To beat Apple, RIM must stop favoring AT&T

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13846_3-10080181-62.html

I was checking out the Gizmodo review of the new BlackBerry Curve 8900 (formerly Javelin) and wondering why Research In Motion insists on putting the majority its new devices into the clutches of AT&T, the exclusive iPhoneprovider, first.

RIM recently announced an application store, as well as the new Storm, which is the BlackBerry rival of Apple's smartphone, and plans to soon release this Curve 8900. The products (and soon services) have never been better, and yet it would seem logical to use one of the carriers that doesn't have the iPhone as the point of entry.

Wouldn't it make more sense to launch the majority of devices on Verizon Wireless or Sprint, where there is no iPhone competition? Or at a minimum create some exclusivity like AT&T has with the iPhone?

Verizon is getting the Blackberry Storm first, but that's still not enough. Network issues (GSM, CDMA, etc.) can all be resolved if RIM wants them to be. This seems to be more of a marketing and product strategy issue than a technical one.

I suppose the argument is that in order to compete with the iPhone, BlackBerrys have to also be available from AT&T, but I'm not sure that such a strategy makes sense.

Anyway, Giz likes the new Curve, but the Bold still seems like a better device.

The Bold is more substantial, exuding "executive" to the Curve 8900's "middle manager," or "normal person." It's clearly more powerful, and has a bigger screen. The keyboards are way different, too--personally, I prefer the Bold's larger, squishier keys to the Curve's smaller, stiffer ones. But obviously, the biggest thing is 3G. The Bold has it; the Curve 8900 doesn't, and we missed it sorely.

Storm aside, the Bold will be on AT&T first. And users will be stuck with GSM as their only option (which I've found to be surprisingly bad in the US.) Verizon announced the BlackBerry Storm, with global 3G, to be launched this fall, there is no word on when it will actually land.

Meanwhile, the iPhone continues to get better, and people care less and less about switching to AT&T just so they can have the device. When was the last time someone switched to Verizon or Sprint to get a BlackBerry? I am sure the Storm will do well, but I doubt Verizon will get the iPhone uplift that AT&T saw in the last quarter.

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Konami Silent Hill and DDR for iPhone Launched

Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc. today announced the release of Silent Hill: The Escape and DanceDanceRevolution S Lite, now available in North America for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Based on top-selling franchises, these titles have been re-designed to take full advantage of the iPhone’s capabilities, including the innovative Multi-Touch Interface and accelerometer.

"Konami Mobile is pleased to deliver some of our most beloved franchises to the iPhone while providing a range of gameplay depth that casual and hardcore gamers alike are sure to appreciate," said Anthony Borquez, Vice President of Konami Mobile and Online. "Whether players are looking for a nail-biting survival horror experience or some music and rhythm, our lineup of iPhone titles promises to appeal to all consumers."

Silent Hill: The Escape
Silent Hill: The Escape features original gameplay, detailed graphics and spine-chilling sound effects created specifically for the iPhone. In this first-person, 3D shooter survival horror game, players navigate through various levels from an abandoned hospital to a cold subway with a dull flashlight while fighting off monsters and faceless nurses. The battery of the flashlight slowly dies throughout the game, limiting the player’s vision as they search for a key to escape the monster-infested labyrinth. Players also carry a gun for protection to ward off the trail of chasing monsters. Taking full advantage of the iPhone’s capabilities, players must employ the tilt sensor and skillfully tap the bullets to reload the revolver. Silent Hill: The Escape is available for $7.99 from the Apple App Store.

DanceDanceRevolution S Lite
The worldwide sensation that started the dance game craze doesn’t miss a beat on the iPhone. DanceDanceRevolution S Lite is the first installment in the popular videogame franchise designed exclusively for the iPhone and iPod Touch. In this addictive music rhythm game,  players tap the arrows on the control pad as they appear on the screen. Featuring 3D characters and simple controls, DanceDanceRevolution S Lite provides an on-the-go DDR experience for iPhone gamers of all ages. DanceDanceRevolution S Lite is available for free download from the Apple App Store.

Silent Hill: The Escape and DanceDanceRevolution S Lite are now available from the Apple App Store on iPhone and iPod Touch.




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Apple explores auto iPhone audio

What if your iPhone could set its own volume?
Today, the US Patent & Tradmark Office published an Apple patent application for an intelligent sound sensor that would adjust a device's audio volume level in relation to the ambient sound in its environment.
Originally filed in July 2007, the application - prosaically entitled "Method and Apparatus for Using a Sound Sensor to Adjust the Audio Output for a Device" - mentions four specific types of devices that could benefit from the proposed sensor technology: a mobile phone, laptop computer, music player, and "automotive environments." But the system could just as well be used in desktop or tablet computers.
The sensor could, for example, turn up an iPhone's ring-tone volume in a noisy convention hall - or turn down the boot chime of a MacBook when it's midnight and your partner is asleep in the bed next to your desk.

Can you hear me now?

One goal, as stated in the application, is to "ameliorate[s] potentially-disruptive audio outputs." To guard against an eardrum-shattering boot chime the next time you reboot after cranking up volume on your iMac to listen to Slayer's Reign in Blood, the sensor system could kick in at boot time, "prior to powering on other portions of the device."
The sensor could determine an environment's minimum, peak, and average sound level; frequency and "characteristic" of the ambient sound; and keep track of "the elapsed time since a previous volume setting adjustment." It could also be smart enough to not be fooled by percussive bursts of sound, either in the environment or produced by the device itself when, for example, it's playing your Afro-Cuban Percussion playlist.
As might be guessed, the sensor would be user-adjustable. You could dial in your preferred signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio or simply override the sensor, adjust the volume of your "device" - read iPhone, iPod, iMac, or MacBook - to your preferred S/N ratio. The sensor's brains would learn and remember your preferences for multiple environments.
You could also tell the sensor whether you want it to adapt to a preset S/N ratio or ignore the N and focus on the S. For example, you could enable the sensor to automatically detect whether you're using headphones and adjust the signal relative to the volume of the music you're listening to, ignoring the ambient sound. Or not. Your call.
In the event that other users of your device have different volume or S/N preferences, the sensor system could learn and remember each user's preferred settings.
Finally, the application states that the system could employ "a 'hacker-proof' sound-sensor digitization circuit" to prevent "malicious entities from downloading instructions that can take control of the sound sensor and record audio without the user's knowledge."
Or, for that matter, from someone overriding your preferences for a deafening April Fools' joke. ®


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Rumors flying that next iPhone will run on Qualcomm's chips

Qualcomm Chief Executive Paul Jacobs generally has the latest and greatest cell phones. But he's never owned the uber-trendy Apple iPhone.

“Not until they put a Qualcomm chip in it,” Jacobs said in a September interview.

It could soon be time for Jacobs' first Apple phone. The company is widely rumored to be planning an iPhone Nano, a smaller touch-screen version of its popular phone. One industry analyst says it will run on Qualcomm chips.

The weeks leading up to the annual Macworld conference are typically filled with rumors of expected product announcements. This year, there has been much speculation in advance of next week's Macworld that Apple will announce a smaller version of the iPhone, dubbed the iPhone Nano by bloggers.

Two iPhone accessory manufacturers, Vaja and Xskn, briefly listed protective cases for the iPhone Nano on their Web sites. Both companies have removed those listings.

Further fueling the rumors, Friedman, Billings, Ramsey Group analyst Craig Berger said in a report Wednesday that industry sources told him there will be a smaller version of the iPhone in the second half of the year and it will “apparently” run on a Qualcomm chip.

Qualcomm declined to comment, but industry observers say there's no question that Qualcomm would love to add Apple to its list of customers.

“It would be a big deal for them,” said semiconductor industry analyst Will Strauss of Arizona-based Forward Concepts. “I've heard nothing credible at this point from Qualcomm or others. But there's no doubt that Qualcomm has been knocking on (Apple CEO) Steve Jobs' door for a long time.”

Strauss said that in the competitive phone chip business, Qualcomm recently added Taiwanese manufacturer HTC as a customer, a deal that led to a Qualcomm chip inside the first Google Android phone. But Qualcomm lost some of its business with key customer Samsung when the company recently said it would buy some chips from competitors Broadcom and Infineon.

Business with Apple, which currently buys iPhone chips exclusively from Infineon, could help Qualcomm maintain its status as the top wireless chip maker.

Strauss questioned the logic of a Nano version of the touch-screen phone, which would not be as good at Web browsing with a smaller screen.

“The trend seems to be toward bigger screens, not smaller,” he said.

Others say it's likely that Apple will follow a game plan that worked with the iPod music player: multiple products aimed at various market segments.

“With the iPod, Apple had a fragmented approach, with different devices, features and price points,” said Michael Gartenberg, vice president of mobile strategy for Jupitermedia. “It makes sense that they would do the same thing with the iPhone.”

Apple fans tend to circulate a lot of rumors. Some hit the target. Some miss. The iPhone was rumored for years before it materialized, Gartenberg said.

On the other hand, first word on the supposed Nano leaked from manufacturers of cases, which lends credence to this year's rumor, he said.

“I'm not going to try and predict what they'll announce next week or next month,” Gartenberg said. “I do think it (a lower-priced iPhone) would make a lot of sense in the current economic slowdown.”

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The iPhone 3G Unlock Chart: Will Your Carrier Work?

David Murphy

Jan 3, 2009 5:31 pm

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Online forums have been filling up with the cries of iPhone 3G users worldwide. You can thank The Dev Teamfor that. The group's latest iPhone hackery came in the form of an beta unlock tool for 3G devices two days ago. And while the instructions are easy enough to allow anyone to rip the AT&T exclusivity off of their mobile device--we've even given you a step-by-step guide for unlocking your iPhone 3G--not all has been well in the iPhone 3G world as of late. We've counted two iterations of the Dev Team's unlocking tool thus far, each promising to fix issues, errors, and does-not-work problems that have been plaguing would-be unlockers over the past 48 hours.
We've searched through countless forum posts, angry criticisms, and pleas for assistance to come up with the best methods for getting that unlock to stick. Before we give you the tips, you'll want to hit up The Yellowsn0w Report to check out the general status of the iPhone 3G unlocks and your carrier of choice. If a lot of people are striking out with your carrier, you might be out of luck. But if there's confusion--or better yet, a large number of successful unlocks--then you'll want to turn to one of the two following methods for getting the 0.9.4 beta unlock (as of this article's writing) to stick on your iPhone. These come courtesy of Lostfaith over at the Modmyi forums, who did a painstaking job of tracking down these seemingly arcane techniques:
----------------------------------------
Method #1 (from Youtube's reda92)
1. Install Yellowsn0w thru Cydia, keep your Third-Party Sim in the iPhone
2. Reset Network Settings. 99% of your success rate will depend on this. (LF: you can find this in settings - general and to the bottom you'll see a "reset" menu in which you can find this)
3. Reboot your iPhone
4. Wait a little over a min.
5. Remove your SIM card and re-insert it back in
6. Wait 30 sec.
7. Turn on Airplane mode and wait 10 sec. (This is important as well)
8. Turn of Airplane mode, you should see "searching." Start smiling, as the T-Mobile carrier will start appearing.
9. Make a call!
Method #2 (from to Deli_gt at hackint0sh):

1. Recover your iPhone to the 2.2 firmware.
2. Quickpwn it with Installer and Cydia installed
3. When phone is ready, connect to your Wifi. Got to Cydia. When it opens, ignore the update for Cydia and install Mobileterminal and, after that, Sbsettings.
4. Turn off data roaming and 3G in Sbsettings!
5. Install Yellowsn0w from Installer.
6. Slide your finger from the top-left to right on the screen to get Sbsettings open
7. Press the power button in Sbsettings and from the popup restart button.
8. When the iPhone resets, wait for 20-30 seconds and open up Mobileterminal
9. Go to terminal and type:
yellowsn0w -c
yellowsn0w -q
airplane mode on
airplane mode off

If you get "open: Resource busy" just repeat the command where you got it from.
If the command "yellowsn0w -q" keeps loading for more than 20sec and your terminal looks similar to pics fromFlickr: deli_gt's Photostream then move to next step.
10. Go to Settings. Turn Airplane Mode on. Wait 10 secs and it should start searching for the network. It should find the network and everything should be ok.
If not, and the iPhone still shows the four dots for the signal, repeat steps 8 and 9 but first exit mobile terminal totally by holding down the home button until it closes. If that doesn't work either try the following:
Open up the Terminal and type:
yellowsn0w -c
yellowsn0w -r
yellowsn0w -q
airplane mode on
airplane mode off




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Take A Note (Text, Voice, Photo, Drawing)

Note-taker blends gorgeous looks with functional features

by Ben Boychuk, Macworld.com

Not too long ago, I had lunch with a graphic designer acquaintance and fellow Mac cultist who bemoaned the mediocrity of so many iPhone apps. “They don’t look like they’re Apple quality,” he complained. “They’re so dull and drab. They’re boring!”

Notable Appearance: Readdle’s Take A Note uses a brown and light yellow color scheme that creates an aesthetically pleasing app for the iPhone or iPod touch.

Now, it isn’t exactly fair to hold every third-party app developer to a lofty Cupertino standard. But it may be fairer to say that a healthy majority of apps for the iPhone and iPod Touch deliver on form or function, but rarely deliver both. Oh, sure, there are quite a few apps that are as stylistic as they are functional. Instapaper () and Classics () spring instantly to mind. Many developers, however, have the programming skills but lack the design savvy to effectively meld style with substance.

That thought occurred to me again as I was usingReaddle’s Take A Note app. I had already reviewed and adopted YouNote (), which is an excellent, free note-taking organizational tool for the iPhone and iPod Touch. YouNote is functional, but not at all beautiful. Take A Note is drop-dead gorgeous. But is it also functional?

The answer is an emphatic yes. Although Take A Note lacks some of the features that makes YouNote a powerful tool, the app makes up for it with a brilliant design, a clean interface, excellent audio functionality and easy Wi-Fi backup.

Developer Igor Zhadanov obviously has a keen aesthetic eye. When you launch Take A Note, the title screen is a weathered, brown leather spiral notebook cover. The tasteful brown and light yellow color scheme evokes an old drawing room or a private detective’s office. All that’s missing, alas, is the smell of the leather and cigar smoke, and the silky smooth texture of the pages.

Take A Note organizes your notes by text, audio, drawing or photo. The app also lets you set up your own categories, such as “home” or “work” or any esoteric label you wish. Although I miss YouNote’s color-coding scheme, Take A Note’s simple checklist-style categorization is a nice feature for keeping notes orderly. You can also add text comments to audio, photo or drawing notes.

YouNote’s tagging function is superior, however. Take A Note will let you apply only one category to each note. But the app automatically sorts notes by category, which simplifies browsing somewhat.

Take A Note soundly beats YouNote with its audio note feature. This is a recorder built for reporters. It has a 100-minute capacity—limited, really, only by the amount of memory on your device. The noise reduction on the recorder is excellent, and you can pause, fast-forward and rewind by tapping and dragging a slide-button. Take A Note wins additional kudos for the recorder’s clever GUI—an old-fashioned reel-to-reel tape rolls as you record. All that’s missing is a way to record phone calls, which is a limitation of the iPhone at this time. (Please be aware that although Take A Note works with the iPod touch, it requires an external microphone to use the audio recording feature.)

Note The Date: Take A Note organizes your notes in broad chronological order, but it doesn’t apply date and time stamps to text-based notes.

You can back up your notes easily to any Mac or PC through a Wi-Fi connection. Simply create a new network connection on your desktop or laptop machine, tap the app’s Wi-Fi button, enter the username (it’s always “notes”) and password (newly generated with each use), and voila! Take A Note’s files pop open as easy-to-read text files. Perhaps best of all, this function works both ways—if you tap out notes on your laptop or desktop machine, copying them into Take A Note is a simple matter of dragging and dropping a text file into a networked folder. In this key respect, Take A Note has a decisive edge over YouNote’s cumbersome back-up process, which requires a hard-wired connection from device to computer. And Take A Note also lets you e-mail your notes within the app, a feature that YouNote sorely lacks.

Drawbacks? Take A Note has a few. It doesn’t have landscape support, for instance. Inexplicably, the app doesn’t apply date and time stamps to text-based notes, but includes dates and times by default in audio and picture notes. The app will break down your notes in broad chronological order—that is, “today,” “this month,” “last month”—but if you want to know when you made a particular note, you had best tap in the date and time yourself. Similarly, the app’s search feature only lets you search by name. Unlike YouNote, Take A Note does not let you grab and tag Web pages. Although I don’t use that feature in YouNote very often, it’s nice to have when I need it.

I maintain that, as an organizer, YouNote is still tops. And the price is certainly right. But Take A Note’s ease of use and a gorgeous interface makes it a truly worthy rival, and one that I suspect I’ll be using a lot more with future updates.

Take a Note is compatible with any iPhone or iPod touch running the iPhone 2.1 software update.

[Ben Boychuk is a freelance writer and columnist in Rialto, Calif.]

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Why unlocking the iPhone is a waste of time

by Don Reisinger

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Is it really necessary to unlock me?

(Credit: James Martin/CNET Networks)

Gadget blogs were going crazy Thursday over a new application called Yellowsn0w that helps iPhone 3G owners unlock their device. The app is still in beta and, according to both Crunchgear and Gizmodo, neither one was able to get it to work properly.

I'm not quite sure why anyone cares. Sure, it's nice to say you unlocked a device that's not meant to be unlocked, but it just made so much more sense to me last year when the iPhone didn't have native apps. Today, browsing is faster thanks to 3G, more capable thanks to additional business features, and more useful thanks to the App Store. What possible reason would people have to unlock it now?

AT&T, right? I don't buy the logic. I'm not going to say AT&T is a great carrier--it isn't--but given the option of switching to T-Mobile, a carrier that offers even less service across the country or staying put, I don't see the logic in unlocking the iPhone and changing carriers. After all, if you were really unhappy with AT&T in the first place, why buy the iPhone?

I'm sure others would say that the reason they want to unlock the iPhone is so they can put so-called "banned" apps on their device that Apple has decided to boot from its App Store. Maybe that's enough to justify it for some, but how many "banned" apps are really worth installing on the iPhone? A handful, at best?

Look, I'm all for getting the most out of technology and, just like the next person, hate when a device is locked down, but I simply don't see any reason to waste my time unlocking the iPhone when what I'm really getting out of it is a downgrade. T-Mobile? A couple more apps?

Big deal.

Am I happy with AT&T and does the iPhone satisfy my every desire? No. But when I consider the alternative--unlocking it--I don't see any reason why I would change anything.

You can say that Apple pulled one over on me, but I think the iPhone, for all its faults and problems, is perfectly fine locked-down. If you ask me, unlocking is a waste of time.

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How to Unlock your iPhone 3G

The iPhone world has been clamoring for this one for awhile. And what better way to start the new year then by playing around with the Dev Team's newest creation--an official unlock for the iPhone 3G. We'll run through the basics of this wonderful little tool and show you exactly how you can jailbreak and unlock your phone. You'll be able to run as many third-party applications as you want on your device. And more importantly, you'll be able to use your iPhone on any cell phone carrier you want.

Unlocking your phone allows you to use it on any carrier you want, not just AT&T. You'll pop out your AT&T SIM card and insert the SIM card of a different carrier. The iPhone doesn't allow you to do this normally, so a little bit of hacking is involved.

Possibly. There's always the worry that the unlocking process will royally screw up your phone--but the only way to deal with that is to read the situations of others who have attempted the procedure before you. As long as you follow the instructions closely, you will greatly reduce your chances of bricking (screwing up) your iPhone. Beyond that, once you've unlocked your iPhone, you'll want to approach new iPhone updates with suspicion. Don't just click "update" in iTunes--wait for the various iPhone hackers to release (and safely test) new tools that will allow you to redo the same procedure on the new firmware.


It is. It used to be difficult, but a number of one-button (or two-button) programs have emerged that greatly simplify the process of doing evil things to your iPhone. Don't worry. Even a cat could unlock an iPhone at this point.

If you want a picture step-by-step, this link will walk you through the 3G unlock. But for the most part, unlocking a 3G iPhone is easy enough that we'll just need a few steps to tell you how to do it. Here we go!

This one's easy. Fire up iTunes and update your phone to the latest update, 2.2. If you've already done this, then you are one step ahead of the game. If not, you accomplish this task by clicking the "Update" button. Magic! Be sure to backup/sync your phone prior to doing so, and write down any note, programs, or settings you want to keep!

Download Quickpwn. This is the application you'll use to jailbreak your phone prior to unlocking.

Connect your iPhone to your PC all USB-style and fire up Quickpwn. The program is as self-explanatory as a jailbreaking application could be. Select your phone. Select your phone's firmware (which should appear naturally, as you did the update through iTunes. If not, download it here). Install Cydia or Installer (we prefer the former). Follow the directions. Enjoy a hot cup of tea while you wait.

If you opted to install Cydia, fire up the application on your newly jailbroken iPhone and add the following application repository: http://apt9.yellowsn0w.com/

If you went for Installer, add this repository: http://i.yellowsn0w.com/

If you have no idea how to add a repository, fiddle around in each application's settings and options menus. It'll be there, trust us.

Use either Cydia or Installer to install yellowsn0w. Once the server finally lets you do so (it's getting hammered right now), run the application. Then turn off your iPhone. Grab a paper-clip and follow these instructions to pop out your SIM card. Slap in the SIM card from the new carrier you want to use. Turn on your iPhone. If the carrier doesn't pop up after a bit of a wait, repeat the process to remove the SIM and try doing it again.

Turn off any PINs on your SIM card before making the switch.

Make sure you're using the latest version of yellowsn0w. It should update in the Cydia/Installer menus automatically, but you can always make sure that the available version matches the newly released version by hitting up the official Dev Team blog.

We'll be monitoring the 3G unlock all day, and we'll let you know if we come across anything else! And you can always leave comments about the success/destruction of your iPhone 3G below.


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Apple iPhone touchscreen gloves patented

Apple have patented a special glove which would allow wearers to still use their iPhone despite keeping their hands toasty warm.  Due to the way the cellphone’s capacitive multitouch display works, relying on the electrical response of the user’s fingers in order for contact to be recognized, the original iPhone, iPhone 3G and iPod touch will not respond to presses if the user is wearing gloves too thick for that response to be transfered.  Apple’s solution is a multi-layer fabric, the inner lining of which mimics the electrical conductivity of skin.

Holes in the ends of the fingertips could be opened to allow contact between this inner layer and the touchscreen itself.  They could then be closed up, with the patent describing multiple methods permitting this (including an elastic ring or even removable finger-caps).  By not leaving them permanently open, the basic heat-retaining properties of the gloves are not impaired.

The application lists Steven Hotelling and Ashwin Sunder as inventors, and was filed on June 28th 2007 (a day before the original iPhone’s launch).  It remains to be seen whether these peek-a-boo gloves will ever reach the market – perhaps they’re to be the “next big thing” at Apple’s final MacWorld keynote.

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