Iphone Updates

Part of the WiMAX World festivities taking place this week, Motorola was on hand in Chicago last night to demonstrate fragments of the Mobile WiMAX build-out it’s been throwing together to support the upcoming launch of Sprint’s Xohm service. A leisurely cruise took curious onlookers down the Chicago River while Moto demonstrated a variety of WiMAX-friendly goodies like VoIP and streaming video, with handoffs flawlessly (apparently) transitioning the signal from access point to access point amongst canyons of skyscrapers, steel, and cement. The company also took its demo onto the “streets along the Chicago River while driving at speeds beyond 50 mph,” a clear violation of local traffic laws, so we’re hoping Moto’s got some money socked away in its meager coffers to pony up some fines. Anyway, if all goes well, the demos foretell a late ‘07 soft launch of Xohm’s Chicago network, with a commercial release in April of next year.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

We know the rebadging / knockoff fiends have kicked out some seriously stupefying gear in the past, but we just find it (mighty) hard to believe that Nokia is actually venturing into the DVD player market. Nevertheless, a tipster reportedly snapped the above shot whilst out in Almaty, Kazakhstan, and while one may assume that the player was simply some other firm’s “DVD-3800″ with a Nokia emblem, both Denon and Astar’s iterations look fairly different. So, dear readers, what on earth is going on here? If anyone has even a remote clue what this thing is, drop us a line in comments — oh, and be sure to peep the other two snapshots after the break.

[Thanks, Javad]

Continue reading Nokia’s DVD-3800 player — is this for real?

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Engadget points out that Target is now selling a hot pink iPod shuffle, branded as a Special Edition with a free $15 iTunes gift card, and a portion of the proceeds going to The Breast Cancer Research Foundation. Pretty good deal, considering the price is the same as all the other shuffles, just $79.

Engadget says the offer is in stores only, and sure enough, while Target’s web site has a hot pink shuffle, it doesn’t look at all like the same one, and nothing is mentioned about the Foundation. If you’ve been planning on grabbing a new shuffle, here’s the one you want.

Thanks, Chris!

Over at the Cocoatech blog they’ve announced that the forthcoming version 4.8 of Path Finder will finally have one of the most long-requested features: per-folder settings. Basically what this means is that Path Finder will remember particular view settings (e.g. icon, list, column, etc.) for different folders. So you could keep your ~/Pictures folder in icon view, your ~/Documents folder in list view, and your ~/Music folder in column view and it would automatically remember your preferred view whenever you navigate to that folder in Path Finder. All of these preferences are stored in Core Data and thus Path Finder does not leave annoying hidden files (like the Finder’s .DS_Store) in the file system.

In addition, the 4.8 upgrade will bring interface improvements to move closer to the Unified style that is becoming de rigueur for new Mac applications. The 4.8 update is supposed to be available “very soon” and will be free to registered users of Path Finder 4.

As the good Doc Mac points out very adeptly with the picture above, the reason for the Apple Store’s outage Wednesday morning must have been a redesign– it’s come back with a splash of blue.

I like the new look. I think the slight gradient in the background makes it, but the rounded corners, blue bars, and especially the arrows give the whole store a definite iTunes feel. There’s been a reorganization as well– Mac, iPod, and iPhone are all top level product lines now (the Apple TV is filed under the iPod, which is close enough, I guess), and those three fit the buttons on the top of Apple’s site as well. Apple’s gone Amazon as well– there are “New to the Store” and “Top Sellers” boxes that will, we’d assume, change as the facts do. No idea, however, why the Mac Top Sellers goes to 8, the iPod to 9, and the iPhone only to 5.

Looks good, though. A welcome refresh to a store that was starting to look a little last-gen.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in!

Recovering somewhat from our two separate editions of Ask TUAW last week this week we tackle a number of questions we’ve covered before, as well as new questions on CUPS, Boot Camp in Leopard, changing the default application associated with a file type, disappearing visual voicemail, and much more.

As always your suggestions are most welcome, and questions for next week should be left in the comments. And now on to the show!

Continue reading Ask TUAW: CUPS, Leopard Boot Camp, iPhone visual voicemail and more

When NBC announced their intention to pull their content from the US iTunes Store by December, Apple promised to make that happen much sooner:

“Apple has decided to not offer NBC TV shows for the upcoming television season beginning in September.”

A few hours later, NBC stated that their new shows will be available in the US iTunes Store. Today, I found Journeyman [iTunes link] and Chuck [iTunes link], two brand new shows, ready to go. I bet other hits like My Name is Earl and The Office, which premiere on Thursday night, will also be posted.

Why? I imagine a boardroom conversation that sounded something like this:

• NBC Exec. A: Heh. We showed them. We’ll make a bundle on the new stuff and then, bam! We slam the door in December. Cha-ching!
• NBC Exec. B: Um, sir? They’re going to pull all of our stuff immediately. No new shows.
• NBC Exec. A: *Wilhelm scream* B-But, they can’t do that.
• NBC Exec. B: It’s done, sir.
• NBC Exec. A: Damn. Get Jobs on the phone.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in.

What’s more annoying than Chocolate Rain and the pointless Kid Nation uproar? The incessant “Apple is coming out with a new Newton” rumors.

Here’s one from 2003:

“…There’s good reason to believe that a jazzy new Newton II will be forthcoming, perhaps in January” (Yup, that’s our good friend John Dvorak).

Another from 2004:

“…[A US company] ‘approached Apple willing to buy [the] Newton and relaunch it. They are in … negotiations with Apple…’”

I think we all remember - and would like to forget - the iWalk.

Today, AppleInsider is beating this decrepit, old horse. According to their “well-respected sources,” a team has been very busy at Apple building a multi-touch handheld successor to the Newton. Sure. In other news, everyone who paid $7500 for a Twentieth Anniversary Mac will receive $100 Apple Store credit, OJ Simpson is Steve Job’s personal hitman and the next AppleTV will play Pippin games.

Despite the notable backlash at some of Apple’s questionably-nefarious corporate agendas recently, Blackfriars’ Marketing blog notes that iPhones are still selling rather well - and that stock is low in a dozen or so stores. GigaOM is also reporting people are causing noticeable queues at silly hours of the day at the twenty-four hour Fifth Avenue store, just to buy handsets.

Of course, the mass-buying could be purely down to people buying plenty of handsets to hack, brick, and re-lock to try and score a feature on Joy of Tech, but the reasons from Blackfriars seem to be slightly more business-orientated. Demand for the iPhone elsewhere in the world - particularly Europe, despite the fact there’s now a launch date and pricing for at least some European territories - is clearly a tempting proposition for people looking to make a tidy profit from sending iPhones abroad, and plenty seem to be doing so.

Thanks, Mike.

True geek heroes are made, not born. Well, the truth is, they’re drawn — by Nitrozac, in the perennial fan favorite Joy of Tech webcomic. The tech luminaries that have cartoon avatars include Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, Bill Gates… and now, disguised as a young Carrie Fisher, our own iPhone-hacking Rebel Alliance undercover leader Erica Sadun. You have to see the full version to really appreciate it. (Might as well play the theme while you read.)

I’m not sure where this ranks on Erica’s list of life achievements (after all, she was quoted by the Associated Press this week), but it’s a nice tribute to her hard work and dedicated efforts on behalf of iPhone users everywhere. From all of us at TUAW, thank you Erica and way to go, Joy of Tech!

Thanks David & everyone who sent this in.

It’s not the first time we’ve heard the idea (SoonR Talk), but it does look like a true, calls-over-WiFi VoIP client for the iPhone could be just around the corner. Over at Blognation they’ve had a demo of one such solution from TruPhone.

Whilst the application still requires heavy use of the Terminal (and is strictly alpha-quality), TruPhone is promising a release that “includes simplifying the activation and adding seamless switching back and forth between VoIP when open WiFi is available and the use of the SIM card when out of WiFi range. It is important to note that it is NOT NECESSARY to break the SIM lock to use TruPhone’s iPhone VoIP application.”

If you’ve always wanted to use a SIP-compatible VoIP solution on your iPhone, it appears your wish is about to be granted.

With Nik covering the early-morning East Coast shift from his perch on the way, way East coast, I rarely get to do this anymore… but since I already stayed up way past my bedtime, I’ll share with you all that the Apple Store is down. It’s almost certainly routine maintenance. Really. Almost 100% certain. Could be new laptops. No. Too close to Leopard. But maybe something.

OK, sure, not much to get excited about… but it’s 1 am here in NYC, and I should have been in bed two hours ago, so why not let you all know?

Update 8 am ET: As noted below, the store has gotten a new look overnight.

Thanks David & Chase, you sleep-thieving rats.

Looks like the VMware team may be picking up a few pointers from the “release early, release often” cheerleaders at rival virtualization shop Parallels; the recently-released Fusion for Mac is now out in a 1.1 beta form, downloadable with registration. The beta packs a load of features, full list below — top additions include DirectX 9.0 support, iPhone/Outlook sync, Unity and Boot Camp functional improvements, and (just in time) better compatibility with host systems running Leopard. The beta also squashes a bug that has bitten me a couple of times: the Airport process randomly ramping up to 100% CPU with Fusion installed.

The beta clocks in at a hefty 170 MB, and you’ll get an evaluation serial number good for 30 days when you sign up to download the software. Let us know how the beta works out for you in the comments.

Thanks Joy & RMS

Continue reading VMware Fusion beta 1.1 available

Yesterday, Erica posted in her state of the iPod touch jailbreak that a hacker named “Martyn” had obtained a broken iPod touch, and was planning to dive in and download every bit of code on it in the increasingly complicated effort to put 3rd party applications on the iPod touch. He didn’t plan to release the code to the public, but he did plan to upload the code to a secured area of his site in order to let the other touch hackers have a crack at it.

But even before his upload finished, we’re told, his ISP showed up, with a takedown notice in hand. Apple had somehow found his site, had contacted his ISP, and let them know that it would be against copyright law for him to upload that code to the Internet. Martyn isn’t interested in breaking the law (and it would be illegal to share that code), so he pulled the page off. But what’s amazing here is how fast Apple moved on this– either they’ve got someone listening in on the development wiki, or they’re taking cues from us on how things are going over there (hi, Apple!).

Despite what we’ve heard before, clearly they are very, very interested in making sure the iPod touch doesn’t get hacked. Martyn tells me, as has Erica, that Apple has clearly gone out of their way to keep hackers out of their latest iPod. We’re also told that progress continues despite all that, but Apple is apparently bending over backwards to do everything they can to keep the iPod touch closed.

Just because installing third party apps voids your iPhone warranty doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have fun with it! Signal is a cool little app that won’t void your warranty and lets you control your iTunes library right from the screen of your iPod touch or iPhone.

Signal installs on your Mac, and starts up a little server that is accessible via the browser on your iPhone/iPod touch (or other device with a browser and internet access). Go to your special Signal URL and suddenly you have an iTunes remote control in your hands.

It is important to note that this doesn’t stream your iTunes music to a remote device, it simply allows you to control iTunes (start, stop, and skip songs) from afar.

Signal costs $24.95, though a demo is available.

Here’s a cool freeware utility for Mac gamers (who love Aspyr especially). When you launch The Aspyr Game Agent (TAGA), it compares your machine’s specs to the system requirements of their titles, and displays good matches. If you search for a game that won’t run well on your machine (according to the system requirements, at least), TAGA suggests appropriate system upgrades.

It’s convenient and fun, though limited to a single manufacturer’s catalog. It’s also free (and Universal). If you’re a hard core Aspyr fan, check this one out.

It was only a few days ago that our very own Mat Lu was talking up Western Digital’s line of My Book external drives, and today Mac users have even more reason to check ‘em out. The My Book Studio edition is aimed squarely at Mac users. The enclosure was designed to compliment Apple’s hardware, and the drive is HFS+ Journaled formated. It also sports a quadruple interface (USB 2.0, FireWire 400/800 and eSATA) and backup software.

Available in 320 GB to 1 TB capacities and priced from $199.99 USD to $399.99 the My Book Studio edition is worth checking out.

TUAW has lately been trying to help you Secure Your Mac, and while a few options have been available, biometric security is one area in which the Mac has seemed to lag behind the Windows side. Now UPEK has released a preview of the Mac version of their Eikon Digital Privacy Manager. The software allows you to use the Eikon scanner to login to your account, control your Keychain, switch users, or lock down your Mac.

The Eikon scanner is a USB device which costs about $40 and only comes with Windows software. Once you have the scanner however, you can download the Mac Protector Suite Preview for free from UPEK. If security is a serious concern and passwords are getting tedious then a biometric solution like this one looks increasingly cost effective.

Pennsylvania’s fifth Apple Store will open in Whitehall this Saturday, September 29th at 10:00 AM. The store is located at 946 Lehigh Lifestyle Center in Whitehall, near J.Crew and Cucina Italiana. You can get full travel directions here.

Pennsylvania’s other stores are in Ardmore, King of Prussia and Pittsburgh (they’ve got two).

As usual, we’re asking any TUAW operatives who visit this weekend to send us stories and photos. Good luck, have fun and we’re hoping you score a T-shirt!

When I saw that Mark/Space was planning to release a version of Missing Sync for iPhone my first reaction was: what for? But as it happens I think they’ve hit upon some needed features that are actually missing from the out-of-the-box iPhone experience. First is a Migration Assistant for moving contacts, calendar entries, and photos from a Palm, Windows Mobile, or Blackberry device onto your Mac and thence to the iPhone. It also syncs your SMS messages and call log to your Mac so you don’t lose information when you hit the storage limits on the iPhone. Best of all, perhaps, is Notes syncing, which will allow you to view iPhone notes in Yojimbo, Entourage, or Mark/Space’s Notebook application. Unfortunately, however, it appears that it’s only one-way, from the iPhone to the Mac, and not vice versa. This lack two-way Notes syncing remains a puzzling lacuna as far as I’m concerned, and I’m looking forward to somebody, whether it be Apple or Mark/Space, filling this obvious hole in the iPhone feature set.

Missing Sync for iPhone won’t be available until the 4th quarter and will sell for Mark/Space’s normal price of $39.95, but crossgrades will be offered from other Missing Sync products.

Sometimes it seems like you can always count on Adobe to disappoint. Today they released Photoshop Elements 6 for Windows, but according to Macworld the Mac version will have to wait until “early 2008.” This is because the two versions are on “different development schedules.” The Mac version of Elements has long been missing some features from the Windows side (particularly in image management), so perhaps this is not surprising. Nonetheless, it’s sad to note that as long as we were waiting for a Universal version of Photoshop, this means that Elements will end up taking nearly a year longer still! Fortunately, I suppose, you could just give the newly released Pixelmator a try instead and not worry about it.

Could it be another go at the Newton? Could it be My iTablet? Or could it be a MacBook Touch? Maybe an Apple UMPC?

Right now no one knows for sure, what is known is that there are reports of a touchscreen device that is larger than the iPhone with a bigger, better, multi-touch touchscreen. What is also known is that the engineers from this project have on occasion taken time off from this project to work on the iPhone, which means to some extent, they are interchangeable. It could be an Apple UMPC, wouldn’t that be great. (more…)

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Check the video below from 1:30-3:00 minutes. Its all about Apple and their statement about unlocking iPhones causing irreparable damage and possibly bricking them with the next update.

They even threw in the bit about Steve and Woz being old time hackers of AT&T but said that the believed 10-30% Apple gets from the iPhone contracts makes it worth their while to stop hackers. There was also another nifty little tidbit about how someone over at Hackint0sh has said that there future updates will keep the unlocks working.

(more…)

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So you remember that hacker I told you about the other day? Martyn was his name, the guy was supposed to be dumping the code off of a broken iPod Touch. The hacking will continue, more underground though if I had to guess, but read on for the juicy details of what happened to Martyn.

Well not so much anymore, I mean, he still got it done, and he was even in the process of uploading it so other hackers could take a crack at it as well, but that came to a quick end. Before he even finished uploading there was a rap at his chamber door, quoth the raven nevermore.

(more…)

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So the hacking community led you to a free or fee-based unlock of your iPhone, you are zipping along fine with your new carrier, and then you hear the news that if your iPhone is unlocked the next iPhone firmware update could leave your phone busted. What do you do?

The same thing any logical person would, find a way to reverse the unlock and go back and pay your penance and ask for re-admittance into the church of AT&T. Well luckily for you, there are far more skilled people out there to help you cover your Apple/AT&T co-branded ass.

(more…)

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So you have a Palm, Windows Mobile, or BlackBerry smartphone and want to switch to an iPhone, MarkSpace is releasing a new software product to make it that much easier. It will ship Q4 this year and is called The Missing Sync.

What it does is transfer lots of data from one of those supported devices to your iPhone. The data that is transfers are things such as the contacts list, tasks, events, photos, and other stuff.

(more…)

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So some guy who is apparently a coding monkey, but highly evolved, has finally gotten his hands on an iPod Touch, granted it has a busted screen, but he is really just using it to dump all the firmware and all that good stuff. The gentleman’s name is “Martyn” and he traded some poor lady who had a broken iPod Touch that wasn’t covered under the warranty for a working Nano.

Anyways, he is dumping all the data now. It should be done by this morning, and then he will need some time to translate all that good stuff into something he, and presumably others, can work with.

(more…)

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There’s a growing discussiontaking place over at jkOnTheRun after James Kendrick voiced his concerns with the way the ultra-mobile sector is progressing and laid out his must-haves for a successful companion device.  So why the relevence to MY iTablet?  Well, James’ conclusion is that it’s up to Apple to produce this mythical PDA-cum-UMPC-cum-perfection, since they’re the only major company with control over both the hardware and software.

It’s a common theme, in that sense, but the argument is laid out well and particularly weighted to this sector of device.  As James describes, user expectations of an ultra-portable are far greater than for perhaps any other type of computer - delays in responsiveness that most will simply put up with sat at their desk are a decided deal-breaker when you want to quickly check your email while in a queue at the store.

(more…)

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Apple announced today in a press release that the act of “improving functionality” of your $600 (or $400 after price drop) device could cause your iPhone to become a really good looking paperweight, should you choose to upgrade to the next firmware version. They also officially stated - clearing up a lot of confusion but not in a way anybody wanted - that said-modifications absolutely do void your warranty.

So Apple releases this great phone, sells a million-plus of them in 74 days, and then they rest on their laurels with no further functionality, no provision for third party apps which might fill in the gap, and now they are punishing the huge modding community behind the Jesus phone that stepped up to fill the void that Apple left. Anyone here besides me think this is BS?

(more…)

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That’s right, Steve Jobs himself is a former hacker of the various AT&T offerings. His target of choice was of the landline variety, but him and Woz still did a pretty good business with their Blue Boxes.

The Blue Boxes were the product they created that allowed you to make free (illegal?) phone calls, it did so by faking some in-band signals and skipping parts of the switching system. They even sold the boxes to their classmates in college at Berkeley.

(more…)

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October 2nd will be the launch of the Starbucks and Apple Wi-Fi iTunes Store partnership deal. The program will roll out in New York (city? State?) and Seattle and Starbucks will be passing out Song of the Day cards as well as a couple other promotions.

The Song of the Day cards will score you one free track from the iTunes Store, ranging from Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, and Dave Matthews. They will have 1.5 million of them to pass out, so don’t forget to stop by Starbucks for a cup of joe and some free tunes.

(more…)

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USBFever has created an iPhone case “specially designed for elegant women”. In other words, it comes in vivid pink (or oil-shine black) and has a vanity mirror built in.

This flip-top case has a “unique” ergonomic design, protecting the iPhone from bumps and scratches while providing easy access to controls and switches. It’s made from high grade textured leather, is secure, and has a detachable hand strap.

Am I convinced that an iPhone case needs a built-in mirror? Well, no, but then I’m not an elegant woman. Maybe it’s perfect.

It costs US$34.99, and can be shipped worldwide.

Product page

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As part of its partnership with Apple, and as the Wi-Fi iTunes Music Store launches in 600 New York and Seattle locations on 2nd October, Starbucks is planning to give away 1.5 million iTunes downloads per day from 2nd October to 7th November.

Each day, over 10,000 Starbucks locations will hand out “Song of the Day” cards, allowing customers to select tunes from the featured artists playing in the coffee house. Artists include Bob Dylan, Joss Stone, KT Tunstall, John Legend, and Paul McCartney.

(Via iLounge)

Apple has announced further dates and locations for its iPhone Tech Talks, offering expert advice to developers on Web 2.0 application optimisation, and taking advantage of the features and capabilities of the iPhone as well as the iPod Touch.

Venues and dates are:

• Boston, MA 9th October, Boston Marriott Copley Place
• Philadelphia, PA 11th October, Sofitel Philadelphia
• Washington, DC 12th October, JW Marriott Hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue
• Seattle, WA 22nd October, Crowne Plaza Hotel
• Minneapolis, MN 25th October, Hyatt Regency Minneapolis
• Atlanta, GA 5th November, Atlanta Airport Marriott

Hopefully Apple will begin holding European sessions once the iPhone is released here.

Registration

(Via Mac Daily News)

The iPhone Dev Team has refuted Apple’s claims of irreparable damage to an unlocked iPhone, issuing the statement: “The removal of those firmware problems, which were built in in favour for AT&T, does not cause ‘damage’ as they want to make us believe.”

However, they’ll soon be releasing a tool to re-lock the iPhone should that be necessary.

‘This has nothing to do with proactively disabling a phone that is unlocked or hacked,” Phil Schiller, Apple’s senior VP of worldwide product marketing, said. ”It’s unfortunate that some of these programs have caused damage to the iPhone software, but Apple cannot be responsible for those consequences.”

(Via PC Pro)

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A senior engineer at Sun Microsystems has called for Apple to implement Java on the iPhone, arguing that there’d be a lot more flexibility in application development were it to be installed.

Bob Brewin, Sun Distinguished Engineeer and VP for Software, says that Java developers are being shortchanged.

He believes that various applications such as LimeWire media-sharing could be easily ported to the iPhone. He also cited Java games as an incentive.

“Fundamentally, [Apple] don’t like open systems,” Brewin said.

Personally, I’m no great fan of Java on or off the web, but each to their own. I can’t see Java being officially installed on the iPhone any time soon.

(Via InfoWorld)

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In what could be a significant development, Truphone has demonstrated an iPhone making a VoIP call over Wi-Fi.

The demo (see video) isn’t wildly exciting, and at present it’s rather slow, but as a proof-of-concept, it’s quite exciting as it could lead the way to free Internet phone calls on the iPhone.

Of course, neither Apple nor their selected mobile partners are likely to be happy about this, as it could lead to seriously reduced call revenue - of course that’s dependent on having decent Wi-Fi access, so it could well hurt AT&T in the States more than it hurts O2 in the UK.

Expect some cunning blocking software to be installed in a subsequent iPhone firmware update.

(Via Tech Digest)

Depending upon your focus (”real” fashion or tech fashion) you’ll either be interested in Alyssa’s left hand, or her right hand. Whereas one of our sisters might think the Zara bag Milano is carrying to be the highlight, we’re convinced the iPhone is far more interesting.

Whether Alyssa Milano and an iPhone is in itself exciting is up to you. We’re just saying it’s another celeb with an iPhone. Of course she looks happy. It’s touchscreen goodness, baby.

(VIa Berlinista)

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Tunewear has announced that its Icewear iPhone case will be coming in October. It features a clear silicone protective cover for the iPhone with Tunewear’s patented “rib” technology to reinforce grip.

The tough case has embossed edges around the screen to reduce the risk of scratching, and a protective film over the screen. All ports and controls are fully accessible.

The case will cost $29.95.

Product page

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Perhaps the perfect accompaniment to a crystal-encrusted iPhone is the latest protective case from Vaja.

The Crystal 2 is an all-leather case encrusted with Swarovski crystals and with an exclusive engraved design. It provides complete access to the headphone jack, SIM card slot, power button, camera, and other keys, as well as the connector and speakers. An optional 925 Silver strap is available.

It’s available starting at $220, and the colour of the crystals and case can be customised.

Vaja Store

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With so much talk about unlocking the iPhone and freeing it from AT&T, it’s a little weird to be introducing a hack which will re-lock the iPhone. However, after Apple’s recent warning, there’s the danger that the iPhone could be rendered unusable by the forthcoming software update.

Now, the “iPhone Dev Team” has issued a statement claiming that a hack to re-lock the iPhone will be coming within the week. In the meantime, they say, “we advise you not to update your free iPhone with the upcoming firmware. Wait for the next version to be fixed to work properly with your carrier and not break your phone.”

The developer is quick to point out, however, that “It is believed the… procedure will relock your iPhone and prevent it from being made permanently unusable by the upcoming firmware update. There is no gaurantee [sic], however, and I take no responsibility for your iPhone if the above procedures do not work for you and your iPhone gets hosed.”

(Via WIRED News)

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Apple has sent out a clear warning to those who are unlocking the iPhone so that it can be used on other networks both in and outside the US, claiming that some unlocking software can cause irreparable damage to the device, and that the iPhone may become permanently inoperable if Apple’s own software updates are applied to the iPhone.

They also quoted the standard legalese about unauthorised modifications being against a user’s iPhone software licence agreement, and invalidating the warranty.

It’s not clear whether this is FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt) on behalf of Apple, or whether there’s some truth in the warning. I can understand that trying to update a hacked iPhone could cause problems, but surely it’s possible to restore the system software completely, and pop the AT&T SIM card back into the iPhone, to restore working order. After all, none of these modifications are hardware hacks (though some exist).

iPhonic yesterday reported on an Apple Store blacklisting a hacked iPhone which needed hardware repair. It’s not surprising that Apple are talking tough — they’ve already set their lawyers on one iPhone-unlocking company and I’m sure this “cat and mouse” game (as Steve Jobs described it at the recent UK press conference) will continue for a long time to come.

It’s unlikely to deter those who are desperate to use the iPhone away from the official networks, despite the fact that some features, including visual voicemail and the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store, may not work with modified phones.

(Via Digital Media Wire)

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Steve Wozniak (Woz), who co-founded Apple with Steve Jobs, has blasted him for the way the iPhone dropped in price so soon after launch, and how refunds were handled.

“Nobody expects a product to drop that much in price in such a short time,” he said, adding that, while early adopters expected to pay more for getting a product early, the $200 drop was “too soon, too harsh”.

Wozniak also complained that, because the Apple Store credit isn’t given until the iPhone is activated, the handsets he’s bought as future gifts for friends and family can’t yet get the refund.

“Why don’t you just take my receipt and give me the money back? And of course it always comes back to Apple Store credit. So instead of getting $100 back you are getting $50 back sort of. It is very optimal to the company. I feel badly about the situation for everyone. I don’t think Apple should have even done it. Maybe a very much more gradual price reduction, $50 at first or find ways to bundle it into a savings on your account,” he said.

Mind you, he obviously has plenty of money going spare. Though he bought around 20 iPhones for himself and for friends, he hasn’t had the time to sort out refunds yet.

Wow, that’s $2,000 worth of store credit, Steve.

(Via CMP - photo from Woz camping out for the iPhone)

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Now that the “big three” in Europe have at least sketchy details about the iPhone and which network will be carrying it, other European countries are understandably keen to get their hands on it, too.

According to a Marketwatch article, two Scandinavian mobile carriers — Telenor and TeliaSonera — are interested in bringing the iPhone to Norway, Denmark, Sweden, and Finland, with Telenor also operating in some Central and Southern European countries.

It looks unlikely that other countries will get official iPhones before early 2008, but then again you never know exactly what Apple is going to do, and there’ll certainly be a number of hacked iPhones doing the European tour come mid-November.

(Via Ars Technica)

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Stephen Fry, great British comedian, actor, and wordsmith, has written an impressive blog post calling for the iPhone killers:

“All the big guns want an iPhone killer. Even I, mad for all things Apple as I am, want an iPhone killer. I want smart digital devices to be as good as mankind’s ingenuity can make them. I want us eternally to strive to improve and surprise. Bring on the iPhone killers. Bring them on.”

Fry is obviously a smartphone addict — “I have never seen a SmartPhone I haven’t bought” — and takes a look at three devices which could be described as “iPhone killers”:

“I really want you to believe that, Apple addict as I am, my eyes have always been open to the virtues of anything good, exciting, functional, elegant, pleasing to use. In fact the real precipitating reason for writing this is the fact that within three weeks I have bought/been sent, aside from my iPhone (which, yes, I dearly love), three soi-disant ‘iPhone killers’ - the HTC Touch, the Nokia E90 and the Sony Ericsson P1i. P1i. While I don’t intend fully to review, road-test or benchmark each device (as if I could, anyway), I do want to share my thoughts about where these devices appear to be going. (I’m not even going to mention outside these parentheses the LG Prada phone, that’s an iPhone beater in the same way Tim Henman is a Federer beater).”

He also picks on issues with the iPhone itself: only having server-side applications, lack of physical keyboard, poor Bluetooth implementation, downloadable ringtones, no mail attachment downloads.

Worth a read: Device and Desires

Apple is getting used to lawsuits surrounding the iPhone, but whereas some should never have been filed, this one is more serious.

The Hearing Loss Association of America advocacy group has filed formal complaints with the FCC claiming that, “the phone [is] not usable with a hearing aid, either on the microphone or telecoil setting. Clearly, it was not designed to be hearing aid compatible. It should have been.”

There’s already a well-documented FCC regulation which requires phone manufacturers to ensure that their products are accessible to people with disabilities, if such access is “readily achievable”.

Brenda Battat, HLAA’s associate executive director, said that “[The iPhone] was probably tested for HAC prior to release. As soon as they got the results, they would have known it was not accessible to hearing aid and cochlear implant users.”

She claims that, in tests with the iPhone, when the device is held to a cochlear implant and a hearing aid, it gives out a loud buzzing interference.

Battat continued, “[Apple] state a willingness to get up to speed with accessibility. Too bad they did not do it prior to release and not after.”

Apple may not need to make changes to the iPhone, however, as it only has one handset on the market, with the FCC regulations stating that manufacturers offering two or fewer digital wireless handsets in the US need not comply with the hearing aid compatibility compliance obligations.

(Via Computer World)

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Though Vodafone missed out on the first three European iPhone deals, its CEO Arun Sarin believes that his company will “absolutely” be in with a shout of negotiating an opportunity with Apple over the next six to twelve months.

A couple of months ago, Sarin spoke out over the lack of 3G in the iPhone, and that’s still very much the line they’re taking, with Sarin telling investors and analysts that Vodafone were looking forward to a faster iPhone from Apple.

What we don’t know is what the tie-in period with O2 is, and whether that applies to all iPhones or just the first generation model.

(Via Bloomberg)

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It appears that at least one Apple Store employee is toeing the company line when it comes to customers with hacked iPhones.

According to one of Jason O’Grady’s (ZDNet writer) colleagues, he tried to return an iPhone exhibiting the “green tint camera” problem, only to be told that because it had been modified to allow some third-party applications, and was running the AT&T network, the warranty was voided and the phone blacklisted against future service or return.

Eventually, after several diplomatic conversations with the store manager, and agreeing to pay the 10% restocking fee, his iPhone was replaced.

The moral of the story is to restore your iPhone and replace the AT&T SIM card before taking it in for repair or return. That is, of course, if you don’t have a software problem which prevents doing a system restore.

(Via ZDNet)

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