Yup, today was the day that Apple announced their iPad product. The very first thing we noticed was a lack of USB ports for storage and connection; however, Job’s didn’t forget it.
The iPad camera connection kit comes with a male adapter card to connect either USB or SD cards. Given the slim dimensions of the iPad we can understand the lack of design integration for USB, but SD or even microSD, now that makes sense. Our only conclusion is a lack of real-estate on the PCBA used to make the iPad.
Interesting side note: Apple has the exclusive patent on the 30 pin female connector it uses and plans to NEVER license it out. I know the USB kit has a male connector, it just reminded me of reading that info a couple weeks back.
Source:Â StumbleTweet.
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TouchScreen Preschool Games has just released another iPhone app; Mister Rogers.
GetUSB.info doesn’t make it a habit of reporting on iPhone applications, but when you know the author and game publisher it’s worth taking a moment and saying “good job.”
Murtha Design had their first block buster iPhone app, ShapeBuilder and from that success Murtha Design has teamed with PBS.org to develop the Mister Rogers iPhone app.
Mister Rogers Make a Journal encourages children to identify and talk about their feelings about their everyday experiences like school, playtime, and friends. The App features an animated version of favorite Neighborhood of Make-Believe character Daniel Striped Tiger, who invites children to make a journal to help them reflect on the things they do and to express how they feel.
What is amazing about this application is the goal of establishing Emotional Development truly works. I have a 4 and 6 year old child and they both create journals about their day and from simply listening to their interaction with the program, I can learn about my child’s day without pressuring them for daily activity reports and grilling them on “how was school today?”
AT&T reports that smart phone users, which make up 3% of their market, are eating up nearly 40% of the data bandwidth on their mobile network.
To no surprise, AT&T is considering ways to free up network bandwidth so that everyone without a smartphone, isn’t effected. So what does this mean? It means AT&T might be giving a screw j_b to iPhone users. – by far the biggest consumers of bandwidth from smartphones.
iPhone users on average consume five to seven times more data per month than average wireless subscribers, according to analyst firm Sanford Bernstein. And all this usage is clogging the network, causing many iPhone users, especially in large cities such as New York and San Francisco, to experience dropped calls, slow 3G service, and issues connecting to the network at all.
So what is AT&T considering? I would think upping the usage fees, but this might not work for those who don’t care about monthly fees. Another approach are incentives.
“We’re going to try to focus on making sure we give incentives to those small percentages to either reduce or modify their usage so they don’t crowd out the other customers in those same cell sites,” said de la Vega according to a transcript of the conference. “And you’ll see us address that more in detail.”
Either way, I have a strong feeling AT&T will be limiting or slowing data usage for iPhone users.Â
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I’ve read several articles about how to improve the iPhone, most notable are CNET’s comments and iSmashPhone comments. Both articles have good ideas about improving the iPhone software, but there are five user improvements which I would like to humbly suggest.
To me, these are fundamental improvements for an everyday user. What do you think?
1) How many times have you read an email chain with an attachment? With the small screen of the iPhone even the shortest email requires you to scroll. With a long email you must scroll forever to get to the attachment. Why can’t Apple make a “paper clip” icon at the top to jump directly to it?
2) I’m the type of iPhone user that likes to keep everything clean and up-to-date. So why is it that I can listen to a Voice Mail from a recent caller, but I still need to click the “Recent” icon to remove the notification. It should be removed automatically when
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We know the Nano and iPod Touch don’t come with speakers, so it was nice to see the latest product roll-out from Green Power. Their sliding speaker system is quite nice, compact for the iPod line.
A miniUSB port makes the connection between the iPod and the speaker system. Green Power reports a long playback of nearly 12 hours, but I find that hard to believe because my iPod barely stays charged for 12 hours using the ear buds.
The slider speakers are 1.5Watts which should carry a fairly good sound for desktop use at the office or maybe a quite pool side background music.
No report on price, but if they tag it more than $25, you wont see many takers.
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Today I updated the official company GetUSB.info iPhone to software rev. 3.0. It only took two blue screens of death in Windows to accomplish the task. Hint: Make sure all other applications are closed during the update.
So there are 1.2 million’ish bloggers, blogs and websites that have reported about the iPhone 3.0 software, and I’m adding just one more review. So far 3.0 version is working great. I have many different applications and they all seem to be working just fine.
Three notable features I just love are:
1) The ability to Copy and Paste. About time and love the way Apple has integrated the feature. Here is a snap shot [gotta love the message of the snap shot… Moto Razr crashing…too funny!].
Today I was doing some research for a good solar powered iPhone charger. I went the direction of a DIY [Do It Yourself] project then realized this is all a waste of time. Maybe there are a select few that would jump on a DIY solar powered iPhone charger project, but considering the complexity of the tutorials I found, very very unlikely my average reader would actually do it.
So to save yourself the 30+ minutes of looking for a good tutorial, just spend 3 minutes and buy one that will A) work better, B) look better and C) be cheaper.
The project directions can be found here and you’ll quickly see it’s a complex project that requires some tools you might not have, plus supplies you’ll surely need to buy. All in all, it’s about a $70 project,
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USB tethering is a nickname for getting internet access for a computer through a cell phone. Well, it seems the iPhone 3.0 beta software will have that feature and a programmer has [currently] figured it out.
Scott Forstall, Apple’s Senior VP of iPhone Software, stated on Tuesday that the feature is now built into the OS, but carriers will have to choose whether to take on all that extra network burden and allow access. As developers continue to tinker with the iPhone OS 3.0 beta, though, one has unlocked access to iPhone tethering and taken it for a spin.
An iPhone developer, Steve Troughton, was tinkering around with a couriers itcc file [network access files] and managed to get his iPhone tethered.
The ability to tether an iPhone is not a technical challenge; it’s a network challenge. Computers can haul far more data down a connection than a cell phone, and many carriers are simply not ready to provide that large of a wireless pipe to 17 million iPhone owners.
Source:Â ARS Technica.
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Could this be a threat to the Apples iTunes store? The idea is loading up your applications via USB cable, rather than via iTunes store. This type of app installer would eliminate the need for an iTunes app store.
It seems there are several non-Apple sponsored app stores popping up which is the first step to threaten iTunes…but a direct load via USB cable would even threaten the unofficial app stores.
One of the great things about an Apple iPhone are the abundant number of free or cheap applications you can download. These applications make your life much easier. From Shazam to ID that song playing on the radio, to AroundMe which helps you find things around you like gas stations, coffee houses and hospitals, yet sometimes you need a physical upgrade to make your iPhone a bit better.
Today, USBFever introduces the mini microphone for the iPhone. This small attachment makes it possible to record conversations, depositions, meetings or interview conversations for you live bloggers.
The iPhone is truly becoming your single device for mobile travel, work and communication. I’m mean really, what else do you need? Maybe video capability…
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What is more economical: Buying a 2GB flash drive or downloading a $0.99 cent application to get 2GBs of free storage on your iPhone? Don’t answer. We know.
MiDisk is one of those great iPhone applications. The app gives you the ability to create Directories on your iPhone for storing files, documents etc. It’s great because you don’t need the iPhone sync app – you can use the iPhone as a mass storage device.
So how do you make the iPhone a mass storage device of 2GBs?
Turn on the application (while in Wi-Fi), point a web browser to the link that it gives you, and there you go. You have full access to all information stored within this application. The information held inside the application is protected by a PIN number. To turn on access to the files within the application, your PIN number must be entered.
You can also view your documents with the built in documents viewer. You can view image, text, PDF, and many more types of files.
Wi-Fi is required to use this application. In situations where a Wi-Fi network is not available, if the computer supports Ad-Hoc, you are set.
Store your information in multiple directories to keep organized. Easily remove and add new files as you need.
Here is the step-by-step:
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Do you know what Femtocells are? I didn’t know until just the other day when I read an article about AT&T testing Femtocells to boost iPhone reception inside your home. To restate: a femtocell is a device to boost your mobile phone signal. You can say phone booster. Apparently Sprint has been selling this technology for a while and now AT&T is on board to improve their popular selling iPhone.
The goal is to improve your G3 service inside the home via your high speed internet connection. Think of a femtocell as turning your house into a cell phone tower.
Testing is currently taking place through AT&T with expected products to ship the first half of next year. So for those of you in the void, yet addicted to your iPhone, there is hope. And it’s on the way.
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Do you know what Femtocells are? I didn’t know until just the other day when I read an article about AT&T testing Femtocells to boost iPhone reception inside your home. To restate: a femtocell is a device to boost your mobile phone signal. You can say phone booster. Apparently Sprint has been selling this technology for a while and now AT&T is on board to improve their popular selling iPhone.
The goal is to improve your G3 service inside the home via your high speed internet connection. Think of a femtocell as turning your house into a cell phone tower.
Testing is currently taking place through AT&T with expected products to ship the first half of next year. So for those of you in the void, yet addicted to your iPhone, there is hope. And it’s on the way.
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