Recent Articles

No reports of Pink Screens of Death this time, but Apple has released the fourth version of their SDK (5A258f), which weighs in at a beefy 1.15GB (200+MB for firmware) and according to TAUW (via Apple Developer Connection) sports:

I remember well the days of yore when I had a whopping 5 channels to choose from for my viewing pleasure. Now before you start doing some quick math and send me Geritol for my birthday, I was just a wee lad then. Although I didn't have much in the way of choices, I made sure to never miss an episode of "The Six Million Dollar Man", re-runs of "Star Trek", and a generous helping of "Sesame Street" and "Electric Company". I also had to (gasp!) actually GET UP off the couch, WALK to the t.v., and MANUALLY change the channel! Ahhhh, those were the days.

Times have certainly changed. The average home now has about 114 channels to choose from. I switched to DirectTV recently and I get lost in the maze of menus and virtual cornucopia of channels and programming to choose from. You may be wondering what all of this may have to do with your iPhone. HARK! There is a handy AOL site designed just for the iPhone that can help you navigate the ever-expanding universe of televised entertainment!

Apple outperformed their initial forecast in the second quarter posting profits of $1.05 billion, or $1.16 per share. Selling, 1.7 million iPhones, 2.2 million Macs, and 10.6 million iPods, total revenue was reported at $7.51 billion. Amidst all the financial (read: dry) news, Apple did drop some interesting tidbits via conference call with financial analysts and members of the media (via AppleInsider):

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: