We’ve reached mid-week here at TiPb and in case you happened to miss out on anything from this week thus far — now is a good time to skip on back and get caught up before tonight’s iPhone Live!  You can also take a stroll though the TiPb forums or start your own thread today — just make sure you come on back before we get started. You can register now to get started today and make sure you check out some of threads below:

• iOS 5 Forum: What does your iPhone do that irritates you?
• iPhone 4S Forum: Has Siri been censored?
• iCloud Forum iTunes 10.5.2 (Match Update)
• iPod Touch 4 Forum Gaming on an iPod?
• Photography and Videography Forum: iMovie Trailers – Share yours!

If you’re not already a member of the TiPb Forums, register now!

iPhone Live, the best darn iPhone podcast in the ‘verse, is coming your way tonight, so clear your schedule and get your snacks ready, because we want to chat with you! Special guest: Jon Fingas of Electronista

Time: 9pm ET, 6pm PT, 2am BST.

Place: http://www.tipb.com/live

If you have any questions or topics you’d like us to discuss, just leave them in the comments then come be part of the show!

(And yes, you can watch from iPhone via Ustream Viewer app (here’s how) — just search for “mobilenations” and iPad (we recommend Duet Browser.)

Missed a compelling piece of iPhone news, a great review, or a killer how-to? We’re not collecting absolutely everything in iPhone here — you can hit up TiPb.com/iPhone for that! — but we’re carefully picking what we think is the best of the last 7 days and presenting it here for your review.

And hey! — these double as show notes for our iPhone Live! podcast tonight at 6pm PT/9pm ET. So join us at TiPb.com/live and follow along!

Meta

• Weekly Mod: how to replace a shattered or unresponsive iPhone 3G/3GS digitizer assembly

TiPb Readers Choice Awards

• Vote now for the social networking app of the year
• Vote now for the photo/video/music app of the year

iPhone 4S

• iPhone 4S two months later
• RadioShack cutting prices of the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S starting today

iOS 5.1 beta 2

• Apple seeds iOS 5.1 beta 2 for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Apple TV to developers
• iOS 5.1 features: Delete individual photos from Photo Stream
• Apple takes steps to obfuscate future iOS device references from nosy bloggers

News

• UI concept designer Jan-Michael Cart to intern at Apple
• Apple Launches iTunes Store in Latin America, iTunes Match in Brazil
• What's going on between Apple and Digitude Innovations?
• All Apple A4 SoC devices now Jailbroken untethered on iOS 5.0.1

Apps

• Top 10 best alternative Twitter apps for iPhone and iPad
• Netflix update brings new UI for iPad
• Microsoft releases SkyDrive cloud storage app for the iPhone and iPod touch
• App Giveaway: Kinectimals for iPhone and iPad
• Angry Birds updated to version 2.0 all levels now unlocked and 15 new ones to play

Accessories

• Apple arming Made For iPhone accessory makers with new Bluetooth authentication protocol
• iSuper Helicopters — remote control flying fun for iPhone

Famous Chronic Dev-Team member, pod2g, has confirmed that his untethered jailbreak is working on pretty much all devices with an Apple A4 system-on-a-chip running iOS 5.0.1. On top of A4 devices, he’s also got an untethered Jailbreak for iOS 4.3.3 on the AppleTV 2 working.

Just to be clear, these are the devices:

• iPad (original)
• iPhone 3GS
• iPod Touch 4G, 3G
• iPhone 4

Just like many of you, I’m hoping the iPhone 4S and iPad 2 are added to this list sooner rather than later. There’s been no mention yet of any exploit supporting A5 devices nor a release date for a jailbreak tool for A4 devices. We will update as soon as we hear something.

Source: pod2g

TeleNav, one of the largest back-end providers of GPS navigation services for smartphones and other in-car turn-by-turn navigation systems, has announced the upcoming release of a free HTML5-based voice-guided GPS navigation service that works on your iPhone through the Safari Mobile Browser.

"This is an enormous amount of added value for any mobile, location-based website or app focused on travel, shopping, local search, deals and more," said Sal Dhanani, co-founder and vice president of products for TeleNav. "With one line of code, you can give your customers one-click access to premium, voice-guided turn-by-turn directions to any location, including hotels, restaurants, merchants or deal locations. Customers never need to leave your app."

As mentioned, the service will be completely browser-based allowing it to run on just about any smartphone, including the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S. Developers will have the opportunity to add just a single line of code to their existing website or apps, which will allow users to jump directly into the browser for turn-by-turn navigation from within any app, or directly from Safari itself.

If all goes according to plan, we should start seeing it in apps come 2012.

Source: TeleNav

The official Gmail blog just posted a pretty lengthy entry explaining the changes to their newly updated Gmail app for iOS. While the update doesn’t seem to be a huge one, it does bring some much wanted additions –

• Nested Label Improvements
• (iOS 5 only) A new custom sound for sound notifications
• Mobile Signature and Vacation Responder, accessible via the gear settings icon at the top of the menu view
• Numerous bug fixes and UI improvements

I personally have my Gmail account set up via the native mail app and that works fine for me. If you’re a hardcore Gmail user that lives by labels and the “Gmail way” of handling mail, this is an update you’ll most likely want to check out. The Gmail app for iOS is available for free in the App Store and the update is available now.

• App Store Link

Netflix for iPhone and iPad has been updated with a new UI for iPad and availability in Latin America. This new interface now provides access to twice as many movies and TV show for instant viewing.

• Netflix now available in Latin America for iPhone and iPad
• New iPad UI for all regions – US, Canada, Latin America – requires upgrade to iOS 5
• Addressed stability issues
• For support questions please contact us at mobilesupport@netflix.com

Netflix is available on the iPhone and iPad for free.

• App Store link

Have an app you’d love to see featured on TiPb? Email us at iosapps@tipb.com, tell us about your app (include an iTunes link), and we’ll take a look.

Anobit, a company that makes NAND flash memory — the kind used extensively in everything from iPhones to iPads to MacBook Airs — is apparently in Apple’s acquisition radar of Apple. According to TechCrunch, the price could even be in the $400 – 500 million range.

What makes Anobit stand out from the crowd is their highly innovative, efficient solution based on its proprietary MSP (Memory Signal Processing) technology and which aim sto improve the speed, endurance and performance of the drives. Purchases of non-software related companies are usually pretty rare, and only two have been documented by Apple, so we will wait to see if this all plays out.

Source: TechCrunch

Rock ‘em Sock ‘em Robots™: Pick the iconic Red Rocker™ or the Blue Bomber™ and jab, hook and uppercut your way to victory. Be sure to keep an eye on your health and energy because every punch counts towards maintaining your energy and stamina.

• $0.99 for iPhone – App Store link

PLapp: An App that allows users to assemble and customize a selection of 3D model kits, right on their iPad, without the hazards of dangerous glues and pigments, and without having to spend a ton of money on expensive enamels and paints.

• $4.99 for iPad – App Store link

Soccer Showdown: An entirely physics based soccer game; your finger IS your foot. With one swipe you command the ball’s power, spin, arc, trajectory, and lateral curve.

• Free for iPhone and iPad – App Store link

meet i – Visual Search for iPad Apps: Featuring a stunning interactive display, Meeti allows users to explore the latest apps by browsing through a virtually endless number of screenshots.

• Free for iPad – App Store link

ParkBuddy: Helps you remind where you parked your car, bike or other vehicle. It simply saves the location and gives you the opportunity to add a photo or notes to make it even easier to find your vehicle.

• $0.99 for iPhone – App Store link

Any other big app or game releases or updates today?

Have an app you’d love to see featured on TiPb? Email us at iosapps@tipb.com, tell us about your app (include an iTunes link), and we’ll take a look.

PDF Quick Sign is an iPad app for signing PDF documents. You can also fill out forms, split long PDFs into multiple files, and sync with DropBox.

PDF Quick Sign is a powerful software tool for work with PDF documents and forms which allows commenting on ready PDF documents, filling forms, signing legal documents such as contracts or notices and sharing processed PDF documents via email or Dropbox.

• Get PDF documents from any application using Open In, from iTunes or Dropbox folders
• Manage PDF documents using folders
• Sign legal documents (contracts, notices, etc.)
• Fill out various forms
• Mark and comment any text or image in any PDF document
• Split any PDF documents into separate PDF files
• Share ready PDFs via e-mail or Dropbox

Giveaway

The good folks at Dar-Soft have given us some promo codes to giveaway to 5 lucky winners! For a chance to win, just leave a comment below!

PDF Quick Sign is available on the iPad for $9.99

• App Store link

Have an app you’d love to see featured on TiPb? Email us at iosapps@tipb.com, tell us about your app (include an iTunes link), and we’ll take a look.

Randomly accurate rumor site Digitimes is reporting that Apple may have some MacBook Pro’s launching with 2880 x 1800 resolution Retina displays in Q2 2012.

While anything from Digitimes needs to be taken with a MacBook sized grain of salt, Apple has been slowly building towards higher resolution displays for a long time, so this isn’t exactly earth-shattering rumor stuff here.

No mention as to which models will receive the upgrade or whether or not they’ll beat the oft-rumored iPad 3 Retina display to market.

Source: Digitimes

For today only, the TiPb Store has the Case-Mate Barely There Brushed Aluminum Case for iPhone 4S, iPhone 4 on sale for only $17.95!. Get them before they’re gone!

Get the Case-Mate Barely There Brushed Aluminum Case for iPhone 4S, iPhone 4 now!

Instagram went to version 2 and while initial reactions were mixed, popularity didn’t seem to suffer one bit. Photogene also went to version 2, making a powerful photo editor even more powerful. Snapseed brings great enhancements and great filters together into one great app.

Apple’s iMovie video editor hit the bigger screen, launching as a universal app alongside the iPad 2. 8mm Vintage Camera brought an old school aesthetic to one of the newest shooters on the planet.

GarageBand brought Apple’s multitrack music editor to iOS, complete with instruments. Djay let you mix tracks so realistically you’ll think you’re in an 80s breaking movie. DM1 – The Drum Machine turned your iPad into a vintage drum kit.

Yes, it’s odd jumbling all these apps together, but to keep the number of categories sane, we had to it. They all have two things in common, however — they’re all great and you have to pick your favorite. Vote up top and tell us why you voted they way you did in the comments! These are your awards, so get to it!

The second part to the hugely popular Mac gaming trilogy Marathon is set to hit the App Store on Thursday December 16. The original Marathon title was released back in July to great acclaim and better still it was free. The creators, Bungie, later went on to make Halo for the Xbox.

Marathon 2: Durandal will be arriving on December 16 according to touchArcade. Amazingly, it will not only support Retina display devices but it will also come as a universal binary. Throw in Game Center support, enhancements to use with the Fling joystick and an all new menu interface and it all adds up to a really exciting game release.

The app will apparently launch for free but again offer in-app purchases for enhanced graphics, cheat options and custom packs. We will let you know as soon as it appears!

Source: touchArcade

 

According to ZDNet, American Airlines is the first Airline to gain FAA approval to use iPads in place of traditional flight charts and manuals during all phases of a flight. American Airlines previously had permission from the FAA to trial the use of iPads with electronic charts during the summer. The successful conclusion of that trial has lead to approval to put the iPads into full service.

On Friday, American Airlines is the first airline in the world to be fully FAA approved to use iPads during all phases of flight. Pilots will use iPads as electronic chart and digital flight manual readers. The airline will begin iPad operations on B-777 aircraft, and then implement across all other fleets. By using electronic charts and manuals, the safety and efficiency on the flight deck is significantly enhanced. Both the iPad I and the iPad II have been approved for use.

Other airlines are also looking into introducing the iPad but it is only American Airlines that has full all phase FAA approval at this stage. The FAA approval came after extensive six months tests and thousands of flying hours by American Airlines.

Source: ZDNet, Image: NYT

 

Don’t have access to The Fireplace Channel but jealous of everyone who does? Now you can pick up A Very Cozy Fireplace and have your very own fire wherever you go. The video is of a real wood burning fireplace with professionally recorded audio of the actual crackling sounds of the fire.

Bring some atmosphere or a conversation starter to a Christmas party. Maybe you’d like to relax with a book and your iPad or iPhone close by, giving off the soft flickering glow and comforting feeling only a virtual fire can give. Even add your favorite holiday tunes from your own iPod library!

• Universal app for iPhones and iPad
• Shot in HD and encoded for 720p HD playback
• Stream the video in HD wirelessly to your Apple TV using Airplay
• Pick songs from your iPod library to play in the background or select the built-in music track
• Small download size – under 20MB!
• Fireplace loops seamlessly for continual playback
• Incredibly relaxing sound of the crackling fire as it was recorded.
• Sleep timer allows the fire to stop playing at a specified time and lets you drift off to sleep with the comfort of your own cozy fire.

A Very Cozy Fireplace is available on the iPhone and iPad for $0.99.

• App Store link

Have an app you’d love to see featured on TiPb? Email us at iosapps@tipb.com, tell us about your app (include an iTunes link), and we’ll take a look.