Category: iphone

Posted on

Touch coming to Windows 7

BBC reports on developments at Microsoft

The multi-touch controls familiar to Apple iPhone users will be built-in to Microsoft’s Windows 7.

Windows Touch will be a “first class way to interact with your PC alongside mouse and keyboard,” said the firm.

I do quite like Windows 7 as though similar in appearance to Windows Vista seems less clunky and smoother.

As a result of this new development, will we see a Windows 7 interface on a small tablet PC device which reflets the intuitive and  ease of use that we currently have with the iPhone?

From my experience, so far no touch interface I have used has come close to the iPhone interface, but doesn’t mean in the future that nothing will match it.

Posted on

iPhone Firmware 3.0

Apple have released details of the new firmware for the iPhone.

In-App Purchasing: Allows developers to sell additional content from within applications. Highlighted uses include magazine subscriptions, eBooks, additional levels and items for games.

Peer-to-Peer Connectivity: Find other devices running the app via Bonjour over Wi-Fi of Bluetooth. Good for gaming, but also other applications for sharing data.

Third-Party Accessory Apps: Allowing accessory manufacturers to create applications to interface with their hardware accessories.

Push Notification: Rather than using background processes that hamper battery life, utilize third-party server to push badge, text, and audio alerts from applications.

Turn by Turn: Apple will allow developers to use CoreLocation for turn-by-turn GPS directions.

Cut, Copy and Paste: Available across all apps. Shake to undo or redo.

Landscape keyboard: Available in all key applications, including Mail.

MMS: Picture messaging now available.

Voice Memos: Record notes, lectures, interviews, etc.

Spotlight Search: Available across all applications. Systemwide search available from main home screen by flicking to the left.

A2DP Bluetooth: Support for stereo bluetooth headsets.

In the Q&A Apple did say if the carriers supported it they would support tethering as a modem.

Posted on

Fantastic Contraption on the iPhone

One of my favourite sites at the moment is Fantastic Contraption so was well pleased to see an iPhone version.

The online game is described as.

An online flash puzzle game where you build whimsical machines to solve each level.

Well the iPhone version is basically an iPhone version of the online Flash game.

If you have played the website version, the iPhone version takes a little getting use to but you can still build quite complicated contraptions.

The downside is the £2.99 price, which is the most expensive iPhone app I have bought so far.

It’s not the most stable of apps for the iPhone the tutorial caused the app to crash twice and a hard reset of the iPhone.

Overall a really fun game.

Posted on

Sorry, this programme is currently unavailable

I am a great fan and user of BBC iPlayer, great for catching up on what you have missed and for watching things again (especially when repeated on BBC Three at an unsociable time).

I will often use an iPod touch to watch programmes, either in bed or more often then not connected to my TV. However now and again I get the following message.

Sorry, this programme is currently unavailable

You can see this in the Christmas edition of Doctor Who.

Sorry, this programme is currently unavailable

This means that you have to use a computer to watch the programme. I get the same “error” with the comedy Outnumbered episode seven (but not with the previous six episodes of Outnumbered).

I believe that the error (it’s not really an error, but I think it is) is a rights issue. In other words the rights holders have not allowed the programme to be made available to the iPod touch (or the iPhone).

Why?

Well I suspect that the issue is the way in which BBC iPlayer works on the iPod touch and the iPhone. Basically the BBC serve the iPhone with a DRM free MOV version of the programme. On the iPhone you can’t save this file, so it is not an issue, however a quick Google search provides various ways in which you can get your computer to pretend it’s an iPhone and as a result are able to download the DRM free version of the BBC programme.

Of course I don’t know for sure if this is the issue, or it is a technical problem and the programme just hasn’t (yet) been encoded for the iPhone and the festive break is the cause of the delay.

Posted on

BBC iPlayer on the Nokia N810

So can you watch content on your Nokia N810

No it doesn’t work as you would like it to, in the main as I guess the processor on the N810 is not powerful enough.

The Flash player on the N810 is the full version which means unlike the iPhone it can access Flash content easily on the web, like BBC iPlayer, but alas though it can access the content, it can’t play it properly.

You can play video on the Nokia N810, but generally you need to encode it specifically for the N810 otherwise it either won’t play or stutters a lot.

Unlike the iPhone, the iPod touch and Google’s G1, as the N810 uses (a variant) of the Firefox browser, the BBC don’t supply the mobile Mp4 files which work on the iPhone and G1 and therefore the N810 is reliant on the Flash versions which (as they are higher quality) require more processing power.

I am going to see if I can play an iPhone BBC iPlayer file on the N810 which should give me an idea if the processor is powerful enough. Will keep you informed.

Posted on

Seadragon Mobile

In an interesting move, Microsoft Labs have released an application for the iPhone.

Seadragon

Seadragon is designed to provide next-generation visual experiences, regardless of the size of the screen, size of the file or speed of your network. It’s already available on a number of platforms, including Microsoft Surface, and in Photosynth and Silverlight. Now we’re bringing that same graphical smoothness right to the iPhone in your pocket.

Probably the best way to describe it, as a Google Maps but for any large scale image.

Find out more.

Download the app from the iTunes Store.

Posted on

Fixing Twitterfon

Twitterfon is one of my favourite applications for the iPhone (and iPod touch) however recently it has been crashing consistently everytime I start it up.

According to the Twitterfon website blog, the problem lies with Twitter.

Some users have been reporting me that TwitterFon crashes on launch. This has been happening since this afternoon. The root cause is that twitter has changed their JSON response which favorite status value is null instead of bool unexpectedly and randomly.

Not quite sure that that means as I am not really a techie, honestly!

However all is not lost.

If you apply this patch (and you may have to do it more than once) then it should fix the Twitterfon application until an update is released.

Posted on

Nokia N97

I see that the Nokia N97 has been announced. A very nice new phone which as well as a touchscreen also has a slide out keyboard.

Obviously designed to compete with Apple’s iPhone and Google’s G1 it is Nokia’a answer to the new internet phone now being demanded by consumers.

There are some early reviews out now, CNET and ZDNet.