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- iPod touch 2.0 update now for sale, for real
Filed under: iPod Family, App Store
Blessed are the patient, for they shall pay $9.95 (or $10.79, with sales tax depending on your billing address) and download the iPod touch 2.0 Software Update (store link), and yea they shall wait some 20 to 30 minutes for the 226 MB of new firmware to descend from the high Akamai and bestow App Store access upon them. In point of fact, also blessed are the impatient who remained awake and clicked the "Upgrade" button every five minutes up until 12 am ET, which is about when everything started to get moving.
Downloading it now, gallery below, first impressions to come. We have a warning from reader Paul that his upgrade to 2.0 (on an iPhone first-gen, not a touch) nuked his Address Book data, so be sure to back up before you upgrade your devices. We also have a tip from Cody that Canadian would-be buyers of the 2.0 update and App Store goodies must use a credit card; iTunes gift cards are not working to place the order.
Note that there is a new SLA accompanying this upgrade, as one might expect (PDF here). If you're hungry for more as you wait for your upgrade to download and run, you can browse the list of iPod touch-compatible apps or check out our First Looks so far.
Update: Installed, resynced and bought some apps -- all working as expected except for Mail, which is hanging on start and kicking back to the main screen. Going to try wiping it down and resyncing if I can. A note to the commenters who are suggesting pulling a torrent of the new firmware instead of coughing up the $10... c'mon, are you going to risk your $300 iPod's health on a pirated software update? It's $10. Give up cigarettes or something.
Thanks to everyone who sent this in.
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - Create Digital Music on early iPhone music apps
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Audio, iPod Family, Multimedia, iPhone, App Store
Peter Kirn over at Create Digital Music has weighed in on early iPhone music apps. His verdict? You'd still do better to get a PSP or a Nintendo DS for handheld music apps. While the App Store has metronomes, guitar tuners and the like, there's nothing really exciting there yet.
It's a shame, too, because the iPhone / iPod Touch seems made for doing cool future-y music stuff. I'd personally love to see an app that simply lets you put interface objects like sliders or buttons or X-Y pads on the iPhone screen and link each one to a MIDI control sent over Bluetooth to a host machine running a synthesizer. You could turn the iPhone into a far cheaper (though far smaller) version of the JazzMutant Lemur, using your shiny new phone like a Kaoss Pad or an Akai MPC drum/sample pad. Or you could use the motion sensors to scratch samples, ala Serato or FruityLoops. I even suspect that Apple may soon drop an app that lets you use the iPhone as a virtual mixing board / transport control for GarageBand and Logic like the now-defunct and frankly unlamented iControl. The ability to control Logic remotely from inside my vocal booth (aka my closet) would be enough on its own to make me give up my tasty Nokia futurephone and drop a couple of Benjamins on the iPhone.
I agree with Peter that it's early days yet; it's just a matter of time before you see groups of kids hanging out on the corner with their iPhones making beats in real-time, a high tech version of the guys who hang around in Manhattan making music with plastic buckets.
Heck of an expensive plastic bucket, though.Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - iPhone developer program acceptance faucet turned on
Filed under: SDK
We've gotten word from a score of would-be iPhone developers late today that their long-standing applications to Apple's SDK program have finally been accepted, meaning that they can actually pay their $99 for a signing certificate to allow delivery of their applications to real, plastic-and-batteries iPhones. This comes after recent reports of a 6-month waiting list that might be rapidly whittled down after the App Store launch. We're also told that the SDK is no longer using a beta numbering scheme and may be officially considered as released, although as far as we know the NDA is still in effect.
Considering the attention and mindspace lead that the first wave of iPhone developers has already gotten due to the publicity (not all good) surrounding today's launch, it might be prudent for these 2nd wave devs to carefully assess what wins and loses in the iPhone app marketplace before throwing too much weight behind a single product concept. Nevertheless, we've long supported the idea of a fully open iPhone developer community, and another slew of acceptances is a big step forward on that front. If you applied for developer status, check your email!
Thanks pope13, acidscan & eRead | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - Security improvements in iPhone 2.0 firmware
Filed under: iPhone
I bet you thought the iPhone 2.0 firmware was all about whizbang new features, or the App Store. Well, it pretty much is, but it also includes some security updates. Apple has posted a KB article that details all the security improvements that are baked into the 2.0 firmware. It is well worth a read if you're paranoid like me (most of the improvements deal with websites that are crafted to cause mischief on your iPhone).
[via MacNN]Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - First Look: NYTimes
Filed under: iPod Family, iPhone, App Store
If there was one application on the App Store that I wanted to love it was the NYTimes app (iTunes link). I've mentioned before that I'm a big fan of the New York Times and that's why it is so disappointing to me that I can't recommend this app. The New York Times mobile site is great on the iPhone, and this appliction is not. I tested it via WiFi on my first gen iPhone and it was slow, images didn't load, and advertisements took up a good portion of the screen from time to time.
The search function is nice, but it isn't reason enough to waste your time on this one. Stick with the Mobile version of the Times' website and save some space on your iPhone.
Check out this gallery for lots of screenshots.
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - Philly's new Mayor doesn't want an iPhone
Filed under: Odds and ends, iPhone
Last year the Mayor of Philadelphia, the city that I call home, made headlines for waiting outside an AT&T store to get one of the first iPhones. There is a new Mayor in town, Michael Nutter, and he has no interest in the iPhone. Mayor Nutter said, "I'm not an iPhone guy. I use a Blackberry. I usually go to the store, walk in and get one."
Philadelphians will rest easier knowing that our mayor isn't sitting outside an AT&T store, though I think Mayor Nutter should give the iPhone a try. He might like it...Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - Found Footage: Dev Team Posts Video
Filed under: iPod Family, iPhone
If you've been thinking the iPhone Dev Team (the team behind the jailbreaking applications) would die out after firmware 2.0, then think again. That's because the dev team has just published a video showing the jailbreaking process for a 2.0 iPhone.
Update: We are currently uploading the video, in the mean time you can view the video on the iPhone Dev's website.Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - Apple had a bad day
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, iPod Family, iPhone, MobileMe
Last year, I took my toddlers -- at the time 4-years-old and 2-years-old -- to see a play. We intended to meet up with a friend of mine and her 4-year-old.
Hours before, the whole thing fell apart. My friend offered to sit with the older of the two while the 2-year-old and I went off on our own. I agreed, and 90 minutes later the kids and I were sweating in the worst traffic jam I had ever seen.
We arrived 20 minutes late and had to park at the far end of the lot. Stressed, I sprinted to the box office with a toddler under each arm, praying it was open. Panting and drenched, I put them down and handed my debit card to the woman behind the glass.
"Cash only" she said.
That was a bad day. But it's nothing when compared to the trouble Apple and AT&T have experienced over the past 36 hours.
MobileMe was initially scheduled to go live between 6 p.m. and 12 a.m. PT on July 9th. At 9:30PM Eastern, Apple stated that the transition would take place between 8 p.m. and 2 a.m. PT. As of this writing MobileMe is live, but not all of the push services are working.
As for the 3G iPhone, there are plenty in stores. The problem is that customers can't get them working. Reports are coming in of people waiting for hours in Apple Stores while employees attempt activation. Some are being told to go home and activate on their own, only to find that activation servers are down. Not the PR either company wanted today.
Additionally, the 2.0 iPhone software became available yesterday, a day earlier than Apple intended. Today, it's out for real, but the same servers hindering 3G iPhone activation are preventing 1st generation iPhones from re-activating after receiving the update.
Finally, the iPod touch update was available briefly before disappearing again (as of this writing). Just like the iPhone users, iPod touch users are a bit cranky.
Everyone has a bad day, but unfortunately this affects a lot of people. The best we can say is buck up, little Apple soldiers. This will soon be over.
At least you're not standing with two cranky toddlers in the hot sun.
Image used with permission from Sean O'Steen.Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - iToner 1.0.8 ready for iPhone 2.0
iToner is Ambrosia's application that makes it easy to put free ringtones on your iPhone. Because really -- paying for ringtones is ridiculous.
It works without hacks or tricks. Simply drop any MP3, AAC, WAVE, or AIFF audio file onto the application's window and boom! You're done.
Ambrosia released version 1.0.8 this week, which offers compatibility with the iPhone 2.0 software. Other changes include
- Support for iTunes 7.7
- Japanese localizaton
[Via Ars Technica]Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - Hands on with Moto Racer
Filed under: Gaming, iPhone, App Store
Last night, I had the opportunity to sit down and play with Moto Racer (iTunes link) for over an hour. Retailing for $9.99, it's one of the new Freeverse titles available at the iPhone App Store. In it, you play a motorcycle racer and race along several courses. Newer harder courses unlock as you pass easier ones.
I had no trouble passing the first dusty town course -- it was very easy to ride -- but I did have to lower the difficulty (found in the Options screen) to get past the second old-growth forest course. My girls insisted on testing the game and proved to be far better riders than me.
We all gave thumbs up to the game play, the placement of the left-thumb controlled gas pedal and the optional female racer (girl power!). Thumbs down went to the sound track, the weakest part of an otherwise excellent game and the relatively high default difficulty.
Both phone orientation as well as the gas pedal control your progress through the various courses. The camera-work really zooms you into the action with cut-pieces as well as rider point of view.
The game play is familiar to anyone who's done arcade gaming. You have to pass each checkpoint to earn extra game time. Coins appear in the road, boosting you to higher speeds to help you make it to the next checkpoint.
I found that I often suffered from "lead thumb", forgetting to ease up on the gas before entering curves. Going off road significantly slows you down and is a killer for making those checkpoints happen.
All in all, I found Moto Racer entertaining. The girls rated it extremely entertaining. On a Gameboy scale, this is the kind of game that we'd usually pay $4.99 rather than $9.99. On the more expensive Wii scale, this would clock in right at the $9.99 mark. It's no Excite Bike but it may keep you or your kids happy on a long car ride.
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - iPhone activation working
Filed under: iPhone
We've gotten a number of happy iPhone users telling us that activations are working once more. I've been encountering a number of iTunes errors myself while trying to update my iPhone to the 2.0 firmware, though I just tried once more and it worked.
Your mileage may vary, but it looks like things are slowly getting up to full speed once more.Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - After the Line Blog
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, iTS, iTunes, Apple, iPhone
Well, I'm back home after five hours in line at the Apple Store, less $389.98 (I bought AppleCare and a 16GB iPhone 3G). What do I have to show for it?
As of 1:00 PM MDT, everything is suddenly working. I have an iPhone 3G, although I've now discovered that I don't have 3G service at my home despite the AT&T coverage map showing that I do. My old iPhone is no longer sending or receiving phone calls, but at least I can use it as an iPod touch over Wi-Fi.
Read after the break for a recap of my morning:Continue reading After the Line Blog
Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - InsanelyGreat iPhone apps
Filed under: Software, iPhone, App Store
Magnetism Studios, the guys behind Insanely Great Tees, have just launched four iPhone apps, which they are dubbing "Magnet Apps."
Two of the apps are $4.99 and two are $2.99.
Here are the details:
Tile Sudoku ($4.99)
Sudoku is a popular puzzle game choice for iPhone devs, but Tile Sudoku has a neat little twist. Instead of selecting a number from a list, you drag numbered tiles to the correct space on the Sudoku grid. If you make a mistake, you can move the tile to the correct space or back to the tile bar. I haven't used any of the Sudoku iPhone apps yet (I have played some of the web-based versions), but this seems to make a lot of ergonomic sense.
You can buy it from the App Store here.
Mr. Shuffle ($2.99)
It's Mr. Potato Head on the iPhone! Mr. Shuffle lets you create funny faces out of cartoon parts. You can then add speech bubbles or captions to customize the images further. While all that is cool, the most fun part is probably the feature that lets you add elements to pictures you take of your friends from the iPhone camera.
You can buy it from the App Store here.
City Transit ($2.99)
Everytime I visit New York City, I dread having to carry around a transit map guide like a tourist. And even then, you never really know where the closest station is to your location or if there has been some sort of service change. City Transit aims to change all that. For $2.99, you get officially licensed MTA subway maps, a GPS-based station finder to find the nearest station (and it is integrated with Maps so you can get walking directions too) and service advisories from the MTA website, so that you know can quickly out about any line changes.
Magnetism has designed City Transit to have an expandable architecture and in the future you should be able to download maps for buses and commuter rail lines. This really looks like the perfect app for anyone who commutes to NYC.
You can buy it from the App Store here.
File Magnet ($4.99)
File Magnet, which right now will only work in conjunction with Macs running Leopard, is a way to transfer files to and from your Mac from your iPhone or iPod Touch over Wi-Fi and then view them. It supports PDF, DOC, TXT, RTF, RTFD, HTML, PNG, TIF, JPEG. GIF and iPhone compatible movies and audio files. Support for Excel and iWork files is coming soon. So instead of having to e-mail yourself PDF files, you can just load the File Magnet Uploader on your Mac and send it directly to your iPhone.
It does require Wi-Fi to transfer files back and forth, and is not compatible with Windows.
You can buy it from the App Store here.
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - iPhone Dev Center is down
Filed under: Developer, iPhone
Sing with me, boys and girls:
Oh the dev site is down, down, down.
Perhaps the beta is going away
Mayhaps we'll say goodbye to the nda.
Dance and sing and (possibly) rejoice
For the iPhone dev site is down
Okay, yes, that's a really bad set of lyrics. And the tune I'm singing them to is even worse: it's a good thing you can't hear it. Anyway, keep your eyes on the site, which currently says "We'll be right back" and let us know if any of you eagle eyed TUAW readers spots any changes.
(They didn't even give us a yellow sticky for the developer site. Isn't that sad?)
Thanks to everyone who sent this in!
Looks like the site is back up. Anyone see anything new?
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - In and Out in Four Hours: Getting the iPhone 3G on Day One
Filed under: iPhone
Today, as you are all aware, is iPhone 3G day. All across the land eager fans are waiting patiently in lines waiting for their chance to drop their hard-earned cash for a shiny new iPhone. Of course, I was one of them. Braving the wee hours and heading to my local Apple Store of choice, Sherman Oaks Fashion Square, I arrived around 6AM for an 8AM store opening.
When I arrived there were about 50 people in front of me already waiting -- some with folding chairs and one or two even with sleeping bags. So, I got into line and waited. As time went on the line behind me got longer and longer and after about an hour they decided to move us all inside the mall to wait. That's where the real fun began.
Once inside, we waited for another hour and finally, to thunderous applause, the store opened and the first thirty people in line went in. As they did, a blue-shirted Apple employee went along the line telling us it should be about 15 minutes a person when inside the store to buy an iPhone and go through the activation process. Sadly, his estimate was a bit on the optimistic side.It took almost 45 minutes for the first person who had gone in the store to exit with a new iPhone. So, my time inside the mall stretched on and on. Finally, after another hour, around 10AM at this point, I was let inside. Once inside, the process went relatively smoothly and I got my iPhone, opened it and connected it to a Mac with iTunes open for the "final" step of activation. At that point I felt my iPhone 3G saga would finally be at an end and I would be enjoying all the 3G goodness in just a few moments. Sadly, I was still to be denied.
Activation via iTunes at the Apple store failed. And then failed again. And again. Finally, after about seven or eight attempts, a manager come over and told me just to take the iPhone home and connect it there. So, after about four hours total from arriving and getting in line to leaving the store, I still didn't actually have a working iPhone.
That was about 30 minutes ago. I've attempted activation at least three more times since arriving home and still no love from AT&T. So, for the moment, my brand new iPhone 3G is a relatively expensive paperweight. Perhaps AT&T will get its act together soon and this will all be over and my iPhone will actually work? I won't hold my breath.
Update: After another hour or so my iPhone got a text message from AT&T saying it had been activated. After that, the "activation" via iTunes went all the way through. Next. I was able to restore everything and the iPhone seems to be working fine now.
Couple other points: You will have to set up your voicemail again after activation completes, so hopefully you remember your password. I didn't. Fortunately, it can be reset at the AT&T website once you log in to your accout. And, it seems I don't have very good 3G coverage at my house, so I don't even know how well that works yet. More on that as I test out the iPhone.Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - Top five iPhone gripes
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, iPhone
Yes, the iPhone is today's "it girl." Everyone wants to see and be seen with her. But life with the iPhone isn't all champagne and bon-bons.
Here are our Top 5 iPhone Gripes. If yours isn't on the list, please let us know.
5. No multimedia text messages
My parents live in Florida, because they're in their 60s and that's the rule. Recently, they purchased fancy-dancy cell phones with cameras. Even more exciting is that they know out how to use them, and constantly send me pictures of manatees, their kitchen and so on.
At least, they try.
My iPhone beeps and displays a message which says, "I sent you a multimedia message. You can view my message w/in the next 7 days via the web at viewmymessage.com using MSG ID [Obscure ID] Password [Obscure Password]."
Clicking on the link launches Mobile Safari which produces a web page asking for Obscure ID and Obscure Password. Since each is a collection of upper- and lower-case letters plus numbers, it's difficult to remember. So, I must return to the text message, write Obscure ID and Obscure Password on a piece of paper, go back to the web page, type Obscure ID and Obscure Password on the tiny keyboard and wait for the teeny, tiny pictures to load.
So that's fun.
Read more gripes after the jump.Continue reading Top five iPhone gripes
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - iPhone 3G on display in Germany: alles in Ordnung
Filed under: iPhone
Hallo
vomaus Deutschland! Since I haven't been able to participate in most of the line-waiting, MobileMe-stalling, activation-collapsing fun yesterday and today, and the 29 pages of lovely iPod touch apps are inaccessible until the touch update drops, I figured the least I could do was post a picture of one lonely iPhone 3G on display in the T-Mobile store in the Innenstadt (central city) of Osnabrück, a medium-sized city in the northwest portion of the country.
The caption reads "Das iPhone, auf das Sie gewartet haben" -- the iPhone you've been waiting for. Despite reports of mob scenes elsewhere, I can report that if you're looking for an iPhone 3G in Osnabrück youcan just walk in, lay down your euros and buy it with nobody in a sleeping bag blocking your wayregister for one when they get back into stock (weak!).Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - First Look: Evernote for iPhone
Filed under: Productivity, Internet Tools, iPhone, App Store
Evernote for iPhone (iTunes link) looks to fill one of the big remaining holes on the iPhone: virtual notes syncing. Basically, the iPhone app is a stripped down version of the Evernote client which allows you to create and access notes which are stored in the Evernote cloud. Once created these notes can be accessed on the web or through any Evernote client application (they're available for Mac OS X, Windows and Windows Mobile).
If you're running the Evernote client for Mac OS X you can easily create notes accessible on your iPhone. Technically, this isn't syncing since the notes are not really stored on the iPhone itself; a network connection is required to access the notes. It's rather unfortunate that there isn't any kind of caching on the iPhone, because this means you lose access to all your notes if, for instance, you go on a plane.
The Evernote application allows you to create several different kinds of "notes." Naturally you can create text notes. However, you can also create "Audio Notes" recording a short audio message to yourself, or either of two kinds of photo notes: from a previous taken snapshot, or one newly generated from within the application itself. You can then select which notebook you want it added to, as well as add tags and text. Once saved it goes into the pending category and is shortly uploaded to the cloud. Unfortunately, once created you can only access (and delete) notes from the iPhone; you cannot edit them.
There are a few rough edges on the app. Sometimes the syncing does seem to work quite right. Text notes created on the iPhone default to a ridiculously tiny font. And you cannot edit notes. Nonetheless, it's a handy addition to the iPhone toolkit and finally provides a reasonably good work-around for the missing notes syncing. Check out the gallery below.
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - Mobile Me appears to be up and running
Filed under: MobileMe
I realize I post this at great personal peril, but Mobile Me appears to be working. Apple has updated the Mobile Me support page with information specific to Mobile Me, and has removed the notice about the update taking longer than usual.
After a rough first 24 hours, Mobile Me services appear to be mostly operational, although for me, Mail is still a little shaky, and everything is still pretty slow.
Even so, Internet Explorer 7 users appear to be left in the lurch: Apple displays a notice for those users saying IE7 is "not fully supported." Apple mentions on its website that Mobile Me can sync IE7 bookmarks, and features the IE7 logo fairly prominently.
Your mileage, as has been the case for the last 48 hours, may vary. It will be interesting to find out in the coming days what precisely happened, and what Apple will do to prevent it from happening in the future.
Thanks to everyone who sent this in!
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - UK iPhone launch hampered by IE?
Filed under: iPhone
Computerworld is reporting that our friends in the UK have been frustrated by the iPhone 3G launch. It would seem that while the iPhone 3G is for sale in Apple Stores, the activation process isn't working smoothly (sound familiar?). Why is that, you ask? Because O2, that's the UK wireless company that has the iPhone, uses an activation system that only works with IE. Apple had to install Fusion on the Macs in the UK Apple Stores in order to activate iPhones on the spot, and it seems that the system isn't working as smoothly as many would like.Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать
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