iPhone Sheep

Okay, to begin, Birdfeed is no longer owned by the original company which was charging $5 for this awesome Twitter app. The new company Brizzly purchased the app, has performed a facelift, and is now offering the app free of charge. Brizzly aggregates Twitter and Facebook feeds all in one single interface and now they are the proud owners of Birdfeed.

Oh, by the way, Birdfeed is no longer known as Birdfeed. It was given a new name, which is Brizzly for iPhone, and the UI was tweaked. The interface may not be as pretty and you only have a standard row of icons replacing the Birdfeed icon. One new feature was added which includes a News tab, this will let you know what is happening in your feeds along with the pull down feed similar to that of the other Twitter app we all know, Tweetie.

You will have to sign up for a Brizzly account if you want the app to work. The new features you can expect with the facelift include that you will have Brizzly Guide support with user editable trends and news explained, support for several Twitter accounts, allows you to create lists, and it does support and syncs to Brizzly.com and Twitter lists. Along with these features, you can also upload photos to Flickr and Brizzly Pics, save searches, infinite scrolling, classic-style RT’s, and custom tabs. Oh, and did I say you get all this free of charge by visiting this link.

©2010 iPhone World. All Rights Reserved.

During the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco Mark Methenitis talked with a group of developers on Wednesday concerning the contract that developers must sign in order to have their apps placed in the iTunes Apps Store as if it wasn’t hard enough to get the app approved in the first place.

He explained that developers could be in serious trouble if they were not cautious. He stated that “outside the realm of being reasonable,” regarding the iPhone developer program license agreement, the registered iPhone developer agreement, and the iPhone SDK agreement. However, there are some things that developers need to pay close attention to while creating their apps.

Confidentiality is one major concern. Developers cannot even hint about pre-release of any of Apple’s developments such as the iPhone SDK. However, the way in which the contract is read, this confidentially agreement goes far beyond to completely cover the device, which includes a test version of an iPhone. If the developer allows a non-developer to use the phone in any way the developer is then in breach of contract if Apple finds out about the incident.

Another clause to watch is the one that states any information sent from Apple is confidential, but what the developer sends to Apple is not confidential. Therefore, if a developer sends information to Apple regarding an app they have in progress. Apple can let the world know.

Confidentially may not be the biggest problem as Methenitis explained but exporting an app to another country is a huge mistake. If the developer does not have the app up to code in privacy and compliance acts, jail time can be the end result being five years in jail for every install along with a possible $5,000 fine for every install. This was just the beginning.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital rights watchdog group obtained a copy of the iPhone developer license agreement using the Freedom of Information Act. The Electronic Frontier Foundation stated that the license has “a few troubling highlights”.

One of the troubling highlights noted by the Electronic Frontier Foundation was that the developers have to agree to the license agreement and goes on to forbid the developer to make a public statement regarding the agreement. This is the main reason you have not seen this “secret” agreement. Going a bit deeper on the subject, the terms are not deemed confidential; however, Apple has forbid developers from talking about the terms.

One biggie is that that Apple retains the right to “revoke the digital certificate of any of Your Applications at any time.”

EFF senior staff attorney Fred von Lohmann stated on the website, “If Apple wants to be a real leader; it should be fostering innovation and competition, rather than acting as a jealous and arbitrary feudal lord.” “Developers should demand better terms and customers who love their iPhones should back them.”

To read the entire agreement, the Electronic Frontier Foundation has made it available here.

©2010 iPhone World. All Rights Reserved.

You may not be able to jump up and down yet, but the iKey is on the drawing board at Apple. Apple’s computer whizzes are hard at work behind closed doors developing new technology that will actually allow you to open your car and the front door to your home all with your iPhone.

The app called at this time the iKey will rid your pocket and your purse of all those keys you have to carry around with you in order to unlock the car and even unlock your car.

The way it was explained is that the app will more than likely be installed on iPhones, which will give users the ability to use their iPhones like an electronic key. Users would need to enter a special pin code, wave their iPhone over the electronic pad beside the door, and “open sesame” the door will open.

A patent for the application has been filed by Apple in the United States.

Technology analysts have stated they believe this feature may be seen with the next iPhone. This technology works similar to access cards used for entry into various work places.

My opinion is that it actually sounds like you will have to purchase key pads for all the places you with the iKey to unlock. As the directions state you must wave the iphone over the pad. I do not believe it will work with regular locks on cars or doors. The idea may be astounding, but it does not sound visible unless everyone iPhone user wants to spend the extra money to make their homes and cars compatible with the iKey unlocking abilities.

©2010 iPhone World. All Rights Reserved.

Anyone that owns an iphone and saw the 3D version of the Alice in Wonderland movie this weekend will want to check out this new iphone game. In the 2-D Alice in Wonderland adventure game, you are an older version of Alice that does not remember visiting Wonderland when she was a little girl ten years ago.

You are searching for a way out of this crazy and unusual place you have found yourself in when you fell in a hole. The adventure cannot be done alone and you find your old friends (that you do not remember) to help you on the way including the White Rabbit, the March Hare, the Mad Hatter, and the Cheshire Cat. In the game, every one of these characters has a special power that will help you solve all the puzzles you encounter to find your way home.

Okay without giving away all the secrets of the game a small preview would be, you tap on Alice to change characters and then tap on the character to become Alice again. The arrows shaped like the spades on cards will help you maneuver through the game. The powers of your friends will certainly be a great treasure at the time when you need them most. You will have to play to learn what powers each one possesses.

Now, there are two worlds in the game, which are the mirror version of Wonderland and Wonderland Wonderland. You will need to travel back and forth between the worlds to accomplish your adventure of returning home.

To buy the game or learn more visit the Apple Apps Store.

©2010 iPhone World. All Rights Reserved.

Apple unveiled the iPad via an advertisement during the Oscars. This is of course, the first of many and if you missed the ad, you can catch it on several websites.
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/03/video-ipad-debuts-at-the-oscars/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wired%2Findex+%28Wired%3A+Index+3+%28Top+Stories+2%29%29

Steve Ballmer, chief executive at Microsoft talked of Apple with a nice tone of voice. Could he be ill or are Apple and Microsoft become chums?
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2011285362_brier08.html

We all know just how exciting games are on the iPhone and the iPod Touch. Well, rumor has it that games on the iPad are going to be so much more going as far as being more realistic.
http://www.businessinsider.com/ipad-games-are-going-to-be-crazy-awesome-2010-3?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+typepad%2Falleyinsider%2Fsilicon_alley_insider+%28Silicon+Alley+Insider%29

Who has more patents, Apple, HTC, or Google? Deutsche Bank’s Chris Whitmore issued notes to clients and way back on page five is a comparison of the number of patents that have been filed by Apple, HTC, and Google.
http://brainstormtech.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2010/03/08/counting-patents-apple-google-htc/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+fortuneapple20+(FORTUNE%3A+Apple+2.0)

Rumors that have the iPhone 4G being able to perform tasks like video calling have some asking if the AT&T network can handle all the traffic.
http://blogs.zdnet.com/mobile-gadgeteer/?p=2609

New tool kits making it easy for developers to create iPhone apps. These new tools will reduce the requirements for developers to have technical skills, making the number of apps for the iPhone increase by leaps and bounds.
http://www.forbes.com/2010/03/08/software-apple-eachscape-technology-business-intelligence-iphone.html?boxes=Homepagechannels

All geeks and nerds will be up all night once they hear the news that Popular Science has placed the scanned archive online and it can be downloaded free of charge and viewed on the iPhone.
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/03/popular-science-puts-entire-scanned-archive-online-free/

Being developers and having your app sold in the iTunes App Store is not as glamorous as one might think. Not only is it hard to get your app approved, but also the contract is geared a bit one-sided in Apple’s favor.
http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=31684

©2010 iPhone World. All Rights Reserved.

Rumors are flying that Apple and China Unicom may put the iPhone under surgery in order for it to work with China’s Wi-Fi.

China Mobile is the leader in the 3G market at this time, but China Unicom is planning to make that a thing of the past. The Chinese Government has decided to loosen the reigns of Wi-Fi on handsets such as the iPhone, the W-CDMA operator is ignoring any disagreements with Google, and they are launching Android’s.

The only legal provider in China for iPhones is Unicom, which is now working along side Apple to launch new models that will have Wi-Fi activated. This is a great step as the 3G network usage is increasing in the urban areas, which will threatening Unicom with the strain on its network as providers in the US have noted from unfettered data usage by consumers. The hardest mountain to climb will be to get users to rely on Wi-Fi for their major browsing and streaming.

The authorities have stated that the Wi-Fi is not activated in the cell phones; there are a large number of gray market iPhones that do have it activated. This certainly raises the competition for Unicom. The Wall Street Journal stated that they had received quotes from Unicom’s CEO Chang Xiaobing that reported Apple has modified their iPhones to support China’s WAPI, China’s wireless internet standard. This would be a compromise with the government, since vendors main objection has been the need to open up their IPR to local experts in technology which is more than likely not something Apple agreed with even if to receive the Chinese market share.

Chang recently expressed his views at the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference held in Beijing. “We are open to mobile phone operating systems, and we recognize that Android is a mainstream system. We will definitely use Google’s Android in our mobile handsets.”

The Android supplier for Unicom is thought to be Motorola, HTC, and Samsung; however, local vendors are going to want their share. ZTE is releasing 4 Android smartphones in 2010 with details such as the 2.5-inch touchscreen, Android 1.6, FM radio, Wi-Fi, and GPS for the Blade as an example.

©2010 iPhone World. All Rights Reserved.

Great news for all those basketball fans out there that is ready to get their hands on the March Madness iPhone app, as they are in for a big surprise. The popular app does include live streaming of the NCAA Tournament, the new surprise is now it will support streaming over 3G and Wi-Fi so all fans can enjoy the game. The 3G is a very welcome change from what was available years prior.

On the other hand, the new app will cost a bit more as well. Instead of paying $4.99 like last year, the app will now cost $9.99. Fans will be able to download the “lite” version free but the free version will not have live streaming. It will provide the box scores and the highlights.

The NCAA March Madness on Demand app will start covering the games on March 14 with the show selecting the teams and will end after the tournament.

For the increase in the price tag, you can thank CBS and the iPhone carrier AT&T for making a deal, even though at one time the additional strain on the data network was not appealing to AT&T but now the extra revenue is appealing.

Sr. Vice President and GM, CBS Mobile, Rob Gelick stated, “The CBS Sports Mobile 2010 March Madness products appeal to both casual and diehard fans, keeping them connected to the action via live video and highlights, news, scores, and brackets. Last year CBS Sports Mobile witnessed a huge appetite for mobile video when we were the first to stream live sports events over the iPhone, and this year, by including Wi-Fi and 3G, we expect that appetite, and audience, to grow even more.”

©2010 iPhone World. All Rights Reserved.

It has been estimated that this year will be a phenomenal year for e-books and as we speak, there are more books available as apps for the iPhone than the number of games.

This month, the e-book zoomed past the number of games available in the iTunes App Store according to information released at the beginning of the month by Mobclix, a mobile phone advertising agency. Mobclix reported that as of the beginning of March there were 27,000 books available as apps. Games on the other hand are behind trailing at 25,400 published in 2010 with the next apps in line being entertainment, education, and travel in that order.

This may be a fad, however the number of book apps over the last month outnumbered games two to one. The launch of the iPad, Apple’s tablet reader along with all the books available in the Apps store may well speed up the shift to electronic reading more than expected.

Dan Franklin, Canongate’s digital editor, expressed his thoughts, “The iPhone has always been perceived as a games-centric device, so the idea that books are outranking games is very exciting.”

Franklin himself went into publishing digitally about one year ago. He stated his ideas on Apple and digital publishing that it would “bring new people to reading like they have brought new people to music with the iTunes store”.

Jeremy Ettinghausen, Penguin’s digital publisher stated, “It’s very exciting that people are using iPhones to read books.” He went on to say, “I travel on the tube every day…and you do see people reading books, reading newspapers and playing games. As publishers we need to be on the things that people are using during that distraction time, that commuter time.”

Ettinghausen explained that learning what books are being downloaded is more important than the amount of books available through the Apps Store.

Franklin explained, “Initially books weren’t seen as being top of the pile, but with the launch of the iBookstore imminent, Apple is now taking more notice of book submissions”. In addition, he stated, “With the iPad due next month, and Google looking like they’re going to launch their Google Editions, this is the key year for electronic books.”

©2010 iPhone World. All Rights Reserved.

Sorry if you had trouble accessing the site earlier. First, my server was experiencing some downtime. Then, I posted a YouTube video pointing readers to a dead link. After that, I had some errors with the video, so I had to remove it and reupload. Rough day!

So, here’s the updated video and link: Sign the Petition for an Open App Store on the iPhone OS

Sorry if any of this caused you frustration. As always, thanks for reading, commenting and sharing.

Chris

Even though the date for release has been announced, everyone still has questions about the mysterious iPad. Things we do know is that the there will be two editions on April 3 the wi-fi only iPad will be available and the 3G enabled one is set to be available the end of April.

One question on the mind of many was if the iPad would be able to tether to an iPhone so users could harness the data connection from your plan so you could surf the internet.

What had been unknown up until now was whether Apple’s iPad would have the capability to tether to an iPhone, thereby letting you harness the data connection from your mobile plan to surf the Web that way as well. The answer to this question is a definite no.

Jezper Söderlund corresponded with Steve Jobs via email regarding the tethering between iPhone and iPad. He stated that Jobs did answer his email according to the Apple blog AppleInsider. The email is below:

“I’ll keep it short.
I’m Jezper from Sweden, a long time Apple fan, currently about to replace the very last computer at home with a brand spanking new iMac i7. I’m also awaiting the release of the iPad. However, I have one question:
Will the Wi-Fi-only version somehow support tethering thru my iPhone?
Two devices, based on the same OS, with already built-in technology to share one data plan suggests a secondary contract could possibly be redundant.
From the look of your keynote, where the iPad sits well between my MacBook Pro and my iPhone, I was hoping the three of them could interact as seamless as possible.
All the best,
Jezper Söderlund”

Steve Jobs reply – a simple “No. Sent from my iPhone”.

©2010 iPhone World. All Rights Reserved.