June 17, 2008
The iPhone 3G FAQ
Here's everything you wanted to know about the iPhone 3G.
Can someone explain how so many developers are going to make money exactly? Or is this a typical herd effect that won't benefit anyone but Apple?
Spread the word
February 17, 2008
Say hello to the HiPhone… iPhone Geek Scam Alert!
Only available on Any Network. Now while some can't afford the £270 (or $399 in the US) price for the Apple iPhone, and the further price for whichever tariff you take out with O2 or AT&T, the Chinese are here to save the day. You can still think you look cool with your iPhone look alike, and still, possibly, afford it.
Although I haven't tried one myself, it'll probably fool most people into thinking it's an official Apple Jesus-Phone. It has features that the iPhone does not, while also lacking features the iPhone does have. It looks much fatter than the iPhone, while claiming to be a "99% iPhone Clone".
You can buy the HiPhone here, not that we would recommend it. If you want an iPhone so bad, save up, chin up, and buy one. Then just unlock it like over 25% of iPhone Users do. Features and images after the break.
1. 3.5" big screen that supports finger touch and no keypad or touch pen needed.
2. Dual SIM slots that holds two SIM chips and supports SIM card switching.
3. Triband GSM 900/1800/1900MHz that supports USA GSM standard.
4. Web addresses entering; web browsing, WAP setting, web address management.
5. Unlocked to any major network carrier.
6. SMS, MMS, voicemail and cell broadcast
7. MP3, MP4, file playing, recording, phone call recording.
8. Capturing, video capturing, photo viewing, playing
9. Hands free speaker phone. 3D sound.
10. Bluetooth supported.
11. TF card supported.
12. Diversified screen switch
13. One-Key return
14. Automatic screen rotation
Accessories: 2 batteries, Charger, USB Cable, Earphone, 512M T-Flash Card, User Manual, Phone Cover.
Spread the word
So you just bought an iPod touch or iPhone and want to stock it with movies from your DVD library. There are countless commercial utilities that promise to rip DVDs, but I recommend trying HandBrake. This open-source (read: free) utility for Windows (download), Mac (download), and Linux converts your DVDs for viewing on iPods, iPhones, Sony PSPs, and other portable media players. It's by no means new, but I just had to share my newfound appreciation for it.
I recently picked up the hilarious Flight of the Conchords on DVD. I also just acquired an iPod touch (quite simply the coolest gizmo I have ever owned). I wasn't about to pay iTunes for a show I already own, so I fired up HandBrake. A few hours later, presto: New Zealand's fourth most popular digi-folk duo appeared on my iPod.
Note that because most commercial DVDs are copy-protected, HandBrake can't work its magic without a decryption utility running in the background. Rumor has it that DVD43, also free (but Windows-only), works really, really well.
Spread the word
Remember Apple’s (AAPL) on-again off-again negotiations with China Mobile, the No. 1 wireless carrier in China?
Well, here’s one reason the talks may have broken down: According to China Mobile, there were already 400,000 cracked iPhones using its cellular network by the end of 2007.
That number, if accurate, is astonishing. It would mean that there are more unauthorized iPhones in China than there are authorized iPhones in Europe. It would account for the largest part of the so-called “missing” iPhones. And it would suggest that China Mobile may be far less willing than the European carriers to give Steve Jobs the hefty revenue sharing cut he demands in return for the right to be that country’s exclusive iPhone carrier. Why should China Mobile pay for what it’s already getting for free?
Of course, it’s also possible that the number is bogus, a trick card being played by China Mobile in the high-stakes poker game it is playing with Cupertino. The figure first appeared, as near as we can tell, in a report written by Anty Zheng, content manager for an online newsletter called In-Stat China. For the full text, see here.
Zheng goes on to argue that an Apple-China Mobile deal would be good for both parties:
We have never doubted that the iPhone will achieve greater success than iPod in China if Apple teams with China Mobile to launch its Chinese version. There are two reasons. Firstly, different from the US where the smartphone market is fairly limited, appealing primarily to business users, The smartphone market in China, though, is an entertainment-oriented individual consumer market. The main reasons that Chinese mobile users purchase smartphones include entertainment (such as music players, cameras and video) and to access mobile Internet applications (such as IM, e-book, and games). We believe the iPhone will be favored by these consumers as it can better meet such demand. Secondly, high-end handset buyers significantly outnumber high-end mp3 player buyers. We estimate that 20% of handsets sold in China in 2007 cost more than 4,000 RMB (US$533). In another words, there are an estimated 28 million potential users for the iPhone in China. (link)
Thanks to Silicon Alley Insider for the tip.
Spread the word
December 9, 2007
Google Pre-Launches New iPhone Interface
We heard a rumor that Google was going to launch a new interface for users accessing the site via an iPhone in the next few days. But an anonymous tip let us know it actually launched without any warning or announcement this evening.
If you visit Google.com from an iPhone, you now get a menu of services to choose from - home (search box), Gmail, Calendar, Reader and More (docs, sms, goog-411, news, photos, blogger and notebook). It’s basically all of the core Google services, accessible from a single easy to use menu.
The new application has what is now considered a signature look for the iPhone. The look and feel of many of the interface elements are similar to those created by Joe Hewitt
, whose sample framework and code have been used in dozens of iPhone applications (see his Facebook product here). I don’t know if Google used any of his freely offered code, but it certainly has the look of one of his applications.
Accessing the site through other mobile devices continues to deliver the old Google Mobile interface.
More pictures of the interface are below, created with a simulator. Real but poor quality images are here.
Spread the word
July 7, 2007
Hacker claims he has cracked iPhone activation
Jon Lech Johansen, known to many as DVD Jon for his part in breaking the CSS encryption of standard DVDs, has announced today that he has successfully "broken the activation code for AT&T in iTunes," which could possibly unlock the phone for services besides AT&T.
More importantly, DVD Jon discovered that by editing key hexadecimal numbers in Apple's software and by also redirecting an Internet server request, he was able to successfully trick the phone into switching into its activated/normal mode. Although you will not be able to make phone calls, the iPod and Wi-Fi services will function as if the phone was activated.
Jon also said the modifications can either be made manually or using a custom Phone Activation Server that will automatically modify all necessary software. As of today, these modifications can only be made on Windows systems.
Apple and AT&T have yet to respond to Jon's announcement.
Spread the word
Here is a simple one line change which will make your webpages viewable well on iPhone and Blackberry. Add the following to your HTML HEAD section:
<meta name="viewport" content="width=320">
Apple is using the following on their RSS reader website:
<meta name = "Viewport" content = "maximum-scale=1.6,width=320" >
The other parameters you can experiment with: initial-scale (first loaded scale), user-scalable (boolean), minimum-scale (default 0.25), maximum-scale (default 1.6).
There is an active discussion on this topic here.
Viewport is part of CSS 2.1 (link) specification. Viewport is a window or through which users view a document. User agents may change the document’s layout when the viewport is resized.
Spread the word
The root and another "mobile" account password of iPhone OSX 1.0, have been obtained from a passwd file and been cracked by the famous fellows from hackint0sh.org. The hash turned out to be old plain 1979 DES. Sadly this is not of any use so far, as the iPhone does not (yet) present us with a nice and tidy login screen to explore it's system.
Original: http://www.hackint0sh.org/forum/showthread.php?t=1323
The password for root is "alpine"
The "mobile" user accounts password is "dottie"
