It’s important to remember all veterans on this Veterans Day, but it’s particularly necessary to remember those who have been injured while serving in the U.S. military.  Operation Family Fund is a charity tirelessly dedicated to wounded soldiers, and one that uses 100% of its donations to help those in need. 

There’s no money taken for staff, postage or any type of overhead.  Every cent you donate to Operation Family Fund goes directly to those who need it most.  If you can help this fantastic organization, it would be greatly appreciated.

Our deepest thanks to all who have served.

So you’re a company who makes web software that, love it or hate it, most people use, but the company that controls an ever-growing share of the smartphone market refuses to allow your software to be installed on its devices.  What do you do? 

You rub their faces in it.

Adobe has, according to Gear Diary, begun displaying the message shown left when iPhone users attempt to use certain sites or web pages that requires Flash.  The message reads:

Apple restricts use of technologies required by products like Flash Player.  Until Apple eliminates these restrictions, Adobe cannot provide Flash Player for the iPhone or iPod touch.

Translation: Apple’s playing games with your phone and won’t let you use our technology even if you want to.  We’ve been trying, but hey, Apple’s calling the shots here.  Sorry for the arbitrary inconvenience.

There are valid arguments for and against Adobe’s Flash being part of the iPhone, but I think it’s a decision iPhone users should be able to make.  Don’t you?

-M. Nichols

We’re only eight months (or so) from the release of the 4th Generation iPhone. And since the iPhone 3GS was essentially an internal makeover (new CPU, GPU, etc.) of the 2008 iPhone 3G, it’s a safe bet that the next iPhone model’s design will be changed. 

The question is: what will it look like?

An Italian web site, iSpazio, has posted renderings from Japanese tech-artist Isamu Sanada showing one design direction Apple might take.  The result is a sort of iMac-esque aluminum shell with screen “glass” that goes from edge to edge.  This version is slimmer, flatter and sleeker than existing models, but maintains the same easily identifiable iPhone look. 

Given Apple’s history and the success of the iPhone, I can’t help but think that a significantly updated design will indeed be coming our way next year, if for no other reason than to keep things fresh.  Artists’ predictions of future technology often bear no resemblance whatsoever to the product that eventually hits store shelves, but in the case of Apple one can never be sure. And while these latest 4G iPhone concept renderings are almost certainly nowhere near spot-on, they do give us the opportunity to ask:

What design changes would you like to see in the 4th Gen iPhone?

Isamu-Sama nails it pretty well for me.

via Ty’s iPhone Help

M. Nichols, Products Editor

AT&T’s recent VoIP over 3G decision led some to believe that the company and their network were now ready for tethering and that the service allowing the use of an iPhone as a wireless data modem for a PC or Mac would begin any moment now.

Not so fast.

The Wall Street Journal’s Digits blog is reporting that AT&T is still noncommittal on the date when tethering will begin, though we do know the service is coming sooner or later.

An [sic] spokesman for [AT&T Mobility] said that tethering remains unavailable and stuck with the company’s prior statement: “Whenever we offer new features, we want to offer the best possible customer experience. For tethering, we need to do some additional fine tuning to our systems and networks so that we do deliver a great experience.”

Although we don’t have a firm (or even loose) date for AT&T’s activation of tethering support for the iPhone, we do know that the company had planned to support the service before the end of the year.

AT&T Mobility has lifted the restriction on VoIP calls over their 3G wireless data network for the iPhone 3G and 3GS. The decision was made, according to AT&T Mobility CEO Ralph de la Vega, due to “customers’ expectations.” The company has allowed other wireless devices to use VoIP applications over 3G, but never the iPhone, a decision which has placed the company in some critics’ crosshairs.  Add to that the FCC’s new push for net neutrality (the idea that all data moving along a network should be equal), and – voila VoIP-over-3G.

But is this development really good news?

We’re glad to see the 3G restriction lifted, but are also concerned about what effect frequent use of VoIP over AT&T’s already loaded 3G wireless network could do to data connectivity and network reliability, particularly in heavily populated areas.  iPhone users tend to use much more data than other smartphone owners, putting a disproportionate strain on the network. This strain was one of the reasons AT&T gave for delaying MMS support on the iPhone for months after the feature was added with the iPhone OS 3.0. 

As of this writing, the Skype iPhone app is still giving a message stating that VoIP calls require a Wi-Fi connection.  The AT&T press release regarding this policy change did not state when the change, in a real sense, would go into effect.  It is unclear whether unlocking VoIP over 3G will require a software update for each VoIP-enabled app or an iPhone system update of some type, though we would assume the former. 

We’ll keep you posted.

There’s been a lot of Web chatter (and slavish bootlicking)  this week regarding Apple’s latest version of its perennial Mac OS X, Snow Leopard.  I’ve been using v10.6 since Friday morning and, while there are back-end improvements, code rewrites and menu color changes galore, the upgrade hasn’t exactly blown my iPod’s socks off.  In fact, if it weren’t for changes to Stacks, Exposé and QuickTime, I wouldn’t know the difference.  Still, at $29 ($25 at Amazon.com), it’s worth the upgrade if for no other reason than it frees up drive space and speeds up some applications’ start times by a second or two.

Aside from not being able to resist upgrading to any new OS, I was also interested in seeing what impact, if any, Snow Leopard would have on the iPhone.  Would syncs be faster?  Would iTunes be less buggy during syncing and file transfers?  Would my iPhone 3GS backups take less time?  Would Apple include the $200 credit I’m still waiting on for ordering the iPhone 3GS before AT&T changed its upgrade price policy?

As you’ve likely guessed, the answer to each if these questions is: NO.

As far as I can tell, Snow Leopard makes absolutely no difference when it comes to using the iPhone with a Mac.  In fairness, no such claims were made, but I thought this might be a point of interest for some iPhone users pondering the upgrade.

Its lack of improvements for existing iPhone models (and the latest version of iTunes) doesn’t mean that some of the technologies in Snow Leopard have no bearing on future iPhone models or functionality.  For some information on what Snow Leopard could mean for the future of the iPhone, check out this interesting post at The iPhone Blog.

A few days ago, we told you about Apple’s refusal to include the official Google Voice app in the iTunes App Store.  We were none too pleased by the decision, or the subsequent purging of related third-party apps. It would seem Apple’s move wasn’t as under-the-radar as the company may have hoped; yesterday the FCC sent letters to Apple (full text below) and AT&T requesting further details on the situation, and a third letter to Google seeking insight into the company’s experience during this and previous software submissions to Apple.

Specifically, the Federal Communications Commission wants to know why Apple rejected Google Voice and related, previously-approved apps, whether or not AT&T played a role in the rejections, any contractual or non-contractual agreements between Apple and AT&T that contributed to the decision, and clarification of Apple’s general standards for approving or rejecting applications.

In our free market economy (at least on paper), the Feds should stay out of the way as much as possible.  But the government does have constitutional authority to regulate interstate commerce and, by extension, a role in protecting competition, which has proven its benefit to quality, price and service for centuries.  One of the FCC’s goals is to foster competition in the communications market. 

What manner of control the FCC should (or does) have in this matter under current law is up for debate, and it’s unclear whether or not FCC action will have any direct impact.  But indirectly it may compel Apple to think twice before making a move like this in the future. 

If a platform provider (Microsoft, Apple, Google, etc.) can begin securing its operating system from competitors’ products, all consumers lose.  

Continue reading »

Apple has rejected an app from Google that would have allowed iPhone users to access Google Voice features directly, rather than going through the service’s web site.  It seems Apple and/or AT&T fear easy access to Google Voice will pose a threat to their paid services.

Google Voice is a new service (newly Googleized, at least, and currently available by invite only) which allows users to obtain a new phone number, link that number to all of their existing lines (home, office, mobile), and manage voicemail, greetings, call blocking, etc., through a Gmail-like web interface.  Features are impressive, including transcribed voicemail messages sent via SMS or email, unanswered calls routed to the appropriate voicemail greetings based on user settings, and more.  The service is free.  

Official versions of the Google Voice application have been available for weeks on Android and BlackBerry smartphones, and Google had hoped to roll out the iPhone version as early as six weeks ago.  But Apple blocked the app, and quickly thereafter began removing similar third-party Google Voice apps – like GV Mobile – from the iTunes App Store.  Apple justified its action citing the apps’ duplicating iPhone features, but each had been approved weeks earlier.  Apparently, once the company decided to block Google’s official Voice application, it had to remove already-approved apps with similar functionality in order to maintain some semblance of coherence on the issue.   

Continue reading »

There are several situations where one might need a silent ringtone for the iPhone  — the most recent being use of the new Google Voice service.

There are a handful of iPhone apps — GV Mobile, VoiceCentral, GVdialer — which allow you to dial out using your Google Voice phone number (you can also dial from the web interface). However, when using Google Voice to make an outgoing call, an incoming call to the iPhone begins each connection.  If you don’t want your iPhone to ring during this incoming call, you can create a contact for your Google Voice number and assign it a silent ringer. 

Unfortunately, there is no such ringtone included on the iPhone, so we’ve created a very small file (12kb) you can download and use.

Just download the ringtone file (SilentRing.m4r), connect your iPhone via iTunes and drag-and-drop the file to the iPhone section on the left-hand side of the iTunes window.  The silent ringtone will now be an available option for specific contacts or as the default ringtone from the Settings > Sounds menu.

Download Silent Ringtone