February 2008 Archives
Author: Philip L. Graitcer
The January 2008 iPhone software revision added new map features, that give your iPhone almost the same capability as Mapquest on the Web or the $800 GPS system in your car. Like most new features on the iPhone, how to use them is not well documented. Here are some tips to get you started mapping.Current Location
In maps, you are now able to map your current location.
The smaller the circle, the more accurate the location. iPhone uses triangulation from nearby cell phone towers to determine location. It's not a true satellite GPS system, but depending on how many towers are nearby, it can be fairly accurate.
Drop Pin
On the lower right side of the map screen is an "eye" icon. Touching that will reveal a screen with several options, one of which is "Drop Pin".
Real Time Traffic
On the page revealed by the "eye" icon, there is an option to color code the map with real time traffic information on major highways.
Map Options
iPhone can show a flat map, a satellite image or a hybrid picture of both satellite and map. You can also list driving directions.
Getting Directions
iPhone can help give you driving or walking directions, much like you can get from Google Maps or Mapquest or from your automobile's GPS system
o Touch Bookmarks - either your current location or any bookmarks you have saved. o Recents - a list of recent searches or directions; to chose one of these, touch one.
o Contacts - your contact list. Find a contact, then touch the contact's address. You'll go back to the keyboard screen.
iTunes is now the second-largest overall music retailer - online or offline - in the United States, behind only Wal-Mart, according to research the NPD Group released yesterday. After Wal-Mart and iTunes, the top music retailers in 2007 were Best Buy, Target and Amazon, in descending order.
In order to get the iPhone into more markets, Cook indicated Apple would be willing to drop some important features and services, such as Visual Voicemail, which allows you to see who left your messages and listen to them in any order, and move beyond its current business model of partnering with a single mobile operator per market.
That's all find and dandy. Apple has every right to change its tune regarding carrier exclusivity, for example. But when Cook says, "Apple is not married to the single, exclusive-carrier model," does that mean you'll soon be able pick up an iPhone from operators other than Apple's current carrier-partners in markets where the iPhone is already available? Not necessarily.
With operators like AT&T, the exclusive provider of the iPhone in the U.S., Apple signed long-term agreements. While it is not known exactly how long these deals are supposed to last, the length of the contract with AT&T, for instance, is said to be for five years.
So unless Apple gets out of its contract with AT&T (buying it out, perhaps), it could be a long time before we see Sprint, Verizon Wireless or T-Mobile offer versions of Apple's smartphone this country. After all, we're still months away from late June and the first anniversary of the iPhone's availability in the U.S. even.
This single-carrier strategy doesn't seem to have hurt sales all that much, as some predicted it would. Apple has sold over 4 million iPhones thus far and, according to Cook, is on track to meet its goal of shipping 10 million this year, in spite of today's cloudy economic climate. .
Here are a few more things Cook had to say:
(It's estimated hackers have unlocked one in four iPhones sold. For example, hundreds of thousands of iPhones have been smuggled into China, which is ironic considering many of these were built in that country.)
The SDK, due to be introduced at a special Apple event on March 6th, will enable developers to create and distribute official applications that run directly on the iPhone and not through its Safari browser from a remote location. While this is possible today, it is only with unofficial programs enabled to run on the iPhone through what’s called jailbreaking.)
For more, check out Apple’s audio stream of Cook's Goldman Sachs presentation here.
[Via MacDailyNews]
Texas-based Abilene Christian University recently announced it would give incoming freshman either an iPhone or an iPod touch this fall. While this seems like a gimmick to attract new students—after all, it would be easy enough to bury the cost in tuition—the college asserts this isn't the case.
By providing these converged mobile devices students, 93 percent of which already come to school with their own computers, Abilene Christian University Chief Information Officer Kevin Roberts asserts the university is "choosing to take them to the next level" by making the iPhone and iPod touch an integral part of the learning experience.
Here is how:
Students will use their iPhones and iPod touches to access specific web applications, 15 of which have already been developed by the university.
So freshmen will be able to receive homework alerts, answer in-class surveys and quizzes, get directions to their professors' offices, and check their meal and account balances all from their iPhone or iPod touch, for example.
That way, according to Roberts, the university will "ensure these tools will become critical to the students' learning experience."
The university says it spent the past 10 months preparing for the launch of its new iPhone/iPod touch freshmen program in September. It plans to expand the program in the future.
O2, the carrier that brought the iPhone to the United Kingdom last fall, today announced it would do the same for Ireland a couple of weeks from now, on March 14th. It'll offer the 16GB model for €499 and the 8GB edition €399. There will be three monthly service plans available to iPhone customers on the Emerald Isle, all of which includes 1GB of data usage: The first plan offers 175 voice minutes and 100 text messages for €45; the second includes 350 minutes and 150 text messages for €65; and the third bumps that up to 750 minutes and 250 text messages for €100.
See here for more details.
Please join us to learn about the iPhone software roadmap, including the iPhone SDK and some exciting new enterprise features.
The SDK was supposed to ship this month, but obviously Apple couldn't get it out the door in time. Whether or not Apple actually rolls out the SDK next week isn't clear, however.
At the least, we should finally receive some details about how Apple plans to handle the development and distribution of native third-party applications—those that run on the iPhone itself and not through the Safari Web browser.
It's also about time Apple started to take the enterprise as seriously as consumer for the iPhone. While it's clear business people and IT pros alike are excited it, very few are likely to make it their primary smartphone due to a lack of enterprise-ready features.
Depending on what direction Apple goes with the SDK, maybe it'll even allow companies to create their own internal iPhone apps, as they can today with most other smartphone platforms.
If you think you paid alot for that smartphone in your pocket you likely didn't pay what the snazziest iPhone is going for these days, writes Judy Mottl at internetnews.com. It only costs $180K. The Apple iPhone Princess Plus boasts 138 princess-cut diamonds and 180 brilliant-cut diamonds...combining for 17.75 carats. Take a look:
Author: Damon Brown
Don't blame yourself for expecting Apple to launch the iPhone with a fully-functional Apple Music Store, downloadable ringtones and several third-party applications. One or all of these additions seemed to be the last Ace the company was holding, a final, last-minute announcement to blow sales through the roof. It's now several weeks later and we're still waiting on that announcement. It probably won't come until October.
Fortunately, unauthorized third-party companies are stepping up and filling in the vacuum created by Apple's slow start.
Social Networking
The biggest new addition to the iPhone is Facebook (see top image), the addictive Web site that allows you to link with other people from work, school and other social circles. As a recent Newsweek cover story proclaims, it's pretty much taken over MySpace and Friendster as the place to connect.
This month the hottest social Web sute launched on the most popular cell phone - and, most importantly, Facebook on the iPhone is free. Go to the Safari Web browser, type in http://iphone.facebook.com and log in. That's all you need to do.
The iPhone version of Facebook has most of the original Web site's features including your e-mail. Facebook e-mail Inbox, the status of your friends and colleagues, and a robust search engine that makes it easy to find long-lost people. You can even view your network's latest photos while on the go.
In fact, the photo viewing may be the best part of Facebook on the iPhone. The application has a smooth interface similar to the iPhone's own photo library, and your can shuffle through friends' pictures quickly and easily.
The resolution is as crisp as any iPhone photo. Unfortunately, you can't upload your own iPhone photos, which stops this just short of being the perfect traveling app. For a free and timely program, however, it doesn't get much better than portable Facebook.
The Movies
The iPhone also has the potential to be the ultimate portable movie device, but there are at least two hurdles.
One, Apple only allows movies purchased through the Apple Store. Apple TV notwithstanding, it seems impractical to pay up to $20 for a low-resolution movie only watchable on a screen measurable in inches—especially when DVDs, a more practical alternative, can be had for as cheap as $5. Two, Apple couldn't use a standard DVD if it wanted to since the discs are larger than the iPhone itself.
Which brings up one of my favorite new iPhone applications, Red Kawa's Videora. The small application adapts video files to the iPhone format. AVI, divx, mpeg, and yes, DVD, are listed as supported. Ironically, the iPhone program only works on the PC. 
After a brief setup, Videora will help you find media files on the computer. It can only convert one file at a time - no batches here - but the process is quick and painless. A 30-second Windows Media video took just as long to convert. The program will set up a cache file to store all the converted media. Then just launch iTunes, click on "Movies" and drag-and-drop the converted movies into iTunes (see image below). Watch them within iTunes or, when the iPhone is connected, Sync the iTunes movies to your phone. The Videora's default resolution is widescreen. Red Kawa isn't going to be getting you out of legal trouble for downloading new movie releases and using Videora to convert them (the required agreement absolves the company). However, the conversion of your own movies and content should fall well into the legal realm.
The Written Word There is also the frustration of accidentally tapping on one item when you actually meant to jog to another—something very common on the busy Times Web site since there really isn't a resting place for your finger. It's clear the Times site wasn't built for something like the iPhone.
Fortunately, we now have Leaflets, a free third-party app and portal that turns the iPhone into a big RSS feeder. It aims to improve the Web experience by optimizing applications for the iPhone's often-limited access speeds.
Leaflets gives several reading options from the get-go including the The New York Times, Major League Baseball scores and Newsvine, a news aggregator that collects the best items from the Web. The popular bookmarker del.icio.us is also available, so all your favorite Web sites can be reached quickly and easily. The New York Times RSS feed is smooth and efficient. A bulk of the screen is the main story. A small left-hand column highlights all the major sections of the New York Times, such as Frontpage, U.S. and Technology. Of course, all parts of the display can be tapped and stretched for more detail. The streamlined topics, vertical layout and text-focused design make the Times feed much smoother than the original Web site.
About the Author
Finally, the first batch of iPhone commercials hyped up reading The New York Times online, but going through the front page on the iPhone can be kind… of… slow. Ditto for the New York Post or any other graphic-intensive newspaper Web site. Wi-Fi browsing is okay, but using AT&T's default EDGE network is nearly unbearable.
The New York Times in Leaflets
Damon Brown wrote the "Pocket Idiot's Guide to the iPhone" (Alpha/Penguin Books), the first book on the iPhone, available at Amazon or your favorite bookstore. Damon also writes for Playboy, SPIN and The New York Post.
Susan Schrank at MobileContentToday writes:
Sony has unveiled a new version of its ICF-C1iP clock radio that acts as a speaker system for the iPhone. This new model, due in stores in May, improves on the current version that only supports the iPod.
iLounge reports that the ICF-C1iP MK2 comes with a wireless remote that lets users access the iPhone menus, as long as they've set the phone to "iPod mode."
The unit also has all the functions you'd expect including line-in, automatic time setting, adjustable brightness, automatic adjustment for Daylight Savings time and the ability for users to wake to their iMusic, the radio or a buzzer.
The $100 device also acts as a docking station, charging the iPhone or iPod when it’s connected. It will be available in black or white.
Today, Apple rolled out firmware upgrade 1.1.4 for the iPhone and iPod touch. Still no sign of a software development kit (SDK) to allow developers to create official native applications for the iPhone, however.
As with previous updates, most users will want to download and install 1.1.4 through iTunes. To do this, simply plug your iPhone in and hit Update or Restore. As with all major software upgrades, back everything on your iPhone or iPod touch by performing a full sync to your PC or Mac before moving forward.
Though the 1.1.4 file itself is rather large, at 162MB, early reports indicate it is more about fixing bugs than bringing anything new to the table. While Apple hasn't said what these bug fixes are, some who've installed update report 1.1.4 fixing some SMS, Bluetooth, and e-mail errors that were introduced with the previous firmware upgrade, 1.1.3.
There's also good news for folks who've jailbroken their iPhones to run native applications using ZiPhone or a ZiPhone related jailbreak under 1.1.3. Apparently, the jailbreaks work even after the installation of 1.1.4, allowing you to continue to use third-party software.
This is very different from previous firmware upgrades, all of which disabled the ability to run unofficial software on the iPhone.
Folks who've unlocked their iPhones to work on networks other than those of Apple's official carrier partners aren't as lucky with 1.1.4, however. Unlocked 1.1.3 iPhones do not – apparently - automatically become unlocked 1.1.4 iPhones.
So while it is always recommended that those who've jailbroken their iPhones wait until developers have had time to fully go over a firmware update before upgrading, this time around it is those who've unlocked their iPhone who should be the most careful about proceeding. In other words, wait until hackers have cracked firmware update 1.1.4.
Some University of Glasgow PhD students, in the Computing Science Department, have posted a prototype applet that is the first to bring some level of haptic or sensory feedback to the iPhone's keyboard. The idea is to enable iPhone users to actually feel something when tapping the keyboard and distinguish one key from another through touch.
Although the iPhone's touch screen keyboard is well-designed and easy to use, you wouldn't want to hammer out an e-mail, for example, without looking directly at it the whole time. Because, unlike with a hardware-based typer—such as those on the BlackBerry, Treo, Q, BlackJack, etc.—the iPhone's QWERTY doesn't offer anything in the way of tactile feedback.
It is this feedback that helps to make users of smartphones with physical keyboards more accurate and faster typists than those of devices with touch-screen typers. It is also what keeps a lot of heavy e-mail types from taking up the iPhone as an alternative to their BlackBerry or Windows Mobile.
The Glasgow student's haptic home page sums up the problem with touch keyboards this way:
The majority of interaction on a mobile device is visual thus placing a huge demand on the users visual attention which can be dangerous in certain mobile situations or socially inappropriate in meetings for example. Furthermore, when interacting with a button - for example, with the fingertip - the image of the button is covered by the fingertip and therefore any visual feedback can go unnoticed.
(Apple gets around the latter problem with the iPhone keyboard by popping up a larger image of a key when a user covers that with a finger.)
To bring touch feedback to the iPhone, the Glasgow students took advantage of the iPhone's vibrotactile actuator, which, among other things, makes the iPhone vibrate in silent mode. Because the actuator is capable of vibrating at 12 different speeds, they were able to integrate a wide range of tactile sensations into their haptic keyboard program
The folks over at tuaw have given prototype haptic application a try. And while they offer up kudos for the effort, they emphasize that there are a number of issues keeping the software firmly in the proof of concept arena.
The program is very unstable, causing it to crash often and sometimes keep the iPhone vibrating even after lifting your finger up off a key. You must test the haptic system in a text editor rather than with an application like Safari. And the battery life of the iPhone takes a heavy hit, which is an unfortunate byproduct of a system that causes the vibrotactile actuator to vibrate often.
Otherwise than these caveats, the software apparently - for the most part - performed as advertised. It successfully simulated the up and down events of pushing a key on the iPhone keyboard and enabled tuaw to distinguish the edges of keys.
[via tuaw]
Mobile is waiting in the wings, ready to take the place of the desktop search as top dog. That's what a recent interview with Google's head of mobile operations in the Financial Times might lead you to believe.
According to Google's Vic Gundotra, the search giant received 50 times the search traffic from the iPhone than any other mobile device. So much more, they couldn't believe the numbers were accurate at first. “We thought it was a mistake and made our engineers check the logs again,” Gundotra said.
One nice thing about the iPhone is how easy Apple makes it perform a Google search from within the iPhone's Safari browser. No doubt this contributed greatly to the amazing results Google tabulated.
And while you can decide to change the search option to Yahoo within Settings, it's apparent most iPhone users either don't know this or have consciously decided to stick with Google. ,Why should search trends on the iPhone prove any different from than those on the PC or Mac.
Since Google earns most of its revenue through advertising, the more people go to it to fulfill their search needs the more money it earns. This applies as much to the fledgling mobile arena, which, in Gundotra's words, is growing "above expectations" in usage and revenue, as it does to the desktop.
And its not just Google that's benefiting from the iPhone's ease of use. The first carrier to offer the iPhone, AT&T, earns twice as much per iPhone user than with other smartphones due to the far greater data usage the iPhone encourages.
Part of a mobile phone and smartphone vendor's job is to create devices that help maximize revenues for their carrier customers. Since the iPhone has done this for its operator partners by making it easier than ever to access the Web from a mobile device—and therefore driving data usage way upwards—Google's Gundotra expects other manufactures will start to pay closer attention to ease of use with their products as well. Should this happen, Gundotra predicts mobile search could overtake fixed (or desktop) search “within the next several years.”
Overall, Google is paying closer attention to the mobile market than ever—with its own mobile platform, Android; the introduction of new, more iPhone-friendly versions of its applications; and the recent roll out of a download to place a Google search box directly on the idle or home screen of Nokia's Symbian-run, S60-interface phones, by far the most popular smartphones in the world.
Apple's iPhone continues to rack up accolades. The latest kudos arrive courtesy of a poll of 590 South Korean CEOs who voted the iPhone the "most inspirational invention" of last year.
The iPhone topped the list of 26 percent of respondents, even though the smartphone isn't even available in Asia yet and hasn't exactly gained a foothold in the enterprise in markets where it can be had.
Being voted "most inspirational" by South Korean CEOs is important for Apple, as awards like these can only help as it expands the iPhone's availability beyond North American and Europe into Asia and beyond. South Korea is one if not the most advanced mobile phone and smartphone market in the world.
An eBook reader form Readius with rollable and foldable light-emitting diode display came in second behind the iPhone with 22 percent of the vote, followed by a a solar and wind-powered car with a 17 percent response.
Ironically, the Samsung Economic Research Institute, of all organizations, conducted the poll that gave the iPhone its latest win.
Apple has thus far sold over 4 million iPhones, since its release last June.
One in four of these were unlocked for use by carriers other than Apple's official partners. Most of these mobile operators operate in markets outside regions where the iPhone is already available.
For instance, over a million unlocked iPhones have been smuggled into China, the very same place where they were built and shipped out of in the first place.
[Via JoongAng Daily]
Social networking site LinkedIn is the latest online service to take a more mobile-friendly stance, as wireless devices continue to become more Web-enabled and attract applications typically used by desktop and notebook computer users, reports David Needle at internetnews.com.
The Mountain View, Calif.-based company today announced m.linkedin.com, a special Web site where mobile device users can access their LinkedIn accounts. Currently in beta, m.linkedin.com is available to users of Apple's iPhone, as well as the RIM BlackBerry and other popular smartphones. The company plans to release a final version in spring.
StyleTap allows Windows Mobile users to run Palm OS applications on the their PDAs and smartphones and plans to soon so the same for Symbian S60/UIQ devices. A video posted to StyleTap’s Web site indicates a version for the iPhone and iPod touch may be in the offing as well…eventually.
The video is showing off StyleTap's Palm-platform emulator running on an iPod touch, according to the company. It is experimental prototype edition, however, and does not mean a beta, let alone a commercial version of the software will ever become available.
StyleTap is quite emphatic about that point. A notice from StyleTap reads:
This is an EXPERIMENTAL version – it is NOT a product, nor is its presence here a commitment of any kind, express or implied, that StyleTap Inc. will ever release an official version of StyleTap CrossPlatform for Apple iPhone or iPod Touch.
Here's the video:
Should StyleTap eventually release a commercial version of this software, however, it'll certainly be a boon to consumers, who will gain access to the well over 30,000 Palm OS applications already on the market. This would tide them over as the official iPhone application market (there's already a market for unofficial programs) slowly builds once Apple releases its iPhone software development kit (SDK).
Apple's yet to release the SDK or layout the details of its distribution system, however. The SDK is supposed to become available this month. But February is quickly coming to close with nary an SDK in site.
StyleTap's caution on the matter is warranted. They'll want to stay on Apple's good side to have a chance of accessing consumers directly should they eventually develop a commercial version of the software.
Rumor has it Apple's going maintain strict control over how users t buy, download and install native iPhone software, relying on iTunes as the method for doing so, as it does with everything else iPhone and iPod touch related.
There have been reports over the last few days that introduction of the kit has been delayed for one to three weeks. We’ll see.
You can move the mouse around, click, double-click, and even drag (double click but keep it pressed and then move around). Vertical scrolling is even possible, by click-and-dragging on the right edge of the iPhone screen.You can use it to control videos, show pictures, advance slides in a presentations—whatever a regular touchpad can do.
The video below shows Touchpad for iPhone in action.
The software, which is runs on top of VNsea, a graphical VNC client—software to allow you to interact with a remote computer—for the iPhone and iPod touch, also requires Installer.app, an iPhone hack that enables you to run and intall unofficial third-party applications on your device.
You can download and learn more about Touchpad for iPhone, including how to install the applet, here.
A story on Electronista.com notes that there wasn't much change among the top players, with Motorola keeping a lock on the number-one spot with 32% of the US market. The only significant move, according to the NPD report, was Samsung sliding up to 17% and stealing the number-two slot from LG, which remained stagnant with 16%.
Add in Nokia and Sanyo in fourth and fifth place respectively and Apple took sixth place from...whom exactly? Reader comments on both Electronista and Ars Technica, which also picked up the story, note that "6th place" might sound impressive when you first hear it, but then ask: How many people can even name any other mobile phone makers?
Years ago, there was this song that would come on over the loudspeakers nearly every time I worked out at the gym. I still don't know its title, let alone the performer or what album it was on. How cool would it have been if all I needed to do was take out my cell phone and have it automatically identify the track name and artist for me?
Although technology that does this very thing has been available to some (see here and here) already, a new hack called Listen, developed by tuaw contributor Erica Sadun, promises bring song identification to the iPhone. Very much in beta, the software samples 5 seconds of music before trying to contact a song ID server remotely to come up with title, artist and album information. Comments on Sadun's Web site regarding Listen have been generally positive thus far. Click here to give it a try. 
(image from tuaw)
Keep in mind, you'll need to jailbreak your iPhone to run third-party applications before running this or other hacks. The iPhone won't be capable of officially supporting native applications—software that runs directly on the iPhone and not from a remote server in the smartphone's Safari Web browser—until after Apple releases a software development kit for developers next month.
Author: Damon Brown
In August, Apple started holding classes in its Apple Music Stores to help people operate the iPhone. As many of you know, the iPhone doesn't come with an instruction booklet. Instead, there is a little pamphlet (see top picture), twelve or so pages, with drawings like something from IKEA (see: finger rubbing on the phone). A National Public Radio program interviewed me about the phenomenon—Apple teaching classes instead of just including instructions like everyone else— but I was never able to attend the classes myself. It may have been for the best, the author of the first book on the iPhone sitting in.
In all honesty, even so-called experts are learning more about the iPhone every day. Apple updates the iTunes and/or iPhone software as often as twice a month, so the capabilities are literally evolving as they are learned. There is plenty little hidden goodness within the iPhone, inluding tips and tricks that are undocumented and often undiscovered.
Some of these you may already know. All of them are simple.
Silence is Golden
Like many cell devices, the iPhone has a silent/buzz function. Unlike other companies, Apple doesn't actually tell you about it. Take your iPhone and look on the left side. There is a small, all black switch above the volume buttons.
Flip the switch and a red dot will appear. The iPhone screen will show a bell with a line through it a la Ghostbusters. 
Now all calls will buzz, not ring. Flip the switch again and the screen will flash a regular bell, indicating that rings are normal now.
Battery Power
Another area that has not been discussed is battery power.
Some users err on the paranoid side, wary from all those short battery life concerns six months ago, and connect their iPhone to a nearby power outlet as soon as the "20 percent power" warning flashes. (I would be in this category.) The iPhone will warn you twice, at 20 percent and again at 10 percent. It will then shut down. No beep. It will cut off a phone call or any other activity immediately.
The phone will not function at all until it is charges for roughly 15 minutes. 
Press any button and a Mac-like set of icons will appear on the screen: the current battery power followed by a powerplug and an arrow pointing to a lightning bolt. Expect to see this screen for about an hour.
Call it poor design, but once the iPhone juice runs out, it requires a long time to power up again. (Connecting it to the computer doesn't help, either.) Consider investing in a car charger if you're planning a long road trip.
Music @Home
There is "Home", the square button located at the bottom of the iPhone's face. Its main purpose is to take you back to the default menu screen, but it can also make controlling your music easier.
Let's say you are listening to one of your favorite songs on the iPhone, for instance, James Brown's classic "Funky Drummer". Press the sleep button at the top of the iPhone to make the screen lock. 
It will say "slide to unlock" at the bottom, along with the current time and song. Now double tap the "Home" button. The music controls will appear immediately under the time (see just below).
Press rewind, fast-forward or pause as you would normally do, or use your finger to adjust the volume by sliding the silver ball along the blue line below. 
A similar "Home" technique can be used on the main menu screen. Press the "Home" button to get to the main screen. Now tap "Home" again. Music info will pop up, including performer, song and album, as well as the volume ball. Unlike the previous mode, you remove the information—by hitting the onscreen Close icon—or move to the actually iPod menu - by tapping the onscreen iPod button.
iPod Mode
A simple, often neglected music control is actually in the iPod mode. Press the iPod icon on the main menu, find a song and press play. The album art will appear as the music starts. (If it has no art, a grey music note will appear instead.) Now tap the center of the album art. A nice list of options will pop up at the top of the art.
The first icon is a loop. Press the loop once and the current playlist or album will repeat. The icon will turn blue. Tap it again and a small "1" will appear on the bottom-left corner of the loop. Now the current song will repeat.
In the middle is the current song number within the current album or playlist (4 out of 14, for instance). Above the song number is the song time elapsed, song time remaining and a silver-and-blue line identical to the other menus. However, the line here represents the song track. Move the ball with your finger to rewind or fast forward the song.
The last icon is two arrows twisted together. Tap it once to randomize the current album or playlist.
Last But Not least
As a final hidden goody, look in the upper-right hand corner when in iPod mode. You'll see a series of three lines.
Tap it.
The icon will "flip," turning into a miniature version of the current album art, and the large album art will turn into a list of the current album songs. (It will always list the current album, even if you are playing from a playlist.)
Click on another song to hear it.
The list icon is always available in iPod mode.
Apple may have designed the iPhone's touch screen for finger input only, but that hasn't stopped a company called Ten One Design from releasing the a stylus – the first – for Apple's smartphone.
The Pogo Sylus, $25, is composed of aluminum and features soft foam tip, which is supposed to simulate a finger tip, but without the smudges that greasy fingers tend to leave behind. A soft tip is a prerequisite for any iPhone stylus, as the iphone's display is quite different from your typical touch screen. A plastic or metal tip simply won't do the trick.
A custom holster keeps Pogo—available in three colors (black, gunmetal and silver)—nestled right next to your iPhone. So you always know where it is should the need for Pogo arises.
The question is: Why would you need a stylus for the iPhone in the first place?
After all, part of the charm of the iPhone's interface is Apple's multi-touch technology, which supports multi-finger gestures and can ignore inadvertent touches. Squeeze your fingers together to shrink a picture, apart to enlarge an image, for example.
It would seem multi-finger gestures would be hard to perform with stylus sitting in your hand like a pencil or pen, right?
Then again, with winter approaching, how many iPhone users will welcome the prospect of having to take of their gloves to make any sort of entry when temperatures start to fall well below zero? Not many I would think.
The Pogo isn't just for the iPhone. You can also use it with the iPod Touch.
Although the most obvious thing (aside from bricking unlocked iPhones and causing 3rd-party apps to disappear) about firmware update 1.1.1 is the addition of iPod Touch-like access to the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store—after all, a bright purple iTunes icon is placed on the home screen—it is not the new feature you will likely use the most. That honor will probably go to the expanded responsibilities Apple has given the otherwise underused Home button—the only button on the iPhone.
All the Home did before the upgrade was take you back to the Home screen - the center of the iPhone universe - with a single tap from within any application. While it still does that, the Home button now has a second, context-sensitive purpose to take you to your favorite contacts or bring up iPod music controls.
Here's how it works:
When no music is playing on the iPhone, a double tap of the Home button brings up the Favorites menu within the smartphone’s phone application; all the better to make a quick phone call. 
Double Tap for Favorites
However, if you've got music playing, a double tap will bring up translucent iPod playback controls over whatever application you happen to be in. That is from within all except the iPhone's iPod software, which would be kind of redundant, right? From there, you’re taken to the Favorties menu just as the double tap does when no music is playing at all. 
Double Tap for Music Controls
The translucent music controls box tells the name of the track playing, the album it comes from, and the artist. You can also pause then restart audio playback, skip to the next or previous song, or bring up the full iPod application. Simply hit the Close button to exit out of the music controls and return to what you were doing before.
The Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) has come to Gmail. What this mean for smartphone and handheld users, especially iPhone owners, is a far smoother and easier to manage mob-e-mail experience. That's because IMAP synchronizes your inbox across all the devices you use, be it desktop or palmtop, instantly and automatically. So if you read or write an e-mail on your iPhone, for example, the changes you make in Gmail are reflected when you got to access messages on your desktop.
This is quite different from POP-based e-mail, which Gmail has always supported. With POP, you can pull messages down to a mobile device from a mail server, but the changes your make to your inbox on your smartphone, for instance, aren't automatically reflected when you go to access your e-mail somewhere else.
So the next time you access your inbox from your desktop, all the messages will stream in as unread or new (even if you've opened them already on your smartphone), making it difficult to differentiate between e-mail you've already read or managed and those messages that are really new.
Gmail, IMAP, & The iPhone
With the iPhone, you can access your Gmail account through the smartphone's Mail application or through afari at m.gmail.com.
Although accessing Gmail through the mobile Web site gives you the same Gmail features you get through a browser on your desktop, most iPhone users will want to use the smartphone’s native Mail application.
To do this, the first thing you do is enable IMAP in your Gmail account from your PC or Mac. Click here for directions on how to do that.
Next, on the iPhone, you need to setup a new mail account. You do this by tapping Other in Settings --> Mail --> Add Account. Although Gmail is represented in the list (along with Yahoo! Mail, .Mac, and AOL), do not tap it. Currently, this will only let you setup a POP account. This is a problem Google says it is working on.
After tapping Other, you need to fill out your account settings, making sure IMAP is highlighted. The Host Name is imap.gmail.com and your user name is your full Gmail address. The Outgoing Mail Server (SMTP) Host Name is smtp.gmail.com. 
Click here for Google's detailed directions on how to setup IMAP-based Gmail on your iPhone.
1- A letter isn't entered until you lift your finger off a key. So if you touch a wrong key by accident when typing, simply slide your finger to the one you meant to type. Let go when the correct letter or symbol appears.
2-While Apple's auto-correction feature is useful, many iPhone users often find themselves accidentally accepting a suggested word when they didn't mean to. There are two things to keep in mind to prevent this from happening:
a) To accept a suggested word you either type a space, punctuation mark or hit return. 
b) To reject the keyboard's correction finish typing the word your want and then tap on the word itself. I know that's a little inconvenient, but it works. Do that twice and the iPhone adds the word to its dictionary.
If you want to start from scratch with the dictionary, say it has accepted and is now suggesting a number of wrongly spelled words, you can reset it. To do this go into settings from the home page, hit general, and tap reset. Once there, tap Reset Keyboard Dictionary. This will erase all the words you've added.
3) Its easy enough to capitalize a letter, right? Simply hit the up-arrow (Shift) key next to the letter Z before you tap a letter. But what if you want to capitalize a whole word?
a) To do that you must first go into Settings on the home page, hit General, and then Keyboard.
b) Turn Enable Caps Lock on.
Now when you double tap the Shift key before typing, all letters you then type will be uppercase. The Shift turns blue in this mode. A single tap will still only cause a single letter to be capitalized.
4) This is also where you can turn off Auto-Capitalization, which is on by default to capitalize the first word of every sentence, off.
5) The keyboard automatically appears when you go to enter text into a form on a Web page in the iPhone's Safari Web browsers. Conveniently, you can hit the blue Go or Search key, whichever appears depends on the type of form, when you're finished entering the text to submit what you've entered. 
Sometimes you may want to close the keyboard before submitting the information in the form. To do this, simply tap the Done key just above the keyboard on the upper-right hand side.
6) If you hold down the E, Y, U, I, O, A, S,L, Z, C, or N key for more than a couple of seconds, the keyboard will offer up anywhere from 2 to 9 additional characters for you to choose from. These additional characters mostly include these letters with various forms of accents. 
More keyboard Tips:
Click here to watch a video Apple has posted about the iPhone keyboard.
iPhoneDrive ($9.95), from Ecamm Network, allows you to use your iPhone for file storage, something you can't do with Apple's iPod/smartphone combo out-of-the-box, as there's no disk mode for iPhones like there is for iPods.
Launching iPhoneDrive brings up the utility’s browser window and toolbar. It is from there you can transfer files and folders back and forth between your Mac OS X computer and iPhone.
There are two ways to perform transfers to an iPhone: Drag and drop content from the Mac Desktop or a Finder window into the iPhoneDrive browser or click the "Copy To iPhone" button on the toolbar.
To do the reverse, you can either click the "Copy From iPhone" button on the toolbar to move highlighted files or folders to a location of your choosing on the computer; drag content directly from the iPhoneDrive browser window into a Finder window or onto the Desktop; or simply double-click a file to download it to your Documents folder. 
With iPhoneDrive, you can also create folders on and delete files or folders from your iPhone.
You can't view content you've transferred from your computer on the iPhone with iPhoneDrive, however, as the software is for storage purposes only.
When you use the iPhone with the smartphone's Safari Web browser, try typing in a Web address. You'll notice two keys appear on the alphabet side of the device's virtual keyboard – period ('.') and .com – that normally aren’t there.
What you'll find after using the keyboard for a little while is that the .com button isn't necessary when typing out a .com Web address a lot of the time. So if you want to go to http://www.pdastreet.com, for example, all you need to do is type pdastreet into the address bar and hit the blue Go button. You'll save yourself the time it takes to type a period and three letters (com).
If this tip turns out to apply to all .com sites, and it seems to work on all the sites I’ve tried it with, then perhaps Apple should consider changing the .com key to .net in the future.
Here’s another tip to keep in mind when surfing the Web through iPhone’s Safari browser: If you go to a site a lot, but normally wouldn't put it into your bookmarks, we highly recommend you bookmark it anyway. That's because Safari forms a list of bookmarked sites as you're typing a Web address just underneath the address bar.
The number of sites listed dwindles as you get closer to the site you want to go to. So, even before you finish typing the full site name, if the site is bookmarked, you should be able to more speedily select it from this list.
We recently offered up a couple of tips on how to make up somewhat for the lack of a period key in the alphabet side of the keyboard; it only sits on the numeric side of the keyboard. This puts a number of unnecessary steps between the end of a sentence and an ending period, for example. That is, until Apple, we hope, adds it to the alphabet side of the keyboard through an update.
The New York Times David Pogue has posted a tip to circumvent this problem:
The alphabet section will automatically reappear. 
Tuaw posted an alternative tip in response to Poque's.
As with the previous tip, this will also automatically bring up the alphabet section of the keyboard.
Mark/Space has updated The Missing Sync for iPhone to version 1.0.1. The Missing Sync delivers a level of compatibility between handhelds, including smartphones, and Macs not delivered by mobile device vendors and Apple itself.
This upgrade, free to current users of The Missing Sync for iPhone, adds the following:
Whereas versions of this software for other mobile platforms concentrates mostly on synchronization, the edition for the iPhone is a little different—in that it is also a means to help iPhone users migrate from another smartphone or handheld to an iPhone.
A migration assistant(see image below) guides users through the process of getting the contacts, calendar entries and phone camera photos from their Palm OS, Windows Mobile or BlackBerry device onto their iPhone. The whole process takes only a few minutes, according to Mark/Space.
On the synchronization/backup front, the software also allows you to move your SMS messages, call logs and notes data off the iPhone and onto your Mac for the first time.
So, for example, users can view and search the SMS messages in a threaded view on their Mac, just like on the iPhone.
Syncing the call log means users can browse new contact numbers and add the useful ones to the Address Book on the Mac. It also means that incoming, outgoing and missed calls are logged.
The Missing Sync syncs iPhone notes so you can read them in Microsoft Entourage, Yojimbo from Bare Bones Software, or Mark/Space's own Notebook application, which comes as part of the package.
The Missing Sync for iPhone goes for $39.95 new and $24.95 if you're crossgrading from a version for another mobile platform, such as the Palm OS or Windows Mobile.
Mark/Space says it is working on a Windows version of The Missing Sync for iPhone.
A huge number of iPhones built in and shipped out of China unlocked and smuggled right back into the country, as Susan Schrank at MobileContentToday writes:
Apple may not sell the iPhone in China, but that doesn't mean that the touchscreen device isn't already wildly popular with that country's gadget junkies. IPhones are built in Chinese factories and then shipped out to the US and some European markets. However, according to a story in Monday's New York Times, smugglers then work to get thousands of the units back in.There's apparently a pretty big market for iPhones purchased in the States and shipped to other countries where enterprising individuals then hack the phones and install localized software so the units will work on local networks.
This does help explain why there's a gap of more than a million devices between the 3.7 million iPhones Apple says it sold and the roughly 2.3 million that its carrier partners have on their networks.
According to the Times, the people who smuggle the phones into China are often Chinese airline flight attendants of members of tourist groups. They're paid roughly $30 per phone delivered.
Apple had been negotiating with China Mobile about offering the iPhone in China, but, the Times reports, talks broke down in January.
Apple is planning on reducing the price of the iPhone and iPod touch by $100, according to tip received by .
If this is accurate, the cost of buying the just introduced 16GB iPhone or 32GB iPod touch would fall to $399. The price of the 16GB iPod touch would drop to $299 and the 8GB version would, like the 4GB iPhone, be swept into the dustbin of history.
The time-frame for the price reductions is said to be no later than mid-April and possibly as soon as before the end of this month; when Apple is expected to roll out its software developer kit and introduce what many expect to be an iTunes-based system for delivering native third-party iPhone applications to users.
Should Apple lower the prices sooner than later, during the very same month it started selling the 16GB iPhone and 32GB iPod touch, expect a lot of customers who've purchased these models and have paid full price to be a tad pissed off—just as early iPhone adopters were back in September.
For that's when Apple lowered the cost of buying an 8GB iPhone by a whopping $200 only a couple of months after thousands of people waited online for hours, some over night, to buy one for $599. These early adopters and Apple loyalists felt their favorite technology company ripped off and took advantage of them.
While important, the cuts wouldn't just be about spurring sales on its current models. Apple may implement them to make room and prepare for the introduction of a 3G-capable iPhone, which is forgone conclusion for this year—perhaps sooner than later, it would seem. Why Apple wouldn't wait until the actual announcement of the 3G iPhone to lower the prices of current models is highly questionable, however.
The first group of iPhones top out at 2.5G EDGE cellular-wireless data networking technology, far slower than the 3G networks all the carriers, including AT&T, who sell the iPhone also support.
Many have wondered why Apple would launch a product that’s as much Internet-device as phone on a much slower network than what was available to them. Could it have been to get folks who bought the non-3G models to pony up for another iPhone when a 3G-capable model becomes available?
As expected, a number of developers expect Apple to use iTunes as the main means of delivering iPhone applications to customers. They view this as the best and worst of both worlds. Over at MobileContentToday, Managing Editor Susan Schrank writes:
A post on Wired.com says that when Apple releases the upcoming iPhone software developer's kit, it might well use the iTunes Store as the "primary distribution vehicle" for all those third-party applications that will come from what's expected to be a large community of developers.
The article includes a quote from Mac application developer Daniel Jalkut that probably sums up the general feeling on the matter:
"I think a lot of developers simultaneously see this as the best thing and the worst thing in the world. The feeling is: 'Oh no, Apple is going to set up this stronghold where [developers] can't set their own prices or have control.' But personally, I think a lot of them trust Apple enough that they'd be willing to make that trade-off."Of course, as Wired points out, even if Apple does sell the iPhone apps through iTunes, it won't necessarily be the only place to get them. Although, considering that estimates put the number of iTunes users at more than 35 million, maybe that wouldn't be so bad.
Meanwhile, the iPhone has dramaticlly increased data consumpion for AT&T, a trend the introduction of official iPhone applications will not doubt continue. In another post on MobileContentToday, Schrank writes:
"There isn't a device that's easier to use," AT&T Mobility president and CEO Ralph de la Vega said during his keynote at the Mobile World Congress, according to a report in FierceMobileContent. He also called the Apple device "a game-changer," saying that data consumption on AT&T's wireless networks has increased significantly since the iPhone's launch in June.
De la Vega told the audience that 95% of iPhone users surf the Web via mobile on a regular basis, something that 30% of them had never done before, FierceMobileContent says.
The article cited some other statistics from de la Vega as well:
-51% of iPhone owners have used the device to watch videos on YouTube.
-9 out of 10 like the iPhone better than their previous cell phone.
-13% of AT&T customers have a 3G device.
-12% own integrated devices.
-ARPU for customers with a 3G device is 20% higher than for customers with a 2G device; for customers with an integrated device, it's 120% higher.
Report shows a major drop in orders for components from Apple, suggesting a sales fall-off and perhaps larger economic concerns, according to an article writen by Andy Patrizio of internetnews.com.
Patrizio writes:
Can sales of $400 MP3 players be a good measure of economic trouble? A research note from FBR Capital Markets, concerning a precipitous drop in iPod and iPhone component orders, could be a sign of broader worries about the economy.
The report from FBR's Craig Berger, centered around the cut in build rates of iPods and iPhones and the impact on component suppliers like Broadcom and Marvell, which supply some of key parts for the devices.
Berger reported that build rates for the iPhone and iPod had been cut again, first by 50 percent from Q4 2007 to Q1 2008, and then to 60 percent. He also reported that iPod Touch had seen the largest negative revision against its original order checks last month, suggesting the Touch wasn't selling well.
Apple did not respond to requests for comment on the report.
The iPod, particularly the Touch, and iPhone are expensive luxury items aimed at consumers, making them an ideal barometer for economic trouble. If we are indeed headed for an economic slowdown, what better measure than $400 phones and MP3 players?
"We are in recession," Berger, a senior vice president with FBR, told InternetNews.com. "Best Buy's same stores sales grew two percent in December year over year, and inflation was more than two percent, so in real dollars, we're shrinking."
As for the fall off, it's not just an after Christmas slow down. "My research showed a 50 percent fall off in iPod builds, then a 60 percent fall off. That's an apples to apples comparison," said Berger. "That suggests demand was weak in Q4, demand was weak in Q1, or Apple overestimated its demand and is canceling orders they don't need."
While there are also real problems with the economy and it's not just Christmas demand falling off, Berger also agreed with Cisco CEO John Chambers' sentiment that people are talking themselves into a recession with all the economic slowdown talk.
"Part of the problem is clearly how much money people have to spend and inflationary pressures. The other part of the problem is the 'CNBC Effect', where they see a plunging stock market, and everyone starts talking about how bad the economy is, and all of a sudden companies that were going to spend 10 percent more on IT dial that back to 3 percent, and to some degree that turns into a self-fulfilling prophecy," he said.
A number of market analysts contacted by InternetNews.com felt the drop in production was more due to seasonality than the economy. "Keep in mind that this is the slowest quarter for any of these types of devices," said Tim Bajarin, president of Creative Strategies. "The bigger issue is if that number continues, with those kinds of cutbacks, then it would be significant news.
The decline in Apple orders is primarily seasonality, said Van Baker, senior analyst with Gartner. "They've also had a little flattening of demand in terms of unit sales reported by Apple, but that's to be expected. When a market matures it slows down."
Rob Enderle, principal analyst for The Enderle Group, thinks the real measure is the 10 percent change, when Apple cut the parts orders from 50 percent to 60 percent. "They were expecting a more aggressive market, I would think. They aren't off by 50 percent, it's 10 percent that's the delta. They might be down 10 percent on what was probably some pretty aggressive projections," he said.
Whether it's seasonality, over-projection or recession, they all agreed that Apple's expensive gadgets make a pretty good canary in the economic coal mine. "They sell premium products to a general audience," said Enderle. "What you are seeing is a slowdown on luxury goods and that's Apple's sweet spot. So they could be a real bellwether for a recession."
Berger added "I don't think the world is falling off a cliff. I still think people will buy PCs and handsets this year. The world will consume 1.3 billion handsets, up 10 percent. "We haven't seen the enterprise refreshing with Vista, which could be a second half '08 positive tailwind as enterprises upgrade to Vista. Right now everyone is waiting to see if things are getting worse," continued Berger, "or if everyone takes it on the chin now and grow off this lower base again."
The iPhone may not be ready for the enterprise, but that didn't stop IT professionals from giving Apple's smartphone this year's Datamation Product of the Year 2008 Award in the Handheld Device category.
It appears some of the more than 4 million people who bought the iPhone last year, which has - up until now - been geared almost exclusively to consumers, were information technology pros.
Interestingly, the iPhone follows last year's winner, the BlackBerry Pearl, another consumer-orientated smartphone. One big difference, however: The Pearl, as with other BlackBerries, fully supports RIM's market-leading push e-mail and data access service in and out of the enterprise.
2008 runner up the BlackBerry Curve ran strongly in this year's Datamation voting. In addition to the Blackberry Curve, the other nominees were the Nokia n810, Sprint Mogul, Motorola Q9h Global, and Palm Treo 755p.
Intranet Journal writer Paula Gregorowicz has written a news story covering the launch of a public beta of iPhone-friendly versions of HyperOffice's business collaboration tools.
Here's what she says:
HyperOffice, a leading provider of enterprise collaboration software, has announced the public beta of its collaboration tools that connect the Apple iPhone to corporate email, contacts, calendars, notes, and tasks.The release of the iPhone in 2007 was of course one of the top product launches of the year, and while it was targeted at consumers, these types of devices always end up being a corporate concern as well, because employees suddenly want them for business and personal use. Besides the trend factor, the question since day one has been its viability within the enterprise.
One of the biggest challenges has been its lack of Microsoft Exchange sync support, because iPhone users are not able to directly send and receive emails through their corporate systems. That is where HyperOffice's new announcement comes in.
HyperShare is a gateway tool built into HyperOffice and that synchronizes the iPhone with Microsoft Outlook and Exchange Server giving users access to secure corporate messaging collaboration tools from anywhere via an Internet connection. HyperShare is a one-time download to the desktop.
HyperOffice is a full-fledged collaboration tool with features ranging from email to shared workspaces to project management. Its Outlook Integration specifically targets the challenges of extended team members and helps users break free from reliance on Exchange or SharePoint. HyperOffice is growing in popularity, as evidenced by its inclusion in the voting for the Intranet Journal Product of the Year award. It's been nominated in two categories. Click here to vote.
"People really want to use the iPhone as a business tool," said Farzin Arsanjani, president of HyperOffice.
"But you can't do that until you solve two problems. First, it is difficult for the large enterprise to deploy the iPhone to corporate road warriors without native support for Microsoft Exchange," said Arsanjani.
"Second, if you are using Outlook to run and grow your business, how do you begin sharing calendars, contacts, documents and tasks -- not just email -- without Exchange, especially when the iPhone does not work with Exchange? These are the two stumbling blocks that HyperOffice removes," he said.
The addition of iPhone support in this new announcement takes this strategy one step further enabling even those with access behind the firewall to not be constrained by limitations or integration challenges of new mobile technology and existing Exchange Server installations. This enables your extended team members to collaborate regardless of whether or not they rely on Microsoft Exchange.
Operating as webware the entire HyperOffice suite requires no corporate firewall or network modification or installation. This makes it ideal as a mobile solution for road warriors armed with iPhones or other mobile devices.
To learn more and access the free 30 day trial of HyperOffice with the new beta iPhone solutions go to: www.hyperoffice.com/hypermain/highlights/iphone.cfm or call 1-800.434.5136.
Apple's iPhone is now one of the top three most-popular smartphones in play, but although it's not a mobile enterprise device, industry watchers aren't dismissing the possibility reports Judy Mottl at internetnews.com.
Mottl writes:
One analyst believes that if Apple spurs greater application development and solves some minor form-factor issues, such as adding a keyboard, the vendor could become the mobile work device of choice.
"All new devices come in the back door of a company. That's how the BlackBerry came into the enterprise," Carmi Levy, a senior analyst with AR Communications, told InternetNews.com. While the iPhone doesn't have the street credibility of RIM's device, the iPhone could become the mobile computer in business. Apple just has to address some issues."
One analyst went even further about the iPhone's enterprise potential, noting that Apple's already having a major impact on new smartphone design and capabilities.
"The iPhone has accelerated development of highly configurable, touch-screen interfaces and has focused companies on delivering an uncompromised Web browsing experience on a small device," Peter Cunningham, a senior analyst with Canalys, told InternetNews.com.
"It also offers a much simpler way of upgrading software after purchase than competitors have managed so far, which is potentially very powerful. A few products came out quickly after the iPhone was announced, but you will see many more once the underlying technology is incorporated into the Windows Mobile and Symbian operating systems, and presumably Android too," he added.
Canalys released a report this week heralding Apple's fast growth in the smartphone market. The iPhone maker is in third place having shipped 2,320,840 phones in the last quarter of 2007. The figure represents 6.5 percent of the market .
Cunningham says Apple's growth in the market is spectacular, given it's selling just one product in just four countries.
Nokia still reigns, having shipped 60.5 million devices last year while RIM had 12.2 million sales—a respectable jump of 112 percent in just one year. Overall a total 118 million smartphones were sold last year.
Levy said the market statistics support his contention that today's mobile phones will all be smartphones within three to five years. "It's a no-brainer as what we view as a cell phone today will be gone as everyone wants a computing device and not just a phone," he said.
The smartphones of tomorrow will feature what users need, and Cunningham expects Apple will keep innovating new design aspects.
"Apple's innovation in its mobile phone user interface has prompted a lot of design activity among competitors," Cunningham said. "We saw the beginnings of that in 2007, but we will see a lot more in 2008 as other smartphone vendors try to catch up and then get back in front."
Hopefully, Levy said, Apple will get busy with its design activity as well. In addition to the necessary keyboard, the vendor has to address battery life issues and revamp its stylish screen for a more business-fitting form factor.
"All the issues preventing it from truly being an enterprise smartphone can be addressed," he said. "None are showstoppers."
If so, Apple will clearly grab more than its current 28 percent share of the U.S. converged device market. As Apple is now ahead of all Windows Mobile device vendors combined, an enterprise-geared iPhone could very easily give RIM a run for its money if it starts flooding through more corporate back doors.
Yesterday, Devicescape, a company that aims to make it easier for you to connect your mobile device to Wi-Fi hotspots through the aggregation of over 1000 public networks, announced the creation of the Devicescape(DDC).
The DDC is “designed to speed evaluations and encourage non-commercial innovation.” Members will get access to source code and can license the Devicescape Connect 2.0 software (an upgrade released today) for free.
“Our mission at Devicescape is to expand the ease of use and the value of mobile internet services,” said Devicescape CEO Dave Fraser in a statement. “By expanding the ease with which a company or individual can engage with and integrate our technology into their devices and applications, we hope to accelerate the delivery of new Wi-Fi products and services to consumers.”
The source code is available for Windows, MacOSX, iPhone and iPod touch, Nokia S60, and Internet Tablets. Interested developers can apply to join the program by visiting this site. 
According to Devicescape, its service supports millions of free and open hotspots worldwide, including commercial, municipal and free networks. In addition to those listed and pictured above, Devicescape should become available for more devices in the future.
Adapted from Wi-Fi Planet
The folks of over at iPhone Atlas have posted a short FAQ to help guide those interested in upgrading from a 4GB or 8GB iPhone to the new 16GB announced today. In short, you can return an iPhone you've bought within the last 14 days for a full refund to purchase a 16GB model. It'll cost you $10 if they packaging been opened, however. You do not need to sign up for a new contract when switching iPhones. Simply pop out your SIM card from your old model, put it the new one, and activate it through iTunes to use with your current service agreement. Don't have the SIM? Simply activate the 16GB for use with your current your account with a new SIM card. In addition to the U.S., the new 16GB iPhone can be had in the UK for £329 and Germany for 499 Euros .
For the full FAQ, see here.
In addition to the considerably and welcome boost in memory, especially for those who would like to watch storage-hungry videos, the new iPhone and iPod touch ship with the major software update Apple made available in January (more on that below). Otherwise, both new devices appear to be the same as the current models.
The new models sell for $499 each, $100 more than the 8GB iPhone and 16GB iPod touch models, which go for a piece.
When Apple starting offering the iPhone last June, it also came in a 4GB variation. But since the lion's share of people buying iPhones bought the 8GB edition, Apple discontinued the smaller-capacity iPhone and lowered the price of the 8GB model by $200, to considerable controversy, to its current price point.
Don't expect Apple to make that mistake again. We expect the prices to stay fairly constant until the release of a 3G iPhone.
The new iPhone and iPod touch models should boost sales of those Apple lines, especially for those who want to make use of their exceptional displays to watch video. With the upcoming release of a software development kit (SDK), considerably more people will load software directly onto their Apple devices, making the boost in memory even more necessary for some.
As it is, Apple's already sold millions of iPhones, 4 million last year alone. The thing is, a little more than a million (that's 1 in 4) of them were bought to be unlocked and used with carriers other than Apple's official carrier partners, particularly Apple's first one, AT&T Wireless.
This greatly affected not just the operator's bottom-line, but Apple's as well, since it gets a percentage of the carriers' monthly service fees.
With New Software Comes New Functionality
Software update 1.1.3, the upgrade that ships with the new 16GB iPhone and 32GB iPod touch and is available for earlier models, adds Google's "My Location" service, an upgrade to Google Maps uses cell phone tower triangulation rather than GPS satellites to determine your location. While less accurate than GPS, this technology is capable of determining your general position and displaying it on a map.
Other improvements include the addition of support for song lyrics and Apple's new iTunes movie rental service, in addition to the ability to send SMS or text messages to more than one person simultaneously.
You can also now create as many as 9 custom home screens. A simply flick of the finger allows you to go through them. Home screen icons can now be rearranged as well.
The software update also adds a button in the Safari Web browser to allow users to save bookmarks, called Web Clips, directly to the iPhone's home screen(s). This is very convenient for those who've made good use of the thousands of so-called Web 2.0 iPhone applications.
In addition to the new features listed above, upgrade 1.1.3 brings the iPhone's Mail, Notes, Stocks and Weather applications to the iPod touch. As the iPod touch isn't a phone, Google’s "My Location" service relies only on Wi-Fi wireless to attempt to determine a user's location.
Unlike with iPhone users and those who buy the new higher-capacity iPhone and iPod touch models, Apple is, unfortunately, charging 16GB and 8GB iPod touch users $20 for the upgrade.
Author: Damon Brown
At Apple's biannual MacWorld Expo in San Francisco last month, big cheese Steve Jobs rattled off a number of new innovations, such the MacBook Air and a deal to allow movie rentals directly onto desktop, iPod or iPhone. The most important announcement to us, however, is a cool iPhone update, the first significant one in a few months. In this post, author Damon Brown describes and explains how to use some of the iPhone's new features.
iPhone’s Faux GPS System
First off, Apple has managed to patch up a feature originally rumored to be in the iPhone: a GPS system. However, it's still a virtual global positioning system (GPS)—a real one at this point would probably require a change in your actual iPhone hardware.
The iPhone uses a technique called triangulation, which essentially measures your distance from different cell towers rather than GPS satellites to determine your approximate location.
Go to the Maps section and press the Directions button. In the "From:" section, instead of typing in your current address, press the little Bookmark icon to the right (the one that looks like an open book). At the top of your bookmarks will be "Current Location". Click on it to return to the map screen, then type in the desired location in the "To:" area as you normally would do. Press the Route button and it will give you directions.
The system can also track your progress as you get closer to the destination. Notice the new target icon in the lower-left hand corner? Press the icon and, after a brief loading, the iPhone will create a large purple circle overlay around your current location. It will move as you move. That said, the iPhone won't recalculate directions unless you redo the "Current Location" bookmark described in the previous paragraph.
We tested "Current Location" in the most unruly of places - downtown Los Angeles - and it was accurate within a few city blocks. It was much more precise in less congested areas, as in down to the current building location. 
The iPhones new faux-GPS system is definitely useful.
Home Screen Management
One update that really should have been available six months ago and is now is movable icons. This allows you to reconfigure the order of the icons so as to better manage the iPhone's home screen.
press and hold one of the icons with your finger. All the icons will begin to wiggle. Now you can hold any icon and use your finger to place it in another place on the screen. The iPhone will automatically swap or move the icons as you manipulate it.
Furthermore, you'll now notice two dots at the bottom of the menu screen, just above the final row icons (which, by the way, can also be individually moved around). 
Press the Home key, the indented button with the square at the bottom of your iPhone, to get out of movable icon mode.
SMS
Damon will cover more new iPhone features next month.
Got an iPhone or iPod touch? Travel often? If the answer to both those questions is yes, you may want to try directing the iPhone's Safari browser over to iphone.travelocity.com to access a version of Travelocity that's been optimized for Apple's iPhone.
The new web application is streamlined to allow you to manage your Travelocity itineraries through a My Trip icon (it helps to be a Travelocity customer) and receive information on flight status, TSA security point wait times, local weather, maps, traffic and airport driving directions through the iPhone portal's Flight Information icon.
Travelocity isn't the only company to offer streamline travel information for iPhone and iPod touch users. A week ago, mobile software developer Handmark unveiled a free Travel version of its Pocket Express wireless information portal for these devices.
This version of Pocket Express offers unlimited access to airline schedules and flight status; hotel information and bookings from Hotels.com; dozens of click-to-call travel numbers (airlines, rental car agencies, etc.); around-the-clock travel reservations service; and automatic conversions for 164 global currencies.
To access Pocket Express, simply point Safari over to www.pocketexpress.com.
At MacWorld last month, Mobile software developer Handmark unveiled a free Travel version of its Pocket Express wireless information portal for the iPhone and iPod touch. Various editions (free and paid) of this software, which has been around for half a decade now, is already available for the Nokia Eseries, Palm OS, Windows Mobile, and RIM BlackBerry platforms.
The concept behind Pocket Express is to downsize the Web to make it more manageable or usable for small-screened mobile devices. Pocket Express uses a channel metaphor rather than a browser to deliver Internet content to PDAs and smartphones. Handmark asserts the service is faster than mobile Web surfing by orders of magnitude.
Handmark's version of Pocket Express offers unlimited access to airline schedules and flight status; hotel information and bookings from Hotels.com; dozens of click-to-call travel numbers (airlines, rental car agencies, etc.); around-the-clock travel reservations service; and automatic conversions for 164 global currencies
The travel services in this edition of Pocket Express are free because the software is supported through advertising rather than a subscription model.
To start using Pocket Express on your iPhone or iPod touch, simply point your device's Safari Web browser to www.pocketexpress.com. It’ll work through either a Wi-Fi or cellular-wireless EDGE data connection.
Could the iPhone be the most rugged smartphone in the world? Maybe. A recent incident on the highways and byways of Kansas takes reliability testing to a while new level.
Mike Beauchamp of Kansas accidentally left his iPhone on the trunk of his car while changing jackets. As he was getting back on the highway, he realized he didn't have his iPhone. It took him an hour to locate the iPhone. And, when attempting to getting it, Beauchamp saw an 18-wheel tractor-trailer drive over the smartphone at over 70 miles per hour.
As you can see from the picture, the iPhone does look a bit worse for wear. Other than that however, it, according to Beauchamp, works just fine. The screen even survived the run-in and with its touch sensitivity intact, although the display now has few areas dead areas.
Check out Beauchamp's description about what happened and the condition his iPhone after the break.
Head over to the Mozilla wiki and you'll find, if not the first fruits, then the first designs of this endeavor. There you'll see early mockups and descriptions of what should become a version of Firefox for PDAs and smartphones.
The wiki covers potential user interface designs for standard and touch-screen of Firefox Mobile, with and without a QWERTY thumb-keyboard. Images picture a main screen with and without a URL toolbar, in addition to the URL entry screen and page load screen. History and bookmark management and a tab screen with thumbnails of web pages are are also covered.
When Mozilla announced plans for Firefox Mobile, it said the goal was to provide a full-fledged Firefox experience to mobile-device users. It added the whole Mozilla community would be taking part in the development process.
A list of supported devices hasn't been finalized yet and the browser itself isn't expected to become available until after the close of 2008. Linux mobiles would be obvious, but so would Windows Mobile handhelds and possibly Symbian phones. Who knows, with Apple opening up the iPhone to third-party development, maybe even an edition of Firefox for the iPhone is in the offing.
The wireless browser market, already crowded when Mozilla made its Firefox mobile announcement a few months ago, has gotten even more competitive since then. For instance, just the other day, a startup called Skyfire introduced its first product, an eponymous-named Web browser for Windows Mobile (and later for other mobile platforms), at the DEMO 08 conference.
Skyfire received a positive reception, as it appears to deliver a true an even more accurate desktop-like browsing experience to mobile devices than even Apple's Safari browser does for the iPhone. How? Through wide support for all of today's most important Web standards, including dynamic Flash, advanced Ajax, and Java and a proxy server, which does all the hard work before sending a Web page onto a smartphone or PDA.
Although a beta version of the application isn't available for yet, a link to an experimental XUL/JS mockup edition of the software, which you can run on the PC, is at the bottom of the Mozilla wiki page, here that describes and pictures what Mozilla is up to with this project
Be aware, not all features described in the wiki are working in the PC download, however.
[via Mozilla Links]
