iPhone - iPod

GPS camera hints in iPhone SDK

Submitted by Cleve Nettles on Sun, 05/11/2008 - 13:37.

While by no means conclusive evidence of GPS capabilities in the iPhone camera software, the latest builds of the SDK are littered with GPS references.  Whether these are just templates (you can see other camera manufactures included as well) or needed by the 3G iPhone camera software is unknown. 

GPS camera software is used to put location (landmark) metadata into the photo files.  Applications like Flickr, and Google earth use this data to arrange photographs (and videos) spatially based on this information.  For instance, if you snapped a picture in Paris, you could later organize you pictures - perhaps in iPhoto? - by Country/city.  Cool!

We'll leave the speculation to you.  More screengrabs below.    One month to go...

 

What happened to all of the iPhones?

Submitted by Cleve Nettles on Sat, 05/10/2008 - 20:46.

Looks like O2 isn't the only one running out of iPhones.  The US Apple Store is out of iPhones too.  Does this mean that the 3G iPhone is coming this week?  Probably not.  It does mean that Apple hadn't anticipated the current demand of iPhones in certain areas (the US).  Still expect the 3G iPhone to be announced at WWDC and to ship at the end of June.

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UPDATED: AT&T officially (un)promises free WiFi access

Submitted by Andy Space on Fri, 05/09/2008 - 12:05.

 AT&T yesterday updated its iPhone website, promising use of 17,000 Wi-Fi hotspots across the US as included within the regular iPhone tariffs - only to remove all references to this later that day.

The company briefly last week switched on Wi-Fi access at its hotspots across the country, switching it off just a few days later. 

At the time, the company offered no information on its moves, but it then updated its page to promise: “Access to AT&T's more than 17,000 Wi-Fi hotspots, including Starbucks all for use in the US.”

That AT&T updated the information on the company’s iPhone pages (in the Plans section, and albeit briefly) strongly suggests access to the hotspots will once again be enabled at some future point - but AT&T's being pretty coy about it.

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NBC offers iPhone, touch TV episode streams

Submitted by Andy Space on Thu, 05/08/2008 - 15:08.

 NBC has begun offering iPhone and iPod touch users in the US the chance to stream full episodes of the broadcaster’s shows, despite not making these available through iTunes.

Like the BBC’s iPlayer service in the UK, shows aren’t being made available for streaming to audiences outside the US, who will see a message warning them the streams aren’t available from their location.

NBC’s shows - including The Office - are streamed in QuickTime format and are made available ad-free.

iPhone or iPod touch owners wanting a slice of NBC’s goodness simply need to visit the NBC.com website, click on the video tab, and they’ll get the chance to select between available shows, many of which offer full episode streams for viewing.

 

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iTunes downloads grow cheaper, kinda

Submitted by Andy Space on Thu, 05/08/2008 - 12:45.

 iTunes offers music at inflation-busting prices, it seems, with the 99-cents per track price remaining static since the service launched in 2003.

Now, we’re not saying prices should go up - but we are interested in a recent Digital Audio Insider analysis of the inflation-adjusted price of a download through the service, which reveals that should prices have kept up with inflation, songs would now cost $1.14. And by 2012 songs will cost the equivalent of 74-cents a track, assuming prices remain static.

That download prices have remained static isn’t so remarkable when you consider the continuously falling price of CDs.

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O2 sells out of iPhones

Submitted by Andy Space on Thu, 05/08/2008 - 10:44.

 Apple’s UK iPhone network partner O2 has sold out of iPhones.

The company’s iPhone pages now reveals the following message: “Please note: 8GB and 16GB iPhone are no longer available.”

O2 has clearly shifted all available stock in hand in order to make way for the next-generation iPhone, expected to ship next month. The network cut the cost of the 8GB model by £100 last month, selling out of that model within a week. Clearly the move also saw consumers shift to purchase the 16GB model.

 

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America Movil snags iPhone for Latin America

Submitted by Andy Space on Wed, 05/07/2008 - 17:53.

 America Movil will sell iPhone across Latin America starting this year.

The largest cell phone operator made the announcement today, the latest in what appears a fashionable string of mobile telcos to let investors know they’ve bagged distribution rights for the Apple mobile phone. It had been thought local operator Telcel would take this prize, though with recent indications that Apple isn't seeking wholly exclusive deals, there's still an outside chance Telcel will get to carry the device.

With a subscriber base of 153 million in 2007, America Movil operates in 15 markets in the region, including Brazil, Mexico and the Dominican Republic. The public company is pretty much commanded by the world’s richest man, Carlos Slim, who ousted Bill Gates from the top of the pile last year.

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iPhone magic: Derren Brown

Submitted by Andy Space on Wed, 05/07/2008 - 14:13.

 Looks like there’s a spate of iPhone using magicians, hot on our Marco Tempest report yesterday, UK gadget mag T3 this week revealed internationally-renowned illusionist, Derren Brown, is an iPhone convert too - and he switched to Mac because Stephen Fry told him to.

“I bought my iPhone the day it came out,” says Derren Brown. “It took a bit of getting used to, as I used a Blackberry before. It’s slow for emails, so I’ll definitely get the 3G version. But the design is phenomenal. It’s so satisfying to have it done right.”
Brown admits to dumping his Windows flavoured box for a Mac “about a year ago”, admitting, “in the end Stephen Fry convinced me. I didn’t realise how pleasant using a computer can be until I changed.”
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iPhone Doom developers speak up

Submitted by Andy Space on Tue, 05/06/2008 - 21:11.

 iPhone development is a “doddle”, said the developers behind the project to port Doom to the device - revealing the first version of the port was created in just a week.

Developer Psychochromatic explains: “Looking at the hardware specs, I knew iPhone would be able to play a simple game like Doom no problem as it was open-source and already ran on the click-wheel iPod running Linux. I knew Stepwhite, who I work with on Mac projects, and as he'd just bought himself an iPhone and was working with the unofficial tool-chain I jokingly told him he had one week to port Doom to iPhone, and all it had to do was run; he didn't have to implement controls. One week later, he proudly linked me to his Doom port homepage.”

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