Tech and Amusing Stuff

Yes yes, friends. The day has finally arrived. Apple dropped a new iPhone firmware revision, bringing the official software notation up to version 1.1.1. This new software brings a host of changes and upgrades. Here’s a rundown of some of the more significant changes:

• iTunes Wi-Fi music store
• Louder speakerphone and receiver volume
• Home button double-click functionality
• Double-tap spacebar to intelligently insert period and space
• Apple Bluetooth headset battery status now appears in iPhone Status bar
• Support for TV Out
• EDGE/GPRS can now be manually turned on and off
• Adjustable alert volume

Apple elegantly states they have “discovered that some of the unauthorized unlocking programs available on the Internet may cause irreparable damage to the iPhone’s software. If you have modified your iPhone’s software, applying this software update may result in your iPhone becoming permanetly inoperable” For now, if you’ve “modified” your iPhone, we suggest you wait and see what the word is before updating. Although, the new features look oh-so-good! If you do decide to hit the update, let us know what happens!

Original story

“The iPhone soundly bested both the Nokia N95 and HTC Touch in a recent usability test by Perceptive Sciences, a Texas-based usability consulting firm. The test, which was designed to be as objective as possible, asked ten people who had never used any of the three devices to perform simple tasks, such as setting the phone to vibrate, making a call, saving a phone number to the contact list, sending a brief e-mail, and taking a photo. Completion times for each task were recorded and compared; based on these results and the scientists’ observations, a score of between one and five was awarded. Overall, the iPhone received a score of 4.6 out of 5, compared to the HTC Touch’s score of 3.4 and the N95’s score of 3.2. “Testers were [typically] about twice as fast doing specific tasks on the iPhone, which is pretty remarkable,” said senior research scientist Tom Thornton. The iPhone was triumphant in all but one of the five testing categories, losing to the Nokia N95 in “Functionality.”

Original story

Apple today released a statement regarding the use of iPhone unlocking programs and the changes they make to the iPhone. Apple claims that many of the unauthorized iPhone unlocking programs available online cause “irreparable damage” to the iPhone’s software, and that a future Apple-supplied iPhone software update will likely cause modified iPhones to become “permanently inoperable.” The company also revealed that it will release the next iPhone software update, containing “many” new features including the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store, later this week. Apple went on to strongly discourage iPhone owners from installing unauthorized unlocking programs, and gave the following warning to those still considering the option: “Users who make unauthorized modifications to the software on their iPhone violate their iPhone software license agreement and void their warranty. The permanent inability to use an iPhone due to installing unlocking software is not covered under the iPhone’s warranty.”

Original story

1. Now Playing controls throughout. I’ve complained about this before and thankfully, it’s on the way.
   
2. Double clicking home screen goes to “Favorites” or “iPod”
   
3. iTunes Wifi Store. No surprise there. It’s already running on the Touch.
   
4. Additional iPod features: Closed captioning and support for video out.
   
5. New Calculator icon on the home screen. Hmmm, okay.
6. Multiple, international keyboards.
   
7. Network setup with VPN support and disabling EDGE while roaming. Goodbye $3,000 international roaming bills.
8. Mysterious “Carrier” menu. My personal hope would be support for other carrier’s SIMs internationally within the iPhone family. For example, I travel to England and can insert an O2 SIM.

Speculation as to when this will be released is rampant but I think we all hope sooner rather than later.

 The Touch’s manual shows an option for “.” Shortcut whereby double-tapping the space bar enters a period followed a space. This one is right out of the Blackberry’s playbook and presume it will also be in 1.1.1.

Original story

According to Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster, before Sept. 5, iPhone sales had leveled off at around 9,000 per day, mostly at $600 a pop. Now, following the iPhone price cut, Apple is moving 27,000 per day at $400 each. But is this growth sustainable? No. Munster says he thinks that after this initial 300% sales surge, the price-cut will yield a stable 50% sales increase. Apple has verified none of this.

Original story

let the unlocking begin

read more | digg story

“Seventy four days out from launch, Apple has sold 1 million iPhones—smack dab on target with recent analyst predictions that the iPhone would surpass the mil mark by Sept. 30. In a press release, Steve Jobs said that it took nearly two years to sell that many iPods. The big boss continued: “We can’t wait to get this revolutionary product into the hands of even more customers this holiday season.” Too bad it won’t be that even more revolutionary iPhone that seems just around the corner. Critique aside, we congratulate Apple on the iPhone’s momentum.”

read more | digg story

Apple has signed a patent-licensing agreement with a company called InterDigital for what appeared to be $20 million, plus ongoing royalties, that covers the current iPhone and hints at a 3G successor.

More info

We have decided to offer every iPhone customer who purchased an iPhone from either Apple or AT&T, and who is not receiving a rebate or any other consideration, a $100 store credit towards the purchase of any product at an Apple Retail Store or the Apple Online Store.read more | digg story

“According to research group iSuppli, the iPhone outsold all smartphones in the U.S. in July, accounting for 1.8 percent of all U.S. handset sales. In its first full month on sale, the two models of the iPhone sold more than RIM’s BlackBerry series, the entire Palm line, and any individual smartphone from Motorola, Nokia, or Samsung. In addition, sales of the iPhone equalled those of the LG Chocolate, the most popular feature phone in the U.S., iSuppli said. The firm reiterated its forecast that Apple would sell 4.5 million iPhones this year. “While iSuppli has not collected historical information on this topic, it’s likely that the speed of the iPhone’s rise to competitive dominance in its segment is unprecedented in the history of the mobile-handset market,” iSuppli said. According to the research group, most iPhone buyers in July were college-educated males under the age of 35, and a quarter of iPhone buyers switched operators to purchase the phone”

Original story

An AT&T employee has just informed me that the HTC Kaiser will be coming to AT&T on the 18th of sept.

More info as it develops

UPDATE : My sources were wrong here is the official release date, and here’s the first hands on pictures

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRKIDdIaFyE]
[digg=http://digg.com/apple/Hilarious_ZunePhone_commercial]

Definitely superior than the iPhone….

Original story