Iphone Updates

Filed under: iTS, Features, Deals

Once again, TUAW is pleased to present you with a selection of free songs and videos from around the world. Many of these iTMS items won’t be free for long, so grab your copies before the week is up. And don’t forget: If you want to buy these on your iPhone or iPod touch, make sure to sign into your account in iTunes before you sync.

Follow the jump for all the free iTunes goodies.

Continue reading iTunes: Free Thursday

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

After surveying “more than 700 senior IT administrators” and executives, Yankee Group Research Inc found that “nearly 80% of businesses have Macs in-house, nearly double the percentage that said they had users running Mac OS X two years ago,” reports Gregg Keizer (computerworld.com).

After surveying “more than 700 senior IT administrators” and executives, Yankee Group Research Inc found that “nearly 80% of businesses have Macs in-house, nearly double the percentage that said they had users running Mac OS X two years ago,” reports Gregg Keizer (computerworld.com).

New York City’s 92nd Street Y has been serving community interests for more than 133 years. And, now — thanks to iTunes U — it brings its programming to a really large community. For example, “92Y: George Carlin,” just one of the many programs available from 92Y: Online, lets us spend some time with Judy Gold and George Carlin, the renowned comedian who died this week.

It seems that Apple is gearing up for the launch of the iPhone 3G by distributing a 3-page FAQ document to Apple Store employees. Most of the information is nothing new to us, but there are a few things worth mentioning, which I have listed after the jump.

“You may not place iPhone 3G on hold for anyone. No exceptions. It is critical that all stores follow the same process to ensure every customer has an equal and fair opportunity to purchase a phone.”

If a customer says, “I just bought a first generation iPhone. Will I be able to upgrade to an iPhone 3G at a discounted price or exchange it for an iPhone 3G?,” Apple store reps are being told to say that they “don’t have any information regarding upgrades.”

Customers may then ask, “Are you going to change the iPod touch pricing now that you lowered the cost of iPhone?” To this, employees should respond by saying, “Not that I am aware of.”

“Detailed rate plans have not yet been announced. When they are announced, Apple Store Specialists will be ready to review and help [customers] pick out the best plan for [their] needs.”

Like I said, not much new to see here, but it’s worth a glance. With just over two weeks to go, I’m sure we’ll start hearing some more detailed info any day now.

[via AppleInsider]

We saw a good deal of pictures of the new iPhone 3G at WWDC earlier this month, but wouldn’t it be cool to see a side-by-side comparison of the new and old phones? Ask and you shall receive.

It looks like the edges of the phone are a little more streamlined, with only the volume rocker and the headphone jack disturbing its sleek lines. With the headphone jack not being recessed this time around, there is barely even a visible divot there. I want to say that the camera hole is larger, but I’m thinking that it may simply be a trick of the eye.

[via iLounge]

If you’ve ever been surfing the net on your iPhone and been frustrated by having to log into the same sites every time you visit them, then I’ve got a cool fix for you. You’ll need to have a jailbroken iPhone (or iPod Touch) in order to use this. Just add http:/repo.ispazio.net to your sources in Inataller. Refresh, and search for iRemember. This will modify a few permissions that should allow your iPhone to keep your cookies around longer.

[via TUAW]

Filed under: iTS, Multimedia, iTunes

The Australian iTunes Store has become the latest to offer television programming for purchase.

Shoppers will notice that pricing is standard across all shows at $2.99 AUS per episode. There are no season passes available as of this writing, and several American shows, like Lost, Pimp My Ride (we’re sorry), Hannah Montana (we’re really sorry) and Scrubs (we’re indifferent) are available along side Australian shows like Sleek Geek and We Can Be Heroes.

ABC Studios, Disney, MTV, Nine Network and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation are represented in iTunes.

[Via MacNN]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Hardware, Video

Apologies to Dr. Peter Venkman, but it’s hard to believe that it’s taken this long for a webcam vendor to encroach on the vacuum left by the discontinued iSight, even though we have hints that a new model of the Apple camera might be on the HD horizon. Logitech has now announced the QuickCam Vision Pro for Mac, featuring “premium autofocus technology and Carl Zeiss(R) optics.” No word on whether the camera will feature fine Corinthian leather or Posi-traction, but there’s hope.

Seriously, though, the camera does offer a voice coil motor for autofocus, RightLight exposure technology and a 2 megapixel sensor; this should allow for VGA-quality (640×480) videoconferencing and 720p HD (960×720) local video recording. Snazzy! Logitech expects to ship the unit in July for an SRP of $130.

Update: Commenters point out that the product is quite similar to the QuickCam Pro 9000, which isn’t billed as Mac-compatible but actually works just fine with Mac OS X 10.4 and 10.5; it’s also list-priced $30 cheaper. Hrm.

[via Engadget]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Software, Deals

Today is the last day to buy the much coveted MacHeist application bundle. MacHeist has decided to sweeten the deal by unlocking SoundStudio early and offering $5 off any Insanely Great Tee. If you are a registered member of the MacHeist site you can also get early access to Headline (an RSS reader).

The MacHeist Bundle currently includes the following Mac apps:

• VectorDesigner
• DEVONthink
• XSlimmer
• CoverSutra
• Awaken
• iClip
• Overflow
• Cha-Ching
• WriteRoom
• Enigmo
  
• Bugdom 2
• Nanosaur 2
• TextExpander
• SoundStudio

The MacHeist Bundle costs $49 and 25% of your purchase will be donated to your choice of charity. Currently, MacHeist has sold over 4,000 bundles and raised over $50,000 for charity. You can purchase a bundle at the MacHeist website.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

If you’re a business customer anxious to get off to a great start with your new Mac, you’ll want to sign up for a free, online seminar. It’s called “New to the Mac for Business Users.” Watch it, and you’ll find out how you can run Windows applications on a Mac, download your email from a corporate Exchange server, give presentations to clients using iChat theater, exchange files over a network, and much more.

When Maximum PC pit the MacBook Pro against the Dell XPS M1530, Apple’s pro notebook walked away the clear winner. Awarding MacBook Pro an impressive score of 9 (out of 10), editors praised its thinness (calling it “impressive next to other notebooks in its class”), its fast GeForce 8600M GT graphic processor, its “top-notch” Intel processor, and its battery life. It also found Mac OS X “really, really slick.”

If you live in the UK and are intending upon getting in on the iPhone 3G action come launch day, you might keep an ear out for news about early registration. According to rumors, the company may be allowing customers to sign up for contracts before the launch date, thus alleviating some congestion on July 11th.

If the rumor is to be believed, starting July 1st, you’ll be able to walk into the store and sign up for your iPhone 3G contract. You’ll then be able to pick up your shiny new phone on July 11th and enter a registration number, which would then activate your new account.

I’m really not sure what I think of this practice. On one side, it would certainly get customers in and out of the store in a timely manner. However, those not in the know might not be able to get their hands on a phone come launch day, as they could potentially be sold out before the 11th. We’ll keep an eye out for any official word from O2.

[via MacRumors]

Dell ,Apple, Fujitsu, HTC, Lenovo, LG, Nokia, Panasonic, Palm, Samsung, and Toshiba have all been added to Typhoon Touch Technologies hit list. Typoon is accusing these companiesof using their patented ideas that date back to 1995 for teh touch computer. Their patents were so open ended and broad that they have been able to pull these companies in saying that all of their touch computing is in conflict with their ideas. They created the blueprints for their technology for the police departments based on touchscreen portable devices with built in computers.

They first began going after companies when Dell release their Latitude XT tablet, now they have brought in more than 10 companies. Everyone is unclear as to how far they wil get in these procedings.

What we do know about the lawsuit is that Typhoon is hoping to use them to generate a steady stream of revenue, as they are seaking injunctions against the products involved until companies agree to pay a “reasonable royalty”, on top of the financial damages they’re asking for.

[via iPhoneAlley]

Now before i am labelled as being sexist, the title is based upon a news article in the LA Times. I’m sure it could just as readily apply to classical guitarist who insist on trying to use the iPhone with their “picking” hand. Yes, the iPhone is apparently badly designed because the touchscreen is difficult to use for those with long fingernails. In the main that’s women. And women who aren’t cool, bizarrely, because one reviewer in the past has claimed that “people who use Apple products are too cool for fingernails.”…

The new iPhone software is exciting, and of course we’re all looking forward to 3G, GPS, a proper headphone jack… but what about cut and paste? It seems that this oft-requested (and moaned about) feature could still be lacking from iPhone 2.0 software, and while iMarklet is not a complete, nor fully integrated, solution, it could at least provide some of the functionality iPhone users want…

There’s little denying that the photo is real, and though the story may be a little far-fetched, it has been a while since we’ve had any iPhone celebrity gossip so we’re running with it…

We all know that when the original iPhone was released you had to wait in a line all day until 6, this year they are saying it might be a little different. There are rumors that a memo was sent out to all AT&T managers explaning that the release of the iPhone 3G will bedone at 8am to avoid long lines and the lengthy in store activations. Stay posted for more info!

[via BoyGeniusReport]

Filed under: Software, Odds and ends, Freeware, iWork, Graphic Design

iPresentee, a small company providing themes and objects for Apple’s iLife and iWeb software suites, is offering a free download of Keynote Objects.

Keynote Objects is a package of 100 attractive icon-like objects that can be used not only with Keynote, but also with Microsoft PowerPoint and Word. All of the objects have a transparent background, and are easily resized, rotated, made more or less transparent, or shadowed.

I’m actually going to use several of the objects as icons for a new web site that I’m designing, simply because they offer an attractive and cohesive set of art objects. What will you use your free Keynote Objects for?

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Mac 101

Welcome to another Mac 101 here at TUAW. Mac 101 is our recurring feature where we point out some tips and tricks for folks new to the Mac. Remember, if you’re a Mac expert this post isn’t for you.

Have you ever tried to unmount a disc in Mac OS X, but it simply wouldn’t come out of your Mac’s drive? Here are three ways of removing discs from your Mac’s drive. If your Mac is currently using the disc you won’t be able to eject it, so make sure that isn’t the case first. If the disc isn’t in use and you still can’t eject it, give these a try.

Step 1: Drag the disc to the trash can
Find the disc on the desktop and drag its icon to the Mac OS X trash can. As you start dragging it towards the trash, the icon will change to an eject button, release the mouse button when the disc’s icon is directly over the eject button.

Step 2: Try some command line goodness
If you have tried to eject the disc by dragging its icon over the trash bin, then why not try a simple Terminal command to eject the disc. Open Terminal.app (found in /Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app; or use Command + Shift + U to in any Finder window to move to the Utilities folder).

Once you have Terminal opened, type (or copy/paste) the following command: drutil eject

Step 3: Restart your Mac while holding mouse button down
If you’ve tried the other steps to no avail, then why not reboot your Mac while holding down the mouse button. Upon loading the Apple boot screen, your disc should be ejected.

Please note that if you have a disc that is actually physically stuck in the drive, this will not help. Stuck discs may need the assistance of an Apple Genius or certified Apple repair professional.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Apple Professional, Apple, .Mac, MobileMe

Canada has many things going for it: maple trees everywhere, single-payer health care system and a one-of-a-kind Apple page. One of our readers just tipped us about an error on the MobileMe signup completion page for Canada. Apparently, Apple’s designers left in some placeholder text on the signup “thank you” page. While Apple does (yes, they really do) make some mistakes, leaving greeked text on a webpage isn’t usually one of them. [If you're saying "that looks like Latin, not Greek," see here. -Ed.]

You can see the Freudian slip by visiting Apple’s Canadian MobileMe signup completion page.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

It’s always interesting to see how different analysts come up with numbers. Take for instance the raw cost of materials for the new iPhone 3G. Portelligent released their estimates not long ago which suggested that Apple’s cost was only roughly $100. Well iSuppli has taken a look and come up with a drastically different figure.

According to the recent findings from iSuppli, they believe Apple will be paying roughly $173 for materials and manufacturing of the 8GB iPhone 3G. While they are estimating $73 higher than Portelligent, that’s still considerably less than the original iPhone, which was around $226.

You can bet that Apple is hoping you spring for the 16GB model (I know I am) as it is estimated that the additional memory will only cost them $23 more than the 8GB model. Of course, we’ll be paying an extra $100, so that’s a nice $77 in Apple’s pocket.

[via AppleInsider]

As of now, we don’t know of any plans for AT&T to release a pre-paid plan for the iPhone 3G (in fact AT&T has said that they won’t be doing this at all, but you never know). Of course this isn’t the case overseas where many carriers will offer this choice. So just how many new iPhones will be pre-paid? While no one knows the answer, Piper Jaffray analys Gene Munster has an idea.

Munster believes that Apple is charging carriers around $425 for the phone, which they will in turn sell for $600 or more. He believes that roughly 1 out of every 10 3G iPhones sold will be one of these unsubsidized pre-paid phones.

[via Infinite Loop]

A recent article by Time magazine gained popularity by talking about the newest in technology, aka the iPhone, and porn sites being integrated easier into Safari on the iPhone. Currently Pornography websites have been integrating downloadable files into there database making it easy to copy onto your iPhone and watch on the go.

“It’s by far the porn-friendliest phone,” says Devan Cypher, representative for San Francisco–based Sin City Entertainment. As evidence of the gadget’s rocketing popularity in California’s capital, the San Fernando Valley, numerous iPhone-specific porn sites have been launched in recent months. “There are a few hundred iPhone porn sites now in use,” says Farley Cahen, vice president of business development for AVN Media Network, the adult industry’s trade body.

As the 3G release nears the adult entertainment industries prepare to launch sites that will be able to be accessed by the iPhone. With the overwhelming popularity of the iPhone this industry has seen an opportunity and gone after it with full force.

“Three out of four iPhone users are men with above-average incomes, and iPhone users spend heavily on entertainment. More than a third of iPhone users shell out more than $100 on phone and data charges every month, as compared with just one-fifth of other cell-phone users.”

One feature that will be included in the 2.0 release is the ability to set Parental Controls, disabling ever ‘accidentally’ stumbling accross a naughty site or two, or three, or four…

Abilene Christian University released that starting with the incoming 2008 Freshman class all student will receive an iPhone o iPod touch. The cost of these units will be built into each student’s tuition in hopes of bringing new technology and resources on the go for these students. They have prepared over 15 web applications making it easy for students to locate professors’ offices, answer in-class surveys and quizzes and even check their meal ticket balance.

“We are not merely providing cutting-edge technology tools to our incoming students,” said Roberts. “We are also providing the web applications that ensure these tools will become critical to the students’ learning experience. Because 93 percent of ACU students bring their own computers with them to college, we are choosing to take them to the next level by providing converged mobile devices.”

For the past ten months Abilene’s faculty and staff have been conducting research and are always looking for new possibilities through handheld devices. This college campus located in Texas and attracts about 4700 students from all across the US, by integrating technology they will be expanding the diversity among the students and allowing peace of mind with a piece of technology helping them along the way.

[Via ACU University]

Speck released their two new models of iPhone 3G cases with removable bottoms that allows them to be docked in a standard iPhone dock. One line will include see-thru cases that will retail at 29.95 and another line of rubberized cases built to withstand any wear and tear you put your phone through, those will retail at 34.95. You will be able to purchase these early July, right around the release of the iPhone 3G.

[Via Speck Products]

Filed under: OS, Rumors, Software

A German site, Apfeltalk.de has posted screenshots of the forthcoming version of Mac OS X, 10.6 (a.k.a “Snow Leopard”). Most of the screenshots show off the Safari 4 developer preview that will include the “Save as Web Application” option in the File menu.

The website also shows off the next version of Address Book.app that will bring Microsoft Exchange support to the Mac platform. We do however have to speculate about the System Preferences.app screenshot that shows two Time Machine icons with one labled “Dock” and another labeled “Time Machine” — this seems out of place and unlike Apple.

You can see all of the screenshots (before Apple’s legal team gets a hold of them) on the Apfeltalk.de site.

[via Engadget]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Multimedia, Software, Internet Tools

Positive Spin Media‘s media search tool, Pandora (formerly NetScrape) has been bumped up to version 2.3. The new version primarily fixes some issues that Pandora had with reading some pages with non-English languages or encoding. The update is free to registered users, and you can download the update today.

If you haven’t seen Pandora before, it’s worth a look. Pandora uses a plug-in architecture to wander the big image search engines (i.e., Google and Flickr) or your hard drive, and supports finding and fetching any type of media — not just images. Once you’ve found the media, Pandora provides easy slide show creation so you can show it off. I like the fact that you can start off multiple searches simultaneously and have them run

The Pandora demo is limited to 50 image viewings, and if you love it you can buy it for $29.95.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: iPhone, App Store, SDK

Git along, little iPhones! TUAW readers keep sending us announcements about forthcoming iPhone App Store goodies that are in the works. Send us your tips about iPhone applications you plan on having in the App Store either at launch or shortly thereafter, and we’ll pass that info along to the rest of the world.

Here’s today’s roundup:

• Cocoa Touch Games has two of a planned four “fun, simple, joyful” apps ready to go for the App Store launch. Bug Bounce and Cocoa Marbles will both be priced at $2.99.
• Synthesis AG, developers of the SyncML platform and transmission media independent protocol for intelligent data synchronization, have announced a SyncML client for iPhone.
• Lint Labs (great name!) has announced No. 2 (AKA HB in Europe), an app that lets you use a virtual pencil and eraser on the iPhone to sketch or take notes, then organize your work into books.
• Jeffrey Grossman of movies.app fame is working on another great product, Currency. It’s a currency exchange application with over 50 different countries. Looks good, Jeff!
• In the “it had better be a free app” category is Philip Corliss’s Bubble Wrap. It looks like a great stress relief tool.
• Tom Cain of Smallware let us know about Solebon Solitaire for iPhone, a complete rewrite of their popular package for Palm OS.
• Sol Robots, the offspring of Cortis Clark, is offering a free app to help you save money to buy that iPhone 3G. Save Benjis works with Finders Cheapers, a price comparison site, to let you find the lowest price on just about anything.
• Steve Streza‘s Lockbox provides AES and SHA-1 level encryption and a unique gesture unlocking procedure to keep your notes and pictures secret. Expect it for less than $10 in the App Store.
• LateNiteSoft has a jailbreak app called Sketches that is moving to the AppStore.
• Right now it’s for jailbroken iPhones, but hopefully Make Your Day Media‘s Remind You will be heading to the App Store within a month. It turns the lock screen of your iPhone into an appointment list.
• One more jailbreak app, textReader by James Beesley, will hopefully be scootin’ to the App Store soon.

Keep ‘em coming, developers!

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Plenty of speculation on the Internet about how much Brits will have to pay for a contract-free (unsubsidised) iPhone 3G. Though some sites have reported this as fact, an O2 representative has stated that no official pricing for a pay-as-you-go iPhone 3G has been announced yet. However, £350 is the price that’s being thrown around, presumably for the 8GB model…

iSkin has announced its Fuze protective skin for the iPhone, a lightweight, stylish case which complements the phone’s aesthetics…

The lower price of the iPhone 3G compared to the first model. and the fact that it has several new features, could lead to twice the demand from consumers as the first iPhone…

It’s great to get unlimited Internet access using the iPhone, even more so when the 3G version arrives next month, but AT&T has made it clear that tethering it to a laptop PC is not an option…

When National Geographic photographer Steve Winter reviewed his Snow Leopard images in Aperture, he was literally seeing them for the very first time. Knowing Snow Leopards to be notoriously camera shy, Winter set up 14 camera traps to capture remotely the photos selected for the recent National Geographic article and gallery — just a small sample of the 30,000 he edited and processed in Aperture.

Piggyback loans, death bonds, shareholder mansions, ear marks — if you’re puzzled by financial jargon, get the skinny on less-than-clear economic lingo from iTunes U. Money 101: Buzzwords, an excellent audio podcast from American Public Media, takes about a minute to explain arcane financial buzzwords in terms we all can understand.

Whether you’re formatting a hard drive or simply deleting files you’ve dragged to the Trash, Mac OS X Leopard offers options for securely deleting the data you no longer need but don’t want anyone else to access. Find out how you can take advantage of Leopard’s secure delete options by watching the latest Quick Tip of the Week.

It will come as very little surprise to many people, particularly those who read the early iPhone billing horror stories, but data roaming is a very expensive business…

While 90% of Japanese might not show interest for the 3G iPhone (Based on iSHARE survey), it doesn’t mean the upcoming phone from Apple will tank in Japan. Softbank, the carrier that will provide the 3G iPhone said it would be selling the phone at 23,040 yen or roughly $215 up to 34,560 yen.

Softbank might not be the mobile-carrier leader in Japan, but it has been catching up to the big guns like NTT DoCoMo. An analyst said Softbank would probably gain more lead by selling roughly one million iPhones in the first year.

[via bloomberg]

AT&T has still remained mum on the subject of unsubsidized pricing for the iPhone 3G. This is something people are interested in, since many people may not end up qualifying for the unsubsidized price, due to already being mid-contract. (Granted, we still don’t know exactly how AT&T plans on handling this situation). However, some recent news from O2 might give us a good idea of what to expect.

O2 will be charging anywhere from free to £99 (for the 8GB model) which, on the higher end comes up to almost the same as what we are expecting to pay over here. Unlike AT&T, O2 will be offering the iPhone with one of their prepaid plans. You will have to pay an unsubsidized price to get one of these, and they’ve been kind enough to announce the unsubsidized price, which is £159. Now if this unsubsidized price holds true here in the US, we could expect to pay around $315 for an 8GB iPhone.

I actually think this price looks about right. Just tack on an extra $10, and you’ve got the exact amount that AT&T is paying Apple for each iPhone. Coincidence? Maybe.

[via MacRumors]

I’m sure that any of you that own a 2.5G iPhone know well enough by now that you don’t go into another country and try to use their data network. When you arrive back in the US, you’ll be greeted with a wonderful bill for an outrageous amount for roaming data. So it should come as no surprise that you’ll really not want to roam with your iPhone 3G.

Just to give you an example, O2 charges around $12 per MB downloaded when roaming outside of the UK. At least with the original iPhone, the slow connection meant you probably didn’t use nearly as much data as one will with the 3G version. However, with a new iPhone, you could potentially be spending around $12 per second, which will add up quick.

Like I said, most of you probably already know how to turn off data roaming on your iPhone, however, with the new lower price for the 3G, there are going to be a lot of people that may not even think about this. So if you know someone with an iPhone going on a trip to Europe, you might want to give them a heads-up.

[via TUAW]

While there are a lot of unknowns in this story, it seems that an Australian retailer is offering consumers an unlocked iPhone imported from Hong Kong, retailing for AU$775 and AU$875 for the 8GB and 16GB versions. If it turns out that the iPhone 3G cannot be unlocked immediately — which is sure to be the case as it took hackers around two months to crack the first version, and Apple is sure to have beefed up security this time around — then Linelink will provide a free unlocking service at such a time as the solution becomes available…

With the first generation iPhone sold out for over a month, the price they’re fetching on eBay and other auction and resale sites is still at a premium…

Filed under: iPod Family, iTS

With apologies to Carl Sagan, it looks as if the Grand Unilateral Conspiracy to Commit Piracy(tm) (GUTCCP) has been dealt a harsh blow. As Scott posted yesterday, iTunes sales have topped 5 billion songs to date. This, despite the fact that all iPods are officially nothing more than repositories of pirated material. iTunes keeps chugging along, selling tracks at a phenomenal rate. Expect abandoned parrots and eyepatches to be offered at firesale prices if this trend continues.

The big story here isn’t the exact number milestone. Rather, it’s like the late Senator Everett Dirksen probably never said, “A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you’re talking real money.” The story is that the consuming public can and will buy music legitimately when the opportunity presents itself as a sane, easy-to-use alternative. Getting rid of DRM seems to have increased that demand rather than opening the doors to a floodgate of proliferate pirating piranas.

Apple comes under constant pressure to raise media prices and increase per-sale revenue. It looks to me that their current pricing model has been a huge success as-is. Could the current (reportedly $0.70/track) wholesale pricing really be putting the recording industry at a financial disadvantage after 5 billion sales with rock bottom overhead for digital distribution? Let us know in the comments.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: iPhone

Internet Telephony Provider rf.com is getting ready to launch its iPhone-specific PBX service. The service allows you to place calls both internationally and to online providers like Skype using your normal iPhone minutes. So if you have a friend who’s on Skype but has no Skype In access, you can call them just as if they had their own number.

RF operates its own PBX, which you connect to over a web client. Once there, it finishes routing the call using VoIP and connects it to your iPhone handset. You use your iPhone calling plan minutes whether you’re talking to a guy down the block or your buddy in Beijing.

Because their client is web-based, it works with 1.1.4 and earlier iPhones as well as 2.0 iPhones and later. All the heavy lifting happens at the RF servers, connecting you through the VoIP networks. RF’s service is free and still extremely beta — so be prepared for growing pains as they stabilize their software and roll it out. RF Founder/President Marcelo Rodriguez says they’re planning on keeping the basic service free for the forseeable future. They are monetizing by reselling the service to VoIP service providers such as PhoneGnome and will be offering premium features at a later date.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: iPhone, App Store, SDK

The thundering herd of announced iPhone apps keeps coming! By popular demand, TUAW will be publishing the iPhone App News Roundup every day as long as we keep getting announcements from developers.

• Hungry? Chef On Your iPhone from Chef’s Little Helper can help you pull up recipes and put together a grocery list.
• xhead software is moving info.xhead, their secure information manager for Mac, to the iPhone.
• If you use iZepto for time tracking, it’s time to cheer! They’ll have iZepto on the iPhone available soon!
• Jeff Grossman wants you to go to the movies! His Movies.app theater and movie finder can tell you what’s showing when at the nearest cinema.
• UK developers VisualIT are working on Tube 2 for iPhone and iPod touch. You’ll love this app if you ride the London Underground.
• Zoosware is releasing Mobile Holy Quran and American Sign Language for iPhone.
• One of the most popular Windows Mobile PIM apps, Pocket Informant, is being readied for iPhone. The app features full two-way over-the-air synching. Developer WebIS is also working on Note2Self and Touch2Notes.
• Logic High Software is planning for a July release of xHunt, a treasure hunt application leveraging the GPS receiver and camera of the iPhone 3G.
• Developer Dimitri Bouniol is working on a detailed periodic table of the elements app called Periods.
• Last but not least, it’s not an app, but longtime iPod case manufacturer Speck is making six colorful PixelSkin cases for the iPhone 3G.

iPhone developers — remember, we want to hear from you.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Now that we’ve known about the iPhone for a little while, we’ve also had some time to scratch our head and wonder about some of the details. Thankfully we’ve had a leaked memo help us along, as well as a few statements from AT&T representatives to help us along.

Industry analysts have also been hard at work this past week, estimating that Apple is getting $325 from AT&T for each iPhone 3G sold, and coming up with a bill of material for the new phone. They’ve also predicted twice the demand over the original iPhone, though not so much in Japan.

Already we’ve seen some of the first cases announced from ezGear, even though we’re still a few weeks out from launch. Citrix has also announced their new remote capabilities that they will be offering to iPhone users. We also had a chance to take a sneak peek at the upcoming App Store, which should launch around the same time as the new iPhone 3G.

Apple has finally settled that pesky lawsuit concerning their Visual Voicemail, though no specific details were given. There are still plenty of unanswered questions such as whether or not we’ll ever get Flash, most of which we’ll hopefully learn the answers to in the coming weeks.

Filed under: iPhone, App Store, SDK

We covered a number of iPhone VOIP applications, but iCall looks particularly impressive. As you can see in the above video, it allows you to seamlessly transfer a regular inbound cell phone calls to VOIP. This means you can save your minutes any time your iPhone is connected via wifi. As of right now calls are free in the US and Canada, and there is an iCall Pro account that lets you make international calls for a fee. Unfortunately, the iCall application is only available for Windows at the moment but they’re promising a Mac version soon. Nonetheless, it’s clearly the iPhone application that’s most exciting and the company is apparently part of the iPhone Developer Program.

Thanks, Ryan!

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Security

SecureMac has identified AppleScript.THT, a trojan-horse type virus of malware that exploits a Apple Remote Desktop Agent vulnerability publicized earlier this week that can “allow a malicious user complete access to the system.”

The malware is distributed as a compiled AppleScript, named ASthtv05, or an application bundle named AStht_v06. The files are 60K and 3.1MB in size, respectively.

Users must download and run the scripts in order for their computer to become infected. The trojan will install itself in the /Library/Caches folder, and will set itself to run at startup.

To protect yourself, use extreme caution when running AppleScript files or applications sent to you in an email, or downloaded from the internet.

While we can’t say for sure that these are the same people that developed this malware, you can read about the evolution of a very similar exploit script here, including a June 14th mention of the ARDAgent vulnerability. Very depressing.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Software, Cool tools, Productivity

So for quite a while now I’ve been using nothing more complicated than TextEdit to keep a list of what I’ve got on my plate any given day — I stuck an “Untitled” text file in the top corner of my screen, and just kept it open all the time. But I wasn’t quite satisfied with that — at the end of the day, I still had this text file open, I never remembered to save what was in there, and it just wasn’t as elegant a solution as I wanted. Wasn’t there anything I could keep open as a memopad, that was smart enough to save itself and slide out of the way when I didn’t need it?

A friend recommended Sidenote, and it turned out to be exactly what I was looking for — like the Quicksilver Shelf (which I’m using religiously nowadays) it sits in drawer on the side of your desktop, can be pulled open momentarily (either with the mouse or a hotkey) and then slides right back out of view when you’re done. Just like TextEdit, it allows for a nice variety of text formatting, and unlike TextEdit, it saves in a repository rather than a file. I only use one note so far, but there’s functionality for multiple notes in there as well.

We last mentioned Sidenote way back in 2005, and since then it’s been upgraded to 1.7.3, and streamlined a few already streamlined features. Very nice and easy app — for the purpose, it was exactly what I needed. It’s available as donationware from developer Pierre Chatel.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Software, Cool tools, Productivity

So for quite a while now I’ve been using nothing more complicated than TextEdit to keep a list of what I’ve got on my plate any given day — I stuck an “Untitled” text file in the top corner of my screen, and just kept it open all the time. But I wasn’t quite satisfied with that — at the end of the day, I still had this text file open, I never remembered to save what was in there, and it just wasn’t as elegant a solution as I wanted. Wasn’t there anything I could keep open as a memopad, that was smart enough to save itself and slide out of the way when I didn’t need it?

A friend recommended Sidenote, and it turned out to be exactly what I was looking for — like the Quicksilver Shelf (which I’m using religiously nowadays) it sits in drawer on the side of your desktop, can be pulled open momentarily (either with the mouse or a hotkey) and then slides right back out of view when you’re done. Just like TextEdit, it allows for a nice variety of text formatting, and unlike TextEdit, it saves in a repository rather than a file. I only use one note so far, but there’s functionality for multiple notes in there as well.

We last mentioned Sidenote way back in 2005, and since then it’s been upgraded to 1.7.3, and streamlined a few already streamlined features. Very nice and easy app — for the purpose, it was exactly what I needed. It’s available as donationware from developer Pierre Chatel.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments