Hasta La Gadget!

When I tried to update to the latest Shazam for iPhone after I installed iPhone OS 3.0, I saw this age warning pop-up window when the phone attempted to install the update:

Age restriction warning on apps in iPhone OS 3.0

(Credit: Nicole Lee/CNET)

I found this …

Originally posted at iPhone Atlas

Apple’s highly anticipated iPhone 3.0 operating system has landed, squeezing in some major enhancements missing from preceding versions. Our first impressions? The free software update is significant enough to beautify even the two-year-old, original iPhone, making it feel brand new.

First things first: Right after we installed the new iPhone 3.0 software, it immediately felt snappier than its predecessor. Most important, the iPhone’s camera is quicker at snapping photos than before, making it better equipped for capturing the serendipitous. Even swiping back and forth on the home screen is slicker, as are launching apps and typing messages.

Keep in mind, however, that any operating system update feels immediately faster out of the box. The previous iPhone operating systems slowed down over time due to system caching and other stored files cramping their style. (My colleague Dan Moren of Macworld warned me that from his experience testing the iPhone 3.0 beta, the OS slowed down over time.)

Moving on to enhancements: The single most useful new feature is iPhone 3.0’s search capabilities. Apple added Spotlight, a systemwide search bar that you access by swiping to the left of your primary springboard screen, or by pressing the home button twice, slowly. A search bar appears at the top of a blank, black screen, and you can type a word to perform a search through your calendar, contacts, e-mail applications and the names of applications. (In the screenshot at right, I’ve typed “Yelp”; Spotlight’s results reveal the Yelp application as well as my friend David Lee, who is a Yelp employee.)

This feature will please iPhone-application addicts, because the more apps they download, the harder it gets to find them; this tool solves that problem. Apple also added a search bar for the Mail application, enabling you to easily search through all your e-mails, even ones that are still on the server and haven’t been  downloaded by the iPhone yet.

The major feature that users have been clamoring for is Cut/Copy/Paste. Apple made this tool extremely easy to use: To bring up the functions, you simply double tap on a screen where you wish to copy some text. A bubble appears asking whether you wish to use Cut or Copy, and a box encapsulates the area you tapped. Then, you drag the corners of the box to select the area you wish to copy and tap Copy. To paste, you launch the app where you wish to paste the text, double-tap once again and hit Paste. This tool is long overdue, and we’re relieved it’s finally here.

Another enhancement we’ve been dying for is broader support for landscape mode. That is, the ability to flip the iPhone sideways and use an application sideways. Apple added landscape mode for the iPhone’s e-mail, SMS and Notes applications, and boy is it ever easier to type on a landscape keyboard. It’s about time!

A brand new app on iPhone 3.0 is the Voice Memos audio recorder. We’re not all that wowed, because various audio-recording applications have been available through the App Store for quite some time. But it’s decent at what it does: You hit the Record button, and when you’re finished you hit Pause and then a Log button to store the clip. Then a menu containing the clips appears, where you can play back or e-mail the audio files — in MPEG-4, aka .m4a, format.

We also enjoyed some of the subtle improvements. In the SMS app, for example, you now have the option to delete or forward selected text messages from contacts. (In the screenshot at right, for example, I am individually selecting messages for deletion where a woman is rejecting my subtle invitation to hang out at Outside Lands, as well as her follow-up invitation to a show at Cafe Du Nord.)

Another minor enhancement is the App Store’s Redeem option (below) for gift cards and promotional codes. This eliminates the need to use your computer to redeem these codes and download free goodies through iTunes app. That’s a smart addition: Whatever Apple can do to keep the iPhone experience on the iPhone is a welcome change.

The Mail application also introduces a minor change: When you’re sending an e-mail, you don’t have to wait for it to finish sending before attempting to send another e-mail. Instead, the Mail app puts each message in the outbox and completes each request in the order in which it was sent. I tested this by sending four consecutive photos, and I ran into one problem: When connected on EDGE, Mail consistently failed to send the messages. It wasn’t until I connected to Wi-Fi that I was able to successfully e-mail the four photos.

There are two other features that consumers have been demanding: Tethering support (i.e., the ability to turn the iPhone into a wireless modem) as well as multimedia messaging for sending photos and audio files via a text-messaging-like service. We could not test either of these, because AT&T does not yet support them. The company declined to comment on the reasons why tethering and MMS are not available yet for iPhone customers on AT&T’s network, but a spokesman said it was not a network-related issue. Apple said AT&T iPhone customers can expect MMS support in late summer.

We’ll continue to test iPhone 3.0 over the next few weeks. We’ll also be testing new applications taking advantage of the new features in the operating system. Keep up with Gadget Lab’s iPhone 3.0 coverage.

See Also:

• Apple Rolls Out iPhone 3.0 Operating System Upgrade
• Why Apple Can Afford to Phone It In With the Next iPhone
• iPhone 3.0 Wish List: Accessory-Powered Apps We Want
• Apple Bestows Cut-and-Paste, MMS on iPhone Users
• iPhone 3.0: Will the Gold Rush Continue?

Photos: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

AsRock’s Ion 330-BD nettop got a little lost among the twenty other Ion-based products that debuted at Computex, but the folks at TweakTown recently got a chance to spend a bit of one-on-one time with it, and they’ve now turned out an expectedly thorough review. As you can tell from the model name, one of the big selling points of this with this particular model is the built-in Blu-ray drive (it’s also available without one), which TweakTown says feels right at home in the nettop, delivering “silky and smooth” playback with nary a hiccup. The rest of the nettop also seems to be more than up to par, with it delivering on its promise of quiet, low-power operation, and providing the performance you’d expect from the Ion / Atom combination. Better still, TweakTown says that the system can be easily overclocked to 2.1GHz without any apparent hit to stability. Hit up the link below for the complete rundown, including plenty of benchmarks and a closer look at the system itself (inside and out).

Filed under: Desktops

ASRock’s Ion 330-BD nettop gets reviewed originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Jun 2009 19:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Back in the stone age — iPhone OS 2.x, that is — men wrestled wild boar to the ground with their bare hands, wore Members Only jackets, and connected to AT&T hotspots using an archaic, ridiculous process involving text messages, websites, and prayer. One previously unpublicized feature of the just-released OS 3.0, though, changes all that: connecting to your rightful WiFi coverage is now a seamless, no-brainer experience, which magically and very suddenly makes AT&T’s hotspots useful. If we had to guess, these guys are looking for every reasonable way to get iPhones from the 3G network over to WiFi as often as possible, and this should certainly help. Follow the break to see exactly what it means to have an iPhone in close proximity to a Starbucks, in case you’re curious.

Continue reading AT&T’s free hotspot access finally useful with auto-connection in iPhone OS 3.0

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

AT&T’s free hotspot access finally useful with auto-connection in iPhone OS 3.0 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Jun 2009 18:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Verizon on Wednesday updated a lawsuit it filed in March to accuse more companies of making illegal telemarketing calls regarding car warranties. OnStar also joined Verizon in the suit, which now targets nine companies in total.

OnStar provides vehicle-based consumer assistance. Users received more than 400,000 telemarketing calls earlier this year, most of which were automatically answered by OnStar’s equipment. Since OnStar handles emergency calls, all calls must be answered, so the influx of calls affected the system, Verizon said.

“These telemarketers continue to prey on our customers using illegal methods to reach them on their wireless phones,” Steven E. Zipperstein, vice president and general counsel at Verizon Wireless, said in a statement. “This litigation is aimed not just at the telemarketers, but also at those who enable their unlawful conduct with technological assistance. We will not rest until they stop invading our customers’ privacy.”

Since January 2008, more than 2 million Verizon Wireless customers have received calls from numbers starting with 281, 614, 801, and 562 area codes.

Those who answer their phones hear a pre-recorded voice that tells them their car warranties are about to expire, and requests that they press 1 for more information. They are then directed to an operator who asks them for the make and model of the car, but if callers ask questions, the call is disconnected.

In February, St. Louis-based National Auto Warranty Services and Florida-based Explicit Media, doing business as Voice Solutions, were forced to pay a $50,000 fine for making these telemarketing calls to Verizon customers. Verizon donated the funds to actress Mariska Hargitay’s Joyful Heart Foundation.