645 Pro lets you take better photos with your iPhone

If iPhone apps like Instagram and Camera+ aren’t producing photos up to your standards, there’s a new title that might be worth checking out. 645 PRO, by Michael Hardaker, describes itself as “the photography professional’s iPhone camera.”

Loaded with tons of high-end features like a real-time ISO and shutter speed reader, and a live histogram, the app promises unparalleled image quality. It even claims to produce “developed RAW” TIFF files and “lossless” JPEG images…
From the App Store description:

“645 PRO has been designed, from the group up, for professional and serious amateur photographers. So it works the way a camera works, not some piece of computer software.

Every setting is managed directly from the camera — no layers of menus to negotiate. You have instant access to everything that can be controlled, from focus/exposure and white balance locking to a 645 PRO-exclusive choice between spot and multi-zone metering.”

Obviously, if you’re not familiar with these features, the app probably won’t appeal to you. But if you’re an amateur photographer or an aspiring professional looking for an iPhone camera app that will give you more control over your picture-taking, it looks like a winner.

You can download 645 PRO from the App Store for $2.99. It’s optimized for the iPhone 4S, but works just fine on the iPhone 4.

Has anyone tried this new camera app? Thoughts?

Request anyone’s location, regardless of device, with Space-time for iOS

TheNextWeb points to an interesting new application called Space-time. The software allows you to see the location of almost anyone, regardless of their device, as long as they have a smartphone with a GPS locator.

Of course, the iPhone already has a friend-tracking solution in Find My Friends. But it only works if you are trying to locate a person using an iOS device with the app installed. Space-time is much more universal…
Here’s how it works: inside the app is a button labeled ‘Request Someone’s Location.’ Tapping it will bring up your Contacts list, allowing you to chose a person to locate. It then sends a text message to that person with a hyperlink.

If the person taps the hyperlink, which is clearly identified as a GPS-tracking link, you’ll have their location within seconds. You can even launch Google Maps from within the application to get turn-by-turn directions to where they’re at.

The number of possible uses for this app are practically endless — locating a friend with car trouble, meeting family members at a restaurant, etc. And the price is definitely right. You can grab Space-time from the App Store for free.

What do you think of Space-time? Useful?

Inside JailbreakCon’s massive 13,500 square foot venue

As most of you know, JailbreakCon, the world’s largest jailbreak conference, will be taking place in the USA later this year. Hackers, developers and enthusiasts will all gather in San Francisco on September 29th to talk about, what else, jailbreaking.

And for those of you that are under the impression that this is going to be just a tiny get-together, think again. The WWJC (WorldWide Jailbreak Convention) crew just posted a video of a tour inside the convention’s massive 13,500 square foot venue…

What you are seeing is the inside of the San Francisco Conference Center. And if you look close enough, you can spot Saurik off to the right in the beginning of the clip. Saurik is just one of the many high-profile speakers slated to appear at JailbreakCon.

Between the guest speakers, and the enormous venue, this looks like something you won’t want to miss. For those that are planning on going, tickets are on sale now and can be purchased in a variety of packages from the event’s official website.

Remember, iDB is an official sponsor of JailbreakCon, and will be at the convention providing all kinds of hands-on coverage. See you in September!

Who else is planning on attending?

Apple’s marketing honcho Phil Schiller quits Instagram because it went to Android

If you couldn’t believe those hipsters quitting Instagram just because it sold out to Facebook for a staggering $1 billion, wait ’till you hear this.

Phil Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president, apparently quit Instagram because the photo sharing service recently expanded to Android.

It’s hardly a surprise, if you think of it. Schiller, a prominent figure in Apple’s public presentations, has been a member of the company’s executive leadership team since Steve Jobs returned to Apple in 1997.

Being in charge of worldwide marketing at Apple and an active Twitter user, Schiller would be foolish to continue supporting a hugely popular service that up until recently used to be an iOS exclusive…
That must have hurt Schiller’s feelings.

According to a post over at 9to5Mac, a reader has discovered that Schiller deleted his @schiller account on Instagram. The executive clarified the decision in a private message to the reader, saying he quit the immensely popular photo sharing service because:

It “jumped the shark” then it went to Android.

Not much to be said about this, with the exception that Schiller is no ordinary user.

Being one of the public faces of Apple and a high-ranked executive in charge of marketing means moves like this are always scrutinized and send a certain message.

Contrast this to a pair of his earlier tweets that clearly promoted Instagram.

Philip Schiller
✔@pschiller “@therealpavell: @pschiller Hi! What iPhone apps do you use to edit your photos?” > Aperture on Mac. Best Camera and Instagram on iPhone.
8 Dec 10 ReplyRetweetFavorite

Philip Schiller
✔@pschiller Congrats to @foofighters @instagram and all the iTunes Rewind 2011 winners! (btw: @schiller on Instagram ;->)
9 Dec 11 ReplyRetweetFavorite
To me, the message is loud and clear: iPhone users, stop supporting Instagram, our app of the year!

Dunno.

Maybe I’m overblowing this, but this is my take.

What’s yours?

Should have Schiller stayed an Instagram user regardless of the fact the service expanded to Android?

Why Apple’s next iPhone launch is so important

A week from now, Apple will be announcing its sales figures for the past three months on its quarterly earnings call. Analysts think the company sold in upwards of 12 million iPads and 33 million iPhones, thanks to the continuous momentum of the new 4S.

But according to Goldman Sachs’ Bill Shope, Apple’s next smartphone launch is the one to watch. The analyst recently raised his Apple stock price target from $700 to $750 on the belief that the sixth-generation iPhone launch is the most important one ever…
In a note to investors yesterday, Shope wrote: “The iPhone 5 launch is likely to be one of the most important smartphone product cycles we’ve seen to date.” And considering all of the expectations that Apple has to live up to, he might just be right.

First of all, the entire tech world thought that Apple’s last iPhone was going to receive a radical makeover. But all of the reports and third-party cases that supported that theory quickly faded from memory as Apple introduced the familiar-looking 4S.

Obviously, with the help of Siri, the holidays and other factors, the device still sold in record numbers. But if you think that Apple will be able to pull that off again — release another iPhone 4-like handset with a minor spec bump — you’re high.

Secondly, you have to realize that Apple has sold more iPhone 4S’ in the last 6 months than it has of any iPhone model ever before. In fact it’s sold more iPhones period. So it’s either going to have to convince a lot of other platform users — Android, BlackBerry, etc. — to switch to the iPhone, or a lot of current iPhone users to upgrade. And at this point, that’s a pretty tall order.

Mix in the fact that investors are already unsteady about Apple’s ability to keep up its ridiculous growth pace — its market cap is more than double what it was last year — and that piles on even more pressure for the company to deliver a hit.

Thus far, rumors regarding Apple’s next smartphone are fairly scattered. Some say it will have a 4-inch screen, others say it will be made of liquid metal. But if there’s one thing you can count on, it’s that it’s going to be impressive. Apple has a lot riding on it.

One in ten men apparently more fond of iPads than the ladies

It’s no secret that we are big fans of the iPad here at iDB. The clue is kinda in our name, but even we don’t quite understand this latest statistic to come our way.

Put together by online casino Roxy Palace, a recent survey suggests that one in ten, or around 11% of men asked would prefer to get their greasy mitts on a new Apple tablet rather than a lady friend.

We had to read that a few times to make sure we hadn’t imagined it but sure enough, that’s what the numbers say. Just to add a little fun to proceedings, the poll also asked whether people would prefer any other kind of tablet to a new love, with the number dropping to just 4%…
Around 44% of those asked also admitted to using an app of some sort to help with a relationship issue, which we suspect may well be damning evidence against the pool of men questioned.

While not exactly earth shattering statistics, and probably unlikely to find their way into an Apple earnings call, it is still interesting reading.

Still, as much as we like a shiny new tablet every once in a while, we’re not sure we would go so far as to say we’d rather have a tablet than a nice lady.

FireCore releases aTV Flash (black) 1.5 with several updates

FireCore announced today that it has released a new version of its popular Apple TV app, aTV Flash (black). The update brings the software to version 1.5, and includes several new additions.

Among the new features is NFS streaming and a revamped media player. And of course there is a laundry list of bug fixes and performance improvements. Full changelog after the break…
■Revamped player with improved performance (AppleTV 4.4 and later)
■Added NFS streaming
■Added Catalan, Czech, Korean and Traditional Chinese translations
■Added support for localized TV show pattern: TV Show/Season #/S##E##.extension
■Added manual subtitle time correction (-10.0s to +10.0s)
■Added support for embedded .FLAC cover art
■Added support for .AC3, .DTS and .MOD files
■Improved .EYETV file handling
■Improved audio synchronization in slow and unstable networks
■Improved slideshow operation with small images
■Improved movie folders detection logic to ignore hidden files
■Improved metadata fetching to support movies split into multiple files (dvd#, cd#, disk#)
■Improved zoom mode operation for non-square pixels
■Improved DVD menu handling
■Improved .OGG file handling (now correctly treated as audio)
■Improved error handling for connection issues
■Improved buffering logic
■Improved installation routine
■Other minor UI improvements
■Resolved format detection that was causing rare playback issues
■Resolved issue with volume level resetting during rw/fw
■Resolved floating crashes usually observed when using SMB with Windows 7 shares
■Resolved conflicts with XBMC related to SMB
■Resolved issues with metadata fetching for ‘Show.Name.###.extension’ pattern
■Resolved crashes observed in folders with signifcant number of files
■Resolved playback error on DVD and ISO files observed when file path contains ‘?’ character
■Resolved crashes when working with long file paths
■Resolved rare issue with incorrect pre-playback screen layout
■Other miscellaneous bug fixes
If you already own aTV Flash (black), you can install the update by going into the app on your Apple TV and selecting Maintenance > Manage Extras. Otherwise, you can download the software from FireCore’s website. Remember, you’ll need to be jailbroken.

Verizon to activate LTE in dozens of new markets this week

Did you recently purchase a new Verizon-flavored LTE iPad? Well if so, you’ll be happy to know that the carrier is about to start a massive rollout that will make its high-speed 4G network available to dozens of new markets.

This morning, Verizon announced a number of new expansions and additions to its already vast LTE network. Want to know if your city was included? Keep reading for a full list of the carrier’s new 4G markets…
■Georgia – LaGrange, Macon, Brunswick
■New York – Cattaraugus-Allegany Counties
■Kansas – Dodge City, Great Bend, Garden City, Hays, Wichita
■South Dakota – Pierre
■Florida – Ocala
■Utah – Provo-Orem, Salt Lake City-Ogden
■Southern Illinois
■Iowa – East and Southeast of Des Moines
■Missouri – St. Louis, Southwest
■Ohio – Columbus, Cleveland
■Idaho – Boise-Nampa
■Colorado – Ft. Collins-Loveland
Verizon expects LTE to be active in a majority of these areas by April 19th. And the remaining markets soon after.

The carrier commands a staggering lead over its competition in the LTE space, as its 4G network now covers more than 2/3 of the US population.

Apple hires United Continental CFO Zane Rowe as new VP of Sales

According to a report from AllThingsD, Apple has just hired United Continental’s CFO (Chief Financial Officer) Zane Rowe as its new Vice President of Sales. United Continental is the holding company for United Airlines, one of the world’s largest airlines.

It’s always interesting when Apple adds a member to its exclusive leadership team. The group of executives is in charge of running the world’s largest company (by market cap), and ensuring it stays on top…
Apple confirmed the hiring in a statement to the site:

“We are thrilled that Zane Rowe will be joining us as one of our vice presidents of sales,” Apple spokesman Steve Dowling told AllThingsD. “He built a great team at United and we think he is going to do a fantastic job at Apple.”

Going from CFO to VP of sales is a pretty drastic change in daily duties. But we’re guessing that all of the perks that come with being a high-ranking executive at Apple are more than worth it.

The case for a four-inch iPhone with 16:9 display

There’s no shortage of iPhone mockups these days, a tell-tale indication of the launch date drawing near (we’re looking towards a Fall launch). We already told you about one possible iPhone mockup and shared an interesting theory regarding the argument for a four-inch iPhone.

The problem is, the vast majority of artists’ renditions depict an iPhone with a blown up display that, however, features the same 4:3 aspect ratio as all prior models.

So, how about a four-incher with a 16:9 aspect ratio display?
The above mockup, credited to Dan Provost (via MacStories), depicts a 16:9 iPhone with a four-inch display.

The image above shows the current iPhone, a mockup of the alleged 16:9 phone, and a mockup with a bigger 3:2 screen at 300dpi, which measures 3.84” diagonally. I estimated that the physical size of the phone would need to increase slightly, getting taller in the 16:9 version and wider in the 3:2 version. I don’t think either of these size increases are deal breakers. The 3:2 version is actually still narrower than the iPhone 3GS.

The big issue with changing the aspect ratio: apps.

Because Apple definitely would not reduce the iPhone 4/4S’s 326 pixel-per-inch count on a larger canvas, elongating the 4:3 inch to a 16:9 aspect ratio would increase the number of pixels, meaning all existing apps would not scale up properly to fill up the entire screen.

The easiest and the least user-friendly solution would entail letterboxing the app’s user interface.

Provost has an interesting take on the dilemma:

I think Apple should keep the 3:2 aspect ratio and increase the physical size until it reaches the 300dpi retina boiling point, maintaining the 960×640 pixel count.

Doing this would let Apple brand a four-inch iPhone with a 16:9 display under the Retina moniker whilst keeping the existing 960-by-640 pixel resolution for app compatibility.

Bumping up the screen to a 16:9 aspect ratio and retaining a 326 pixels-per-inch density would increase total number of pixels available. Apple could use those extra pixels for additional user interface elements.

Think widgets, a souped up multitasking bar, bigger Dock icons and even – why not – touch controls like the navigation buttons found on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus.

Another good example are banner notifications which normally appear subtly at the top of the display, overlaid on top of the running app. The additional pixels would let Apple render banner notifications unobtrusively, right above the running app.

Those are all valid points and if Apple chooses to take the 16:9 route, they’re definitely not going to make everyone’s life harder by requiring that developers update their apps just to cater for an extra few hundred pixels.

Apple is all about simplicity. I’m convinced they’d rather keep apps running at the 960-by-480 pixel resolution and use the extra pixels to tweak the iPhone’s user interface and provide some unique software features not found on 3:2 iPhones – just like Siri has remained an iPhone 4S exclusive, even though it’s just software that we know runs well on non-A5 devices.

There seems to be a consensus out there that Apple should increase the screen size of a next-generation iPhone to a four-inch(ish) canvas.

I’m not a proponent of blowing up the iPhone’s display just because the Android camp has been doing it in the absence of any meaningful and major differentiator.

But I sure would prefer my iPhone with a 16:9 aspect ratio display.

How about you?

Warning: App Store users receiving email spam pretending to be from Apple

The App Store has seen its fair share of drama since its creation, and while Apple never publicly acknowledged any of it, there have been ample amounts of evidence showing that iTunes accounts have previously been hacked to steal money from store credit, or to buy applications without the account’s owner’s consent. Last year, some hackers went as far as selling iTunes accounts login information on ToaBoa.com, a Chinese site similar to eBay.

Today we received tips from two independent sources claiming they had received a suspicious email from Apple, urging them to download an application from the App Store. The email happens to be a fake, but the application is real…
The email looks like it is coming directly from Apple. Of the two emails we saw, both had different senders (Rebecca Schumacher and Angelo Seals) but they both conveniently showed no_reply@apple.com.

The application in question is The Tribez HD, a free app with about 22,000 reviews, mostly positive. So is the developer of this application to blame for the email spam?

Strangely, the link to the app download sent in the email doesn’t directly take you to the app in the App Store. Instead, it goes to http://hastrk2.com/pub_c?adgroup_id=3513, then redirects to a subdomain of mobileapptracking.com, which finally redirects you to the app in the App Store.

After doing a quick research, I found out that the hastrk2.com domain belongs to a company called Adapp Solutions, which happens to run another business called mobileapptracking.com.

Adapp Solutions describes its offering as:

Even as the online advertising industry continues to grow, too many participants are forced to use software that doesn’t match up to the quality of their business. Adapp – made up of a core team of highly successful former affiliate marketers – was founded on the simple idea that giving ad network managers and affiliates themselves complete control over every aspect of their application was the best approach.

If you are interested in our product you can find it at http://www.hasoffers.com/

So I visited HasOffers.com, the site that Adapp Solutions presents as its store front. From what I understand, HasOffers is an affiliate tracking software that allows businesses to track and manage their own affiliate programs. A quick look on their other website mobileapptracking.com tells me that “Mobile App Tracking provides a simple, yet effective means of tracking mobile app installs back to marketing and advertising sources”.

At this point, I stopped digging more and tried to figure out who’s to blame in this spamming campaign. Is it the app developer of The Tribez HD, or is it Adapp Solutions which already has a shady past?

I see 2 possible scenarios:

1. The developer of The Tribez HD are the spammers and they are simply using Adapp Solutions as a tracking tool, or

2. Adapp Solutions has been commissioned by the developers of The Tribez HD to get more people to download the application.

In both cases, the main question that comes to mind is how did they get these email addresses from App Store users? Are these email addresses part of the accounts that were hacked into and sold on ToaBoa.com?

I have contacted both the developer and Adapp Solutions people to find out more and I will make sure to update this post with updated information as it becomes available. I also alerted Apple about the suspicious emails.

In the meantime, I doubt there is any risk in downloading The Tribez HD app, but you might still act with caution if you receive such an email.

Update from Adapp Solutions:

Ya. The application developer Game Insight uses our technology. We’re a third party software provider that provides advertising analytics so not sure why we’re the focus on your article.

You should be reaching out to Game Insight directly.

Some Apple Stores replacing iPhone 4 models with iPhone 4S

9to5Mac is reporting this weekend that Apple is experiencing “atypical inventory shortages” of white 16GB iPhone 4 replacement units. As a result, it seems like [at least] some iPhone 4 users seeking hardware replacements could be in for a nice surprise.

According to the report, Apple has instructed some of its Apple Store Genius Bars to start replacing problematic white 16GB iPhone 4 models with compatible iPhone 4S units…
“This iPhone 4S would be a refurbished white iphone 4S 16GB. This situation will not affect all customers and Apple Stores, but it seems like many white iPhone 4 16GB owners seeking hardware replacements may get Siri, an A5 chip, and an eight megapixel camera out of their next Genius Bar appointment.”

It’s worth noting that this exception only applies to white 16GB iPhone 4 models that are still under their AppleCare warranties. And at this point, only Apple Stores in Canada and the United States appear to be making the exchanges.

But if you meet the above-criteria, and your iPhone 4 has been acting up, it seems like there’s a fair chance that Apple will replace it with a 4S model. Cool.

Have you received a 4S replacement for your iPhone 4?

A bulletproof iPhone case, because you can never be too careful

We all like to protect our iPhones and iPads as much as possible, which explains why the case making business is such a lucrative one. If you look anywhere online, then you’ll be able to find an iPhone or iPad case to suit your mood and price range. Choice is clearly king.

Even with all that choice though, we are willing to say that it is a safe bet that you haven’t come across one of these cases before. For starters, it isn’t the best looking case around there, and it certainly isn’t the thinnest at one-inch thick. It ain’t the cheapest either, at $648 per unit.

It does have one thing going for it,though. Namely, this particular case is bulletproof…
Now this case may not be for everyone – the price alone will no doubt put most sane people off – but just to help seal the deal, the case makers are also throwing in a commemorative 12.7 millimeter dummy bullet just like the one they claim your new case is capable of withstanding.

If all this sounds like the kind of iPhone case you simply must have, then it can be ordered here. For everyone else, can we suggest a much more reasonable alternative?


Verizon rolls out LTE to San Francisco Bay area and Reno, Nevada

LTE coverage is becoming an increasingly hot topic for Apple users here in the US. After waiting more than a year to utilize the high-speed 4G technology, Apple made its latest iPad LTE-capable. And it’s likely that its next handset will be as well.

So which carrier has the best LTE coverage in the US? Verizon — by a long shot. And it’s not showing any signs of slowing down. PhoneArena is reporting that Verizon has just lit up LTE in several areas in California, and in Reno, Nevada…
According to the site, Stockton, Fresno, Monterey, and the San Francisco Bay areas are now all set to receive Verizon’s incredibly fast 4G data speeds. And Reno, Nevada — which is often referred to as a miniature Las Vegas, is also now covered with LTE.

Verizon’s LTE network now covers more than 200 million people, in well over 200 markets. Thanks to its one-year head start, it’s buildout is miles ahead of AT&T’s, which is currently only in about 30 markets. Yikes.