FaceTime might be easy but network traversal can be hard, which is why Apple has posted a knowledge base article to help you get your FaceTime behind a firewall.

If the Wi-Fi network router that you are connected to uses a firewall or security software to restrict Internet access, contact the network administrator and reference this technical article. To use FaceTime on a restricted Wi-Fi network, port forwarding must be enabled for ports 53, 80, 443, 4080, 5223, and 16393-16472 (UDP).

The Wi-Fi network administrator can refer to their router, firewall, or security software documentation for information on configuring port forwarding.

If you encounter issues using a Wi-Fi network, use standard Wi-Fi network troubleshooting to resolve interference and other issues.

Have you had any firewall issues with FaceTime at home, at school, or at work? If so, did this tip help?

[Apple Knowledge Base via 9to5Mac]

How to use iPhone 4 FaceTime behind a firewall is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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A war of words is a brewing between fring and Skype on both company’s respective blogs. It was just last week Fring updated their application to include 2-way video calling so that all of you iPhone 4 owners out there could video chat with your cross-platform buddies. According to the official fring blog users can no longer communicate with their Skype friends and fring is encouraging users to invite their Skype friends to join fring.

"We are disappointed that Skype, who once championed the cause of openness, is now attempting to muzzle competition, even to the detriment of its own users" said Avi Shechter, fring's Co-Founder and CEO "We apologize to our users for the impact of Skype's bullying and we will be happy to reconnect with Skype once Skype reverses their decision." Avi continued, "We believe in communication openness and know that users will continue to vote with their mobile phones – opting for fring's innovation, clarity, honesty and openness".

Not long after fring released their statement Skype posted one of their own on their blog firing back and blaming fring for damaging their brand and reputation.

“Fring was using Skype software in a way it wasn't designed to be used – and in a way which is in breach of Skype's API Terms of Use and End User License Agreement. We've been talking with Fring for some time to try to resolve this amicably. However, over time, Fring's mis-use of our software was increasingly damaging our brand and reputation with our customers. On Friday, for example, Fring withdrew support for video calls over Skype on iOS 4 without warning, again damaging our brand and disappointing our customers, who have high expectations of the Skype experience.”

We will be watching this one very closely, until then who’s side are you on? Sound off in the comments!

[TechCrunch]

Skype vs fring – Fight! is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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The TiPb store just got the new Case-Mate Barely There Case for iPhone 4 in stock, so I decided to take a quick look at it. As you’d expect by the name, it’s super thin and doesn’t add any perceivable bulk to iPhone 4. Same token, while it will protect against scrapes and bumps, there’s no padding to help you out in case of a high fall.

The finish is soft-touch but I don’t find it that to be a huge difference from iPhone 4 by itself. It included a screen protector so you can be covered front and back.

Is it enough to stop the de-tuning that occurs when you have a low signal and touch the bottom left hand side of the antenna band? We’re going to test that out and we’ll update with the results asap.

In the meantime, if you’re a fan of this style, you can grab a Case-Mate Barely There Case now from the TiPb iPhone 4 Accessory Store.

UPDATE: Added a picture at the bottom taken with the iPhone 4 flash while the case was on. No distortion or flare that I could see, but the cutout is fairly wide around the whole camera assembly.

Case-Mate Barely There Case for iPhone 4 – quick look [sponsored] is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

Consumer Reports has run lab tests and confirmed what many real-world users likely already know — in areas with weak signal, touching the iPhone 4 external antenna band at the bottom left side can cause a loss of voice and data connection.

We reached this conclusion after testing all three of our iPhone 4s (purchased at three separate retailers in the New York area) in the controlled environment of CU’s radio frequency (RF) isolation chamber. In this room, which is impervious to outside radio signals, our test engineers connected the phones to our base-station emulator, a device that simulates carrier cell towers. We also tested several other AT&T phones the same way, including the iPhone 3G S and the Palm Pre. None of those phones had the signal-loss problems of the iPhone 4.

A piece of duct-tape placed over the offending area can prevent the problem, according to them, and they repeat that a case can likely prevent it as well (though they haven’t tested any in the lab yet).

The signal problem is the reason that we did not cite the iPhone 4 as a “recommended” model, even though its score in our other tests placed it atop the latest Ratings of smart phones that were released today.

So their bottom line is iPhone 4 is terrific for its display, camera, battery life, gyroscope, FaceTime, and other features, but if you have the antenna issue, it’s a show stopper and they believe Apple needs to come up with a free fix before they’ll recommend it.

[Consumer Reports — Thanks Phil!)

Consumer Reports tests, confirms iPhone 4 antenna problem in weak signal areas is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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My latest productivity app this week? Penultimate for iPad. There are several competing “free hand” note taking apps on our favorite tablet device. After our recent TiPb at Work Post, I thought I would see if Penultimate tries to separate itself from other note apps on the iPad. Is being simple with just enough  of a “feature” to get the job done enough?

Penultimate starts you off with a single notebook. That notebook serves as a tutorial to show you how to use Penultimate. The example notebook is excellent as it “teaches” you everything you need to know about the app. The basic setup is this; you can have virtually unlimited notes in your notebook. You tap the bottom right corner to go to the next page and the bottom left corner to go to the previous page. You have a pen, eraser and a clear page button at the bottom as well. On the main screen you can create your own notebook, email or delete notebooks as need, you can even rename them by tapping the name located below the notebook.

Writing in Penultimate is a pure joy. As you draw or write with your fingers, the developers have given the virtual ink a very distinct look, almost like calligraphy. The ink is thick in some areas and thinner in others. If you want to adjust the thickness or color of your ink, simply tap and hold the pen icon at the bottom of the page to make your changes.

You can create new notebooks with the tap of a button located in the top left hand corner. The top right hand corner gives you additional settings. The style of paper be changed from graph to lined for example, you can reposition the tools (pen, eraser, etc.) to the top of the page and even email the entire notebook or just the page you are on via email. Penultimate converts the notebooks to PDFs for emailing.

I like Penultimate for what it does; it is a simple no-frills note taking tool. I find there to be a couple of irritations however. In landscape view, you are given a cropped view of the page and you can flick the right side of the screen to scroll towards the top and bottom. I feel there has to be a better way to implement this, or, give me completely different functionality in landscape. The other issue is that there is no way to zoom to give yourself more space; the notebook is it’s real size and there is no zooming. I would have liked to have seen a pinch-zoom function that increased the size of your note area. Ah, perhaps in a future release. Regardless, Penultimate is a beautiful fun and easy note taking tool that most of use can find a  use for in our busy lives.

[$2.99- iTunes Link]

Pros

• Simple
• Beautiful design
• Ink looks great
• Animation is smooth

Cons

• Landscape view is awkward to use
• No pinch to zoom functionality

Penultimate for iPad- app review is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

Under iOS 4, if you’re using an iPhone 4 or iPhone 3GS, when you double click the Home Button the UI slides up and reveals the multitasking fast app switcher “behind” the dock. That certainly fixes the problem of moving between apps quickly, but it sacrifices everything the double click did on previous iOS versions.

As recently as a few weeks ago under iOS 3 (iPhone 3.0), double clicking the Home Button would send you to Phone Favorites. Under Settings, you could change that to Spotlight Search, Camera, or iPod Controls. (iPod controls were, and remain, the default behavior of a Home Screen double click if your iPhone is locked and audio is playing). Under iOS 4, those settings are gone.

Briefly under one of the iOS 4 betas, double click would launch the fast app switcher and double click and hold would launch phone favorites. This seems like a great alternative but it disappeared in later betas and never returned. (See our iOS 4 walkthrough for more.)

Sure, with iOS 4 multitasking you can use the fast app switcher to quickly get to the Phone App, and saved state means that if it was last on Favorites, it will return you right back to favorites. There are also widgets just to the left, which are slightly more complicated to get to but do take the place of popup iPod Controls. So, in some ways, the loss of old functionality is mitigated somewhat by the addition of new functionality — but not the loss of elegance.

Perhaps the settings could return but instead of choosing what launches on double click, there could be a way to pin Phone Favorites, Spotlight, or Camera to the first spot in fast app switcher when it’s launched. It would be one additional action — click, click, tap instead of just click, click — but it would be usable. Better yet, triple click can currently be assigned to bringing up the accessibility options. If you turn that off, how about letting us re-assign the triple click to the old double click options?

In the meantime, let us know what were you using double click for under iOS 3, if you miss it under iOS 4, and if you’ve found any good work arounds for it? Or is the new fast app switcher and widgets enough?

iOS 4 limitations: double-click Home reduced to fast app switching is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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Looks like some of AT&T’s “most valuable customers” are receiving a letter offering them a free MicroCell. The box, which sits in your home or office and re-routes your cell phone — including iPhone — over your broadband network can often work miracles in low signal areas… for a price.

What’s less clear than the reception boost, however, is just who’s being offered the feebie.

Though his calls do frequently drop at home, Jason says he wasn’t terribly vocal about the issue and only pays around $180 per month for his family plan — the only thing that might possibly qualify him, in his opinion, is that his contract was set to expire.

Leanna paid for a MicroCell recently, and while it does seem to power through even the iPhone 4 antenna issues, she’s not happy she was excluded from the MVC list. AT&T, expect a call from a tiny, agro blogger any time now…

Anyone else get offered a free MicroCell? Anyone else contacting AT&T about it?

[Engadget]

AT&T coughing up free MicroCells to MVCs? is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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Apple has begun airing 4 new iPhone 4 commercials and once again, it’s all about FaceTime, and heavy on the emotion and sentimentality. Titled Smile, Meet Her, Big News, and Haircut, each focuses on a moment of shared intimacy, of insecurity and anticipation, of surprise and joy. And they do it in a way that makes the visual integral to he communication.

Again, incredibly smart advertising on Apple’s part, and another step towards mainstreaming video calling and the way they’re doing it…

It’s no longer about their being an app for that. Now it’s about there being a phone — specifically iPhone 4 — for that.

Videos after the break.

[YouTube.com/apple via 9to5Mac]

Apple airs 4 new iPhone 4 ads and they’re all about FaceTime is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog