed by Hype Machine and users are reporting issues with it] iPad, and Android phones and tablets. The website certainly seems to be running much more efficiently after the re-design.
Other improvements include the consolidation of songs posted on multiple blogs into one entry. Instead of seeing the same song from three different blogs as three rows in the playlist, you now see only one, allowing the user to better judge the popularity of the song.
The More >
Social media giant Facebook announces Single Sign-on, Places API, Deals, Mobile App Updates
Nov 4th
Popular social network Facebook announced a torrent of updates to its mobile products, namely four things: single sign-on, opening up its Places API, allowing businesses to attach deals to their Facebook Place page, and updates to its iPhone and Android apps.
Single Sign-on
Facebook are seeking to limit the amount of typing of long passwords and usernames that a user has to go through inside mobile apps by allowing integration with Facebook in a similar way to what you may see on many websites that you visit. People with the Facebook app installed on their smartphone will be able to log in to other mobile apps using their Facebook account, no giving up of private credentials necessary.
The Places API
Developers can now access the popular Places product to utilise in their own apps and websites. Places is a location based tools that allows Facebook users to ‘check in’ at locations and tag their friends, in a similar vein to location based social networks like Foursquare and Gowalla. The API allows developers to link their own products to this tool so that, for example, Foursquare check ins could be duplicated to Facebook Places. Developers will be able to read data from the tool, write More >
Partial Flash Support now available on iPhone via Skyfire Mobile Browser
Nov 3rd
The new mobile browser SkyFire has been approved by Apple and is due to be released tomorrow in the App Store priced at $2.99.
SkyFire converts Flash videos into HTML5 on SkyFire’s servers making it possible to view flash movies not previously supported on iPhone. Due to the conversion there will be a slight delay while it is processed.
Skyfore itself has been around for a few years in test mode and had been released for Windows Mobile, Symbian Devices and Android. However it does not support Flash games.
First Iphone 4 in Space
Oct 18th
Father and son team based in Brooklyn set out to launch a iPhone 4 and an HD camera into space via a weather balloon. The mission was a success as you can see by the wonderful footage.
Geussbuhler launched the balloon from Newburgh, New York, and it climbed at a rate of 25 feet per second to 19 miles above the surface of the earth just an hour later. The balloon burst and the package containing the iPhone and the camera fell back to the ground on a parachute.
at 100,000 Ft, nearly 19 miles high the 70min voyage ends as the balloon reaches it’s breaking point (being over 18ft wide).
Great video… what would you like to send into space?
More Smartphone Buyers Choose Android Over iPhone
Oct 16th
In the past six months, smartphone buyers in the U.S. were more likely to choose Android-powered devices over any others, including iPhones.
The Android platform has been strongly challenging Apple’s mobile offerings for quite some time now, and the release of the shiny new Froyo (a.k.a Android (Android) 2.2) OS leaves little to be desired.
Software aside, Android-powered hardware is as diverse as it is impressive.
Android phones range from affordable models suitable for families with kids (e.g., Motorola’s Charm, a surefire winner for the teen girl set) to high-powered, 4-inch, 8-megapixel superphones fit to satiate the geekiest of gadget fiends (Droid X and Galaxy S, anyone?).
All of those reasons, coupled with network diversity and relative affordability, have catapulted Android phones to a leading position for new gadget-buyers this year — no mean feat, considering that the iPhone 4 produced the “most successful iPhone launch ever” — which was accompanied by as much media hype as fan frenzy.
Data from Nielsen shows that despite a successful launch for the iPhone 4, Android devices still rose to capture 32% of the market of new smartphone buyers between January and August 2010.
Now, that’s not to say that Android is the number-one mobile OS just yet. While More >