Archive for May 5th, 2008
Live working GPS demo on the iPhone
This is a video of a new plug-in GPS module working on an iPhone (can also be used on iTouch).
Most commercial companies scrapped their serial port GPS units after
the Apple SDK came out. This is a new effort to make it available again.
Safari for Windows up, Mac down, iPhone rocks at Flickr
Chicago (IL) – The latest Net Applications survey and data extracted from Flickr logs indicate that Safari’s Windows version tripled the browser’s market share, Microsoft is eating into Mac’s market share and the iPhone surpasses Nokia’s N95 in photo uploads to Flickr. The published numbers have limited scope but they allow us to draw some interesting conclusions.
A look at the recent market figures released by Net Applications show interesting trends for Apple’s Safari, iPhone and the Mac. Apple’s Safari 3.1 for Windows push may have fooled users into installing the browser believing it was a software update part of iTunes. Despite the widely reported criticism of Windows Vista, it appears that Microsoft ate into Mac’s operating system share, which fell 0.47 points between March and April. The data also showed a slight 0.01 point drop for iPhone. Net Applications didn’t provide any reasons for this drop, but we should note that this data was generated from a limited set of hand-picked sites that are tracked by the company.
On the other hand, the data from Flickr log files reveal that iPhone is the most used handset to upload photos to the popular photo sharing service. What is rather stunning is the fact that the iPhone managed to overtake the Nokia N95, a cutting-edge device whose 5 megapixel photo hardware leaves the iPhone’s 2 megapixel camera in the dust.
Safari for Windows push tripled the browser’s market share
The Net Applications survey shows Safari for Windows gained significantly after Apple had encouraged Windows users to install the browser by pre-selecting Safari 3.1 as a “recommended software upgrade” that appeared in the Apple Software Update app on March 18. Safari for Windows in its beta phase (v3.0) grabbed just 0.07% of the global browser market share. When Apple pushed Safari 3.1 to Windows users, the usage tripled over a period of six weeks to 0.21%. Not substantial by a long shot, but it certainly was a little intentional confusion that worked out well for Apple.
But obviously, the Safari 3.1 for Windows push created controversy. The Mozilla CEO stepped up and said that such a move “borders on malware“. Users who installed iTunes were offered to update their software through “Apple Software Update”, which is part of the iTunes install. The application offered Safari 3.1 as “a software upgrade” even to users who had never installed Safari on their PCs before. Even the checkbox next to Safari 3.1 was automatically marked, which means that all a user needed to do is click OK to install the new software. Apple later updated the Apple Software Update app and new applications are now shown as a separate option. However, checkbox next to each new software item in the list is still checked by default.
“Normally, Apple’s Software Update service is not used for delivery of new products,” said Net Applications. “Clearly, this is a calculated risk by Apple that has annoyed and/or alienated some users. However, the question is, did it work? Did Apple gain browser market share on Windows based on this move? The answer is yes.”
iPhone/Mac OS market share dip
Unlike Safari, Apple’s iPhone and the Mac dipped in operating system share trends. According to the Net Applications survey, Mac OS’ share among sites that the company tracks regularly fell in the four weeks between March and April to 7.01%, down from 7.48%. Unfortunately for Apple, it seems that Microsoft took the market share away from Apple: Microsoft increased its share in the same period from 91.57% to 91.99%.
iPhone’s share of the market declined slightly in the four weeks period, dropping from 0.15% to 0.14%. Net Applications did not provide an explanation for the drop but interestingly enough, Safari for iPhone remains the single largest browser client in the Net Applications survey. Moreover, it has been singled out as the only client that can register a visible influence.
iPhone the most popular camera phone at Flickr
Although Apple’s iPhone has only a 2megapixel camera, a far cry from the usual 3 or 5 megapixels in competing handsets, it appears that the iPhone is the most popular mobile device for uploading pictures to Flickr. In a recent blog entry, Computerworld reported that more members use the iPhone to upload photos than any other devices. Data that supports this claim is derived from Flickr’s own usage statistics that has the iPhone overtaking Sony Ericsson and Nokia handsets. The iPhone is the clear front runner at this time.
For example, the 2-megapixel iPhone is used more often to upload photos to Flickr than the Nokia N95. Such contradiction shows that the iPhone clearly dominates the mobile Internet usage, at least in this very specific case. The fact that iPhone managed to take away the top position at the photo storage site from the previously leading 5 megapixel Nokia N95 handset, which integrates a flash and autofocus feature, shows the iPhone’s primary strength – mobile Internet.
Both the iPhone and Nokia N95 are the clear leader in this discipline. The distant third, fourth and fifth slots are occupied by the Nokia N73 and Sony Ericsson K800i and W810i, respectively.
Kensington offers iPod, iPhone battery packs
Kensington Computer Products Group on Monday announced the release of the Battery Pack for iPhone and iPod and Mini Battery Pack and Charger for iPhone and iPod. They’re available for $69.99 and $49.99 respectively.
Both are designed to provide iPhone and iPod users with additional talk time or play time. The larger version, designed for heavy-duty usage, provides up to 100 hours of additional music playback time, 21 hours of video and six more hours of talk time. The device includes an AC power adapter with a USB connection and a dock connector. The mini USB cable lets you charge up other devices like PDAs, Bluetooth headsets and more. An LED battery meter displays the remaining charge.
The mini version, designed for better portability, extends play time up to 30 more hours of music, six more hours of video or three more hours of talk time. It includes a retractable USB charging cable and is small enough to stay connected to the iPod or iPhone, according to Kensington.
Both devices are designed to fit any iPod with a dock connector (excluding the third-generation iPod) and the iPhone.
Nokia’s new mobile music model takes on Apple’s iPhone
Apple’s iPhone may reign over the fledgling mobile music market in the United States, but in the rest of the world Nokia is No. 1 on the hit parade.
Last year alone, Nokia (NOK) sold 147 million music-playing phones worldwide, while Apple’s (AAPL) sleek touchscreen has sold 5.7 million units so far this year. And although the iPhone is now the top-selling music phone in the U.S. market, it doesn’t even make the top five in Europe where three of Nokia’s music-playing handsets are best-sellers. Now the Finnish phonemaker plans to launch a new service later this year that will let people download as many songs as they want for a limited time.
Unlike the iPhone’s pay-per-track model, Nokia’s new “Comes With Music” plan will offer several handsets that include a year’s worth of unlimited music in the cost of the phone. Once the year is over, subscribers will be able to keep their existing tracks on their phone or PC, and Nokia says they’ll have several options of extending their “Comes With Music” membership without necessarily having to upgrade to a new device. The company is still mum on what those other options may be, though it’s likely customers will have to start paying a subscription fee to keep the unlimited downloads service.
“The track-by-track purchase methodology was cumbersome to people,” says Liz Schimel, head of Nokia’s music business. “Consumers were looking for a more seamless way to access a lot of content.”
Subscription-based, all-you-can-listen-to digital music models have been around for a while. Companies like U.K.-based Omnifone and Rhapsody offer similar services and for years rumors have circulated that Apple itself will launch a flat-rate, unlimited version of iTunes. But Nokia is the first mobile giant to turn away from the a-la-carte model of selling mobile music, and, unlike other existing subscription-based services, its will allow people to keep their tunes on their phone and PC even after their subscription expires.
Of course, while customers won’t have to worry about losing their music library, they also won’t be able to transfer their songs to a new device unless that new device is another “Comes With Music” Nokia phone.
The company plans to launch several compatible handsets, as current Nokia music phones won’t work with the upcoming service. It’s not clear how much built-in memory those new phones will have, but one of Nokia’s most popular multimedia phones on the market today is the N95, which, like the iPhone, comes in an 8-gigabyte version.
Lucky for the Finnish phonemaker, analysts say content providers are eager to experiment with new ways of getting their music onto cell phones.
“They [content providers] want to at least try to shift the center of gravity away from iTunes and Apple,” says Mark Donovan, a senior analyst with mobile research firm M:Metrics.
Two of the world’s largest music labels – Universal Music Group and Sony BMG – have already committed to “Comes with Music,” and the company expects more will sign on before the new service launches in the second half of this year.
Nokia won’t disclose the details of the new business model, or say how much the “Comes With Music” devices will cost. Some media reports have suggested the phonemaker is paying $35 to Universal alone for each handset it sells. With more labels expected to join the partnership, that could end up cutting into Nokia’s profit margins, though M:Metrics’ Donovan says he believes the company has figured out a model “that has legs.”
“The idea that they would pay Universal $35 a handset doesn’t smell good to me at all,” says Donovan. “But of course the devil will be in the details.”
Schimel, head of Nokia’s music business, says the company put a lot of energy into crafting a model that makes sense for everyone involved – the music labels, customers, carriers and Nokia itself. The result, she says, will be able to compete with lots of players on the marketplace, including Apple.
“The mobile industry as a whole has enormous potential in digital music but up until now it’s only been unlocked to a limited extent,” says Schimel, who would not disclose the specifics of the “Comes With Music” business model.
One thing Nokia has been clear about is that music and other services are an important part of its overall strategy. In 2006 the company acquired digital music player Loudeye, which enabled it to launch a pay-per-track mobile music store (similar to what’s currently available on the iPhone), now available in nine countries.
But it’s Nokia’s “Comes With Music” service that has the potential to disrupt the prevalent iTunes way of selling digital music – at least when it comes to mobile downloads.
Despite Apple’s dominance in MP3 player sales, Nokia’s got a global headstart when it comes to the mobile phone market. It’s got 40% of the global handset market and is especially strong in regions that have been quick to embrace mobile content, including China and Europe.
Of course, providing a viable competitor to Apple’s iTunes means succeeding in the U.S. market as well. Currently, Nokia has just 7% market share in the United States, and its total North America sales accounted for only 2.6% of its overall, global revenues.
Nokia’s Schimel says although it won’t be one of the launch markets Nokia has every intention of eventually bringing its “Comes With Music” service to the United States.
But it’s possible Apple will be pressured into change its tune — and offering a subscription-based iTunes service — long before that happens.
iTips for Your iPhone
1. How to Set Any Picture as Wallpaper
With the iPhone, you can use any picture that you’ve synced through iTunes or taken with the built-in camera as wallpaper. It is a great and simple way to add a little bit of your personality to your iPhone.
 |
Here’s how to do it:
- Press the home button to get to the iPhone’s home screen.
- Select settings.
- Select Wallpaper.
- Choose the folder from which you want to select your wallpaper image.
You’ll see one labeled Wallpaper at the top with pre-loaded wallpaper pictures from Apple. That’s where our rose in the picture above comes from.
Next up is Camera Roll, where all the pictures you take with the iPhone are stored. Underneath that is the general Photo Library folder and then all the folders you’ve synced from your desktop.
- Select an image.
- What you’ll see next is how the image you selected will look as wallpaper.
- Thankfully, you can move and adjust the picture as much as you like with your fingers through Apple’s multi-touch interface. Use one finger to move an image around. Use two fingers, pinching them together and widening them apart, to shrink and enlarge the picture.
- Once you’re satisfied with how the image looks, select Set Wallpaper.
That’s it, you’re all set. The next time you turn your iPhone on, you’ll be greeted by the picture of your choice. Unfortunately, that’s just about the only place you’ll see wallpaper with the iPhone. It doesn’t even appear on the home screen, which remains a dull black no matter what.
And, annoyingly, there doesn’t appear to be any easy way to go back to not having wallpaper once you start using it. It seems you have to stop syncing or delete that image from your iPhone. All you can easily do, apparently, is change the wallpaper to another picture.
 |
In addition to your own pictures, there are free wallpaper sites out there that have images you can download already formatted to fit smoothly on the iPhone’s 320 x 480 pixel resolution display.
Simply download them to your computer and sync them to your iPhone.
2. How to Accent Letters When Typing
If you need to add an accent mark to your text message, e-mail, or note – here’s a slick feature. Just type the relevant letter and hold that key down – a selection of accented letters will pop up. Chose the accent you want. And voilá, you’re good to go.
3. Let Your Fingers Reveal the Details
 |
The mapping feature on your iPhone is great – find your current location (just tap the circle on the left side, bottom, of the screen) and then tap Directions. Enter an address (or get one from your Contacts list) and you’re on your way. You can get driving directions or an overall map of your route complete with a blue line going from here to there.
But how can you see details on the map?
You can use “the two-finger spread” – put two fingers together in an “I”, place them on the screen and just spread them apart into a “V” – you’ll zoom in. Another way to zoom in is the just tap the screen twice with one finger. If you need more detail, tap with a finger twice again. Your map will zoom in.
Zoom back out by making a “V” with two fingers, touch the screen with both fingers, and then move the fingers together (into an “I”). An easier way to zoom out, however, is just tap the screen with two fingers. Keep your fingers an inch apart and tap. The map zooms out. You can continue tapping with two fingers until you’ve zoomed out to a map of the entire U.S.
This article was first published on iPhoneGuide.com.
Is Apple Set To Squash The Blackberry?
According to a report in toptechnews.com, Apple’s iPhone has “dramatically shaken up the smartphone market – especially for the leader, Research in Motion”, maker of the Blackberry.
 Click to enlarge |
| courtesy http://img1.lesnumeriques.com/ |
In just the last three months of 2007, says the article, smartphone shipments “shot up 60 per cent from a year ago, according to industry research firm IDC. And RIM doubled sales of the Blackberry, adding 6.5 million subscribers in its last fiscal year, double the previous year”.
But as the market has grown, says the report, the Blackberry’s market share has dropped from “45 per cent to 40 per cent while the iPhone took 17.5 per cent in the second half of 2007″.
The iPhone’s consumer focus of the smartphone market has forced RIM out of its enterprise comfort zone and into the unchartered waters of consumer marketing, according to analysts.
In a desperate rear-guard action, the article notes that RIM is now working on a so-called “Apple killer” — a device with a touchscreen and lines suggestive of the iPhone. “But US telco AT&T is said to have delayed its introduction of the new phone because of problems with call quality — and delays hurt RIM as a new 3G iPhone is rumored for release this year”.
Medical Advances—Through Your iPhone?
Bioengineering professor Boris Rubinsky has what he hopes is the perfect antidote to bulky, expensive, hard-to-use medical machines: the mobile phone.
The University of California professor says that by reducing a complex electromagnetic imaging machine to a portable electromagnetic scanner that can work in tandem with a regular cell phone and a computer, he has essentially replicated a $10,000 piece of equipment for just hundreds of dollars. The mobile scanner plugs into the phone, which beams the data to the computer, generating an image that can be transmitted to a doctor or hospital far away.
Despite all the advances in medical diagnostics, two-thirds of the world’s population has no access to imaging technologies. Worse, about half of the imaging equipment sent to developing countries goes unused because local technicians aren’t trained to operate it or lack spare parts, according to the World Health Organization. But thanks to the proliferation of cellular and other wireless networks, researchers are stepping up efforts to deliver crucial medical services from afar. “You go through India, anywhere, in the middle of the road, there’s someone with a cell phone. A friend calls me from the jungles of Costa Rica,” says Rubinsky. “I can see so many applications in which the cell phone becomes an integral part of a medical device. A cell phone can cut the cost of almost every [diagnostic] device.”
From Ultrasounds to Heart Monitors
Rubinsky is hardly the only medical researcher who sees this potential. Indeed, of some 30 health-care-related projects at various universities recently funded by Microsoft (MSFT) Research, 17 involve cell phones. One team, at Washington University in St. Louis, is attempting to take ultrasound readings using a cell phone and a TV. Scientists at the University of Pittsburgh are working to create a heart monitor that relies on a cell phone to analyze the readings and dial 911 whenever a person’s cardiac activity careens into dangerous territory, providing emergency responders with a location and a preliminary diagnosis. “The cell phone is going to solve rural health-care problems, whether it’s rural India or rural Indiana,” says Kristin Tolle, Microsoft Research’s program manager for external research in biomedical computing.
Cell phones may also help reduce the frequency of medical errors. Researchers at startup Gentag have developed disposable wireless Band-Aids containing radio frequency identification (RFID) chips that transmit key information to a cell phone. As a nurse is about to administer a drug, the Band-Aid may warn that the patient is allergic to it. The Band-Aids, expected to be introduced commercially in Europe this summer, can also enable a phone to monitor a patient’s temperature or glucose levels, alerting a nurse if there’s a spike.
Apple’s (AAPL) hit iPhone, with its large color screen and full Web access, has been a boon for some graphics-rich medical applications. A software company called Life Record is using the iPhone to help physicians view patients’ medical records, including electrocardiograms and brain scans, on the go. “Since the iPhone release, our business has quadrupled,” says Michael Pike, Life Record’s chief software architect. Doctors can also use Life Record to order prescriptions, an area where many medical errors occur.
With the iPhone spurring more handset makers to introduce similarly robust devices, the U.S. market for medical cell-phone software is expanding rapidly. Sales of phone applications for medical professionals are expected to rise from $111.8 million last year to $276 million in 2011, according to consultancy Ambient Insight.
Medical Record-Keeper
Consumer versions of mobile medical software may also see a boost. This June, Life Record plans to introduce an application that will allow individuals to have access to their own medical records via an iPhone for $50 a year. When visiting a new doctor or specialist, iPhone-toting patients will be able to pull up all of their medical information, including past X-rays and another physician’s notes, by connecting with Life Record’s servers over the Internet.
Cell phones can also play an integral role in remote care for patients with chronic illnesses. BeWell Mobile, based in San Francisco, has created an application that lets asthma or diabetes sufferers enter their home test results into their cell phones and send them to the doctor daily. If a patient’s glucose levels spike, the software suggests the patient hold off on certain foods or try a different medication. Or a doctor may call the patient with more personal recommendations.
A recent two-year trial with BeWell at clinics operated by San Mateo Medical Center in California has shown the software can drastically cut down on emergency room visits. The trial involved 50 asthmatic patients, ages 12 to 20, who had previously landed in the ER four to five times a year. But using BeWell, none of the participants came to the emergency room during the trial. “We can actually change patients’ behavior, and that’s the big breakthrough,” says Peter Boland, business development director at BeWell.
