The iPhone blog is now… TiPb.com!

That’s right, just as Apple keeps expanding their iPhone platform, we’re expanding our coverage to bring you the best of all of it. Let’s face it — Apple is the most integrated consumer electronics company in the world, from chipset to handset to OS to tablet. There’s just no way around it — from now on every year it’s going to be a splash of iPad in spring, all about iPhone in summer, and then iPod touch in fall. And we want to make sure if a great new feature or a hot new story breaks for any one of them, at any time, you know we’ll have it for you right here at TiPb, your #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch blog.

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

The iPhone blog is now… TiPb.com!

Chris Foresman over at Ars Technica spoke with Sling Media regarding AT&T’s recent announcement that they’d now allow SlingPlayer to work over 3G, and general manager John Gilmore had this to say:

“We actually have been working very intensively with AT&T to get the 3G streaming approved,” Gilmore told Ars. “Over the course of the last couple of months, they have been testing the app in their labs.”

Gilmore said that AT&T was able to determine that SlingPlayer Mobile wouldn’t significantly impact network performance after extensive testing. “We always felt comfortable that that wasn’t the case,” he told Ars. “As we built our relationship with AT&T, we were able to prove to them that our app wouldn’t cause a negative customer impact. We always felt that our app was a ‘good network citizen.’”

Gilmore further said Sling didn’t change any code for AT&T but that they have, and will continue to improve it.

Huzzah!

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

Ars: Slingplayer Didn’t Change for AT&T, AT&T Tested and Got Comfortable with Sling

Have the gloves officially come off with Apple demanding Flash of Genius: SAT Vocab’s developer remove a mention of Google’s Android from their App Store application’s description? This does come just days after Steve Jobs fired away claiming Google's "don't be evil" motto was "BS". Coincidence? You tell us.

According to Cult of Mac:

In an email to the developer of "Flash of Genius: SAT Vocab" developer Tim Novikoff, Apple wrote "it would be appropriate to remove 'Finalist in Google's Android Developer's Challenge!' from the application's description. Apple wrote that the edit was required to "avoid an interruption in the availability" of the flash card application.

As of this post Novikoff has removed the mention and the app remains available in the App Store. He does have plans to get in touch with Apple to figure out a way to sneak in his top 10 finish in the Android developer contest without ruffling any Apple feathers.

Is it just us or do you think Apple is going just a tad bit too far with this one?

[Via Cult of Mac]

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

Apple Requests Google Android Mention Be Removed from App Store Description

MobileNavigator [$69.99 on sale - iTunes link] maker Navigon is going to be at Macworld 2010 next week and knowing them, they may just have a few surprises in store for the show! You’ll be able to find out all about them first hand from Navigon, February 11-13 at booth #575 (or second hand from TiPb if you’re following along online).

To celebrate, Navigon is giving TiPb readers a chance to get MobileNavigator for FREE!

If you’re going to be at Macworld, Navigon is offering:

• Two (2) lucky readers a FREE copy of MobileNavigator along with a hands-on demo at their booth from Navigon’s product manager, Bernd Hahn, who’ll show you all the tips and tricks you’ll ever need to know. (You have to be at Macworld on Feb 11 and/or 12 to claim it.)

If you’re following along online, Navigon is offering:

• Two (2) lucky readers a FREE copy of MobileNavigator as well!

Here’s how to enter:

• If you’re going to be at Macworld and want the FREE MobileNavigator, email rene@tipb.com with subject-heading NAVIGON and you’re entered to win — simple as that!

• If you’re not going to be at Macworld, but still want the FREE MobileNavigator, jump into the TiPb Apps Forum and tell us — where do you want to use Navigon to go? Name your driving destination!

The give-away begins now and lasts until February 10 at 12pm PT. US App Store account required to use Promo Codes (Apple’s rule, not ours!)

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

TiPb Give-Away: Navigon MobileNavigator and Macworld Guided Tour!

TiPb heads off to Macworld 2010 in San Francisco next week, and we’ll bring you back all the latest in iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad news, apps, accessories. I’ll be there most of the week, from Conference to Expo, and Leanna will be joining in for the Expo this year as well.

If you’re a reader and you’re at Macworld, be sure to catch us and say hi! If you’re a developer with a great app you can’t wait to show off, let us know where you are and we’ll do everything we can to catch as many of you as we can as well.

Still not sure if you’re coming to Macworld? IDG was kind enough to pass along a discount code for TiPb readers, good for $15 off the Expo or 15% off the Conference.

Here’s what you’re going to want to check out:

• Macworld Special iPad Event: Exclusive iPad preview and analysis by Macworld editorial director, Jason Snell, plus… win an iPad!
• Market Symposium: iPhone App Business Development and Marketing
• Mobile Apps Showcase: an easy way for developers to get on the Expo floor, and a convenient way for app-lovers to find them!
• iPhone Super Session: Macworld’s Chris Breen teaches a ton of tips and tricks to help you get the most out of your iPhone

See you there!

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

TiPb at Macworld 2010 Next Week — Join Us and Save!

Apple’s iPhone Developer News feed has posted a note saying developers should enhance their App Store apps with Core Location… but not if they just want to use it to serve up location-based ads. Of course, this has set off yet another round of conspiracy theories and Apple accusations. Here’s what Apple had to say:

The Core Location framework allows you to build applications which know where your users are and can deliver information based on their location, such as local weather, nearby restaurants, ATMs, and other location-based information.

If you build your application with features based on a user’s location, make sure these features provide beneficial information. If your app uses location-based information primarily to enable mobile advertisers to deliver targeted ads based on a user’s location, your app will be returned to you by the App Store Review Team for modification before it can be posted to the App Store.

Since Apple bought mobile advertiser Quattro Wireless and said they were going to provide a seamless way for developers to earn advertising revenue, especially for free apps, chatter on the web has it the above is Apple’s way of locking out the competition in general, and Google-owned AdMob in specific.

And why not? Just a few days ago there was rampant speculation Apple was forcing Stanza to remove USB sharing to punish owner Amazon and get all anti-competitive due to their upcoming iBooks app. Turns out, however, Stanza was using a private API and misusing the camera roll to store eBooks instead of the image files it’s meant for.

Okay sure, maybe Apple is getting ready to be anti-competitive about advertising, and risk a ton of negative developer reaction and potential investigation, or maybe Quattro Wireless-powered apps will likewise have to make sure advertising isn’t the primary purpose of location-aware apps either. Maybe our location information is a fairly important piece of data and using it because we want to find a restaurant or friend is preferable to it being used because someone else wants to serve us an ad.

So yes, this could be a nefarious plot for unfair competition or it could just be Apple’s policy on all location-based advertising going forward — if you want to use GPS and CoreLocation, make sure the primary reason is for the user, not for the ads.

TiPb will keep an eye on this as it develops, but let us know your thoughts!

[Thanks to Fassy for the tip!]

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

Apple: No Location-based Ads for Non Location-based Apps — Controversy de Jour?

If you’re interested in iPad design or development, the internet is already offering up resources for you, including interface recommendations, icon templates, and galleries of Apple examples. And why not? The same people who love every pixel of interface on the iPhone are finding 1024×768 reasons to pour over the iPad’s beefy new canvas as well.

First up, Gizmodo highlights some of Apple’s new iPad Human Interface Guidelines (HIG) which suggest developers “think different” and not just big when it comes to the iPad. They have to “just work” no matter how a user holds the iPad, portrait or landscape, and they should remain just as focused and uncluttered as iPhone apps. It should be easy to share, both in terms of several people using the app on the same devices, and moving data back and forth from the app. Real world look and feel is encouraged; making contacts look like a book gives it tangibility. Multiple multitouch gestures are your friend (there’s a reason NOVA let the player touch the screen and turn the door latch). And while it is a computer, it shouldn’t present the user with file-systems or other computer management tasks.

Next, Cocoia has been generous enough to share a downloadable Photoshop PSD template for iPhone and iPad icons, everything from giant 512×512 to standard iPad and iPhone sizes, to iPad Spotlight and menubar variants.

Last but not least, developer Frasier Spears has painstakingly assembled a Flickr gallery of every iPad UI element he could get his screen-shot on, and presented them with commentary. No better way to get started than by checking out what Apple’s done so far.

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

iPad GUI Design Recommendations, Templates, and Galleries

Frequent iPhone Live! panelist Mickey Papillon was kind enough to invite yours truly to come on The Cell Phone Junkie Unlocked podcast and talk about Apple’s latest iPhone OS device — the iPad.

It’s a subscriber’s-only podcast, but Mickey and his partner Joey also offer up the free Cell Phone Junkie podcast, and over the course of the last two months I’ve been on there as part of the Smartphone Round Robin, along with PreCentral.net’s Dieter Bohn, CrackBerry.com’s Kevin Michaluk, AndroidCentral.com’s Casey Chan, NokiaExperts.com’s Matt Miller, and WMExperts.com’s Phil Nickinson for a look at the past, present, and future of all the major smartphone platforms.

• The Cell Phone Junkie: Windows Phone
• The Cell Phone Junkie: Nokia
• The Cell Phone Junkie: SPE Round Robin Podcast Part 2
• The Cell Phone Junkie: webOS
• The Cell Phone Junkie: iPhone
• The Cell Phone Junkie: BlackBerry
• The Cell Phone Junkie: Android
• The first Round Robin Podcast! State of the Platforms

Check them out, and my thanks to Mickey for the invite!

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

TiPb on the Cell Phone Junky Unlocked