Competition in the cell phone industry is legendarily cut-throat. The major carriers will do whatever they can to retain and induce people to sign long-term contracts ad buy new phones. This often includes ludicrous stunts and special offers that ultimately deliver little value.
That’s especially true with a wonderful little deal AT&T is offering right now with the purchase of an iPhone 3G. With your two-year contract and at-least-$200 investment, you’ll receive this handsome (?) car charger for Steve’s Amazing New Device worth almost $10!
Except you won’t. It’s only compatible with the original iPhone. (a Consumerist informant claims this is an inventory-clearing tactic) This is especially funny, because I can’t imagine someone deciding to take the iPhone plunge because of a crummy car adapter. The iPhone has broken most of the rules of the cell phone upgrade cycle, mainly by making OS upgrades and the addition of new applications a mandatory part of owning a cell phone.
What’s not a part of owning a phone anymore? Crappy plastic add-ons used as inducements to the purchase of an over-priced and under-delivering phone from Motorola.
Atif Shamin, a Phd student in electronics at Carlton University in Canada, has figured out a way of reducing iPhone battery drain.
He’s replaced all the internal wires and PCBs of his iPhone with an antenna.
The swap allows a wireless connection between a micro-antenna embedded within the circuits of the chip.
“This has not been tried before — that the circuits are connected to the antenna wirelessly. They’ve been connected through wires and a bunch of other components. That’s where the power gets lost,” Shamim said in an article on the University website.
He estimates that his solution uses 12 times less power than the traditional, wired-transmitter module. That means more juice for the ever-expanding choice in apps.
“It’s a common problem. There are so many applications in the iPhone, it’s like a power-sucking machine,” said Shamim.
He’s filed for patents in the US and Canada, look out for details on his hack in an upcoming issue of Microwave Journal.
Is there any social dynamic the iPhone cannot be leveraged to transform somehow?
Here’s a six minute video from digitalJournal TV detailing a “social taxi service” that San Francisco-based Avego Shared Transport hopes will one day expand the public transit system by enabling every private vehicle to operate as a public transport vehicle.
This free iPhone app has the potential to dramatically reduce wasted seat capacity in cars, reduce the costs of commuting and expand commuting options for riders and drivers alike. This is definitely not your father’s hitchhiking experience.
Using the iPhone 3G’s GPS capabilities and web services, Avego seeks to enable a cross between carpooling, public transport and eBay, by matching a driver’s wasted seat capacity - those seats which are unoccupied - to passengers, reducing commute costs for all participants. Avego automatically apportions the cost of the commute, providing a financial incentive to commuters frustrated by high gasoline prices.
The company is quick to point out that the arrangements it facilitates clearly fall under “carpooling” laws that exist in nearly every jurisdiction in the US since the oil shock of the 1970s, and financial transactions are carefully limited so that participating drivers only recover the expenses associated with providing transport and do not cross the line into making them commericial transport operators.
For the nitty gritty on how Avego works, see the further information page on Avego’s website, but definitely take time to watch the video here and marvel at yet one more example of how Apple technology is changing the ways people interact with each other and with the world around them.
A little bit old school, a little bit new school: the Record 001 app lets you work the image of a vinyl record with your fingers in a shout out to turntable days.
Digital DJs can backspin, pause and scratch like they would on a real record on an iPhone or iPod touch screen.
Record 001 has mixed reviews so far — the first release comes with just two oddball tracks “World Peace” and “The Fashion Song” — calling it a quirky demo app but not regretting the $1.99 price tag.
See if you don’t get a smile out of the video, though.
Rapper Lil’ Wayne recently launched an iPhone, iPod touch app designed to give fans a taste of what it’s like to be him.
Well, what it means to look a little like 25-year-old Dwayne Carter, or to paraphrase the old cosmetics slogan: “You, only blinger.”
The app developed by Lil’ Wayne and his record company Universal Music, comes from epictilt, the makers of iPhone app ESPN Cameraman.
The Lil’ Wayne app adds gold jewelry, his trademark teardrop tats and oversized hats to your pics. If you’re unsure you want to pop $0.99 for it on iTunes, you can check out a photo gallery here. The app allows fans to check out other Wayne-ified photos and buy his music.
One guarantee: you get to look fierce but avoid Lil Wayne’s real-life arrests with corresponding mug shots.
We recently wrote about iBreviary, an iPhone and iPod Touch app that gives the morning prayer, evening prayer and night prayer or complines for the day.
The Italian priest who had the brainwave for the app, Don Paolo Padrini, informed us that the 1.2 version of the prayer app, which he says has the blessing of the Vatican, is now available in Spanish, French, English and Latin (for those, like the Pope, who want a return to pre-Second Vatican Council days) and a version that follows the Ambrosian Rite, for the five million Catholics or so in the Milan area.
iBreviary costs $0.99 on iTunes and now also comes with a how-to page to help those unfamiliar with daily prayer rituals. The original Italian-language version was gratis, Father Padrini says the price of the app is a contribution for the developers.
Don Padrini also says an app is in the works for Facebook called that “Praybook” that will let groups use the Breviary via social network.
Topping at least one luxe list of trendy items for Christmas are these customized iPhones from Continental Mobile.
The iPhone rimmed in 24k gold costs about $1,800 (£1,199), if that doesn’t wind you up there are ruby and diamond versions, about $4,600 (£3,099) and other serious stones like sapphires and emeralds. iPod Touch versions are also available.
If you decide to put this much sparkle under your tree, make it fast. Each item is “hand crafted in England” and takes seven to 10 days for delivery.
Geek rapper GOSHone shot a video for his song “Newteknowledge” on an iPhone 3g.
He says it’s the first music vid shot entirely on an iPhone, but whether someone else has done it or not, the song is catchy as hell (though we do wish he’d given “props up to my fellow nerds” on CoM instead of CNET) and the video where he looks like the overtaxed nerd next cubicle over is clever.
He filmed the clip with Cycorder (the app “rocks,” he says but only works on jailbroken phones) and edited with After Effects, because Final Cut had issues with Cycorder resolution and frame rate.
The song is part of GOSHone’s album “ctrl_alt_ego” which can be downloaded gratis from his website. A three-year labor of love, it includes tracks like “Laptop Muzik,” “Big Brains” and “Data Flow.”
iCan Drive may help Europeans navigate driving tests.
Back in 2006, the EU approved plans for a single drivers license to replace the over 100 different driver’s license standards on the Old Continent.
Countries have until until 2033 to phase it in, but there’s a good chance if you have to renew, your pan-european driver’s license test is going to have a few new things on it.
This iPhone, iPod touch iCan drive app carries quizzes for all official 664 tests for the EU driver’s license. It covers both A class (small scooter) and B class (standard car) licenses.
Developed by Italian Daniele Perilli, the quiz gives results immediately, totals errors and gives all acceptable answer for every question.
There are some 6,891 road-ready questions available in Italian, English, German, French, Spanish, Russian, Chinese and Arabic.
Apple faces yet another lawsuit over the performance of its iPhone 3G. The latest court challenge charges hardware defects cause calls to be dropped when using 3G.
James Pittman made the claims to a Northern District of California federal court in San Jose on Nov. 26.
In his lawsuit, Pittman alleges Apple of misrepresentation, violating California’s Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act, unjust enrichment and unfair competition of business and professions code.
Mac fans Tuan Nguyen and Ken Thomas got busy with corrugated cardboard and regular white glue to make this iPhone table. The straightforward design comes with handy removable icons to use as coasters.
It doesn’t quite reach the chic of the iPod table, but it’s cute and hey, if you decide for a radical home makeover, you wouldn’t feel too bad about breaking it up for the recycling bin. Details about price, availability to follow.
Wal-Mart iPhone training material. Image courtesy MacRumors.com
Wal-Mart may be set to sell a 4GB iPhone for $99, Starting Dec. 28, the BoyGenius Website suggested Thursday. The move would mark the return of the iPhone version dropped in 2007 in favor of the 8GB iPhone.
Although BG told readers to take the tip with a grain of salt, reviving the once $399 iPhone comes as handset makers struggle against tightening consumer spending.
“Anyone looking to spend $99 on an iPhone probably doesn’t care that much about storage anyway,” according to the blog.
If true, the action would jive with analysts who have suggested Apple could cut the iPhone’s price to $99. In October, Needham Research’s Charlie Wolf said Apple’s high margins would permit a 50 percent price drop, increasing the marketshare of the already popular iPhone.
The $99 iPhone would require a two-year contract. In October, BG wrote that the iPhone would appear Nov. 15 on Wal-Mart shelves.
The Amazon Mobile app could get you out of a few Christmas-present dilemmas. The app gives iPhone and iPod Touch users access to wish lists, shopping carts, one-click shopping, plus all the customer reviews and ratings that may make last-minute buys less of a shot in the dark.
It also includes a nice feature called “Amazon Remembers” which lets you save snapshots as visual post-its if you see something you want to buy later. The app saves the photo and searches for similar items, too.
Released a few days ago, it’s had some good reviews, including a five-star rating from “ericthewhat” who says: “Great. I can definitely see my drunk-texting problem becoming a drunk-shopping problem.”
In the first release, one of the useful things you can’t buy or download from Amazon are MP3s.
From the mobile app you can put MP3s on your wish list and then buy from your computer, but it’s a bit of a buzzkill for what otherwise seems a useful app.
Today in Europe, Nokia introduced the N97, its first serious effort to combat the iPhone’s rapid rise in the smartphone market. And I have to say, I’m pretty impressed. It’s chock full of features the iPhone can’t match (twice the storage, higher-res screen, 5 megapixel camera with a real lens and a good flash), and it’s actually attractive, too. Even better, it doesn’t run Windows Mobile, and the S60 OS seems to have been much better adapted to touch form than the BlackBerry OS on the unfortunate Storm. Plus, it has a really nice QWERTY keyboard, for those who are into that kind of thing.
On the downside, it’s thicker than an iPhone, doesn’t sync with iTunes, doesn’t run OS X and can’t run AppStore apps. Precisely the actual competitive advantage that Apple has built in. It also doesn’t appear to use an on-screen keyboard in portrait mode (favoring T9 text entry), which is pretty obnoxious when browsing with one hand (at least until your bookmarks get set).
Still, this looks like a heck of a phone to be reckoned with for Apple in the European market. No North American release announced at this time, but it does support the 3G network already deployed by AT&T and it will be sold unlocked, so enthusiasts can grab it in the first half of next year.
This prototype tactile iPhone case called Invisual allows sight-impaired users to get the most out of the smart phone. It would work in conjunction with special accessibility functions, such as text-to-speech features and moon type tactile alphabet keyboard.
Portugal-based designer Bruno Fosi crafted the silicon case with modified bas-relief buttons that correspond to the iPhone home screen. Fosi says that the iPhone thus covered keeps all its functions intact, including multi-touch and finger flick scrolling.
A video blog entry by Black Eyed Peas frontman Will.i.am shows just how much fun you can have in a recording studio with an iPhone at hand.
At about 1:40 seconds, the club-ready tune on youtube (or under “video blog” on his site) is catchy enough to have some fans wondering whether it’ll be part of his next album. It might not win over new converts to his Blackberry social network or much love at Nokia where he was a featured guest for the Remix party…
Pirates are back. If you’ve been reading the news you know we mean the bad-ass high-seas kind, not the frilly-shirted guyliner ones from the movies.
It’s likely that aught-age pirates who have been terrorizing ships off the Horn of Africa recently have better tools than the odd rusty compass, at the very least iPhones with Google maps.
With this new breed in mind, Glenn Jones, a graphic designer and illustrator from Auckland, New Zealand designed this Modern Pirate T-shirt, yours for $20.
Those thigh-high boots do look good accessorized by an iPhone, we find.
There’s an idea you have for a killer iPhone app that no one has made yet. Trouble is, you have the idea but aren’t a developer. Step in iPhone Freelancer, a site that aims to pair idea-happy luddites with the tech people to make those apps happen. Employers post projects, then freelancers bid on them. It just launched a couple of days ago, but there’s already one project for a game with a budget of $250-500:
“I am looking for someone to develop an iphone app in the spirit of ibeer. You will have to know the SDK development kit provided by apple or some mobile phone equivalent. The app is meant to be a simple form of entertainment. If you start with an existing game and can just change the images, that would be fine too. I just don’t have the skill to do it on my own.”
Given the recent spate of stories on of developers making big bucks on iPhone apps, the idea is good, though savvy programmers are sharing iPhone-related gigs already.
Inspired by our previous post on an iPhone stand from a standard binder clip, CoM reader Rich Sipe took matters into hand and fashioned another one, a bit more complex than the first one but it looks like it’ll give you a sturdy stand out of pinched office materials.
Can see this iPhone power charger, a prototype by a Tokyo designer who goes by the name Mac Funamizu, in the hands of irate Hollywood agent Ari Gold from Entourage as he channels Gordon Gecko.
I probably shouldn’t be saying this on a Mac site, but reputation be damned: I’m quite interested to see Windows 7. Let me explain why. (Hang on while I put on my flame-proof jacket. There.)
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Competition in the cell phone industry is legendarily cut-throat. The major carriers will do whatever they can to retain and induce people to sign long-term contracts ad buy new phones. This often includes ludicrous stunts and special offers that ultimately deliver little value.
