Updated : Iphone 3g Out In India !

[Honest 836]

iPhone gets Jailbroken

Update misses business features. Jailbroken within 2 days of the update'

Apple released the v2.2 firmware update for the iPhone as well as iPod Touch. Though the update has brought in some nice inclusions, business users have been left wanting more. The new update did not bring the much-needed data encryption on the device, password PIN limited to four numeric digits, and no synchronization notes calendar as compared to Microsoft Exchange. And yes, how can we forget copy paste?!

On the other hand, iPhone Dev team managed to jailbreak the iPhone 3G and iPod Touch 1G. However, there is still no support for iPod Touch 2G users.

The availability of Quickpwn (Windows & Mac) and Pwnage (Mac) will enable a user to jailbreak both the iPhone variants and iPod Touch 1G, while unlocking is only possible for iPhone 2G.

The team recommends to instal a custom ipsw instead of official ipsw because the baseband upgrade in the v2.2 will close the doors for users looking for a potential unlock.

Courtesy : Techtree

[Mufaddal 678]

IPHONE CAN RUN LINUX OS

Yes, this is true. Linux can be ported on iPhone 1st Gen version. iPhone Dev Team has again done it. These guys are absolute geeks.

This week’s funday is today! Devteam member planetbeing has done a phenomenal job reverse engineering Apple’s hardware drivers and now for the first time ever, linux is available on the iPhone and first-gen iPods.

The official announcement is

here

. Video, downloads, and instructions….all included.

[Honest 836]

iPhone fails to take off in India

Indiatimes Infotech l 10 Dec l New Delhi

Launch of Apple's iconic iPhone in India on August 22 had fuelled speculation of similar frenzy that had followed its launch in the US two months ago.

But the high Indian price tag seemed to douse the appetite of the Indian middle class which Apple thought would have given an arm and a leg to own the ultimate piece-de-resistance.

The high price definitely disappointed iPhone lovers and aspirants alike, and Apple was lambasted for having got its strategy all wrong in this price-sensitive part of the geography.

Now, it appears the doomsdayers may have been right after all. According to a media report, Apple has been able to sell no more than 12,000 iPhones in the country as against an inventory of 50,000 that its two resellers in India -- Bharti Airtel and Vodaphone Essar -- had piled up here. Apple has been mum on how many units have been sold in India ever since its launch.

Flawed sales and distribution model and severe failure on the communications front have only added to the failed pricing strategy and allowed Apple's rivals like the well-entrenched Nokia, Samsung and others to come up with potent options. They are now in an advanced phase of rolling out handsets that have long been dubbed iPhone killers.

According to a report in Indus Business Journal, Apple spent very little on marketing for the iPhone leading up to its launch in India. It even purchased just a handful of commercials on Indian television and had very little communication with the Indian media.

"We're a product-focused company. We don't comment on pricing strategy, market outlook, country strategy, etc," Apple's Singapore-based spokeswoman was quoted as saying.

But such attitude, coupled with failures on marketing and advertising front on top of a flawed pricing meant Apple had ensured that it could never sell its iconic touch phone in respectable numbers despite a very high degree of awareness about iPhone.

And that, obviously, cannot be good news for any cellphone company considering India is the second biggest market for handset makers in the world. Whether Apple considers itself as one is the big question!

[@ksh@T 20]

iPhone Copy and Paste Now Working Between Safari and Mail

[vIa:GizModo]

Finally, someone has conceived a way to copy and paste text from Safari to Mail, and between web pages. And this time, it doesn't require any software installation and it's legal:

Unlike other approaches, it works with the two apps that matter most, Mail and Safari, and gets around Apple's onerous App Store terms through a clever combination of javascript bookmarks and web services.

In fact, it doesn't require anything to be installed, so it avoids the App Store altogether. As you can see in the video, Pastebud—as the service is called—works using two bookmarks in Safari. One prepares and loads the page you are viewing, ready to select text at the touch of a finger. From there, you can copy any text you want and create a new mail message with that text in it. In addition to that, you will be able to copy and paste in the text field of a different web page.

While this is not full copy and paste capabilities, I, for one, welcome the ability do exactly this, which is basically what I want to do 95% of the time. According to Jed Schmidt, creator of Pastebud, they have been testing it for about a week and they are now "putting the finishing touches on the web site before launch".

Video ;

[@ksh@T 20]

Microsoft's first iPhone app: Live Labs releases Seadragon Mobile viewer

Given the popularity of the iPhone, this was bound to happen sometime, and here it is: Microsoft Live Labs today becomes the first group inside the Redmond company to release an application for Apple's mobile phone.

Seadragon Mobile, published to the App Store this afternoon, is a free demonstration program meant to test the viability of the high-tech Seadragon photo-display technology on mobile platforms.

Seadragon is best known as a core technology behind Microsoft's Photosynth photo-browsing program. It's designed for zooming smoothly in, out and around photos over the Internet, regardless of bandwidth constraints or image size. Seadragon's technological trick is to store images in multiple resolutions and deliver only the bits needed to present the view a user wants at any given moment.

So why release an iPhone version? Alex Daley, group product manager for Microsoft Live Labs, said the Seadragon team wants to make sure the technology works well on everything from a wall-sized display to a mobile device.

"The iPhone is the most widely distributed phone with a (graphics processing unit)," Daley explained. "Most phones out today don’t have accelerated graphics in them The iPhone does and so it enabled us to do something that has been previously difficult to do. I couldn’t just pick up a Blackberry or a Nokia off the shelf and build Seadragon for it without GPU support."

The iPhone presents a dilemma for Microsoft more broadly, because it competes with the mobile phones that use the company's Windows Mobile operating system.

Previously, the speculation had been that Microsoft's Tellme voice-recognition service would be the first technology from the Redmond company to be offered for the iPhone, but that app isn't expected until next year.

There are signs that more Microsoft groups may also be interested in iPhone app development, with David Geller of Eyejot commenting yesterday on TechFlash about the "large number" of Microsofties attending a recent Seattle-area iPhone developers group meeting.

Seadragon Mobile for the iPhone comes with a collection of about 50 sample images, ranging as high as 10 gigapixels, including satellite imagery, art and pictures of space. Seadragon Mobile also will let people zoom around the 2D images that make up Photosynth collections, although not the full 3D Photosynth "synths" themselves. In addition, people who create and upload Seadragon "Deep Zoom" images online will be able to use the Seadragon technology to view them.

People will use their fingers on the iPhone's touch screen to zoom around, in and out of the high-resolution photos in the Seadragon application.

"It should give you an idea about the power of multi-resolution image formats when you combine them with an inherently multi-resolution interface," Daley said. "The iPhone uses the zoom as one of its core interaction metaphors, and when you couple that with inherently zoomable content, it’s very a pleasing experience."

[Note: As of 5 p.m. Pacific time Saturday, the Seadragon Mobile app was available for download and transfer to the iPhone through the App Store in iTunes, but it didn't yet show up when I searched for Seadragon in the App Store on the iPhone itself.]

Seattle-based Seadragon Software was acquired by Microsoft in early 2006. Seadragon is part of Live Labs, a group formed nearly three years ago to bridge the company's research initiatives and product groups to make Microsoft more nimble on the Internet. Earlier this week, Live Labs separately released a new Web collections tool called Thumbtack.

The Seadragon team recently released a Seadragon Ajax version, for viewing Deep Zoom photos using standard Web technologies. Earlier the group had released Deep Zoom technology for Microsoft's Silverlight interactive technology.

The iPhone app represents the next step.

The goal "is to test whether this is really viable on the mobile platform in a way that we haven’t been able to test before," Daley said. "The fact that we can give it away and share it with other people so they can validate that for us is great."

[vIa:TechFlash]

[@ksh@T 20]

Google optimizes search results pages for iPhone and Android

For all of those who Google a lot from their iPhone or Android phone (i.e. the T-Mobile G1), the big G has announced that its search results pages are now optimized for said devices.

Google mentions that all the search options for iPhone and Android are formatted to fit the handsets’ screens perfectly. Also, the results load faster and there are “touchscreen-friendly buttons and expandable maps for local business results.”

For the moment, the optimized search result pages are only in US English. And, in case you have an iPhone or an iPod touch, its firmware must be 2.x in order to benefit from the improvements.

[vIa: GoogleMobile]

Edited December 19, 2008 by @ksh@T

[Honest 836]

Apple's MobileMe Nabs iPhone Thief!

Contacts added in the stolen iPhone automatically synced with the MobileMe service on the new Phone that the user bought

Now there is one iPhone user less who would talk ill about Apple's MobileMe service. Apparently, the service has helped the chap get back his stolen iPhone!

It all started with a visit to the drycleaners, where someone flicked Rob's iPhone. Now, instead of going around looking for the lost object, the chap decides to get the iPhone replaced. Not a very wise thing to do, you would think. Well, not if you had the MobileMe service active and if the thief happens to be a nitwit.

Now, after he had iPhone #2 activated, he started using the device as usual - along with the MobileMe service. The next day he noticed unknown contacts making inroads into his contacts list. What the non tech savvy thief had done was to add his friends to the contact list on his newfound trophy. Nothing wrong with that! Thanks to the MobileMe application, these contacts automatically synced with the MobileMe service on the new Phone.

A few telephone calls to the new contacts and to the police later, Rob was left with two iPhones, a $150 speeding ticket (that was for hurrying to the Apple store to get his new iPhone), and this million dollar story to reveal to the world.

To recover his costs, the legendary iPhone has been put on sale on Ebay. Grab it if you happen to reside in the US.

Courtesy : Techtree

[Honest 836]

Konami to Release New Games for iPhone

Konami will make downloads of Metal Gear Solid Touch, DanceDanceRevolution S Lite, Silent Hill The Escape and Frogger for the iPhone and iPod touch progressively available from later this month.

Metal Gear Solid Touch is an original game that brings to life the world and characters of Metal Gear Solid 4 Guns Of The Patriots (MGS4). Direct control through the touch panel allows players to control movement of characters and their alignment as well as switching to zoom mode. Each stage's location and characters are based on the story of MGS4. The initial download will contain 8 stages, with additional stages to be added later. There are many ways to enjoy the game as points earned by clearing stages unlocks images and wallpapers from the Metal Gear series.

DanceDanceRevolution S Lite is a music game where you tap the arrow icons that appear at the bottom of the screen in time with music.

Silent Hill The Escape is a first-person 3D shooting game that lets players utilize the control features only found on the iPhone and iPod touch such as moving their character by sliding a finger across the touch panel screen and changing alignment to target enemies using the built-in altimeter.

Frogger is a simple game where the player moves a frog 360 degrees to cross roads and rivers while avoiding obstacles.

Konami has also launched Touch KONAMI, their website designed specifically for introducing applications aimed for the iPhone/iPod touch. This site details playing instructions, features, prices, and release dates for each game and is also scheduled to display animations and reviews later on.

DanceDanceRevolution S Lite, Silent Hill the Escape and Frogger will be released prior to Metal Gear Solid Touch later this month.

Courtesy : Tech2

[Honest 836]

Book Taxis Over iPhone

The user can choose an operator, order a cab online, and await its arrival, is kept updated about cab's location

Last week, a very nifty little application made inroads into the Apple App Store. Called the TaxiMagic, this cool app allows users to book taxis and watch them coming (literally!) on their iPhones!

So what is this all about? Well, TaxiMagic has tied up with leading cab operators in major US cities (except the Big Apple, where strangely enough there is no booking system for cabs) and is set to allow users to choose from a variety of operators listed on their iPhones. All the user needs to do is to choose one of the operators, "order" a cab online, and await its arrival. Cool enough? No? Ok. That is not all. You can actually "track" your cab on its way.

Here's how it works. After you choose the supported operator, all you need to do is pen in your current address. You will be alerted on-screen about the dispatch of the cab along with the cab details and the driver's name. You will be kept updated about the current location of the cab and the distance from the address given. The only thing un-sophisticated about this app is that you still have to pay the old-fashioned way! However, the developers, Ride Charge Inc., have assured an updated edition in 2009 that will add the much sought after online payment method for the service. Sweet!

On the downside, the service, apart from a refurbished UI, should also add in more features like toll estimates and traffic conditions - functions that are already available with certain other taxi-related applications, which are not half as useful as TaxiMagic.

I also wonder if we in India can take a cue from services like these. When I first hard of it last week, I dismissed it with a sly grin; I loathe the yellow-black taxis in Mumbai - most of which are from the Jurassic era. However, a recent court directive has forced a majority of these vehicles off the road, paving the way for safer, non-polluting vehicles.

Although not based on the iPhone, it is heartening to note that we already have similar online services in place. MERU Cabs, for example, already provides a similar service in Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi, and Hyderabad. You can book your taxi online (using your computer of course!) days in advance. This happens to be a very good option if you do not wish to be fleeced by unscrupulous taxi operators in case you land up in one of the above-mentioned cities at unearthly hours. Like with TaxiMagic, I did not find an online payment option -I am sure the same would be in place soon, as the market grows.

The reason for this post was to highlight the fact that while the actual iPhone App might not find takers in India, the country is not lagging behind as far as online taxi booking services are concerned!

Courtesy : Techtree

[Mufaddal 678]

ADD FLASH TO YOUR JAILBROKEN IPHONE /IPOD TOUCH

just go to cydia and add this to your sources d.imobilecinema.com

install mobilecinema and u will get flash in your safari browser

ENJOY flash content on all sites ....

[Honest 836]

More Signs of iPhone Nano

A sign that suggests that Apple may launch an iPhone Nano: XSKN revealed the case design of iPhone 3G before its launch

There are no subtle hints from Apple about the release of a MacBook Nano or a netbook with a different name, but there sure is a sign that is significant enough to suggest that Apple is going to bring out an iPhone Nano in the future (an addition to the list of rumors attached to this product).

XSKN, a silicone casings maker based in China, has a section for its casings where it has listed the iPhone Nano along with the iPhone 3G and the 1st Gen iPhone -- as reported by Macrumors .

Now, we don't know how credible any source is when it comes to Apple rumors. So why should we not brush aside this listing as a rumor? It's because XSKN has a history of revealing the case design of iPhone 3G before its launch!

XSKN hasn't leaked the images of the iPhone Nano casings; that would have left some room for speculation of its form factor to chew on.

Finally, is this just another addition to the long list of rumors attached to the iPhone Nano or is it a forerunner to the actual thing? We'll just have to wait and find out; let's hope the wait will not extend beyond Macworld 2009.

Courtesy : Techtree

[Honest 836]

Dev-Tem Sucessesfully Unlocks iPhone 3G

The iPhone 3G has been unlocked and we have the guys from the iPhone Dev team to thank for their hard work and perseverance. Though this unlocking has been a work in progress for quite some time now but the wait is over.

To make things more legit, a video was made showing an iPhone 3G getting unlocked with all the steps involved in the same. The Dev-Team has codenamed the project yellowsn0w. As the reports and video will show, the process is little more technical, so an average user won’t really be able to pull this off if they don’t have the know-how. In light of this, the team is planning on developing a simpler version.

It's possible that the software might be distributed via the third party developers system so in this case you’ll have to have a jailbroken iPhone in order to use it. Those with version 2.11.07 or earlier versions will get the best out of this procedure.

Courtesy : Tech2

[Honest 836]

iPhone camera with Xenon flash? Snapture Labs says yes

Ever wished for your iPhone’s camera to have a flash? Or, even better, a Xenon flash? I’m sure many of you would like that, and it looks like an accessory will be able to help you soon.

Snapture Labs, a company known for providing a popular software for iPhone cameras, has recently presented its patent-pending “Xenon attachment for iPhone”. This looks somehow like a protective case and, obviously, it adds a Xenon flash to the handset’s camera.

The Xenon camera accessory is only a prototype for the moment, meaning that you still cannot make your iPhone a good photography tool in low light conditions.

However, Snapture Labs is working on the product and it will commercialize it sometime in the future, for both the iPhone 2G and the iPhone 3G.

No word yet about the exact release date and the price of the Xenon wonder, but you can get on a waiting list for it by visiting the Snapture website.

Courtesy : Unwiredview

[Honest 836]

PingerIntegrted IM service Available for iPhone

Pinger, a provider of mobile communication services, has announced Pinger Phone, a new mobile application that provides a simple interface for managing and communicating with phone contacts as well as with friends on Facebook, MySpace and Twitter. People can see IM presence in their contacts or their social network feeds, and then decide whether to call, text, instant message, mail or even send a Facebook, MySpace or Twitter message, all from one menu. Pinger Phone is a free application and available now on iPhone and iPod Touch devices.

"If people under 25 designed mobile phones, they'd put IM and social network messaging alongside dialing, texting and mail," said Greg Woock, Pinger CEO. "With more than 30 billion messages sent on IM and social networks every day, it's about time someone deeply integrated them into the basic mobile phone experience."

The key features of Pinger Phone for iPhone include:

• The Pinger Menu - A single menu that allows users to call, text, IM, mail, or even send a Facebook, MySpace or Twitter message to contacts. The Pinger Menu makes communicating easier because users don't have to navigate back and forth between different applications when communicating with friends.
  
• Social Network Feed Consolidation - Facebook, MySpace and Twitter feeds pulled together into a simple clutter-free format. People can then communicate with their contacts with just one simple click. In addition, with one touch, users can view their entire communications history with that person.
  
• Faster Instant Messaging with Horizontal Keyboard - Pinger Phone automatically switches to the horizontal keyboard for faster and more accurate instant messaging. Supports AIM, Yahoo! IM, MSN IM and Google Talk. Users in the U.S. can appear online all the time because Pinger Phone can be set to alert users of new IM conversations with a text message.
  
• Free Texting to any US Mobile Phone - Pinger Phone users can avoid paying for texts by sending IMs to any mobile number over their iPhone's data connection, which can be received in the form of a text. Pinger Phone users do not pay to send or receive these messages. For the recipient, normal text fees apply.
  
• Faster Contacts Integrated with IM - A keyboard is always shown in Contacts so users can start searching right away. IM status is shown next to each contact who is an IM buddy. Every contact has buttons to call, text, IM or mail right under the name. All forms of communication are one touch away.
  

Pinger Phone is a free application and is now available in the Apple iPhone App Store click here for the app. Pinger plans to support additional leading mobile platforms including BlackBerry, Microsoft Windows Mobile, Palm and Symbian in the next year.

Courtesy : Tech2

[Honest 836]

New iPhone Swipe Gestures Coming Soon?

We might also see the adoption of multi touch swipes which might use one, two or more fingers for invoking a special task

Folks at MacRumours.com seem to have come across a piece of information regarding a new patent application from Apple.

Termed as the Apple Swipe Gestures, these gestures for touchscreen keyboards seem to be a very useful addition to the already popular multi-touch navigation that the iPhone has. Here's what Apple suggests regarding the use of these swipe gestures.

"Apple suggests the use of swipe gestures to be used on top of the iPhone's on screen keyboard in order to provide the user with quick access to common keys.

For example, erasing and basic punctuation insertion, directional swipes (also referred to herein as "swipe gestures") over the alphabetic keys can be used as an alternative to striking certain keys. Because the Space and Backspace keys are quite frequently used, they are logical candidates for the rightward and leftward swipes, respectively. Leftward and rightward swipes intuitively match the cursor travel caused by these symbols. Following this cursor movement analogy, the Enter/Return may be invoked by a downward swipe, and a Shift/Caps may be invoked by an upward swipe. Alternatively, as the Enter and Shift functions may be less frequently invoked, these may be substituted for other functions as well. One alternative mapping for the upward swipe, for example, could be to activate an alternative numeric and punctuation keypad or a particular punctuation symbol like an apostrophe or period."

In addition to these, we might also see the adoption of multi touch swipes which might use one, two or more fingers for invoking a special task. For example, a one fingered left swipe can be used to delete a letter, two-fingered left swipe a word, three fingered left swipe a whole line. Interesting?

These gestures might as well turn out to be the answer to that improbable question that has been troubling us for ages. How to make multi-touch better? Well, you know how!

Courtesy : Techtree

[Honest 836]

Apple Shuts the Door on iPhone iBoobs

Despite its recent liberal approach to third-party applications, rejects the cheeky software citing 'objectionable content'

Despite its recent liberal approach to third-party applications, Apple's application store (App Store) has rejected the Netherlands-based Mystic Game Development's iBoobs software for its iPhone citing "objectionable content". Mystic makes the EMotion character animation software.

The iBoobs program allows people to wobble the virtual breasts, covered by a black bra, by tilting the phone.

Apple reportedly told the developer that if they can make "necessary changes so that iBoobs does not violate the iPhone SDK Agreement we encourage you to do so". A very vague statement if there was one, without going into specifics.

Considering the enormous demand for cheeky applications, Apple's move seems strange especially when its own iFart Mobile is a hot-seller ahead of games like Tetris and Sim City. iFart delivers realistc fart sounds, which many will find objectionable, yet is very popular with iPhone users.

App Store has become a hit with both developers and users in a span of just five months with more than 300 million applications downloaded by users.

The iBoobs has its origin in an early DOS application which had similar functionality - the only difference being using mouse to jiggle the breasts. So, Apple's prudish approach seems to be dictated more by fear of walking into the 'Booby trap' of copyright infringement rather than upsetting its iPhone users.

Courtesy : Techtree

[Honest 836]

iPhone 3G Unlock Hours Away

But, if you happen to be on the latest firmware version, your wait for the unlocking might just get a tad longer.

The yellowsn0w iPhone 3G unlock - about which we reported earlier, is just hours away from release. Initial reports confirmed its authenticity as the first credible iPhone unlocking tool.

Yellowsn0w, as the unlocking tool has been christened, comes from the same set of people who developed Quickpwn, the first generation iPhone unlocking tool. It was just a matter of time when these set of individuals were able to reverse engineer and jailbreak the iPhone 3G.

Apple did plug the exploit which allowed the unlocking with a recent software update. Hence, if you happen to be on the latest firmware version, your wait for the unlocking might just get a tad longer.

Courtesy : Techtree

[Sadikk 301]

Unlocking is already out, but very complicated with DEV team tools for 3G phones.

I suggest others to use Turbo till it get easy like Quickpwn.

[Mufaddal 678]

the yellowsnow app is released by dev team ...it is quite simple and the best part is that it unlocks version 2.2 and it requires upgrade to version 2.2

and this method is by far the simplest method of unlocking i have ever come across w.r.t iphone

Edited January 2, 2009 by mufaddal_km

[Honest 836]

Pink iPhone Rumours Afloat

The Ebay seller proudly proclaims this to be an original Apple job and says this is the only pink iPhone available in the market

A recent image of pink iPhone spotted on Ebay has set the rumour mills rolling about the possible launch of a pink iPhone - especially with Macworld just around the corner.

The iPhone, which was until now only available in silver, black and white, might now be available in pink too. However, Mac fans do not agree that Apple would ever release a pink iPhone and have already pointed fingers at Asian OEMs for this paint job. The Ebay seller proudly proclaims this to be an original Apple job and adds, "This could be perhaps be the only pink iPhone available in the market"

This one might turn out to be a great Valentine's Day gift, what say? We leave it for you to decide.

Courtesy : Techtree