SDK

Apple recently eked out Beta 4 of the 3.0 Firmware (which has a somewhat vague release date of Summer, possibly around WWDC) and the prerelease of iTunes 8.2 (which interestingly enough references Blu-Ray media). Sifting through the newest Beta Firmware has revealed some interesting new features.

We’ve known that being able to sync notes would make its way in to Firmware 3.0 for quite some time but this feature has finally been lumped in for testing purposes with the newest Beta build. However, Mac OS X 10.5.7 is required to actually sync note and has yet to be released by Apple outside of the development circle. Another interesting feature is the ability to sign in to multiple iTunes accounts from your iPhone. This would allow you to re-download an App (no media) your friend bought for free but relies on that friend trusting you enough to use his personal information. The increased ease in accessing any iTunes account in Beta 4 is welcome, the current iPhone firmware lacks any easy way to sign in or sign out.

Topping off the small round of features is a camera retake function that shows you… more...

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

Rumors are pointing towards Apple adding a voice recognition and voice synthesis feature in to the iPhone 3.0 Firmware.

The voice synthesis feature would mimic the 3rd generation iPod Shuffle’s ability to name what song is currently playing. The application of this isn’t entirely known but could be used to speak names of launched Applications and the names of songs in the music library. One of the other features would be voice recognition running in the background which would enable hands free dialing and could be used in conjunction with mic equipped iPhone headphones for spoken commands of other system functions by pressing the play/pause button.

Via: iPhonestalk

More and more features are leaking out to the general public from development builds of iPhone 3.0 and the latest batch of information gives more information to the next generation iPhone.

The screenshots come from a reliable source who sent them to The Boy Genius Report and has a very good track record with leaked iPhone features. The screenshots show references to video recording and according to BGR, video recording capabilities would likely be present in the next generation iPhone. Another interesting tidbit is that OpenGL ES V2.0 will be supported. A sample of the screenshots is available after the jump.

Via: iPhone Alley

If you’ve ever ventured in to the Apple store, surely you’ve seen at least once, the frustration employees endure when ordering up a customer with their handheld scanners. However, this could soon change.

The handsets used to swipe credit cards and take orders by roaming employees manning the floor run the aging Windows CE and after endless crashes delaying a rather simple checkout process, Apple may be looking toward its own iPhone to take up the job. According to Apple Insider, Apple could work with a third party to create a credit card reader that connects to the iPhone’s Dock Connector and use existing point of sales Apps to speed up the checkout process. This would finally bring a major component of the Apple’s Store checkout system up to date and promote one of the company’s products at the same time.

Via: The iPhone Blog

Apple has finally enabled Push Notification for developers after quietly delaying the feature for almost a year.

Developers can go in to the online iPhone Dev Center to familiarize themselves with the protocol. The Push Notification protocol substitutes the function of background processing by allowing developers to send notifications to their Apps and alert users to any updates. Apple had this to say about Push Notification:

“Start testing your applications using the Apple Push Notification service today. Log in to the iPhone Dev Center and review the Apple Push Notification Programming Guide and Getting Started video. Team Agents can log in to the iPhone Developer Program Portal and proceed to the App ID section to create the components necessary to enable and test applications using the Apple Push Notification service.”

Via: Macrumors

Continual sifting of the iPhone 3.0 Firmware has already prompted some unannounced features and a newly found secret gives further credence to the inclusion of a video camera in the next generation iPhone.

We’ve already gotten the first clue from Engadget which was a hidden video upload window to MobileMe but it wasn’t active. According to the translation of a German site, resources for video editing and icons hinting at playback controls have been unearthed. While it still is a rumor that the next generation iPhone will have a video camera, this gives further proof to the possibility and Apple may have a few surprises planned for us come June.

Via: iPhone Alley

Skype’s arrival in the App Store early Tuesday has been met with much praise now that a real VoIP App is finally available for the iPhone. Unfortunately, one of the key features that makes Skype so great, VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol), failed to work over an active 3G connection and was restricted to a Wi-Fi connection. However, 3G connections are supported in the latest Beta version of the iPhone Firmware.

Firmware 3.0 is currently being Beta tested by developers and will arrive sometime this summer but already it’s throwing up surprises. When running Skype on Firmware 3.0, VoIP calls can be made over a 3G connection which goes against Apple’s commitment to cellular carriers that iPhone Apps will not hog their traffic. It will be interesting to see if this loophole makes it to the final release of Firmware 3.0.

Via: Gizmodo

Wolfenstein 3D gave birth to a whole generation of games that have drastically shaped the gaming culture and now you can relive the fun on your iPhone.

Id Software has announced that Wolfenstein 3D is available on the App Store for $5(iTunes Link). The original game has been preserved but the controls have been completely redone to take advantage of the iPhone’s touchscreen. What’s even more enticing is the source code for the iPhone version of Wolfenstein 3D being made available to motivate developers to code for the iPhone. The source code can be downloaded from Id’s FTP server.

Via Macworld

One of the biggest gripes of the iPhone (and ironically one of its biggest features) is its on screen keyboard. While no 3rd parties have come forth to create a hardware keyboard to remedy the problem for a small amount of users, one enterprising developer has tapped in to aging technology to give the iPhone some added functionality.

The keyboard leverages the type of connection an ancient 1200 baud modem to send key inputs through the iPhone’s headphone port thanks to code compiled from the publicly available SDK. While the technology behind the ingenuity wouldn’t be used publicly due to the bulky PDA keyboard and knowledge of coding required, it’s an interesting concept that should jump start the development of 3rd party keyboards for the iPhone. Al of this was done without Jailbreaking the iPhone. Hopefully with the advent of SDK 3.0, this will become a reality.

Via: Arstechnica