Daring Fireball has revealed that the CDMA iPhone 4 is codenamed N92 and is entering the engineering verification (EVT) stage, one step before the design verification test (DVT) stage, which is right before manufacturing — and right on time for a possible January 2011 launch.

The device itself is supposed to be identical to the current GSM iPhone 4 (codenamed N90) with the exception of the CDMA radio. While Verizon is the logical and persistent rumored carrier for the device, Sprint is also a possibility. Although not identical to US CDMA (don’t get us started on CDMA2000 vs WCDMA vs whateverCDMAwhatever) China and Korea, among others, are also possibilities.

But again, the smart money — the millions and millions of units sold smart money — is on Verizon.

Daring Fireball’s John Gruber points out why:

The key bit: "At the critical juncture […], when they should have gone for market share, they went for profits." I think this encapsulates Jobs's philosophy since taking over Apple in 1997. Take the high end of the market first, establish a brand and presence, then steadily start to expand.

If they're at that juncture with the iPhone now, expansion means CDMA. And in the U.S., it means Verizon.

He thinks there will be lineups. We do as well. What do you think?

[Daring Fireball]

CDMA iPhone 4 codenamed N92, in engineering verification test for possible January (Verizon?) debut is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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Engadget has received info from a trusted source that the next Apple TV will be renamed iTV, have apps, and unfortunately, not support 1080p playback.

Apparently the box won’t be capable of handling (or enabled to handle) 1080i or 1080p video. Instead it will only push out 720p clips. The word — and cause for much internal debate, we’re told — is that this has something to do with the A4’s inability to crank on higher resolution content, but we don’t see how that’s possible considering the iPhone 3GS could play back full HD video. Furthermore, the device will be getting apps and presumably an App Store entry, though it’s unclear if there will be cross-pollination between iPad and iPhone / iPod touch offerings and new Apple TV applications.

Interestingly, the switch to the name iTV is actually what Apple had originally called the Apple TV and it makes sense to go back, especially since it looks like it will be similar to iOS with apps.

So what do you think about the lack of 1080p support? I find this extremely disappointing and can’t imagine Apple releasing such a subpar product. However, at only a $99 price point, I may be able to forgive Apple for this one. How about you?

[Engadget]

Apple TV will be renamed iTV, have apps, but not support 1080p is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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How does a certified golf course superintendent use his iPhone to get the job done and what iPhone apps help get him through his day? TiPb's iPhone at work contest aims to bring you just such slices of the iPhone life. Here's greensuper’s answer and as a small token of thanks we're sending him a $20 iTunes gift certificate. If you want to see your name up on the TiPb home page and get a gift certificate all your own, head on over to the TiPb iPhone Forum and share your story now!

Boy, where do I start. I have been a loyal Apple user since the Apple IIe first came out. When the iPhone first came out, I had just purchased another Blackberry with Verizon, I didn’t want to incur a cancellation fee and the purchase price of the iPhone. 8 months later, when the 1st gen was offered as a refurb, I got my first iphone. I follow Apple/iPhone news as much as I follow the Turfgrass industry. I have always told my wife, if I had the opportunity to do something else, it would be to work for Apple. Now, how do I use my iPhone. To really get the full functionality of the iPhone and some of it’s apps, you really need to subscribe to Apple’s MobileMe service. I will explain why below.

The first app I use religiously is Who is Hot?. It is a great weather app for free. No one in my opinion, beats the animated radar in this app. I haven’t found one that has beat this yet. I am a Regional Agronomist and one thing this app does is gives me the weather for all my contacts. You open the app and click on one of your contacts and you have all the weather and radar right there.

I also use The Weather Channel app. I use the free version, don’t see a big difference in the $4.99 version. I use this app for forecasts and current conditions. This app mirrors the “local on the 8’s” from the Weather Channel. It is a better forecasting tool than Who is hot?

The Turfgrass Management app developed out of the University of Georgia is fantastic!! I have several small travel turfgrass books that allow me to reference diseases, weeds and insects. This app puts all that in the palm of your hand with it’s extensive turfgrass database. It has been communicated that this app will continue to follow with updates as information on any pest becomes available.

We just installed a new RainBird control system at one of my properties. RainBird has recent’y released their MI control system, this program works phenomenal on the iphone. I am able to control the entire system from anywhere. This summer it has proven invaluable with all the late night storms we have had. In concert with Who is Hot, if I see weather is heading to the property late at night, i can use my MI controller on the iPhone and turn off or adjust the irrigation. All this while playing with my kids!!

Toro recently released an official iPhone App, Toro NSN. This is like the MI Controller only this is actually an iPhone App versus a website. This also gives me the ability to control my entire irrigation system from the palm of my hand. I think the neatest part of this is that Toro has developed an iPhone app. If they have done so for irrigation, imagine the possibilities, apps for equipment repair, apps for ordering at your local vendor, it’s endless.

The next program is one that is tied directly to MobileMe without it, you can’t really take full advantage of this program. This app is Quickoffice. Quickoffice allows me to create, edit and email Word and Excel documents. Since you can’t store files on your iPhone like a Blackberry, this app links to your MobileMe idisk as a work around. I have my entire work load on my idisk, everything! I am able to use this program to email anything to my company or Superintendents from the palm of my hand. This program released an update which allows you to email any document you receive directly to your MobileMe idisk, this is a perfect work around to not being able to store documents on your iPhone. When I receive an email with a document I need to edit and respond to, I simple forward the email to a specific address. This sends the attached file to my idisk. I then open my idisk on QuickOffice and there is my document to edit and resend. The whole process over 3G can take 2 minutes, over WiFi much faster.

I also have Documents To Go. Although the UI is much more friendly than Quickoffice, this program falls short in other areas. I am not able to access my work files on my idisk, although DataViz has stated you will be able to do so in the future. You can’t edit Excel files yet, again they (Dataviz) are saying this update will be released soon. If these two updates are released, I will no longer use Quickoffice.

I developed a blog for one of my properties, to communicate information to members. I was finding by the time our weekly news letter was distributed, much of the information I need to pass along would be out of date. The blog has been a huge success at my club. My members love the fact that we use technology like this! The iPhone comes into play because I am able to send an email directly to the blog to make a post. All I do is create an email, the subject line will be the subject of my blog post, create my blog post in the body of the email, hit send and I have just created a new blog post. This has been great for communicating issues like, cart rules and other daily information.

I also use Twitter to communicate with other industry professionals. I do not use this to communicate to any members, it is important to separate the two. I use two apps for Twiiter, Twitter for iPhone and Tweetdeck. They are pretty much the same, except Tweetdeck allows me to create columns for separate categories of people I communicate with. For example, I have a column for PGA Tour tweets, a column for turf professors I follow and a column for other Superintendents. This makes reading tweets easier.

Logmein Ignition was a fantastic app I used prior to Toro releasing their Toro NSN app. Logmein allowed me to login on my iPhone and control the irrigation system. I know a lot of people who use this app to access files on their computer.

Bump is a great app, but in order to be useful you need to be with someone else who has the iPhone and the app. This app allows you to simply bump iPhones together to share pretty much anything you would share on your iphone. I use this with my wife for photos of our kids. Could you imagine walking the Trade Show floor at the GIS with this app. You could arrive at a vendor booth and bump iphones to share contact information. The vendor could use it to send you product information as well. Again, the possibilities are endless.

The camera is another app that is used all the time. I used to carry a camera on my hip, if I needed to take a photo of something I could. I would find myself at times, forgetting my camera at the moment I needed “that” picture. The iphone camera takes care of this. I am also able to send that photo immediately to the GM, members and other workers.

The iPhone for me has become more of a tool than my small multitool. The possibilities are endless as to what Superintendent could use this phone for. I am glad I have a charger of my gator. During those long days, I need that extra boost to get me into the evening. I was actually thinking about starting another blog on exactly this subject. Each day would be a post on how I use my iPhone for my job as a Superintendent and Regional Agronomist.

What about you? Are you a superintendent who uses his iPhone for work? If so, let us know what apps get you through a typical work day!

iPhone at Work: Certified Golf Course Superintendent is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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You know the drill, come 6pm PT, 9pm ET, 2am BST, we’ll be taking over the front page of http://www.tipb.com to talk everything iPhone.

Be here, and be ready to chat. We want to hear from you.

iPhone live tonight, 6pm PT, 9pm ET, 2am BST is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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Distant Suns 3: Space Travel for the Rest of Us is a universal iPhone & iPad application that puts the universe in your hands:

• View from the Earth or out in the solar-system with the new Spaceflight mode
• Compass aware for the 3GS and iPad. Just aim and identify.
• Over 130,000 pinpoint stars scintillating like diamond dust in the palm of your hand
• Realistic ghostly band of the Milky Way
• All 88 constellations with images and articles on their mythology
• Viewpoint Lock keeps any planet centered
• Current weather patterns on the earth, updated every 3 hours
• Preference panel to change the way stars are rendered in over a dozen different ways.
• The Messier catalog of galaxies, nebula and star clusters
• Dozens of photos from the Hubble Space Telescope
• All 8 planets (Pluto is optional)
• GPS aware
• Red interface to preserve your night vision
• What’s Up? Gives a quick one snapshot overview of where all of the important stuff is
• Point and Identify mode reveals a wealth of hidden data for each star, planet or deep-sky object
• Planetary data and information

In anticipation of the Perseid Meteor Shower on Thursday, August 12, the folks over at First Light have provided us with 14 promo codes to give away! Winners will be able to use the app to assist in their stargazing for the event. How do you win? Head on over to the forums and let us know your favorite planet/constellation. The contest begins now and ends Thursday, August 12 at 3 PM EST. (A US iTunes account is required to win. Apple’s rule, not ours!)

[$9.99 - iTunes link, NASA]

Distant Suns 3 for iPhone and iPad – give-away is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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Apple has just released iOS 4.0.2 for iPhone and iOS 3.2.2 for iPad which on the surface seem only to patch the zero day, in the wild PDF rendering exploit that enabled Jailbreakme.com, but could have also potentially allowed all manner of malware attacks against the iPhone Safari browser.

At a whopping 579.3 MB for iOS 4.0.2 on iPhone 4, it does seem like there should be something more substantial in the update — proximity sensor fix anyone? — but if there is, Apple isn’t saying.

Kudos, however, for moving at what is for Apple security, lightning speed.

If you don’t care about the Jailbreakme.com, or care about potential malware exploits more, head on over to iTunes and start your download. If you notice anything else fixed or changed, let us know in comments!

Apple releases iOS 4.0.2 for iPhone, iOS 3.2.2 for iPad, kills Jailbreakme.com, PDF exploit is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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The European Union has decided to throw their efforts behind the publicity grab FTC investigation into Apple’s lack of support for Adobe’s Flash player and Flash cross-compiler on iPhone and iPad says the New York Post:

According to a source, the European Commission recently joined the FTC probe into whether Apple’s business practices harm competition.

The investigation could last another four to six months, the source said.

Steve Jobs famously penned an open letter describe why Apple, a public, for-profit company in a nation founded on free enterprise, has chosen not to support Flash video or Flash cross-compiled apps on their iOS devices — which comprise nowhere near a majority much less monopoly market-share in smartphones or mobile devices. (Though, hey, no one has made an iPad competitor yet, so maybe Apple has a monopoly on pads? Ready your torches and pitchforks!). Jobs said at the D8 conference that, like floppy drives, it’s a dead-end proprietary technology and the future will be the open standards of HTML5.

That consumers who want Flash support can buy Android, BlackBerry, and Palm — er, sorry, a couple of Android devices that now have the Froyo 2.2 OS on them (Adobe has still, some 4 years later, failed to ship mobile Flash for most devices or platforms) — is apparently not enough in a competitive environment. That developers who want to compile in Flash can target the monolithic web platform and those same Android devices is likewise, apparently, not enough.

It’s been rumored that Adobe complained to the FTC after Apple changed the language in iOS 4’s license agreement to prevent the use of cross-compilers. Apple doesn’t support code interpreters or ahead-of-time cross-compilers in iOS, be they Adobe Flash, Oracle Java, Microsoft Silverlight and ActiveX, or anything else. On Mac OS X, they do (and they’ve just worked with Adobe to get hardware H.264 acceleration into the latest Flash for Mac plugin).

Apple has explained that if they update iOS and add new features, they don’t want to have to worry about developers who have become locked into Adobe (or anyone else’s) cross-compilers having to wait for Adobe to update — or worse, fail to update — before users can get those features. Imagine for example if developers couldn’t update their apps with iOS 4 multitasking support or retina display graphics because the cross-compiler they were locked into hadn’t gotten around to it or decided not to do it until Android had the same screen resolution as well.

For developers using Xcode and Cocoa Touch, it’s a non-issue. For Flash developers who want to keep developing in Flash but access the iOS platform, it’s a game ender. However, I’m still failing to see what roll the government has in spending time and tax dollars investigating that, other than Apple gets great headlines?

(And for the record, I’d have the same reaction if the government decides to go after Microsoft for not having Flash or QuickTime on Windows Phone 7 — it’s just no how Adobe should play cricket).

[New York Post, thanks to everyone who sent this in.]

European Union joins FTC probe into lack of Flash support in Apple’s iOS is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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The iLuv Flexi-Clear iPad Case not only adds no bulk to your iPad, it adds tons of protection as well. It comes in a couple different colors and gives you the peace of mind of knowing that if you set your iPad on a surface face up or face down, the screen nor the back will not obtain any damage.

I’ve always been particularly fond of silicon skins and cases for iPad and iPhone. The iLuv Flexi-Clear iPad case exceeded my expectations. The first thing I look for with silicon cases is whether or not they collect lint or dust. If a case does, I probably won’t use it. This is probably a bigger issue with the iPhone as they normally end up in pockets, but iPads end up in bags, so to me, it’s equally as important. This particular skin doesn’t seem to collect any dust or lint.

The next thing I typically look at is whether or not the skin stretches over time while using it. I’ve picked up a couple cases in the past that seem really nice but after a couple weeks, they lose their form. The bad part about this is, you typically won’t know unless you use the case pretty extensively. Most places offer a 30 day return period and I’ve always found that to be enough to know whether or not a case is going to stretch out. If it does, I typically return it.

I was extremely happy with the fit of the iLuv case. It didn’t stretch at all and stayed incredibly form-fitting. I will stick it in another case and throw it in my bag. The skin provides even more protection for the iPad than a standard case alone, and also provides some grip. If you’re looking for a nice silicon case to add to your iPad accessory collection, check out the iLuv Flexi-Clear iPad case in the TiPb iPad Accessory Store.

Pros

• Doesn’t collect lint or dust

• Maintains its shape and doesn’t get loose

• Wraps around the front edges so placing the screen face down on a surface protects the screen

• Provides firm grip on most surfaces and inside other cases

Cons

• Doesn’t provide protection for the screen outside of placing it face down

• Will need another case to put inside a bag in order to protect screen

iLuv Flexi-Clear iPad case review is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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Yes, it’s really come to the point where a casual reference on Daring Fireball to the next generation iPod touch 4 — with rear and front FaceTime cameras and Retina Display screen coming in a few weeks — gets plastered all over the internet.

if you wait a few weeks to buy the Touch, you'll get one with a Retina Display and dual cameras.

Apple has introduced the last 3 generations of iPod touch at their special iTunes and iPod-centric music event held each fall.

Gruber’s reference to the new iPod touch came by way of comparison to the Android 1.6 powered, 5-inch screen Dell Streak which at $300 on contract and $550 outright, doesn’t even seem competitive to past iPod touches and iPads, let alone what’s coming next from Apple.

Then again, Apple’s had a hard time meeting demand for iPhone 4 and iPad, some suspect due to constraints on their high quality IPS display panels. Has capacity recently been ramped up, or will things get even tighter with iPod touch wanting its share this holiday season?

[Daring Fireball]

iPod touch 4 with dual cameras, retina display, coming in a few weeks? is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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Apple has sent out a note to developers regarding an App Store volume purchase program that allows educational institutions to make bulk purchases at a 50% discount.

We're pleased to announce the App Store Volume Purchase Program. Education institutions in the United States now have a new way to purchase your apps in volume for distribution to their students and faculty. You can also elect to offer special education pricing on your app when purchased in volume.

Read more about the App Store Volume Purchase Program and how to get started in iTunes Connect.

This is a way for for educational institutions that want to purchase a large amount of licenses for an iPhone or iPad app without the need for countless individual iTunes accounts. The purchasing of these discounted applications is done with the use of vouchers which can be purchased via the Apple Store for Education in $100, $500, $1,000, $5,000, and $10,000 denominations. These very vouchers then can be distributed to the program facilitators to be redeemed within the App Store.

Sounds like a great idea if a fairly complicated way to go about it. For the full rundown be sure to check out the Volume Purchase Plan Frequently Asked Questions.

[Thanks anonymized developer for the tip!]

Apple announces App Store volume purchase program is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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