Niphones * iPhone Wallpaper

Apple says white iPhone 4s are coming later this year. But some people don’t want to wait, and for those people, there’s a WhiteiPhone4Now.com. The Web site sells a kit that lets iPhone 4 owners turn their regular black iPhone into a fancy white one.

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Pianist Pro by MooCowMusic is a Musical Marvel

I was scolded by my girlfriend when I started playing with this app. My language went foul in front of my younger son (who I’m sure already knows much worse from the school yard). I cannot believe how WONDERFUL this app is. The exclamation (using certain unpublishable words) went something like: “OMG this is ****ing brilliant… sorry Tom.” He just laughed.

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AT&T’s Ron Spears, CEO of the telecom company’s Business Solutions unit, said Apple’s iPhone has plenty of traction in the enterprise and in some cases is replacing a laptop purchase.

Spears’ comments, made at the Barclays Capital Communications, Media and Technology conference on Thursday, shed some rare light on Apple’s business sales via AT&T. Apple quietly has an enterprise sales force, but its business sales are a rounding error at best relative to its consumer units.

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At Apple Inc., “working our butts off” means cots in the engineering department and cars in the parking lot at all hours of the night.

Seeking a solution to the antenna flaw that is dropping calls for some iPhone 4 users, Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs said yesterday that employees started a round-the-clock effort to improve the reception amid complaints since the device’s debut on June 24.

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Since our report of possible stereo Bluetooth issues on the iPhone 4 a few weeks ago, several CNET readers have written in reporting that the problem extends beyond just the iPhone 4, and beyond just stereo Bluetooth. Indeed, many of our readers wrote that they’ve experienced odd Bluetooth glitches with their iPhone 3GS and iPhone 3G loaded with the latest iOS 4 firmware, glitches that did not exist with iPhone OS 3.0. These glitches range from poor audio quality to intermittent connectivity to the headset.

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SAN FRANCISCO — As Apple prepared to address the mounting controversy surrounding the antenna of the iPhone 4, one thing appeared clear: the company does not plan to recall the popular device.

A person with direct knowledge of Apple’s plans said it would not announce a recall at a press conference scheduled for Friday at its headquarters in Cupertino, Calif. The person was not authorized to speak for Apple and asked to remain anonymous.

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The YouTube parody of an iPhone-craving customer is a certifiable hit at more than 4 million views and counting. It’s pretty obvious why.

First and foremost it’s a critique of the cultlike following Apple products have. No surprise here. (Hey, I’m guilty. I have an iPhone 3GS and a couple of MacBooks. OK, I have an iPad too.) (continue reading…)

The mountain of damning evidence is incontrovertible: Apple’s iPhone 4 antenna design is flawed. Consumer Reports is only the latest publication to complete a battery of testing and declare what other reviewers have discovered as well: holding the phone a certain way causes repeatable reception problems that, in weaker signal areas, can lead to dropped calls. (continue reading…)

Using the iPad to track the weather balloon convinced Bill Wiley that the tablet computer is a breakthrough educational tool. “You can be sitting in a cornfield looking things up, or in the middle of the woods logging data,” he said.

The iPhone 4 may be as big a burden on mobile operators as previous iPhones, warns a research company’s report. According to Strand Consult, large subsidies for the new Apple smartphone may cut into mobile operators’ profits.

While the iPhone 4 has been a success with critics and consumers—call reception issues aside—Apple’s newest smartphone may pose the same problems for mobile carriers that earlier iPhone models have, Strand Consult said in a July 5 report. (continue reading…)

SHENZHEN, China — Last month, while enthusiastic consumers were playing with their new Apple iPhone 4, researchers in Silicon Valley were engaged in something more serious.

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At the Macworld Conference & Expo in January 2007, Steve Jobs revealed the long anticipated iPhone, a convergence of an Internet-enabled smartphone and iPod. The original iPhone combined a 2.5G quad band GSM and EDGE cellular phone with features found in hand held devices, running scaled-down versions of Apple’s Mac OS X (dubbed iOS, formerly iPhone OS), with various Mac OS X applications such as Safari and Mail. It also includes web-based and Dashboard apps such as Google Maps and Weather.

The iPhone features a 3.5-inch (89 mm) touch screen display, 4, 8, or 16 GB of memory, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi (both “b” and “g”). The iPhone first became available on June 29, 2007 for $499 (4 GB) and $599 (8 GB) with an AT&T contract. On February 5, 2008, Apple updated the original iPhone to have 16 GB of memory, in addition to the 8 GB and 4 GB models. On June 9, 2008, at WWDC 2008, Steve Jobs announced that the iPhone 3G would be available on July 11, 2008.

This version added support for 3G networking, assisted-GPS navigation, and a price cut to $199 for the 8 GB version, and $299 for the 16 GB version, which was available in both black and white. The new version was visually different from its predecessor in that it eliminated the flat silver back, and large antenna square for a curved glossy black or white back. Following complaints from many people, the headphone jack was changed from a recessed jack to a flush jack to be compatible with more styles of headphones. The software capabilities changed as well, with the release of the new iPhone came the release of Apple’s App Store; the store provided applications for download that were compatible with the iPhone.

On April 24, 2009, the App Store surpassed one billion downloads. On June 8, 2009, at Apple’s annual worldwide developers conference, the iPhone 3GS was announced, providing an incremental update to the device including faster internal components, support for faster 3G speeds, video recording capability, and voice control. On June 7, 2010, at WWDC 2010, the iPhone 4 was announced, which Apple says is its “‘biggest leap we’ve taken” since the original iPhone. The phone includes an all-new design, 960×640 display, Apple’s A4 processor used in the iPad, a gyroscope for enhanced gaming, 5MP camera with LED flash, front-facing VGA camera and FaceTime video calling. Shortly after the release of the iPhone 4, it was realized by consumers that the new iPhone had reception issues. This is due to the stainless steel band around the edge of the device, which also serves as the phones cellular signal and Wi-Fi antenna. The only current fix for this issue is by purchasing a so called “Bumper Case” for the phone. Most think that this issue can be fixed in the near future by a simple software update. Apple has not yet commented on the issue.

iPhone 3GS, currently available in an 8 GB model.

iPhone 4, currently available in 16 and 32 GB models.

On October 23, 2001, Apple introduced the iPod digital music player. It has evolved to include various models targeting the wants of different users. The iPod is the market leader in portable music players by a significant margin, with more than 220 million units shipped as of September 9, 2009. Apple has partnered with Nike to offer the Nike+iPod Sports Kit enabling runners to synchronize and monitor their runs with iTunes and the Nike+ website. Apple currently sells four variants of the iPod.

iPod Classic (previously named iPod from 2001 to 2007), portable media player first introduced in 2001, currently available in a 160 GB model.

iPod Nano, portable media player first introduced in 2005, currently available in 8 and 16 GB models. The newest generation has a 640×480 video camera (H.264, 30FPS) and an FM tuner with live pause and iTunes Tagging.

iPod Shuffle, digital audio player first introduced in 2005, currently available in 2 and 4 GB models.

iPod Touch, portable media player first introduced in September 2007. Currently available in 8, 32, and 64GB models. The 32 and 64GB Gen 3 models feature a faster processor and include voice control and an external microphone.

On January 27, 2010, Apple introduced their much-anticipated media tablet, the iPad running a modified version of iOS. It offers multitouch interaction with multimedia formats including newspapers, magazines, ebooks, textbooks, photos, movies, TV shows videos, music, word processing documents, spreadsheets, video games, and all existing iPhone apps. It also includes a mobile version of Safari for internet browsing, as well as access to the App Store, iTunes Library, iBooks store, contacts, and notepad.

 Content is downloadable via WIFI and optional 3G service or synced through the user’s computer.AT&T is currently the sole US provider of 3G wireless access for the iPad.

Apple Inc. (previously Apple Computer, Inc.) is an American multinational corporation that designs and markets consumer electronics, computer software, and personal computers. The company’s best-known hardware products include the Macintosh computers, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad. Apple software includes the Mac OS X operating system; the iTunes media browser; the iLife suite of multimedia and creativity software; the iWork suite of productivity software; Aperture, a professional photography package; Final Cut Studio, a suite of professional audio and film-industry software products; and Logic Studio, a suite of audio tools. As of January 2010, the company operates 284 retail stores in ten countries, and an online store where hardware and software products are sold.

Established on April 1, 1976 in Cupertino, California, and incorporated January 3, 1977, the company was previously named Apple Computer, Inc. for its first 30 years, but removed the word “Computer” on January 9, 2007, to reflect the company’s ongoing expansion into the consumer electronics market in addition to its traditional focus on personal computers. As of September 26, 2009, Apple had 34,300 full time employees and 2,500 temporary full time employees worldwide and had worldwide annual sales of $42.91 billion in its fiscal year ending September 26, 2009.

For reasons as various as its philosophy of comprehensive aesthetic design to its distinctive advertising campaigns, Apple has established a unique reputation in the consumer electronics industry. This includes a customer base that is devoted to the company and its brand, particularly in the United States. Fortune magazine named Apple the most admired company in the United States in 2008, and in the world in 2008, 2009, and 2010. In May 2010, Apple’s market cap exceeded that of Microsoft for the first time since 1989.