Can’t find an iPhone 3G? Well, TopMuffin has created a site that checks Apple’s store inventory every 15 minutes. According to the site, Apple updates the inventory throughout the day. TopMuffin’s site parses the feed (feed link) and shows iPhone 3G availability by Apple Store.

TopMuffin doesn’t just post availability info, they also do some statistics to find the percent available. When we checked the page, Apple had 45% availability for 8GB black iPhones, 53% availability for 16GB black iPhones, and 41% availability for 16GB white iPhones.

This site does not list availability for AT&T stores, and only lists stores located in the U.S. A disclaimer is posted on the page lets viewers know that the best way to check iPhone availability is to call your local store. You can view the site by clicking the read link.

via http://www.tuaw.com/2008/07/26/get-iphone-availability-updates-every-15-minutes/

Posted on July 28th, 2008 by admin
Filed under: iPhone Tips | No Comments »

looks like a Cocoa framework will come out during the fall for the iPhone that allows developers to work with Facebook Connect. This will most likely be in SDK form, and iPhone app developers will be able to use it. What’s neat about this is developers will be able to use the Facebook platform and integrate users right into the applications.

t will be interesting to see what sort of applications are born out of this. And since founder Mark Zuckerberg calls Facebook Connect “Facebook for the rest of the web,” I think we will be in for a real treat with this added iPhone compatibility. With all of that Facebook user information at their fingertips, developers will no doubt have a field day with the possibilities. 

It’s an exciting time for watching technology change and grow into these newer platforms. 

via http://www.iphonebuzz.com/iphone-will-get-facebook-connect-in-the-fall-253468.php

Posted on July 28th, 2008 by admin
Filed under: iPhone News | No Comments »

The fact that my wife and I both have iPhones is a blessing and a curse. It’s a blessing because well… we both have iPhones. But it’s also a curse. It has become another gadget to upgrade, to pimp up and gulp- to depreciate quickly . We were both going to get the 2nd generation iPhones but after weighting in the fact that the original ones are upgradable via software, it became hard to justify the cost of a whole new phone. Sorry, 2 new phones. So we opted for the software update, which gave us in a lot of ways a new phone. The upgrade was free, but the mostly inexpensive apps add up. This got me thinking about Fairplay, Apple’s DRM technology used throughout the iTunes store for music and now applications as well. Fairplay allows you to register up to 5 computers and unlimited iPods/iPhones synced to those computers. So… it should be easy for my wife and I to share iPhone apps with each other as long as both our iTunes are authorized to use them. All we need to do is authorize both accounts in both computers and re-download the apps. This could work in Windows, but why would I right?

Here’s a step by step tutorial on how to do it.

Scenario

I have 2 Macs, 2 iPhones, 2 iTunes accounts.

I used one account to buy a game, and another account to buy another one. The goal is to have both games playable on both phones legally with no hacks.

Solution

Have each computer be authorized for both accounts. Re-download apps on 2nd computer with 1st computer iTunes account.

Step 1: Authorize Computers

I step into my wife’s mac, launch iTunes, log out of her iTunes Store account and log in with mine. 

Step 1: Log Out and In

Still inside iTunes,  I go to the app store and click the Buy App button on the application I had bought in my computer.

     

Step 2: re-download

iTunes knows I already paid for this and just let’s be re-download it without charging me again.

Step 2: Confirm

The app then begins to download.

    

Step 2: downloading

Once the download is complete, it now shows in the Applications section of iTunes. 

    

Step 2: downloaded

I can now log out of my iTunes Store account and log her’s back in.

Step 1: Log out and in

Step 3: Sync & Play

I can plug her phone in now and sync.

Step 3: sync

The app should transfer without any fuss.

Step 3: syncing

Once synced, it shows on her phone ready for playing.

Step 3: play

And now both our kids can take over our phones and drain those batteries out. 

Step 3: playing

Enjoy.

via http://allforces.com/2008/07/22/share-apps-between-iphones/

Posted on July 25th, 2008 by admin
Filed under: iPhone Fun, iPhone Game, iPhone Tips | No Comments »

One of the nifty features of the 2.0 software is taking screenshots by pressing the Home and Lock buttons at the same time. There are lots of ways to make use of the feature: screenshots for an app review, capturing your home screen to show to your friends, or grabbing a page in Safari to look at later.

However, there’s one quite useful feature of it discovered by James1292 on the Apple Discussions board. It’s a way to crop photos on your iPhone, a feature that has been frequently asked for. It’s simple to do; just zoom in on the portion of the image you want to crop, and take a screenshot. There will then be a new image of the area you selected. Of course, this won’t result in the highest quality image, (quality will decrease as you zoom further) but it’s a start.

via http://justanotheriphoneblog.com/wordpress/2008/07/23/quick-tip-crop-your-photos/

Posted on July 25th, 2008 by admin
Filed under: iPhone Tips | No Comments »

GearLive reports that Apple has seeded a beta version of iPhone 2.1 Firmware (Beta 1, Build 5F90) to developers.

According to the site, Apple has included new Core Location features that might suggest that turn-by-turn GPS could become a reality. Core Location can reportedly track your direction and the speed at which you are traveling.

Along with the new firmware, Apple has also seeded a new version of the iPhone SDK but the new SDK can not be used to submit Apps to the current App Store. There have been earlier reports that Firmware 2.0.1 had been spotted in the wild, but a 2.1 upgrade would presumably introduce more than just bug fixes.

Posted on July 25th, 2008 by admin
Filed under: iPhone News | No Comments »

Gartner and IDC just released their most recent numbers on PC Marketshare and Apple, as expected, climbed up the ranks again.  Depending who you ask they are either slightly ahead or slightly behind the Acer/Gateway/Packard Bell mashup which puts them around tied for third place.  The interesting thing is iPod touches and iPhones aren’t counted as computer sales.  Should they be?

• iPhones have the same specs as laptops had about 5 years ago.
• They can do most of the things a full computer can
• They are as functional as UMPCs which are tallied in the total.
• They are used in much the same way as computers, replacing computers much of the time for people on the move
• Unsubsidized cost?  I’d venture to bet 50% of Dell and HP machines are less expensive that unsubidized iPhones
• Some pretty smart people say they are computers

If you do count iPhones and iPod touches…you get a whole new ball game.  That three million computer lead that HP and Dell have on Apple starts to shrink.  Apple sold a million iPhones last week.  iPods are also flying off the shelves and with the 2.0 software, they do Exchange, Cisco VPN, Office apps, IM,  and have 1000 3rd party apps waiting for them.  That is a pretty good computer platform if you ask us!

via http://www.9to5mac.com/iphones-ipods-are-computers

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

We can all expect another feature to hit the iPhone 3G soon–speech recognition.

Now as exciting as that sounds, don’t get too excited yet. This is not speech recognition in the normal sense of the term. No, you can’t say “Mom” and the iPhone will automatically dial your mother’s number. Not going to happen. And the reason why is AT&T is developing the feature to run as a web feature. So when you speak, the data is sent to a remote server, then comes back to perform an action on your handset.

The service, called Speech Mashups, is web-based, so iPhone first gen users will probably be out of luck if stuck with using the EDGE network.

And even though voice dialing won’t work with this brand of speech recognition, it will work for a few other nifty things. There’s a video online showing a man dictating a city and type of business in YellowPages and how Speech Mashups does all of the footwork for you. Pretty cool, but voice dialing would be even nicer!

via http://www.iphonebuzz.com/speech-recognition-coming-to-the-iphone-233285.php

Posted on July 24th, 2008 by admin
Filed under: iPhone News, 3G iPhone | No Comments »

IntoMobile has a few good tips on how to extend your iPhone’s battery life, and most of them involve the most obvious thing you can do to keep your iPhone running: cut down on any and all extra functions. They actually recommend to turn off 3G, but you don’t have to go that far — just by holding down the Home button, you can close any background applications sucking up juice. And by resetting your phone, you can do the same thing — clear out anything running that you’re not using.

Actually, while I was in Los Angeles last week, I heard the great Leo Laporte mention a great tip on his radio show: turn off the “Ask to join networks” feature in the WiFi settings. If you’re like me, you almost always know when there’s a WiFi network around that you can use on your iPhone, and so it’s pointless (and a waste of battery life) for the iPhone to be constantly searching for one. You can always flip it back on if you do want to do a little poking around, but leaving it off will significantly help battery life.

In fact, when in extreme trouble, you can go even farther and just switch the whole thing into Airplane Mode. It’ll make your phone useless, but when you really need it — out on a trip, or waiting to make an important call — the extra battery time might make all the difference.

Posted on July 24th, 2008 by admin
Filed under: iPhone Battery, iPhone Tips | No Comments »

iPhone OS 2.0 has a few undocumented, useful features, including:

Screen Snapshots - Zoom and Snapshot

We previously noted a method for taking screenshots under iPhone OS 20. James1292, a user on Apple’s discussion boards, subsequently found that the screenshot function can be manipulated using the zoom feature. Simply zoom to the desired depth then trigger a screenshot by pressing the Home and Sleep/Wake buttons simultaneously.

Mobile Safari Speaks Your Lingo

Mobile Safari can speak in many languages. Launch Settings then go to: General, Keyboard > International Keyboards and toggle the desire keyboards. Using the small “globe” icon on the left side of the spacebar, you can rotate through configured languages.

Once you have the keyboard of your choice displayed you can take advantage of a hidden feature in iPhone OS 2.0: simply press and hold the “.com” key. The iPhone will display the most common top level domains for your country. In the US/English: .net, .edu, .org, .com. In Germany: .edu, .org, .de, .com. In Spanish: .edu, .org, .es, .com.

In the mobile Mail.app, the same is true. If you press the “globe” for language selection, you can then press and hold the “.” (period) key to select the top level domain associated with you language settings at that time .

This feature is not consistent across all countries and in some cases some countries are not represented at all.

via http://www.iphoneatlas.com/2008/07/21/undocumented-iphone-os-20-features-and-tips/

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

Wish you had a dock for that iPhone 3G but not willing to dish out the $29 for a piece of white plastic? Flickr user mdrengl decided he didn’t want to either. Instead, he modified his old iPhone dock to work with the 3G. If you don’t mind carving into your dock with a knife, then check out the instructions after the break.

There are two ways to go about it. Either use a very sharp knife, or use a Dremel tool. The sharp knife will work well enough if you’re just looking for function, but the Dremel tool will give you a more professional look. Remember: if you use the knife, it’s not difficult to cut yourself. Also, there’s a good chance that doing this might accidentally ruin something, which we take no responsibility for. Proceed at your own risk, blah blah blah.

Materials:

• iPhone (first-generation) dock
• clear packing tape
• sharp knife
• small flathead screwdriver
• 100 grit aluminum oxide sandpaper

Step 1: Cover the male connector (inside the dock) and the female connector (on the back of the dock) with the clear tape so no bits of plastic get inside and ruin your connectors.

Step 2: carve at the inner sides of the dock with the sharp tool of your choice. Carve for 5 minutes at a time, making sure to stop every so often to remove the tape on the male connector (use the screwdriver) and check to see if your iPhone 3G fits correctly yet. Don’t forget to re-cover the connector if you start carving again.

Step 3: Once the dock is carved enough to fit the connector, test the connection to make sure your iPhone syncs through it (remove tape from both connectors, plug the iPhone in, and connect it to iTunes)

Step 4: Reapply the tape to both connectors.

Step 5: Use the sand paper (or smoothing tool of your choice) to sand down your carving work to make it nice and smooth. Be warned that this is pretty messy, so you may want to do this over the trash and wear safety glasses.

Results will most definitely vary depending on your skill with a carving tool and the amount of time you put into this project, but the results posted on Flickr by the person who came up with this look pretty darn good.

Posted on July 23rd, 2008 by admin
Filed under: Uncategorized | No Comments »