Recent Articles

There have been reports that the iPhone 3G was sporting a third sensor on the face of the phone. Well the details have come out and it's a...second proximity sensor! Yep, no front-facing camera, just another feature we already had.

I assume you are a little disappointed in the news, but for what it's worth, the second proximity sensor will provide better accuracy compared to the original iPhone's one proximity sensor get up. It's supposed to improve the iPhone's face proximity detection and well 2 is better than 1 right?

You know what the iPhone popularized? Not just iCloning. Not just multi-touch. Not just visual voicemail. What I’m talking about is watching video on your mobile device. Youtube was integrated into the iPhone from the beginning and well, most other mobile users were jealous.

But the iPhone has so much more video potential than just Youtube. As popular as Youtube is, there are other video sites out there. Take the webapp PocketVidz for example, they have thousands of videos available for your iPhone, sized and optimized for your viewing pleasure. What is the selection like? Should you try it out?

Read on for the rest of the review!

We mentioned yesterday that the Canadian Government was poised to bring down the DMCA hammer on us humble citizens, handing the reins of power more overtly than ever to Big Media and Big Telco.

Not so, says the Government, listing off ways in which their new bill is mildly less offensive than it's American progenitor, but I'm struck by what they don't mention. Will cell phone unlocking, including iPhone 3G unlocking, be made illegal? And what about DVD ripping? Can I not take a movie I pay money for and put it into iTunes so I can watch it on my new iPhone 3G? And why, to balance the rights you're stripping from Canadians, have you not long ago introduced a bill to prevent GSM monopolies in the telco industry from charging Canadians among the highest prices in the world for data?

How about that?

(Read on for the full text of the Canadian Government's preemptive email blast)

Time.  There's never enough of it, we're always running out of it, we can't make more of it, and we spend loads of cash on devices to help us manage it.  How often do you use your iPhone to help you manage your time better?  Sure, there's a calendar.  But what about the Clock app?  How often do you use it to set alarms?  What about the stopwatch -- only good for timing your running or swimming laps?  

Speaking of time -- it's time for this week's Tip, so take a little of your time now and read on about using your iPhone Clock!

In sharp contrast to how the North Americans have started off, the Europeans (yup, including the UK) seem to be handling the whole iPhone 3G "second coming" with a lot more grace and -- frankly -- customer care. Witness Vodafone on the iPhone in Italy:

Safari on the iPhone is the best mobile internet experience in today’s market bar none. It is as much intuitive as it is pretty which makes for a superb user interface and browsing experience. But one complaint I had with Safari was the lack of quick search tools. If you ever used Sogudi or Saft on the desktop Safari, you know that it makes Safari an even more powerful web browser.

WebSearch on the iPhone comes from a similar mold. Because in Safari the default search engine is Google (you can also switch to Yahoo! in the settings) it kind of limits the specific searches you might need. Especially considering the slow pace of EDGE, quick searches in the wild can often be cumbersome. Well with WebSearch you are allowed quick easy access to the searches you want. How does it perform?

Read on for the rest of the review! (and remember you'll need a jailbroken iPhone!)

Hoo doggy. First we thought that we were definitely getting TomTom for the iPhone, giving us 3D, realtime navigation. Then we heard that the iPhone SDK explicitly prohibits just that sort of application. We weren't worried, though, because TomTom told us we'd get it and we, you know, trusted them.

Whoops.

I should have put this into my post yesterday about the Top 5 Reasons I'm SO Upgrading to the iPhone 3G, but it didn't completely sink in until just now that this was really an issue for some people. It was that off my radar -- but I guess it shouldn't have been, given this is the blogsphere.

We reported, and reported again, and pondered, and speculated some more about Apple buying Palo Alto Semiconductor (PA Semi), but now Steve Jobs himself has put the rumors to rest with a pretty clear statement as to his intentions:

Although Rogers Wireless, the GSM monopoly and hence both de facto and exclusive iPhone 3G carrier in Canada has yet to announce rate plans for Apple's second generation data monster, they have let slip the following in their PR:

Starting July 11, iPhone 3G will sell for $199 for the 8Gb model and $299 for the 16Gb model, on a three-year plan.

That's right, 3 (three!) big years for the contract as opposed to 2 years in the US, or 18 months and even Pay-as-You-Go in Europe. Who said we were the new world?