Apple iPhone news

[Poe McKnoe]

I would imagine their "facility" is a city. They probably bus their workforce in and throw dissenters off the roof.

There's excess cost there. Why do they need to go home? Cancel the buses. One sleeps under the guy/girl/child/whatever that is working. Efficiency is #1.

I have an iPhone and I think it's great. I'm not blown away by any of the apps, but I have a lot of practical ones (Mint, PNC, Fantasy Baseball, etc). Is it head and shoulders above the competition? Probably not. I like it.

 

[jwinslow]

Apple Patent Application Describes Cloud-Based Media Playback Technology

So your saying Apple's plan is to file a broad patent on ideas that many companies have done before in one way or another, then add a unique novel addition at the end to insure it actually makes it through the patent process. Thus allowing Apple to use the broad patents it received to shoot a legal warning shot across the bow of any company which is on the verge of out innovating them. Of course only doing so if they know they have significantly more money and lawyers than said company, insuring that even if they lose, they win by draining the companies cash reserves.

Brilliant, evil but brilliant

The recapping is the point of the patent, though, not picking up where you left off. ("Recapping media content" is the title of the application, after all, not "syncing playback via the cloud" or whatever.)

They explain what they mean by it in the application (and I tried to condense it in my other comments in this thread). The way I understand it is, say, if you were to pick up where you left off or skip back a chapter or whatever — in addition to doing that like many other existing devices, the device would also pop up a window with text (or audio or pictures) explaining/recapping what's going on up to that chapter you've skipped to or that point you've unpaused at, too.

I'm not totally convinced whether this "recap" thing is legitimately its own, distinct feature, or just an obvious modification on top of the already-existing playback functionality that everybody else already uses (which would mean it should be rejected, of course).

But that's the central distinction the Patent Office routinely makes moronic decisions about — especially with tech patents. :)

 

[jwinslow]

Microsoft and Apple still in talks for Bing iPhone search option, Google is not on notice -- Engadget

What turned into a pretty frenzied rumor this afternoon ended up being much ado about nothing, but there is something noteworthy. As the story goes, TechCrunch reported that Microsoft was going to completely replace Google with Bing as the search engine of choice for the iPhone once OS 4 launches next month. Enter All Things Digital's Kara Swisher, who has a pretty strong track record on all things Redmond. According to her sources, what's being discussed isn't a full swap -- instead, Bing is being considered for an "option" that users can decide between. None of this is what we'd call brand new gossip, and in fact, it sounds exactly like what we heard back in January.

Microscope Shots All But Confirm the Next iPhone's 960 x 640 Resolution

Question of the Day: Will You Ever Use Two-Way Video Calling?

 

[jwinslow]

Microsoft and Apple still in talks for Bing iPhone search option, Google is not on notice --

Hope you secured a good deal ms, because bing's only use is about to be canceled


Microsoft ending Bing Cashback on July 30th - SlickDeals.net Forums

 

[jwinslow]

Good thing Apple already sold 2 million iPads because they are going to infuriate every new customer after this week. Verizon is going to use tiered plans too but until I see the painful details I'm going to harp on these:

Gizmodo, the Gadget Guide

15 bucks for 0.2 gb
25 bucks for 2.0 gb.10 for each extra gig

What does 2 gigs get you? See the article, but a dozen hours of netflix will basically use it up

 

[jlb1705]

Infuriate every new customer? Nah. Their associates will just have a bitch of a time upselling customers to the model that has 3G + WiFi rather than the one with just WiFi.

I read an article on this from the NYT a couple days ago (coincidentally, accessed thru the 3G connection on my iPhone. That article took a much different tone, basically blaming iPhone users for ruining data services for everybody else. I think that's disingenuous on the part of the wireless industry. I've had data access or my last three phones before I got an iPhone. That device combined with a 3G connection speed marked the first time that data services were actually useful for the average consumer to the extent where you could use your mobile device in the place of your regular computer instead of just in an emergency. What the hell were they expecting to happen? This is only going to continue - not just with AT&T, but on other networks too with the proliferation of Android devices. It's not going to spread the load, you're just going to have more and more average people adopting the technology and the habits.

On the other hand, I can't speak for the iPad, but on my iPhone I'm halfway into my first full billing cycle, and while I believe I've made pretty extensive used of data services so far I've used under 200 MB. I have WiFi turned off to save battery, so none of my use is being diverted away from AT&T's network in my case.) I'm thinking that a 2GB data plan might work for me and it might be in my interest to voluntarily switch. It would mean a savings of $10/month between my two lines, so I'm keeping an eye on it.

 

[jwinslow]

Steve Jobs live from WWDC 2010 -- Engadget

Live blog & photos.

iPhone leaking Gizmodo was not invited

 

[jwinslow]

Gloating about iPads sold, 3 a second. Huge success, I still think it needs a lot of refinement (and handles that aren't uncomfortably cold and metal) before I adopt it, but it's a phenomenon. I really don't think it has innovated much at all, especially if we can't actually use it to watch many movies without overage charges (with the new data plan rates starting today).

 

[jwinslow]

10:12AM "Next, I'd like to talk about the App Store. Before I do that, I want to make something clear. We support two platforms: HTML5 -- it's a completely open, uncontrolled platform. And we fully support it."

Boasting about supporting an open platform is pretty humorous.

10:17AM Search, instant queue... yep... Netflix. On the iPhone.

10:17AM You can pick up your viewing place from iPad to iPhone (we assume other streaming you're doing on Netflix say... on the Xbox...)

Nice feature. Is it like that for laptops to xbox? I've never tried.

You can play the same farm as you do on Facebook. You get push notifications for withering crops.

iPhone coming up next

 

[jwinslow]

iPhone 4 (at least they avoided the 4G confusion)

Very sharp design, but still no removable card or battery, which is unsurprising but dumb. Why give android that much of an edge when you dominate the market?

10:32AM "I don't know if you've ever seen this." Ha! Huge cheers!

10:31AM "Now, this is really hot. There are over 100 new features, but I'm going to cover 8. The first one? An all new design."

No wonder gizmodo wasn't invited.

10:32AM "You gotta see this in person. This is beyond the doubt, the most precise thing, and one of the most beautiful we've ever made. Glass on the front and back, and steel around the sides. It's like a beautiful old Leica camera."

10:34AM "Bottom, mic, top, headset jack, noise cancellation mic..."

10:33AM "Here are the volume controls... we have a front facing camera, micro SIM tray, camera and LED flash on the back..."

10:37AM "Because we have four times as many pixels, we get really, really sharp text. Now the retina display as 326 pixels per inch." Wow.

Nice upgrade, but I need to see it in person. The iPhone obviously needed a big upgrade in dots per inch, but at some point the size limits the value of the DPI, especially since you hold it at arms length.

10:39AM "So I'd like to show this to you live. I have a 3GS here, and I've got a new iPhone 4."

The detail difference is obviously there, but zooming in twice as far on the inferior display is weak sauce.

I love Apple's desktop displays, they blow everyone away on the market. Why doesn't the iPad have this detail, instead of their painfully low resolution? Probably because they delay features to spark more upgrades. Hopefully it doesn't take 2 years like copy & paste did.

 

[jwinslow]

10:44AM Seeing the NYT load has never been so exciting. "Scott, you have any ideas?" Someone yelled Verzion! Ha!

10:43AM "One more time... sorry guys..." Wait, it's loading. The audience is oohing!

10:43AM Someone is going down for this network glitch.

10:43AM "I'm afraid we have a problem and I'm not going to be able to show you much today... let's just go take a look at some photos here... take a look at that." Wow, this is striking -- huge difference in quality.

10:42AM "Okay, we're going to switch over to some backups here, I have a feeling we might have the same problem..." Deadly silent here. Oooh, error ballon about the dock connector! "Well geez..." Wow.

10:41AM "You know you could help me out, if you're on WiFi if you could just get off... well we're having a little problem here." Oh boy, the iPhone 4 is NOT loading.

10:41AM "So now I'm going to go to some websites. I'm going to go to the NYT... let's compare." Loading slowly... "Our networks in here are always unpredictable..."

 

[jwinslow]

Now this is a sweet feature. I'm not sure how useful it is, but it's a lot of fun. That's what apple should be, so perhaps he has more tricks up his sleeve.

10:52AM Ha! It's like a game of Jenga!

10:51AM Wow -- Steve did a turn and the block went with him. Pretty darn cool.

10:51AM "This is a little app that we wrote..." It's a stack of wood in 3D space.

10:51AM "I'd like to give you a demo of this. And since this does not require the network... I should be okay."

10:50AM "We're adding a 3 axis gyro, and we tied the gyro and accelerometer, compass, and gyro together for six axis. It's perfect for gaming

10:50AM Big cheers for that.

10:50AM "Number four, we have another new piece of hardware. We're adding a gyroscope."

10:49AM Dual mics, 802.11n WiFi, GPS, compass, accelerometer.

10:49AM Quad band HSDPA, 7.2Mbps

10:49AM "And 300 hours of standby."

10:48AM "Because we've been able to make the batter bigger and because the A4 is so good, we've improved the battery life. 7 hours of 3G talk, 6 hours of 3G browsing, 10 hours of WiFi browsing, 10 hours of video, 40 hours of music..."

So basically it probably won't last all day, especially as the battery weakens. These numbers are great but still need a swappable battery for those of us who aren't near an outlet all day.

IPS is what makes Apple displays stellar. Definitely superior to OLEDs, though most users aren't concerned with color accuracy on their phone.

 

[exhawg]

Good thing Apple already sold 2 million iPads because they are going to infuriate every new customer after this week. Verizon is going to use tiered plans too but until I see the painful details I'm going to harp on these:

Gizmodo, the Gadget Guide

15 bucks for 0.2 gb
25 bucks for 2.0 gb.10 for each extra gig

What does 2 gigs get you? See the article, but a dozen hours of netflix will basically use it up

I'm hoping that Verizon goes with the same pricing as AT&T for the tiered plan. If so I can get my wife a smart phone on the $15 plan rather than a non smart 3G phone that gets 25 MB per month for $10. If I remember correctly they said 98% of users would be fine with 2GB. I just got a 3G BB so I'd like to see what I use. If my company moved everyone to the 2GB plan I doubt we would have any problems as long as we made users aware of the change. I take it you're part of the 2%?

 

[jwinslow]

iMovie is a nice touch and an apple innovation. If this thing had a battery and better file flexibility, I'd be tempted to switch.

11:03AM Video recording looks amazing. The quality is extremely impressive.

11:00AM Transitions, titles... it's all here!

11:00AM You can add photos, they automatically get the Ken Burns effect.

10:59AM In the edit window you have a timeline along the bottom and your footage up top -- buttons dot the corners.

10:58AM "Thanks very much. I've been doing this a long time. This year I had a chance to work on iMovie for iPhone, and it's one of the most exciting apps I've ever worked on. It's really amazing."

10:58AM "I want to show it to you... I want to invite Randy Ubillos..."

10:57AM "It's pretty remarkable, but we're going even further." iMovie for iPhone!

10:57AM "We pioneered tap to focus, and we now have it for video... and we have one click sharing... and the LED flash will stay on for video recording. You can record, edit, and then with a few taps email it right on the phone."

10:56AM "The pictures we're taking are pretty remarkable. These haven't been touched in any way. It kills you what kind of quality you get. These were all taking by our employees, just culled some of the better ones I saw."

10:55AM "In addition to that, when most people increase megapixels they make them smaller, but we've kept ours the same size. They don't capture less photons. 5x digital zoom, tap to focus, and we've got an LED flash."

10:54AM "Now everybody loves to talk about megapixels, but we tend to ask the question how do we make better pictures? Megapixels are nice, but what these cameras are really about is capturing photons and low light photography. So we've gone from 3 megapixel to 5 megapixel, but we're using a backside illuminated sensor."

Weak excuse for being behind. If the low light photography was such an advantage, you'd be showing it off live on stage (which wouldn't be that difficult with such a bright spotlight).

 

[jwinslow]

11:06AM Thanks 3G card!


11:05AM Guess what -- we're not doing that.

11:05AM He's asking people to set their laptops on the floor.

11:05AM Oh my god. Jobs is asking everyone to turn off their network cards and MiFis!

11:04AM "I think you're going to like it a lot. Before I begin number 6... our guys were running around like crazy backstage... we figured out why the demo crashed...." Oh no, they're turning off the Wifi!

Talk about a huge black eye in what was otherwise a debut of innovation despite the stolen iPhone 4.