Features

Apple integrated voice controls in to the iPhone 3GS giving the platform better accessibility controls but even more improvements are coming in Firmware 3.1.

The current Beta has revealed that Apple is making use of the home button on the iPhone and iPod Touch. By triple clicking the home button a menu pops up allowing users to toggle voice control, white on black and zoom capabilities.

Via: The iPhone Blog

The amount of evidence towards video editing in the next generation iPhone has been piling up since the first Betas of Firmware 3.0 were seeded out by Apple. However, Peter Burrows of Businessweeks says his sources are confident Apple will integrate video recording in the next generation iPhone.

Pete says that the addition of a video camera in Apple’s 3rd generation iPhone will be a lot more than another useful feature. According to the analyst, Apple would also bring a heavily slimmed down version of iMovie apt for the mobile device that would allow users to edit and share movies directly from their iPhones instead of importing the media into iMovie or even Final Cut when they get home. Another rumor floating around is that Apple would integrate a YouTube upload feature into its 3rd generation iPhone and could go hand in hand with the device’s new video editing capabilities.

Via: Macrumors

A new Beta of the upcoming 3.0 Firmware was recently seeded to developers but under the bug fixes is a few notable MobileMe features.

MobileMe has always been billed as Apple’s system for unifying data between the iPhone, iPod Touch, Macs and Windows PC so these small additions make MobileMe on the iPhone that much better. first off, if you sync data between iTunes and your iPhone then enable MobileMe, instead of completely wiping down your data to start over, you will be prompted to merge you data between MobileMe and your iPhone. In addition to the rumored MobileMe video upload feature, you will be able to publish pictures and other media to the service so you can share it with your friends.

Via: The iPhone Blog

Since the App Store’s debut in July of last year, Apple has made available thousands upon thousands of Apps and is now reaching 1 billion App downloads.

It’s only been a few months since the App Store hit half a billion downloads and in the short amount of time since then, Apple is set to double that number. To celebrate the occasion, Apple is giving away prizes along the way including the chance to win a $10,000 iTunes gift card so you can possibly download some more Apps but that’s just wishful thinking. To enter in the competition just download an App between now and the billionth downloaded App. More details can be found on Apple’s page

Via: The iPhone Blog

So we’ve all been waiting a while for this. Last night sometime, Apple released iPhone 2.2 Software Update which includes many of the changes I’ve been anticipating over the past couple of weeks.

Included in the update is Google Street View, public transit and walking directions, and over-the-air podcast downloads via the iTunes app. The update also includes numerous fixes including added stability in Safari and fixes for Mail. Other feature include:

iPhone 2.2 Software Update
This update contains many bug fixes and improvements, including the following:
+ Enhancements to Maps
- Google Street View
- public transit and walking directions
- display address of dropped pins
- share location via email
+ Enhancements to Mail
- resolved isolated issues with scheduled fetching
of email
- improved formatting of wide HTML email
+ Improved stability and performance of Safari
+ Podcasts are now available for download in iTunes
application (over Wi-Fi and cellular network)
+ Decrease in call set-up failures and call drops
+ Improved sound quality of visual voicemail messages
+ Pressing the Home button from any Home screen takes
you… more...

Have you ever thought it was annoying to go to one of your favorite sites (not iPhone optimized) and wait a good amount of time to fully load, only to slide and zoom in and out to see everything. I can say that I sometimes get annoyed, but there is hope.

A new service converts any well formed XML RSS feed to an iPhone-optimized version with the typical sliding style interface.

I love it, and you will too. Point your safari browsers here to test it out.

If there’s one thing we were hoping to get from yesterday’ iPhone SDK event, it was VoIP support. I really didn’t expect Apple to support VoIP, as their agreement with AT&T is already showing its weaknesses, and letting customers forgo the network entirely seemed unlikely. Luckily, Apple went ahead and proved us all wrong, announcing that developers would have access to VoIP technology over WiFi on the iPhone.

What’s the catch? Apple will only allow VoIP to function if the iPhone is connected to a WiFi network, so it won’t work over EDGE. Basically, what this does is prevent AT&T customers from transforming their unlimited data plan into an unlimited phone plan. Despite that limitation, it’s nice to see Apple addressing a common request from developers and customers.

When I got word that update 1.1.3 had cell tower and Wi-Fi tracking, I was overjoyed. Finally a supported version of pseudo-GPS from Apple. My joy did not last long, because as of recently Navizon, the company that developed the first pseudo-GPS on the iPhone, has added some new services. Now Navizon allows for the positioning system to update every 10 seconds. If your on the road, you can get an up-to-date position instead of hitting the triangulate button multiple times. The service now includes a system bar which runs with the maps application. This allows for easy access to some of the new services. The 3rd party app also includes a buddy positioning system similar to that offered by Helio and Boost Mobile. By adding buddies Navizon users can have a knowledge of where their other Navizon using friends are. This of course can be turned off if someone wanted to drop of the grid. The app also runs in the background which allows for friends to find the user without him/her actively using Navizon.

Right now this is bad news for me. I love this application and… more...