The iPhone Blog |
- App of the Week: Diet Coda for iPad
- Logitech Ultrathin Keyboard Cover for iPad review
- Jailbreak, app piracy, and the true cost of theft
- Judge denies that "electronic presence" via texting is enough to hold woman accountable for motor vehicle accident
- A rare look at the iPhone 4S assembly line at Foxconn's Zhengzhou factory
- Apple releases updated iOS 5.1.1 build for GSM/AT&T iPhone 4
- VicMan Visage Lab for iPhone and iPad review
App of the Week: Diet Coda for iPad Posted: 26 May 2012 03:57 PM PDT Panic's ingenious all-in-one FTP, CSS, and Code editing app comes to iPadI bought the original Coda for Mac the minute Panic put it on sale and have used it day-in, day-out ever since. Coming from Macromedia/Adobe's Dreamweaver, it was a breath of fresh air. That won't be a surprise to anyone familiar with Panic. They're among the most thoughtful, most talented interface designers outside of Apple. And now they've brought Coda to the iPad. Whimsically named Diet Coda, it doesn't provide all the functionality of it's bigger, older Mac brother, but it does provide almost exactly the functionality needed for an ultra-portable environment like the iPad. Anyone familiar with Coda for Mac will immediately recognize how Diet Coda opens. It has the same, excellent pin-board style site manager, complete with the same terrific new backflip animation Coda 2 received on the desktop. Little touches like that, sprinkled throughout Panic's apps, make you smile no matter how many times you see them, and make what could be a boring, utilitarian UI more than a little delightful. Enter your site credentials and you're off to work. Mostly. Diet Coda supports FTP and SFTP in both GUI and Terminal, but sadly iOS doesn't support either OpenVPN or persistent background internet connections which means if, like me, you need to access sites over OpenVPN, you're out of luck. Hopefully Apple adds this capability in the future, or Panic adds it specifically to Diet Coda. It's also worth noting that while Coda 2 now supports iCloud to sync sites between Macs, Diet Coda can't tie into those settings yet to automagically bring them over to the iPad (the way Screens does for VPN, for example). Hopefully they'll add that in the future, if for no other reason that to save time re-entering a dozen or so sites. Lastly, since there's no per-app security in iOS, and Panic hasn't offered a PIN or password system, security paranoid users like myself won't want to let Diet Coda save any passwords. That does make it less convenient, and for strong passwords will typically require the use of a separate password manager app like 1Password or DataVault. Once in, you can browse your server-side directories, pick the files you want to work on, and open them up in Diet Coda. The file editor enjoys a dedicated keyboard row with useful functions like undo and arrow keys, and symbols like comments, angle brackets, etc. It also has excellent syntax highlighting and even code completion. And their version of Apple's text editing loupe -- a full on horizontal zoom bar -- is fantastically functional. Changing between files is as easy as tapping the bright purple open file counter button at the top right, which reveals a variation of the awesome new tab bar from Coda 2 for Mac. All your open files are shown, with thumbnails, and there's a tab for Sites and for Terminal as well. Sublime. A handy breadcrumb trail in the top bar lets you quickly jump back to grab more files from anywhere in the current path, and a quick view icon lets you preview what you're working on in a built-in web view. (And for those who also use Coda 2 on the Mac, Diet Coda can serve as a separate preview screen.) There's terrific code snippet support, with global, site, and mode options, the latter of which is pre-populated with all the basics. There's find and replace, and options to manually set syntax mode, line ending type, and encoding format' Once you're done editing, the big green checkmark button lets you save, or if you hold it down, save or duplicate. And then you're out, as quickly and easily as you were in. The good
The bad
The conclusionIt's not the same experience as working in a multiple window environment like the Mac, where you can drag and drop and do all sorts of other, powerful, productive things. But for working on your iPad, in the context in which you would be working on your iPad, it's fantastic. For quick fingered bug fixes on-the-go, or for Bluetooth keyboard-power code sprints on the road, it's darn near perfect. Seriously, if you do any web dev work, go buy it before I run out of superlatives. 19.99 - Download now |
Logitech Ultrathin Keyboard Cover for iPad review Posted: 26 May 2012 01:21 PM PDT The Logitech Ultrathin Keyboard Cover for iPad is slick, sleek, eminently usable and incredibly portableLogitech's Ultrathin Keyboard Cover is a new implementation of the popular Bluetooth keyboard peripheral for iPad. When on the go, it can be stowed right on your new iPad or iPad 2, just like an Apple Smart Cover, and when in use it can provide a productivity boost for long form writing. But does ultra-portability put a dent in mobile productivity?
The Logitech Ultrathin Keyboard Cover for iPad is the sleekest, most sophisticated Bluetooth keyboard we've tested to date. It does add some bulk and some weight -- it is a keyboard, after all -- but given the Apple-esque aluminum shell and high quality plastic iterior and keys, it's remarkably svelte. Included in the box is the Logitech Ultrathin Keyboard Cover for iPad itself, along with a pamphlet, and a micro USB cable so you can plug it into a Mac or Windows PC, or a power adapter, to charge. Like a Smart Cover, the Ultrathin Keyboard Cover attaches to your iPad 2 or New iPad magnetically and protects the screen (and keys) while closed. The aluminum matches nicely with a naked iPad casing, and wears well. The hinge is plastic instead of metal, but seems strong enough. (Metal would have been nicer.) Also like a Smart Cover, it will automatically sleep your iPad when closed. Carrying it around when closed, it looks and feels like two iPads secured face-to-face. When you're ready to work, opening the Ultrathin Keyboard Cover turns on your iPad. Unlike a laptop, however, you have to remove your iPad from the magnetic hinge and reposition it in the magnetic slot. (There's also no trackpad.) While you could place your iPad in portrait orientation, and it will hold it, the Ultrathin is designed for landscape use. Pairing is simple, with no pin required. After switching it on and tapping a few times in Settings, you're fit to type. Logitech's Ultrathin Keyboard Cover doesn't make for a full sized keyboard like you'll find on a MacBook Air. It's closer to a small netbook keyboard. However, the keyboard is done in the current Apple chicklet style, so while the scale is smaller the feel is not dissimilar. Unlike some other Bluetooth keyboard for iPad, the Logitech Ultrathin doesn't include a set of dedicated function keys. There is a dedicated Home key, but otherwise a Function key modifier lets you use the number keys to send commands like Spotlight Search, Switch language, show/hide the virtual Keyboard, increase Text Selection by one word to the left or right, Cut, Copy, or Paste, Play/Pause music, Mute volume, increase or decrease volume, or Lock or un-Lock your iPad. There are also alt/option, ctrl, cmd, and arrow keys, and the iPad supports a lot of commond text editing commands and coventions, allowing you to type fairly closely to how you would on a traditional personal computer. Logitech promises a battery life of 6 months, based on 2 hours of usage a day. That translates to 1.5 months at 8 hours a day. Since the Ultrathin Keyboard hasn't been on the market long enough to test those claims, we'll have to revisit that part of the review at a later date. Suffice it to say, it will last a good while under normal usage. The good
The bad
The conclusionI've used the Logitech Ultrathin Keyboard Cover for going on a week now, mostly for pounding out iMore articles using Elements. (And yes, I used it to write this very review.) There are cases that let you use computer keyboard, like the Origami and Apple keyboard combo, and there are keyboards that are integrated into more traditional style cases, like the Adonit Writer. The Logitech Ultrathin Keyboard Cover isn't either of those things. If you're looking for a ultra portable, ultra stylish, ultra functional Bluetooth keyboard for your iPad, one that's as well designed as it is built, then look no further -- the Logitech Ultrathin Keybord Cover is it. 98.95 - Buy now |
Jailbreak, app piracy, and the true cost of theft Posted: 26 May 2012 08:23 AM PDT Now that the iOS 5.1.1 jailbreak is available for the iPhone 4S, new iPad, and older devices, the subject of jailbreak in general is getting a lot of attention again, and with it, the dark side of jailbreaking. It seems whenever someone wants to attack the very concept of jailbreak, one of the first salvos unleashed is app piracy. The sad, ugly truth is that those attacks are made possible because some people who jailbreak do so mainly or entirely to get "free" apps. And the sadder, uglier truth is that there's no such thing as "free". Everything has a cost. Even and especially theft. We're going to use the words "theft" and "steal" here instead of piracy because that's what we're talking about. Steve Jobs once raised a pirate flag at Apple as a symbol of their counterculture and ideals, and the jailbreak community has embraced that spirit. By no means has the jailbreak community embraced theft. Both iMore and Mobile Nations have a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to even the discussion of piracy. We place an incredibly high value on developers and the apps they make, and don't want to play any part, directly or indirectly, in disseminating information that hurts developers, the iOS platform, and the legitimate jailbreak community. Likewise, prominent jailbreak developers have gone out of their way, numerous times, to distance themselves from app theft and ask those using their software not to steal apps. There's a reason for that. App theft is not a victimless crime. It hurts the iOS platform, it hurts iOS developers, and because of that, it ultimately hurts iOS users. Stealing apps isn't free. It comes with a very real cost. Getting the excuses out of the wayFor years people have been copying CDs, DVDs, Blu-Ray movies, games, and anything else they could get their hands on. Ever since media became copyable, people have been copying it. Some have applied philosophical wrappers around it -- that all bits should be free. Others think that since the original version remains, copies don't equate to theft -- you're not taking it away from anyone else. Others justify their actions based on the hostility often displayed towards users by traditional media companies. The law does allow for copying in some situations, in some jurisdictions. It sometimes allows for copying to make a backup or change format, for example ripping a CD to iTunes or copying iTunes music to a disk. But none of them make allowances for theft. Another common excuse is availability and price -- if content could only be bought immediately, and at a fair cost, there'd be no content theft. Game of Thrones is the most common current example. HBO won't release it for sale for months, so users go elsewhere to get it. If HBO would only put it on iTunes, Amazon, etc. in a timely manner, the argument goes, no one would be going elsewhere. Well guess what -- in almost all cases, the App Store and apps do just that. And not only that, apps are incredibly inexpensive by any reasonable standard. Paid apps are often $0.99 and most iPhone apps top out at $4.99 with very few exceptions. In most cases they're not only less than a cup of coffee or a movie, but substantially less. Also, Apple allows users to re-download purchased apps. If you deleted an app by accident, it stopped working right, or you got a new iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch you have the ability to re-download your content without having to re-purchase anything. Your purchases are tied to your iTunes ID, not a specific device. Apple even allows you to authorize content on up to 5 computers and, when it comes to apps, practically as many iOS devices as you'd like. Easily available, cheaply and fairly priced, and automatically backed up. That removes many of the rationalizations and justifications. Note: There are some regions that don't support the App Store, or specific parts of the App Store, due to local policies on rating requirements or other licensing issues. In those particular cases, in those particular places, stealing apps may seem like the only way for these users to obtain App Store apps or games. This problem typically arises in countries that don't carry the iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, in areas where iTunes payments are difficult or challenging, or where Apple is simply not allowed to provide a legitimate service. Still there are legitimate workarounds, like using a U.S. App Store account and loading it with gift cards. If you want to support developers, you'll find a way. The cost to app developersWhen you jailbreak to steal apps you're essentially taking money out of someone's hand, whether it's an independent developer or a development company. App development takes a lot of time and a lot of money. Apps can and do cost tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars to develop. That means every sale is important and can make all the difference to a developer -- the difference between continuing an app or canceling it, making payroll or not making it, feeding their family or not feeding them. If recent statistics are accurate, almost 60% of developers don't break even on costs when developing and executing an app. These costs typically involve marketing, development, graphic design fees, software licensing, and anything else that goes into submitting a fully polished app to the App Store. These costs don't stop once the app is submitted to the App Store. If the app uses push notifications or has a web server back end, that costs money. Sometimes a lot of money. If a developer wants to provide technical support to their users, a service we've all come to expect, that's also a lot of money. There are considerable recurring costs for any development team that plans on supporting their app and updating it regularly. Making, maintaining, supporting, and updating an app is incredibly expensive. And there's no promise every developer will ever get all that money back. That's the cost to developers, and to users who may get less apps developed or updated because of it. The cost to AppleApple owns the iOS platform. Anything that hurts developers hurts Apple. To that end, Apple has tried to implement services such as in-app purchases and iAds so developers can keep prices down and still earn a living. Yet there's more Apple can and should do. There have been several developers who have reported seeing more players active on Game Center than have actually purchased their game via the App Store. Sometimes by a factor of 10 or more. There needs to be a way to shut stolen apps out of Game Center so there's less incentive to use the stolen versions of games. iTunes knows which apps we've bought. If a game isn't on our purchased list, it shouldn't work in Game Center. That removes the ego gratification of leader boards and the fun of multiplayer unless and until a legitimate copy of an app is purchased. The same could be done with iCloud for non-game apps. If an app isn't on our purchased list, it doesn't sync, it doesn't back up. I'm not pretending to know how complicated such a system would be to deploy, or how much it would disincentivize app theft, but it doesn't seem beyond the realm of possibility. The more popular an app or game is, the higher the likelihood it will be stolen, and the less money a developer will make from it. If developers find they can't make enough money, they'll stop developing those popular apps. That not only hurts users who want great software, but it hurts the platform. That's the cost to Apple. The cost to jailbreak's reputationI've been jailbreaking since iOS 1.x and I've never once stolen an app. For myself and many others out there, jailbreak is a tool to add functionality to our iPhones, iPads, Apple TVs, and iPods -- functionality that Apple won't or hasn't give us stock. I actually think I've spent almost as much money on jailbreak apps as I have stock apps. Yet even though many jailbreakers don't steal apps, the conception that jailbreak is a gateway to app theft is impossible to escape. I've had people come to me for help with their iPhone, people that don't even know how to use iCloud, but who know all the ins and outs of app theft. They can't be bothered to back up their own data but they'll spend hours and hours figuring out how to screw a developer out of $0.99 or $4.99. And they cost jailbreak its reputation. They enable jailbreak to be called a tool for app theft instead of a breeding ground for innovation. They enable those who would like to see jailbreak made illegal to couch their self-interest in the flag of criminal justice. That's the cost paid by the jailbreak community, and by those who jailbreak for legitimate reasons. The cost to usersI'm not here to give anyone a lecture on morals or ethics. If you're stealing apps, one article probably won't change your mind. Maybe you already know that you're costing developers money, that you're tarnishing the reputation of the jailbreak community, and maybe even that you're hurting the iOS platform. Perhaps you've justified it to yourself by saying developers are rich and you're copying not stealing, or you don't care about the jailbreak community, or that Apple has so much money nothing could ever hurt iOS. But what about us? We're all connected. If you're stealing apps it's because you want apps. Keep stealing them, and the quality and quantity of apps will eventually diminish. If you're jailbreaking, you need the jailbreak community to keep releasing tools for jailbreak. Keep using jailbreak to steal apps and either laws using you as an excuse, or jailbreak developers fed up with how you're misusing their tools will stop providing them. And all of this is dependent on Apple not figuring out a way to shut it all down or make it so time consuming that it might as well be shut down. I'd like to envision a strong future for jailbreak and for stock iOS. Stealing apps is simply the right way to get all the wrong attention, and to hurt everything you enjoy. On the other hand, buying the apps you like rewards developers for their hard work and helps ensure they can continue to update those apps, and make more of them, now and into the future. It shows the world that jailbreak is about adding functionality and not stealing money. And it shows Apple that their time and attention is better spent being inspired by jailbreak rather than shutting it down. If that's not enough, consider the threat: On desktop computers, it's not unheard of for bad guys to modify stolen apps before distributing them, infecting them with malware to infect systems and steal information. That's not meant a as scare tactic, but a warning. "Free" could eventually come at the price of your device's security, and your own personal protection. Losing apps, losing jailbreak tools, losing control, and ultimately losing jailbreak is the cost to users. ConclusionFor years we've been clamoring for great content, readily available and priced fairly. With the App Store, we have it. The best defense against accusations that jailbreak is all about app theft is simply not to steal apps. The best way to get more great apps is simply to buy the great apps we have today. There's no such thing as free. Even theft has its price. And we can all choose not to pay it. |
Posted: 26 May 2012 08:01 AM PDT A woman who repeatedly texted her boyfriend, while she knew he was driving, and who ultimately crossed traffic and crashed into motorcyclists, cannot be added to a civil lawsuit according to a Superior Court judge in Morristown, New Jersey. The plaintiffs' lawyer argued that the girlfriend's conduct contributed to the accident that cost his clients their legs. The woman's lawyer argued that while she sent the messages, it was ultimately her boyfriend's responsibility to control when he looked at them and when he responded to them. The boyfriend plead guilty to three violations of the motor vehicle code, including driving while using a mobile device. He's now being sued in civil court.
The judge disagreed. This time. But the term "electronically present" is going to be something interesting to watch in the coming years. Can you be "electronically present" at an accident? At a robbery? At a homicide? During civil disobedience? As a witness? We've often discussed how our devices know who we are, where we are, and often what we're doing. They allow us to communicate almost instantly from across the room or halfway around the world. You can text significant others, FaceTime grandparents, Skype colleagues. How soon will it be before that technology becomes par for the course in civil and criminal matters? This week, in New Jersey, a judged ruled a woman couldn't be sued for texting her boyfriend while she new he was driving, and when he ultimately drove his truck into two motorcyclists, What about in the months and years ahead? How long until the law and technology becomes such that "electronically present" is held as the equivalent to "physically present"? Source: KKTV via @philnickinson |
A rare look at the iPhone 4S assembly line at Foxconn's Zhengzhou factory Posted: 26 May 2012 12:29 AM PDT A new video has surfaced that gives us an extremely rare look at the iPhone assembly line within a Foxconn factory. Seeing one of these lines in action is a very rare occurrence as Apple is well known for keeping its production processes and products secret. The video is shot in Foxconn's Zhengzhou plant where over seventy percent of Apple's iPhones are now made. The video which is provided by iFeng, shows a Chinese reporter with Foxconn CEO Terry Gou taking a tour around the extensive factory. The tour starts in a helicopter to give an idea on the sheer size of this huge factory. It covers 5.6 square kilometers (2.2 Square miles) with more expansion planned and employs around 115,000 workers. The factory part of the tour starts off in the iPhone 4S production line where you can see the iPhone 4S frame and motherboard. The motherboard line is 148 meters long and rolls out 10,000 units a day. The tour continues into the camera assembly area which is all done in a clean room environment. You can watch the video below, the dialogue is all in Chinese and we don't have a translation yet. Source: TNW via MIC Gadget
|
Apple releases updated iOS 5.1.1 build for GSM/AT&T iPhone 4 Posted: 25 May 2012 06:34 PM PDT Apple has released an updated version iOS 5.1.1, build 9B208, for the iPhone 4 GSM/AT&T model. There doesn't appear to be any information from Apple on what triggered the new build, though it's possible some very specific bug or glitch was identified and fixed. If it was incredibly minor, Apple would likely just have filed it away for next time. If it was incredibly major, Apple would likely have pushed it out as new update to ensure every user got it. As it is, if you've already updated to iOS 5.1.1 you won't see the new version popup as an over-the-air (OTA) update, or as available in iTunes. If you haven't already updated, you'll be offered this new version when you do. To force an update from the previous iOS 5.1.1 build to this one, you'll have to restore to it in iTunes. (And really, there's almost certainly no reason to do that.) iOS 5.1.1 was originally released on Monday, May 7. As of May 15, almost 74% of iMore readers had already updated to iOS 5.1.1. Today, one of the major reasons many had waited, an untethered jailbreak for iOS 5.1.1, was released.
|
VicMan Visage Lab for iPhone and iPad review Posted: 25 May 2012 06:25 PM PDT VicMan Visage Lab for iPhone is an app that will give your portraits a complete makeover with just the tap of a button. I'm always fairly skeptical of these types of apps because they have the potential to produce results that look very fake and overdone, but not VicMan Visage Lab -- the results are very good! VicMan Visage Lab includes two sample photos, one of a man and another of a woman. Here's the before and after on the woman model. Here's the before and after on the male model. Pretty good, huh? Using VicMan Visage Lab is extremely easy. Just select the photo you wish to edit and let the software work its magic. When it's done, it'll zoom in on the photo and briefly show the original photo before applying the retouches. The retouches that VicMan Visage Lab applies are skin makeup, eye makeup, teeth whitening, shine removal, wrinkle smoothing, and color enhancement. After the retouches are completel you can pinch to zoom in and out of the photo and tap the little snapshot in the bottom left corner to switch between the original and retouched version. If you are unhappy with the results, you can choose specifically which effects you want to apply. Unfortunately, this doesn't give instant feedback, so you'll have to wait for the retouching to happen again. This also means that there isn't a way to compare between different combinations. VicMan Visage Lab also includes some effects that you can apply to your photo. A few of them, like Sunny Colors and Glamour Effect, are subtle but have a great impact on portraits. Other effects include Black & White, Retro Sepia, Poster Look, Xmas Bokeh, In the Wave, and Light Bokeh. Now, I know that seeing great results on photos that were included with the app may not be very impressive, so here's a before and after comparison of a photo of me. For this photo, I disabled Shine Removal and Wrinkle Smoothing because I felt they made my face look flat and lack dimension. I also applied the Glamour Effect. The good
The bad
The conclusionVicMan Visage Lab is a fantastic app for improving portraits by removing flaws and giving them that extra little oomph. If you're planning to participate in this week's portrait iPhoneography contest, this is probably a great app to pick up! VicMan Visage Lab comes in three different versions. The free version is ad supported and does not include all of the filter effects. The Pro versions have no adds and includes all the filters. The iPhone only Pro version of VicMan Visage lab is $0.99 and the universal version for iPhone and iPad is $1.99. Free for iPhone & iPad- Download Now$0.99 for iPhone - Download Now$1.99 for iPhone & iPad - Download Now |
You are subscribed to email updates from iMore - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch blog To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 |
0 comments
Post a Comment