Twitter for iPhone and iPad just got an update and the big news is —
push notifications. This has been a highly desired feature for a very long time. At the moment, push notifications for the official Twitter app are only available for @mentions and direct messages.
Interestingly, Twitter does not include push notifications in the
release notes. So it was a pleasant surprise to see Twitter asking for
permission to send push notifications when launching for the first time
after the install. Was this intentional?
I know there are some users who have refused to use the official
Twitter app because it did not offer push notifications. If you’re one
of those users, is this enough to make the switch?
Who’s excited for this feature? Do you plan to enable push
notifications from Twitter or will you stick with a third party solution
such as Boxcar?
UPDATE: Twitter has updated the change log to include push notifications for @mentions and messages.
UPDATE 2: Twitter has been updated again. Go get it again.
Google’s official Google Voice app for iPhone has just hit the iTunes App Store.
Access your Google Voice account right from your iPhone.
Receive push notifications for new text or voicemail messages.
Send free text messages to U.S. numbers and make international calls at cheap rates.
Listen to your voicemail, read transcripts and manage your Google Voice inbox.
Display your Google Voice number as caller ID when making calls.
Call contacts from your iPhone Address Book or enter new numbers on the dialpad.
A Google Voice account is required to use this app. To sign up go to www.google.com/voice.
Google Voice is only available in the United States.
Wow, who thought we’d ever get to type those words? While the last
bullet point is a bit of a bummer, there’s no denying this ends one of
the darker chapters of iOS and App Store history — which included an FCC
investigation and revealed the first cracks in what had previously been
an Apple/Google love-fest.
If you’re trying it out let us know how you like it and how it compares to GV Mobile and other 3rd party offerings.
Now where’s the official Gmail app?
[Free - iTunes link]
In a report by SquareTrade, a company that sells extended warranties for many mobile devices, Apple’s iPhone 4 was found to be the device least likely to have electronic malfunctions. However, it also had the highest likelihood of breaking when dropped. From TechCrunch:
The year long study looked at 50,000 warranty replacements. The iPhone 4 had the fewest malfunctions not due to accidental damage while Motorola and HTC Android phones tied for second. As for breakage, the iPhone 4 is king of the heap with 9.4%
Not related to the possibleGlassgate situation, this news is still rather off-putting in a world where the iPhone 4 is one of the greatest designed phones around — but that design includes glass on both sides.
During Steve Jobs’ recent anti-Android tiradeon an Apple earnings call, Jobs said his company “anxiously” awaited a report that would show which mobile operating system had the best performance. Here it is, Mr. Jobs.
Gartner released its Q3 2010 estimates and Symbian retained the top spot as best-selling mobile OS. But to Jobs’ likely dismay, Android has surpassed iOS to become the second most popular operating system among handsets sold in the last three months.
Android has already established itselfas the best in the U.S., but not in the rest of the world. Gartner reports that Android accounted for 25.5 percent of global smartphone sales; iOS accounted for 16.7 percent. That’s a complete role reversal from Android’s 3.5 percent during Q3 2009 and iOS’s 17 percent.
Android is the No. 2 global operating system, but it’s No. 1 on Verizon. Gartner estimates that 75 to 80 percent of phones sold on Verizon were Android.
The Galaxy S line helped Samsung become the second best-performing manufacturer, though that includes non-Android products.
Other Android-producing companies include Sony Ericsson at No. 6, Motorola at #7, and HTC at #8.
MacStories.net is reporting that one of their sources working close with AT&T revealed that Applewill release iOS 4.2 on Fridayat 10AM PST for the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. MacStories is also reporting that tomorrow will see the release of iTunes 10.1 and Mac OS X 10.6.5 viaSoftware Update. Both iTunes 10.1 and Mac OS X 10.6.5 are presumed to be required for the iOS 4.2 update for its AirPlay and AirPrint functionality.
Last week theGold Master of iOS 4.2was released to developers and just last night a new version of Mac OS X 10.6.5 was seeded to devs. Apple had previously stated that iOS 4.2 would be released sometime this month.
You probably know by now what Google Instant does . We have been using Google Instant for a couple of weeks on our computers and now that everyone is getting used to Google Instant , Google has made the Instant beta available on most of the mobile devices in US .
To experience the Google Instant on mobile platform just visit Google.com or if you are visiting Google from some country specific Google domain , click the Go to Google.com on the homepage . On the Google.com page just turn 'On' the Instant (beta ) and you are ready to experience the power of Instant on your iPhone or Android phone .
Like the desktop version of Google Instant, when you type on your mobile device you’ll see predictions of what you might be searching for. If you type [air], for example, you should see [airtran] [airline tickets] along with other predictions. Results for the first prediction appear automatically, and tapping on the other predictions will display those results. Pressing the enter key or the search button skips the predictions and will display results for exactly what you’ve typed.
Google Instant for mobile works best on 3G and WiFi networks, but since the quality of any wireless connection can fluctuate, we’ve made it easy to enable or disable Google Instant without ever leaving the page. Just tap the “Turn on” or “Turn off” link. The new AJAX and HTML5 implementation has proved to be a great improvement on speed of search results and the capability to update pages with each key stoke rather than the need to load a new page on each query .
But the key question in our mind is the real estate which smartphones offer , while searching on the Instant , the keyboard consumes 40% of screen space and the 10% is consumed by search query box , so each query can display only 2 results and to look further we need to scroll down . While typing again takes us back to the query box even from the last result you are viewing and that's a smart feature . While the Instant beta will evolve over time and we will have a complete web based search solution on our smartphones too but before that just check out our demo video below :
Remember the Square card reader and payment service
from our first hands-on video in January at Macworld Expo 2010? Square
makes it possible for anyone, whether an individual or small business,
to take payments via credit card. Shortly after Macworld Expo, I signed
up for the service; I finally received my free credit card reader
yesterday.
The reader is a tiny square box that plugs into the audio port on iOS
devices or other smartphones. Rather than using an expensive (usually
$75 or more) "sled" reader like those used in Apple's retail stores,
Square developed a reader that did not use the dock connector or need
the blessing of Apple's "Made For iPhone" certification. These readers
have no moving parts and are so inexpensive to manufacture that Square
can give them away.
Anyone can sign up for the service and get a free reader. If you want
to be able to split a bar tab with friends and have them pay you via
credit card, you can get a Square account and reader, and then simply
swipe your friends cards to get paid. Square takes 2.75% of the
transaction + 15¢ per swipe if you can get your drunk friends to provide
their finger-written signatures, and 3.5% + 15¢ if they don't sign.
Does that sound like a lot? To an individual, it might, but to small
businesses who are used to hefty sign-up fees, monthly account minimums,
merchant account fees, and higher percentages, Square is a hell of a
deal.
The guys behind the iPhone-powered 58-inch multitouch table (think Microsoft Surface) have released a video demonstrating how the system works. Essentially, all you do is hook up your iPhone 4 to the table-top display and away you go. The iPhone 4 display is replicated on the 58-inch screen, and behaves the same way a normal iPhone would (save for the 17x size amplification, of course).
The two guys in the video seem to access the Springboard just fine, they swipe between pages and launch the Photos app. It doesn’t look like a fake, as many readers claimed. The iPhone also seems to be able to output UI elements on that bigger screen just fine.
Check out the video below to get a better impression of how it’s working so far. Although this is just a couple of dudes putting a good idea into effect, it would be awesome if we actually see this hit the market sometime down the road.
Video after the break. Would you be willing to slap down your hard-earned cash for something like this if it’s ever released?
Building on yesterday’s story of Apple announcing they wouldn’t be releasing the white iPhone 4until Spring 2011comes new rumors that they’ve cancelled the phantom shade indefinitely, and will not be making it available whatsoever. BGR reports:
According to a previous source of ours, we have been told that Apple in fact has no plans to release the white model iPhone 4.
With all of the mixed reports we’ve been seeing on the white iPhone lately, we don’t know what to believe anymore. It’s possible that, due to the timeline and events played out so far, Apple may just wait until the iPhone 5 is released in summer 2011 before officially bringing the white iPhone to the table.
What do you think? Will we ever see it? Do you even care anymore?
Google has added iPhone app search to their mobile interface. Just tap “more” and the drop down menu now includes “iPhone apps”. A search will display apps with their icons, price, star rating, and part of a review. Tapping on one brings you to that app in the App Store. Basically, Google has provided an alternate way to search for iPhone apps – and it’s good.
Anyone planning to search for iPhone apps with Google instead of the App Store itself?
Is Apple about to take carrier disintermediation to the next level by contracting their own, built-in SIM card for future iPhones? GigaOm thinks so:
Sources inside European carriers have reported that Apple has been working with SIM-card manufacturer Gemalto to create a special SIM card that would allow consumers in Europe to buy a phone via the web or at the Apple Store and get the phones working using Apple’s App Store.
Right now, even with unlocked iPhones and iPads, you still need to get a carrier-specific SIM card. If the SIM were embedded, however, that’s one less carrier interaction to worry about. The entire process could be shifted to the device, much as plan management is already done on the iPad.
The Gemalto SIM, according to my sources, is embedded in a chip that has an upgradeable flash component and a ROM area. The ROM area contains data provided by Gemalto with everything related to IT and network security, except for the carrier-related information. The flash component will receive the carrier related data via a local connection which could be the PC or a dedicated device, so it can be activated on the network. Gemalto will provide the back-end infrastructure that allows service and number provisioning on the carrier network.
Would it present a problem for multi-device power users accustomed to swapping SIMs between iPhone, Android, webOS, and other handsets? Hopefully not. They’d still have to get a SIM from their carrier, same as now. They just wouldn’t have to worry about swapping their iPhone anymore.
VLC has been updated as a universal app that now supports iPhone as well as iPad. The update is now available in the iTunes App Store and allows you to:
Watch natively unsupported videos on your iPhone or iPad (WMV, AVI etc)
Open natively unsupported video attachments from emails/internet
Open natively unsupported videos from other apps, like Dropbox
VLC also allows you to sync your favourite videos to your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad without having the need to convert them.
Free - iTunes link, thanks to everyone who sent this in!
Some good news for Apple iPhone lovers , the iOS 4.1 round the corner and from what Apple's UK website states iOS4.1 will be seen as soon as September 8th while the US version still has a "Coming Soon" message , so we know what to do , keep our eyes wide open and lets see if we have some shiny new iPod's for retail that day .
RSS Feed
Twitter
![58-inch multitouch table runs on iPhone [Jailbreak + Video]](http://www.tipb.com/images/stories/2010/11/Screen-shot-2010-11-02-at-5.05.33-PM.png "58-inch multitouch table runs on iPhone [Jailbreak + Video]")
