iHologram, 3D iPhone App 26 Aug 2008 4:57 AM (16 years ago)
iHologram, the cool 3D iPhone App for both iPhone and iPod touch, shows how creatively 3D application can be made for smaller devices like iPhone. According to developer David O’Reilly, “The application works by assuming a constant viewing angle (35-45 degrees), typical for when the device is placed on a tabletop. The 3D scene’s perspective is warped using anamorphosis, the same technique used in Hans Holbein’s painting The Ambassadors. This application does the exact same but updates dynamically”. Sounds cool and looks cool too. But unfortunately the app is just a 3D technology demonstrator rendering rather than a real application. The developer just demonstrated how the 3D effect could be made to work. “My aim with this was to tackle the problem of 3D viewing in an original way using current technology”, said on his website. Mr. O’Reilly also added “I’d be happy to collaborate with a developer or studio who want’s to make it happen”. The demo application is an instant hit and became all time most popular videos on Vimeo in just a matter of a day. So hopefully someone will be interested for collaboration pretty soon.
Will add the demo video soon.
IBM Lotus iNotes Coming to iPhone Later This Year 25 Aug 2008 9:25 PM (16 years ago)
IBM’s new Lotus iNotes for iPhone is finally expected to come out later this year. iNotes, a web app client for the Lotus Domino messaging server, is set to bring email, calendar, and contacts to iPhone. Obviously this proves IBM’s growing interest on Apple’s products and iPhone is a definite choice for that.
Lotus iNotes, which the company says “will combine with the flexibility and connectivity of the Apple iPhone” is built on IBM’s existing Lotus Domino Web Access infrastructure. IBM promises to bring the enterprise to Apple iPhone and a “rich Apple iPhone user experience”.
It’s expected that the release of iNotes for the iPhone and iPod Touch may drive adoption of these devices by business users. But not everyone seems to agree with that. Like Kevin McIsaac, an analyst at research firm IBRS said “I can’t really imagine someone who’s really hip and cool like an iPhone user wanting to use Lotus Notes”.
Whatever the initial responses are, it’s expected that IBM will deliver something that will attract a lot of business customers. Apple already said after the iPhone firmware 2.0 announcements that over one third of Fortune 500 companies had sought access to the company’s ongoing iPhone Enterprise Beta program. So there’s obviously a huge demand there.
Here’re few screenshots of the apps. Click on the images to view the full size.
Microsoft’s Response to Apple’s Commercials 25 Aug 2008 8:06 PM (16 years ago)
This article may be a bit off topic than what I’d normally discuss or post here which is about iPhone and its related products and services and so on. But I couldn’t stop writing about it and I thought it’s somewhat related anyway.
Apple’s Mac commercials aren’t new to us. We’ve all seen how Mr. PC gets humiliated by Mr. Mac. Not to mention all comparisons make valid point. These ads manages to smartly promote Mac’s technology and to reinforce criticism about Microsoft’s products. Which are…All True..ya. Anyway, so we always thought when Microsoft will come back with the “counter attack” kind of commercial. Not sure whether they’ll be able to prove anything like Mac but you know, it’s worth giving it a crack. Now the “good news” is, it looks like our wait is over. Microsoft is launching a new add campaign to get more consumer awareness of their “new” operating system, Vista and Microsoft is brining Mr. funnyman Jerry Seinfeld. Seinfeld will appear in ads together with Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates and will apparently receive about $10 million for his work in the campaign, According to The Wall Street Journal. Not that much when you know the campaign budget is only $300 million. The goal of the new commercials will be to convince the public that Windows Vista is not difficult to use compared with similar products from Apple Inc.
Ya, right!
iPhone Billing Issue 25 Aug 2008 3:06 PM (16 years ago)
A lot of people are complaining being hit by unexpected iPhone data usage cost. We’ve received complaints about user’s using WiFi but getting charged by their Carriers for GPRS usage. Have you experienced similar kind of problem? If so then please share your experience with us. Also, we’ve just opened a petition on this issue here, you may also want to participate.
Wired’s Survey: iPhone’s 3G Issue Seems to be More of a Network Issue 25 Aug 2008 2:28 PM (16 years ago)
The result of Wired’s 3G performance study is out this morning. If you’re a bit lost then check our post on this here: Wired.com’s Global iPhone 3G Study. The survey result of iPhone’s 3G download speed is suggesting that it’s more of a network issue than iPhone’s hardware issue. The result shows that users in Germany and Netherlands have the fastest average 3G download speeds of 2 Mbps on an average. And just because you’re curious to know, Australian user’s reported the slowest 3G download speed of about 759 Kbps. The result of US user’s isn’t that good either. 10 out of 30 people from some major US cities reported very slow 3G speed, almost similar to edge speed.
And not surprisingly Australian carriers, Optus & Virgin (when did they get iPhone?!?) user’s reported the slowest speed of about 390 Kbps on average. Details here at Wired.com.
BlackBerry Bold and iPhone, A Quick Comparison 24 Aug 2008 10:40 PM (16 years ago)
In the world of corporate messaging, BlackBerry devices were the most popular ones, if not the only one, until recently! And I guess we know the answer, why. While iPhone is conquering the world by its all-in-one functionality, it’s no wonder that other companies are feeling the heat and trying to match the competition, let it be design and/or functionality that can come close to that of iPhone’s. And BlackBerry is no different to that. Their latest product BlackBerry Bold has attracted attention as a smarter, sleeker BlackBerry so far. Until now BlckBerry devices were famous for its push emailing and web browsing capabilities. They never considered being a sleek or stylish device. But it looks like BlackBerry is trying to change that impression now.
As Mobile Computer says, RIM probably won’t admit as much, but its new BlackBerry Bold is a blatant attempt to appeal to an iPhone-buying audience. It’s by far the best-looking BlackBerry to date and it even looks a bit like an iPhone – the stainless steel rim around the case and flush-fitting screen are two obvious design cues.
So far, all RIM has really done is produce a sleeker, shinier version of its usual BlackBerry fare and mere looks alone are not enough to compete with the iPhone. Fortunately, it has also twigged that that a major factor in the iPhone’s success is its slick user interface, and so it’s given the new BlackBerry OS 4.6 that runs on the Bold a cosmetic makeover, too.
Despite adding many new features such as classy monochromatic icons, support for recent web standards (CSS 2.1, HTML 4.01 and JavaScript 1.5, to name three), desktop-like web browsing experience on a small screen (480 x 320) and not to mention it’s 3G support; it looks like that Bold couldn’t match the web browsing performance of iPhone. While an iPhone 2G took 31 seconds to load a website, the bold takes 59 seconds over a definite Wi-Fi connection; 28 seconds slower than a 2G iPhone. Well, that brings us to conclusion I guess. While people are crying over iPhone 3G’s low 3G performance (still better than 2G), I wonder how users will take this performance of BlackBerry Bold.
iPhone Gets Video Recorder 24 Aug 2008 12:13 AM (16 years ago)
Finally iPhone gets a video recorder that records at the maximum speed of the iPhone Camera. Oh what a feeling!! I know, because I’ve tested it and it works well for a phone with camera but doesn’t support video recording!! Ever since I got my hands on the iPhone I wondered whey Apple wouldn’t release the video capability of the iPhone Camera. Found many resources but trust me, none of them made any sense. So when Apple wouldn’t release or reveal the full potential of the camera, independent developers felt the responsibility and released their own version of the video recording software for the iPhone, the Cycorder. As the name says, it came from Cydia. So unfortunately if your iPhone isn’t jailbroken then you will be left alone from using this great software. (see our post on Unlock iPhone 3G).
Ok, for the rest who have the luxury of using third party software, here’s what the recorder delivers. The camera records at the maximum speed of 6-15 frames per second depending on lighting conditions, with no compression delay between pressing stop and getting to view the resulting video. Cycorder does MJPEG compression: the same as that used by most point and shoot digital cameras that also happened to support recording video. Video files are recorded at 384×288, a 4×3 (television) aspect ration.
We’ve tested it ourselves and I’ve to say, it’s OK. It’s not highly impressive but I guess something is better than nothing at this stage. So don’t get too excited seeing all these options as the software is at it’s initial stage and doesn’t record any sound. The software is FREE but when the sound recording option is added, it’s expected to add cost.
“It’s expected that the audio recording will be done within the week and may be sold as a premium feature.”, the developers said.
Here’s the sample video that we’ve taken.
iPhone Launch Fails in India 23 Aug 2008 4:38 AM (16 years ago)
Finally iPhone hits India. After a long wait and speculation iPhone reaches indian market but unfortunately the light wasn’t flashing too much or you can even say not at all. The hefty price and lack of high end 3G Services is to be blamed, according to the officials. Despite creating huge demand by media and telecommunications, the device that created worldwide craze could only attract hand full of people in each state of India where iPhone 3G was released last thursday. One of the iPhone sells center in mumbai even tried to attract people for the midnight launch by hiring cheerleaders (ya, I know you’re thinking about IPL now), but unfortunately that even couldn’t attract buyers as only 10 customers bought the cutting edge device.
How to Restore a Bricked iPhone 23 Aug 2008 1:04 AM (16 years ago)
If you ever wondered how to restore a bricked iPhone then here’s how. It may not be guaranteed but it definitely did work for us.
- Plug your iPhone into the computer (mac or windows, whichever you use to sync with your iTune)
- Then reset the iPhone by holding the home and power button at the same time
- Keep holding them down until you see the reboot screen, but do not let go as yet
- Keep holding it down until the next thing you see is the restore screen where you’ll see the iTune logo and the USB cable on your iPhone screen
- And at that point you’ll be connected to your iTune and restore to your last backup
Nice and simple! Hopefully it will work for you if you’re trying. So Good Luck.
A Dream to Compete With iPhone 21 Aug 2008 11:24 PM (16 years ago)
Lately we’ve been hearing a lot about HTC Dream, the first phone to use Google Android and bla bla bla. Despite winning the approval by the Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday 19th August, the Company still wouldn’t reveal any image (not on their official website) not even any detail specifications of the “DREAM”. So what are we supposed to do? Dream about it until its release? Looks like that’s exactly HTC is trying to do.
“The exact specifications and details are a mystery left to your imagination. You’ll have to wait until later this year to learn just what you’re getting with the HTC Dream. But, you can bet that the HTC Dream will be the most desired mobile phone on the market when it is released later this year.” - says on the official site.
Anyway, that’s not the purpose of this post. The main purpose is to see how HTC is trying to get people thinking that “HTC Dream will be the most desired mobile phone on the market“, meaning that the release of Dream will be the serious competition for iPhone. Sure, comparisons with iPhone is obvious as more and more companies are trying to find their ways to beat the success of iPhone. But how exactly HTC is trying to compete with iPhone? With the help of Google Android or with a killer design? Or combination of both? Whatever it is, I am not sold yet, at least not untill HTC reveals the exact potentian of the Dream; other than just saying:
- Large touchscreen with haptic feedback
- Full QWERTY keypad
- 5 inches long and 3 inches wide
- Keypad that either slides or swivels for easy typing/texting
- Internet navigation controls below the touchscreen display
By far I don’t see it competing with iPhone in any way. May be it will, but for now I think HTC is just Dream-ing.