iPhone OS 4.0 unveiled, adds multitasking, shipping this Summer

iPhone OS 4.0 unveiled, adds multitasking, shipping this Summer: "

Just a bit more than a year after we first laid eyes on iPhone OS 3.0, Apple is back with the latest big revision of the OS that powers the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. It's shipping this Summer (iPad in the Fall), and the developer preview will be out today. iPhone 3GS and new-gen iPod touch will get all the features, but some features won't make it to the iPhone 3G, original iPhone, and older iPod touches. The biggest new feature is multitasking, which Apple says is going to be the 'best' implementation in the smartphone space, though it's obviously not the first. App switching is activated by double tapping the home button, which pulls up a 'dock' of currently running apps, and Apple claims it can do this without hurting battery life or performance for the front app. Unfortunately, this multitasking won't be available for devices older than the 3GS and new iPod touch. Multitasking is just one of seven different new 'tentpole' features, including Game Center, enhanced Mail, and more...



Notable new features for users ('tentpoles' are in bold):

• Multitasking.


• Spell check (like on the iPad).


• Bluetooth keyboard support (again, on the iPad).


• User-defined wallpaper (a jailbreak favorite).


• Tap to focus when recording video, just like with photos, and a 5x digital zoom for the camera.


• Playlist creation and nested playlists.


• App folders for sorting apps! You can even put an app folder in the dock.


• Enhanced Mail! You can have a merged inbox view, switch between inboxes quickly, and sync to more than one Exchange account. There's also threaded messaging (at last!) and in-app attachment viewing.


• iBooks, just like on iPad, only smaller. You can wirelessly sync books between platforms, a la Kindle.


• Enterprise features, including remote device management and wireless app distribution.


• Game Center. It's like Xbox Live, but for iPhone games. Includes achievements, leaderboards, and match making. It will be available as a 'developer preview,' and out for consumers later this year.

Developers are getting plenty of new tricks too:

• 1,500 new APIs.


• Full access to the camera.


• Date and address 'data detectors.'


• Background audio (think Pandora).


• Background VoIP (think Skype).


• Background location data, both with live GPS for backgrounded turn-by-turn, and cell tower-based for lower power draw.


• Local notifications. Like push notifications, but sends a notification straight from the app without needing a push notification server, perfect for an alarm, for instance.


• Fast app switching. Saves the state of an app and resumes it from where you left off, without dwelling in memory.


• iAd. Apple says it's for keeping 'free apps free.' The ads keep you in the app, while also taking over the screen and adding interactivity -- using HTML 5 for video -- up to simple gaming in-ad. Apple will offer a 60 / 40 split on revenue, and users can even buy apps straight from an ad.

Gallery: Folders in iPhone OS 4.0

Gallery: Enhanced Mail in iPhone OS 4.0

Gallery: Apple demos Game Center for iPhone OS 4.0

Developing...



Make sure to check out the ongoing iPhone OS 4.0 liveblog!

iPhone OS 4.0 unveiled, adds multitasking, shipping this Summer originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 08 Apr 2010 13:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The 8 Most Irritating Types Of Gadget Owners

The 8 Most Irritating Types Of Gadget Owners: "

We’ve all met them: those people who butcher the use of sweet sweet technology in such a way that you wish they’d be devoured by a hundred angry wildebeests. Here are 8 of the worst:

[Via MUO | Scordit]

Related posts:

1. 56 Types of Geeks – Which Type Are You?


2. Ask [GAS]: Which gadget is topping your Christmas list?


3. My First Gadget: Crayola MP3 Player

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Editorial: Engadget on the Apple iPad

Editorial: Engadget on the Apple iPad: "

As you can probably imagine, Engadget HQ has been boiling over with heated discussion of Apple's new iPad today. Love it or hate it (and a lot of you seem to hate it), it's hard not to see it as a pretty bold statement of what Apple thinks general-purpose computing should look like in the future: a giant iPhone. As you can imagine, that's a provocative vision, and it's simply not possible to try and condense the opinions of the staff into one Grand Unified Theory of the iPad -- so we're going to do what we did for the Kindle DX and the Droid, and let everyone speak for themselves. Let's kick it off with the three people who've actually seen and used this thing: Josh, Ross, and Joystiq's Chris Grant.

Continue reading Editorial: Engadget on the Apple iPad

Editorial: Engadget on the Apple iPad originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Jan 2010 22:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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26 Interesting (But Fake) Interfaces for iPhone 4.0 [Photoshop Contest]

26 Interesting (But Fake) Interfaces for iPhone 4.0 [Photoshop Contest]: "

For this week's Photoshop Contest, I asked you to design some new interfaces for iPhone 4.0. And you know what? Some of these look pretty damned cool.

First Place— Juan Ozuna



Second Place—Katrina Laffey



Third Place—Torsten Wulff

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Current Crop of Smartphones: A Cost and Feature Comparison [Infographic]

Current Crop of Smartphones: A Cost and Feature Comparison [Infographic]: "

Cost-comparison web site BillShrink hits it out of the park with a handy infographic comparing the cost and features of the current generation of smartphones: the Nexus One, the Palm Pre, the Motorola Droid, and the iPhone 3GS.

Looking at this you realize 1.) there's no clear winner in the bunch feature-wise and 2.) we all spend a ridiculous amount of money on mobile phones and service. My only nitpick with this chart is that the T-Mobile/Nexus One 'Average Usage' plan should be listed at $79.99 a month, not $89.99 (unless they're counting taxes and fees). Head inside and click to enlarge the big picture to check it out.

Nexus One vs iPhone, Droid & Palm Pre - Total Cost of Ownership [BillShrink via Smarterware]

Smarterware is Lifehacker editor emeritus Gina Trapani's new home away from 'hacker. To get all of the latest from Smarterware, be sure to subscribe to the Smarterware RSS feed.

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Tethering for the holiday traveler

Tethering for the holiday traveler: "

Filed under: Hacks, How-tos, Internet, iPhone, Jailbreak/pwnage

I know that many of our readers will be traveling during the holiday season, so I wanted to share a walk-through that will help keep your MacBook of choice connected on the go. This is an article intended for those using iPhones on carriers that do not officially support tethering. TUAW would like to remind you that this is unsupported and is enabled at the user's own risk. This does require jailbreaking your iPhone, so the unadventurous in the audience may want to pass this up. If you're not already jailbroken, you can download the necessary software, like blackra1n from George Hotz or Pwnage from the iPhone Dev Team.



Once you've jailbroken your iPhone, install or open Cydia and navigate to the 'Featured Packages' section. Find and install the package named 'Modem.' That's it on the iPhone side of things, on your computer, navigate to iphonemodem.com and download the helper application or register the application for $9.99 to disable the registration reminder in the iPhone app (As far as we know, the free version is fully functional). Drag iPhoneModem to your Applications folder.



The setup is really that simple. Now all you have to do is open the application on your computer, click connect, then launch the companion app on your iPhone. The iPhone application will find the network your computer creates and share the Wi-Fi connection between the two devices so you can use your iPhone data plan on your laptop for better browsing. Here's how the developers say it works:

On the computer, the helper application creates a new computer-to-computer (or ad-hoc) Wi-Fi network and configures the system preferences to use the iPhone as an Internet gateway and proxy. On the iPhone, the application opens a routing engine, DHCP, DNS, HTTP, HTTPS and SOCKS proxies and connects to the helper on the computer.

I've had pretty good success with this application in my time with it. I've been using it on and off for over a year -- it's been a great app in clutch situations. I'd recommend it as a virtual stocking stuffer if you have a friend or family member who's jailbroken their iPhone. Let us know your thoughts or your experiences with the app in the comments.

TUAWTethering for the holiday traveler originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 22 Dec 2009 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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