AT&T Wi-Fi Supports Auto-Authentication on New iPhone OS 3.0

AT&TThe new 3.0 firmware now supports auto-authentication. Just sign in once to an AT&T wifi hotspot and you will then seamlessly jump from AT&T cell towers to AT&T wifi. Awesome! Here’s the info from AT&T:

Seth explains that AT&T will support auto-authentication for iPhone OS 3.0 users connecting to AT&T Wi-Fi Hot Spots. Auto-authentication allows iPhone users to seamlessly switch from AT&Ts 3G network to an AT&T Wi-Fi Hot Spot without being prompted. For more information, visit http://www.attwifi.com

Firmware 3.0 Now Available for Download

AppleApple has released the 3.0 firmware. Connect your iPhone or iPod Touch to iTunes and click update. We will have the direct download for you when we have them. The jailbreak should be released within a few hours. Unlock on Friday.

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[Read more…]

WWDC 2009 Keynote Video

AppleApple has posted the video from the recent keynote and the 2009 World Wide Developer Conference. Here is a link to that video:

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UPDATED: Existing iPhone 3G Customers have to pay$499 (8GB), $599 (16GB), or $699 (32GB)

AT&TThis could be bad news for AT&T Customers. At the bottom of this page at Apple’s site you will see prices for replacing an iPhone 3G. Hopefully this is not accurate or we are misunderstanding it…

For non-qualified customers, including existing AT&T customers who want to upgrade from another phone or replace an iPhone 3G, the price with a new two-year agreement is $499 (8GB), $599 (16GB), or $699 (32GB).

Thanks to our writer, JMCato for the tip!

I went to Apple’s website at buyiphone.apple.com to check my eligibility and here’s what I got:

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$299.00* — 8GB iPhone 3G (black)
$399.00* — 16GB iPhone 3G S (black or white)
$499.00* — 32GB iPhone 3G S (black or white)

I’ve been with AT&T since June 2007 when the first iPhone was released and bought the iPhone 3G for $199 in July of 2008.

WWDC 2009 Live Blog

Apple iPhone SchoolHere’s where we will be writing about all the new info coming in from WWDC 2009 where we are very sure the new iPhone will be revealed. You will need to refresh the page to see new info. I will put the newest info at the top so you don’t have to scroll down.

2:05 – Sounds like it’s over, no front facing camera, no tablet, no new iPod Touch

2:00 – 16GB iPhone 3GS is $199, 32GB iPhone $299, Current iPhone 3G is $99, iPhone 3GS is available June 19th!
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1:58 – More battery life: The 3G got 6 on Wi-Fi, 7 on Video, 24 on Audio, 10 on 2G talk and 5 on 3G talk. 3gS gests 9 on Wi-Fi, 10 on video, 30 on audio, 12 on 2g talk and 5 on 3g talk.
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1:57 – Nike Plus
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1:55 – digital compass:
19compass

1:54 – Voice Control, voice dial, hold home button to get this screen:
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1:51 – It also capture Video! 30 frames per second, share with youtube, mms, email, mobile me. Trim video with tap of finger.
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1:49 – 3MP camera, auto focus, tap to focus, Auto Macro (10cm)

1:48 – So far we know it’s FASTER!

1:47 – New iPhone 3GS
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1:45 – Apple just called other devices, “Crappy devices” Here’s why:
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1:42 – iPhone 3.0 firmware will be free for iPhones, $9.99 for iPod Touches. All on June 17th NEXT WEDNESDAY!

1:38 – Demo of Guitar App, control effects from iPhone, tune
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1:36 – Demo of Car Rental App, finds car, unlocks it from the iPhone.
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1:33 – Lots of signs showing that the firmware won’t be out today…

1:32 – Demo of a kids science experiment results showing up live on the iPhone.

1:29 – Now we know why Star Defense delayed launch. It is launched today.
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1:27 – TomTom accessory (window mount)
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1:23 – They are showing TOMTOM!
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9tomtom

1:23 – Text books on the iPhone :)

1:21 – Book publisher showing in app purchases for books.

1:18 – Doctors can see realtime data from patients.
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1:14 – Developers are demoing apps that use the new 3.0 firmware.

1:13 – Push Notifications with badges, custom sounds and text alerts.
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1:12 – Turn by turn can be built into apps. Like TomTom.

1:11 – iPhone can connect to accessories over bluetooth

1:10 – talking about new features we already know like peer to peer connectivity over bluetooth for games and file sharing

1:08 – remote wipe, easy restore

1:07 – Mobile Me users only – locates iPhone on a map, makes it make noise, even on silent, send message to iPhone.
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1:06 – Talking about a new “find my iphone feature”

1:05 – New languages, greek, hebrew, thai, arabic

1:03 – Video streaming adapts to web connection

1:03 – Safari is 3 times faster

1:02 – AT&T not supporting Tethering until later this year.

1:01 – Tethering, share internet with you laptop USB or Bluetooth

1:00 – finegrade parental controls over specific apps & movies.

1:00 – Rent and purchase movies from your iPhone, tv shows, audio books, iTunes U.

12:59 – Talking about Spotlight, search for your iPhone

12:58 – MMS will not be out for AT&T until later this summer!! Boo!!!

12:57 – MMS, already know this too…

12:56 – They are talking about new 3.0 firmware like copy and paste. We already know this though.

12:49 – 40,000,000 iPhone OS Devices sold

12:49 – More than 50,000 apps in the App Store

12:48 – iPhone is next!

12:47 – Snow Leopard update is $29.

12:30 – Lots of features of Snow Leopard. We’ll wait till there is more iPhone info…

12:25 – Safari for OS X has Crash Resistance

12:25 – Safari 4 is faster, claimed to be 7.8x faster than IE8.

12:23 – You can spell Chinese on you trackpad

12:22 – After you install Snow Leopard, you recover 6GB of space on your hard drive.

12:20 – Apple’s Finder has been rewritten

12:19 – They are making fun of Windows :)

12:16 – Macbook Air updates – price drop,

12:13 – 13 inch gets Pro features, firewire, starts at $1199, available today

12:12 – 17inch drops to $2499 with 7 hour battery life, 13 inch gets update too, 7 hour battery

12:06 – New version of 15″ MacBook Pro, 5 year battery, 7 hours runtime, SD slot, up to 8GB Memory, 3.06 GHz, 500GB or 256GB SSD, start at $1699

11:59 – One Minute

11:51 – Apple store is down.

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11:10 – We are now livestreaming from my desk… Yeah, I know, I’m not there. But now you can feel like part of the team :) It will be in the upper right corner of the website or you can go to Justin.tv/appleiphoneschool. It will be muted until the event begins.

10:56 – More photos of the lines. This one from Engadget. Check out the sign. 64-bit. Is the 2nd Gen iPhone already 64-bit? Or will the 3rd Gen be 64 bit? Anyone?
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10:50 – Pictures inside from @stroughtonsmith
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WWDC Live Blog Tomorrow & My Predictions

Apple iPhone SchoolTomorrow is the big day! As you can see on the right, there are only a few hours left until the big announcement. What’s going to be announced? Well, I have my opinions…

I’m pretty confident that the name of the 3rd iPhone will be called “iPhone Video”. There’s strong evidence in the iPhone 3.0 Beta firmwares to support this:

iphone_30_video_recording_interfaceThis screenshot seems pretty real to me. It would make total sense to have one app run both the still image camera and the video camera. Just toggling the switch into video mode would change the button to a red dot kinda like the red light on the front of most video cameras.

There’s a lot more that goes along with video, one of the best is a new camera/lens. A big rumor is an upgrade to the camera to 3.2MP and the addition of auto focus. This would be really nice for me because right now I carry a DSLR and a Flip Video along with my iPhone. I would like the iPhone to replace the Flip. I doubt it will ever replace the big digital camera. I NEED ZOOM!

Other screenshots show MobileMe video features and even one with buttons that allow for minor editing of the video right on the iPhone. A big wish of mine is the front facing camera to make video phone calls. This seems to good to be true. Maybe someday with the 4G/LTE network. I really do think there will be video recording with the new iPhone. [Read more…]

iPhone Launch Party

AppleOk, this is why it sucks to live in Iowa. I am totally going to miss out on this party (unless someone wants to sponsor me, it’s only $500 round trip with hotel/air/car rental). It looks like some sweet apps are going to be demoed and of course it’s a great way to hook up with other developers before the big WWDC events. To RSVP you need to go to iphonelaunchparty.com The login info is u:vip p:earlysignup

iphonelaunchparty.com

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Some of the apps being previewed are Delicious Library, Convert, Grunts, Plasma, and iSamurai. [Read more…]

Photos of 3rd Generation iPhone

Appleumpcfever.com has posted a bunch of pictures (most blurry) of the new iPhone. They confirm a few things that we already have heard as rumors like the compass, video recording, auto focus, battery percentage, and the ability to send video in MMS. The link I’ve posted above is the translated version into English, originally in Chinese. So here’s the pics: [Read more…]

Firmware 3.0 Battery Percentage in Status Bar, Data Detectors, Safari

AppleWhen I upgraded to the 3.0 firmware I thought that it was pretty kewl that a few features from jailbreaking where still in place. My carrier was still set to “Ahhyeah” and my battery percentage was still in the status bar. This usually happens with any jailbreak followed by a firmware upgrade. I set both features when jailbroke; my carrier logo with MakeItMine and the battery percentage with Supreme Preferences.

This is all kewl but what caught my attention was the battery percentage looked different. I used to be able to tap on my battery and it would switch to numbers, just numbers. Now it’s to the left of the battery and there all the time. It also has a percent sign(%) next to it and when it drops to 20% or lower, the text turns red. I thought maybe this was a developer feature when beta testing firmware but I had never heard of it before and wasn’t hearing anyone else talk about it with current firmware. [Read more…]

One Billion App Downloads

AppleApple is approaching one billion application downloads. They have a sweet live counter on their website. To celebrate, they are giving away a $10,000 iTunes card, an iPod touch, a Time Capsule, and a MacBook Pro. All you have to do is download an application from the App Store and you’re automatically entered. You can also enter on their website. It says you can enter up to 25 times per day but I could only get it to work once :( Here’s the info from their site: [Read more…]

iPhone 3G Pro Coming in June (Rumor?)

AppleBarrons.com, part of the Wall Street Journal Digital Network, is reporting info on the upcoming iPhone release. Calling it the iPhone 3G Pro, they quote RBC Capital’s Mike Abramsky that claims faster 3G using the HSUPA standard, improved graphics, video recording & messaging, 16GB & 32GB sizes, possibly thinner and a $199/$299 price point. He also said he expects the new version to be offered on AT&T first, and other markets second. Does this mean other world markets like O2 or other USA markets like Verizon & Sprint?

You can read the full article here: barrons.com

Contract Free iPhone From AT&T

AT&TAT&T has officially confirmed the rumors of a contract free iPhone. The price is steep but if you’re interested, the 8GB is $599 and the 16GB is $699 and will be available March 26th. On the other end of the price spectrum you can get a refurbished iPhone on AT&T’s site right now for $99 or $199, depending on the size. That, of course, requires a 2 year contract. This all feeds the idea of a new iPhone coming early this summer.

Stats from iPhone Firmware 3.0 Preview Announcement

Apple usually starts off their announcements with stats about sales, downloads, etc. Today there was a lot of info and here’s the recap:

The iPhone is now sold in 80 countries.
The iPhone Sales goal in 2008 was 10 million, they sold 13.7 million.
17 million iPhones have been sold since launch.
30 million total devices (iPhones & iPod Touch) have been sold.
There have been over 800,000 downloads of the free SDK (Software Developer Kit)
There are over 50,000 paid iPhone developers.
60% had never developed for Apple products before.
There are over 25,000 apps in the App Store.
96% of apps submitted have been approved & 98% of those were done in 7 days or less,
There have been over 800 million apps downloaded.

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With all of that, keep in mind the App Store was launched less than a year ago… Congrats to all iPhone developers!

Watch Firmware 3.0 Preview Video

AppleApple has released today’s keynote previewing the upcoming iPhone firmware 3.0. Here is a link to the video: http://events.apple.com.edgesuite.net/0903lajkszg/event/index.html We will be breaking down each feature in articles to come.

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iPhone Firmware 3.0 Preview (liveblog)

AppleToday Apple will be previewing new firmware for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Apple has said nothing about features yet but there are lots of rumors including copy & paste and MMS (picture messaging). There’s also rumors of a better graphical interface to keep up with the new Palm Pre. The event will start at the following time: 7:00am Hawaii, 10:00am Pacific, 11:00am Mountain, 12:00pm Central, 1:00pm Eastern, 5:00pm London, 6:00pm Paris, 2:00am Tokyo (March 18th)

Firmware 3.0

10:53 About an hour to go!

12:03 Event has begun, info should start flowing here shortly

12:03 iPhone Sales = 17 Million, with iPod Touches total = 30 Million (in 80 countries)

12:04 800,000 downloads, 50,000 joined paid SDK
[Read more…]