Recent Articles

Another day, another iPhone International rumor, this one from Ars Technica (via astel.be) pegging the iPhone 3G to arrive in Belgium sometime between May and June.

Quick check of the scorecard, should this be true:

Ever wish you could keep prying eyes away from your iPhone? Always paranoid that strangers can read all your sensitive e-mails, bank account information, and stock portfolios? Well here’s the solution: the Case-mate Universal Privacy Screen Pro for iPhone ($19.95). It prevents those snoopy people from peering over your shoulder and keeps your information private by offering a viewing angle of 45 degrees.

Read on for the rest of the review!

Following up on Casey's story this morning about Apple buying chip designer PA Semi, Valleywag (yeah, I went there...) brings another possible angle to the "yeahbuwhy?" table:

Daring Fireball (via Reuters) brings word that Sony has agreed to purchase Gracenote for $260 million plus "considerations".

Why should iPhone owners care? Gruber sums it up:

Gracenote owns the CDDB database iTunes uses to supply song and album names for CDs you rip. $260 million sounds like a lot to me, but at least now Sony can claim to have something to do, however tangential, with a popular portable digital music player.

So, any time you want to add your own CD music to your iPhone, Gracenote is the place that provides all the metadata you need to properly label them (artist, track, album, etc.)

According to Forbes, Apple has acquired the boutique microprocessor design company PA Semi for $287 million. Known for their energy-efficient yet powerful chips, initial reaction points to Apple using the PA Semi-designed microprocessors in the iPhone.

As innovative as Apple is in software, relying on other companies to provide the hardware is allowing the cellphone stragglers ample time to catch up. Currently, the iPhone is using an ARM processor built by Samsung and with so many 'iPhone Killers' being brought to the market, it's safe to say that Apple is trying to stay ahead of the pack by remaining unique in their hardware architecture.

The United States and England are countries separated by one ocean and two languages, or so they say. Yet Apple Insider reports good tidings for both sides of the pond this week.

First up, the recent price cuts on the 8GB iPhone in the UK seems to have had the desired effect, with both Carphone Warehouse and O2 retail stores experiencing increased demand -- and even selling out of Apple's revolutionary mobile phone.

AT&T, meanwhile, boasted of a 22% increase in profits and the addition of 1.3 million new subscribers.

Boom indeed...

Ever-watchful Apple Insider brings word on yet another Apple patent drop. This one, published in March, sets the stage for the long anticipated -- nay, demanded -- Mobile iChat application.

Though the iPhone already includes a somewhat similar, though carrier-bound, SMS app, the need to move away from device-modal technologies (i.e. phone to phone) to more open protocols (i.e., phone to computer to console, etc.) like Instant Messenger is compelling. In answer, Apple has proposed an interface that builds on the SMS app in significant ways:

Looking for an alternative search for your iPhone? Though not “built in”, AOL’s mobile search optimized for iPhone is surprisingly good. Let’s take a look at what makes it so good!

It’s Pretty

When you search in Google, specifically Google Mobile for iPhone, you have a neat feature: it gives you suggestions as you type. After that, I don’t think that Google mobile does anything specifically well, other than meaningful searches. This is what sets AOL search apart from its competition, it displays the results well. Its closest competitor, Yahoo One Search renders poorly on the iPhone in my opinion, the fonts are too large among other issues. The AOL search experience feels right.

Information is broken into sections. Let’s see how a simple search for “movies” is rendered after I have set my default location.

Ars Technica (via Times Online) is joining the ranks of "we don't believe it and hate all the rumors, but we just gotta report this one..." (Welcome!) with a report citing the ever mysterious "industry insiders" and the equally obtuse "Asian Analysts" as saying:

Apple is rumored to be in talks with Orange, France's exclusive iPhone carrier, to cut pricing on iPhone in hopes of stimulating sales in that country. Since it first marched down the Champs Elysées four months ago, iPhone has been greeted with as much acceptance by French consumers as bad Camembert cheese - selling just over 100,000 units in that period. That's owing to the fact the French iPhone, much like its fat pasty American counterpart, lacks 3G wireless.