tech news and opinions
As interesting as this patent seems I don’t know whether or not I would really use these gestures. The backspace one and the return one seems incredibly intuitive but that might be as far as this patent will go in terms of real world uses.
Multi-Touch Swipe Gestures for iPhone Keyboard – Mac Rumors.
I highly doubt that this is real, especially since if it was real then it would be an image thats copyright was owned by Apple, and Apple would have sent out takedown notices by now. but, since they haven’t sent them out yet it is safe to say that this image at least is fake.
But, you can’t rule out the possibility of an iPhone Nano completely since XSKN has already started selling skins for the yet to be announced iPhone Nano. Although I find it hard to believe Apple would make such a change to the iPhone platform this early on in its life you have to remember that XSKN also released iPhone 3G and second generation iPod Touch skins a bit early as well.
iPhone Nano Concept Photo? – Mac Rumors.
XSKN iPhone Nano cases go up for sale, rumor mill catches fire.
Dear MG Siegler,
Why the heck do you have 9 pages worth of applications? I understand that it is nice to have all of your applications with you at all times but I guarantee that you don’t use any more than 3 pages worth of them on a regular basis. I personally only have 2 pages worth of applications and that consists of only 9 3rd party applications.
The beauty of the iPhone and its ease of use is based on its simplicity, I know that you don’t want to have to make a decision on what applications you need on your phone but you may have to. The iPhone doesn’t need folders and search it needs you to make a decision on what of those 25 different games you actually play, because I’m sure you don’t play all of them.
I understand that you claim to have been managing applications in iTunes by unchecking unused apps but you need to pay attention to ones you actually open because I’m sure you don’t actually open all 129 of those applications that you have installed on a daily basis.
You also talk about how everyone who owns an iPhone or iPod Touch are going to download tons of applications in 2009 and you are right but you don’t use all of them and should not install the ones you don’t use. I don’t want there to be application search OR folders on the iPhone because the fact that it doesn’t have them is why the iPhone is so great. Mucking up the interface with more tedius features or buttons to click is what will hurt the iPhone experience overall. So you have a choice to make, either uninstall some apps or deal with having a slightly difficult time finding apps (or you could always organize them on pages based on app categories).
I know I may sound like an Apple apologetic at this point but I’m really not, in fact when Apple does something I don’t like, I’m one of the first to speak up about it, fortunately Apple doesn’t seem to make very many mistakes. I don’t think that is just my Apple loving eyes that can’t see those mistakes but instead the fact that Apple has commited to making simple and easy to use devices. If Apple started making crap, or doing things with UI I didn’t like I would complain, but until that happens I think I’m going to stick with enjoying my Apple gadgets without complaining about problems I caused.
Sincerely,
Michael
The need for iPhone app folders and search is quickly approaching » VentureBeat.
One word: awesome
Game publisher Konami has announced some major support for the iPhone platform in 2009. The company plans to bring some of their biggest franchises to the device, including Metal Gear Solid, Silent Hill, Dance Dance Revolution, and Frogger.
Konami announces Metal Gear and Silent Hill titles for iPhone – Apple Gazette.
It seems unlikely that this would be announced at an event that doesn’t feature Steve Jobs. But, let’s be honest it doesn’t seem very likely to begin with. Why would Apple make such a change to a brand new platform. Too many developers would have to make too many changes to their apps too early in their lifespan, the App Store will only be 6 months old at the rumored time of release. Absolutely ridiculous. Unless of course, this new iPhone wasn’t compatible with the App Store, but isn’t that what is currently making the iPhone so great?
iPhone Nano Rumors Revived in Otherwise Quiet Lead-in to Macworld – Mac Rumors.
Many have been waiting for this and it is finally here. The iPhone 3G has been unlocked and will be released soon.
The Dev Team has also announced that sometime before Christmas there will be a live demo of the unlock streamed over Qik. The stream will be announced via Twitter as it begins.
We have been working hard on a few other things. The main one being the 3G unlock codenamed “yellowsn0w”. This is now completed and is currently being packaged into a user-friendly application with the simplicity that you see in QuickPwn or BootNeuter.
Ngmoco’s Neil Young announced in our forums that Rolando will be released on December 18th, 2008. The date also confirms early ads (see right) that have been spotted on the web. Young also reveals that new videos, screenshots and information will be released this week.
It isn’t launching until Friday but when it does you will be able to copy and paste text from within Safari to text fields within Safari or to an email.
I’m not even going to rag on the demonstration video because they mess up the text selection initially (even though technically that was ragging on it) but what I will say is that all of you who are asking for copy and paste seem to stop at nothing.
The implementation uses a combination of javascript bookmarks and web services to get the job done. My main question is, who is going to use this?
I know I won’t because I would rather reference something with a link, not actual text. It isn’t that difficult to give someone a link and tell them which paragraph you are specifying.
I understand why all of you want copy and paste but I still haven’t seen anyone with a clear idea of how to implement it elegantly. I’m sure Apple is trying to figure out an easy way to do it too but it is pretty clear to me that no one has a good idea yet. The solution has to be both simple, easy to use, and easy to learn, all without cluttering the screen with yet another button. I don’t see how this could be done but I’m sure if anyone is going to figure it out, the guys at Apple will.
(as you can probably gather I have no interest in copy and paste, I’ve probably only been in about 3 situations in which I wanted it and I’ve had my iPhone since launch day, the majority of those situations involved entering a WPA key as well)
Update: I’ve set up PasteBud on my iPhone and if I need it I will use it. In about a week or so I’ll share my experiences with it. I don’t expect needing to use it but I may be surprised.
Yesterday Apple began taking orders for the new iPod Earphones with remote and mic and a support document was posted on their website (HT3310) that talked about compatibility of the new earphones and all of the iPod/iPhone models. According to the support document the new earphones are fully supported only by currently generation iPods and are partially supported by all iPhone models (volume up/down is not supported).
I talked to an Apple representative regarding a software update to the iPhone that would add support for the volume buttons on the new headphones and unfortunately (and expectedly) they didn’t have any information on any future updates that could add that functionality.
It’s possible that the reason Apple is doing this is to add some differences between the iPod and iPhone line, they did add some differences to the iPod Touch and iPhone with the most recent firmware not adding walking or transit directions to the iPod Touch and then of course we have this.
It doesn’t seem that Apple is losing any sales with the iPod Touch on the market practically competing against the iPhone but maybe Apple sees it differently.
In terms of hardware the connection is there for the iPhone to sense that the volume buttons are being pressed and I would assume that with a simple software update that functionality could be added but I guess we’ll have to wait and see for right now.
This does change my opinion on these new headphones though, I am still going to purchase them just incase volume support is added to the iPhone in the future, and besides they are the same price as the standard iPhone headphones.