Throwing caution — and bandwidth! — to the wind, Apple has just announced that tomorrow, for the first time in recent memory, they’ll be live streaming one of their keynote events:
Apple® will broadcast its September 1 event online using Apple’s industry-leading HTTP Live Streaming, which is based on open standards. Viewing requires either a Mac® running Safari® on Mac OS® X version 10.6 Snow Leopard®, an iPhone® or iPod touch® running iOS 3.0 or higher, or an iPad™. The live broadcast will begin at 10:00 a.m. PDT on September 1, 2010 at www.apple.com.
No word on Windows, Linux, Android, webOS, or any other kind of compatibility, so have your Apple gear ready. TiPb will be following along and providing our usual commentary and color so if you plan on watching, come watch along with us.
Citing “two people who asked not to be identified”, Bloomberg is reporting that Apple may indeed be ready to drop an all new Apple TV (iTV?) tomorrow at their annual special music event.
Netflix would, as usual, require a monthly subscription. Whether or not the new Apple TV would run iOS as previous rumors have suggested, and whether or not Netflix would be an app, like it currently is on iPad and iPhone, or a built-in service like YouTube isn’t made clear.
Palm’s multitasking ‘card’ metaphor is getting a refresh with Stacks
Universal Search is getting majorly beefed up with ‘Quick Actions,’ will be opened to developers, and rebranded as Just Type
Apps can have custom Touchstone at-a-glance views with Exhibition
Synergy is opening up to developers
HTML5 and Javascript support is much improved
Hybrid PDK/SDK apps will be fully supported
What, no interruptive, modal dialog notifications? Sigh. Seriously though, the multitasking looks interesting and once again while webOS isn’t open source, it leads the game in being a far more open platform for developers and users than just about anybody else in the industry. Check it out and let us know what, if anything, Apple needs to do to keep up in 6 months for the iOS 5 preview…?
Tomorrow at their annual special music event, Apple might announce a new version of iTunes (iTunes X?) — maybe with $0.99 TV rentals or streaming cloud music — and thinking about that made me realize I hardly if ever sync my iPhone with iTunes anymore.
Just before iPhone 4 came out the Apple Store swapped out my 3GS due to cracks along the dock that had been preventing me from syncing. Because I couldn’t sync, I’d been downloading apps directly onto my iPhone, streaming podcasts via the iTunes app (iOS 4 made that rock solid), and otherwise existing pretty much entirely from the cloud.
When I got my replacement iPhone 3GS, I just stuck in my MobileMe, Exchange, and Google logins and all my personal and work data started syncing over the air (OTA). I re-downloaded the few apps I use regularly — Twitter, RSS, online file storage, password management, etc. and I was fully operational before I left the store. (Though, yes, they did have to tether it to iTunes in the Apple Store to activate it, and if not I would have had to do so when I got home.)
When I got my iPhone 4, same thing.
Now I do sync my iPad to iTunes a lot and I have way more apps — especially games — on my iPad than I do on my iPhone. The introduction of iPad and iOS 4 for iPhone, however, let me change my habits enough that my iPhone is now pretty much iTunes free. I can’t remember the last time I synced (probably for iOS 4.0.2 and it annoyed me when iTunes pulled off apps I’d re-downloaded because they weren’t checked off on the desktop side — can’t we do a sync for most recent changes on that?)
How about you, do you still regularly sync your iPhone with iTunes? As much as you used to? Why or why not?
The Speck Fitted Case for iPad is a hard shell case with a soft fabric backing. It snaps together from two parts — the plain black bezel that wraps around the top and outlines the ports, and the textured, pink and black plaid that covers the back plate.
Two part cases are typically more secure but more of a pain to put on and take off. Both of those are true for the Speck Fitted Case, which means it’s best suited for people who like to put a case on and leave it on. I’m usually so not that type of person (my job here at TiPb doesn’t let me be!) but I like this case so much it’s stayed on way longer than I originally expected. I just really like it.
Now with the colors being gray, pink, and black the Speck Fitted Case could be considered girly, though Rene claims he or any other man would be proud to have a Bret the Hitman Hart pink and black attack case for their iPad. Fair enough. He does know something about pink cases, after all…
The bezel extends up over the top so you can, if you want, lay your iPad down flat on its face without risking scratches on the glass. It also has wide cutouts for the ports so many, if not all, accessories should fit. (Not Apple docks, of course).
It’s nice to hold as the cloth has a little bit of grip to it. Because it’s so light colored, I do worry about it getting dirty eventually but I haven’t had any problems so far.
Do you like old-school shooters? If so, Dodonpachi Resurrection is the game for you! Cave has brought out another awesome shooter on the iPhone (the first being Espgaluda II).
There are two game modes in DoDonPachi. The first is iPhone mode which is a great way to jump in and play. It uses a hit variable to determine the strength of your weapons (the slider is indicated in the top right) and has an interactive hypermode to unleash the ultimate destruction on your enemies. The other mode is Arcade. This mode has you pick the fighter style you want and requires a bit more strategy while playing since you don’t have the freedom you have in iPhone mode. You can also configure how much screen is displayed while playing (I am partial to large so I see as much of the screen as I can) as well as button placement for attacking enemy ships.
You start the game as you do in any shooter of this type as a lonesome ship against an onslaught enemy armada bent on destruction. Fortunately, you have technology on your side and you are packing enough firepower to send the enemy back where they came from. One of the things I like about iPhone mode is that when you die, you automatically drop a bomb and become invincible for a short while. Little details like this make the game more accessible to the casual shooter fan. However, Arcade mode is where it’s at if you need a true challenge. Of course the OpenFeint integration keeps it old school allowing you to compete with friends and strangers for the highest score possible.
I was looking forward to this game’s release and especially having the sharp graphics that are in on the iPhone 4’s retina display. Sadly, this is not the case. So as awesome as this game is, it ends up being a tad fuzzy on the iPhone 4 but looks great on the latest generation of iPod Touch devices and iPhone 3GS. Make no mistake that the graphics are great and there is no slowdown. All of the ships and terrain have tons of detail and move effortlessly around the screen.
I can’t recommend this game enough for shooter fans. It is hands down the best offering in the App Store. I am hopeful that Cave will create iPad specific versions of their games for the masses to take advantage of the full screen real estate that device has to offer. For now, you can’t go wrong with this title. I am still giddy about it.
At their annual special music event tomorrow, could Steve Jobs announce that Apple’s iTunes song previews are doubling to 60 seconds? That’s what CNET is hearing rumored:
Currently, iTunes offers 30-second snippets of songs, a feature designed to give users a taste of the music to help them decide whether they like it enough to buy. Some users have long complained that half a minute isn’t enough time to really hear a song.
30 seconds has sometimes been enough for me, sometimes not. It depends on which 30 seconds they preview. The first 30 seconds of long, building instrumental intro to a rock song usually doesn’t provide any context for the song itself. Part of the chorus with enough overlap on one side or another and I’m good.
Given the plethora of other announcements we expect, iPod touch 4, iPod nano 6, iOS 4.1, maybe Apple TV/iTV, etc. how important is this one to you?
As part of their grand re-introduction to Mac, AutoDesk has announced that they’ll also be bringing AutoCAD to iPhone and iPad:
The Mac version will cost $3,995, the same as the PC version, and will be released in October. AutoDesk will soon introduce a free mobile version of the software that will run on the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch. That version has more limited capabilities, Mr. Hanspal said. But with it, an engineer, for example, could bring drawings to a job site on an iPad, rather than on a big roll of paper, and make annotations on them.
The mobile version will be able to read any AutoCAD files, whether they were created on a PC or a Macintosh.
Any AutoCAD users out there anxious to take their work around on iOS?
We’re talking Apple’s upcoming special music event, asking if we’ll ever get that iOS 4 update, wondering about Sumos and Samsungs, and getting all up into the iPad’s business. It’s a girl, folks. And this is iPad live!
Credits
Thanks to the the iPhone Blog Store for sponsoring the podcast, and to everyone who showed up for the live chat!
We reviewed Clearcam for iPhone last week, and this week, the developer was nice enough to share some promo codes with us to give out to you guys! Since our review, the developer released an update to the app that fixed some of the issues I had, such as some shots coming out a bit blurry for an unknown reason. He’s also added a few tweaks that have made the overall image quality even better!
What do you have to do to get your hands on a code you ask? Simply leave a comment below, that’s it. We’ll pick a handful of you at random on Friday to win some codes. Remember! To win a code, you must leave a comment with a VALID e-mail address. If I can’t send you an e-mail at the account you left the comment with, another comment will be selected.
And don’t forget, we also do giveaways on Twitter from time to time randomly, so if you haven’t already, follow us on Twitter for chances to win other promo codes as well!
The TiPb forums are naturally a great place to talk, commiserate, celebrate, get help, and offer advice to your fellow iPhone users. In order to create a new thread of your own or reply to any of the existing threads, you must be a registered member. Becoming a member is easy and free so if you haven’t already head on over and register now!
I have to admit, I am not much of a Sudoku player. Not because I don’t like it, but because I am horrendously slow at it and I always feel inadequate playing since my wife is about twice as fast as me solving puzzles on even a much higher difficulty. However, I sucked up my gumption and thought I would give Finger Arts latest release a try.
Sudoku 2 HD Pro is simple enough. Tapping play will start you off with successive difficulty levels which will only be unlocked after beating the previous difficulty twice. Fortunately, there is a super easy mode called “Flash”.
I won’t go over the play mechanics of Sudoku, instead let’s elaborate what Sudoku 2 HD Pro does to enhance the game on iPad. After your game starts you have numbers on the bottom (portrait) or on the sides (landscape). To place a number on screen, tap the space you wish to place the number to and then tap the number. Once placed, other numbers on the sudoku board will have a green highlight to them. This helps you by pointing out other numbers so you can isolate where to play your next number. You can do this for any number at any time, you don’t have to place a number, instead simply tap any number in the field and it will highlight the same number tiles in green.
If you are not sure what number to play, you can use the convenient drawing tool to place the numbers you think might be needed on a particular tile on the board. To do this, tap the empty tile on the board then the drawing icon. Next, just tap the number(s) you want in the space and you are done. The game will even remove all obsolete notes in a tile once the correct tile is placed. If you get stuck, you can also tap the hint button. You are allowed three hints per game. The hint will highlight the suggested corresponding next move (you are also allowed three mistakes that don’t count against your score. The devs feel this is the appropriate number to include accidental screen taps).
Once you register for OpenFeint you can start playing games and saving your high scores online, but you still have some options to choose from. First You have your typical volume and music volume levels. Next you have game specific options to turn off the auto green tile select for like numbers. This is an incredibly useful option that can help you spot patterns more easily. I would only turn this off if you are a gluten for punishment.
The OpenFeint integration is really a nice added bonus to the game. Typically Sudoku games are individual but this adds a layer of social-ness to the game. You can see who has the highest score (this is calculated by the number you are placing… errr, it’s a really fancy formula) and it also keeps track of your runs (a run is an uninterrupted sequence of games own) and achievements!
I really like Sudoku Pro 2 and will be playing it for months to come. Perhaps one day I will even break the 10,000 point barrier, but likely not the current point leader with a whopping 105,622 point lead…
Angry Birds for iPhone and its big brother, Angry Birds HD for iPad, have been updated to make it even birdier and, I fear, angrier. New features in version 1.4.1 consist of:
15 levels have been reconstructed
A new golden egg has been added
Fresh new achievements are included
And, um… fantastic feathered fun is plentiful
The iPad version hit a couple of days ago. The iPhone version is just hitting now. If you try out either update, let us know what you think.
If Apple announces that much rumored, all new, all iOS AppleTV/iTV this Wednesday at their annual special music event, what kind of apps would you want on it?
When Apple introduced iPad, they let it run pretty much every iOS app made for iPhone and iPod touch (absent camera and phone apps, of course) by boxing them or pixel doubling them. Depending on the exact nature of the app, however, the experience at 1024×768 and 9.7-inches varied from fine to dismal. Luckily there were 5000 or so iPad specific apps available at launch and that number has continued to grow.
Now iPhone 4 — and likely soon iPod touch 4 — have 960×640 displays but still only 3.5-inches. If iPad was a step up, iTV will be a leap. There’s an outside chance of 1960×1080 or the current 1280×720, both of which are probably workable just like they were for iPad… except TV screens won’t be multitouch and they won’t be in our hands or on our laps.
What made the 2007 iPhone a breakaway hit, what let it change the industry was its multitouch user interface. It disintermediated physical keyboards and styluses and let us touch and directly manipulate the UI.
Sitting 10 feet away, far removed from 30 to 70-inch screens, acting through some type of remote, wand, scroller, trackpad, or iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad, what kind of apps make the most sense?
I can see a few categories.
TV/Movie apps. Whether or not Apple offers subscription or rental TV, the existing big name TV and Movie apps need to be there. Netflix, Hulu plus, ABC. HBO. All of them.
Game apps. Straight ports might not work, and games that depend on an iOS device as controller or secondary screen (like Scrabble for iPhone and iPad) might raise the cost of adaption, but big screen iOS gaming will almost certainly be front and center. And Game Center.
Interactive book apps. Not iBooks but apps like the Dr. Seuss or Toy Story books for kids, especially if taken to the next level, would be wonderful educational resources.
Reporting apps. The ability to display aggregated data about everything from the weather to all your and your friend’s location check-ins to looking through Facebook albums to route planning for your iPhone navigation app would really take advantage of the big screen and family view.
Web apps. I want Safari on my TV. If you can tether a BT keyboard, or use an iPhone or iPad as a keyboard, even email, twitter, etc. wouldn’t have to be read-only.
While iPad is often labeled a consumption device, iTV would be even more consumption oriented. You probably wouldn’t want to even try to knock out large docs or use complex productivity apps. It would be a grosser, more distant experience. But absorbing media and entertainment, information and analytics could be fantastic. Those are the types of apps I want to see.
I love the smell of a iPod touch 4 and iPod nano 6 accessory leaks in the morning. Once again we’ve got cases from China, this time with a side of screen protectors for good measure.
How informed are the device mockups? We’ll find out for certain at Apple’s special music event this Wednesday but until then, give us your best guest — real, fake, or really fake?
Intel has announced that they’ve bought Infineon’s wireless solutions business (WLS) for 1.4 billion dollars, which includes the Infineon 3G radio baseband used in iPhone. Here’re the PR bullets:
WLS sale enables Infineon to expand leading position in markets for automotive, industry and security technologies.
WLS will operate as a standalone business. Intel is committed to serving WLS’ existing customers, including support for ARM-based platforms.
The acquisition expands Intel’s current Wi-Fi and 4G WiMAX offerings to include Infineon’s 3G capabilities and supports Intel’s plans to accelerate LTE. The acquired technology will be used in Intel® Core processor-based laptops, and myriad of Intel® Atom™ processor-based devices, including smartphones, netbooks, tablets and embedded computers.
The deal aligns with Internet connectivity pillar of Intel’s computing strategy.
What if anything this changes for Apple or iPhone remains to be seen. (Queue A4 baseband chipset rumors for next year…)
Reader Gerald spotted an iLuv case with camera cutout in the center in a local Marshall’s clothing store:
[The case] was labeled as an iPod Touch 2nd Generation hard shell case made by a company called iLuv. The reason i liked this case so much was because it had a spot for a rear camera, and the dummy cardboard example of the iPod clearly showed what the camera looked like. I snapped a pic as proof.
While rumors persist Apple will be introducing a 7-inch version of iPad at some point, it looks like Samsung is wasting no time getting their 7-inch competition — the Galaxy Tab — ready for launch. Hey, at least they’re not calling it GalactiPad or SammyPad, right?
Here are the purported specs:
HD video playback
7″ screen
Android 2.2 (Froyo)
Video calling
Augmented reality
Swype
A Sept. 2 coming-out party in Berlin (at the IFA conference).
Samsung manufactures the Apple A4 chipset that powers the iPad and iPhone 4, and we expect they’ll use the similarly specced Hummingbird that powers their Galaxy S-class smartphones here. While Android 3.0 Gingerbread is rumored to have true tablet-sized UI scalability, skinning 2.2 up to fit 7″, especially at a rumored 1280×600 resolution shouldn’t be a huge stretch from the current 800×480. They’ll also, apparently, be offering a range of iPad-like accessories, including a keyboard dock.
So what do you think? Is getting the Galaxy Tab out before a 7-inch iPad (if Apple ever actually releases one) a smart move to grab market share for Samsung? And how does 7-inches of Froyo compete with 9.7-inches of optimized iOS on the current, non-speculative iPad?
Pros
