Today in iOS Podcast - The Unofficial iOS, iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch News and iPhone Apps Podcast

Apple's new Podcast app came out today and I decided to take a few screenshots with my iPad third-generation and put them into the Photogene app and use the collage maker to create some artwork for the show.

Regards,

Gregory

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Episode 230 - Transcript

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Hmmm - what story do you think I am going to lead with this week. Well Apple releases a new App for the iPhone and the app is about podcasting - and this is a podcast about the iPhone - so yeah - lets start with the new Podcasts App from Apple. But before I give my thoughts on it - let me read those you have sent in.

Hi Rob,

Thanks for the push notification about the new podcast app. So far, it is a disappointment.

1. Doesn't seem to support Enhanced AAC podcasts.

2. Next/Previous controls sluggish.

3. Doesn't properly show cover art for many of my podcasts.

I like Instacast much better.

Regards,

Steven.

Thanks Steven - Not sure on the AAC side - I did not test that yet - per the artwork - that seems to be an on going issue - some times they are all there - some times not so much.

Hi Rob,

Cool & good app by apple. Cool with the spinning tape reel & speed control!
So u think in ios6 podcast is gone from the music app & podcast store is gone from within iTunes app as well?

Regards,

Michael

Hi michael - Actually in iOS 6 - Yes Podcasts are gone from your music app. Actually after you first install the Podcasts App on an iOS device running the iOS 6 beta - and then launch the music app - it gives a message saying podcasts are no longer there and give the option to open the podcasts app. And we already new that podcasts were gone in iTunes app in iOS - so yes - they are gone there as well.

Next - Hi Rob,

Went and got the Podcasts app. Was looking forward to it but now I have already deleted it, disappointedly.

I am an Apple fan by definition and have been for years now.

I have an app called Podcaster 5 that I use and I was amazed that Apple's app came no where near it. Main issue: why bother with separate app from the Music app where I can find the same podcasts and am limited to only podcasts Apple allows in its "catalog"? So, you can't add anything that isn't "sanctioned" by Apple. Sorry that Apple has continued to be overly political in this area. (Really what possible harm to IOS could a podcast not in their listing do?)

Regards,

Rhonda

Hi Rhonda - I agree about the part on adding in RSS feeds. Hopefully a new version of the App will allow manual subscriptions to any RSS Feed.

Hi Rob

How poor is the new apple podcast app? I'm used to Apple producing highly polished pieces of work! I really hope this is a Beta? But why make it public, why not bring in the creators of "Downcast" my favourite podcast app! Sad face apple

Cheers

Craig

Liverpool

Thanks all for your feedback. So here are my thoughts on the Podcasts App. One you need to realize what you see with this App in iOS 5.x and what you see in iOS 6 beta are slightly different. As I mentioned above - All Podcasts are gone form the music app in iOS 6 when you have the Podcasts App installed.

Also there are a few extra features in the Podcasts App Such as an audio and video tab at the bottom of the Catalog view. Additionally when you view a show in the catalog view - you get the option to see details or reviews or related shows.

One Thing I really do not like - is that the Episode level Artwork is not showing up in the Podcasts App - just the show level artwork.

One thing I liked about Podcasts App - the first time you launched it - it copied over all your podcasts from the Music App.

I do like the controls - and the tape deck animation.

I like that you can find and subscribe to podcasts easily with an Apple App - and I think that is the biggest thing - most people I hear complaining about the Podcasts app are comparing it to Instacast, downcast, iCatcher and other apps like that. However Most people have never tried those apps - but when Apple has an App - that brings in more potential listeners - so no longer are podcasts sent off the more section on the music app - now they have their own app - and for podcasting that is good.

For consumers it is good - as it helps them find new shows - but more so for those that like instacast and downcast - for those apps to survive they have to improve their apps to be better than apples - and that is a win - win for consumers.

One bit of speculation / conspiracy theory being thrown around about the new Podcasts App - comes from the iOS 6 version where you see a "redeem" button - to which people say "redeem" what - why would you need to have a promo code for podcasts - they are free. So speculation is running wild by some that this means there will be paid for podcasts.

I look at it like this - the redeem button is likely left over code from the iTunes template for the iTunes music store app - which it seems some similar design was taken.

And I ask this what is more likely - that 1. Apple has some left over code in the app or 2. Apple is getting ready to review every bit of content from every podcaster that wants to charge for podcasts and set up a whole new approval process for podcast content for a hundred's of thousands of podcasters with millions of hours of content.

Yeah - when you put it that way - left over code makes more sense.

If you want to know more about my thoughts on the Podcasts App - we just put up a new episode of Today in Podcasting - at today in podcasting dot com. On Ep 65 - Gary Leland, Dave Jackson and My self are joined by Daniel J Lewis and Ray Ortega and we talk about our thoughts of this app and much more with regards to podcasting news. Again go to today in podcasting dot com.

Into the Email bag.

Hi Rob,

Last week a listener responded to my request for a PDF printer that will work with the Air print feature with a recommendation for "Virtual PDF Printer for iPhone". This costs $20, so I had to read over the documentation about 12 times and go to the website to ensure that it actually did what I wanted, but I finally bit the bullet and bought it today.
It works great! I no longer have to jump through hoops just to get a PDF version of what I want, I can just print directly to PDF wherever the "Print" feature is available. Emails, web pages, photos, etc.
I did have one scare, where a notice popped up saying "Printer no longer available" shortly after I'd first used it, but I closed and re-opened the app and it worked after that. I also cannot print ".docx" documents directly, I guess this file format is not fully supported, but I can "open in" and then print using the app.
To sum up, I love it, I use PDFs mainly as a way to save things or to mark them up, and I've really been missing having this feature. I'd always had a PDF printer from every other devise that had the ability to print, and I don't understand why apple doesn't include this as a standard feature.
regards,
- Jessi D

Hi Jessi - thanks for letting us know that worked for you.

Hi Rob,
I've been looking for a while for a good way/app to send email from my iPad to the groups I have created in contacts on my Mac. Last episode a listener mentioned mail shot but I've found another app I like and It's called GroupMessenger, it's simple, it works great, and it is free in the app store. I'm not sure why Apple didn't include this feature for iOS but maybe someday it will be sherlocked.
Thanks,

Corfy

Hi Rob,

On the video play back of iTunes movies/tv shows, I have had this issue before. It is an issue with the HDMI cable or the TV not supporting HDCP, I had this issue with a friends Apple TV.

I found out it was the HDMI cable, replaced it with a newer cable and no more issues. I travel with an Apple HDMI cable so I can play off my iPad, I have also found during my travels that not all TV’s support HDCP.

From what I can tell the HDCP is a protocol that insures the device that you are connected to is not a recording device and can only playback the content.

Regards,

Thomas

Tuscaloosa, AL

Hi Rob,

As far as I remember, Display out in Cydia allows you to output movies etc from ipad to tv via hdmi-adapter.

Regards,

Johan

Hey Rob just was able to do a OTA update to beta 2
regards,

Larry Appleseed.

Hi Rob,

iOS 6 Beta 2 is out in the world.

I am updating now, it is cool to see the gears turning (really the update screen icon)

Johnny.Appleseed.2012

Seems that with iOS 6 - part of what Apple is adding is animation - You have gears grinding away during Over the Air updates and reel to reel tape players for Podcasts. Will be interesting to see what else gets animation added to it in iOS 6.

From Kevin Appleseed - comes mention that with Siri in iOS 6 - when you ask it the time - She now says at the the tone the time will be…

Rob,

A couple of updates on beta2:

- if you download a new App, the icon for the App will have a red stripe that reads New. After the App is launched the stripe disappears.

- some Apps have partial or complete WiFi connectivity issues even though the device has complete access to WiFi.

All of the above statements are iPad 3rd gen specific. Again, as usual, this communication never happened.

Regards,

Johnny Appleseed

Hi Rob,

I found this website to test Passbook - it is pass source.com - regards,

Kevin Appleseed.

If anyone has any other feedback about iOS 6 betas they want to share - annanoumously of course - not that we would ever encourage the breaking of the NDA - but if you have some info you feel would benefit other devs - please let us know at today in iOS at gmail dot com

In June the iPhone reached two new carriers in the US - Cricket Wireless mid month and then Virgin Wireless here at the end of the month. When you think of where the iPhone was 5 years ago - just one carrier - to where it is today - around 15 carriers just in the US alone and well over 100 carriers world wide - it really has been an amazing 5 years.

It is funny that on the 5th anniversary or leading up to it there were lots of posts about how the pundits got it wrong on the iPhone 5 years ago. And more than a few sent in links to articles that had the Steve Balmer interview right after the iPhone was announced and he poo pooed the iPhone and literally laughed at it. I used that interview with Balmer to create with some very liberal editing a big part of the promo for Today in iPhone before it launched back in April 2007. I want to play that edited version now - and it is amazing how accurate my edited version of Balmers quotes turned out to be.

PLAY QUOTE.

See - Balmer totally nailed it.

Looking back at the month of june - Apple launched the iTunes App stores in 32 additional countries which include - Albania, Benin, Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cape Verde, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Fiji, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Liberia, Malawi, Mauritania, Federated States of Micronesia, Mongolia, Mozambique, Namibia, Nepal, Palau, Papua New Guinea, São Tomé and Príncipe, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Swaziland, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Zimbabwe

In addition to that Apple also launched iTunes stores for Music in 12 countries which are - Brunei, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Laos, Macau, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan and Vietnam.

So Cambodia you get both App and Music in the same month.

I already have listeners in each of these countries so to the 2 listeners in Albania - I just want to say - I am also part Albanian - And now all my countries of origin have App stores.

Hi Rob,

I use an app called "Pen and Paper" $1.99 in the app store.
It allows you to open a PDF and draw or type on the PDF. It uses the PDF as a background, so your not directly editing the PDF, but you can then save the edits as a PDF and email it I've used it a few times to sign PDF files I receive via email and send them back
Regards,

- Jessi D

On the last episode I mentioned the Ringbow controller for games that is a kickstarter project. I had a couple question if this device would work with iOS. As right now the site says it works with Android and iOS support is coming soon. I contacted the folks running the project and asked them when it would support iOS and they replied with the following

Hi Rob,

Ringbow iOS support will be available upon launch in November.

Regards,

Efrat

To learn more more about ringbow listen to ep 229 or go to kickstarter and search for Ringbow one word.

They currently are 67.571% of the way through their pledge goal with 22 days to go. Good luck Efrat.

Hi Rob,
I wanted to let you know about a Kickstarter project I'm backing. It's a game called Bluff Wars for iOS/Android and funding ends on July 5th at 9:00 PM ET. It currently has <$1500 to go. Easiest way to describe it: it's the board game Balderdash in Word with Friends form. It looks to be a hilarious social game where you pick a category (acronyms, people, dates, words, etc.) and have to come up with a definition or why the person/date is "famous." you get points for guessing correct, but also for fooling others into thinking yours is correct. Just search for Bluff wars two words at kickstater dot com

Regards,
Lou V

Thanks Lou for the heads up on Bluff Wars.

Howdy Rob,

Here is Another interesting watch from Kickstarter! I am a backer of this one...

It is called the cookoo - c o o k o o

Regards,
Mark

Hi mark - Thanks for the heads up on the Cookoo watch - which is a connected smart watch. They already hit their funding goal of $150k - with over $248k currently and funding is open until July 7th at 9:00 AM ET. What is different about this smartphone connected watch is that unlike the Pebble - this one does not show you specific info - like who is calling or tweeting or emailing - it just tells you someone is calling or tweeting or emailing. It is not a watch you need to recharge - as they say - as it uses a flat disk watch battery that you can easily change out once a year or so.

Their goal is to get it on your wrist by November.

Pricing on this is $70 to $100 depending on what color you want. The $70 version is brushed stainless on black, For $80 you get a black on black version, for $95 you get a Pink cookoo and for $100 you get a blue or white cookoo.

If you want more info or to see their video with really poor audio quality - search for C o o k o o at kickstarter.com or look for the link in the show notes at today in iOS dot com.

Into the Email bag.

Hi Rob,

Chrome is out for iOS.

It's faster and has a better interface then Safari. Stored passwords all there too!
Regards,

Alexx

Actually had a few people emailing in about Chrome for iOS - I am not a chrome user so I am not overly or really at all excited about this - but if you are a chrome user - just note you can download Chrome now for your iOS device in the app store.

In addition to Chrome - Google also had approved the app - Google Drive - which quote lets you create, share, collaborate and keep all your stuff in one place. upload all your files from your computer even the big ones - and you can access them anywhere including your iPhone or iPad. unquote you get 5GB of storage for free to start. There is an in app purchase of 24.99 for 25 GB of additional storage.

Thanks to Chris on this next one which is about a JB tweak to make the new Chrome browser your default browser. It is called BrowserChooser and is in Cydia. BrowserChooser is Free - but you need to add in the Repository - http://rpetri.ch/repo

More info on that in the article titled Make Google Chrome Your Default Browser in the show note for ep 230 over at today in iOS dot com.

Actually Browser Chooser is compatible with the following web browsers - Google Chrome obviously, Opera Mini, iCab Mobile, Dolphine browser, Atomic browser, and mobile safari.

This is one of those tweaks - you know should be in iOS - but never likely will be as Apple wants you to have Safari as the default.

Hi Rob,

Today I tried to do something I thought would be real simple to do but it turned out to be nearly impossible. I wanted to send out a map to a specific location because I couldn't find it through a search on Google Maps. The iOS maps application will let you drop a pin and access street view, but I could not figure out to get a link to my pin. Google's mobile maps in Safari on my iPad wouldn't let me drop a pin. I finally figured out a less-than-ideal solution on my laptop but even that wasn't nearly as easy as I thought it should be. It involved creating a map, which was then unusable on my iPad.
Do you know of an application that will do this easily?
Myron U

Hi Rob,

Do you know of a JailBreak tweak to give you a news crawl (like CNN
headline) on Notification Center? The stock widget does it for stocks so
I'm thinking there must be one for top news, but I can't find it.

Thanks,
--David

I want to thank the nice PR folks behind the new App Crabs and Penguins for sending the swag for the app - which included a cooler with 8 small cans of coke - see the App Crabs and Penguins is from Coca-cola. And my kids loved the cooler and the the stuffed crab - they take turns sleeping with it. I am mentioning this app not just because they bought me out with a little swag - but because well it is Coke that is presenting this game. it is a free app - search for crabs and penguins - and let me know what you think - I have not played it yet - it only came out a couple of days ago - it is downloaded - but I kind of thought getting the show out was a bit more important. I will play with it this weekend. Again I just think it is cool Coke is getting behind an app like this. Hopefully the game is worthy of the coca cola branding.

Hi Rob,

I wanted to write and ask you to warn all your listeners about Square. I recently started using Square to process mobile payments on my iPhone. I have run my small business for 10 years and I have never had a problem with Intuit before. Well, I have had problems with my first transaction and although the transaction amount was large, I didn't expect the runaround I am getting from Square. Square's merchant support is non-existent. There is no way to contact them, no phone number to call, no way to email them, and their support page consists of FAQs only. I started to do more research on the company and found that there are hundreds of complaints on site like:

http://www.cardpaymentoptions.com

If only all those users left reviews on the App store, I would not make the same mistake. I hope this can be a service to all your listeners. Thanks for a great podcast.

Tony L
San Francisco

Hi Tony - thanks for the feedback - I have to say most people that have sent in feedback on Square in the past have sent in positive feedback - but Tony is a long time contributor to the show - so I felt it was warranted to read his feedback - and I am very interested in hearing what other square users experiences have been lately with Square - are you happy or frustrated or have some other feeling with regards to square.

Give us a call - 206-666-6364 - that's 206-moon-dog - to send an email to today in iOS at gmail dot com.

I am not going to comment about every new quote iPad killer unquote or iPad wanabe that comes out. But since this next one comes right from Google - it is worth at least a brief mention. Google announced the lets call it the N7 tablet and no I am still not going to say the name as Google has yet to compensate the PK Dick family for use of that name. Any way the N 7 tablet tablet is well a 7 inch tablet that costs just $199. For that $199 you get 8 GB of storage. the 16 GB version sells for $249. Mind you the screen real estate of a 7 inch tablet is about half that of the 9.7 inch tablet and the resolution is also less. 1280 x 800 for the N7 vs 2048 x 1536 for the new iPad.

Looking over the specs - it seems the N7 is more a competitor for the Kindle Fire than it is for he iPad. Google is pushing devs hard to actually you know develop apps for it. It seems most articles I read about the N7 seem to see it as a competitor for the Kindle Fire and not much competition for the iPad. Guess time will tell. I guess until it starts shipping and gets into the hands of none google fan boys - we really will not know.

The big unknown is real world battery life - Google claims 9+ hours of battery life - but that is a claim - lets see what the reality is.

At least with the N7 google actually you know gave pricing and battery life numbers - yeah - I am looking at you Microsoft.

Well it will be an interesting fall competition wise for the iPad - with the Surface and N7 and likely an updated Kindle Fire in the mix.

If anyone out there orders a N7 - please let me know when you get it what you think.

Hi Rob,

As a Windows user, I find iTunes to be clunky and slow.

What I really want to do in Windows, is be able to right-click on any file, anywhere, and choose “send to iPhone”. This would be so much easier than having to futz around with syncing.

I’m often getting ready to leave work and realize I want some file on my device. Now I have to email it to myself. I wish moving things to my device was as easy as copying files on to a flash drive.

Do your listeners know of any app combination that would do this; something perhaps I need to install both on Windows and the iDevice?

With highest appreciation for your superb podcast

Debby A

PS - I Already use drop-box - But sometimes I have no cell service or wi-fi and I want to have the same access I do with an ordinary MP3 player or flash drive.

So Windows users out - there what App or apps do you use to get the iPhone to look like a flash thumb drive on your computer?

206-666-6364 that's 206-moon-dog or email us at today in iOS at gmail dot com.

Just a heads up to those trying to Use Display Recorder and are out side the US - you will likely need to change the Region code to US if you want to get it to work - so if you did purchase Display recorder and are having an issue with it working - go and check your region setting - by going to the Settings App and then general and then International - and then change "Region Format" to United States.

Then try relaunching Display recorder.

Thanks to Tash for the heads up on that.

A quick thank you to Hector - who sent in the heads up on the Atari Greatest hits app being free just on June 27th - Atari's 40th anniversary. I was able to send out a push on that - so hopefully a few of you were able to get the app and all 100 games for free. See how the Tii App pays for itself. Yet another reason to make sure you have the Tii app on your iOS devices. Just $2.99 in the App store - just search for Tii.

Just a heads up the next episode will be out on July 4th - in that episode I have an interview I recorded with an old friend - Tim Street about a new project he has launching in iTunes on July 4th. It is a cool new project and he gave me a sneak peek at Blogworld a few weeks ago which lead to this interview. So look for Ep 231 on July 4th.

I want to thank Hover once again for sponsoring this show - you can save 10% on your domain name registrations by going to tii.hover.com - that's tii.hover.com - thanks Hover.

Category:vip_Artwork -- posted at: 1:00am EDT

Comments[0]

Mon, 25 June 2012

Tii - iTem 0229 - A Little Surface Tension

Tii - iTem 0229 - A Little Surface Tension

Links Mentioned in this Episode:

Today's Sponsor is Hover - tii.hover.com

Save 25% on custom email with promo code - tiimail

Spec Comparison: Apple’s New iPad vs. Surface by Microsoft

Many would give up sex for iPhone

Dolphins to fine players who visit “unauthorized” sites

iSimple

The iPhone Turns Five Friday

bossjock studio

Foxconn CEO says iPhone 5 will put Galaxy S III to shame

Ringbow - Kickstarter

Apple Wins Surprising Anti-Big Brother Surveillance Patent

Saurik Disappointed By Jailbreak Community?

Apps Mentioned in this Episode:

Virtual PDF Printer for iPhone

FlashLock - Cydia

FM Modulatora Mentioned in this Episode:

AllKit

iSimple

Go Grove Flex Smart X2

Direct download: tii_0229.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 3:06am EDT

Comments[1]

Mon, 25 June 2012

iOS Artwork - iTem 0229 and Episode Transcript

Hey Rob,
I used Snapseed and InFrameCut to create this picture for the show. Keep up the good work.

Ian, in the UK.

=========================

Episode 229 - Transcript

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I have had a few emails this week with Few in quotes These emails had links and comments about the new Surface Tablet from MS and how it compares to the iPad and many asked my thoughts. Well There is a nice article over on The Mac Observer site that tries to compare specs - I say tries - because there are just so many unknowns to the specs for the Surface - which The Mac Observer clearly points out - kudos to them. I see all these other pundits and sites saying the Surface will crush the iPad or the iPad will crush the Surface or Yada Yada - but the truth is no one can really intelligently say either way - why? - well simply put because there are just to many unknowns. About all we do know is during the presentation one of the Surfaces locked up and they had to swap it out and grab a 2nd unit - that just happened to be waiting there. And for those out there that say we should just look at the past history of MS kicking Apples butt - well that was just on the OS side. Now When you look at you know actual head to head competition in Hardware between Apple and MS you have really only two comparisons to look at and that is the Kin and the Zune - vs the iPhone and iPod respectively and we all know how those turned out - just sayin. But again until we see all the specs - especially the battery life tests and the price - it is way too early to draw any conclusions. Keep that in mind when reading articles claiming one the victor.

And sticking with the crazy type stories there is a survey out there making the rounds that showed 15% of people surveyed said they would give up sex before they would gave up their iPhone. Of course that 15% likely were not having sex anyway.

And they definitely will be the ones that complain the loudest if the iPhone 2012 comes out is larger and requires more than one hand to operate. Just sayin.

We have talked in the past about how some of the NFL teams have traded in their printed on dead trees play books for iPads. The advantages are many 1. You don't kill so many trees - as those play books usually in the multi multi hundreds of pages were re-printed and updated each week. 2. If you lost a playbook or a player left for another team - said playbook could go with him - now with the iPad - you can remotely wipe it. and 3. it weighs a lot less and you can link to videos.

So all around it is more surprising to hear of any NFL teams not using an iPad this coming season.

One team that is using it is the Miami Dolphins and they are the reason we are talking about this now - as it seems they have some rules about what you can and can not do with the iPad they give you.

For example the iPad is just to be used for job-related activities.

However if one of the Dolphins goes to Youtube or Twitter on his team issued iPad - they have to pay a $10,000 fine. No word on what the fine would be for going to YouPorn.

Guess their reasoning is they want to keep the players focused during meetings - that seems fine. But from what has been said it sounds like going to those sites any time could get them fined.

So if this is a case where using the iPad at home to look at Youtube in your downtime will cost you $10k - why not just take a hammer to the iPad before letting them check it. Then all you have to pay is the $600 to get it replaced.

Funny how some people try to implement the latest technology and then and go and show they have no clue about said technology.

If the Dolphins think that fining their players $10k makes sense because they went to twitter - I think it is safe to say there is one team you will not be seeing in the post season. Just sayin.

Into the Email Bag we go.

Hi Rob,

In episode 228 someone asked about being able to print directly to PDF in iOS. I found an app that I believe does what the caller and I want. It is "Virtual PDF Printer for iPhone". Unfortunately it has been priced at $19.99 ever since it's one day introductory price of $4.99 on April 25, 2012. One great feature is that it works in concert with Printopia.

I've added it to my AppShopper wish list and hope for a sale price to show up.
Regards,
Mike C

Hi Rob,

The app Start - does web to PDF. It works OK. It even keeps the background images.s. Check it out.

Search for Start Web to PDF in iTunes. It is just $0.99

Regards,

Steve W

Hi Rob,

With regards to the listeners looking for a good FM Modulator - I had the iSimple system installed on my jeep and it worked great! It comes with a 30-Pin Connector that will simultaneously charge and stream audio. Or you can install an auxiliary jack if your vehicle does not already come with it. Both options come with the system but obviously I recommend the 30-Pin. Because it is an fm modulator they also install a "on/off" switch to properly use the audio. The switch is usually installed under the steering wheel to block radio frequency for clearer use of dock. I just bought a new car and will be installing another modulator in that as well. The iSimple is at Bestbut for $140.

Regards,

Cesar C.- San Antonio,TX

This Friday is the iPhones 5th birthday. Might I suggest you go back in time and listen to the episodes I released starting around early June 2007 - there was still much not known and lots of excitement in the air leading to the launch. Those early episodes are a nice time travel back to when the iPhone launched. For all of you that have been around the past 5 years - thanks again for listening and for all the contributions to this show you have provided over the past 5 years.

Tim cook recently said apple was going to double down on security. So you would think that memo went out in teiplicate to apple suppliers well You know who did not seem to get the memo. The CEO at Foxconn that's who. Seems Foxconns CEO is talking again this time he is telling people not to purchase the new galaxy phone from Samsung Now because the next iPhone is much better.

Into the Email bag we go.

Hi Rob,

Let me start by saying this communication never happened...

I have noticed a few things with iOS 6.0 beta:

1) on the iPad (3rd gen) there is a clock app that wasn't there before -- i don't recall if this was mentioned on the keynote or not.

2) the Passbook app appears on the simulator but not on the device (at least not in the iPad).

3) with regards to stability, I have noticed several bugs with the Facebook portion of the social framework -- additionally the account authentication portion doesn't seem to be completely there for Facebook -- there is some authentication stuff that is half-way implemented and not documented yet -- found out by luck looking through include files and due to Xcode autocompletion offerings.

Regards,

Johnny Appleseed 2

Well Johnny - thanks for the feedback - do remember folks if you are testing the beta - it is well a beta and the first of the betas and at least 2 months from Gold - At least.

Hi Rob

This would have been on my wish list for IOS6 but I guess its too late now. But maybe it could be included in the iphone 2012. I would really really like some indication, either visually or audibly, of a missed call.

Regards,

Keith in Thailand

Hi Keith,

I agree - having a slowly flashing camera flash when you miss a call or get a text message or what ever else you put in there would be nice. Something like where it flashes once every 3 or 5 seconds would be nice.

Is there already a Jailbreak app or tweak like this - probably - and if someone know of said app - please let me know. But yes Keith - this seems like something Apple should have baked into the iOS.

Hi Rob,

Yesterday I came across this device called Ringbow that looks like a ring and you put it on your ring finger and then use the thumb on a D-pad like controller. It's connecting to iOS and Android devices via bluetooth, and is meant to offer additional controls when playing games. You can still use your finger to touch the screen, so Ringbow is not trying to replace the touch functionality entirely, but giving it a new dimension.

It's a really brilliant idea as I never liked to use a virtual on screen controller, for example like you see in most racing games on iOS.
Obviously, games probably need to add support for Ringbow, but I think it's a pretty unique idea that might just catch on.

Hoping that this one gets made, I backed for it right away. And it's not just limited to mobile devices, as supposedly it'll work on regular computers as well.
Regards,
Sebastian from Leipzig, Germany

Hi Sebastian - thanks for the heads up on this one. It had raised over $42k towards a goal of $100k - they have 27 days to go - funding ends on Sunday July 22nd. So if you are interested in learning more on this one search for Ringbow - one word over at kickstarter dot com.

A quick update on some other Kickstarter projects recently mentioned on the show - Trygger - T R Y G G E R - has about 7 days left to go - and it is one over its goal - it was a case with a polarizing lens. So if that was of interest jump on that one now. More info on that back on Ep 227

This next story comes back to something I have said before when it comes to your personal info / privacy and how Apple looks at things. Apple just had a patent issued which is best explained as an anti-big brother patent. I will not go into all or really any of the details - you can read the very long post over at Patently Apple - link in the show notes titled Apple Wins Surprising Anti-Big Brother Surveillance Patent. But what I will say is this patent is in the primary interest of you the Apple customer. Not the Advertisers and Not any Government. Actually if Apple puts this patent to use in any small way it is a win for consumers. I really wanted to point out this patent - not because a patent was granted - but more so how great it is that Apple even thought about its users enough to come up with ways to protect them to such a degree they felt it warranted a patent. And this is where I feel Apple is fundamentally different from Google. Googles customers are Marketers and what Google is selling them is your info. With Apple you are their customer and what Apple is selling you is a great User experience. So next time one of your Android Fan boy friends gets on you about apple - just ask them if they know how Google makes money. Just Sayin.

Hi Rob, my name is Steve Harlow from Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.

I have found a great IOS app called Mail Shot.  It allows you to easily add contact groups to your address book.

There is a free version, and the paid version costs $4.49 Australian in the app store.  The difference between the two is that the free version only allows you to create 3 contact groups, while the paid version allows you to create up to 15 groups.

When you start the app, you get a welcome dialogue box.  Hit the OK button.  You'll then be asked to start Mail Shot.  Hit the start button, this then takes you into the app.

To create a group, tap on create group.  Type the name of the contact group in the text box and hit enter.  This will take you into the Add Contacts area.  Hit the + button to add individual contacts from your address book.  When you have finished adding contacts, hit the Update button, and Mail Shot will display a dialogue box informing you that the group has been written into the Address book.  You can then go into your contacts app and you'll see the new group listed in your contacts.

As a vision impaired person I found this very easy to use, and it worked very well with Voice Over.
Regards,
Steve Harlow

Hi Rob

In Episode 0223, Tony L. in San Francisco mentioned Bluetooth Manager as a method to turn bluetooth on and off. I purchased it right away, but not long after it was not only pulled from the App Store, but in the 5.1.1 update, the app was removed from my phone never to be seen again. There is another Bluetooth app out now called simply "Bluetooth" by CXI Gaming for $.99. Just touching the icon, turns Bluetooth either on or off, then returns the phone back to the homescreen. Don't know how long this one will stay, this is the third solution that i've had to turning Bluetooth on and off, the last two having been nixed by the powers that be. Don't know why Apple doesn't develop their own solutions for managing settings easier and it doesn't appear to be something slated for IOS 6 as far as I can tell.
Regards,
Paul
Mill Valley, CA

p.s. Thanks for the heads up about Display Record.

Hi Paul - thanks for the heads up on Bluetooth by CXI Gaming - it is at the recording of this show - still in iTunes. Per Bluetooth management in iOS 6 - they did make it a little easier to turn on and off - as they moved it out of General and put it on its own at the top of Settings - with Wifi and Airplane Mode. So now if you keep settings in your dock of bottom 4 apps - you can get to bluetooth in 2 taps - not perfect - but better.

GEEK FIGHT - Thanks to Chris in London for this next one. On the last episode I briefly very briefly mentioned that iOS 6 beta 1 has been jailbroken and if you were a dev to check out the link. seems someone did more then look. They went and added in cydia for the jailbreak. See the original jailbreak for ios 6 did not include it as it was really just for devs. And the dev team did not want to show too much of their hand to apple. Well the dev wind warrior without checking with others made a release available that allowed cydia to be installed in the iOS 6 beta. And well Saurik is pissed and went into a nice rant of it.

Hi Rob,

With my iPhone 3GS and 4 and 4S, I was continually frustrated when the phone would not fit into docks unless removed from the case. I finally decided to use generic phone holders in the cars and bed side table, with a standard 30 pin dock cable.

Therefore, I will readily switch to a new iPhone with a different connector since new cables will be readily available.

Regards,

Carl G

I had a couple people email / tweet / ask on Facebook or google+ about the end of the last episode and why there was 50+ minutes of dead air. Well there are two prevailing theories on this.

Theory 1 is that it was an silent protest against Apples decision to leave off so many features for the iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS in iOS 6. or Theory 2 is that it was 2:30 AM in the morning when the episode was done and a mistaken copy and paste put a little bit of audio 50+ minutes past the end of the episode and I did not notice it until mid day the next day and by then there were so many downloads it did not make sense to upload a new version. I like theory 1 much better.

On a personal note I saw a couple of movie last week. One was the midnight showing of Abraham Lincoln Vampire Slayer - because well Mid night is when you should see a movie like that. I thought the movie was good - but the part of my brain that actually knows about Abraham Lincolns real history was fighting with the part of my brain just trying to enjoy the Vampire slay fest. I think the slay fest side won out during the movie as I did like it. But if the writers had done a little better job of fitting in Abe's real history with the movies story line - I might have left the theater going you know what maybe Abe was a vampire slayer - but they way they did the story - not so much. The other movie I saw and I must point out I did not see a preview of before going into it was That's my Boy with Adam Sandler. And to sum it up - It is a movie that requires you to be over 40 to get all the inside jokes and requires you be under 20 to find them funny.

Ok - None of that had anything to do with iOS - but every now and then I like to talk about movies I have seen.

Category:general -- posted at: 12:30am EDT

Comments[0]

Tue, 19 June 2012

Tii - iTem 0228 - Less Soup for some of you

Tii - iTem 0228 - Less Soup for some of you

Links Mentioned in this Episode:

Today's Sponsor is Hover - tii.hover.com

Save 25% on custom email with promo code - tiimail

Apples no soup for you features

Apple plans Podcast App for iOS 6 release

Apple’s Podcasting Stroke of Genius

Is Apple Getting Ready To Launch A New Podcast App With iOS 6? | Cult of Mac

Apple introduces Smart Case for iPad | TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog

iOS 6 Makes Apps Ask Permission

Apple signs global agreement with TomTom for maps - Computerworld

iPad still dominates tablet traffic, but Nook surges past Kindle Fire

Arctic Flight - Kickstarter

The Woz disses Siri

How Do Top Android Developers QA Test Their Apps?

BannerDisable adds a new “Do Not Disturb” option

iOS 6 3D maps hacked for iPhone 4

How to Jailbreak iOS 6 beta

Dev-Team Blog - 0615 fun

Former AT&T exec leaked iPhone, BlackBerry sales figures

Surface by Microsoft

Apps Mentioned in this Episode:

BannerDisable - Cydia

PDF Printer for iPad

Direct download: tii_0228.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 2:51am EDT

Comments[0]

Tue, 19 June 2012

iOS Artwork - iTem 0228 and Episode Transcript

@podcast411 Hey Rob? I Made This With Paper on my 3rdgen iPad.

From @iamjoseperez via Twitter

================================

Episode 228 - Transcript

----------------------------

What the Frack?!! - I think that sums up the reaction of anyone with an iPhone 4 - that found out that in iOS 6 - the long sought after feature of turn by turn navigation - will NOT be available for them, neither will other features announced and even more will be missing for the iPhone 3GS. From Apples site - http://www.apple.com/ios/ios6/

- - Features are subject to change. Not all features are available on all devices.
  1. ...Flyover and turn-by-turn navigation will be available only on iPhone 4S and iPad 2 or later....
  2. Siri will be available only on iPhone 4S and iPad (3rd generation) and requires Internet access...
  3. Shared Photo Streams requires iOS 6 on iPhone 4 or later or iPad 2 or later, or a Mac computer with OS X Mountain Lion...
  4. FaceTime over a cellular network requires iPhone 4S or iPad (3rd generation) with cellular data capability...
  5. VIP list and VIP and Flagged smart mailboxes will be available on iPhone 4 or later and iPad 2 or later.
  6. Offline Reading List will be available on iPhone 4 or later and iPad 2 or later.
  7. Made for iPhone hearing aids require iPhone 4S...

If you want turn by turn directions with iOS 6. Only the iPhone 4S and iPhone 2012 will support turn by turn. iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS owners sorry no soup for you. Which again brings us back to the WTF phrase going through most peoples minds that own the 3GS or 4. Clearly the iPhone 4 and even 3GS can handle turn by turn directions - Tom Tom, Navigon and others have been offering up apps that do that for some time now and work great on the 3GS and 4.

So the only real and logical reason for Apple to not include it is simply a marketing decision to get you to upgrade early. But really Apple if turn by turn was what would drive someone to upgrade - would they not have upgraded to an android phone where that feature is standard on even the most run of the mill get it free with a 2 yr contract type android phone. So Apple Shame on your for not getting Turn by Turn navigation working on the iPhone 4 and 3GS. You know you are still actually selling those devices. Just Sayin.

So a quick summary of what you will miss out on for the iPhone 4 and 3GS in iOS 6

iPhone 4 - No Soup for You Features:

Turn by Turn Navigation

Fly Over

Any Siri Features

Facetime over Cellular (Really???)

Made for iPhone Hearing Aids (This one is likely Bluetooth 4 related)

iPhone 3GS - No Soup for You Features:

All those mentioned above for iPhone 4

Shared Photo Stream (Stick with instagram)

VIP List, VIP and Flagged Smart Mailboxes (Again Really???)

Offline Reading Lists

Clearly looking at this list there are features missing from the iPhone 4 and 3GS that can only be explained by one word - MARKETING. Expect to read / hear more about this in the months to come.

Ok with iOS 6 one of the biggest items to come out of the beta is there appears to be changes coming for Podcasts - and this has been reported in some cases a little off from what is happening. First up - despite what some sites state - If you are subscribed to podcasts and are sync'g them from your computer to your iOS device - you still can play them back via the music app. If you do not see the Podcast tab in the music app - tap More and then edit and then drag down the podcast icon to one of the lower tabs. Per playing back the podcasts in the app - the playback features have changed. Before when you went to the episode - you had the screen with the show notes and player controls - at the top was the slider for the time line and you had a 30 sec rewind button under that. The 30 Sec rewind button in iOS 6 has been removed and replaced with two new options - 15 sec rewind and 15 sec jump forward. I know some other apps out there have the 30 sec jump ahead - so now the 15 sec jump forward option is part of iOS 6.

Again - in iOS 6 - you can still sync up and play back your podcasts.

What has changed is that in the iTunes app in iOS 6 - podcasts are no longer listed. Searching for Today in iOS no longer shows my show. Actually no podcasts are listed now in iTunes on devices running iOS 6. They are still there for those running iOS 5.1.1 or earlier and are still there on your computer.

The lack of Podcasts in iTunes in iOS 6 beta has lead many to speculate (or in my case hope and pray) that Apple will be releasing its own Podcast specific app similar to Instacast downcast, iCatcher, Stitcher and the other podcast aggregator apps out there.

Hopefully that is the case. It would be nice to see Apple have its own Podcast specific App - that is installed with the OS - rather than feeling like Podcasting is that ugly red headed step child of the iTunes world - We podcasters could soon have our own iOS App.

There is also speculation that apple might create its own Podcast creation tool for iOS. This is a little more out there - and even if true - would likely be a separate tool And I am not sure where this would fit in or be different from Garageband.

As a Podcaster and working for the largest podcasting company - this bit of news and speculation is now the most important part of iOS 6 hands down for me. More on this in the near future.

Again - in iOS 6 - you can still sync up and play back your podcasts.

As a Podcaster and working for the largest podcasting company - this bit of news and speculation is now the most important part of iOS 6 hands down for me. More on this in the near future.

One item lost in this weeks WWDC announcements and news - was that apple introduced a new smart case that also covers the back of the iPad. This is nice for those with the New iPad That wanted the features of the Smart case but also were looking for protection of the back of the iPad. This is where my wife falls with the iPad cases - she wanted something that protects the back as well as the front from scratches and dings when in her purse.

You know Apple you might have wanted to get that out before mothers day. Just sayin.

One of the other new features in iOS 6 Beta is the Privacy Option in Settings. This is now in the group with General, Sounds Brightness & Wallpaper. When you click on Privacy - It takes you to a menu with 5 options - Location Services, Contacts, Calendars, Reminders, Photos. Location Services is what you see today in the Settings app as its own item. The other 4 items are basically lists of the apps that have requested and you gave permission to access to those items - which again are contacts, calendars, reminders and photos.

This is Apples way of making it very easy for you to see which apps you gave permission to get access to your private info. Kudos to Apple for this addition.

And of course Apps still do need to ask for permission and you need to say yes - this just makes it easy to see all the times you said yes without thinking.

This is Apples way of making it very easy for you to see which apps you gave permission to get access to your private info. Kudos to Apple for this addition.

And of course Apps still do need to ask for permission and you need to say yes - this just makes it easy to see all the times you said yes without thinking.

This is Apples way of making it very easy for you to see which apps you gave permission to get access to your private info. Kudos to Apple for this addition.

And of course Apps still do need to ask for permission and you need to say yes - this just makes it easy to see all the times you said yes without thinking.

File this next one under you better act fast - before apple yanks it category. And those of you that have the Tii App - would have received a push on this earlier today / yesterday / Monday the 18th - depending on your perspective. It is about the old Jailbreak App - Display Recorder - that has made its way to the iTunes App store. This is one of those apps that are great to have if you are an app dev. It allows you to record a screen capture video of you using your iPhone. In theory this is supposed to be against the apple rules. And it is likely this just slipped through and may even be pulled by the time you hear this. OR Maybe just maybe Apple is allowing this app into the App store because they wanted to let most of the devs get a chance to download it now - so they would have one less reason to jailbreak. This app works best if just recording video and also best when you select screen capture mode vs direct access - in screen capture mode you can kind of see where you tapped the screen or at least see the reaction from buttons. The app is just $1.99 - it is not perfect - but for doing screen cast tutorials of your app - it is nice to know you can now have a none jailbreak option - and yes this app works for iPads as well. The app is called Display Recorder and as of the recording of this show was still in the App store - surprisingly.

Last episode I asked people if they would update to the new iPhone 2012 version if it had the smaller dock connector. And the responses were pretty much one way - NO.

Let me read some of the feedback.

Hi Rob, no I would not end my 4s contract early. I can see Apple's endeavor from the business side though to make more money with new docking and accessories.
Regards,
Valerie

Hi Rob,

I will wait for the 2013 phone unless some tragic ending comes to current device.

Regards,

Mike

Hi Rob, as to the question as to weather I would buy a new iPhone with only LTE added. My answer is no. I am very happy with what I have. Apple will have to add a lot more to the phone before I will pay to break the contact I now have AT&T.

Regards,

Harvey from Huntington Beach

Hi Rob,

I’m with you and have a lot of 30 pin stuff. With 2 iPads and 3 iPhones there’s no way I am going to update early and have to buy all new accessories. LTE is not a big draw for me. I would have to think hard about updating my hardware even when I am eligible.

Regards,

Mark

Hi Rob,

If the new iPhone 2012 is bigger (i.e. the fit in your hand) or changes it’s dock connector, then there is not a chance in beep that I will get the new iPhone!

Just like you I have to many items that use the current 30 pin connector, (car cradle, car radio interface, iPhone cases, kickstarter projects funded) no way in FRACK (pardon my Sifi cussword).

Thomas

Tuscaloosa AL

And well there were more - but I think you get the picture. Guess the question is does Apple?

I was trying to figure out all the devices I had with 30 pin connectors and the 30 pin docks. It is well over 30 devices. 2 iPods, 4 iPhones, 2 iPads, multiple battery cases, a bose dock and 4 other speaker docks, 4 apple docks, countless cords with connectors and more. I need to get them all together for a picture. I am 100% locked in on the 30 pin eco system - and unless the iPhone 2012 does something mind blowing - there is pretty much zero chance I would upgrade early and pay the fee to upgrade early. At best my next iPhone would be the iPhone 2013 - and again if it has a non 30 pin connector - even then I would have to question the upgrade. And this comes from a guy that can write these off on his taxes - so I am guessing the next iPhone - at least in the US will not have the sales Apple and investors are hoping for - if - and that is a big IF - if they change the dock connector. Again - we should point out - it is not Apple that has said anything about changing the dock connector - it was originally Rene at iMore that I think had one of the earliest predictions of the iPhone 2012 being a different dock - and then there are the supposed leaked components for the iPhone 2012 - this if real indicate a different size dock connector.

Thanks to Tash for the following item. Which is essentially about The Woz - as in Steve Wozniack - Dissing Siri. Essentially he was complaining that prior to Siri being purchased by Apple - he found the Sir app more useful than it is today. Before he could ask Siri what are the 5 biggest lakes in California and it would spit out the correct answer - Today not so much - and actually not even close. Same with the question about asking Siri what is the prime numbers greater than 87 - before it would give you an answer - today it just gives the options for web searches.

Thanks to Tash for the heads up on this next one. Which is an article that goes over the headache - nightmare that many devs of Android apps face in doing their testing. Once Dev company out there actually tests on about 400 different Android devices. Can you imagine doing testing on 400 different Android devices on each version of the app. Wow - talk about forcing you to update a lot less often - yikes.

But Like I said before - sometimes it is best to develop just for iOS and spend the time and effort you would have spent on a port and testing of your current app for Android - on a new app for iOS. Again - just matters if your app is a social type app where you need to be on both platforms - or if it is a game or utility app - where you are just looking to maximize sales revenue. The later likely makes sense for now to just stay with iOS. That is where the real sales are.

Into the email bag.

Hi Rob!

Looking for suggestions from you on two things.

1) do you have a recommendation for a car FM modulator for an iPhone 4s? I've tried a few, but they all have terrible sound quality. Ideally, it would grab audio AND charge the phone via dock connector. (some versions charge via a dock connector and also use a headphone mini jack to port the audio)

2) I'd like to have a second number for my iPhone. I know most people say, "do this via Google Voice"... But I already have a Google voice number pointed at my cell phone and Google only allows a mobile number to be used ONCE in conjunction with any Google voice products. So, I'm looking at apps like Line2 or secondLine. I'm curious if you have a suggestion or a recommendation for an app that give your phone another number?

Thanks for all you do!

Regards,

David.

Hi David for the first one - when I use an fm modulator - I use a an old 4 channel one from Radio shack that plugs into the headphones jack either that our I use a bluetooth speaker - like the Supper tooth speaker.

So I guess I am not the best person to ask on this. As such I will send out that question and your other question about another alternative for an extra phone number beyond google voice - if anyone can help David out please give us a call at 206-666-6364 - that's 206-Moon-Dog or send an email to today in iOS at gmail dot com.

Back to the email back

Hey Rob,

I wanted to give you the heads up on the game plague inc.. it was the top paid app in the app store. It is such a fun, unique game that actually requires you to be semi smart. The object of the game is to infect the world and eventually kill everyone but they come up with a cure. Its addicting and it requires alot of planning and strategy. Buy it.. its so worth the $ ! Enjoy!!

Regards - Holly W

Hi Holly - sounds like you need to be evil to win at it as well - so you need to be an evil genius. But then I kind of would be looking out for Agent P to come in a give me a good butt kicking.

Into the email bag.

Regards,

David.

Back to the email back

Hey Rob,

Regards - Holly W

Hi Holly - sounds like you need to be evil to win at it as well - so you need to be an evil genius. But then I kind of would be looking out for Agent P to come in a give me a good butt kicking.

Seems that a russian Hacker has figured out how to get 3D fly over maps on an iPhone 4 - jailbroken iPhone 4 running iOS 6 beta that is. Oh by the way they already jail broke the iOS 6 beta - guess I should have mentioned that. So per all the features in iOS 6 that will not work on the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4 - while Apple likely restricted many just for marketing reasons - it likely will have the un-intentioned result in getting even more and more people with those devices to look at jail breaking. So once again Apple helps push jail breaking.

I am not going to go into this at all - but there is a link in the show notes titled quote how to jailbreak iOS 6 beta unquote - this is not something I recommend - but if you are a dev of jailbroken apps - I can see why this would be of interest.

Ok - there is some good news for unlockers that had upgraded their base bands and need to unlock. Well at least for iPhone 3G and 3GS owners. You can use Redsnow to downgrade so that you can unlock your 3G or 3GS. Look for the link titled Dev team blog 0615 fun. That link is in the show notes for item 228 over at today in iOS dot com or in the show notes link list in the tii app.

Into the Email Bag.

Hey Rob,
I was wondering if you or the TII listeners knew how to set up an "Air Port" PDF printer.

My problem is that I keep finding websites with articles or info that I want to convert to PDF to view, save or print later.
I've come up with a number of temp solutions, including sending to instapaper or using an app called "PrintCentralPro".
But I've wanted for a while now to be able to "print" to PDF from my iPad, and am wondering if there is a way of setting up an "Air Port" PDF printer that would work with the "Print" feature in safari. Any ideas?
Regards,

- Jessi

Hi Jessi,

There used to be an app called Print to PDF - that did exactly what you wanted - but it has been removed from the App store.

One App I have heard good things about is the app PDF Printer for iPhone - it is $2.99 in the app store - make sure to read up on what it can do and check out their website as well. There is also PDF Printer for iPad - it runs $5.99 in the app store and both were still in there as of the recording of this show.

If anyone elsie has a favorite App for printing to PDF - please let us know. Especially if it is one that lets the iPhone think it is a Air Port Printer.

I think I kinda sorta mentioned this one in the past - well part of the story. A former Marketing Exec at AT&T was arrested for insider trading - that was the original story - the new part is he pleaded guilty. Alnoor Ebrahim 57 of Georgia pleaded guilty of supplying insider info to the investment community from 2008 to 2010 - This info was used by the investment community to help in their trading. What was said info - it was non-public sales numbers for iPhones and RIM blackberry's. Yes he sold info that basically told investors to buy Apple and Sell RIM. He did not however admit to saying the sky is blue, or that it gets hot in Atlanta in the summer. By the way the insider investors - paid Ebrahim more than $180,000 for the info - Yeah - Money well spent.

Category:vip_Artwork -- posted at: 1:00am EDT

Comments[0]

Wed, 13 June 2012

iPhone 4 and 3GS when it comes to iOS 6 - A lot less soup for you.

Update: Thanks to long time listener Thomas from Tuscaloosa AL for the above image. Higher Res version here

WTF?!! - I think that sums up the reaction of anyone with an iPhone 4 - that found out that in iOS 6 - the long sought after feature of turn by turn navigation - will NOT be available for them, neither will other features announced and even more will be missing for the iPhone 3GS. From Apples site - http://www.apple.com/ios/ios6/

- - Features are subject to change. Not all features are available on all devices.
  1. ...Flyover and turn-by-turn navigation will be available only on iPhone 4S and iPad 2 or later....
  2. Siri will be available only on iPhone 4S and iPad (3rd generation) and requires Internet access...
  3. Shared Photo Streams requires iOS 6 on iPhone 4 or later or iPad 2 or later, or a Mac computer with OS X Mountain Lion...
  4. FaceTime over a cellular network requires iPhone 4S or iPad (3rd generation) with cellular data capability...
  5. VIP list and VIP and Flagged smart mailboxes will be available on iPhone 4 or later and iPad 2 or later.
  6. Offline Reading List will be available on iPhone 4 or later and iPad 2 or later.
  7. Made for iPhone hearing aids require iPhone 4S...

So a quick summary of what you will miss out on for the iPhone 4 and 3GS in iOS 6

iPhone 4 - No Soup for You Features:

Turn by Turn Navigation

Fly Over

Any Siri Features

Facetime over Cellular (Really???)

Made for iPhone Hearing Aids (This one is likely Bluetooth 4 related)

iPhone 3GS - No Soup for You Features:

All those mentioned above for iPhone 4

Shared Photo Stream (Stick with instagram)

VIP List, VIP and Flagged Smart Mailboxes (Again Really???)

Offline Reading Lists

Clearly looking at this list there are features missing from the iPhone 4 and 3GS that can only be explained by one word - MARKETING. Expect to read / hear more about this in the months to come.

Category:breaking news -- posted at: 11:12pm EDT

Comments[3]

Tue, 12 June 2012

iOS Artwork - iTem 0227 and Episode Transcript

Hi Rob,

I made this image with a combo of Fractile Plus, Blender and Text on Photo apps on my iPhone 4.
Regards,

Toni

=====================================

Episode 227 Transcript

--------------------

Before we get into the big news from today which is WWDC - some quick comments of the other big news since the last episode - and that is that the Jailbreak I mentioned that would likely be out the day after ep 226 went up - was made available as expected the day after ep 226 went out.. So now you can jailbreak iOS 5.1.1 on most devices that run iOS 5.1.1. Only the iPad 2 with the new 32 nm CPU is not supported. I put up my tutorial on how to jailbreak - over at today in iOS dot com - which if you have the Tii App - you would have received that push. The tutorial as always takes you step by step through the jailbreak process and how to use cydia. With this latest jailbreak I have heard of less issues with jail breaking than I can remember for any recent jailbreak. So if you were waiting / holding off on jail breaking - Now it is safe to do so as long as you are just a jail breaker - If you need to or ever plan to unlock your iPhone - then the Absynthe jailbreak I go over in my tutor is one you must run away from. Do not - repeat do not use the Absynthe jailbreak I have in my tutorial if you need to unlock. In that case you need to use the RedSn0w jailbreak. Which will allow for unlocking. unlockers look for the link titled - Dev Team Blog Pre DC over at today in iOS dot com for more info on the Redsn0w jailbreak. Per the new unlock - The Ultrasn0w App v 1.2.7 is in cydia and it supports the iPhone 4 models running the older 01.59.00 baseband, and iPhone 3G and 3GS models running baseband versions 04.26.08, 05.11.07, 05.12.01, 05.13.04, or 06.15.00.

And again requires the Redsn0w Jailbreak if going to iOS 5.1.1

Into the email bag we go -

Hi Rob,

I have been patiently waiting for this jailbreak. I followed your instructions and had everything done 1-2-3 with no problems. I did 2 extra steps. I removed my iPhone password and I also removed my SIM card password prior to the jailbreak. I remember that having my SIM card password protected caused a problem with a prior jailbreak.

Loving that I'm back in the world of the jailbreak!!

regards,

Janet

Hi Janet - yes good advice if you have your iPhone Password protected and / or your SIM password protected - it is best to remove those passwords while doing a jailbreak - is it 100% necessary to remove them - No - but it is as recommended - Again Thanks Janet for that reminder.

Hi Rob,

I did the jailbreak from Jailbroken 5.0.1 IPad 2 and 4s almost as soon as it came out.
First plugged in, did a backup via iTunes, updated firmware using iTunes, Left 4s in and ran absinthe 2.02 on windows pc, seemed to hang got bored, unplugged, replugged. Ran absinthe again it did some sort of fix up.
Plugged 4s into Mac, ran absinthe 2.02 took a while on old Mac, seemed good. Reinstalled jailbreak apps, they all found data from previous jailbreak.
Didn't work it out till next day, none of my music would play, not a sound problem. Did a google, wiped music from phone using settings, usage, there is an option to wipe music. Did that iTunes match brought it all back, all good.
Regards,

Serge in Australia

Serge - Thanks for the feedback - they are now up to Absinthe 2.0.4 - Does that mean anyone that jail broke with an older version needs to rejailbreak - No not unless you are having issues. But if you jail broke with Absinthe 2.0.2 - which I had up there originally in the tutorial and all is working well for you - then nothing you need to do. But if you are having any issues - you could restore your iOS device and try another jailbreak with 2.0.4 and maybe that will solve your issues - again - this time around I have hear of less issues than any jailbreak since maybe the original jailbreakme . com jailbreak. Of course it could also mean less people are jail breaking this time around .

One more email on this.

Rob,
I ran the Absinthe 2.04 jailbreak on my iPhone 4 and iPad 2 yesterday. The only jailbreak easier was jailbreak me.com. The only problem I encountered and I'm not sure how or why, but on my iPad when I restored my files and opened up Cydia for the first time, it did the file system message then rebooted but when it rebooted I lost half of my icons on the first page of springboard, one of which was the folder that contained the app store and Cydia! First i tried just to search for the apps by name, but they weren't there. I tried clearing all my data and restoring with my backup but no success, when I tried to run the Absinthe again, it told me the device was already jail broken. Eventually I decided to do a full restore and start the process over. This time after the jailbreak said it was done, I opened Cydia and let it do the file system thing, then before I restored, I installed SBS settings so I would at least have some extra control if the same thing happened. I restored from the first backup I did and everything came back! YAY! When I used the jailbreak on my phone I opened Cydia and installed a few apps that I knew I used then restored. This went well with no problems.
Regards Carine

Tim Cook spoke at All things D - and in his talk he let out very little - but as always what an Apple CEO said and how he said it were analyzed ad nausium.

First there were his comments about Fragmentation. Tim said the following quote “One thing is that we’re not fragmented. Look at the percentage of users who upgraded to iOS 5. We have one App Store. We have one phone with one screen size, one resolution. So it’s pretty simple if you’re a developer. unquote

One looking at this could Say Tim cook just nixed any rumors about the iPhone having a bigger screen. Of course one could point out Steve Jobs once said no one wants video with their MP3 player. But if we take Tim cook at his word - then there are a lot of rumors about and videos of people holding components from the next iPhone that just became even more questionable.

In the Interview with Tim Cook - Walt Mossberg Asked the following Quote Siri, is great when it works, but it doesn’t work a lot of the time. That’s not what a lot of people have come to think about Apple products. What’s going on with that? Unquote. To which Tim Cook replied quote Customers love it. It’s one of the most popular features of iPhone 4S. But there’s more that it can do, and we have a lot of people working on this. And I think you will be really pleased with some of the things you’ll see over the coming months on this. We have some cool ideas about what Siri can do. We have a lot going on on this. unquote.

And to that End we are lead into today's WWDC where the key announcements with regards to Siri included.

So to start before Tim Cook even came on stage - Siri started out by as she said warming up the audience.

Then out came Tim cook - He gave an update on the state of things. Otherwise known as the marketing push. Talked about WWDC selling out in 1 hour and 43 minutes. Per the App store Tim talked about there being over 400 Million iTunes Accounts on the app store. This is not just 400 accounts created but each with credit cards on file. Or as Tim said the store with the largest number of credit cards on file on the internet. Obviously if you are a dev - that is good news to you. There are now over 650,000 apps in the store and 225,000 of those are made for iPad - that is more about good news for the endusers. There has been over 30 billion app downloads to date and Apple has written checks for over $5 Billion with a B dollars for developers. Apps are available in over 120 countries apps stores now and will soon be available in over 150 countries iTunes apps stores.

Tim then played a video - or more accurately he signaled his AV peeps to play it. The video starts out talking about how the iPhone helped blind people get out and do more. It was really great to see this be the first thing apple went over in the video - there are many blind listeners of this show - and it is great hearing from them about how the iPhone helps improve their quality of life.

Apple then went over education, and AirBnB and finished up with apps for children with learning disabilities. The video was very heart warming and shows that the Apps and iOS devices have helped change users lives and it showed some of the devs that helped make that possible.

Tim then introduced Phil Shiller and he went over the changes in the Apple laptops. Which just made me really drool on the new Mac Book Pro Retina - the one I want will run a cool 36 hundred bucks. I am thinking it will be some time before that happens. Oh well.

Then Craig Federeaky came out to talk about Mac OS 10 - and lets just say Craig did not pass the degree all in moment. He Talked about Mountain Lion.

Next up was Scott Forestall and Scott went over iOS.

Scott started off talking about iOS 5 adoption vs previous versions and over 80% of iOS users are running iOS 5 or later. He then compared it to the competition - i.e. Android. Which brought about a few laughs just saying he would compare it. Because well Android adoption of the latest versions is a joke that Devs are all to aware of. Scott said They released their dairy product 4.0 about the same time Apple released iOS 5 - And today only about 7% of Android users are running the latest version vs over 80% for iOS. Most Android users over 80% are running Android 2.2 or 2.3. Ouch.

Scott then went on to talk about push notifications saying they send out 7 billion pushes a day and over 1.5 trillion pushes to date. Which mean one thing - Apps send out way way way to many pushes message. He then introd iOS 6 - with over 200 new enhancements. But to start with he talked about Siri.

Scott started out talking about new Siri features with regards to Sports. Where he asked for the score of the last giants game. And it knew he meant the Sanfrancisco Giants and not the NY Giants. Right now doing that on Siri gets her asking if you want to do a web search - but with iOS 6 - Siri speaks back the score of the game. He even asked Siri about the batting average of one of the players. So this will be nice when doing some research for fantasy sports. Then Scott went over Siri and Resturants via Yelp integration - Gee Sports and Food - almost sounds like guys are doing the dev work here - think. Well any doubt was removed when Scott talked about Siri and Movies and then asked Siri what movies Scarlet Johanson has been in.

And then Scott talked about How Siri can now launch apps - this brought about applause from the devs in the audience. So in iOS 6 you will be able to ask siri to open Tii. You will also be able send a Tweet with Siri. You will be able to listen to notifications and make dinner reservations. And he introduced the concept of Eyes Free. This is where Apple is working with Car Manufacturers to tap and hold a button on the steering wheel that will bring up Siri on your phone. Per Languages they are adding Spanish, Italian, Korean, Mandarian for Tiawan, Cantonese for Hong kong and both Mandarian and Cantonese for Mainland China. And now in iOS 6 - search with Siri will be localized around the world. Or Globally search will be localized. And Siri will also be brought to the new iPad.

Next up was Facebook integration. So just like with twitter - you can from the settings app add in your username and password and then post directly to Facebook from the Photo app. Website links from safari - locations from maps. And you can now like Apps. You can talk about movies from the iTunes store. Hmmm - Can you say Ping is now officially dead. And they even added both Facebook and twitter into notification center - so you can pull it down and quickly post to either. And they are making available API's to allow other apps to work with Facebook.

Next Tim talked about new features to the Phone app. You can now when busy and you get a phone call choose from send a message and give a reminder. With send a message you can pick from a few stock messages or a custom message that is then sent via text or iMessage to the caller. Or for the other option you can choose to get a reminder later. Such as remind me of the call in 1 hour or when I leave or when I get home. With the option of remind me when I leave - you get a little geo fence that once you leave that area - you are reminded of the phone call.

The next feature is one many of you have asked for -and one we have talked about a few times on the show recently. It is called Do Not Disturb. When you set this on - Text Message, Phone Calls, Push Notifications will no longer make a sound or a vibration or light up the phone. They will be waiting for you in the morning.

You can also pick and choose who to get phone calls from. So you could create a group on your contact list - say family - and then calls from your kids or significant others would come through. And there is even an option called repeated calls - so if someone if blowing up your phone - their call will get through. Actually how it works is if you get a 2nd call with in 3 minutes of the first one - the 2nd call gets through - again that is an option.

With FaceTime with iOS 6 - FaceTime will work over cellular. He did not say 4G - he said Cellular. So that should mean it will work over 3G.

The Next updates had to do with safari. The big addition was being able to upload photo's via safari to your favorite websites. This is nice for Libsyn users just using an iPad to podcast with - now you can update your show artwork from the iPad - well in theory anyway.

He mentioned Photo Streams and really it was just about the introduction of shared photo streams. I guess because you know there were still some people not using instagram.

So next up was mail - with the first new item being VIP - which means in my Case I put Laurie my boss as a VIP and her emails will also show up in notification center. They also added a mailbox for VIP and one for Flagged messages. When composing an email - they made it easier to insert photos and videos into the email. They also now allow for unlocking Office docs that are password protected right in the mail app. That did not get a big response from the audience - but I am sure there are some IT managers that are very happy for that addition. I would not be surprised to hear from some that was the biggest announcement in their mind.

Next was the introduction of a new stock iOS App and it is called passbook - and it takes and combines all those passes and tickets you get in other apps into this one app. So if you have a boarding pass from one app and movie tickets from Fandnago and baseball tickets from your local baseball teams app - you can get all of them collected and organized in the passbook app. They even have it working with the lock screen to make it even easier to find your passes. It does appear that the app is geo aware - as they showed an example that when you are near a starbucks - it pops up the slider for starbucks in the lock screen and then when you slide it - it opens to your starbucks card. Obviously - with location services being turned on all the time for this - it will drain your battery - so use with caution.

Next was Guided Access. What this does is it allows you as a parent to lock out some of the buttons on apps and most important it locks the Home button. They call this single app mode. Which is a little strange because you can only use one app at a time anyway. Maybe they should call single app locked in mode. What they did not say was how you get out of single app mode - but I am sure more on that to come soon - as in real soon.

And finally came Maps. As had been rumored / speculated for some time Google got the old heave ho - with regards to maps. They now are using their own maps and info. And even working in anonymous crowd sourced data from other iOS devices to figure out how traffic is moving. Expect class action lawsuit on the use of that data in 3 2 1.

But the real big announcement for Maps is Turn by Turn Navigation. This includes updated ETA info based on changing traffic patterns along your route and if your current route slows down Apple will look at other routes that might be faster and offer up the alternative routes as an option. And most importantly it works in the lock screen mode. And well of course they added Siri Integration - so now I could say - Take me to the Royals game - and Siri would pop up turn by turn directions to the K. I am sure you will be able to also read off the destination address as well for someone house and get directions as well. But one of the biggest items Android people held over iOS was native turn by turn directions - and Finally they are here.

One of the fluff things added to maps is called Flyover - and Apple has had people flying over cities - well not just people - people in Planes and helicopters with photography equipment. Apple has had these people and equipment flying over major cities and taking 3D imaging of those cities.

The Beta of iOS 6 is available today. When it ships in the Fall it will support the iPhone 3GS and later. The iPad 2nd and 3rd generation and just the iPod Touch 4th gen. So yes the original iPad will not support iOS - which to me is kind of a shocker - since it is supporting the iPhone 3GS.

But that folks is iOS 6 in a nutshell. To me it was a good update - but definitely did not see anything I would be running out to my iTunes dev account to get the beta to test out. I know in the past some people have paid to get the Beta early - I am guess that will not be the case this time - at least it is not something I would recommend. I might update one my iPhones to the beta - but more for app testing then anything else.

Again I think these were good - but not great updates and additions.

Tim cook then came back on stage to wrap it all up and do a good personal pitch for why it is so great to work for Apple. And he also came back to the theme that the apps the devs create for the Apple products can fundamentally change the world.

If you want to see the keynote for your self you can go to apple.com/apple-events and you can see 2012 wwdc keynote along with other recent special events going back to september 2010. Link of course in the show notes for ep 227 at today in iOS dot com.

One thing we did not hear mentioned at all in the key note was Apple TV. There was a post by BGR that got a lot of press this past week end about a source of theirs that let them know that Apple was going to release an Apple TV SDK at WWDC - ummmm - Yeah. Nice call BGR. Well I actually blogged about it before hand saying I thought the quote source unquote was BS and they were just speculating - and it seemed like a safe bet. I thought it would happen - but then I thought it would happen last year at WWDC 2011. And now I guess I hope it happens at WWDC 2013. But it was amazing to see all the sites pick up and re-report the BGR story like it was a fact. Remember folks when it comes to rumors BGR is no better than Digitimes.

This next one seems like a strange story - on ebay there was a device claiming to be an iPad prototype with two dock connectors one for Landscape and one for portrait modes. In most cases in the past with an Apple prototype - Apple legal quickly gets said device pulled - but this time it went the distance and sold for a little over $10,000. So for all those times I have wished for dual dock connectors - it looks like that was something Apple experimented with prior to launch of the original iPad and decided against - and that means in the future it is very unlikely we will see this feature added back. And the seller was contacted by Gizmodo - and he stated the reason he put the device up for sale over Memorial day weekend was in the hope that Apple Lawyers would be out at the lake and miss the sale - which seems to have worked exactly as he planned. Kudos. Now the part that was a little less than ethical - the seller says the item was probably not legally acquired - hmmm what is another word for that - oh yeah - stollen. So this guy was basically acting like a fence for a stollen Apple prototype. Nice. No word on who the buyer was. But sounds like the $10,000 was transferred and the stollen prototype already shipped off by the time Apples Lawyers made it back from the weakend in the Hamptons or where ever it is Apple Lawyers go for 3 day weekends.

Into the email bag we go.

Hi Rob,

Regarding streaming YouTube videos at a lower resolution there is a jailbreak solution. I use a YouTube downloader called MxTube which is free which lets you download at any res you want. It also let's you download multiple videos at the same time which is great.
Regards

Paulose from India

Hello Rob,

Here are some answers for listeners. iTem 0226

1) How to control Youtube Quality iPhone or iPad?

You can always watch YouTube in Safari browser
m.youtube.com
Tap the "HQ" button below the video to adjust the video quality.

Also you can disable YouTube App so default lunch app will be Safari. Here is how to do this:

Click "Settings"
then "General"
then "Restrictions"
then enter your passcode,
then under "Allow" simply click the desired App "Off" (in this case YouTube App).
Then all links will be lunched in Safari not the YouTube App that is limited.

2) How to make HotSpot without internet for Apple TV and iPhone AirPlay?

I think this should work, you can always buy inexpensive Wireless Router ($30), it does not have to be connected to the Internet to get Local Wifi. Then enable WiFi, connect all devices to it and you should be good to go.

Hope that helps.

Regards,

Paul S

Thanks Xavier and Paulose and Paul S for the tips.

Hey Rob,
I have a kickstarter review, I purchased and received my recoil winders, which for people who don't know, these winders are for cleaning up wire clutter ( headphones, charging cables, USB cables). They come in 3 sizes and also come with a stand. So far I'm very pleased with the product! My only gripe would be that when you take your cables off it takes a little more force to lock the winder open than I would expect, but for the price it's a great value. They can be purchased at recoilwinders.com and they are offering 15% off for backers and their family and friends for a limited time, just type kickstarter15 in the coupon code box. Thanks Matt in Ohio

Matt - thanks for the review of recoil winders and the promo code.

Next email goes:

Hey Rob

I've heard the last 2 shows you asking for anyone that has supported a kickstarter project. I have funded several projects. One has been delivered, It is the CloudFTP. This little black (or white) box is great! I received one of the first produced and am very happy with it. It makes any USB external drive or USB thumb drive a WiFi drive accessible from any iOS device. Couple it with a media playing app like GoodPlayer and you have a portable media library. It is rechargeable and very easily setup in ad-hoc mode or connecting itself to an existing wireless network.

Regards,

Brad from London Ontario CA.

Thanks to those that sent in emails about the Kickstarter project TWIG - Which as of Monday June 11th had over 3,300 backers and over $114,000 more than double their goal of 50k. And they have 45 days to go. As such if you want a TWIG you will Get a TWIG if you pledge for it. So what is TWIG - well as they proudly say it is just 4 inches long and easy for your iPhone to mount And it comes in 8 colors. It is essentially a Semi Ridged dock connector and usb connector that you use to connect your iPhone to a computer or the Apple Charger. Or you can even use it as a tripod when not connected to your computer or charging. And they even say you can use it to wrap your earbud cords around. For $18 you can get the black one now or at least until another 1000 people sign up for it. For $20 you get to chose from any of the 7 other colors. Thanks again to all that sent in links on this one.

Thanks to Thomas for the heads up on this next Kickstarter project - which has passed its goal of $25k and has 21 days to go - so also if you want this you can get this. And this in this case is the Trygger Camea Case for the iPhone - with trigger spelled T R Y G G E R - And what is it you ask - it is a Camera case with a polarizing filter for your camera. It costs $40 which will be $10 less than the retail price. With the polarizing filter you can physically adjust the light coming into the lens - offering up a better picture experience in bright light. If you are looking for better quality pictures with your iPhone - take a look at this project - of course this is just for the iPhone 4 and 4S.

Some sad news if you are Cisco fan boy - Cisco fan boy - wait is that even a legit phrase. Well if you were on one of John Chambers "Tiger teams" - I guess maybe. Any way Cisco Fan boys received some sad news last week when Cisco Killed the Cius - ok technically the iPad delivered the fatal blow - Cisco just pulled the plug on its life support.

I mentioned on the last episode about G-Tar - the kickstarter project and joked when they would have one for a Ukelele - And if you have a good memory like Ravee - you will remember on Episode 215 I mentioned the app called Futulele - that when combined with a special case allowed you to use an iPad and an iPhone to create an virtual Ukelele. With the iPhone being the cords for the neck and the iPad the body of the ukelele for strumming. Well As it works out On May 25th - Futulele app hit the app store at $4.99.

Just a heads up for those with an Apple TV 2nd or 3rd generation - and specifically those down under in Australia. Apple released 5.0.2 which is an update to the Apple TV software which mainly appears to address quote “an issue which caused content restrictions to be incorrectly applied for the iTunes Store in Australia. unquote.

So what does that mean - well it means that there is some content currently in being shown for version 5.0.1 in the iTunes Store for those in Australia that once you update the software will no longer be shown. So yes - it appears this update basically reduces what you content you can access with Apple TV in Australia.

I would not even qualify this as a minor update as much is it is a CYA for Apple fix.

Into the email bag.

Hi Rob,

I have the Tii app. How do I download an episode for later listening? Can't seem to figure that out.

Bob

Hi Bob,

First thanks for supporting the show by getting the Tii App.

To Download episodes into the Tii App - First Go into the episode list and tap on the Star for the episode you want to download - it will then start building a circle around the Star - when the circle is complete - I am now the master ooopps wrong movie - when the circle is complete the download is done.

Hello Rob,

Below is a picture of my New iPad in the Washington, DC metro area running the SpeedTest app. I was getting 24 MBps down and 17.7 MBPS on the upload.

I live close to Philadelphia and can't wait until LTE comes to my area.

Regards,

Walt D

Thans Walt for the speed test data. And folks if you have an iPad 3rd Generation Cellular - let me know how it does on a speed test for you and where you are testing it.

Hi Rob,

Is their a better version of voice control which is like Siri for the iPhone 3GS with out jail breaking it

Regards,

Jon P

Hi Jon P - I will throw that out to the audience. I have not tried do use a siri like app on the iPhone 3GS - so hopefully someone out there has a suggestion for something similar to Siri for the iPhone 3GS via jail breaking.

For all the new jail breakers with an iPad - I put up a link to an article in the show notes for ep 227 to a post titled Best New iPad Jailbreak Apps & Tweaks in Cydia - while it is debatable if they are the best - they are definitely worth looking at. The list includes Apps and tweaks such as Quasar, SwipeSelection, SBSettings of course, DashboardX, IntelliscreenX, Activator and more. Again look for the link over at today in iOS dot com for ep 227 titled Best new iPad jailbreak Apps and Tweaks

Lots and lots of posts about Apple and a patent for a stylus. Here is something to remember about Apple patents - If you hear about an apple patent and the product is not already out - it likely never will be. Apple like many companies patent things - not knowing if they will use them - but more because that is just what they do. So any speculation that next iPad will come with a stylus because of a patent - is well ignoring the past history of Apple. So no I do not think there will be a stylus with the next iPad nor the one after that or the one after that and so on.

I normally try to stay away from talking about the legal fights out there involving Apple - there are just too many and all are pretty much boring and never effect the end user - which is likely what was going to be the case with US gov v Apple over ebooks - Where the government claimed Apple did some back room deals and violated Antitrust laws. But you have to just love Apple response to the US Govt - which basically said not only is your complaint BS - it is kinda total BS and sides with those that are / were a monopoly - in this case they mean Amazon. Apple refused to Settle with the US Govt and based on how they visarate the governments claims - it is likely they never will and will ride this out at least until the US Govt drops the case. I should also point out one other interesting item in Apples response. See the US government is claiming the major book publishers and Apple got together and colluded to change the pricing models. What Apple says is this - Maybe the book publishers got together maybe they did not - we don't know. But one thing we do know is we did not have anything to do with what the book publisher may or may not have done per your complaint. So yeah - Apple kind of sorta through the book publishers under the collusion bus. That is if there was a collusion bus to be thrown under. But either way Apple said to the US Govt - basically Bugger off.

Into the email bag.

Hi Rob do you know about any jb apps that let you rotate you screen upside down? there are many apps that I like to use while listening to podcasts or music and the cable sometimes gets in the way. I find that if I can rotate the phone upside down I have more slack on the cable and it gets out of the way. Thanks for your help.

luie

Hi Luie - for that request - I will throw it out to the audience. Folks if you know of a jailbreak app that will allow you to rotate an app 180 on the iPhone please give us a call - 206-666-6364 - that's 206-moon-dog

Hi Rob,

Hope you're well. I wanted to give you a head's up on a recent blog post from Hulu's tech blog highlighting our new VoiceOver feature on iOS. When a visually impaired Hulu Plus user requested easier access to Hulu Plus content on his iPad, our customer support team routed the request to our tech team who built our new VoiceOver feature.

Let me know if you have any questions. Hope you enjoy!

Regards,

Jen L at Hulu

And Jen sent along a link to a video post going over their addition of voice over controls for the hulu app. Look for the link titled Hulu Walkthrough - hulu customer support.

And it is really nice to see a big media company like Hulu addressing accessibility issues - just like Apple did today in their keynote.

So since the last episode for those that did not hear - Both Criecket Wireless and Virgin Wireless announced they would be offering up the iPhone. What is interesting here is that both are pre-paid carriers in the US - which means no long term agreements. It also means with Circket a greatly reduced subsidy and with Virgin it means no subsidy. That means the 16 GB iPhone 4S on Cricket would sell for $499 and on Virgin it would sell for $649. The monthly plans are lower for Virigin than Cricket with plans starting at $30 a month. The $30 a month Virgin plan includes 300 minutes of talk, unlimited messaging and a data plan that allows 2.5 GBs of usage before it begins throttling speeds. Over two years that means you would spend $1,369.

If you compare that to Sprint that offers unlimited everything for $70 a month and a $199 phone you would pay $1,879 in two years - again you would get unlimited talk. If you went with the $50 plan with Virgin it would also be unlimited talk and would cost $1849 over two years. So a $30 savings.

But with Virgin's offering you could get a new iPhone each year and sell the previous years phone to make up some of the initial sales price. So for those of you that need to get a new iPhone when it is first available - this might be a way to go - but then again there is no promise come october Virgin will get the iPhone 2012. You might have to wait a little bit. Either way for those that need the latest iPhone you already have it - so just something to think about for October.

Per Crickets offering - they charge $55 a month. That includes unlimited talk and text and data up to 2.3 GB per month after that they throttle it - like Virgin does at 2.5 GB. At $55 a month and $499 upfront price for the 4S 16 GB version you would spend $1,819 in two years. That is $30 less than Virgins unlimited but $450 more in two years than Virgins lowest cost offering.

Confused - yeah - me too. So in short. If you want the cheapest offering for an iPhone 4S for a 2 year period - go with Virigin - but note you only get 300 minutes of talk a month. If you want the cheapest all you can eat option - Cricket's plan will be the cheapest and you will save $150 out of the gate on the iPhone 4S vs Virgin.

When Apple introduced the 3rd gen iPad - they did what many speculated they might - and that was to keep the 2nd gen iPad for sale but at a lower price point. And how did that work out for them. Well according to Consumer Intelligence Research partners - it worked out pretty well. They estimate that from the launch of the 3rd gen iPad in Mid march until some time in April - of the iPads purchased 41% were of the new lower price 2nd gen variety. Which seems like a really high percentage of the iPads sold.

So when we hear of the Kindle Fire sales being extinguished - it just might be the cold water of the 2nd Gen iPad at $399 that is most responsible for putting out the Kindle Fire sales.

This also matches up well with Apple's last quarterly report where they said they were pleasantly surprised by the sales volume of the lower priced iPad 2.

Per rumors of the 7" iPad - Again it is reports like this that tell me - most people don't want a smaller iPad - they want a cheaper one. So I for one will be very surprised to see anything other then the 9.7" size for the iPad platform for 2012 or 2013.

Thanks to Elsie for the heads up on this next one which is for all App devs and podcasters - and it is a product call CommentCast - It is a product that lets you collect comments from all the different iTunes Stores Globally - and per those reviews in a language you do not know they claim to quote Easily translate foreign reviews to the language of your choice unquote. This is a program just for Macs. And it costs $5 for via pay pal. The program again is called comment cast and you can find it at m a r t i dot c a - or look for the link called comment cast in the show notes for ep 227 at today in iOS dot com.

There is rumors of a Facebook Phone. And most people are poo pooing it. And well I was one that also thought it made no sense. Given the history of Web OS, the lack luster results of Windows Phone, and the downward spiral of RIM. What chance would a Facebook phone have against the iPhone and Android. But what if Facebook took a page out of Amazon's book and took the Android OS and then forked it for their use. That would make it a AINO - Android in Name Only phone. But the main UI users would see would be of Facebooks design - and they would also control the App store. To me that is what Facebook would likely do if they introduce a Facebook Phone - and I think that might actually work out. One thing is clear Facebook needs a much better Mobile strategy. One of the reasons their stock is down 35% from its opening day peak.

Now This might all seem like crazy talk given today's announcements at WWDC with regards to Facebook integration in iOS 6. And maybe Facebook's hiring of ex Apple engineers from the iPhone team - was a way for Facebook to get better leverage in their deal with Apple for said integration and the terms there of. But really the integration while nice for the end user I don't see helping drive Facebook revenue - if anything it reduces it - if you can use SIRI now to do Facebook updates - there is Zero chance of you seeing an ad on Facebook as the person doing the posting.

Speaking of Facebook - For all those heavily into Facebook - there is an app - The Facebook Pages Manager App - which well lets you manage your Facebook pages. This is an official app from Facebook and looks and feels like the main Facebook app - but gives more features with regards to updating and managing your pages. There is a nice article over at allfacebook.com that goes over the app. Look for HOW TO: Use The Facebook Pages Manager App in the show notes for ep 227 over at today in iOS dot com.

In Tim Cooks Speech at D two weeks ago - he said Apple was doubling down on Security. IE no more leaks. At the same time there were lots of photos and videos showing up on the inter webs showing the casing of what is supposed to be the next iPhone. These photos show the back and side all as a single piece of metal - no more glass back. It also showed the smaller dock connector - no more 30 pin dock connector. In one video a person shows the supposed iPhone 2012 SIM card tray fitting nicely into the supposed iPhone 2012 case work. So if they are fakes - it seems the fakes are coming from the same source. The case also shows an elongated screen but with the same width.

Here are my thoughts on this latest round of reported iPhone 2012 images - If the smaller dock connector is true - I will hold off a year before upgrading. I have way way way too many docks and cables for the current iPhone - and I am not going to break my contract with AT&T to upgrade early no mater what new features are offered - just to then have to go and buy all new docks and cables. I am totally locked into the 30 pin dock connector at this time. Plus LTE which is likely the next big feature add has very little appeal to me. 3G is fine for me considering most of my use in when I am near Wifi anyway.

So pictures, videos and schematics of the reported iPhone 2012 have done nothing at this time to get me excited about the iPhone 2012 - and if anything left me hoping / praying - that Apple really did double down and these are all fakes - maybe even fakes the Apple intentionally released to through everyone off the trail of the real iPhone 2012. Guess we will know more come October.

PLAY MUSIC - Thanks to all that sent in links on this last one - and it is very sad news - the music in the how wrong were they segment was from Edward Khil - a russian musician that performed that song in the 1970's - replacing the censored lyrics with what sounds like trololo - bence him being known as Mr. Trololo - well the sad news is he passed away early this month. And while Edward is gone his music will live on forever - and on this show unless or until I run out of how wrong were they quotes.

I also want to say hi to all those that came by and said hi at Blogworld. It was a great show and I am looking forward to the next one in Las Vegas - which will now be known as New Media Expo - which is the name of the old Podcast expo in its last year. Again great always seeing you at events.

Category:vip_Artwork -- posted at: 11:00pm EDT

Comments[0]

Tue, 12 June 2012

Tii - iTem 0227 - WWDC 2012

Tii - iTem 0227 - WWDC 2012

Links Mentioned in this Episode:

Today's Sponsor is Hover - tii.hover.com

Save 25% on custom email with promo code - tiimail

Absinthe 2.0 has arrived! | greenpois0n.com

Dev-Team Blog - Pre-DC

Ultrasn0w Adds iPhone Unlock for iOS 5.1.1

Apple's Tim Cook 'rules out' iPhone 5 with 4-inch screen | ZDNet

Apple CEO Tim Cook's First Time in the Red Chair at D

Mac Rumors : Live Coverage WWDC 2012

Apple WWDC 2012 liveblog! -- Engadget

Apple - Events - WWDC 2012

An Apple TV reboot could be a game-changer - CNN.com

iPad 1st Generation PROTOTYPE on eBay

$10,000 iPad Prototype Was ‘Most Likely’ Stolen

Twig — Kickstarter

Trygger Camera Case - Kickstarter

R.I.P. Cisco Cius

Futulele for iPad

Futulele

Apple TV 5.0.2 software update

Best New iPad Jailbreak Apps & Tweaks

Apple filed patent for stylus back in 2010

Apple to DOJ: Bite me

Hulu Walkthrough: Hulu Customer Support

Cricket Wireless to Offer iPhone on June 22

Is a $400 Cricket iPhone worth it?

Leap Wireless, Sprint to Offer Prepaid No-contract iPhone 4S

Sprint's Virgin Mobile to Offer iPhone

Virgin Mobile is the cheapest choice

The New iPad's Closest Competitor?

CommentCast

Facebook phone

HOW TO: Use The Facebook Pages Manager App

Photos of alleged new iPhone surface

Photos: Black and white next-gen metal iPhone backs

Schematic Purportedly Shows Next-Generation iPhone

'Mr Trololo' dies in Russia

Apps Mentioned in this Episode:

MX Tube - Cydia

Quasar - Cydia

Reveal - Cydia

CommentCast

Tether Me - Cydia

Facebook Pages Manager App

Direct download: tii_0227.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 3:10am EDT

Comments[0]

Sun, 10 June 2012

Apple TV SDK rumor 2012 - Leak or Guess work?

Hi Rob

(Per Apple TV SDK) I wish I could believe this but it is BGR reporting the story

Steve from AZ

Hi Steve,

This is the "speculation of something that is likely - hey lets call it a leaked rumor from an inside source" game.

Many have been speculating / hoping Apple would allow Access to install Apps on Apple TV for some time. ie release an SDK for Apple TV. You have heard me hoping / wishing for that since Apple TV 2nd gen was released.

Last year there were similar rumors / leaks right before WWDC.

This year it probably will actually happen - given Tim Cooks comments recently about Apple TV.

Here is that speculation from two weeks ago.

And here it is from one year ago

And another from Jan 2011

Point is there has been speculation about an Apple TV SDK for some time - and at least at the links above they all had the integrity to say it was just that "speculation".

What BGR most likely ("most likely" added to keep away the lawyers from BGR) did was take speculation and call it a leak from a "source".

If they are right - they point back and say see we told you and then use said "source" to fuel some other "story" in the future.

If they are wrong - no one remembers.

As always take what BGR says with the same level of integrity of Digitimes.

Rob W

Category:breaking news -- posted at: 10:50am EDT

Comments[1]

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