The iPhone Blog


iPhone & iPad Live tonight at 9pm ET/2am GMT

Posted: 22 Feb 2012 05:01 PM PST

It’s like bio-digital jazz, man! The best damn iOS podcast on the grid returns tonight to fight for the users with all the news, spotlights, apps, and accessories you can handle.

Want to watch via iPhone or iPad? Grab the Ustream app and search for “mobilenations”!

End of line.



Forums: World of Goo HD review, Black Status Icons, Safari Parental Controls

Posted: 22 Feb 2012 04:55 PM PST

From the Forums We’re running through this week as if it were our last. But, there has been plenty of great content posted up for you all so be sure to check it all out. If you missed out on anything, you want to use the blogs to get yourself caught up to speed. Once you’re done that, if you’re still looking for more iOS goodness then check out the iMore forums. You can register now to get started today and while you’re at it, check out some of the threads below:

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



Buzz Contacts offers quick access to your contacts that matter most

Posted: 22 Feb 2012 03:27 PM PST

Buzz Contacts offers quick access to your contacts that matter most

App Savvy, the makers of the popular calendar app, Agenda, have released a new, just as productive app for contacts — Buzz Contacts. This app offers a way to quickly access your contacts that are most important.

To use Buzz Contacts, you must first create groups of contacts that you frequently need access to, like family and coworkers. In each group, you then add buttons to quickly call, message, email, or FaceTime your contacts. Each communication method gets its own button so that when it’s time to perform an action, it’s very fast.

There is nothing elaborate about Buzz Contacts, but this is precisely what makes it so desirable. Each page only consists of four contacts displayed as a 4×4 grid with the first name in large text and a symbol that represents voice, text, email, or FaceTime. Tapping a contact will instantly perform the desired action, but confirms before placing phone or FaceTime calls.

Using one app for your favorite, frequently used contacts and one for everyone else can get annoying and confusing, so Buzz Contacts has also included a full list of all your contacts and a dialer so that you can stop using Apple’s native Contacts app if you wish. In fact, Buzz Contacts’ dialer is better than Apple’s, because once you start entering a number, it will pop up contacts that match what you’ve entered so far.

The clean, simply UI of Buzz Contacts has won me over and I’ve already replaced Apple’s native Phone app with Buzz Contacts on my dock.

$0.99 – Download Now



How to delete your Google search Web History

Posted: 22 Feb 2012 03:04 PM PST

How to delete your Google search Web History

Google can keep track of everything you’ve ever searched for using their Web History service, even if you’ve cleared the browser history on your iPhone, iPad, or PC. Now that Google is changing their privacy policy — which some view as an excellent simplification and standardization and others see as a disturbing data grab — it means your search results won’t be kept separately but potentially shared with each and every other Google service.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has this to say:

Until now, your Google Web History (your Google searches and sites visited) was cordoned off from Google’s other products. This protection was especially important because search data can reveal particularly sensitive information about you, including facts about your location, interests, age, sexual orientation, religion, health concerns, and more. If you want to keep Google from combining your Web History with the data they have gathered about you in their other products, such as YouTube or Google Plus, you may want to remove all items from your Web History and stop your Web History from being recorded in the future.

If you choose to disable Google Web History, here’s how:

  1. Log into your Google account
  2. Go to http://www.google.com/history
  3. Tap on Remove all Web History

Once you remove your Google Web History, Google will also stop recording it going forward (unless or until you re-enable it via the same page).

Google has been under increased scrutiny lately when it comes to online user privacy, for the heavy handed way they’ve used Search and Gmail to push their social networks like Google Buzz and Google+, and more recently for the discovery they’ve been circumventing Safari’s third party cookie protection.

Via: EFF



Apple agrees to disclose app privacy permissions before download or purchase

Posted: 22 Feb 2012 02:25 PM PST

Apple agrees to disclose app privacy permissions before download or purchase

California Attorney General Kamala D. Harris announced today that Apple has agreed to better protect iOS users’ privacy by disclosing the permissions an App Store app will require before a user downloads or purchases an app.

“Your personal privacy should not be the cost of using mobile apps, but all too often it is,” said Attorney General Harris. “This agreement strengthens the privacy protections of California consumers and of millions of people around the globe who use mobile apps,” Attorney General Harris continued. “By ensuring that mobile apps have privacy policies, we create more transparency and give mobile users more informed control over who accesses their personal information and how it is used.”

The way apps treat our personal, private data has been in and out of the news for years, but recently gained attention again following the discovery that some iOS apps were uploading Contacts data to their servers without explicit user consent. Though against Apple policy, the use of private data like Contacts or Calendars isn’t prevented by iOS the way Twitter accounts, location, and push notifications are.

Apple may decide to take a page from Google’s Android Market, and show a list of permissions an app will require in a tab on the App Store.

That’s a huge win for users concerned about their privacy and wishing greater transparency from developers and platform owners both. However, it doesn’t address the scalability or usability issues that remain within iOS — longer permission lists require better interfaces or they risk users getting annoyed or bored and no paying attention to them.

Personal responsibility is an absolute must, and if we tap through or scroll through without reading, we abdicate our right to complain later, but making permissions easier to navigate and update goes a long way towards making life easier for users and mitigating the overload “too much information” sometimes causes.

We had some ideas about what we’d like to see in an iOS 6 permissions panel, but no matter what Apple implements, it’s important this issue has gotten the attention it has.

Along with Apple, Amazon, Google, HP, Microsoft, and BlackBerry maker RIM have also agreed to the new privacy principles.

Source: State of California via The Next Web



Tell the story of your social streams with Storify for iPad

Posted: 22 Feb 2012 02:09 PM PST

Storify is an interesting, blogging-like platform that lets you tell your story by mixing together media from Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and the web. The website has been around for a little while, but now it’s also available on the iPad. Since most of the media included in your stories originated from a mobile device, it only makes sense to make the creation of these stories mobile as well.

Creating a story is simple. On the right side, you’ll gain quick access to Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and the web. Find a tweet or photo that you want to add? Just drag it over to your to story and drop it in. Rearranging your media is as simple as dragging it up and down your story.

Once your story is complete, you can publish it and share links directly with Facebook and Twitter — and if you mentioned a Twitter user, they will be notified of being a part of your story.

This is a great new take on the idea of blogging and and I think Storify is off to a great start. I did notice, however, the the only media available from Facebook was photos. I’d like to see them include status updates as well — and maybe even the comments that come with your photos and updates.

Free – Download Now

Source: Storify

Tell the story of your social streams with Storify for iPad storify1 storify2 storify5 storify3 storify4


Fooducate review: Best food rating app for iPhone

Posted: 22 Feb 2012 10:59 AM PST

Best food rating app for iPhone: Fooducate

“If you want to be more consciously aware of the food you’re eating, Fooducate provides an amazing amount of information and user feedback that’ll help you do just that.”

Mobile Nations Fitness Month: Read all the reviews!If you’re trying to change your eating habits and eat healthier with less additives and better ingredients, Fooducate contains a wealth of information and user reviews about many of the foods we consume on a daily basis. Eating healthy doesn’t always mean counting calories or working out. What we eat can be just as important. Sure, a calorie is a calorie, but if you give your body calories from better quality foods, you get the benefits of vitamins, minerals, and nutrients that artificially processed foods with lots of additives, high fructose corn syrup, and other “empty” calories just can’t match.

Fooducate aims to help you be more aware of what’s actually in what you’re eating.

Look up information on many foods with Fooducate

Fooducate allows you to look up what's in your food as well as read general information on food content

The main premise of Fooducate is to give different types and brands of foods a letter grade. These letter grades are based on information provided by dietitians as well as user feedback. Sometimes looking at a label can lead to you only look at things like calories and fat. When in reality products like high fructose corn syrup can be just as harmful to your body in other ways.

Fooducate provides key information about products like artificial flavorings, colorings, and more. If you want to try a more specific diet like eating just whole grain products or going gluten-free, Fooducate will make the perfect companion as you can compare things you’re debating buying with other alternatives that users and dietitians have rated higher in quality and content.

Create a shopping list and share it with Fooducate

Quickly create a shopping list and replace items with healthier options or share it via e-mail, Twitter, or Facebook

Some of the natural or “low calorie” foods I was eating really weren’t as good for me as I thought they were. Thanks to Fooducate I’ve been able to not only stray away from the foods that aren’t so great but pick from healthier alternatives.

When you open Fooducate you can simply start scanning bar codes of items in order to see what their rating is as well as compare them with other alternatives. You can also type key words into search such as “bagels” to see a list view. From there you can choose from popular or recent items under that category. The quick view for an item will show you the overall grade, calories per serving, and the percentage of users who have liked that item.

View detailed information on several foods with Fooducate

Quickly view facts on foods or tap into them for reader comments and even more detailed information

You can quickly view user comments as well as key facts with just a few taps. If you’ve found an item that you’d like to purchase you can also add it to your shopping list.

I’ve become fond of the shopping cart feature as it allows me to view and edit my list as well as replace items quickly with other recommended similar items. Once you’re done creating a shopping list you can share it via e-mail, Facebook, or Twitter. The lists section will also show a complete history of viewed foods as well. You can clear out the history at any time with just a tap.

Compare your food choices to others with Fooducate

Compare how your food choices stack up against other Fooducate users and read how foods affect your body via the Daily Tips section

Another nice feature of Fooducate are the “Healthy Me” checks on the main menu where you can see how you stack up against what other users are eating. It aggregates products you are viewing for the week and all time as well as what products you’ve liked. It then gives you a letter grade based on what you’ve liked and shows you a side by side comparison of what others are liking.

If you’re the type of person who likes to read about nutrition and food facts, the daily tips section will give you just that. It links into Fooducate’s blog that is frequently updated with information on health, wellness, and how they are related to the foods we eat daily. Reading through some of the entries has made me second guess some of the foods I was eating on a pretty regular basis.

The good

  • Finding and viewing information on foods couldn’t be a more painless process
  • The replace feature in the shopping list is a great way to swap out not so great options with better ones in just a few taps
  • Healthy Me checks are an easy way to see how you stack up against many other users
  • More food items are updated and added regularly

The bad

  • The UI could use some work as navigating through menus and back to the main browse foods section is a bit annoying
  • Sometimes manually searching for key words yields unrelated results

Conclusion

If you want to be more consciously aware of the contents in the food you’re eating, Fooducate provides an amazing amount of information and user feedback that’ll help you do just that. While many nutrition apps aim to help you lose weight, Fooducate stresses the importance of also eating foods that are good for your body as a whole.

Fooducate is available for free in the App Store now. You can also purchase the ad free version for $3.99.

Are you currently trying to eliminate certain types of additives from your diet? Share your experiences with us in our Health and Fitness Forums. If you’re looking to lose a few pounds, check out all our tops fitness picks are for Mobile Nations Fitness Month.

Free – Download now



Beatles ringtones now available in iTunes

Posted: 22 Feb 2012 10:27 AM PST

Beatles Ringtones Available Now in iTunes

Beatles fans can now enjoy their favorite Beatles songs in ringtone and alert form on their iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. iTunes now has an exclusive selection of Beatles ringtones from the Beatles “1″ album — a collection of their greatest hits. All 27 songs are available as ringtones.

For the first time, get the music of The Beatles as individual ringtones – exclusively on iTunes. Each of the timeless tunes from 1 is now available to purchase and enjoy as a ringtone or alert on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.

You can choose to use the tones as ringtones on your iPhone or alert tones on your iPad or iPod touch. Apple just recently made content from the Beatles available on iTunes last November.

If you’re a Beatles fan, you can jump over to the iTunes store on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch and purchase them now.

$1.29 each – View selection



Apple, Analysts, Bloggers, and Stocks: An Explanation of the Insider Trading Allegations Against Kinnucan

Posted: 22 Feb 2012 10:06 AM PST

Apple, Analysts, Bloggers, and Stocks: An Explanation of the Insider Trading Allegations Against Kinnucan

Late last week, the feds showed up at the home of John Kinnucan and arrested him on charges related to insider trading.

John Kinnucan is an equity analyst who founded his own research firm, Broadband Research, LLC. Firms like this employ analysts to do research on stocks. They then "sell" that research to institutional investors. In case the term "institutional investor" is new to you, it just means hedge funds, mutual funds, pension funds, or any other "professional" money manager.

Since I worked as an equity analyst in the technology sector for over 10 years, I am always fascinated by stories like this because they point to the pressure that analysts are under to uncover differentiated information on stocks. If an analyst doesn't have an "angle" on a stock, it's very hard to build up a reputation and get paid.

I'm not condoning Kinnucan's behavior nor am I stating an opinion on whether he did anything illegal or not. I don't know him, nor do I know anyone at his firm or any of the people involved in the story. So let's simply examine the allegations the Feds are making for the purposes of explaining what it all means. Ok? (We’re not turning this into a discussion of guilt vs. innocence.)

Institutional investors pay for research by directing trading commissions to the research firms that provide good quality research. Analysts usually need to prove their worth by servicing clients first, and then asking to get paid. It's a strange world because there is no set price for a particular research report. There is no subscription to an analyst's research. Money managers just pay what they want to pay by directing commissions.

In many ways, it's like running a tech blog. If you don't have good stuff to publish, nobody cares. You won't get traffic. You won't generate any advertising revenue.

My point is that providing equity research is a highly competitive business. And if you're a small guy running your own shop, like Kinnucan, you need to have some kind of edge over the larger research shops in order to get paid. Big money managers don't just take pity on you because you're small. They could care less. Help them make better investment decisions and they pay you. End of story.

Of course there are legal ways to gather and sell equity research, and then there are illegal ways to do it. Illegal methods have a much higher potential payoff (since clients who pay for this type of research can generate huge profits), but it can also land you in jail if you get caught. Dangerous game.

So what exactly constitutes illegal activity when it comes to equity research? Disclaimer: I'm not a securities lawyer. That said, you need to understand two things about so-called "information" on a company.

Public versus non-public

Information in the public domain can never get you in trouble. Something written in an annual report, in a press release, stated on a conference call, or otherwise available for the world to access, is safe territory. Investment decisions that you make based on public information are never illegal. Passing on public information is not illegal.

On the other hand, "non-public" information might be illegal to use, but not always. Non-public information is anything that the general public does not have access to.

Material versus non-material

All information is either relevant, or not relevant. Say you come across some "inside" (non-public) information. To know if it's material you just need to ask yourself, "If the whole world knew this would the stock price react?"

Here are two totally fabricated examples:

  • The front-end RF power amplifier supplier to Apple told me that they're shipping 100 million chips to Flextronics for the iPad 3 in March.

  • My friend who works for Apple told me that the bathrooms are being renovated to include bidets for better employee cleanliness.

Yeah, as you may have guessed, the second bit of "insider" information isn't something Kinnucan (or any other analyst) would be calling his hedge fund clients about. But the first piece of info? It wouldn't take a rocket scientist to realize the 1:1 relationship between that type of part and the number of iPads being built. It would certainly be meaningful to Apple stock since it would imply massive shipments above current Street estimates. If the world knew this information, Apple stock would be trading a lot higher.

So it's the combination of non-public (i.e. insider) information that is "material" to a stock where people can get in trouble.

Oh, and you don't actually need to make an investment using your material insider information to get in trouble. Telling someone else still puts you on the opposite end of the law. But as we'll soon discuss, massively publicizing the information seems to keep you safe from prosecution.

Analysts and information

Usually analysts come across material insider information by forming trusted relationships with people in the know. A sales executive at an Apple supplier should have detailed knowledge of how many parts he's forecast to sell. He'll be one of the first to hear about a change in forecast. Changes in supply forecasts are highly sensitive and could certainly classify as material inside information.

If an analyst gains access to material insider information and tells a select group of clients, then he is breaking the law.

What makes equity research different than blogging?

You might wonder why an equity analyst can go to jail for leaking insider information to hedge fund clients, but bloggers never seem to get in trouble for publishing details of upcoming product launches that came from obviously-insider sources.

Like I said, I'm not a legal expert, but I see one HUGE difference. It's about where the money comes from. The business models are totally different.

If a blogger gets insider information and publishes it on his website, he gets paid with a massive increase in traffic, incoming links (which translate to more traffic and website authority). For website owners, traffic equals money (assuming they know how to monetize the traffic).

The blogger is also leaking the information to the entire world in one fell swoop. The value of insider information to a website comes from being the exclusive source of the news. By contrast, the value of insider information to a hedge fund comes from being the exclusive holder of the news, such that profit can be made by trading on the information.

Trading on material insider information is illegal. But nobody seems to get prosecuted for taking insider information and turning it into public information because there is no stock-based profit being made.

Insider trading rules are in place to protect honest investors from getting screwed at the expense of dishonest ones. Bloggers who leak insider information are not helping dishonest investors. They're just taking traffic away from competitors.

But, if a blogger decided to take his insider information and call up Mr. Hedge Fund and provide exclusive access to this information for a hefty fee before publishing it, you can bet he'd be thrown in jail along with the hedge fund client.

Somehow, I think the blogging community will steer clear from this type of trouble. It just doesn't make financial sense for exclusive leaks to be sold to unscrupulous investors. It makes far more sense to capitalize on the traffic and authority that it builds.



Updating interfaces for iPad 3: Why your favorite app might take a while to go Retina

Posted: 22 Feb 2012 09:49 AM PST

Updating interfaces for iPad 3: Why your favorite app might take a while to go Retina

Depending on how an app was designed and developed, updating for an iPad 3 Retina display could take days or weeks

Flash forward — After lining up for hours, or sitting at home all day waiting for a courier to arrive, you finally have your hands on an iPad 3 with its amazing Retina display. A display with over 3.1 million pixels. All of them difficult to distinguish, because they’re so damn tiny. Text is crisp. Photos look are amazing. This thing is gorgeous.

You launch your favourite app and notice things aren’t as amazing as they were a few seconds ago. The app in question doesn’t contain Retina image assets — the pictures that make up the user interface elements are at the iPad 2′s screen resolution, so things look as blocky as they did on your previous iPad. What’s going on?

Custom UI vs standard UI

A regular graphic (1x) will simply be rendered with more (4) pixels per point on a Retina display, unless designers create proper Retina (2x) resources

A regular graphic (1x) will simply be rendered with four pixels per point on a Retina display, unless proper Retina (2x) resources are in place to take advantage of the higher density

When creating an iOS app, developers can choose to use Apple’s supplied UI (user interface) elements, they can create their own, or they can use a mixture of the two.

If they choose to only use Apple’s in-built elements, then the onus is on Apple to ensure everything is designed to take advantage of the iPhone 4, iPhone 4S and iPad 3′s Retina displays. No additional work needs to be done by the developer. Apps like this will look great on the iPad 3 on day one.

For designs using entirely custom elements, every single part of the user interface needs two images created — one for the previous, non-Retina size, and another at the new, double resolution Retina size (these contain “@2x” at the end of the filename). A simple app may only contain tens of images, but most of the prettier iOS apps also contain a large amount of individual images to construct their overall design. Some of the apps I’ve worked on have well over 300 images, so by the time we’ve finished creating the Retina assets, that’s doubled to over 600 images.

Depending on the designer and developer involved, each image may take up to a few minutes to create. Multiply that by the images required and it can often be a daunting, awkward, repetitive task. This also assumes the artwork was created using vector layers and layer styles in Photoshop (or a similar, freely scalable method). If it hasn’t, there’s a good chance everything will need to be rebuilt from scratch, using vector layers and layer styles, turning a few solid days’ worth of work into something that might span weeks.

Thankfully, the transition from iPhone 3GS to iPhone 4 has taught a lot of iOS designers to work in ways that make creating two sets of images easier. If you’re a designer looking to learn ways to improve your workflow when building non-Retina and Retina images, I’ve written articles on Designing for Retina and automated exporting.

Preparation is the key

Some developers have made the assumption that a Retina iPad was on the horizon, and have already included Retina images in their apps. However, I suspect the vast majority haven’t, even if they have the images on hand — being double the width and height also means the images are bigger in file size, which may push the total app size over the 20MB 3G download limit (apps bigger than 20MB can’t be downloaded over 3G networks).

Why doesn’t iOS just use vectors for everything?

From the app Consume, an example of a vector interface element set up in Photoshop

From the app Consume, an example of a vector interface element set up in Photoshop

If the issue is that pixel based images look blocky when they’re scaled, why aren’t vector based image formats, like SVG and PDF, used for iOS? Sometimes SVGs and PDFs are used in iOS development, but only rarely — they’re not the method Apple recommends. Vector formats tend to be far more resource hungry, especially for photorealistic icons, due to the amount of layers that have to be drawn independently to create the final visual. Mobile devices just don’t have the grunt or memory to draw everything on the fly.

That’s ok though — think of the bitmap images used in iOS apps as pre-rendered vectors. The tools developers use to create the initial design should be easily scalable, but the final assets used in the app should be bitmaps, because they offer better performance (everyone loves silky smooth scrolling).

Patience

Good developers will know what’s required of them, but may not want to start the arduous task ahead until the iPad 3 is announced (keep in mind that until Apple announces, we don’t really know anything for sure). So please be a little patient if your favourite app doesn’t take full advantage of the iPad 3′s Retina display on launch day.

Marc Edwards is the founder Bjango and co-host of the mobile design podcast, Iterate.



OtterBox Camo Defender Series Case for iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 only $38.95 [Daily deal]

Posted: 22 Feb 2012 07:32 AM PST

OtterBox Camo Defender Series Case for iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 only $38.95 [Daily deal]For today only, the iMore iPhone case store has the OtterBox Camo Defender Series Case for iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 on sale for only $38.95! Get it before it’s gone!

Shop OtterBox Camo Defender Series Case for iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 now!

The OtterBox Camo Defender Series Case for the iPhone 4S, AT&T iPhone 4, or Verizon iPhone 4 offers rugged protection for your smartphone. The Defender Series case will help keep your phone protected from drops, bumps, dust and shock.

All features, keys and ports are accessible through the case, providing you with a unique, interactive safeguard. Included with this case is a holster style swivel belt clip.

Features:

  • Layer 1: Thermal formed protective clear membrane. Protects keypad against scratching, as well as dust intrusion (layer optional depending on the level of protection desired)
  • Layer 2: Hi-impact polycarbonate shell for an added guard against drops and shocks
  • Layer 3: High quality silicone skin to absorb bump and shock
  • Full access to all keys, ports and functions


Nightline goes inside Apple’s Chinese iFactory

Posted: 22 Feb 2012 07:19 AM PST

Nightline goes inside Apple's Chinese iFactory

Nightline has aired their well publicized “exclusive look inside Apple’s factory in China”, which follows a month of media, environmental, and social scrutiny of the Chinese factory system. Apple allowed Nightline to film assembly of their products, which includes 141 steps to assemble an iPhone 4S, mostly by hand.

The assembly line workers were young; 17 or 18, with no one appearing to be over the age of 30. Working in 2 shifts, they can make 300,000 a day. An entire iPad takes 5 days and 325 pairs of hands, and they can churn out 10,000 an hour. One woman, a tired mother of 2, cleans 3,000 Apple logos every shift.

They get 2 one-hour meal breaks during a 12 hour shift, which they pay $0.70 for. If they eat fast, they can nap before their shift resumes. Dorm rooms are shared with 7 other workers. There’s an internet cafe and soccer field where they play sports and practice Wushu (Chinese martial arts), and English and other classes. But Nighline makes it clear the workers are there to work, because opportunities outside Foxconn are fewer and pay even less.

Nightline implies that knowing how an iPhone or iPad 2 are made irrevocably alters your experience and enjoyment of the device — the way knowing how a steak is made alters your experience and enjoyment of the meal. And that seeing Foxconn will make Apple customers “think different” about Apple. It’s true that seeing things often has a greater impact than hearing or reading about them, and focusing and giving faces to individuals is more powerful than problems associated with faceless masses far away.

ABC did a good job divulging their connection to Apple — they’re owned by Disney, whose CEO sits on Apple’s board, and whose single largest shareholder is the estate of Steve Jobs. They also point out that Foxconn works on projects for Intel, Nintendo, and Dell, among others.

We’ve shared some of our thoughts with you, both on the situation being a social, cultural, and developmental problem beyond Apple and on Apple’s unique position and responsibility in the industry. Give Nightline’s report a watch via the links below and let us know — does it change how you feel about your Apple devices?

More: 5 min YouTube highlight, Full video (requires Flash, US only)



Apple goes to court in China to defend its right to the iPad name, prevent a ban on sales

Posted: 22 Feb 2012 06:32 AM PST

Apple goes to court in China to defend its right to the iPad name, prevent a ban on sales

Apple had to attend a court in China last night as it became embroiled in a battle over the rights to the iPad name in China.  Proview, a company which has already filed for bankruptcy claims that Apple does not own the trademark for the iPad in China. Proview has already caused disruption to the sale of the iPad in China and is looking to gain a complete ban.

The case was heard at the Shanghai Pudong New Area People's Court on Wednesday where both parties were represented. A heated four hour session ended without any rulings or indications as to how the case may be resolved. Proview has already successfully blocked sales of the iPad in several smaller Chinese cities and even managed to get the authorities to seize iPads from the shelves of some retailers. Apple believes that it bought the rights for the iPad name from Proview back in 2009 and this should cover China.

"We bought Proview's worldwide rights to the iPad trademark in 10 different countries several years ago. Proview refuses to honor their agreement with Apple in China and a Hong Kong court has sided with Apple in this matter. Our case is still pending in mainland China." But Proview claims that Apple did not obtain all the rights, and contends its Shenzhen subsidiary retains the rights in China.
Proview will continue to do all it can to disrupt the sale of the iPad in China and will again go to authorities in various cities claiming the rights to the name. It looks like another case that is set to rumble on for some time to come but one which Apple will be eager to settle very soon.  China is one of its fastest growing markets and preventing the sale of the iPad could be very costly to Apple.

Source: The New York Times



Microsoft denies Office for iPad rumor, says earlier information is inaccurate and picture is fake

Posted: 22 Feb 2012 12:02 AM PST

The Daily claimed to have an exclusive story on the upcoming availability of Microsoft Office for iPad earlier today, unfortunately  the story appears to be highly inaccurate and misleading; according to Microsoft. The Daily claimed that it had inside information that told them that Office for iPad was complete and ready to be submitted to Apple for approval. Even more convincing was a picture of Office running on an iPad; along with the claim that The Daily had some hands on time with the app. Unfortunately Microsoft has issued a statement calling out The Daily.

"The Daily story is based on inaccurate rumors and speculation. We have no further comment." She added that an image with The Daily's article depicting an Office product for iPad was not from Microsoft. "The screenshot is not Microsoft's software," she said.
An interesting twist to this story and one that is sure to rumble on for some time to come. Was The Daily taken in by a very convincing story or is there still some truth to this? Microsoft did not actually 100% deny that it was working on office for iPad, just that this information was inaccurate and that the image was false. This of course could be just great marketing by either party but that would be a very cynical view!

Source: The New York Times



Create custom wallpapers with Lock Screen Designer for iPhone

Posted: 21 Feb 2012 09:58 PM PST

Create custom wallpapers with Lock Screen Designer for iPhone

Lock Screen Designer is a great little app for creating custom wallpapers for you lock screen. It’s filled with skins, frames, and decorations that you can combine with photos to create something that reflects you.

One of the disadvantages to the iPhone is that Apple doesn’t allow much personalization to the look, but a couple of areas that they do permit such customization is with the home screen background and lock screen. Lock Screen Designer will help you make the latter truly unique.

To create your lock screen, first choose a skin, which is the background of your design. You can do this by scrolling through them one at a time, or you can pick from the thumbnail view. Then you choose a frame and add a photo and decoration if you wish. Included with the decorations are sticky notes with customizable text and calendars. When complete, you save the image to your Camera Roll and assign it as your lock screen wallpaper.

The paid version of Lock Screen Designer includes additional skins, frames and decorations (including calendars) that can be downloaded from inside the app.

Free – Download Now

$0.99 – Download Now

Create custom wallpapers with Lock Screen Designer for iPhone lock-screen-designer-1 lock-screen-designer-5 lock-screen-designer-2 lock-screen-designer-3 lock-screen-designer-4 lock screen designer


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