FOSS Patents has put together an excellent write up on what iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad developers need to know about patent litigation threats, like those Lodsys began making last week against apps like PCalc and expanded upon today, sending letters to Icon Factory among others.

Lodsys has explained their side of the argument, and according to The Guardian, Apple’s legal department is actively investigating the situation. But to be clear Lodsys is just an example — there are many, many patents floating out there and many companies assembling portfolios with perhaps the exact same intentions.

While users shouldn’t be worried about patent companies suing anyone for using apps, users should be worried that it could become prohibitively expensive to produce the apps users if every holding company under the sun suddenly wants a cut of every app in the App Store. (Insert your own “first they came for PCalc’s upgrade button, then they came for…” cautionary cliché here.)

Read the entire breakdown via the link below, it’s a good one.

[FOSS Patents, The Guardian]

What developers need to know about Lodsys and similar patent threats is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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Proving you can never tear down an Apple product far enough, iFixit has kept digging into iPhone 4‘s noise cancellation and finally discovered… it uses the same Audience technology that powered Google Nexus One.

We like mysteries as much as the next guy, so we decided to dig further. Our friends at Chipworks just decapped the chip, and guess what they found? That's right, an Audience low power audio signal processor.

They go on to praise iPhone 4′s noise cancellation, saying it’s better than any non-Audience device they’ve tested. They also wonder if Apple will stick with Audience going forward, or try to roll something of their own into an Apple A5 system-on-chip for iPhone 5?

[Chipworks, iFixit]

iPhone 4 uses same Audience-powered noise cancelation as Nexus One is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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Reuters is reporting that Apple, ever the miniaturizer, is proposing an international standard for a SIM card even smaller the current iPad and iPhone 4 micro SIM.

“We were quite happy to see last week that Apple has submitted a new requirement to (European telecoms standards body) ETSI for a smaller SIM form factor — smaller than the one that goes in iPhone 4 and iPad,” said Anne Bouverot, Orange’s head of mobile services.

“They have done that through the standardization route, through ETSI, with the sponsorship of some major mobile operators, Orange being one of them,” she told the Paris leg of the Reuters Global Technology Summit.

As TiPb answered previously, the current micro-SIM is already the third generation of shrunken-down SIM, following the standard, credit card sized SIM, the popular mini SIM used in the original iPhone, iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS (and most other phones). How much smaller could they get? Pinky nail sized like micro SD?

Considering the carriers reportedly had a fit when Apple was rumored to considering building the SIM chips right into the iPhone, this is probably the next best solution. Less space taken up by the SIM, the more space is left for battery, right?

The only question is what would it be called? Super-mico? Pica-SIM?

[Reuters]

Apple proposing even smaller SIM card standard? is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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The video blow shows Ronen Verbit having a silly time playing with a little red ball. It doesn’t sound very interesting, until you see how he uses three iPhone 4 screens to tell the story.

Ronen, along with a few friends, were able to shoot three separate videos and combine them into one creative and fun story displayed across the three screens depicting him being ‘stuck’ inside the iPhone 4. It’s rather deviceful (no pun intended!) and they did a great job putting this together — check out the full video after the jump!

[Ronen Verbit via Cult of Mac]

Trapped in an iPhone [Tuesday fun video] is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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

Every day, TiPb gets flooded with announcements for new and updated iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad apps and games. So every day we pick just a few of the most interesting, the most notable, and simply the most awesome to share with you!

• iVocAudio (give-away): – iVocAudio provides a fun and easy way to memorize things quickly using your own recorded Voice. [$0.99 - iTunes link]

• 360 Panorama: Panoramas now fix themselves! Update brings more advanced computer vision algorithms, a completely redesigned user interface, better quality and new sharing options. [$1.99 - iTunes link]

• Slacker Radio: Now with support for Slacker Premium and universal for iPhone and iPad. [Free - iTunes link]

• iDraw: The most feature-packed vector drawing and illustration app available on the iPad now includes a ‘Styles’ library, a new toolbar, new ‘Appearance’ inspector, shape transform tools, updated bezier pen tool, and many other improvements. [$8.99 - iTunes link]

• Instagram: Now with a grid view for profile pages, an optional bio field in profiles, abilities to manage which push notifications you receive and choose your profile picture from Facebook & Twitter. [Free - iTunes link]

The folks at JE Lepelletier have generously provided us with a few promo codes for iVocAudio to give away to you! For a chance to win, just let us know what iVocAudio will help you memorize in the comments below!

Any other big apps or game releases or updates today? If you pick any of these up, let us know what you think!

New and updated iPhone and iPad apps for Tuesday, May 17 [give-away] is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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We have already heard from a variety of sources that iPhone 5 will be not be arriving this June but rather later this fall, now a representative from UK retailer Phones 4U’s St Albans store told T3 magazine that the new iPhone will not be hitting UK shelves until November 21.

Adding to further fuel to the fire, the retailer announced that Apple’s next generation handset, which they pegged with a November 21st release, would “be pretty much the same as the iPhone 4 with new software. The software is the main difference with the iPhone 5.”

Phones 4U has already distanced itself from the representatives alleged leak, issuing a statement to Pocket-lint this morning.

“With regards to the Phones 4u statement about the release date of the iPhone 5, the Phones 4u team genuinely don't know where this suggested date has come from and was news to them when they were reading the story! ”No official date has been issued as of yet and we will be sure to let you know when we have such information.”

Our current best guess for iPhone 5 is a September announcement at Apple’s traditional fall iTunes/iPod event, with release in the US during the month of October. If Apple once again staggers international releases, November could very well be the month it hits the UK and other countries.

It’s incredibly unlikely any representative for any carrier or retailer knows anything of Apple’s plans right now — other than internal gossip or what they read on blogs — but it is interesting to speculate on where he plucked that specific date of November 21 from?

What do you think of the timeline?

[T3 Magazine, Pocket-lint]

Phones 4U rep says no iPhone 5 in the UK until November 21st [rumor] is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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

Toshiba has announced its line-up of products it will show off at SID Display Week 2011 this week and one of them will be 4-inches and 720p HD.

The mobile section of the booth will feature high-resolution LTPS displays, up to 367ppi (pixels per inch) resolution density, in sizes ranging from 3.3-inch to 4.0-inch with resolution formats ranging from Wide VGA (480 x 864) to HD (720 x 1280). In addition, these displays will demonstrate advanced technologies such as high-contrast (up to 1,500:1), high-color (up to 92% NTSC), and wide viewing angle (up to H/V 176º/176º). The displays are just a few representative examples of TMD’s broad line of thin and light displays for mobile smartphones and other portable electronic devices.

Rumors have been circulating for a while now that Toshiba was building a plant to specifically supply Apple with LCD screens for iPhone models. Could this be the reason? Maybe, may not.

The iPhone 3GS has a resolution of 480 x 320, the iPhone 4 has double that at 960 x 640 and the new Toshiba display has a resolution of 1280 x 720. iPhone 4′s 960 x 640 was the same 4:3 aspect ration exactly double the previous generations 480 x 320, and was therefore broadly compatible. 1280 x 720 is not only incompatible in terms of resolution but in terms of aspect ratio.

Rumors are still pointing to the next generation iPhone being delayed until later this year. It would appear that this timeframe is still too soon to see these panels. But what about iPhone 6?

Apple hasn’t fragmented iPhone displays in the past, would they in the future? And could they come up with some resolution magic so developers aren’t left with the headache of writing apps for multiple different screen resolutions?

[Toshiba via TUAW]

Toshiba announce a 4-inch 720p display, could this be for the next iPhone? is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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Apple has put up a job post requesting a carrier technician familiar with the Sprint network, which has led many to believe they may be prepping to include Sprint in their ammunition chest of US carriers that support the iPhone.

Apple in a newly discovered job posting effectively gave away plans to make a Sprint iPhone. A position for a “carrier engineer” is being offered that would work out of Kansas City, Missouri, just a short distance from Sprint’s Overland Park, Kansas headquarters. The recruit would be responsible for getting technical certification of devices in an area where Sprint is the only company with a major office.

This goes along with recent rumors of the iPhone 5 possibly including Sprint and T-Mobile as supported carriers, and also backs up Verizon’s claims that the next iPhone will be a world phone supporting both CDMA and GSM networks.

You may recall Apple was seeking CDMA engineers in a similar job posting late last year, which eventually led to the Verizon iPhone being released on the network shortly after.

Do you think we’ll be seeing the iPhone on Sprint anytime soon? Let us know in the comments!

[Stop it, AT&T via Electronista]

Apple job posting hints at iPhone 5 possibly coming to Sprint is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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

Worried you might miss an urgent SMS message and wondering how to set up multiple alerts? Annoyed at the amount of notifications you’re getting for texts and trying to figure out how to dial them back a notch or three? No problem, you can do both easily on iPhone and we’ll show you how after the break!

If you want to increase or decrease the amount of pop up and sound/vibrate alerts your iPhone gives you for each text, here’s what to do:

1. Launch the Settings app
2. Scroll down to Messages and tap it
3. Tap on Play Alert Tone
4. Set the number of alerts you want, from once (1) to 10 times.
5. That’s it!

Once, as the name implies, goes off once and never again. From Twice to 10 Times, alerts go off at 2 minute intervals.

Have any other handy SMS tips? Any special way you like to set up your texts? Let us know in the comments!

Tips of the day will range from beginner-level 101 to advanced-level ninjary. If you already know this tip, keep the link handy as a quick way to help a friend. If you have a tip of your own you’d like to suggest, add them to the comments or send them in to news@tipb.com. (If it’s especially awesome and previously unknown to us, we’ll even give ya a reward…)

Daily Tip: How to turn on (or off) multiple text message alerts is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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Georgia, Chad, Seth and Rene talk iPad 2 cameras, failure to activate, Samsung’s new retina display, iOS developers facing patent suits, 50% opt-in rate, tips, and a whole lot of productivity getting done! This is iPad Live!

Show notes and the week in iPad news, after the break!

Announcements

• Like the TiPb Facebook page — You're our only hope! [Jabra STONE2 give-away]
• Poll: Are you using your iPad 2 cameras?

News

• iTunes iPad activation servers having trouble?
• Samsung announce 10.1-inch 2560 x 1600 resolution display, paving the way for a Retina Display iPad 3?
• iOS developers being threatened with patent infringement over in-app purchase system [Updated]
• Publishers agreeing to Apple subscriptions because consumers are opting in
• Apple may be facing supply shortages for iPad 2, iPhone 4
• iKeyboard Kickstarter project claims to make touch typing on the iPad a reality [video]

Tips

• Daily Tip: More ways to speed up a laggy iPhone and iPad

Hosts

• Georgia (@GeorgiaTiPb
• Chad Garrett (@ichadman)
• Seth Clifford (@sethclifford)
• Rene Ritchie (@reneritchie)

Credits

Thanks to the TiPb iPad Accessory Store for sponsoring the podcast, and to everyone who showed up for the live chat!

iPad Live 56: Pr0ductivity is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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