iPhone OS 3.0 Liveblog Archive

We’re here! Apple’s about to unveil the iPhone 3.0 OS, and Brian Lam and I are going to be covering it live. LIVE. And don’t forget to play pizza bingo while you follow the keynote.



Archive Below:

7:06 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
One of the benefits of having these keynotes in Cupertino instead of SF (for me) is the fact that I don’t have to wake up at 5 AM. Wee.

8:38 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:

8:41 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
We’re here! The weather’s surprisingly mild, so we’re not like freezing cattle outside waiting to be let in.

8:42 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Did you know John Mayer is on Twitter? I wonder if he’s going to be following this today. His Twitter background is an OS X desktop, so chances are good. But, he uses a BlackBerry. HMM.

8:48 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Still about an hour to go. People are slowly strolling in, already weary from the Bay Area traffic.

8:52 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Everyone try Oregon Trail for the iPhone yet? That thing is addicting—I spent many hours this weekend avoiding bears and dysentery. Some children didn’t make it. What, you expect me to stop for EVERY kid eaten by snakes?

8:54 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:


Hi! Brian here. Good morning!

8:58 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Oh, and farmer and banker are both good. Carpenter, less so.

9:00 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
What does everyone expect to see today? Post your prediction in the comments of the first post on Gizmodo. Here’s what I think. Cut & Paste, MMS/video, and new edible Phil Schiller edition iPhone. 32 delicious gigabytes.

9:05 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Not a whole lot of bald guys today, surprisingly.

9:05 AM ON MAR 17 2009
ccmascari:

9:10 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Someone just set off the loudest alarm I have ever heard. Not me, I swear.

9:11 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
And now everybody is streaming outside. Is this a fire? Did Steve show up and start screaming at people?

9:13 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
We’re back inside. Disaster averted.

9:18 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Liveblog bingo is up! Go to the main page and print it out. What, your office doesn’t charge you. Print that crap in full color, highest quality.

9:20 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
40 minutes left. There’s a guy that looks EXACTLY like Matt Damon here.

9:22 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Actually, imagine if Matt Damon had a cousin that went to Stanford, graduated with a computer science degree after changing majors from chemical engineering. Then he decided to purchase a belt that doesn’t quite fit so well. That’s this guy.

9:25 AM ON MAR 17 2009
ccmascari:
Don’t forget, you still have time to play the iPhone OS 3.0 Liveblog Pizza Bingo. You can get a bingo card here.

Also, if you want to make comments about and during the event, you can post your comments here.

9:26 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Then next to him, there’s a guy whose eyes are 2 inches too close to each other. If you’re saying to yourself, “hey, there are only two inches total between my eyes”, yes. That’s exactly what I’m saying.

9:30 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Dr. Drew from loveline, Kumar from Harold and Kumar, and that one guy from Band of Brothers and now 24 are also here.

9:32 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Speaking of 24, Jack Bauer is one person who will NEVER use an iPhone. It may be functional, but it would never survive a fistfight inside a quarry.

9:35 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
When the screen breaks, he would say “dammit”.

9:36 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:
There’s an interesting Italian villa theme going on inside of the Town Hall. I think they need to add a functional fountain in here.

9:36 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
24 minutes left.

9:37 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
What do you want in the next gen iPhone that can only be added through a hardware release? Front video camera, slightly more memory, Nike+ support.

9:44 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
We’re inside. The unofficial band of Apple, Coldplay, is playing.

9:45 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:

9:45 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
It smells like doobies in here:

9:46 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:

9:47 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
I think it’s the newspaper guys.

9:48 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:
Harry “Spartacus” McCracken of Technologizer.com

9:48 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Twelve excruciating minutes left til start.

9:50 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:

9:50 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Now Jack Johnson is playing. I would must RATHER have John Mayer, if that wasn’t obvious from our previous liveblog last September.

9:52 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:


Heeeeeere’s Brian!

9:53 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:


Apple’s Jos and Katie Cotton, getting ready for the show.

9:54 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
And that’s half of me on the right, which LUCKILY, includes my crotch.

9:55 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:


After a dozen or so liveblogs, I realize that I have a biological radar for news, and that when it is imminent, I develop the need to urinate.

9:56 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Apple ad music!

9:57 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:

9:57 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Getting excited. Like in theaters, a disembodied voice just told us to turn our phones off. They DIDN’T say iPhones, surprisingly.

9:59 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
I think this may be the only time anybody besides Phil Schiller’s wife and kids are SO excited about having him show up anywhere.

10:00 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:
Jason Chen, showing intense blogging face. BTW, at least 5 times at every trade show, someone calls me Jason Chen now. All look same.

10:00 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Chances of a one more thing today are slim.

10:00 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:

10:01 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Music stopped. Apple’s Jos is stepping on stage. (Not Phil Schiller yet)

10:01 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:

10:01 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Greg and Scott Forstall will be the ones presenting today, not Phil! As of this week, the iPhone is in 80 countries around the world.

10:02 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Greg Jos is a pretty slick speaker, btw. Slicker than Phil Schiller.

10:02 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:



10:03 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
iPhone sales are up to 17 million through December 2008. If you count iPod Touch together with iPhones, they’ve sold 30 million devices.

10:03 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Jos is going through the history of the SDK now. They’ve had 800,00 downloads of the free iPhond SDK, plus 50,000 individuals and development companies join their paid iPhone program.

10:04 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Over 60% of these developers have never developed anything for Apple before. One of the guys at Gameloft, a major cellphone/portable game development company, says that the iPhone OS is “the next great development platform for Gameloft.”

10:05 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Steve Demeter, the guy who made Trism for iPhone, is on screen now in a short video of him biking and talking. Handsome guy! He just said said hello outside while we were waiting. Hey Steve!

10:05 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:

10:06 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
His Trism game was made in his spare time OUTSIDE of his work, most likely allowing him to quit his job entirely. He lives in San Francisco and has a nice looking apartment. App Store money!

10:06 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:

10:06 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Jos is back on the stage.

10:07 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:

10:07 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Joswiak says there are 25,000 apps in the App Store. For their most current month of data, 96% of total apps have been approved. And of those, 98% of those have been approved in 7 days or less. There have been more than 800 million downloads of all apps total (8 months time).

10:07 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:

10:08 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Jos is introducing Scott Forstall, SVP of iPhone Software to give us a preview of iPhone 3.0.

10:08 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:

10:08 AM on MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Scott says the 3.0 software is a major update to all iPhones and iPod Touches.

10:09 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:

10:09 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
To start, he’s going to talk about what Apple’s doing for developers in 3.0.

10:09 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
The SDK gives developers the same APIs and tools that they use (almost, there are some parts of the phone hidden for security and performance reasons). 3.0 brings 1,000 new APIs.

10:10 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:



10:10 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
First, Scott is talking about enhancements to the App Store.

10:12 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Some developers have said they like to have other business models other than the current sell-once model that’s in the App Store. What are some? Subscriptions for magazine developers, additional levels for game devs, and eBook devs, who want to sell one app and sell eBooks inside the app. They’re supporting ALL of these things now with In App Purchase.

10:12 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:

10:13 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Inside the app you will get prompts like continuing to purchase issues of magazines (6 issues for $5, for example), or buying more levels (add ten more levels for a game for $2).
10:13 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:

10:13 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Another example is for city guides. Instead of selling a huge city guide app, you can sell one city guide app, then sell each individual city separately (and for more money) inside the app. The entire scheme is tied into the iTunes store.

10:13 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
It uses the same iTunes password and username, using the same APIs and same purchase scheme.

10:14 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:

10:14 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
The business model for in-app purchase is the same as the store. The developer sets the price for each in-app item, 70% of the revenue goes to the developer, and there are no credit card fees. They continue to be paid monthly. This is ONLY for paid apps, not for a free app that developers want to charge for once you’ve already downloaded it.

10:15 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
So in essence, free apps are still totally free. You won’t be tricked into paying for anything.

10:15 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:

10:15 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Next is support for Peer to peer connectivity.

10:15 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:

10:15 AM ON MAR 17 2009
ccmascari:

10:16 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
The new multiplayer connectivity allows you to bring up a dialog that lets you find local devices. The services provided are Automatic Discovery over Bluetooth (no Wi-Fi), no pairing, Bonjour, and isn’t just for games.

10:17 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
But this isn’t just for games, it works for ANY P2P application. For example, apps that can send business cards to another phone, in a handshake-like manner.

10:17 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:

10:17 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Next, accessories. There are “thousands and thousands” of developers building accessories.

10:18 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:

10:18 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
With the iPhone 3.0 SDK, they’re going to enable accessory developers to make custom applications that can communicate directly with the accessory. For example, an equalizer application on the phone that can control the equalizer on the speaker when it’s docked.

10:18 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:

10:18 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Another example is an FM transmitter. With 3.0, the dev can build an app on the iPhone itself that can control the FM tuner, finding the best frequency to use at the current moment.

10:19 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:

10:19 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
An even more esoteric application is for medical devices, like a blood pressure monitor that can dock into the iPhone that allows you to send your blood pressure directly to your doctor after you’ve measured it.

10:19 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
These accessories can talk to the phone over the dock connector AND over Bluetooth.

10:20 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:

10:20 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
You can use standard protocols or build your own custom protocols.

10:20 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Next up is Maps.

10:20 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:

10:21 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Many developers have asked Apple to use Google maps inside of their application. And it’s here. The Maps app can now be used as a public API and be embedded directly into any app.

10:21 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Everything is in there-pinch and zoom, custom annotations, satellite views, location tracking and location tracking.

10:22 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:

10:22 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
There is also ONE MORE THING to do with Apps. Developers can now use CoreLocations to make Turn by Turn applications.

10:22 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:
Turn by Turn!

10:22 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:

10:23 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
So now you can build a turn by turn application app, but you cannot use Apple’s Google Maps because of licensing issues. But you can bring your OWN maps (as a developer), and make turn by turn directions for the iPhone.

10:23 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:

10:23 AM ON MAR 17 2009
ccmascari:

10:23 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Now, Push Notification. “You know, we’re late on this one.” “There’s a few reasons for this, most importantly, within two months of launching the App Store, we had over a thousand applications on the app store.”

10:24 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Apple had to completely rearchitect the structure for the push notification in order to make it scalable for all the millions and millions of downloads. But now, they’re “good to go.”

10:24 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Developers asked them to do background processing, because it’s “easier to do background processing.” But Apple says it’s “not good for the customer.”

10:25 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Apple’s been testing background processing on other phones (Windows Mobile, Android) by opening up IM app, and just having it run in the background lowers battery by 80%.

10:26 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
By using Apple’s push notifications, battery life only dropped by 23% when an IM app is “open” in the background, listening for messages.

10:26 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:



10:27 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Here’s how Push notification works again. The Push notification service has a persistent connection to the phone, so you can get notifications all the time. The three things you can send are badge alerts, text alerts and audio alerts. Text alerts appear like SMS alerts, badges show up on the app icon, and audio alerts (like AIM) plays in the background.
10:27 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:

10:27 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
To be perfectly clear, this means no background processing yet. Just push notifications.

10:27 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:

10:27 AM ON MAR 17 2009
ccmascari:

10:28 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
In game voice chat is also one of the various APIs now open, as is iPod library access, proximity sensor, audio recorder, battery API, streaming audio and video, data detectors, text selection (oh??? is this for copy and paste??) UI alert view, sake API (for rumble) and GPS lingo.

10:29 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Scott says they asked a few developers to come in and make some apps in just two weeks with the 3.0 API. They’re going to show some demos now.

10:29 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
First is meebo, the IM app.

10:30 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
From meebo, it’s Seth Sternberg, the CEO of meebo.

10:30 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:

10:31 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
What are some of the new features in meebo? First, there’s IM networks like AOL/MSN, networks like Facebook, plus proprietary social networks like MyYearBook.

10:32 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Why did meebo wait until now to build an app? Because they felt like push notification was NECESSARY to make a complete IM user. They wanted to allow an easy way to quit out of the app and get back in “when it made sense.”

10:33 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Their extra “spice” in their App allows you to connect to social networking sites and get alerts from your friends when they’ve done things you may be interested in.

10:33 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:


10:35 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
They’re showing a demo of Sims 3, which looks actually pretty great for a phone.

10:35 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
EA is going to have in-app commerce, having you buy items for the Sims in the App Store directly from the game for $0.99 each.

10:36 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
For example, playing music from the stereo in the game lets you play music back from YOUR music library (from the 3.0 SDK API).

10:36 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:

10:36 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
“Next up is Oracle.” Which elicited audible groans from the audience, despite their CEO being Steve Jobs’ good friend.

10:38 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
This is your chance to go grab a sandwich. Unless you’re your company’s IT guy that’s trying to get business apps onto your enterprise’s iPhones. Then you’ll be RIVETED.

10:38 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:
Bore-acle, I mean, Oracle:

10:38 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
The Oracle guys are talking about their app that tracks supply line and blah blah chain blah blah company stuff.

10:39 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
The Oracle app goes and pulls out data from their backend CRM server, which you can use to find the account rep and contact him over email, phone or SMS.

10:39 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Oracle’s done.

10:40 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
JD Power ranked the iPhone #1 for customer satisfaction for business smartphone users.

10:40 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Next is ESPN, moving their webapp to a native app with iPhone 3.0.

10:41 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Their ESPN Alerts app brings text alerts directly to your phone using the push notification service, plus play the ESPN tone whenever that happens.

10:41 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:



10:42 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:

10:42 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
They’re sharing off a video directly inside the app, using the new media player that pulls down the appropriate quality video depending on your connection.

10:43 AM ON MAR 17 2009
ccmascari:

10:43 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:

10:43 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
With this app, ESPN doesn’t have to deliver for the “lowest common denominator”, and can scale video quality automatically using the API so you get the best quality for your connection type.

10:44 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Next is LifeScan, a Johnson&Johnson company in glucose monitoring.

10:44 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:

10:45 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
LifeScan’s app is for people with diabetes in order to “simply diabetes management.”

10:46 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:

10:46 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
In their example, they’re putting themselves into the shoes of Maddie, a 15-year-old girl with diabetes. She tests herself six times a day and injects insulin multiple times a day. First she needs to prick her finger and get her glucose reading. Now the insulin meter can transmit her reading to her iPhone over Bluetooth or over the 30-pin dock connector.

10:47 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
She can then track her readings and mark them appropriately as before a meal or after a meal. Then she can track what kind of food she’s eating and how much of it, plugging it into the iPhone, which will tell her exactly how much insulin she needs after her meal.

10:48 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Maddie can then re-calculate on the phone if she then needs less insulin because she’s going to exercise later.

10:48 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
With the iPhone app, she can then let her parents know that she’s OK by sending them a message directly through the app that has her glucose level and how she feels.

10:49 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:

10:50 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:

10:50 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
The app shows her glucose levels in chart form and can list out all her previous readings.

10:51 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Next up is ngmoco:), the people who made Rolando (I’m pretty sure).

10:5 AM ON MAR 17 2009
ccmascari:

10:52 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:

10:53 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:

10:53 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Today, they’re showing two upcoming games. First is Touch Pets, a social pet simulator. Second is LiveFire, a multiplayer first person shooter over 3G or Wi-Fi.

10:53 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
One of the uses of Touch Pet is a push notification of a “play date with someone else’s dog.”

10:54 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:

10:54 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
The dogs are playing together. You can buy clothes and random crap for your dog. Toys. Food. I wonder what happens if your dog starves, or whether you can beat up other dogs who are on a play date with your dog.
10: AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:



10:55 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Next LiveFire, a FPS game.

10:56 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
You control the FPS by touching anywhere on the left side of the screen, then shoot with your right thumb.

10:57 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
You can then send push notifications to your friends on your friend list in order to invite them into your game. You can BUY new weapons for real money (rocket launcher), and play together with your buddies.

10: AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:





10:58 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Pretty fun, with Quake 1ish graphics and relatively smooth (for a phone) framerate.

10:58 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:

10:58 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Next up is smule, the people who made the Ocarina app.

10:59 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
They’re inviting Dr. Wang on stage to talk. Wang is an assistant professor at Stanford.

10:59 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:

11:00 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Their new app is Leaf Trombone (World Stage).

11:01 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:

11:01 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
It’s a similar idea to Ocarina and lets you slide the trombone on the right, change the range on the left and play by blowing into the microphone.

11:01 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Wang’s talking in a loud, breathy whisper, and is kinda creeping me out.

11:01 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:

11:02 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Wang and his friend are demoing playing Phantom, of the Opera on Leaf Trombone. It sounds like Phantom of the Opera, for sure, and it’s definitely cool.

11:03 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Wang’s gone, and Scott’s back on stage.

11:03 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:





11:03 AM ON MAR 17 2009
ccmascari:

11:04 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Now, finally, onto the customer side. It has more than 100 new features. INCLUDING, Cut, Copy and Paste.

11:04 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:

11:04 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Scott’s now demo-ing the copy and paste feature on a phone running iPhone 3.0.

11:05 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Here’s how you select text. double tap onto a bit of text and it automatically places a “CUT, COPY, PASTE” bubble above your current selection. Double tap to bring up a paste bubble later to paste.

11:0 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:

11:06 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
To select an entire block of text, put your thumb on the right drag point and drag it to where you want your block of text to end. You can drag the left drag point as well.

11:07 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
You can drag between apps as well (obviously), through the same process. Double tap, then drag in order to select what text you like, then double tap and paste to paste it.

11:0 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:



11:08 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
You can also copy and paste web content. The phone uses the same analytics engine in Safari that they do for zooming in order to know which selection to select for copying. Yes, HTML paste for copying. If you didn’t mean to paste something, shake your phone in order to Undo (or Redo) your paste.

11:08 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:
undo by shaking:

11:09 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
There’s a photo icon inside the SMS app, and Scott called it the “Messages” application, which means there SHOULD be MMS coming soon too.

11:10 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
One more thing he wants to show you is Photos. You can now send more than one photo at a time with 3.0 by tapping the action button, selecting a bunch of photos, copying, and then pasting it into the Mail app.

11:11 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Cut and paste can work across multiple apps, has undo support, can work with developer APIs, and can use Cocoa Touch support for regular text.

11:11 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:

11:12 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Next, Landscape. Apple’s had support for landscape mode for Safari since launch, and can enter text in wide-keyboard mode. Now you can use landscape in “all key applications” including Mail.

11:12 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
They’re also adding support with the big keyboard for composing messages in Mail as well. It also works in Notes and the “Messages” application.

11:13 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:



11:13 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Next up is “Messages”, which they will enhance in 3.0. You can forward and delete messages-individual messages or multiple messages.

11:13 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:

11:14 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
The BIG news is that they’re adding support for MMS (as we spotted earlier). You can send and receive Photos right over the network. Contacts (VCard). Audio files. Or your location. No word about video yet though.
11:14 AM ON MAR 17 2009
ccmascari:

11:1 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Next, Voice Memos. (No sending video in Messages it seems). You can record voice memos to yourself, lectures, interviews using the built in microphone or an external microphone. You can trim it using the phone itself, then send it on using email or MMS.

11:15 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:







11:15 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:

11:16 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Then there’s Calendar. They had personal calendars first, then Exchange (last year) and MobileMe. They’re now adding CalDAV, a calendar standard that’s supported by a lot of people like Google and Yahoo. It’s useful for shared calendars. Second is subscriptions, using the .ics format.

11:16 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:

11:16 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Now is Stocks. They’re adding support for news stories (headlines) in the bottom of the app, plus details like highs and lows and PEs. There’s also landscape view.

11:17 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:



11:17 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Search! Not only can you search inside the Contacts application, which was there in iPhone 2.0, you can now search in all of the key applications, including Mail.

11:17 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:
Search in Mail! Works on the server using iMAP:

11:17 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
If your search isn’t found on your iPhone, the search continues on the server.

11:18 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
There’s also search in Calendar, iPod (search by artist, album, etc) and Notes.

11:18 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:



11:19 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
There’s now a new home screen where you can search across all those applications, and they call it Spotlight. The search is to the left of your regular home screen, and you access it by flicking left from your standard home.

11:19 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:

11:20 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:



11:20 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
You can also search Apps and use Spotlight as a quick launcher instead of going all the way to the 8th screen and searching for your app.

11:20 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:

11:22 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Basically, search searches most of the major Apple-developed apps.

11:22 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:

11:22 AM ON MAR 17 2009
ccmascari:

11:22 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Other good features: Notes Sync, audio/video tags, live streaming, shake to shuffle, Wi-Fi auto login, Stereo Bluetooth, LDAP, iTunes account creation, YouTube ratings, Anti-Philshing, Call Log, Parental Controls, Media Scrubber, OTA profiles, VPN on demand, Languages, YouTube subscriptions, YouTube accounts and Encrypted profiles. Also, auto-fills. The biggest addition here is probably Stereo Bluetooth A2DP support.

11:22 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:
TONS OF NEW FEATURES:

11:23 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:

11:24 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
To recap the big features in 3.0: In-App purchase to enable more app functionality, peer to peer connectivity, accessory connectivity, Google map controls, push notifications, cut and paste, landscape mode, Messages (MMS), voice memos, new Calendar support, enhancements to the Stock App and search (Spotlight). Plus, Bluetooth, if you’re really looking forward to that one.

11:24 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Scott’s leaving the stage and Jos is coming back on.

11:24 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:

11:25 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
How are they going to make it available? First as a Developer Beta available TODAY. It’s going to be available to everyone in the iPhone developer program. You can join now and get access to the beta. They’ll have more info on their website as well.

11:26 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
They’ll be hosting developer forums where you can share 3.0 development information with other devs.

11:26 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
The App Store is now available in 77 countries, out of a total 80 countries that the iPhone is available in.

11:26 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:


Who’s the keynote master? Forstall has excellent presentation duration, going for over an hour with little help, but Jos is so natural. It’s like this is his livingroom.

11:27 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
How about regular people, not developers? They’re going to ship it “this summer.” It will be a free update to iPhone 3G customers. It works on the original iPhone as well, so that not ALL the features will be available (like MMS and Stereo Bluetooth) on the 2G iPhone.

11:27 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
It’s also going to be available for both generations of iPod Touch users as a $9.95 update.

11:27 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:
Free this summer! But the old iPhone won’t get the MMS or Stereo Bluetooth.

11:28 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
The developer beta again, is available today, and will ship to regular users this summer.

11:28 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Phil Schiller and Scott Forstall are coming up on stage for a short Q&A. It’s not over yet!

11:29 AM ON MAR 17 2009
ccmascari:

11:30 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:
People are clearing out, but the media is staying for a reprogramming session. MUST OBEY.

11:32 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Q&A’s starting now.

11:33 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Q: Josh Quittner, Time: Why did it take so long so get Cut and Paste into the iPhone?
A: There’s a user interface you need to design, security issues, and “there’s a lot of pieces you need to worry about instead of getting osmething that doesn’t work right.”

11:34 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Q: Video is still a blackhole if you visit a website with flash.
A: We have no announcements on Flash today.

11:34 AM ON MAR 17 2009
B. Lam:

11:36 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Q: Could you qualify a bit more about the peer to peer. It looks like it’s available across the two iPhones, but it seems like you can do peer to peer with other Bluetooth devices.
A: It’s really a device to device Bluetooth connection. It’s 1 to 1, using Bluetooth and Bonjour to discover other devices and make an IP connection.

11:36 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Q: So you can control devices…?
A: Yes, now you can, with third-party applications, control and talk to accessories over Bluetooth.

11:38 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Q: Are people able to trade files, say music files, through iPods with this?
A: We have the ability to stream music to music apps, and certainly a game, if a game has music in the game it would be possible to download game tracks, but if would be confusing for other music apps with downloadable music that isn’t through the app store.

11:39 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Q: Where do you stand on tethering?
A: There’s two pieces needed to support that: client side and working with carriers. We’re absolutely supporting tethering in the client side in iPhone 3.0, but we’re working with carriers around the world to see when they can add tethering support on their networks. But we are building that support into iPhone 3.0.

11:39 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Q: Can you say anything about hardware?
A: No.
Q: Netbooks?
A: Nothing to announce today.

11:40 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Q: Bluetooth human input device profile for external keyboards.
A: We have nothing to announce.

11:40 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Q: Will you make any promises about push notification in terms of uptime?
A: No. We want it to be as reliable as possible.

11:41 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Q: On the voice memo, you mentioned external microphones. Could you use an off-the-shelf microphone?
A: Yes absolutely, if you have an adapter.

11:42 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Q: Are you addressing some of the performance issues in the current OS? It’s slightly laggy, are you going to address that in 3.0.
A: We absolutely take performance very seriously. These units, because they’re tethered, are more laggy than you would see on standalone units. But we are addressing lagginess in our own ways.

11:43 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Jason Chen:
Q: Is there a physical hardware problem on the first-gen iPhone that prevents it from doing MMS.
A: It’s a different radio, so it is a physical issue.

11:44 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Q: With Peer to Peer, can you have access to other iTunes library?
A: You can see them but I don’t know if you can play them.

11:46 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
Q: Do you have any comments on your app acceptance scheme?
A: We want to help developers to be very successful. We also want a store where customers feel great about the quality of what they get, so the numbers speak for themselves. [Kind of a non-answer here]

11:48 AM ON MAR 17 2009
Jason Chen:
And that’s it. Thanks for reading, and hit up the main Gizmodo site for more posts and analysis soon. See you guys next time!

11:49 AM ON MAR 17 2009
ccmascari:

Apple Time Capsule Review

Apple’s updated its Wi-Fi router and backup drive combo, Time Capsule, with a guest mode and simultaneous dual-band wireless. I was pretty surprised at how wireless performance has increased, too.

Before I start explaining little things like speed, it’s important to understand that the main reason why Time Capsule is cool is that it’s the most easy to use device lazy Mactards like myself can back up their machine to. To do so, you just run a OS X Leopard program called Time Machine, which finds your Time Capsule—or any locally connected hard drive—and uses it as a backup HDD. Every day, more or less, by wireless or wired network, Time Machine (the software) and Time Capsule (the Wi-Fi router with a HDD in it) will continue to log changes you’ve made to your data. The physical drive inside comes in 1TB or 500GB capacities, and is a server drive rated for continous 24/7 use for quite awhile. [UPDATE: Jason just reminded me that last year, some people found the drives in the old Time Capsule to be rated for as a network server drive, but also, for consumer machines. So it’s not as robust as some drives you’d find in, say, a data center.] Last fall, the Time Capsule saved my butt when my laptop’s drive died overnight. Miraculously, after dropping in a new HDD, the OS X install discs asked me if I wanted to restore from a previous Time Capsule/Machine backup, and ended up losing only 2 hours of data. Two hours!

There’s more on the Time Machine and Capsule relationship in our intial walkthrough review.

So, if you want Mac backup in one simple unit, there is no better solution than a Time Capsule. And this one is slightly improved over the last. But unlike a year ago when the first generation drive came out, there are other options that are slightly cheaper. More on these later, after the TC performance tests.

First, let’s look at the improvements Apple has made in this hardware and to the previous generation’s via firmware.

Dual Band: Two radios instead of one so you can run in 802.11n on both the 5GHz frequency (very fast, although not as interference or wall/door resistant as 2.4GHz) and on 2.4GHz, while older devices with 802.11b or g simply run on the 2.4 band. The last generation of Time Capsule had both band options, but you had to choose one, and that meant almost always choosing 2.4GHz for max compatibility. Having dual channels—which show up as separate Wi-Fi access points but are on the same network—gives you another lane to drive in while the one is saturated with media streaming, a backup or giant file transfers. Somehow, the new antennas are 6DB stronger than the previous antennas, according to the AP Grapher program.


This resulted in an outdoor walking test of about 100 feet of usable range vs 70 for the old unit, about 30% in a sparse area with few other Wi-Fi signals around. (I tested using the 5GHz N mode on both Time Capsules, and 2.4GHz mode on the second band on the new Time Capsule. In the above chart, you can see the DB ratings, with closer to zero being stronger. In the chart, the SSID “APL-N” is the old Time Cap, and “Network” is the old WRT54AG Linksys router.)

The computers connected to the Time Capsule’s N network at between 300 and 270mbits per second. I sent some a file—a 150MB 1080p quicktime trailer to JJ Abram’s new Star Trek movie—over the network to a computer on the same type of wi-fi connection and found the new Time Capsule to be slightly faster than the old one and even faster than a top-line Linksys router.


*Shorter times are better.

*One caveat on the newer Linksys WRT610N results—Jason Chen helped me test the new Linksys which he has at his house: The wi-fi congestion in his area is undoubtedly greater in his urban living space, compared to the cabin in the woods where I tested. I’d expect the score to be closer if not on par with the Time Capsule in the woods.

Remote Disk: If you’ve got Apple’s useful $100 per year Mobile Me service, you can access the data on your Time Capsule’s drive from anywhere you’ve got an internet connection, without knowing your IP address.


Mobile Me‘s service keeps track of the Time Capsule’s address and passes it onto your machines that are registered with the service. It shows up as a drive on your Finder’s side bar. Handy! But testing showed that the drive did not always show up on remote machines, and there’s no clear way to force the remote drive to mount.


Guest Mode: Guest mode is extremely simple, creating a different network SSID and security key (optional) on the 2.4GHz band, while keeping the other two access points for your personal use. It separates the network from all your private network’s disks, computers, and shared resources by using a different subnet. Guest mode does not include things we’d like to see, like a way to throttle guest bandwidth. It’s not an important or useful feature, unless you’re making a habit of letting people you don’t trust use your internet. Unlike the Mobile Me remote disk function, guest mode is not a feature available to the old Time Machine by software update.


As before, the Time Capsule also has a USB port which can be used to plug in a second disk or printer, which can be shared on the network. I did not test the USB port with a printer, but our previous tests showed this function to be buggy at times. Using Time Capsule with a secondary storage device is not a bad idea, because Time Machine backups cannot be size limited; they’ll use whatever disk space you have available to store the incremental changes in case you want to restore a file’s version from a specific date in history. Time Machine backup software can also bog down the network when doing a backup, saturating the airwaves. Other machines in the house can now use the second SSID in such a case, but we also recommend Time Machine Editor, a third-party program that allows you to schedule backups whenever you want them. I use it to schedule backups at 1am when I’m usually not working. (These are annoying shortcomings of Time Machine software, and so not something we can blame the Time Capsule hardware entirely for. Not entirely.)

As before, Time Capsule has one ethernet port for your internet connection, and three gigabit ethernet jacks. That’s one too few, in my book.

The unit runs very quietly, and sometimes you can hear the disks spinning up or seeking data, but its quiet enough for the notoriously anti-cooling-fan Steve Jobs. The unit’s top runs, according to my heat sensor gun, between 100 and 120 degrees. It’s warm, so I wouldn’t rest anything on it, which would exasperate the heat build up.

Time Capsule is $500 for a 1TB and $300 for 500GB of storage. That’s not a ton of storage for high-end machines these days, and multiple machines will almost certainly require the 1TB setup if you want to keep a moderately detailed history of your computers’ data changes. As you’d expect from Apple, that’s more than the cost of a 1TB external drive and a nice Wi-Fi router. Unlike when Time Capsule’s first-generation box was released, you have options now.

If you have an AirPort Extreme, you can plug in a USB disk to the port on it for Time Capsule backups. If you want a NAS that can do Time Machine backups but also act as an iTunes music server, this HP media box will do the trick (although won’t act as a Wi-Fi router). Since the new Time Capsule gets a bit more speed and distance out of it radios, and gets the useless guest mode, a refurbished Time Capsule could be a smart budget buy if those things aren’t on your “must have” list. If you’re a PC user, there’s no Windows equivalent of Time Machine back up software included, nor is there a way to use Time Capsule as a remote disk from across the internet, so this product is not for you.

Regardless of my caveats, I just prefer the Time Capsule to these options as it fits a lot of back up functionality and network performance in one box.

Top wireless performance

Server grade hard drive…maybe

Quiet

Easiest backup hardware ever for lazy mac users

Mobile Me remote disk function

Costs a bit more than separate Wi-Fi routers with a USB drive plugged in

Guest mode can’t throttle down bandwidth

Remote disk doesn’t always mount

PC Support is non existent for back up and remote disk

Ancient Gearlog: The Telephone is 133 Years Old

Bell_Telephone_1876.jpgYesterday was the 133rd anniversary of the first telephone call, Pocket Gamer reports. That’s the call where Alexander Graham Bell famously transmitted a message in 1876 to his assistant that said, “Watson, come here! I want to see you!”

The story goes that Bell was investigating a problem with a new form of telegraphy he was experimenting with, so he sent Watson to check it out, according to the report. While Watson was messing with it on the other hand, Bell heard the vibrations transmitted to his end loud and clear—the whole time, the circuit was active, which ran counter to his understanding. The rest was history.

In fact, the report said that while Bell never lived to see his invention take over the world, he did have an inkling of its possibilities. On the inside cover of the first ever telephone engineer’s installation and service manual, Bell inscribed the following quote: “The telephone is so important that, one day, every town will have one.” (Image credit: Wikimedia Commons)

Verizon Offers Not-So Clear Opt-out Feature For Personal Data Sharing Plan

Logo_verizonThis past weekend, a report from David Weinberger, the Harvard Law School fellow and sometimes Wired contributor, warned against a potentially shady customer service move from Verizon Wireless.

Apparently, the company was sending its customers long-winded, vague letters allowing them to ‘opt out’ of a personal data sharing agreement within forty five days. The plan was quickly seen as an aggressive Verizon move to share customer’s personal information including ‘services purchased (including specific calls you make and receive), billing info, technical info and location info,’ with ‘affiliates, agents and parent companies.’

To many, this was Verizon’s quick move to make money off of selling people’s personal data to outside companies. But in a statement over the weekend, the company noted that this data sharing was ‘designed for intra-carrier communication only,’ between Verizon and Vodafone (the owners of Verizon Wireless), and wouldn’t be shared with outside partners, like Microsoft.

That makes the issue a bit more clear and less Big Brother-y but it is no less inflammatory. The main problem is that Verizon failed to offer customers an easy-to-find, clear avenue to either accept or deny that request.

And for people who don’t receive paper mail, this proved to be even harder: It turns out many people logged into their Verizon account online to find a direct link to the agreement, but had to go through several different channels to find the correct one. When the link was finally found, labeled ‘Customer Proprietary Network Information Notice,’ it was ‘not available’ and therefore useless.

Verizon followed up with Weinberger and told him to follow this protocol: Go to go the My Profile tab in the My Verizon account, then click on Phone Controls, and that’s where the correct link is located where the customer can opt-out (or not).

We recommend people follow Dr. Weinberger’s lead and opt out of this agreement, unless you want to receive the vague-sounding ‘bundles that provide home and wireless services’ that Verizon mentions in its blog.

Perhaps next time, companies like Verizon will be a bit more clear about their intent (and the specific steps involved) before sending out a company-wide opt-out clause.

Sources: ReadWriteWeb.com, Verizon, GigaOm.com

WiMax vs. LTE Battle for Next Gen Wireless Heats Up

Wimax_0306

The Clear WiMax wireless broadband connectivity service from ClearWire has been available only in Portland and Baltimore so far but the company has some big expansion plans up its sleeve.

ClearWire plans to extend its WiMAX service to about 80 cities nationwide by the end of 2010. WiMAX subscribers will get a 3G/4G modem, says the company, but its not a home run yet for Clearwire. Rival Nokia is ramping up its efforts to
introduce WiMAX competitor LTE to U.S. users.

Nokia will focus on LTE (Long Term Evolution) as its preferred network and plans to launch devices for those networks in 2010, says  James Harper, senior manager of technology marketing at Nokia according to GigaOm. “WiMAX has some place in the market but we do believe it’s a niche play,” says Harper.

Both WiMax and LTE are 4G technologies. WiMax is based on IEEE standards while LTE is supported by the 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) group. The biggest difference from the telecom carrier perspective between the two standards is how they will be deployed. WiMAX requires a new network to be built whereas LTE is an evolution of
existing WCDMA/HSPA networks.

The upgrade to LTE makes it a more natural choice for many telecom carriers and that’s what Nokia is counting on. MetroPCS has already said it will support LTE. MetroPCS plans to launch a smartphone in the
second or third quarter says Tom
Keys
, chief operating officer for the company.

That’s not good news for Clearwire. Clearwire is backed by Comcast, Intel, Time Warner Cable, Google and
Bright House Networks, which together have invested $3.2 billion in the
company. Clearwire’s open all-IP network can provide users with average download
speeds initially of 2-4 megabits per second and peak rates that are
considerably faster, says  the company.

But without enough support from device makers and other telecom carriers, Sprint which combined its 4G assets with Clearwire may find itself in the minority.

See also:
ClearWire Posts Fourth Quarter Results
ClearWire Brings its WiMAX Service to Portland

Photo: (Intel CES 2008/Flickr)

Apple Updates Old Time Capsule and Airport with Web Sharing Functions

Time_machine
One neat feature of Apple’s new Time Capsule and Airport Extreme base stations is the ability to access them remotely via Mobile Me’s Back to My Mac service (stop sniggering at the back — we know Back to My Mac doesn’t work, even with hard-wired drives).

Previously, Back to My Mac would only fail to connect to drives hooked directly to the Mac. The new hardware allows you to fail to connect to USB drives hooked up as network attached storage (NAS).

Now, a simple software update from Apple allows owners of the old Time Capsule and Airport Extreme to do the exact same thing, enabling "remote access to compatible USB connected drives via Back to My Mac (except on AirPort Express)".

Ah, yes, Airport Express. One of the neatest, handiest little gadgets in the Apple line-up, except that you can’t hook up a USB drive and use it over the air. This update still applies to the Express, but it only fixes a few security holes, and the USB port on the side remains completely useless unless you have a printer to plug into it.

The update is available now. Rumors that Apple is working to fix Back to My Mac are unfounded.

Product page [Apple]

Researchers Create Flying Wi-Fi Robots

Quadchopper_Engadget_Germany.jpg

Emergency personnel need the latest in radio, GPS, wireless, and cellular connectivity to do their jobs. Now researchers at the Ilmenau University of Technology in Germany have developed flying quadcopter robots that join and assemble an ad-hoc wireless network in the event of a disaster, Engadget reports.

When joined together, the robots can offer both Wi-Fi and cellular access to emergency people on the ground. They’re built with off-the-shelf parts, including a GPS radio and a VIA chipset, and come in a kit that includes everything but the battery for about $380 each, the report said.

The battery is a killer, though—it costs about $1,200 and only lasts for 20 minutes of flight time, although once the thing finds a place to land, it can work for hours after that on the same charge. A robot will be on display in FutureParc hall at CeBIT, according to the report. This is easily the coolest thing I’ve seen all week.

Sony outs BDP-S360 and BDP-S560 Blu-ray players, new BD HTIBs

Hope you didn’t just pull the trigger on a BDP-S350, ’cause we get the feeling Sony’s two newest standalone BD decks are going to make you yearn for the next best thing. Here in Las Vegas, the company has just come clean with the Profile 2.0 BDP-S360 and BDP-S560, the latter of which includes integrated WiFi for tapping into BD-Live content and downloading future firmware updates sans an Ethernet cable. Also, the unit is fully DLNA-ready, handles DVD upscaling, bit-streams audio via HDMI, decodes Dolby TrueHD / DTS-HD Master Audio and plays nice with external media loaded up on a USB drive. As predicted, the lower-end BDP-S360 is essentially the same player sans WiFi.

Moving on, we’ve got a new pair of 5.1-channel Blu-ray HTIB systems: the BDV-E300 and BDV-E500W. Both bundles include a BD-Live-capable (Profile 2.0) Blu-ray player, while the BDV-E500W sports integrated S-AIR wireless audio capabilities. In other words, your rear speakers will get their signal sans cabling, and those who opt for the BDV-E300 are getting a kit that’s S-AIR-ready, meaning that you can add modules in the future to get the same wireless support. Both sets also include Sony’s Digital Media Port for controlling peripherals like Apple’s iPod and Sony’s own Walkman line, and the BRAVIA Sync technology ensures that HDMI-CEC lovers are taken care of. The models also bring along the firm’s Xross Media Bar (XMB) interface, a USB port for loading up media and an easy-to-follow setup DVD. As for pricing and availability, we’ve broken all that down below.

  • BDP-S360 Blu-ray player: shipping this summer for around $300
  • BDP-S560 Blu-ray player: shipping this summer for around $350
  • HT-SS360 component home theater system : shipping in May for around $350
  • BDV-E300 Blu-ray HTIB: shipping in June for around $600
  • BDV-E500W Blu-ray HTIB: shipping in June for around $800

Catch the release in full just after the break.

Continue reading Sony outs BDP-S360 and BDP-S560 Blu-ray players, new BD HTIBs

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More Apple Rumors: FCC Uncovers New Time Capsule and Airport Xtreme

apple-time-capsule_1.jpg

Leave it to the good ole FCC to uncover more hidden rumors about Apple’s purported launch on March 24th. According to AppleInsider, new regulatory filings have been approved by the FCC, revealing diagrams of what looks like the Apple Time Capsule and the Airport Xtreme. Since the Time Capsule is basically a NAS drive, larger capacities than those of the current 1TB and 500GB options are to be expected. As for the Airport Xtreme, it’ll likely be 802.11n still, possibly with improved throughputs and hopefully with a different design than the polished white ones. If the new Macbook Pros are any indication, we might even see a “Unibody” Aluminum version

via AppleInsider

T-Mobile Takes $50 Unlimited Voice Plan Nationwide

T-Mobile_Shadow_2009_3.jpg

A few weeks ago, T-Mobile began testing a $50 unlimited voice plan in San Francisco. Now Engadget is reporting that T-Mobile is already finished with its little test and has now taken the plan nationwide.

It’s a good value. It even one-ups the carrier’s compelling UMA-based unlimited Wi-Fi calling options, since the new plan also works over T-Mobile’s cellular network and not just in hotspots.

As before, the plan is only available to customers who had been with the company at least 22 months, and who have been in good standing the entire time, according to the report.