Apple has agreed to purchase PA Semi, the designer of a 64-bit, power-conservative, dual-core processor, Forbes reports. PA Semi’s chip is based not on Intel x86 (like Macs) or ARM (like the iPhone) processor specifications, but rather on the PowerPC platform around which Apple no longer bases new systems but still actively supports with Mac OS X. Unlikely to divert attention from the Intel processor for full-fledged Macs, Apple may be planning to utilize PA Semi’s current processor line, dubbed PWRficient, or a still-in-development chip from the small fabless designer in the iPhone or an unannounced product line.PA Semi’s PWRficient PA6T-1682 is a monster when compared with the iPhone’s current 620 MHz ARM CPU. It’s dual-core, with each core running at 2GHz, and sports two DDR2 memory controllers, 2MB of L2 cache, and a robust I/O subsystem. It’s also significantly more power-hungry than the ARM chip, however. The PA6T-1682 draws 5-25 watts depending on application, and can drop down to 1 watt in power-saving model. The iPhone’s ARM processor draws 0.45 milliwatts per MHz. The current iPhone’s processor is clocked at somewhere around 400 MHz, meaning it draws about 180 milliwatts, or .18 watt. As such, the PA6T-1682, in its available form, won’t meet a typical iPhone’s low power consumption requirements. Intel’s Core 2 Duo processor (used in various Macs), for comparison, draws a maximum of 65 watts.

Intel’s forthcoming Atom processor seemingly makes more sense as the centerpiece of a future iPhone than PA6T-1682. The Atom’s power consumption ranges from subwatt to 2.5 watts for mobile devices.

Apple is, however, buying not only the extant PWRficient processor design but also ARM expertise. Dan Dobberpuhl, CEO of P.A. Semi, worked on the original Strong-ARM processor processor — a successor to which is currently used in the iPhone — at Digital Equipment Corporation.

Dobberpuhl revealed in mid-2006 that his firm was working on a variety of processor cores at “different power points.” As such, P.A. Semi could have chips in the pipeline that would suit the iPhone nicely.

Since the iPhone runs a mobile version of OS X, which uses the same basic foundation as the PowerPC and Intel compatible Mac OS X, reworking the iPhone’s basic software to run on a PowerPC platform such as P.A. Semi’s is theoretically feasible.

via http://www.iphoneatlas.com/2008/04/23/a-powerpc-in-your-iphone/

Posted on April 24th, 2008 by admin
Filed under: iPhone News, iPhone Fun | No Comments »

What a number! In the second fiscal quarter of this year, Apple was able to push a little over 1.7 million iPhones out the door. This is the overall theme of the Apple earnings report, with Apple announcing a whopping $1.05 billion in profit. Since there is not last year comparison of iPhone sales, their is no growth estimate, but they are no doubt selling plenty of them.

The iPhone may be selling great, but there is quite a bit more exciting news for Apple than the iPhone. The amount of Macs sold is up 51%, and the amount of profit from them is 54%, over last year. This is of course in line with the exploding popularity of Macs lately. Apple is not longer a US only affair, as 44% of Apple’s revenue came from international sales.

iPod sales are still high, but seem to be pretty flat. No real growth there. 1% growth in sales, and 8% growth in revenue. Any growth is good though, so it is not like the iPod division is not performing well or anything. The iPod still carries 73% of the MP3 player market.

via apple

Posted on April 24th, 2008 by admin
Filed under: Uncategorized | No Comments »

Apple released the fourth version of the iPhone SDK beta today. The iPhone SDK now includes OpenGL ES support for the iPhone (Aspen) simulator. Here’s what Apple’s developer website says about the update:

The fourth beta version of the iPhone SDK includes Xcode IDE, iPhone simulator with Open GL ES support, Interface Builder, Instruments, frameworks and samples, compilers, and Shark analysis tool.

You can download the SDK update by logging into the iPhone Dev center and clicking the download link.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in!

9:31p New beta build is called 5A258f

9:31p SDK download is 1.15 GBs

9:32p No word yet as to whether pwnage will work with the new firmware–probably not. The last time it took almost a week for pwnage release to catch up (that was version 1.1).

9:34p We’re getting tips that Apple is sending out e-mails to developers enrolled in the SDK beta. The e-mails include the same message as above,

9:35p Firmware sizes about 200+MB each for iPhone and iPod touch

9:36p Apple continues with its beta pre-installation advisory. Testing devices may be locked permanently into testing mode.

9:37p If you’re new to the SDK program, make sure you phone has been pre-activated with AT&T before you attempt to load the beta software. Once the beta firmware is loaded, you may not be able to activate with AT&T’s network.

9:38p No word yet on any other changes, other than those mentioned in the e-mail / website.

9:39p Apple just put the release notes on their website. You can find them here: http://developer.apple.com/iphone/library/navigation/index.html

9:40p Code signing is now ENFORCED by Apple.

9:41p SDK no longer uses the Aspen code name for the simulator.

9:42p Audio Toolbox got a big load of new stuff

9:42p NSXMLParser support

9:43p UIFont is re-done with ascender and other professional font support that has been long missing.

9:46p Please keep sending in info as you find it out everyone! We really appreciate your tips. If you need anonymity, check out our tip line. Thank you to everyone for the great feedback so far!
Update: A blue and green birdie sang in our ear about the UIApplication delegate class: “There are definitely some very interesting methods added to UIApplication’s delegate, including methods for badging the Springboard icon, and methods related to gaining and resigning “active” status - seems like background apps may be permitted somehow.

Thanks to http://www.tuaw.com/2008/04/23/apple-iphone-sdk-beta-4/

Posted on April 23rd, 2008 by admin
Filed under: iPhone SDK | No Comments »

ith them instead of unlocking it and using it on Fido or Rogers. That may seem like an ok idea until you realize the costs assosciated with doing that. It is definitely not a good idea.
Here are the costs:
-iPhone monthly plan -$59.99

- Roaming package for Canada:

– AT&T Canada $3.99 per monthWith AT&T Canada, get our lowest rates when you travel to or call Canada.

–59¢ per minute while roaming in Canada

–19¢ per minute when calling from the U.S.

–Outside this destination, standard rates apply.
- Pay per use data roaming rate - $0.0195 cents per KB (almost $20 a mb)

- Or you could get a data roaming plan:

– $24.99/month: 20MB Data Global Plan gives you 20MB
– $59.99/month: 50MB Data Global Plan gives you 50MB

– Overage rate of $0.005 cents a kb
Other problems incurred:
- You will have a USA phone#

- If you want a Canadian phone # you will have to get a forwarding # which costs extra

- Your friends and family will have to call you long distance unless you have a forwarding #

- You might have to get someone from the US to set it up for you

- It will cost a fortune.
Summary:

Buy an iPhone at the Apple Store and unlock it yourself. Use it on Fido or Rogers.

via http://www.iphoneuser.ca/2008/04/using-at-in-canada.html

Posted on April 23rd, 2008 by admin
Filed under: iPhone Tips | No Comments »

If you regularly type on your iPhone with a non-supported language such as Danish, Dutch, Finnish or Portuguese, you’ll be pleased to learn about iPhoneDict, a repository of free keyboard dictionaries. The solution is a bit of a hack. After downloading, you have to add the dictionary into the English (UK) slot. This may be a problem if you’re actually a British iPhone user. Once downloaded, you activate the keyboard and its dictionary from Settings > International > Keybaords. You can learn more and find step-by-step instructions on the iPhoneDict website.

Posted on April 23rd, 2008 by admin
Filed under: iPhone Tips, iphone applications | No Comments »

It’s getting harder and harder lately to keep up with all the wild and wonderful apps that help you keep up with things.  Every day I wrestle a little with varying degrees of distraction from email, IM, Twitter, FriendFeed, and others - luckily I find myself hating Facebook more and more of late, so that has become a very minimal distratcion

eadBurner is another interesting entry in the RSS / news field.  It’s a ‘mashup’ type app built on and reliant upon Google Reader.  It’s a very simple but quite useful app that lets you keep track of ‘hot’ topics by seeing what is getting shared by Google Reader users the most.  As you can see in the screencap at top left, ReadBurner presents a very basic layout of the most popular stories, up and coming ones, most recent, and so on.  Each of the main sections gives you a short listing of articles per the section title, and you can tap once to view an individual article.  They’re formatted perfectly for iPhone reading, but you can also hit the ‘Full HTML’ button to open a new page to the full article at its original source.

I like ReadBurner a lot so far, partly because it gives a quick feel for what stories are hot (although not sure this is the best measure of that of course) and also because it’s an easy way to get myself reading some things that cover much broader subjects than my regular RSS feeds do - since my regular feeds tend to focus in quite a bit on iPhone, mobile tech, and general tech news.

You can give ReadBurner Mobile a look at http://m.readburner.com - and let us know what you reckon …

Posted on April 23rd, 2008 by admin
Filed under: iPhone News | No Comments »

Here’s something I’m working on with Chris Plummer and Dean Long for JavaOne this year. Chris recently was able to build our Java ME CDC/Foundation Profile platform on Darwin OS x86 (hmmm… Darwin OS… I wonder what that means… ) last weekend. (I think he started on Friday afternoon and was ready with it on Saturday). Faster than you can say, “Java ME rules!”

See:

via http://blogs.sun.com/hinkmond/date/20080410

Posted on April 23rd, 2008 by admin
Filed under: iPhone SDK | No Comments »

Now that developers have had some hands-on time with the iPhone SDK, we’re beginning to see some examples of third-party applications. But as it turns out, at least one company is looking to create something a bit more ambitious than just an application. Like an SDK, for instance. That’s right, the iPhone SDK is being used to write another SDK. A company called NetBlender has just announced an SDK called BD Touch that will allow developers to interact with a range of Blu-ray players, directly from an iPhone.The SDK use the iPhone’s WiFi capabilities and some networking technology built into Blu-ray players, and the company has already dreamed up a few ways developers can use BD Touch. Possible uses include sending digital copies of movies to your iPhone, updating your Netflix queue while you’re watching a movie, easily accessing a movie’s IMDb page, and more. There are even a few Apple-style commercials available that show off current implementations of the SDK.

For developers who want to use the technology, NetBlender is providing two versions of BD Touch. The first SDK, “Connect,” will provide you with the tools and information necessary to write basic applications. If you’re looking to do more advanced stuff, like “connect multiple iPhones to a Blu-ray Disc simultaneously,” you’ll need to pony up for the “Premiere Blend/In” SDK. Either way, NetBlender’s offering looks to be a pretty nifty use of the iPhone SDK, and I suspect developers will take the free SDK and run with it to create some cool stuff (Delicious Library integration, anyone?). Now all Apple needs to do is hurry up and offer Blu-ray drives…

via http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2008/04/10/ps3-blu-ray-sdk-for-iphone-coming-soon

Posted on April 23rd, 2008 by admin
Filed under: iPhone SDK | No Comments »

Apple’s recently released a software development kit (SDK) for the iPhone, but if you were hoping to port or develop original open source software with it, the news isn’t good. Code signing and nondisclosure conditions make free software a no-go.

The SDK itself is a free download, with which you can write programs and run them on a software simulator. But in order to actually release software you’ve written, you must enroll in the iPhone Developer Program — a step separate from downloading the SDK, and one that requires Apple’s approval.

Since its release, many in the free software and open source community have debated whether the terms of the iPhone Developer Program are compatible with common licenses such as the GPL. In a search for a definitive answer, we asked the principal parties themselves. Apple did not reply to our inquiries, but Free Software Foundation (FSF) Licensing Compliance Officer Brett Smith was happy to discuss the licensing issues in depth.

First, let’s look at the SDK and the developer program that accompanies it.

To download the SDK, you must first sign up for a free Apple ID — an existing Apple Developer Connection, .Mac, or iTunes Store account will do — and use it to register with Apple as an iPhone Developer. The SDK by itself won’t let you create applications that run on actual iPhone devices, though. To do that, you must enroll in Apple’s iPhone Developer Program, for a fee starting at $99.

For the time being, Apple is not accepting all applicants. Currently only US residents age 18 and up are eligible, and Apple is selecting a limited number of applicants. Who gets approved and speculation as to why are popular discussion topics on Apple-centric Web sites.

If your application is approved, a document called the Registered iPhone Developer Agreement lays out the terms and conditions under which you can create iPhone apps. It is those conditions that conflict with free software licenses like the GPL.

Problem: code signing

The iPhone Developer Program establishes Apple as the sole provider of iPhone applications. You can choose not to charge for an app you author, but the iTunes Store is the only channel through which it can be delivered to end users and installed. Apple signs the apps it approves with a cryptographic key. Unsigned apps won’t run on the iPhone.

This condition conflicts with section 6 of the GPLv3, the so-called “anti-TiVoization” provision. In particular, it prohibits Apple from distributing a GPLv3-licensed iPhone application without supplying the signing keys necessary to make modified versions of the application run, too.

Thus, you as the developer could attempt to place your code under the GPLv3, but Apple could not distribute it — and since only Apple-signed programs will run, no one else could distribute it either.

The FSF’s Smith says the fact that the author of the program (i.e., you) and the distributor of the binary (i.e., Apple) are unrelated entities makes no difference. “If a program is meant to be installed on a particular User Product, GPLv3 imposes the same requirements about providing Installation Information whether the software is directly installed on the device or conveyed separately.”

Because of the GPL’s viral nature, any app that is derived from other GPLv3 code must be licensed in a way that preserves GPLv3’s code signing requirement. But there are still projects that have chosen to retain earlier licenses, such as GPLv2, and prior versions of the GPL did not include the code signing requirement. Thus you could in theory place your work under GPLv2, as long as it was either entirely original or derived only from code licensed under GPLv2 and earlier. But the result still would not qualify as free software, since no one could alter your source code and run the modified result on their phone.

As Smith explains, “partially free” software is still non-free. “The Free Software Definition is not a checklist, where software that fulfills three of the criteria is somehow ‘better’ than software that only meets two. The Free Software Definition lists the bare minimum rights you need to make sure that the software works for you, instead of somebody else. If you’ve been deprived of any single one of those rights, whether by a license, a patent, code signing, or any other means, then you’ve lost your freedom. You no longer control the computer; it controls you. Getting some source is a small consolation prize for losing your own autonomy.”

But the aforementioned situation is only an option if Apple would allow you to release the source….

Problem: nondisclosure

Unrelated to the code signing complication is another issue that restricts your choice of licenses. The Registered iPhone Developer Agreement is a contract between the developer (you) and Apple. If you violate any of the terms and conditions of the agreement, you lose your right to use the coding utilities in the SDK and all of its information and documentation.

Section 3 of the document is a nondisclosure agreement (NDA). It defines “all information disclosed by Apple to you that relates to Apple’s products, designs, business plans, business opportunities, finances, research, development, know-how, personnel, or third-party confidential information” as “Confidential Information” — excluding specific information that is available elsewhere. You must agree not to “disclose, publish, or disseminate” any of the aforementioned Confidential Information, and not to use it “in any way, including, without limitation, for your own or any third party’s benefit without the prior written approval of an authorized representative of Apple in each instance.”

Those broad restrictions may be standard issue for an NDA, but they constitute a binding agreement that trumps your usual right to place a license of your choosing on your source code. As Smith puts it, “If you agree to an NDA that prohibits you from sharing your program’s source, then you cannot release that program under the GPL, or incorporate any GPL-covered code in it.”

Publicly releasing source code that uses the iPhone APIs as documented in the SDK and Developer Program could easily fall under the definition of “disclosing,” “publishing,” or “disseminating” Confidential Information, as none of the iPhone APIs are documented elsewhere. A clearer word from Apple regarding what exactly constitutes “disclosing,” “publishing,” and “disseminating” would be helpful, but until the company makes such a clarification, the conservative interpretation is the safest.

You could ask Apple for permission to publish your source code, but in the absence of such permission, violating the agreement terminates your right to use the SDK and to publish your software, regardless of the license you choose.

Finally, the fact that currently only US residents age 18 and older can even sign up for the iPhone Developer Program disqualifies many free software developers right out of the gate. The US-only restriction will likely be lifted, just as the devices themselves have been rolled out country by country. But the Registered iPhone Developer Agreement is intended to serve as a binding contract, so the age restriction is certainly here to stay.

There are other restrictions on what iPhone applications are allowed to do, which some might consider barriers to free software. The limitations already discussed affect all apps, regardless of function.

Freedom!

Of course, the code signing and NDA hang-ups apply only to developers who sign up for the program. Reverse-engineer the iPhone and you can code to your heart’s content. So long as you do not expose yourself to the official SDK, you can license your work however you want.

All of the third-party iPhone apps available up until now are the result of jailbreaking the devices, a pastime at least partly responsible for Apple’s decision to create an iPhone SDK in the first place.

To its credit, the Apple development community seems to recognize the limitations of the iPhone SDK as they apply even to non-free software, and is writing about them.

As the iPhone SDK Era begins, it is interesting to look back at what the FSF had to say about the launch of the device itself. The FSF launched GPLv3 on the same day that Apple launched the iPhone, and used the event to address the restrictions placed on iPhone owners.

Executive Director Peter Brown described the device as “crippled, because a device that isn’t under the control of its owner works against the interests of its owner.” The document goes on to cite DRM locks and “TiVoization” as the principal problems.

In the months since those words were written, the TiVoization problem might have sounded abstract, but the details of the iPhone SDK make it crystal clear — you cannot write free software for the iPhone, even if you want to.

via http://www.linux.com/feature/131752

Posted on April 23rd, 2008 by admin
Filed under: iphone applications, iPhone SDK | No Comments »

Posted on April 22nd, 2008 by admin
Filed under: iPhone Videos, iPhone Accessories | No Comments »