CNET is reporting that Microsoft’s Hotmail will finally gain support for… Microsoft’s Exchange ActiveSync protocol. Sure, even Google’s had that for a while now, but better embarrassingly late than embarrassingly never, right?

So Hotmail users, very soon you’ll be able to type in your username and password as an Exchange account and enjoy full push support and client/server synchronization. On iOS 4, you’ll even be able to set it up alongside your work Exchange and Gmail ActiveSync accounts, if you have them, and really push things to the limit. (Sorry, couldn’t resist).

Will you be using it?

[CNET via PreCentral.net]

Hotmail to gain ActiveSync support for iPhone and iPad. Finally. is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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

The MPEG LA licensing group has announced that their H.264 video codec standard would be going royalty free in perpetuity for free-to-end-user use. Why does this matter to us? Well, if you’re using an iPhone or iPad, you’re using the H.264 video codec. If you buy video off iTunes, you’re using H.264. If you’re using Safari on iOS or Mac OS for that matter, you’re using H.264 because it’s the only HTML 5 video standard Apple supports. Google and Microsoft support it as well, along with others. Firefox has chosen not to support it for philosophical reasons, however, which has potentially stopped H.264 from becoming the one true HTML 5 standard to unify them all.

Will this change by MPEG LA be enough to get Firefox and everyone else on board? Will it lead to an H.264, HTML 5 video web? Will it relegate Flash to non-video content that requires that level of runtime support (and resources)?

Who knows, but it’s another tiny little step in that direction, and good news for anyone rendering free content for iPhone and iPad support.

[Macworld]

H.264 goes royalty-free, web to go H.264? is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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

Last week an Apple patent application was published and it described how certain activities performed on a iOS device could suggest “suspicious behavior” that could reveal unauthorized usage of that device. In particular – voice, facial, or heartbeat recognition could be used to confirm whether or not the current user is indeed an authorized user and should have access to the given device or not. Then depending on the authorization the user could be given full access to all data stored on the device or could be limited. And if you dig deeper into the patents details you will see Apple may have an alternative motive, namely jailbreaking.

"An activity that can detect an unauthorized user can be any action that may indicate the electronic device is being tampered with by being, for example, hacked, jailbroken, or unlocked," the patent continues. "For example, a sudden increase in memory usage of the electronic device can indicate that a hacking program is being run and that an unauthorized user may be using the electronic device.”

So in other words, if your iPhone is not being used in way Mr. Jobs agrees with, he can deactivate your device.

UPDATE: Due to a technical error, this post sat in limbo for a week but we consider it interesting enough that we’d rather have it up late than never. Apologies for the tardiness but do let us know what you think about a future where this patent is in use on real devices.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

Apple patent application for detecting ‘Unauthorized’ iOS device usage causing controversy is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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

It’s not the iLife ‘11 full on HTML5 and ePub editing app we’ve been waiting for, but at least Apple has released an update for iWork’s Pages word processor that adds ePub export for iPad.

Here’s the official verbiage:

• Fixes an issue with tables.
• Includes compatibility with the standard ePub file format (for use with iBooks) when exporting.

Numbers (for spread sheets) and Keynote (what Steve Jobs’ uses for his presentations) were also updated.

So anyone ready to get their ePub on?

[MacRumors]

Pages 9.0.4 adds ePub export for iPad is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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

The iPhone Dev-Team will not release a jailbreak for iOS 4.0.2/3.2.2. And that means if you purchase a new iPhone 4, which is currently shipping with iOS 4.0.2, you are out of luck in terms of jailbreaking. It is a never ending cat and mouse game between Apple and the jailbreak community and for current iOS software, the Dev-Team are choosing to sit on the side line and for good reason.

“No, there won't be. FW 4.0.2/3.2.2 was only released to fix the jailbreakme hole. With FW 4.1 still in its beta stages, it makes no sense to escalate the "cat & mouse" with Apple for FW updates that only fix the jailbreak holes. To quote WOPR, "the only winning move is not to play".”

They do go on to say that a future 4.1x FW jailbreak may be compatible with 4.0.2/3.2.2 but that it will be highly unlikely. For more jailbreak chatter be sure to visit our iPhone Jailbreak and Unlock forum.

[Dev-Team blog]

iPhone Dev-Team says no Jailbreak for iOS 4.0.2 is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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

Next week, when Apple holds its annual special music event, we probably won’t get iOS 4 for iPad. We’ll almost certainly see that new iPod touch 4 with Retina Display and FaceTime and an announcement about iOS 4.1 for iPhone general availability, probably for later that week. But if iOS 4.1 was going to be the grand unification, universal binary edition for iPad, it would have been released for developers over two months ago when it was released for iPhone and iPod touch.

Sure, Steve Jobs could simply announce iOS 4.1 and release it for iPad right then and there on stage — if any company could be accused of being inoculated against the cries and concerns of developers, it’s Apple. But even Apple has a pattern of releasing betas for significant OS updates. Simply put, to do otherwise could lead to broken apps and unhappy customers and that’s not in anyone’s best interests.

Chad and others have argued that iOS 3.2 for iPad is already pretty close to iOS 4, and that’s a fair point. However, iOS 4 contained a large number of new API, including multitasking, and developers are going to want time to test against them, and against anything unforeseen that might cause problems for their apps between iOS 3.2 and iOS 4.

The most likely scenario I can come up with is that Steve Jobs announces a beta version of iOS 4.2 for iPad next week and after several betas, releases it to the public in October or November — a timeframe that’s been rumored for a while now.

I mentioned this yesterday on Twitter and several really smart mobile folks think I’m wrong. Some really smart mobile folks who are also developers seemed to think they’d need somewhere around 4 weeks of beta lead time, at least.

There’s nothing I’d love more than iOS 4.1 for iPad next week, but while Apple is secretive they’re also fairly good at sticking to patterns. And the pattern here is several beta releases before a general release.

Why we probably won’t see iOS 4 for iPad next week is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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

As any of our iPhone live or iPad live podcast listeners know, there’s nothing Chad likes better than to get off on a good rant. But this time something has gone tragically wrong — Chad was frozen mid-rant!

Either his headphone Droid’ed, his antenna de-tuned, or he ducked out for a Lost finale, but any which way you slice it Chad’s on hold and we need your help to rant!

Come up with your best, most entertaining, most enlightening, most over-the-top Chad rant and then:

Click here to post it in our iPhone Forum Contest Thread.

If we choose your rant, Chad will read it live during a podcast and we’ll post it up on the front page in the show notes. As a thank you, you’ll get your choice of colored Talon Hard Shell Case for iPhone 4 or artsy Talon Hard Shell Case for iPhone 4.

(Thanks to cyaaa50, our first contest contest winner — he’ll be receiving the same prize! Want to double your chances of winning, enter your contest idea now!)

Okay, ready… set… RANT ON!

Make your own Chad rant — iPhone 4 case give away! is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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

Steve Jobs is once again about to set sneaker to stage for the iOS-packed annual special music event, and expectations are running the gamut from iPod touch 4 with Retina Display and FaceTime to a tiny touch iPod nano to an all new Apple iTV, from iOS 4.1 for iPhone to iOS 4.x for iPad, from a new iLife to iTunes X, from $0.99 TV rentals to full on iTunes.com streaming.

We won’t get everything we want, and we may get “one more thing” we didn’t expect, but take your best guess in the poll above and hedge in the comments below.

We’re less than a week away!

What do you expect to see at Apple’s special music event on Sept 1? is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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

It’s taken a while but Netflix has finally updated their iOS app to universal binary — that’s right, it now supports not only iPad but iPhone and iPod touch as well.

“Apple has changed the game for mobile devices,” said Reed Hastings, Netflix co-founder and chief executive officer. “We’re excited that our members can now carry Netflix around in their pockets and instantly watch movies and TV shows streamed from Netflix right to their iPhone or iPod touch.”

Requires iOS 3.1.3 or higher, and works over both Wi-Fi and 3G.

If anyone has tried it out yet, let us know how it’s working for you.

[Netflix PR]

Netflix app updated to support iPhone, iPod touch is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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