WhenWillApple has found another new goodie in the just released iPhone 3.1 Beta 3: Settings > General > Usage now shows Tethering Data alongside the previous Cellular Network Data counter.

Since countries outside the US, and carriers other than AT&T have offered tethering pretty much since the launch of iPhone 3.0, does this new addition, alongside the return of MMS settings in iPhone 3.1 Beta 1 released a month ago, hint that AT&T might finally be getting their iPhone offerings in order?

Insert your AT&T tethering rumor here!

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

iPhone 3.1 Beta 3: Data Tethering Counter [-- Add AT&T Rumor Here!]

Following up on the recent release of iPhone 3.1 Beta 3, WhenWillApple has posted up a YouTube video (embedded above) showing the new copy/paste functionality for videos.

Like copy/paste for images in iPhone 3.0, this allows you to send copies of your videos without the compression that goes along with the Share function. Just pick a video, tap and hold for “copy”, switch to email, tap and hold for paste.

Again, the size of the email boxes (sender and receiver) will likely still be a limiting factor. (MobileMe allows for 20MB per email, for example).

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

iPhone 3.1 Beta 3: Copy/Paste to Send Full Quality Video

Apple has released iPhone 3.1 Beta 3 (7C116a) to developers via developer.apple.com, along with notification that iPhone 3.1 Beta 2 expires tomorrow, July 28 at 12am (device local time).

While Apple has previously released most of the betas on Tuesday, a desire to prevent the “pink screen of death” associate with expired betas perhaps necessitated an earlier release this time.

The OS weighs is said to weigh in at around 307MB. Updates to follow below as we get them:

According to WhenWillApple, you can now copy and paste videos into email (like you could images under 3.0) to get full resolution (not compressed like the share option). We’re guessing email box size will still be a restriction…

Also, Tethering Data now gets it’s own counter in Settings > General > Usage.

[Thanks to Davizzle for the tip!]

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Updated: Apple Release iPhone 3.1 Beta 3 to Developers (Beta 2 Expiring Tues, July 28!)

While all of the 2010 Verizon iPhone/Tablet rumors are still in the air, Verizon has seen a very real loss of profit this last quarter. Their total profit was $3.16 billion, which was down from $3.4 billion one year ago. According to Denny Strigl, Verizon’s president, this loss is partly due to AT&T and iPhone 3GS.

“When you think about what Apple has done in bringing the iPhone into the marketplace, it truly has accelerated innovation. And as we talk to all of our manufacturers, everybody has come out with their own iconic device, and I think that this has been very good overall for our customers.”

Verizon is planning to launch a few iPhone competitors in the near future with the Palm Pre and the new BlackBerry Storm 2, along with some Google Android phones. Make no mistake, those are some nice phones, but none of them have an Apple logo on the back side.

2010 should be a very interesting year…

[Via AppleInsider]

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Verizon: iPhone 3GS Cost us Money, Helped Drive Innovation

Still searching for that perfect online music streaming application for your iPhone? Spotify may be exactly what you are looking for.

Spotify is a online streaming music service that gives you access to over-the-air streaming of their entire music library, as well as playlist access. Where this application has a leg up on the competition is that you’ll be able to cache playlists locally on your iPhone while in WiFi areas so that you’ll be able to play them back at any time without any data connection. Spotify will be available as a free app download but will only be available to premium customers who pay £9.99 a month for the service.

Now comes the disappointing part of the story — Spotify is not available here in the United States or Canada due to licensing restrictions. Sorry folks, we will have to make do with Pandora, Pocket Tunes, etc…

How many of you, our valued readers, think Apple will let this one slip into the App Store? Will it get rejected for “duplicating functionality”? Or will it mysteriously disappear into the abyss like so many applications before it?

[Thanks to icebike & Sam for the tip!]

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

iTunes Alternative Spotify Submitted to iPhone App Store

The Jailbreak and Unlock wizards behind the iPhone DevTeam are off to DEFCON 17, the security/hacking convention that juxtaposes Black Hat 2009, and have provided a set of tips to help those at the conferences (or anywhere really) avoid getting their iPhone hacked into. The tips are really targeted at Jailbroken iPhones, but some cross over to regular iPhone users as well.

Disable all your login cookies in Safari. If you use the hotel or conference wifi, it is 100% guaranteed that your traffic will be sniffed. If you allow a web site (like twitter.com) to store your login info in a cookie, and if you connect to that site through a normal http connection, your login info will be exposed. At the very least, you’ll end up on the Wall of Sheep. But you’ll be giving up your password to anyone else sniffing too.

They also advise avoiding any public Wi-Fi at hotels, conference centers, airports, etc. (and to tether instead), and either uninstalling or disabling SSH access, or at the very least changing the root and mobile password from Apple’s default.

They also provide their suggestions for talks that might interest the iPhone jailbreak community. If anyone attends, let us know how it goes via our iPhone Jailbreak and Unlock Forum. And If you have more pro tips, send them our way!

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Pro Tips: How to Secure Your Jailbroken (or Regular) iPhone Against Hackers

To celebrate Apple restoring Promo Codes to all App Store apps, Airsource Ltd and Glasshouse Apps are teaming with TiPb to give away 5 free copies of Cellar [$2.99 - iTunes link], their portable, swipeable showcase of what’s currently in your cellar or wine rack, and which also includes the Garage feature that lets you store wine that you’ve decided you might buy again.

Want it for free? Just head on over to the TiPb iPhone Forums and tell us your favorite wine!

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb Give Away: Cellar Digital Wine Showcase for iPhone

The Financial Times is reporting that Apple may be in cahoots with the Big Music record labels, Sony, Warner, Universal, and EMI to create bonus-material laden Apps in an attempt to reignite interest in full album purchases among consumers. This project is said to be code named “cocktail” and would include:

a new interactive booklet, sleeve notes and other interactive features with music downloads

Since the advent of iTunes, sales of digital singles has risen but full albums has fallen. In previous decades, from vinyl through cassette and compact disc (CD), with the exception of 45s (original, not the new digital kind) and compilations, albums were often the only way to get popular tunes.

While some, including our own editor-in-chief, still prefer buying whole albums so as to get the whole “story” an artist is trying to tell, others have maintained since the days of vinyl that some artists were just as content to put effort into a couple hit songs then quickly produce filler for the rest of the album.

So “Cocktail” could well enhance even those mega-albums filled with great music, much as they did in the heydays of physical media, but will they be compelling enough to get consumers to fork over $9+ instead of $1.29 to get filler from that one hit wonder as well?

[Via MacRumors]

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Apple and Record Labels Trying to Reignite Album Interest with “Cocktail”?

According to developers, Apple has reversed it’s previous decision and will now allow Promo Codes to be generated for iTunes App Store apps rated 17+ — which includes any application that embeds a browser or otherwise allows unfettered access to the internet.

TUAW adds that:

While Apple has not made any official comment on the issue, it appears that they have quietly conceded this battle to the developers, once again enabling them to distribute promo codes as needed for all of their apps.

Promo Codes are the mechanism Apple uses to allow developers of paid apps to generate 50 tickets for free downloads, typically used for give aways or send out review copies. During the brief era of prohibition, everything from Twitter clients to internet data front ends had to either go without, or cut into their beta-testing pool by using some of their 100 ad-hoc build licenses, which still suffer from restrictions all their own.

So, good on Apple, let’s keep the problem-solving momentum going.

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Apple Reverses Decision, Allows Promo Codes for Apps Rated 17+

The biggest stories from you favorite team of Smartphone sites - it’s the best of SPE!

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Best of Smartphone Experts, 26 July 2009