It looks like third time is a charm - As in third golden master.  Or I guess first - really as both iOS 4.2 GM's were bypassed for iOS 4.2.1 - so for the public there is no iOS 4.2.  Just a jump to iOS 4.2.1.  We have mentioned some of the new features in the past - but a quick summary of the new features are:

 

1. AirPrint - Which allows direct Printing to an ePrint Printer, or to any printer connected to your Mac - while you Mac is turned on. Update - Per printing to any Printer connected to a mac that was true in the beta version of Mac OS 10.6.5 - but was removed for the GM version.

2. AirPlay - Which allows streaming of audio or video from your iOS device to your Apple TV.  

3. Improved Bluetooth control - allowing for AVRCP control.  You know skip tracks, volume control, and more from your bluetooth headset.  

4. Find my iOS device - for free.  You can easily set up your iOS device for the find my device feature and if your device gets lost - you can locate it on a map, send a message to it, lock it down or even remote wipe it - all for free - no more need for a paid mobileme account. 

 

NOTE:  If your iPhone is Unlocked and/or your iOS device is Jailbroken - you should not update to iOS 4.2.1 at this time.  Please wait for more info on this to come shortly (hopefully).  

 

If you are on an iPad - you get all the features from iOS 4.0 and 4.1 as well.  So for iPad owners it is a major plus plus update. For iPad owners you also get - folders, multitasking, GameCenter,  Unified Mailbox, iAds, and a bunch of smaller features.  

 

If you have an iPhone 3G - iOS 4.2.1 brings one key new feature - Usability - as in you can use your iPhone 3G again.  If you updated your iPhone 3G to iOS 4.0 or iOS 4.1 - you may have noticed a little bug where in your iPhone 3G slowed to 1/4 impulse power.  Well now it looks like your iPhone 3G is back up to full impulse power.  Granted not at warp speed like the iPhone 4 - but back to what you were used to in iOS 3.x  

 

In Apples announcement for iOS 4.2.1 they said the following: 

 

"The Find My iPhone (or iPad or iPod touch) feature is now free to use without a MobileMe subscription and helps you locate your missing device.* The Find My iPhone app is a free download on the App Store and lets users easily locate a missing device on a map and have it display a message or play a sound. Users can even remotely lock or wipe data from a lost device to protect privacy."

 

I set this up for my iPhone 4 and it was quick to set up and easy to use and I did not have to pay for mobile me for this.  So I do find it interesting that Apple made one of the most compelling reasons for getting mobileme - a free option.  I wonder if this means in the near future all of mobileme features will be free to iOS owners.  I hope so. 


According to Apple you can use Find My iPhone for free with your iPhone 4, iPad, or 4th generation iPod touch that has iOS 4.2 installed. Or you can use Find My iPhone with a paid MobileMe subscription.  Again not sure on that paid subscription thing now.  But lets say you have in addition to an iOS device from 2010 (iPhone 4, iPad or iPod touch 4th gen) that have a pre 2010 iOS device.  Like the iPhone 3GS or iPhone 3G and you want to set up find my iPhone on them - are you SOL - NO no you are not.  You just need to set up your 2010 iOS device first.  


Life hacker has an article that goes over this.  I have not had a chance to try this out on my 3GS yet - as I have not updated it to iOS 4.2.1 - as it is jailbroken and I was going to wait.  But if anyone else does this with success - as the authors of the lifehacker article claim to - please let me know.  But it does look like it is easy to do assuming you also happen to have a 2010 iOS device.  

 

One other feature I did not mention that is added to iOS 4.2.1 is the ability to set specific SMS alert tones for your contacts.  You are still limited to using the stock SMS tones - but that list of stock SMS tones has grown - but sadly most are still long tones - which is not the best for Text messages.  Who wants a 10 sec tone when you are getting a test message every 5 secs.  Just sayin. So this is not custom SMS tones - it is specific SMS tones from a predetermined list of tones that you can assign to your contacts - which is still much better than how it was before - if you are someone that is looking to set up specific tones to different people.  

 

Feedback from many different listeners has been very positive for this update.  The one issue that has been reported more than once was after the initial update - the Apps and podcasts did not get sync'd over and it required another sync to get that content brought over.  So as long as you are NOT jailbreaking and / or unlocking - it does look safe to update.  But you should still backup before you do the update - as always.  

 


Category:breaking news -- posted at: 2:43am EDT
Comments[1]

My 2 year Old Son as a Retro Robot with 2 iPhones

Below is a video of my 2 year old son dressed up in his Retro Robot Custom which has 2 iPhones - one to scroll "Boo" and the other to scroll the Binary version of "Boo".  And no he is likely not going to date until after high school.  

 

Category:breaking news -- posted at: 5:10pm EDT
Comments[5]

Here is a very quick summary of the latest quarterly numbers from Apple.

Rev $20.34 Billion

Total Cash = $ 51 Billion

 

Last Quarter Sales

iPhones Sold =  14.1 Mil

iPads Sold = 4.2 Mil

iPod Touches Sold = Not given as usual - but you can back into 4 Mil iPod Touches. 

All iPod's Sold = 9.1 Mil

275,000 iOS devices per day on average last 30 days.  (Means 133.25 Mil iOS devices sold to date through end of September.)

 

Misc Notes

iTunes Store = >$1 Bil Revenue for the Quarter. 

$8.82 Bil Rev from iPhone 

166 Carriers around the world for iPhone. 

80% of Fortune 500 companies deploying iPhones.  

26 Countries have the iPad at the end of last quarter. 

Steve came on the call to give a wrap up and talk about Apple selling more Smartphones than RIM sold in their last quarter.  275,000 iOS devices per day on average per the last 30 days.  He also went into details on the Android fragmentation issues.  Steve slammed the 7" screen and comments about 7" display is just 45% as large as the iPad screen. Did he listen to the last Today in iOS?  He says the 10" size is optimal - not the 7" size.  Called them tweeners.  Called 7" Tablets DOA.  

>250,000 Apple TV's 2 have been sold to date.  

 

Category:breaking news -- posted at: 3:20pm EDT
Comments[0]

The WSJ is back to their link bait ways with another Verizon iPhone rumor. I will not even call it a story.  The latest rumor they posted is here  (Yeah link bait worked again for them).  What I think is most frustrating about this latest rumor is that it is just a rehash of a rumor the same "reporters" spread back in the spring.  While the internets never forget it does appear WSJ editors do.  

But the real reason to call total BS on this is the lack of any real sources. That is unless you count "people familiar with the matter" or "these people" or "people briefed on the phone" or "One person familiar" or "people briefed on the matter" and "a person familiar with the matter". With harding hitting fact check journalism like that the WSJ must be proud to have their name linked to this BS.

Sorry for the tone and temper of this post - but come on WSJ it was bad enough the first time you brought up this rumor but to completely rehash it and just update the dates is plain lazy.   

Category:breaking news -- posted at: 8:54pm EDT
Comments[2]

Apple's September 1st Event Rumors Bingo Card

Here is the Bingo Card with all the major rumors out there that Apple might announce at their September 1st event. As always we will go over these on the show following the actual event.  (ep 144).

Category:breaking news -- posted at: 12:11pm EDT
Comments[3]

On the last episode I talked about Frash which is Flash for iOS.  Seems I forgot to mention an important point and that is you need to add a resource to Cydia before you can install it. Here are the instructions for installing Frash.

 

  1. Launch Cydia 
  2. Tap the - Manage - button
  3. Tap - Sources
  4. In the Top Right Tap the - Edit - button 
  5. In the Top Left Tap the - Add - button
  6. Then In the pop-up box, type http://repo.benm.at/   
  7. Tap - Add Source - to close the box
  8. In the Top Right Tap the - Done - button
  9. Go to the - Search - section in Cydia and search for "Frash"
  10. Install the app.

VERY IMPORTANT - You MUST include the  "/" at the end of the URL in step 6 or it will not work.

Again as I said in the show I see Frash more needed for the iPad than the iPhone or iPod Touch. But this will work for any iOS device.  Once it is installed go to a site that has Flash running and you will see a light grey box with "Flash" in the middle - tap on "Flash" and it will run the flash elements for that site.  
Category:breaking news -- posted at: 9:05am EDT
Comments[3]

Below is a video showing the jailbreak of an iPhone 3GS running iOS 4.0.1 - However this jailbreak works for any iOS device running iOS 4.0.1 or lower.  There were some early issues with MMS and Facetime not working. It is reported that MMS is now working.  I have heard reports from others that skype does not work in the background.  And I am sure there will be some other issues that are found. 

UPDATE: 8/2/10 11:42 PM CT - I jailbroke my iPhone 4 running iOS 4.0.1 - NO issues - All is working great including Facetime. Looks like they have resolved the issues they had last night.  Both my iPhone 4 and 3GS are working great. As with any jailbreak - as you ad more and more apps you increase your odds exponentially of there being a conflict.  So keep your jailbreak App downloads to a min and to just the ones you need.  If you try an app and don't like it - remove it ASAP.  Also those jailbreaking with iOS 4.0.1 for an iPhone seemed to report the best results. Mostly the reporting has been overwhelmingly positive for this Jailbreak - Kudos to those involved in making this possible.  

UPDATE 2: 8/3/10 12:05 AM CT - One other common thread seems to be those that do the jailbreak when connected to wifi are having better results then those trying the jailbreak via 3G. Also it seems better when clicking on a link like that below then when typing in the URL.  If you do have an issue - make sure to force quite safari and then clear your cache before trying again. 


BIG NOTE: Do not try to jailbreak if you don't like when things go to (expletive). If you need your device for your business and being without it for any period of time will cause you to loose your job - stop now.  If you get mad at your significant other at how they fold towels or put the toilet paper on a roll - Jailbreaking is probably not for your personality.  Sometimes things break and your device will likely crash more often then if it was not jailbroken. 

 

To Jailbreak just point your iOS device running iOS 4.0.1 or lower to:

http://www.jailbreakme.com

There is no need for a computer, SHSH Blobs or anything else.  Just point your iOS device to the link above and slide the slider to jailbreak.  See the video for more info.  

 

To learn how to use Cydia - The App store for Jailbreaking - See the following tutorials.

Of course - Make sure you backup before trying this.  And don't upgrade to iOS 4.1 or 4.0.2 or whatever comes after iOS 4.0.1 if you want to use this jailbreak method.

 

Category:breaking news -- posted at: 11:51am EDT
Comments[6]

http://blog.iphone-dev.org/post/890709355/the-return-of-jailbreakme-com

This post talks about the new very very easy to use jailbreak.  Just point your iOS device safari browser at:

 

http://www.jailbreakme.com

 

No need for mac or pc to jailbreak with this - do it all from your iOS device. However there is the issue the there are some issues.

I would highly suggest you hold off right now - as there are still some tech issues - especially with Facetime and MMS.

I am sure there will be updates on this coming soon.

If you do decide to do the jailbreak - please give your feedback below.

 

Category:breaking news -- posted at: 9:58pm EDT
Comments[8]

Update 2:  No Recall.  Apple will give free cases to everyone that buys an iPhone through September 30th - if you already purchased a bumper case they will refund the purchase.  More about the meeting on ep 138 early next week. 

 

As the title of this post suggests and conventional wisdom is now indicating an iPhone 4 recall announcement is all but a certainty when Apple has its special media even tomorrow at 10:00 AM PT.  However when it comes to conventional wisdom and Apple - history is not on the side of conventional wisdom.  Remember the iPod Touch 3rd gen with a camera, or the iPad that was not going to be called an iPad or that said iPad would be on Verizon.  Those were all conventional wisdom that Apple did not go along with. And what about the time of the event - 10:00 AM PT when the markets are still open in NY.  That timing seems odd - especially for a major recall announcement from a company with regards to its biggest individual product.  Why not push the event out a couple of hours until after the markets close. That seems even more obvious than the issues from touching an exposed antenna.  

If you are not aware iOS 4.0.1 is officially out for the iPhone 4 and its effect on fixing the Antenna bars dropping issue is negligible at best. I can with a tight death grip get the iPhone 4 to drop 3 bars - however now that the first bar is so much bigger I don't seem to feel as bad.  It is however now much harder to get 5 bars on the iPhone 4.  

There are some very good posts out there on what to expect tomorrow and one in particular from MG Siegler from Techcrunch is very well done.  

But what if Apple throws conventional wisdom out the window and Steve gets up there and shows data on the iPhone 4 having 10 to 15 dB better reception performance than the 3GS when not held with the death grip and only 5 to 10 dB worse performance when held tightly with the death grip.  Then Steve offers up a free bumper or gift card for all iPhone 4 owners.  And then does the completely unexpected and announces the iPhone 4 will be available in XX days on Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon.  I just heard from a good friend in the electronic components industry that his good friend told him Fox Con is already building the CDMA versions of the iPhone 4.  Yeah I know a friend of a friend - almost sounds like something from Digitimes or BGR.  Not that I really think this will happen - just throwing it out there as a possible anti-conventional wisdom possibility.  

 

If you have thoughts on what will happen tomorrow or if you have upgraded to iOS 4.0.1 please share your experience / thoughts below.

 

Update: Some listener email feedback

Hi Rob,

Just thought I'd share an experience I had this morning while eating
breakfast at a McDonald's in my area. I was sitting with my girlfriend
when I pulled out my iPhone 4 to check the weather. A group of elderly
people were sitting at the table next to us. One of them saw my phone
and asked me if it was "that new apple phone that was going to get
recalled". I said "well it the new apple phone but I'm pretty sure it
isn't going to be recalled". This group then began asking about the
antenna issues that had been in the news and were curious if I had any
problems. I told them that yes the signal does appear to drop but that
rarely results in a dropped call. Another group at a table also
nearby, this time with a group of 30-ish age people then joined the
conversation saying that they ha gotten android phones because of the
reported issue with the iPhone 4.
  I guess I hadn't realized just how big of a public perception
problem this antenna thing is. Apple is in some serious trouble if a
group of random people of various ages are all aware of the reported
issues. Anyway, I hope apple can do something to alleviate the
problem.

Regards,
Jason

 

Category:breaking news -- posted at: 4:12pm EDT
Comments[5]

There are a lot of posts popping up this past weekend about iTunes being "Hacked".  While "Hacked" does not appear to be an accurate description - as it appears no rouge hackers broke through the walls and stole passwords from users randomly. What it does look like is in Apple's "Pristine" walled garden there are lots of weeds.  I for one have said iTunes and Apples ability to control what goes on in iTunes is in the long run a key advantage over the Android eco system.  However that is only true if Apple does their part - and right now that does not appear to be the case.  The current incident appears to be where some less than reputable App developers have taken purchasing / account info from users of some of their apps to purchase their other apps. 

 

See the following for more info:

The Next Web - Apples App Store Filled with "App Farms"

 

TUAW - App Store Chicanery powered by iTunes account fraud

 

Mashable - iTunes Accounts Hacked

 

The Next Web - iTunes accounts hacking more widespread than initially thought

 

Alexbrie - iTunes accounts hacked by shady developer?

 

Again I don't think from what I read that "Hacked" is an accurate description - I think "Shady developers mis-use iTunes accounts" would be a better description.  Reading through the one post from The Next Web - they mention some of the developers doing App farms and if these developers are responsible for the illegal activities and Storm8 is one of the guilty parties as mentioned by The Next Web - then I think Apple has shown they have not done their job in policing the iTunes App store.  Back on Episode 104 I mentioned a post on Boing Boing - iPhone game dev accused of stealing players phone numbers  -  At the time I had this to say on the show:

Ok - what I am not sure on this next one is what shocks me / surprises me the most - And this is per the story about how the company storm8 is being sued for harvesting cell numbers of the iPhones where the app was installed. What I am not sure on which surprises me the most - is one that they did this after what was reported earlier this summer with a company in Switzerland doing the same - or that Storm8 and their games are still in the App store - and some were free ones I even talked about in the past - World War, Vampires Live, Ninjas live, iMobster and more - although I think I only talked about World War. Which by the way sucked and I removed from my iPhone long ago. I am really shocked apple has not just kicked them out. They are claiming it was a bug - you know they type of bug where you accidentally climbed up on a chair and reached up on the fridge and were reaching into the cookie jar when your parents turned the light on - type of bug. Yeah. And Boo boo boo storm8

 

I am not saying Storm8 has stollen users passwords and put false charges on users account - I don't now that one way or the other - but to even see them mentioned and one of their Apps mentioned in some of the posts on this subject leads me to think where the is smoke there is fire.  And if they do in fact prove to be one of the guilty parties - Apple had been given warning about these guys back in 2009 and did NOTHING.  Just like they have done nothing with the App developers that have paid for their reviews.

 

Bogus iTunes App Reviews 

 

More Bogus App reviewers and reviews

 

That's right Apple having it brought to their attention of bogus paid app reviews in iTunes back on April 30th has done nothing and taken no actions with regards to the App reviewers taking payola for app reviews or the ones paying for the App reviewers.  Apple was made aware of Storm8 in 2009 and did nothing.  Apple has weeds in their walled garden, those weeds have been brought to their attention and it sure looks like Apple is not interested in yanking out those weeds.  This in my opinion is a bigger issue than anything that may or may not be wrong with the iPhone 4.  It is the eco system stupid and it sure looks like Apple is not on top of their developers. 

 

 

Category:breaking news -- posted at: 7:27pm EDT
Comments[2]

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