Apple Sends Invites to iPhone OS 4 Event

Moments ago Apple sent out invitations to an event demonstrating iPhone OS 4. The invitation shows a partial 3D model of a number 4 casting a shadow  onto a blue background. The text on the invitation reads “Get a sneak peek into the future of iPhone OS.”

The event will take place at 10 AM PDT on 8 April, 2010 at Apple’s Cupertino Campus. Let the wild speculation begin.

Addendum: It just clicked after the initial jaw drop that this is in 3 days. THREE. DAYS. Color me officially shocked.

Yahoo! Search for iPhone has Inquisitor DNA

Back in the day before Snow Leopard, there was a lovely little search replacement for Safari called Inquisitor. Back in may of 2008, Yahoo! acquired the rights to Inquisitor, and ported the browser extension to Firefox and IE. Unfortunately, due to changes in the Snow Leopard version of Safari, Inquisitor no longer works in Apple’s browser.

About a year later, this handy little app was also made into an iPhone app, which was a quick and easy way to perform a search on the iPhone. Seriously, it was fast and didn’t seem to require as many taps to get things done. However, just as Inquisitor faded into obscurity on Snow Leopard equipped Macs, a change in iPhone OS 3.0 caused Inquisitor to type everything in the search bar in all caps. This didn’t appear to affect search results, but as Yahoo! never addressed the issue, it looked as if this app would be neglected. 

(I’ll admit that I am a stickler for perfection, and an annoying all caps bug was the equivalent of nails on a chalkboard for me. I quit using the app solely for this reason. Yes, I’m a snob)

It appears that Yahoo! has breathed new life into everything but the Inquisitor brand. On March 23, 2010, Yahoo! released Yahoo! Search, and you can definitely tell this app’s daddy is Inquisitor. The similarities are unmistakable. See for yourself.

Even the icon is similar, with only color changes being the obvious difference.

But differences are abundant between the two apps. The new Yahoo! Search can display maps as you search. Entering Starbucks as a search term yielded (ironically) a Google map (I assume using the built in iPhone Maps API) showing Starbucks stores nearly my current location. Enter a stock symbol such as AAPL and you’ll see the current stock price and whether it has gone up or down. Enter a movie title and see showtimes at theaters near you. 

Overall, it is refreshing to see the Inquisitor app live on in this new name. I do, however, find it odd that the original Inquisitor iPhone app is still available on the App Store. As for Inquisitor for web browsers, I haven’t kept up on the news of its support for Firefox and IE (as I don’t use those browsers) but I think it is safe to say that the Safari version has reached the end of its life. And that is truly a shame. 

 I honestly think it is too bad that Apple didn’t acquire the technology long ago. Hopefully Yahoo! can keep it alive.

Why Command-C When You Can Pastebot?

A while back I mentioned a fun little unit converter for the iPhone called Convertbot. The latest Tapbot to arrive is model 0003, a.k.a. Pastebot.

Pastebot’s purpose is to manage a clipboard of text and images that you copy from various content, whether that is the web, or twitter, or…well, anything that you can copy & paste on your iPhone. The things I love about Convertbot — the elegant, simple, yet fun interface and the mechanical sounds as you interact with the UI — are also found in Pastebot.

To use Pastebot, first, you need to copy something to your clipboard on your iPhone. Once an image or some text is copied, simply open Pastebot, and whatever is currently in the clipboard’s cache is imported. From there, you can apply filters to the content (such as black & white on an image, or convert to all lowercase on text), and/or send them in an email. Also, since Pastebot remembers the last 99 things imported, you can recopy something to the iPhone’s general clipboard to repost elsewhere at any time.

The most shining feature of Pastebot is Pastebot Sync, a Mac preference pane that acts as a wireless bridge between your Mac & iPhone. When your iPhone and Mac are on the same wifi network, and Pastebot is running on your iPhone, anything you copy on your Mac will magically be dropped into Pastebot. Likewise, tap and hold on something in Pastebot’s clipboard manager, and that image or text is pasted wherever your insertion cursor is currently on the Mac, whether that be the address bar, TextEdit, Pages, Keynote, or even an iChat window. You get the picture.

Pastebot sells for $2.99 in the App Store and Pastebot Sync is a free utility on Tapbot’s site. 

Find My iPhone, from an iPhone

iPhone and iPod touch users will notice a revamped landing page when directing Mobile Safari to MobileMe today. Instead of just informing users they can access MobileMe syncing functions from the Settings on their iPhone or iPod touch, a few more options are available. Now present are links for instructions on setting up MobileMe services on your device, links to download Apple’s iDisk or Gallery app on the App Store, and the ability to use Find My iPhone.

Find my iPhone should be handy if, say, your significant other or friend also has an iPhone or iPod touch, and you need to lock down your device right away, especially if you aren’t near a computer.

It’s a nice addition, and one that hopefully won’t be needed too often.

A Few Predictions on the "Tablet" Event

I’ve wrestled with the idea of posting any predictions on the forthcoming Apple Event that takes place in less than 48 hours, but I am caving to tradition. This is just something most any writer who writes about Apple has to do. I don’t have anything to back anything up besides my gut feelings. I’m really just spitballing with a best guess.

The order of events to an Apple keynote, especially a Jobsnote (love having you back, Steve), is a pretty timeless and standard affair. Everything will start by recapping a lot of market data for the Mac, iPod, and iPhone. Apple will tout the financial numbers which are being released later today.

Mac announcements will come first, if there are any. I’m expecting a cursory announcement of iLife and iWork 2010 (or whatever they decide to call it) with some brief demonstrations of the latest enhancements. I’m thinking only iPhoto and iMovie will see demos. I have absolutely no idea what could be added. Expect both suites to go fully 64-bit.

iTunes will be after that. There will be a new feature or two added. I’m hoping that the rumors of all-you-can-eat streaming TV shows come to fruition. If that happens, and the Apple TV gets a hardware refresh to support 1080p, I’m there. I’ve been looking for an excuse to drop cable TV and TiVo (combined, they are just too expensive). $30 or $40 a month would be perfect. I must say, though, I don’t really see this happening. I do see iTunes getting one or two new features, and they’ll likely tie into the iPod and iPhone.

iPod announcements will follow iTunes, and the iPod touch is going to get most of the spotlight (all 3-5 minutes of it). The gist of it will be the announcement of iPhone OS 3.2, which will support whatever new features iTunes brings.

Following that, the iPhone will get a nod, with iPhone OS 3.2 coming for it as well, natch. Here’s where I play my wild card. AT&T will lose it’s US exclusivity on iPhone. Now, I expect this to be more announcement oriented, rather than immediate availability. I expect the iPhone will simply be available this summer on T-Mobile, the other GSM carrier in the States. But I know most are hoping Apple releases a CDMA iPhone for use on Verizon (and maybe Sprint). And this could be the stage to announce that for summer availability. Either way, or even both ways, AT&T will lose exclusivity. I’m calling that one, and I’ll eat crow if it doesn’t happen.

Lastly, and this will be the most lengthy part (I’m counting 30-minutes for everything else, an hour for this), the mythical “tablet” will finally be unveiled. There’s so many delusions surrounding this thing’s hype that it’s laughable. I’m keeping my predictions light. The hardware will look similar to an overgrown iPhone or iPod touch. I mean, realistically, imagining much beyond a giant piece of glass with a metal and/or plastic back, with as few buttons as possible isn’t much of a stretch. But the secret will lie in the software. That’s what is beautiful about multi-touch input — there isn’t a lot of limit on the user interface. I think the software will be more closely related to iPhone OS than Mac OS X, but it will be its own branch off the OS X root, much like iPhone OS was.

I think it will be revolutionary. I don’t think any of us have come close to what it will do or how it will fit in with our computing lifestyles. I do think that we’ll all say, “That makes sense” after Steve explains it to us.

I just hope it has a cool name like Canvas. I’ll slap my forehead if its name is iSlate or iPad.

Happy 8th Birthday, iPod!

It’s hard to believe that 8 years ago today the original iPod was introduced to the world. It’s even harder to see how much it has changed over the years. I mean, the primary iPod of Apple’s arsenal doesn’t even use a wheel anymore!

I remember thinking back in 2001 that this would never take off. I’ve since owned a 3rd generation ipod, a 4th generation iPod, an iPod photo, a 2nd generation iPod nano, and a 1st generation iPod touch. Oh, and now I use an iPhone 3G, which has an iPod app.

I’d say my skepticism was greatly misplaced.

Dear iPod, I lift my glass in your honor. Happy birthday.

(Also, happy birthday to my sister-in-law, Michelle!)

(She’s a recent switcher to the Mac, to boot, which makes her doubly awesome!)

(She’ll also likely never read those words.)

The Return of the King

A little note: I meant to write this up in short order after the September iPod event, however, some family health issues moved things such as the blog from even the back burner to off the stove. My apologies to you, readers, but family is by far the most important thing.

At Apple’s predictably annual iPod music event on September 9, 2009, Apple fans worldwide were finally able to welcome Steve Jobs back to the stage after his medical leave.

I believe Apple continued in great stride without Steve at the helm for his 6-month absence, although I have to say it is great to have him back at Apple and feeling well-enough to give a keynote.

Don’t get me wrong, any company would benefit from a presenter like Phil Schiller, but Phil just isn’t Steve.

Well, I’ve already come right out and shared the best and most newsworthy part of event, but there were some other highlights. If you remember, I shared my predictions a week prior to the event. Shall we see what happened?

iTunes

iTunes 9 did indeed debut. As I predicted, I was disappointed in iTunes getting a complete overhaul from Carbon to Cocoa. Instead, the interface was tweaked a little, and a few new features were added (most of them pretty handy).

The Genius feature now includes Genius Mixes, which Apple described as being like a radio station of your music that just goes great together. So far, the feature is quite nice, especially when you just want music to play for a long time while you work. It’s definitely better than just hitting shuffle r using iTunes DJ.

If you use an iPhone or iPod touch, you can now mange your apps on your home screens via a virtual interface within iTunes. This is a freaking Godsend.

The iTunes Store has an entirely new interface and I like it (it’s been rewritten in Webkit). I was a little perturbed when I saw that the Shopping Cart disappeared and everything is 1-Click now. That is, until I discovered the new Wish List, which basically serves the same function as the Shopping Cart. Also, the rumored social media integration is present, but only in the Store and (thankfully) not as profound as I feared it might be. Quite simply, the iTunes Store allows you to post links to content in Facebook and Twitter. Fairly harmless, and entirely optional.

Some albums are getting extra content called iTunes LP. Think of it as a digital version of the booklets that come in CDs. Movies on iTunes also gained iTunes Extras, which is the same as the DVD menu and special features.

Lastly, the best announcement concerning iTunes is Home Sharing. Finally it is easy to transfer media (music, movies, TV shows, audiobooks and even iPhone/iPod touch apps) between computers in your home. My wife and I used to sneakernet music we wanted from each other’s computers via thumbdrive. Now we can easily browse each other’s content and drag & drop it right within iTunes. This is by far the best feature to hit iTunes in a very long time.

iPhone OS 3.1

OS 3.1 for the iPhone and iPod touch shipped out the day of the event. This solved my abhorrent battery life issue, but did nothing to improve wi-fi reception on my iPhone 3G. (I used to be able to get wi-fi anywhere in my apartment, but since OS 3.0, I can only get it in my office and half of my living room. Doesn’t even register in my bedroom. Good thing there’s 3G in Lincoln).

iPod Updates

I have to admit, this is the part where things really turned upside down for me. I was sure the iPod touch would get a camera and I was skeptical about the iPod nano getting it. Turns out the iPod touch got a little speed and capacity bump, and no camera.

The iPod nano received brighter colors, a slightly larger screen, and a video camera (can’t take still pictures). It also gained a pedometer and FM radio.

I figured the iPod classic had seen the end of days, but it limps on at the same price point, sporting a 160 GB hard drive again (up from 120 GB last year).

And the shuffle indeed received more colors, adding pink, blue, and green to the black and silver. Also, you can pay $20 more for a highly scratchable stainless steel premium version. *rolls eyes*

Wrap-Up

All in all, it was a good event. New iPhone software, modest improvements to iTunes, and the annual refresh of iPods (though disapppointing as far as the iPod touch) are all very nice.

However, the biggest takeaway is Steve Jobs has returned, and I don’t think any of us could be upset about that.

It's Only Apple, But We Like It

In one week Apple will hold its annual September music-themed event. This year the slogan on the announcement reads, “It’s only rock and roll, but we like it.” Others say this is a Rolling Stones reference. I have no clue. I didn’t listen to the Stones. What I do know is that the announcement image this time around gives little-to-no allusion as to what may be announced at the event. No “hidden theme” so to speak. It’s just a shadow dancer with an iPod.

And what’s up with that? We haven’t seen Apple bring out the shadow dancers in at least a year or so. I do notice that the iPod the shadow dancer is holding has the cable coming from the bottom of the device. Perhaps he/she/it is holding an iPod touch? That would make sense. The iPod touch is practically the flagship iPod these days.

This brings me to chipping in my two cents on hopes and predictions of what may transpire next week.

iTunes

Let’s start with iTunes. The rumor mill has been saying we’ll see iTunes 9 with social networking integration. I suppose this means you’ll be able to tweet or post to Facebook whatever song you are listening to. Gag. I could care less. It just sounds like more feature bloat to me.

What I would rather see is for iTunes to get the Snow Leopard treatment. Few new features, major refinement. iTunes is still a Carbon app. (Carbon is the transitionary language used for porting Classic Mac OS 8/9 apps to OS X). With Snow Leopard, Apple ditched Carbon and moved everything over to native Cocoa. I mean, they even rewrote the entire Finder from the ground up. And it did wonders for the Finder’s performance.

iTunes has been begging for a revamp for a couple of years now, in my opinion. I’d like to see Apple rewrite iTunes from the ground up, throwing out years of crufty code that has built up and bogged down performance.

I’d rather see this than have social networking in iTunes. I have a feeling I’ll be disappointed.

iPhone OS 3.1

iPhone OS 3.1, which has been in beta with developers for a couple of months, will be available for the iPhone and iPod touch. I just hope it does for iPhone 3.0 what iPhone 2.1 did for 2.0. And that is to be what Apple should have shipped a couple months ago.

iPod updates

It’s basically a given that the iPods will get refreshed. My thoughts are short and sweet here.

The iPod touch will remain at current price points, but move to 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB. They will also see the inclusion of a camera. Many spy shots have surfaced over the past month showing this. If the photos are to be believed (and many do) it looks as if there is a pinhole next to the camera. My bet is that is for a small mic for video capture. Because video is kind of stupid without audio. The location of the mic makes sense for trying to limit the use of it to video capture. It would be odd to use a mic there for VOIP calls. And let’s face it, if you want to make a phone call on an Apple device, Apple would rather have you by an iPhone.

Internally, I think the iPod touch will gain a faster CPU, GPU, and more memory like the iPhone 3GS did earlier this summer. Externally, I think it will stay the same with the addition of the camera.

The iPod nano…I’m not sure. Traditionally, Apple has modified the overall design every year. However, rumors say the nano will retain the same design and gain a camera. This seems odd to me. Mainly because the iPod nano does not have Internet connectivity. See, the iPod touch has wi-fi, and can upload pictures to Flickr or MobileMe or wherever. The iPhone 3GS can upload video to YouTube and other services. Apple’s touchscreen devices have browsers and email clients. Cameras make sense.

Unless the iPod nano is getting drastically redesigned with a touchscreen (which would be cool, but I doubt it) I can’t see it gaining a camera. I really have no idea what Apple may do with the nano.

The iPod shuffle was just updated around 6 months ago. Perhaps more color choices than black or silver. Perhaps nothing.

That leaves the iPod classic. I think this is going away. Yes, it is iconic. Yes, it is the only iPod that holds more than 32GB of data. But if the iPod touch moves to 64GB, I think that seriously narrows the market. There is more incentive for a consumer to sacrifice some storage for the benefits of the iPod touch OS. Besides, how many people really fill up 120GB on an iPod?

Also, many of the manufacturers of the 1.8” hard drives that the classic utilizes are scaling down production drastically. Perhaps that is because Apple isn’t ordering too many of them these days.

The Mythical iTablet

Nothing to see here, people. Move along. Seriously, I’m not expecting the tablet this year. Developers will need time to makes apps for it. If Apple is planning to release it in 2009, it will get its own special event, likely in October. Why October? Because Apple has done events for the holiday season in October.

Steve Jobs

I think he’ll be at the event, he’ll do a little talking, but let other executives like Joz and Schiller do the heavy lifting, just like the November 2008 event when the unibody MacBook Pro debuted.

What do you think will happen next week?

Twitterrific 2.1 Fluffs the Blue Bird's Feathers

Yesterday Apple finally approved the first substantial feature update to my favorite Twitter application for the iPhone – Twitterrific. The app had been sitting in the approval queue for quite a few weeks. The new version brings a flock of new features. I’ll go over my favorites here. The colossal list of all the changes can be found at Twitterrific’s version history page.

First and foremost, I had started with Twitterrific since the opening day of the App Store. But version 1.x lacked many advanced features, especially when Tweetie came on the scene. I had resisted Tweetie for quite a while, but when I started managing a second Twitter account, I ended up on Tweetie out of necessity.

I switched back to the blue bird when version 2.0 came out and was instantly won back. Over time though, I did find that the new blue bird was missing a few features that Tweetie had that I really loved. Twitterrific 2.1 has taken care of all that, and is reigning supreme yet again.

Here’s what Tweetie had that Twitterrific now has:

• New “Load More…” button to retrieve older tweets in the timeline.


• Added a photo viewer for images on yfrog, Twitpic, and Twitgoo. (This is instead of just loading the web page for the photo, as Twitterrific had always done. This is MUCH faster.)


• Tap on the avatar in the author info view to view the avatar full size.


• Added following and followers buttons to author view.

Granted, these are not drastic things that I couldn’t live without, but they round out the experience of the app. Possibly my favorite is the custom image viewer, especially for Twitpic. The old method of loading the whole Twitpic web page was time consuming and cumbersome, as you’d have to zoom to see the image every time. Now you get a wonderful fullscreen image that loads quickly. Nice.

Some other new features that I am loving is the “Address Book” view (signified by a rolodex card), a YouTube videos play within the in-app browser, the built-in web browser supports landscape view, in-app email support, and the ability to translate a tweet to your native language.

The “address book” is a wonderful feature. From either the timeline view or posting view, you can bring up your followers, who you’re following, and a search area to view an account and create a mention or direct message. Very nice.

Utilizing the in-app YouTube viewer and in-app email in OS 3.0 is nice. An app’s experience is greatly improved when you don’t have to leave the app all the time.

For iPhone 3GS owners, you getting some special attention and love, too!  You can record, post, and view video from yfrog and TwitVid. The developers note that for yfrog, you need to activate the video setting on yfrog.com.

Also, apparently Twitterrific 2.1 is “optimized for the iPhone 3GS.” Whatever that means. (Not that I’m bitter that I don’t have a 3GS.) (I’m just messing with you all.)

Overall, Twitterrific 2.1 is a solid feature upgrade that really gives the blue bird some new pluck. Twitterrific 2.1 is available in an ad-supported free [App Store] version and a $3.99 ad-free Premium [App Store] version.

P.S. ~ It’s not a bad idea to follow @Twitterrific on the Twitter. App specific news is regularly pumped out there and helpful hints and tips for the app are offered as well.

Happy Birthday, App Store

One year ago today, the App Store graced iPhones and iPods touch everywhere. I remember that July day very clearly. I arrived at the Village Pointe Apple Store in Omaha, NE at 6 am to stand in line. I bought my iPhone 3G (16 GB, black), and then waited…

I waited because the iPhone 3G was so freaking popular that the activation servers had melted! Well, I assume they melted. I remember leaving my iPhone docked to my Mac, waiting for the activation to complete. I gave up and took a nap. A good two hours later I heard the siren’s call from the home office. It sounded like a sword unsheathing. It was the sound the iPhone makes when docked. I bolted from my bed and ran to my iPhone! Activation Complete.

The first thing I did was to explore the App Store. To see what was available. I remember my first download was actually a purchase. Twitterrific Premium. I assume most people’s first download was a freebie. The next app was Facebook. Yes, I like social networking. Then, Apple’s Remote app. Then AIM (which sucks, and still does. Apple, can we please just have an iChat app?)

To say the App Store is a hit would be an understatement. It’s no wonder Apple is giving away iPods touch to the college kids two summers in a row. At a 30% cut on paid apps, it’s a money maker for our favorite fruit company. Even factoring in the costs of the servers and such, Apple’s profit out of 30% of a 99-cent app is likely much greater than a 99-cent music track. Although the sheer volume of music sales would clearly blow away the profits of the App Store.

Anyways, to commemorate the App Store’s first birthday, I thought I’d share a little list of my favorite apps. [All links go to iTunes]

• Twitterrific 2 (ad-supported free, ad-free $3.99): My favorite Twitter client. Honestly, I am surprised I have worn a hole in the upper left corner of my iPhone’s screen, that’s how often this app gets used.


• Remote (free): A very awesome app to control iTunes and your Apple tv. Straight from the fruit company, so you know it’s delicious.


• 1Password ($4.99, $5.99 Pro): Syncs with the wonderful 1Password on the Mac. Allows you to access sites and auto-fill logins and passwords securely on the go.


• Delivery Status touch ($2.99): A great app to track your deliveries. This has become even more handy with the introduction of Copy & Paste in OS 3.0, as before it was a bit of a bear to get your tracking info into the app. This app supports more couriers than you can shake a stick at.


• Groceries ($3.99): I bought this app thinking it was a neat idea. Now, it is used weekly for shopping trips. The user interface is top notch, And the ability to add custom items to the database is great. Needless to say, it comes with quite a great deal of items in the database right from the start.


• Stanley Level (free): My wife and I were hanging pictures in our apartment, and like a true geek, I don’t own a level (it’s strange that I actually own a hammer). Well, our pictures were looking a little crooked, and I explained to my wife that I don’t have a level, and we’d have to go get one. Then, I remembered that the App Store has everything, from Twitter clients to Fart apps, and yes – even levels. There are many free level apps out there, and some may even be better, but you can’t go wrong with a Stanley level, right? Guess what, it actually works, and it works darn well.

Well, those are a few of my favorites. Happy birthday, App Store. Live Long and Prosper.