Apple Approving iOS 5 Compatibility Updates in the App Store Ahead of iOS 5 Public Launch

Apple started initially approving app compatibility updates for iOS 5 back in August. With iOS 5 set for a public release next week at the earliest, Apple is continuing to approve more iOS 5 compatibility updates for popular apps in the App Store.

Microsoft’s Photosynth application received an update today that brings iOS 5 compatibility. What app will be next to receive a compatibility update for Apple’s unreleased software?
As you can see, iOS 5 compatibility has been added to Photosynth in the update’s release notes alongside some other minor changes. Photosynth version 1.1.1 is available in the App Store for free. The app allows you to create panoramic photography by stitching together multiple shots on your iPhone.

Let us know if you spot any more iOS 5 compatibility updates in the App Store over the weekend. With Apple’s iPhone event scheduled for Tuesday, the public release of iOS 5 is right around the corner. Multiple reports suggest that the software will be made available to everyone on or before October 10th.

Cydia “Featured” Page Gets a Makeover

If you go to Cydia today and visit the “Featured” section, you’re going to see some nice changes. The page now lists some sponsored apps, and also Featured Extensions and Tweaks that are worth a look.

Bringing some much needed organization to Cydia, this Featured Extensions and Tweaks section is probably the most interesting part of this makeover…
With so many packages available in Cydia, it’s sometimes hard to go through all that’s available. The sheer volume of apps and tweaks in Cydia and the way it’s all organized makes it hard to find new, worthy apps.
This new sections aims at weeding out the fluff to focus on the best of the best. Divided into several categories, you get a selection of hand picked and highly recommended jailbreak tweaks.

I’m not sure when this Featured section was redesigned, and I probably wouldn’t find out about it if it wasn’t for a tip from iDB reader Dsteven.

UPDATE: Saurik’s assistant tells me this new feature was pushed yesterday.

What do you think of the new changes to Cydia?

A Preview of How Apple’s Top Secret Assistant Feature Could Work on the Next iPhone

If you haven’t figured it out by now, there’s more to iOS 5 than meets the eye. Since the new software was unveiled in June, Apple has been holding some of its best features close to the vest as it fine-tunes them to perfection.

One of those top secret features is a system-wide utility known as Assistant. The voice-activated, digital concierge can do anything from sending text messages to performing internet searches. Want to see how it could work?
MacRumors, in conjunction with a recent 9to5Mac report and their own information, has created an artist rendition of what they believe Assistant’s interface will look like (above). MacRumors’ Arnold Kim explains the feature:

“After a long press on the home button, the screen fades and slides up, just like with the multitasking interface. Revealed is a silver icon with an animated orbiting purple flare which indicates a ready state. From what we’ve been told, this image is a close representation of the actual Assistant interface.”

But Kim didn’t stop there. The site contracted well-known iOS concept artist Jan-Michael Cart to put together a “video representation” of the Assistant workflow. Although some minor details might be off, Kim believes it gives us a good idea of what to expect.
Those that have used the Assistant feature have said that its voice recognition is extremely accurate, and it’s expected to be a game changer. And with rumors mounting that we won’t be seeing all-new hardware next week, expect the software to be over the top.

What’s your take on the Assistant feature?

Apple Puts Another Nail in the iPod Classic’s Coffin

Apple quietly removed its click wheel games category from the iTunes App Store this morning. Multiple sources have already said that Apple is getting ready to kill the iPod Classic and the iPod Shuffle, so this move doesn’t come as a surprise.

With the Classic on its deathbed, it’s obvious that the age of the click wheel is nearing an end. We’ll miss you, little click wheel.
AppleInsider:

“Users used to be able to access a link to “iPod Click Wheel Games” by clicking the drop-down menu on the App Store link in iTunes. But now, that option has disappeared from the menu.”

The iPod Click Wheel Games FAQ page has been marked as “archived” by Apple.
As I’ve said previously, Apple is all about iOS and the App Store. Apple’s 30% cut of all developer revenue in the App Store is the bread and butter of the company’s mobile platform. The click wheel iPod doesn’t fit into that business scheme anymore.

Third party development for the iPod Classic never took off, and Apple never made the SDK publicly available for everyone. Perhaps that was the biggest mistake.

If you look at Apple’s track record, the iPod touch is most likely going to get a refresh very soon. Nothing huge is expected besides a white color option and increased storage (128GB). The next iPhone is coincidentally rumored to have a 64GB storage option.

A 128Gb iPod touch on iOS 5 with all the bells and whistles would be the perfect modern replacement for the iPod Classic. An iPod that doesn’t run iOS won’t be sticking around for very long, especially as iCloud creates a more integrated experience between Apple products. The non-touch iPods don’t fit into the big picture.

That’s not to say that the iPod Nano won’t be around for a little while longer. People still want something cheap that they can listen to music on at the gym. Who knows, Bluetooth may make the Nano the greatest watch of all time. We’ll just have to wait and see.

You can pick up the iPod Classic starting at $249 in the Apple store.. for now.

The First iPhone 5 Review Hits the Web

After scoring the lost iPhone 4 prototype last year, it was hard for Gizmodo to outdo themselves this year. Yet they still did, by publishing the world’s first iPhone 5 review four days before the device is actually unveiled by Apple.

How could they possibly do this? The answer is rather simple: by creating a physical mockup based on the rumors we’ve heard, but also by focusing their review mainly on iOS 5. The result isn’t as bad as you’d think…
“What’s the point of waiting for the same few people to write the same single glowing review of Apple’s new phone? There is none. So we didn’t.

We had our intern make a mock-up of the new phone using specs from the leaked cases; we found other devices that made use of some of the iPhone’s components; and we carried the foam core iDevice for a couple weeks, loaded up our actual phones with iOS5 and iCloud and got down to business.

This is the first review of the iPhone 5. Sure, it’s a little, uhm, hacked-together, but I’ll bet you it’s not going to differ significantly from the officially sanctioned reviews that come out next week.”

You can read the full review here.

We at iDB will just wait for the real thing next week.

Samsung Wants to Make a Secret Deal with Apple

The ongoing legal battle between Apple and Samsung just took another turn this morning, with The Wall Street Journal reporting that Samsung offered a secret deal to put off Apple disputes over the sale of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia.

If the deal is accepted, Samsung could start selling the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia as soon as next week. The details of the deals remain secret, but I do have my ideas…
According to a source familiar with the matter, Samsung offered to include two Apple stickers in each Galaxy Tab 10.1 box. I’m joking of course.

Even though the details of the deal aren’t public, it’s safe to assume that a financial compensation is at stake. I wouldn’t be surprised if Samsung agreed to pay Apple a certain amount per unit sold.

Hopefully they can find an agreement and replicate it to other countries where Apple and Samsung are already in a legal feud. This situation has been going on for too long, and a friendly agreement might just be beneficial for both companies.

Fake iPhone Ring Busted in China

We knew China was the land of knockoffs and copycats where you could easily find an HiPhone 5, even before the real iPhone 5 was out. It now appears that you can also find a real fake iPhone 4, exactly similar to Apple’s original device.

As the Chinese police busted this fake iPhone ring, they came across a group of individuals who purchased various parts in China, and assembled the real fake iPhones in their apartment…
200 real fake iPhones were found there, and according to the police, the fake models were identical to the real ones, except they had a shorter battery life. Even for an iPhone connoisseur, it’s hard to make the difference between the fake and genuine iPhone.

The cost to make those fake iPhones was about $313. They were then sold online or to shops in China for twice the price.

Do you think you could tell the difference between a real and fake iPhone?

Facebook to Launch iPad App and Project Spartan Early Next Week

According to MG Siegler of TechCrunch, Facebook is set unveil its long awaited iPad app and Project Spartan, the HTML 5-based mobile platform the company has been working on for months, early next week.

We know the iPad app has been ready for a while – which was confirmed by a former Facebook employee – but it appears that Spartan has been ready for quite some time, too. But the company has apparently been working out the kinks with Apple. Better than that, Facebook may unveil these new products at Apple’s iPhone 5 launch next week…
“Earlier this week, Mashable reported that Facebook’s iPad app would launch at Apple’s iPhone event this coming Tuesday. For what it’s worth, we’ve heard Facebook is actually planning to launch the iPad app at their own iPad/Spartan event on Monday. But they’re still discussing all of this with Apple. And Apple has been well known to change things at the last second. It is possible that they want Facebook to launch this on stage at their event to showcase some of the new HTML5 capabilities of iOS 5 (which will also be formally unveiled at the event).

I believe the Monday launch is a fallback option. Facebook is apparently ready to go with or without Apple.”

Would it be surprising if Facebook was invited to speak at Apple’s event? Yes and no. Yes, because the two companies hate each other. And no, because both companies hate Google even more. Teaming up against Google seems to be the strategy adopted by Apple and Facebook.

One thing is sure, next week is going to be a hell of a week for iOS. And of course, we’ll be here to keep you posted!

Here’s How to Get Your Photos Out of Google’s Photovine App

We’ve told you about Google’s Photovine iPhone app a couple of times before, and we’ve also given you the bad news that the search/ad giant is killing the app. Offering an interesting take on the Instagram idea, Photovine offered users the opportunity to take and share photographs that revolved around a common theme, or Vine. We liked it, you liked it.

Google, apparently, did not.

So with Photovine going the way of the dodo sooner rather than later, we’ve received an email from the application’s developers explaining just how to get our photos out before the service goes offline once and for all…
“Just because the Photovine app is winding down, doesn’t mean your photos can’t live on! Now you can visit http://photovine.com/settings and download all of the photos from your account, directly to your desktop!”

Once you’ve arrived at that URL, you’ll need to login using your Photovine credentials, and then hit the ‘Download my Photos’ button at the top of the screen.

Now, all you’re uploaded photos will be downloaded to your computer in 250-photo chunks.
It’s a real shame to see Photovine killed off just as it was starting to get a real following, but that’s the dog-eat-dog world of tech startups. You get bought by a giant like Google, and anything can happen.

Are you ashamed to see Photovine go? Or are you a fan of another photography sharing app?

“The Daily” iPad Newspaper Only Has 120,000 Readers

Poor old Rupert Murdoch really isn’t having the best of times is he? First there was the whole phone hacking debacle that is still rumbling along in the UK, then the same accusations found their way across the pond to the United States, and now it appears his pet project is a dysmal failure.

That pet project is, of course, The Daily — an iPad-only publication aimed at bringing news into the 21st century. The problem is, nobody is reading it…
According to numbers coming out of Bloomberg, the digital newspaper is currently being read by just 120,000 people per week – that’s just one quarter of the 500,000 Murdoch himself said they would need in order to break even, back when he was all excited about the venture. We suspect that he’s considerably less enthusiastic these days.

The figures come from John Nitti, executive vice president of Publicis Groupe SA (PUB)’s media-buying division Zenith Optimedia, who obtained the numbers because he works with Verizon Wireless, a sponsor of The Daily. Unsurprisingly, nobody was willing to comment from inside the publication.

“They won’t tell us how many paying subscribers, but that’s how many uniques the Daily is getting.”

But things get even worse for the beleaguered billionaire. See, with users who download the iPad app receiving a free two-week trial of The Daily, there is no guarantee – in fact we think it’s highly unlikely – that those 120,000 are all paid subscribers. The real number of people willing to hand over their hard earned cash for the ‘slightly-more-real-time-than-ink’ newspaper may well be considerably smaller.

We’d feel sorry for Mr Murdoch if he wasn’t so stinking rich already.

Fortune’s New “All About Steve” eBook Covers 28 Years of Jobs

With the official Steve Jobs biography just a couple of short months away, Fortune has sought to get in on the act by releasing its very own eBook.

Available via Amazon’s Kindle store – though not internationally as of yet – the book carries the lofty title of “All About Steve: The Story of Steve Jobs and Apple from the Pages of Fortune” and covers 28 years of stories, including some interviews with the former Apple CEO…
“Steve Jobs’ legacy is clear: The most innovative business leader of our time, the man FORTUNE named CEO of the Decade in 2009. Now from the pages of FORTUNE comes an anthology of 17 classic stories spanning the years 1983 to 2011 about the cultural icon who revolutionized computing, telephones, movies, music, retailing, and product design.”

Priced under $10, this eBook sounds like it could almost be required reading for any self respecting Apple fan, though we doubt there will be any huge revelations hidden inside its digital pages. Interestingly, the eBook has so far received two reviews, one giving 1 star, and the other offering 5. Steve Jobs: polarising even in eBook form!

If you really can’t wait for the official bio, which comes courtesy of Walter Isaacson, then this should hold you over until its November release date.

The Cydia Developer Directory: Find Dev Info and Tweaks Quickly

With thousands of tweaks and utilities available in Cydia, it’s easy to forget who’s behind them — the developers. These folks are extremely talented, and they provide us with all kinds of tools that make our iDevices a lot more useful.

So ModMyi has just designed a new directory, specifically for jailbreak developers, to allow users to track down their favorite programmers. The portal provides information about the app-makers and links to all of their work…
To check out the directory from a desktop or mobile browser, visit http://modmyi.com/cydiadevs. The portal is also available directly from Cydia. All packages hosted by ModMyi contain a link under the description section to the developer directory.

Although the list is limited to ModMyi content, and there’s less than 20 developers registered so far, it’s an awesome idea. Hopefully we’ll eventually see this across all of the major repos. Maybe it will even lead to other Cydia organizational projects.

Say Goodbye to the iPod Classic and iPod Shuffle

If you’ve been planning on buying an iPod Classic or iPod Shuffle, now would be a good time to do so.

Last night, TUAW corroborated an earlier report from 9to5Mac that Apple is looking to discontinue the iPod Classic and iPod Shuffle. The “product transition” that Apple hinted at during its last earnings call is apparently within the iPod product line. TUAW’s source has said that Apple will axe the two iPods this year, presumably at Tuesday’s event…
Apple’s Fall event has been devoted to the iPod in the past, but this year will revolve around a new iPhone. It’s expected that Apple will at least introduce a minor refresh of the iPod touch with a white color option and upgraded specs. The rest of the iPod line, including the iPod Nano, will likely never see a refresh again.

It’s not surprising that Apple would want to discontinue the Shuffle and the Classic. An article on CNET suggests that next week would be the optimal time for Apple to begin phasing out products in its iPod product line:

“For starters, this year (October 24) marks the 10-year anniversary of the iPod. That’s quite an achievement, but it’s also a nice place to bookend things. I can imagine Apple saying, “It had a great run, now go buy an iPhone.”

Also, the iPod just isn’t the moneymaker it once was for Apple. In the fourth quarter of 2010, iPod sales made up just 8 percent of Apple’s total revenue, and they have been in a steady decline ever since the iPhone’s introduction.”

The iPod touch is Apple’s money maker within the iPod line, so it makes sense for Apple to focus on selling that product as the premium option, with the iPod Nano still available as the cheap option for customers that just want to play music.

At the iPod event last year, Steve Jobs said that Apple was redesigning “every model” of the iPod. The iPod Classic wasn’t mentioned at the event once. Apple hasn’t considered the Classic as part of its iPod line for a long time already.

The Shuffle just doesn’t make sense in light of how cheap the Nano is and what non-iPhone owners want from an iPod in the first place. The Shuffle is a better watch than iPod.

TUAW is usually tight-lipped about Apple rumors, so we have reason to believe that the site has certainty about this news.

How do you feel about Apple discontinuing the iPod Classic and iPod Shuffle? Is it a smart move?

Screenshot Picture: Add Photos to Your iPhone’s Screenshot Flash

You know that boring old white flash that appears on your iPhone’s screen when you’re taking a screenshot? Wouldn’t it be nice if there was an option to spruce that up a bit?

Likely, that’s the exact conversation the developer of Screenshot Picture had with himself as he was conceptualizing it.

Inside, you’ll find a video walkthrough on this tweak, and learn how to make your screenshot taking experience a tad more interesting.
Along with doing what its name implies — allowing you to designate a picture for the screenshot flash — the tweak also lends you the ability to set a solid color, or random color for the flash.

Screenshot Picture is available for $0.99 on Cydia’s BigBoss repo for jailbroken iDevices.

If changing the screenshot flash sounds like a fun time, then this is the perfect jailbreak tweak for you, wouldn’t you agree?

Where Did the Design for the Leaked iPhone 5 Cases Come From?

Don’t worry, this isn’t your typical iPhone 5 rumor — we’re getting just as sick of them as you are. This is a possible theory on how accessory manufacturers were able to make cases for the purported iPhone 5, months before Apple announced it.

M.I.C gadget is reporting that it has heard from an accessory shop located in Shenzhen, China that a Foxconn employee was paid to sneak the handset out of the plant. The device was then sold to a case manufacturer for roughly $3,100. Read on…
While we’re still extremely skeptical of the whole story, it’s quite an interesting tale:

“The missing prototype is said to have been enclosed in a case to disguise it as a current-generation iPhone 4-which brings to mind the iPhone 4 prototype acquired by Gizmodo that was camouflaged as an iPhone 3GS. How Apple achieved that with the iPhone 5 supposedly wider and longer than the current iPhone 4 is a point to ponder.”

M.I.C. gadget‘s report would certainly explain the onslaught of iPhone 5 cases we’ve been seeing since the end of July. The covers have been surfacing in several different color and material combinations, but all of them seem to point to the same design.
As MacRumors points out, this wouldn’t be the first time that an accessory-maker was involved in leaking the design of an Apple product. iPad 2 cases appeared online several months before it was unveiled. Those involved have since been incarcerated.

While the story seems plausible (an underpaid factory worker trying to make a quick buck), we’re still not buying it. The case designs could have come about a number of ways, and recent chatter suggests that the next iPhone will look a lot like its predecessor.

On the other hand, if Apple unveils a tear-drop-shaped handset next week that matches up with the design of these cases, it won’t be long before reports start coming in regarding an investigation into Foxconn employees for leaking trade secrets.

SBSettings Gets Updated with iOS 5 Support

There’s a handful of tweaks and utilities that are simply a must-have for jailbreakers. Obviously, this list can vary from person to person, but I don’t think that anyone would argue that apps like Activator belong in the Cydia Hall of Fame.

Another title that belongs in that category, maybe most of all, is SBSettings. The utility makes accessing system settings and functions a breeze. SBSettings was just updated, and all of you early adopters will be happy to hear that it’s now iOS 5 compatible…
Since Apple unveiled the new Notification Center in iOS 5, there has been speculation that SBSettings wouldn’t make the leap to the next firmware. With space available in the drop down menu, many believed we’d see the utility reincarnated as a widget.

UISettings is a good example of a Settings-focused widget, but it doesn’t have near the capabilities of SBSettings. Well now folks who are running the beta version of Apple’s next major software release can enjoy the real thing.

The most recent update to the utility brings it to version 3.3.1, and among the changes is added support for iOS 5. A lot of developers have been hesitant to update their apps for the beta software, but with a public release nearing, they’re starting to come around.

To download SBSettings for your jailbroken iOS 5 device, just pop into Cydia and add the http://thebigboss.org/ios5beta/ repo to your list of sources. Keep in mind that it’s still in beta itself, but early reports say the utility works well.

Have you tried SBSettings on iOS 5 yet? Let us know if you run into any bugs in the comments.

Apple Launches “TV Time” Section in the App Store

Apple has launched a dedicated App Store page for “TV Time” apps for the iPhone and iPad. The listed apps let you watch, share, and do a host of other TV-related things on your iDevice.

Some of the App Store’s greatest classics are listed in this new Spotlight page, and there are definitely plenty of apps there to help you take advantage of this Fall’s TV season…
“It’s prime time for the fall television season. Watch your favorites, discuss key moments with friends, read episode and programming guides, and discover new addictions with this showstopping collection of apps.”

There are tons of universal apps listed, as well as some apps made specifically for the iPhone or iPad.

Some of our favorites:

■Netflix
■ABC Player
■Crackle
■Miso
■Discovery Channel HD
■TV Forecast HD
■IMDb
Head over to the App Store’s “TV Time” page to check out more great apps. There’s an iPhone specific and iPad specific version of the page as well.

What are some of your favorite TV-related apps in the App Store?

Purported Screen Shots of Facebook Integration in iOS 5

With Apple expected to release iOS 5 to the public in the next few weeks, more and more details are coming out of the woodwork. The Cupertino company only demonstrated 10 of the software’s 200+ new features in June, so there’s a lot of room for discoveries.

Earlier today we told you about iOS 5′s secret Assistant feature, the Siri-based voice control system that will set Apple’s mobile OS apart from the competition. Now there is news coming in that the software will also include Facebook integration…
MacRumors posted screenshots of what appears to be a system-wide Facebook feature in iOS 5. One image depicts a Facebook pane in the iOS Settings app, and the other photo shows a user posting a picture to the social networking service from within Photos.

Obviously, Twitter has had system-level integration in iOS 5 since day one, so this doesn’t seem like too much of a stretch. This also lines up with rumors of Facebook announcing its iPad app at Apple’s purported October 4th event next week.

That doesn’t mean we aren’t skeptical of the images authenticity though. MacRumors themselves said they couldn’t confirm the images, and they also point out that because the photos look so similar to Twitter’s iOS 5 integration, they could easily be fake.

Also note that the “Update Status” font, compared to the Twitter function, seems to have a weird shadow-y effect, and the time in the status bar is also a bit sketchy. It reads 17.31 instead of 5:31 (which could be explained a number of ways, but it’s still odd).

There’s no way to know for sure what Apple will be unveiling next week, but we do know we’re in for some big surprises. Facebook integration would certainly make sense on Apple’s part, and I’m sure it would be appealing to folks who use the service regularly.

What do you think? Will iOS 5 have Facebook integration?

Facebook to Launch iPad App at iPhone 5 Event?

Mashable just dropped somewhat of a bomb in the iOS world. According to the website, Facebook will be launching its long-awaited iPad app at the iPhone 5 event, which will most likely be scheduled next week.

We wouldn’t normally pay too much attention about what Mashable says, but it’s interesting to note that Robert Scoble has been hearing the same thing, as he mentioned last week on Google+…
“By the way, I heard a rumor from a usually credible source that Facebook may not announce an iPad app tomorrow, but will save it for October 4th instead. Now THAT will be very interesting news, since I know Apple really hates Facebook. But, who does Apple hate more than Facebook? Google.”

Also interesting is that this info from Mashable comes the same day as the Lead Developer for the Facebook iPad app called it quit. He admittedly resigned due to frustrations over the fact that Facebook hasn’t launched the app yet, even though it has been ready for 4 months.

Why would Apple let Facebook introduce its app at the iPhone 5 event when the two companies hate each other’s guts? Could it have anything to do with Project Spartan?

YouTube Testing New Mobile Layout, Try it Out Now

It seems like giving your website a makeover is the thing to do these days. Hot on the heels of the Facebook changes we saw rollout last week, reports are coming in today that YouTube has some major plans to overhaul its site’s appearance as well.

While you’ve likely already seen the new design on YouTube’s webpage, the changes are now making their way into the mobile app. The new interface is a lot different than the previous design, and although it’s still being tested, you can try it out today…
MacStories‘ Federico Viticci made the discovery this morning, by opening the YouTube website from his iPhone. Like the aforementioned Cosmic Panda project, the user must opt-in to enable the new layout.
You can do this by opening up mobile Safari and typing in m.youtube.com/new_visual_design. Once the page is loaded, you get a message that confirms you’re in the right place:

“Welcome to a new experience for watching videos on mobile. Thanks for giving it a try. You can always go back to the old version at any time through the Settings page. Bookmark this page so you can easily return here or just navigate to m.youtube.com/new_visual_design.”

If you liked YouTube’s desktop-site refresh, you’ll love the new mobile app. It has the same dark color scheme, and it puts all of the important features front and center for your convenience. Page and video load times also seem to be a step faster as well.

All of the standard options are present, including the ability to quickly share a video through Facebook, Twitter, and for some reason Google Buzz. You’d think that given the relationship between YouTube and the search giant, they’d have support for Google+.

Although the new look is still in the experimental-testing stage, it seems to be pretty solid. If you’d like to try it out, just visit the website, mentioned above, on your iPhone or iPod touch. Also, make sure to visit iDB’s YouTube page while you’re at it.

What do you think of the new YouTube design?

Apple and Others Gearing Up to Bring Curved Glass to Devices Next Year

Apple and Others Gearing Up to Bring Curved Glass to Devices Next YearFlat glass panels are so 2011! That’s at least what smartphone manufacturers are thinking, according to this article from DigiTimes. It appears that the new trend among smartphone makers is going to be curved glass.

As usual, Apple is ahead of its game as the company reportedly invested in glass-cutting machines earlier this year to equip its assemblers who were reluctant to invest in such a new and unproven technology…
Curved cover glass may be the next big thing in terms of handheld device designs as both Apple and the non-Apple camp are reportedly gearing up for the releases of products with curved touchscreens in the first half 2012, according to industry sources.

Suppliers of the non-Apple camp are working on products with curved cover glass in attempts to gain a competitive edge in the handheld device market dominated by Apple, sources in the glass industry said.

Curious what curved glass would look like? Have a look at this older iPod Nano.

The benefits of curved glass are somewhat neglectable. Apart from the aesthetic advantage it gives to the device, the only other benefit might just be that it would feel better in your pocket.

Expect future devices to have a more rounded shape. If not Apple, other manufacturers will most likely adopt this new engineered design.

Only One iPhone This Year

For the last few months, a rumor that Apple would release two devices this year went around, and to be honest, it seemed to make lots of sense. Apple would release a full-featured iPhone, selling it at the normal full price. The company would also release a watered down version of the iPhone 4 aimed at taking a stab at the prepaid market. I thought this to be highly believable. If you’ve ever been to Asia or Africa (I have), you’ll know that the prepaid market there is gigantic. This is an untapped market for Apple.

So the rumor mill went crazy on this rumor, and everyone, at some point or the other, seemed to agree we’d see two iPhones this year. John Paczkowski of AllThingsD now thinks otherwise…
In a post published earlier today, Paczkowski cites Wedge Partners analyst Brian Blair who believes Apple has no plan to introduce a low-cost iPhone this year.

When it comes to Apple rumors or controlled leaks, Paczkowski has an outstanding track record. The guy clearly has his sources at Apple, and when he speaks, you want to listen.

According to Blair, the iPhone 5 will sport an A5 chip, an 8MP camera, and possibly a larger screen. It will also look a lot like the iPhone 4. Nothing we hadn’t heard before.

Paczkowski ends his post by quoting Blair:

We don’t expect a second, dramatically different iPhone to accompany this as we don’t think Apple needs to have 3 models in the market to address the high end, mid-tier and low end since the iPhone 4 (with memory lowered to 8 GB) will drop to $99 and effectively attack those markets.

Why would Apple bump up only the processor specs of the iPhone 4 in addition to a newly designed iPhone 5 if the goal is to sell it into the pre-paid market at a lower cost?

A 4S would simply cost more and a 4S itself wouldn’t create a mid-tier market unless it was priced at $99 and the iPhone 4 went to $49 with the new iPhone at $199. We see this scenario as unlikely.

The final word of the post is “agreed”. Something tells me that once again, Paczkowski has some insider information. I’ll put my money on him.

You?

San Francisco Police Want Bar Surveillance Footage to Find Lost iPhone Prototype

Remember the lost iPhone prototype? No, not the lost iPhone 4 that infamously went missing in a San Francisco bar, but the other one.

The iPhone 5 prototype that apparently took a walkabout in the Cava 22 bar in San Francisco has caused a bit of a stir. First, the San Francisco Police Department said that it didn’t know anything about the situation, and then the SFPD came back with a statement that there was police involvement.

Then came reports that Apple’s own security personell may have been impersonating police officers, and now it appears the real SFPD has asked for surveillance footage from the aforementioned bar…
Jose Valle, who’s family owns the Cava 22 bar, says he has been asked by SFPD to provide the surveillance footage that was taken between July 22st and 22nd.. Cava 22′s cameras take still photographs every three minutes according to the proprietor, and given the often low-light conditions inside, it is debatable just how much use the shots will be.

It is becoming clear that this is a story that just isn’t going to go away, and Apple obviously wants its hardware back. Just how big of a roll the SFPD is playing in the whole thing is unclear, but many believe that it is Apple’s own team that is pulling the strings.

We’re not sure we’d want to get on the wrong side of either of them, to be honest!

Apple Working on Universal Charging and Syncing Cable For Macs, iDevices

It’s patent time again, and the latest discovery by those eagle-eyed patent-watchers at Apple Insider have spied a new application that hints at an improved method of charging and syncing our mobile devices.

The patent, originally filed all the way back in 2001 and recently improved upon, suggests Apple’s boffins are keen to reduce the number cables and connectors we use for our mobile devices – that’s Macbooks, iPhones, iPads and iPod touches. The old-fashioned click-wheel iPods should also be able to get in on the action…
Entitled ”Power Adapters for Powering and/or Charging Peripheral Devices,” the patent application speaks of ”improved techniques for powering and/or charging peripheral devices through a data transmission lines.” What that boils down to is a single cable running to a power outlet. This cable carries both power and data, meaning an iDevice could be plugged into that same cable and receive power, while still being able to sync with a Mac.

“It would be desirable to remove the total number of connections made to a peripheral device so as to reduce the number of connectors and cables needed to operate the peripheral device,” the filing reads. “By reducing the number of connectors and cables, the peripheral size and the cost of the product may be decreased as well as the ease of use of the peripheral device may be improved (less cables to tote around).”

It’s just another move by the Cupertino engineers with an aim to reducing the number of cables and plugs we need in order to juice up and synchronise all our hardware. With iOS 5 bringing WiFi syncing to the table, hopefully the days of needing a cable to move music and apps is a thing of the past, but there may always bee a time when moving huge amounts of data isn’t really suited to using the magic of wireless technology.

Does this mean we’re all going to need to buy new cables again?

QuickSafari: Search Google From Anywhere

QuickSafari is another Activator-based Google search tool, that allows you to perform searches and browse to specific URLs from anywhere on your iPhone.

It’s a great tool, and one that I believe should be included as a native iOS feature. Until then, we’ll have to rely on the great jailbreak community to meet our needs in this area, and QuickSafari doesn’t disappoint.
It’s funny, because I’ve heard a lot of chatter about this app being a rip off of another similarly named, and at one time, similarly functioning tweak — QuickGoogle.

The complaints usually revolve around how QuickGoogle is free, and how QuickSafari is $0.99 on Cydia.

What those people fail to realize, is that QuickGoogle no longer works. If you check Cydia, or you download it, you’ll see that it no longer performs searches due to some changes that Google made with their search interface.

You also can’t perform direct URL requests using QuickGoogle, like you can in QuickSafari.

Itay, the developer of QuickSafari, has received some backlash for his decision to charge, but most are unaware of the points mentioned above.

Of course this is a personal matter, but I don’t mind shelling out $0.99 if a). I know I’m going to use it, and b). The developer keeps his app updated.

Let me know what you think in the comments below.

Update: And just like that, QuickGoogle was updated, and now works again. The developer also added direct URL browsing. They’re exactly the same now.

Back to the Future: Steve Jobs Shares His Vision for iCloud… in 1997

“Let me describe the world I live in.”

This is how Steve Jobs started sharing his vision for what we know today as cloud computing, back in 1997 during a WWDC Q&A session with developers.

It’s amazing to see how far we’ve come. From the simple formulation of his vision to the implementation of it, Steve Jobs was right on.
Obviously, he didn’t invent cloud computing but he sure did an amazing job at bringing his vision to life.

His final words:

“I can’t communicate to you how awesome this is unless you use it. And what you would decide within a day or two is that carrying around these non-connected computers or computers with tons of state in them — tons of data and state in them — is Byzantine by comparison.”

Cloud computing is just starting. We haven’t seen anything yet.

Here’s What the iPhone 4S Could Look Like

Between all the reports and case leaks we’ve seen over the last several months, we have a pretty good idea of what the iPhone 5 looks like. The tear drop design, with the capacitive home button, has been documented by several sources.

But with more and more rumors pointing to the Cupertino company only unveiling one handset this Fall, the iPhone 4S, a lot of folks are wondering what to expect. As usual, graphic design artists have used their skills to help us predict the future…
Since March of this year (and maybe even before that) we’ve heard multiple reports that Apple’s next smartphone would bear a striking resemblance to its predecessor. That phone was later dubbed (by the media) as the iPhone 4S.
Even though it will look a lot like the previous model, there will be some differences. The handset will likely include a better camera, 8MP, and the processor will almost certainly be switched out for the blazing fast A5 (as seen in the iPad 2).
There has also been speculation that the screen will be stretched out further across the device’s frame. This would shrink the border around the display, but allow for as much as a .5 inch increase in viewing area.

Sure, these renders aren’t half as beautiful as some of the designs we’ve seen. But save for a little bit thinner profile, they could be very close to what we see come out of Cupertino this year. Our fingers and toes are still crossed for a redesigned model though.

The 70″ iPad Screen

Think your iPad screen is too small? If you have $35,000 to spare, we might have the solution for you. It’s called PadZilla, and it’s made by a company called Crunchy Logistics.

It’s not totally clear how the PadZilla works, but it appears to act as an interactive accessory mounted on top of your iPad or iPhone, displaying everything on a giant multitouch screen…
And if 70″ still isn’t enough for you, they can make it in any size you want, up to 150 inches!
Angry Birds will never feel the same.

Verizon Backs Samsung, Asks US Court to Deny Apple’s Injunction

Apple and Samsung’s ongoing court battle has resulted in a temporary ban of Samsung products all over the globe. The Korean company has been blocked from selling its Galaxy tablet and other devices in Australia, Germany, and other countries.

Now, the duo prepares to square off in the United States, and things just got a lot more interesting. FOSSPatents is reporting that Verizon Wireless, the largest carrier in the country, just filed a motion to intervene on behalf of Samsung…
WHAT? FOSSPatents explains:

“Verizon, the largest U.S. wireless carrier, implores the United States District Court for the Northern District of California to deny Apple’s request for a US-wide preliminary injunction against four Samsung products (the Infuse 4G, Galaxy S 4G and Droid Charge smartphones, and the Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet computer), arguing that such a decision would run counter to the public interest as it “would hinder Verizon Wireless in developing and deploying its next generation high-speed LTE [fourth-generation] network, the job growth dependent on that network, and will undercut key public policy goals, including expansion of American’s [sic] access to broadband networks and faster communication with emergency personnel.”

The site goes on to explain that Verizon’s involvement, on behalf of Samsung, is essentially a declaration of war that could have “far reaching consequences in the U.S.” It’s really not all that surprising, though. Verizon has supported Android from the beginning.

While Florian Mueller of FOSSPatents doesn’t think the carrier’s case holds much water, he does think it could garner political attention. After all, mentioning that the outcome of the case could affect jobs (in America’s current situation), is a big deal.

All eyes are on the North District of California court this Fall. If the decision goes Apple’s way, and the injunction is granted, Samsung could lose the ability to sell some of its top-selling devices in the US, right before the holiday season.