Sunday, December 22, 2013
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Friday, November 11, 2011
iOS 5.0.1 upgrade may not fix your battery woes | TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog
iOS 5.0.1 seems a bit of a mixed bag for users, and that's probably a charitable description. Apple support boards are filling up with page after page of reports from users that their iPhone battery life is worse than it was before. Some users say their battery life was fine until the upgrade. Others say it is far worse, and a few are seeing some improvement. Since one of the main features of the update was to fix battery life bugs, it's hard to call this update anything but a failure. Even if the reports are hallucinatory, the PR is very, very bad. Think 'antennagate'.
Here's a sample of some of the comments:
"Was running iOS 5.0 yesterday and had great battery life on my iPhone 4.... Update with OTA last night to iOS 5.0.1 and now just sitting at work and not surfing it is down to 55%. It has only been off the charger for 2 1/2 hours.... I haven't even talked on it today. Wow Apple... what a fix!"
"After installing iOS 5 in my iPhone 4s I noticed that my battery was drying 1% for every 1Min 36Sec. I believe every 1hr 20 Min i will hzave to charge my mobile. And there is no option to downgrade to 5.0. Irritating."
"Yes have the same problem. Was looking forward to having normal battery life on my new phone, but the new 5.0.1 update actually made it worse. I'm about to throw away my iPhone and go back to a blackberry... At least the blackberry held its charge for 2 full days."
In my own experience my battery life dropped dramatically when I installed iOS 5 on an iPhone 4 last month. When I upgraded to the iPhone 4S there wasn't any improvement, and the battery life was certainly behind the performance I had experienced before iOS 5 appeared. One bright spot was when I applied the 5.0.1 update from an airport via their WiFi. What an improvement over tethering to a computer -- the whole process took about 12 minutes.
Of course all the battery life experiences are anecdotal, and it may be that we're all using the new features so heavily that we're driving battery performance down. Of course, that won't explain why phones just sitting by themselves overnight are draining faster the before iOS 5 or iOS 5.0.1 appeared. It's pretty obvious there is some fire under all this smoke.
Apple hasn't commented on any of this new furor so far, but I wouldn't be surprised to see iOS 5.0.2 coming to an iPhone near you soon.
[Editor's note: I'm seeing improved battery life, but it's clear there is something at work here and it'll probably take Apple a bit longer to figure out why some iPhones (mine is an iPhone 4) are draining faster and some are not. - Victor Agreda, Jr.]
Upgraded mine last night and so far I have't experienced battery depletion. I even have push notifications and wi-fi on. Will see how it performs by the end of this day.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
How to Back Up Your iOS Device with iCloud | Mac|Life
How to Back Up Your iOS Device with iCloud
Posted 11/10/2011 at 7:57am | by Cory Bohon
What's that? You don't know what to do with all of those gigabytes that Apple gives you? Sure, it's only 5GB of free space (Although who are we kidding? We go nuts over 2GB!) But the iCloud back up service makes it so that you don’t have to connect your device to iTunes in order to keep things synced. We’ll show you how easy it can be to live cord-free with iOS 5.
After signing into your iCloud account, navigate to System Preferences > iCloud > Storage & Backup. Once there, locate the iCloud Backup switch and move it from OFF to ON.
You’ll get a dialog that lets you know your iPad will no longer back up to your computer automatically when you sync your music, videos, etc. Select the OK button to have your iPad turn on iCloud Backup.
iCloud Backup will automatically back up your camera roll, accounts, documents, and settings when the iPad is plugged in, locked, and connected to Wi-Fi. To create your first backup, select the “Back Up Now” button. This process may take a while depending on the amount of storage you have used on your device.
iCloud will backup the following:
- Purchased music, apps, and books- Photos and video in the camera roll
- Device settings
- App data
- Home screen and app organization
- SMS and MMS messages
- Ringtones
You can purchase additional storage for the following upgrade prices:
- 10 GBs for $20.00 / year
- 20 GBs for $40.00 / year
- 50 GBs for $100.00 / year
Follow this article’s author, Cory Bohon on Twitter.
Hotspot Shield VPN for iPhone Offers Secure Browsing and Email on the Go via lifehacker.com
iOS: Previously mentioned VPN service Hotspot Shield can already encrypt your browsing and keep you safe when using public Wi-Fi on your computer, but this morning the service announced a new mobile app for private and secure internet use wherever you use your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch.
Hotspot Shield for iPhone runs in the background at all times when the app is running, encrypting everything from SMS messages to emails and Twitter updates. The app also forces Safari to load sites as HTTPS when available, and protects all applications that use data, even those also running in the background. That protection comes with a price tag however. Hotspot Shield is free for 7 days, so you can try it and see if it works for you. After that, you'll have to sign up for a $0.99/month or $9.99/year subscription. If you're concerned about threats like Firesheep or you know how easy it is to sniff out passwords and cookies, you may want to give the app a try.
Hotspot Shield VPN | iTunes App Store
You can reach Alan Henry, the author of this post, at alan@lifehacker.com, or better yet, follow him on Twitter or Google+.
iOS: Wednesday, November 9, 2011
The Best Text Messaging Replacement for iPhone
Text messaging is pretty expensive, but fortunately there are a number of great alternatives for your iPhone that will provide the service for free. Of all the options, our favorite is Google Voice thanks to its cross-platform and web syncing plus full control over how you get your messages and who can send them.
- Send free text messages directly from your iPhone
- Integrates with iPhone contacts
- Swipe down to check for new messages
- Push notifications
- Check your texts online, from any browser, when you're away from your phone
- Syncs with Google Voice on a variety of other platforms
- Forward messages to phones or email addresses
- Block unwanted senders
Note: These features only pertain to text messages. For the full feature set check out the official Google Voice page.
The Google Voice app is made great because of the Google Voice service. The app itself is just okay, even though it has some nice touches like swiping down to reload your messages. What's great is that you get your own phone number, you can use that number to replace your existing mobile number, and if you don't like either of those options you can port your mobile number to Google Voice. From there you can text for free, as much as you want, and it works about as well as your paid SMS text messaging service. What really sets it over the top, however, is that you can get a Google Voice app for practically any operating system. Some are official, some are not, but there's almost always an app that will let you text from any other mobile device or computer. All your texts are synchronized so you can respond wherever you want.
Google Voice doesn't have the world's best interface. When you're checking your messages it's actually really nice because you just pull down to reload, but when you're sending messages you have to go to the dialer and then tap the people button just to bring up your contacts. While remembering your phone numbers can be a good thing, realistically it is not your brain's default setting—especially when using an iPhone. Chances are you're going to be browsing through your contacts before you'll be tapping in a number from memory.
What's significantly more annoying, however, is that when you receive a text message notification the app won't be up-to-date. You'll know you have a new message but the app will not, so you'll have to reload your messages and wait for the app to figure it out. If you text infrequently this isn't that important. If you text multiple times per day, or to an excess, this can get a little frustrating. If they need to fix one thing, it's that.
TextFree (Free-ish) is likely the most obvious free text messaging option, and it's also one of the best. Like Google Voice you get a free phone number and can send and receive messages free of charge. You can also send picture messages, which is something Google Voice doesn't really support. Your messages are available online and from any other iPhone or Android device with the app installed. What it can't do is forward your messages to other numbers and email addresses, block unwanted senders, and offer native desktop apps for your computer. Also, it comes with ads which cost $6 per year to remove.
Line2 ($10/month) is designed to provide a phone alternative, which costs a monthly fee, but provides free text messaging. The app is really great and the call quality is excellent, so if you're looking to replace your phone service or turn your iPod touch into an iPhone, it'll come with free text messages too. You can try it free for a month and refusing to subscribe afterwards will often net you a discount.
BiteSMS (Free-ish) is a free app for jailbroken iPhones and it's designed to make your texting experience better. It comes with a lot of nice features, like being able to reply directly from a message notification (without the need to go into the app). It's free to use, but you'll have ads. To remove ads you have to pay $10. If you don't want to use your iPhone's text messaging plan, you can use BiteSMS' service. The cost per message is about 12 cents each and it gets cheaper if you buy additional credits (e.g. $120 gets you 1200 credits). These credits work with local, national, and international numbers alike.
Infinite SMS (Free or $5) is just an interface for Google Voice's text messaging service. If you'd prefer to use it only for texting and don't mind ads (or paying $5 to remove them) then give it a look.
There are plenty of other text messaging replacements for the iPhone, so if you've got a favorite we didn't highlight be sure to share it in the comments.
Lifehacker's App Directory is a new and growing directory of recommendations for the best applications and tools in a number of given categories.
You can follow Adam Dachis, the author of this post, on Twitter, Google+, and Facebook. Twitter's the best way to contact him, too.
Text messaging is pretty expensive, but fortunately there are a number of great alternatives for your iPhone that will provide the service for free. Of all the options, our favorite is Google Voice thanks to its cross-platform and web syncing plus full control over how you get your messages and who can send them. 
Apple’s App store security breached via geeksaresexy.net
A man who created a bogus stock price tracker app for the iPhone that was in fact malware has been thrown out of Apple’s developer program. That would seem uncontroversial until you discover the app was designed to highlight a security flaw rather than cause damage or steal data.
Charlie Miller was told his right to create and upload apps had been terminated “effective immediately.”
If Miller’s name seems familiar, that may be because he’s a perennial winner at the PWN2OWN competition, held at the CanSecWest security event in Vancouver each year. Contestants can ask judges to visit a URL using various combinations of hardware, operating system and browser, with the latest publicly available security updates applied. Last year was a particularly bad day for Apple with a MacBook Pro running Safari the first computer to fall (Miller being the successful attacker) and the iPhone the first smartphone hacked.
According to Miller, his latest “attack” came after he spotted a security flaw in iOS. The flaw, unwittingly introduced in a recent iOS update, appeared to allow code to be added to an app after it had already been vetted by Apple and installed on devices.
To prove this was a genuine threat, Miller released an app named InstaStock in September. Using a post-approval update, he says he was in a position where he could have remotely downloaded contacts and pictures from phones running the app.
Miller says he reported the flaw to Apple in mid-October. He went public yesterday and was barred from the program a few hours later. He’s scheduled to unveil more details of the flaw at a security conference next week.
The BBC quotes one possible overenthusiastic analyst who calls the revelation the “the most significant threat yet to Apple’s app store economy.”
Meanwhile The Register has more details on the flaw, making the important point that it merely allows would-be attackers the same opportunities they’ve had on Android devices for some time.
(Image credit: Garret Gee)
Friday, November 4, 2011
Oink Finds You the Best Item on Any Restaurant's Menu via lifehacker.com
iOS: New app Oink aims to fill a gap in the location-based review services where, instead of rating places, you rate the things inside those place, so you always get the best experience.
Whether you're looking for the best burger on that restaurant's menu, or the best roller coaster at Six Flags, Oink will find it for you. Oink is a community-driven review service in which reviewers—called "Builders"—can rate the things inside any restaurant or other attraction, so you end up getting the best that place has to offer. You can search by category—e.g. "breakfast" or "sushi"—or just head to a nearby restaurant and see what the top menu items are. If you like it, you can rank it yourself in Oink, thus contributing to the app's accuracy for others. It's a very clever approach to location-based review services, even if—like the rest of them—it requires people to use it before it becomes useful. Check out the video above to see it in action, or head right to the App Store and download it below.
Oink is a free download for iOS only.
Oink | iTunes App Store
You can contact Whitson Gordon, the author of this post, at whitson@lifehacker.com. You can also find him on Twitter, Facebook, and lurking around our #tips page.
iOS: New app Monday, October 17, 2011
Adobe Reader for iOS Now Available via lifehacker.com
iOS: Adobe has released an iOS version of its popular PDF reader for iOS as a universal app for both iPad and iPhone.
Like the desktop version, you can't edit files, but you can access encrypted ones, as well as search, bookmark and copy text to the clipboard. It also lets you share PDF files with other applications, email, and print via AirPrint. It's a free download.
Adobe Reader | iTunes App Store
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
How to Get Your DVDs Onto Your iOS Devices via maketecheasier.com
Have you ever wanted to watch a movie on your iOS device, but not wanting to spend money in the iTunes Store because you already own the DVD? Maybe you just don’t know the best way to encode your movies to not just work on your iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad, but also to have them look pretty good. While Apple doesn’t really provide any easy way for you to do this, with this simple tutorial (and a couple extra apps), you’ll be able to view your DVDs on any iOS device. Keep reading and follow these instructions to help you save money and enjoy your favorite movies on the go!
Software Downloads
The first and most important step to this process is to download the necessary software. You’re going to need two separate programs – Mac The Ripper and iSquint. Bascially, Mac The Ripper rips, or extracts, DVDs to your hard drive, and iSquint converts the video to be compatible with iOS devices. Mac The Ripper can be downloaded here and iSquint can be downloaded here.
Note: You can also use Handbrake to do rip your DVD into iOS compatible format. The only issue is that Handbrake does not support copy-protected DVDs while Mac The Ripper does.
Using Mac The Ripper
The first step is to insert the DVD of your choice into the Mac. Open Mac The Ripper. It will read and recognize the disc in your DVD drivet. Now you must click on the “Mode” option and change the “Full Disc Extraction” option to “Title Only Extraction”. Below these options, you want to make sure you have selected the title that is the longest and says “(MF)” or main feature. After you’ve completed this, you can return to the Disc tab and press GO!. In some cases, the program might prompt you to select a RCE Region. If it does, select RCE 1 and then click GO!. Finally, choose a location to save the file and let Mac The Ripper do its job. It will take some time.
Using iSquint
Once the DVD has been ripped, you can remove the movie and close Mac The Ripper altogether. Now open the file that was created, go into the “Video_TS” file, and drag the item into iSquint. Be sure that you have selected the “Optimize for iPod” option and have “H.264 Encoding” enabled. If you want to, you can select “Add to iTunes”. In my experience, this has given me a few problems, so you might want to avoid it. Personally, I disable it and just drag the file into iTunes manually when iSquint has finished. Choose the location for the movie to be saved in and click Start to begin the conversion process. Now all you have to do is wait until the file is converted into an iOS compatible video.
Wrap-Up
Finally, once iSquint finishes, open up iTunes and find the new video file. Click and drag it into your iTunes library and add it to your iOS device just like you would for any other video. Now that you’ve added the movie go ahead and quit iSquint and go enjoy it on-the-go with your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad!
Do you know any other ways to convert videos? Better, faster ways maybe? Give us all your comments below!
How to Connect To An Exchange Account From Your iPhone via Make Tech Easier
If you are working with a company or organization that runs Microsoft Exchange, you’ll almost certainly want to connect your iPad and iPhone to Exchange to make all the emails you are expecting everyday handy. Fortunately, there are various ways on connecting your device to Exchange. Today, we’ll focus on adding an Exchange account with the use of a Configuration Profile.
Adding an Exchange Account Using a Configuration Profile
Perhaps, the easiest way to set up Exchange ActiveSync on your iPad or iPhone is by creating a payload in a configuration profile that you will use to load into your device. You can apply the configuration profile by using either a USB cable with the help of iPhone Configuration Utility or by distributing it to other users, for example, sending it via your email account which is already configured on the iPhone or by posting it to your website for everyone to access.
Creating an Exchange ActiveSync Payload for a Configuration Profile
You can follow these steps to create an Exchange ActiveSync payload that you can load into your iPhone or iPad.
Step 1: Launch “iPhone Configuration Utility” from the Dock or the Utilities folder on your Mac or from the Start Menu on Windows.
Step 2: Click the ‘Configuration Profiles‘ item in the Source list to display the list of all configuration profiles.
Step 3: You may choose and click the profile that you want to add the Exchange ActiveSync payload.
Step 4: In the Payloads list, click on the ‘Exchange ActiveSync‘ item to open the ‘Configure Exchange ActiveSync‘ pane.
Step 5: Now, click on the ‘Configure‘ button to display ‘Exchange ActiveSync‘ pane.
Now, let’s try to have a closer look on each field so that you’ll be able to understand it better.
Account Name - enter a descriptive name that best describes the account.
Exchange ActiveSync Host – usually, hostname is used in this field but you can also use the IP address of the Exchange server.
Use SSL – you can check this box to make the communications with Secure Sockets Layer more secure. This is recommended but not required.
Domain & User text boxes – you can leave these fields blank as the iPhone or iPad will prompt the user to enter the information during the installation of profile in the device. However, if you are setting up a specific account then enter the appropriate information.
Email Address & Password - you can leave these fields blank so that each user has to enter his/her address and password every time.
Step 6: To add a certificate to securely identify the user, click on the [+] button just beneath ‘Authentication Credential‘ text box. This will display the ‘Windows Security‘ dialog box wherein you can choose an identity you can use. Click on ‘OK‘ button if you have selected a certificate.
After creating an Exchange ActiveSync profile, you can deploy it to your devices, i.e. iPhone and iPad.
Step 7: Click on the device you want the profile deployed located in the left pane. Select on the profile and simply click on ‘Install‘ button.
Step 8: You will also be prompted by your iPhone about the profile installation together with other information that go with the profile. Tap on ‘Install‘ button to proceed, and tap ‘Done‘ when finished.
As far as installation of configuration profile is concerned, that’s how you do it.
Setting Up a Connection to an Exchange Server Manually
As much as others find it easier to use configuration profiles to setup Exchange ActiveSync, there will be others who prefer to set things up through their iPhone. Now, let’s try to quickly go through the steps on how to manually setup Exchange Server through your iPhone.
Step 1: Launch ‘Settings‘ app from the Springboard and choose ‘Mail, Contacts, Calendars‘.
Step 2: Tap on ‘Add Account‘, then choose ‘Microsoft Exchange‘.
Step 3: On the next screen, you will be prompted to enter your Email, Domain (optional), Username, Password, and Description. If you don’t know much about these information, you can ask your company’s Exchange Server administrator.
Step 4: Your iPhone will automatically locate and authenticate the Exchange settings with the use of Microsoft’s Autodiscovery service. Should it fails to locate the server, you will be brought to the same window with ‘Server‘ field added to the previous fields. And therein, you have to enter the complete address of your Exchange server; again, you can ask your server administrators for it.
Once your iPhone has successfully made a connection with your company’s Exchange server, you will be prompted to change your device’s passcode to match with all the policies set on Exchange server.
That’s it! You must be able to Send, Receive and Read your emails from your iPhone/iPad. There shouldn’t be any problem connecting your iDevices with your company’s Exchange server as long as you are allowed to. And if that’s the case, you or other employees should have been given the server settings and other information you need to connect, or you will be advised that you can ask your system administrators for it.
Well, I hope this tutorial would be a great resource for you. Don’t hesitate to leave comments, suggestions or reactions in the boxes provided below.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Skype Rival Viber Hits 10M Downloads, Poised To Release Android App (Video)
Viber, which debuted its free calling service for the iPhone back in December, says 10 million people have already downloaded its mobile app (iTunes link). Pretty impressive feat when you consider the service is currently iOS-only and the milestone was reached in under two months.
But as MobileCrunch found out last week, Viber is poised to hit the Android platform in March. Consider that confirmed, as we can exclusively show you a video of the app in action:
With the app, Android users will be able to make free calls to both Android and iPhone users, which should make quite some waves upon launch. Users will still be able to dial cell numbers directly without having to register a username or add friends to a contact list, and make and receive calls over 3G or WiFi, free of charge. Quite a compelling proposition.
Next big feature: free text messaging. Can’t wait for that one (should land this month).
Information provided by CrunchBase
Monday, November 29, 2010
Ultrasn0w unlock for iPhone 3G, 3GS with iOS 4.2.1 now ready
If you’re rocking an iPhone 3G or 3GS with iOS 4.2.1, and you’re of the breed that likes to jailbreak and unlock Apple devices, you’re in luck. The Dev-Team recently announced that the iPhone 3G and 3GS running iOS 4.2.1 can now be jailbroken and unlocked. The new redsn0w jailbreak tool is now available, and the iPhone 3G and 3GS ultrasn0w unlock tool is almost ready for consumption. The bad news is that the iPhone 4 unlock is still in the works (since it uses a different baseband), so you’ll have to be pretty patient. Everyone else can enjoy the freedom of going from carrier to carrier. (There is also the micro SIM to deal with in the iPhone 4 if you plan on using a carrier that doesn’t use or offer micro SIMs.)
Here’s what the Dev-Team says:
ultrasn0w unlock: After redsn0w is officially released with the new Cydia and kernel patches, we’ll be able to assess the unlock situation. It’s already looking very promising though, so expect the unlock for the 3G and 3GS to be coming this week. The i4 unlock is taking more effort though, and no further concrete info is available about that yet.
I envy you iPhone 3G and 3GS owners, but only a little. While I’d love to take my iPhone 4 and run off with some other carrier and make AT&T jealous with rage, there is no way I’m going to give up my glass and steel iPhone for that freedom. So, while many of you are eagerly waiting for the iPhone 4 unlock, I’m just chillin’ for now and enjoying my jailbroken iPhone 4 and tethering it on AT&T’s network whenever I please.
If you’re going to attempt unlocking your device, you’ve probably already gone through the trouble of jailbreaking it already. However, if this is your first time meddling with this sort of thing, do exercise a little caution because there is always a chance you could do some damage. Just putting that out there before you go blaming me for anything.
To download the jailbreak, click here..
[Update]
Since there seems to be a bit of confusion, I’ll clarify the unlock situation: It is ready. MuscleNerd confirmed that it is ready. However, it will still be a few days before it is released.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Find My iPhone: 5 Real-Use Cases - Thieves Beware - iSmashPhone iPhone Blog
189diggsdiggNow that Find my iPhone is free for users with iOS 4.2, why there is little reason not to sign up. The service allows you to locate your device, send it messages, lock it or totally wipe the memory if it happens to get lost or stolen. It's much like HTC's HTCSense.com service.
There have been quite a few stories in the past of people finding their devices by using Find my iPad or Find my iPhone. Let's have a look at some of those fortunate individuals who have been able to track down their devices and been spared the hassle of having to buy a new handset or iPad:
1) Justice Served
About a year ago 15-year-old Dustin Simantob of Colorado was able to recover his and his father's iPhones using the service. On top of that, the police were able to capture the criminals that did it. Apparently, they had been trying for some time, but until then didn't have enough on them to make an arrest.
“so, my dad and I went on a 3 day father and son river trip and parked the car where we get out of the river to leave, so we get up to the cars and all 4 cars had one window broken and all the valuables taken from the car, so we ended up submitting our case to the near by cop and started on our 5 hour journey home, when we got back i remembered that i had set up the “track my iphone” on the mobileme site and immediately got on and tracked it.
it ended up being at a house near by where it was stolen, so i called up the cop that had taken our case and told him where it was located. as soon as i told him the address, he started to laugh, apparently the family had done a few things like this before and the local police had been trying to catch and arrest them but could never get proof that they had been the culprits.
now they had proof. so 4 police showed up at the door of this house and ended up getting mine and my dads iphones back along with my wallet and the Garmen GPS, they also were able to recover the two phones and wallet that was taken from the other car that was broken into. so thanks to mobileme we will all be getting our belongings back and a family of criminals will be put in jail.”
2) Stop my if you've heard this one: someone loses an iPhone in a bar...
A fellow named Kevin and two of his buddies went to a Lego convention. At the end of the day, they hit up a dive bar to grab a bite to eat. Then it happened, he left his iPhone on the table and had forgotten about it when he left. On his way out, he remembered that he had left the handset on the table and returned to the bar to pick it up. Unfortunately, it was nowhere to be found.
Luckily, he had recently activated his MobileMe account along with Find My iPhone. They began the search, and at first it seemed hopeless. The next day, they were led around town by the tracking service and they eventually found it at a bus stop. One of the bar's employees had found it and said he was planning to return it. Of course that's what he said when caught with it.
Image Credit: She Knows.com
3) Mom busts the bad guys
This one happened when a Mom was at the store. She placed the phone down while being attending to her kids, and totally forgot about it, leaving the handset on a store counter.
She and her husband decided to track their iPhone using the service. The were able to pinpoint it down to an apartment complex and called the police. They found the culprit and said that if the thief agreed to give up the handset within five minutes, no charges would be pressed. Needless to say, she got her phone back.
Furthermore, the officer said that he had already found five phones in the exact same manner. In fact, he said that Apple works closely with law enforcement to improve the GPS abilities on the device.
4) Getting even
In Shadyside, a man was attacked by two robbers. They stole his phone and his wallet, asking for his pin number. After a game of cat and mouse, he and the authorities were able to track the thieves, three men with all the stolen property. They were all charged for the crimes, with the two assailants receiving additional charges for the robbery.
5) Amusement Park Idiot
A mom and her daughter were vacationing at a Busch Gardens amusement park. Before boarding one of the roller coasters, they put their belongings in a storage bin meant to safely store items while attendees ride. Unfortunately, someone decided he would run for the woman's purse while no one was watching.
The daughter bumped herself cutting her lip open on the ride. The injury was nothing serious, but in the confusion, someone swooped in and grabbed Mom's purse. The purse was found in the men's restroom, but their phones were gone.
Then, the daughter remembered her MobileMe account. She had the Find My iPhone service activated. Authorities were able to locate the phone, and the culprit and the dirtbag was put in jail.
Thieves Watch Out
Now that everyone on iOS 4.2 can use the Find My iPhone service (even with an older iOS device, if you use a workaround) everyone can locate their lost iOS device. We suggest signing up. After all, it's free.
Isn't technology wonderful?
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Google Voice app for iOS available now
Filed under: Google, VoIP, iPhone, Mobile
Google Voice app for iOS available now
by Vlad Bobleanta (RSS feed) Nov 16th 2010 at 2:40PM
The official Google Voice application for the iPhone has finally arrived in the iTunes App Store. After more than a year from Apple's rejection of Google's first Voice app for the iPhone, almost ten months since Google responded with an HTML5-based mobile Web app, and about 6 weeks since it was reportedly approved by Apple, it's here.The app has all the features you'd expect, including getting cheap rates for international calls, free texts to US numbers, voicemail transcription, and displaying your Google Voice number as your caller ID when making calls. It also has support for push notifications, to instantly alert you when you receive a new voicemail or text message. Google says that 'most' of the calls made through this app will be placed via Direct Access Numbers -- Google assigns a unique phone number to each person you call, which results in the app not needing to connect to the internet every time you place a call, thus making the whole calling experience much faster.
To use the new app, a Google Voice account and an iPhone with iOS 3.1 or newer are required.
Tags: google, google voice, google voice client, GoogleVoice, GoogleVoiceClient, iphone, iphone app, iPhone Application, iPhone Applications, iPhone Apps, IphoneApp, IphoneApplication, IphoneApplications, IphoneApps, mobile, mobile app, mobile application, mobile apps, MobileApp, MobileApplication, MobileApps, voip, voip calling, VoipCalling
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Skyfire for iPhone Approved, Flash Videos Coming
We got a look at Skyfire for iPhone last week and the promise of getting Adobe Flash videos onto our Apple devices was exciting. As expected, though still surprisingly, the app has been approved for the iOS devices by Apple. The Skyfire web browser will go for $2.99 in the app store and will be available some time Thursday morning. We got to play with a preview of the app, and came away impressed. See our Skyfire for iPhone hands-on review here.
How did the company manage to get around Apple’s loathing of Flash? CNN reports:
To get around Apple’s restriction, Skyfire came up with an innovative solution: When users click on a page that contains Flash video, Skyfire’s servers download, render and translate the video into HTML5, which is a Web standard that iOS devices support. Skyfire then displays a thumbnail that users can click on to stream the video from its servers.
Here’s what we said earlier last week about how this works:
Skyfire plays nice with Flash videos and websites (most of them, at least) because it uses a server-assisted browsing experience. Basically, the browser uses big, powerful servers to process all the Flash content on a website and then pushes that data to your phone. This means your phone doesn’t have to be super powerful and also reduces the amount of data that you’re pulling down on your smartphone data plan.
So, technically, your iPhone or iPad won’t be playing straight Flash as videos are converted so that they can be played on your iOS device, but at least this limits your restrictions when viewing the web.
But all is not perfect in Skyfire land. Determining which videos and content are in Flash and encoding it all is a huge task, and some sites have just blocked the browser completely. Hulu, which is huge for Flash lovers wanting videos on their phones, banned Skyfire from encoding its content. Additionally, Flash-based video games and non-video content will not be supported, so it’s not without some major limitations.
At any rate, it’s nice to know that when you browse the web with Skyfire, you’re less likely to see that little blue sorry-no-Flash-here icon.
[Update]
The information from CNN is slightly off-base, as we’ve just learned that Skyfire will be launching on the iPhone AppStore sooner than you think (before Thursday). Keep your eyes on IntoMobile for more info.In the meantime, why don’t you check out our Skyfire for iPhone hands-on video here?
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