Knowledge's Blog

Perhaps Apple is getting ahead of itself. Even as the company plans to announce its “latest creation” on Jan. 27, one of its last creation’s key features — the ability for special-purpose accessories to communicate with iPhone apps — remains largely unused.

Integration between hardware accessories and iPhone apps was one of the standout new features of iPhone OS 3.0. By enabling iPhone apps to communicate with accessories over Bluetooth or through the dock connector, manufacturers and developers could augment the iPhone’s powers. Wired liked the idea so much we even coined an admittedly awkward term, dongleware, to describe these hybrids. And you, our readers, came up with some great suggestions for iPhone hardware/software add-ons.

With the addition of an accessory, the iPhone could potentially transform into a versatile electric guitar pedal (which was actually demonstrated at an Apple event by Line 6 and still hasn’t seen the light of day) or maybe even a light-switch controller. Game developers could ship special joysticks for their games. At Apple’s press event in March 2009 we even saw a special accessory that turned the iPhone into an insulin meter for diabetes patients to monitor their glucose levels. Click here to read more.. »

Some of tech’s biggest battle lines may soon be shifting. Apple is in talks to make Bing the iPhone’s default search engine, according to a report published in BusinessWeek today. Microsoft’s search would replace the iPhone’s current default — yep, you guessed it — Google.

The story, which cites the always-popular “people familiar with the matter” for its information, says talks between Microsoft and Apple have been underway for weeks. If true, it could mark a monumental shift in one of tech’s most relentless wars.

Apple and Google: A Changing Story

Let’s start by setting the stage: Google and Apple, you see, used to be pals. They played nicely together, with Google holding valuable spots as the default search provider for both the iPhone and Apple’s PC-based Safari browser. The real rivalry, of course, was always between Apple and Microsoft — just look to the ads if you need any proof.

It wasn’t until Google began testing the waters of mobile development that the tides began to turn. With the open-source Android platform, the plethora of Google-supported anti-iPhones, and that one Google-sold super-duper-phone, the G-Force suddenly stopped looking so sympathetic to Apple’s interests.

Throw in the spats over mobile apps (e.g. Apple saying “We don’t want Google Voice or Google Latitude for vague reasons that don’t quite make sense”) and the rumored native maps app coming to iPhone 4, and our former buddies suddenly don’t seem so chummy. Click here to read more.. »

And you thought the iPhone only played touchy-touch puzzle games. False.

Grand Theft Auto, one of the biggest franchises in videogames, touched down on the App Store this week, and brought its special brand of mayhem and manslaughter with it. A port of the PlayStation Portable edition of Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars (which was in turn a port of a Nintendo DS game), the iPhone version is a phenomenal play despite a handful of interface issues.

You are Huang Lee, the spoiled son of a Triad ganglord. After your father was murdered, you must deliver an ancient sword to your uncle so as to keep the empire in your family’s name. Ambushed at the Liberty City airport and left to die, you now find yourself drawn into the underworld with thoughts of vengeance. But what starts out as a simple revenge tale grows in scope, with a criminal world about to explode as gangs (and cops) square off for control. The Chinatown Wars narrative is strong, full of both humor and real drama, and benefits from excellent writing.

Instead of a 3D behind-the-shoulder view, Chinatown Wars returns to the top-down roots of the pre-PlayStation 2 GTA games. The art style is cartoonish and looks fantastic. The camera gives you a good view of the city around you, although when you start zipping through traffic trying to escape cops on a motorcycle you can almost get too far ahead of yourself. There is an option called Vehicle Camera Look Ahead that I recommend you try. You get a little extra real estate in the frame when driving, but sometimes it doesn’t feel like enough. However, pulling back the camera any more would rob the game of its rich detail (Liberty City lives and breathes with tons of pedestrians, buildings, and logical traffic patterns,) but it is often too easy to slam your car into a wall or an oncoming car. Click here to read more.. »

Yes, Apple’s inviting game bloggers to its January 27 super-secret product reveal, but I wouldn’t read anything into it. Unless the company’s launching a completely unanticipated device (always a possibility, but the odds are against it) expect to see–as a footnote to its writing and drawing capabilities–a slate-style computing gizmo touting slick touch-based entertainment demos. Maybe even some clever riffing on stuff like Crayon Physics. But nothing for which you’d ever trade in a set-top console or gaming PC.

Before you douse me in kerosene and fire up the blowtorches for saying so, I love the idea of an Apple tablet for all kinds of reasons. It’s just that gaming isn’t one of them.

Okay, qualification time. When I say ‘gaming’, I mean stuff like Uncharted 2, Dragon Age: Origins, Demon’s Souls, and Final Fantasy XIII. When Apple says ‘gaming’, it means Dizzy Bee, Trism, Critter Crunch, and Zen Pinball. If you’re an iPhone owner, you’ve possibly heard of one or two of those last five. Everyone else? Probably not.

So while there’s always the chance we’ll see a startling last-second metamorphosis, Apple’s gaming track record skews decidedly casual and mass-consumer. Even Apple’s mainstream OS X games are mostly delayed, underperforming Windows ports. The last halfway interesting Mac-debuted game? Bungie’s 1990s Marathon series. Click here to read more.. »

Either Apple isn’t operating on the Gregorian calender, or these updates are just straight-up late. Either way, we’re pretty stoked to see the suits in Cupertino finally wise up and allow Microsoft’s best OS ever to work on its machines, as it has today issued new Boot Camp software (v3.1) for both 32-bit and 64-bit users of Windows 7. The updates add native support for Win7 Home Premium, Professional and Ultimate, and in case that wasn’t enough, they also fix “issues” with the Apple trackpad and add support for Apple’s wireless keyboard and Magic Mouse. You’ll also find model-specific drivers floating around to add even more support, and the Boot Camp Utility for Windows 7 Upgrade is said to “safely unmount the read-only Macintosh volume on Windows Vista” when upgrading from Vista to Windows 7. Hit those links below for all the bits and bytes that you’ve been so desperately waiting for.

Now that Apple’s officially announced an event to show off its “latest creation” on the 27th, the rumors and gossip are about to get even more out of hand — eventually we expect them to take flight and start raiding small towns for soda water and appetizers. In the meantime, however, we’ve got the latest batch of somewhat-sober whispers to tide us over, so let’s run through ‘em, shall we?

The rumor: The iPhone Blog points us to a China Times piece setting the tablet’s screen size at 9.7 inches. (We covered the 22-inch touchscreen iMac rumor separately.)
Our take: At this point we’ve heard pretty much every screen size from eight inches to 11, so we’re not making a call either way on this one. We will say that the only other product with a 9.7-inch screen we can think of off-hand is the Kindle DX — a relatively simple device that’s still so large and heavy we generally hold it with two hands. Just something to think about.

The rumor: Ars Technica talks to the director of the OLED Association, who rules out a 10.1-inch AMOLED screen by saying “there’s no real production of 10.1-inch panels.” Oh, and the only place to buy those would be Samsung, really, and Sammy doesn’t have the capacity.
Our take: We never thought a 10.1 OLED screen was likely: not only are prices insane, but OLED still has terrible daylight viewing issues. The Ars piece is well worth a read, though — it’s a nice look at the state of OLED. Click here to read more.. »

Fox News posted an article Monday claiming that not only will next week’s now-confirmed Apple event play host to the long-rumored tablet unveiling, but it will also see the next iteration of Apple’s iLife software on show. Fox’s report also claims that Apple will discuss the next iPhone OS update.

The article by Fox News’ Clayton Morris is boldly titled “Apple Tablet, iPhone 4 Launch Confirmed for January 27th” (never mind the fact that it’s always iffy to “confirm” any new Apple product until Steve Jobs stands onstage with it), and goes on to detail a conversation Morris allegedly had with an Apple source early Monday morning.

According to his conversation with the unnamed individual, next week’s San Francisco event will concentrate on three specific projects: Apple’s long-rumored tablet, the next iteration of iLife, and an updated iPhone OS. However, iPhone owners have no reason to get too excited just yet, as the report specified that any discussion regarding the next iPhone will strictly be on a software-only level.

TheNextWeb pointed out that author Clayton Morris has correctly broken Apple related stories in the past, with him knowing of the now-confirmed Apple event before anyone else.

However, despite Morris’ clearly assured sources, Apple’s cryptic wording on the event’s invitation may suggest he isn’t right this time. Apple’s invitation welcomed the press to come and see the company’s “latest creation.” If you take note of the plural, could Apple be hosting an event dedicated entirely to the device which has been so extensivly desired, or will it show more than just the expected?

Also, in the past Apple has been relatively open with its iPhone OS update announcements, and those events have come later in the year.

Apple’s “Latest Creation” event takes place at 10 a.m. Pacific Time on January 27 at San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater.

What would you like to see in the next iPhone OS, and what are your hoping for in a new version of iLife?

It’s official: Apple Inc. will host a much-anticipated press event January 27 in San Francisco, California.

Invitations went out Monday.

Tech insiders expect the company to unveil a touch-screen “slate” computer, which would look something like a giant iPhone.

Buzz about such an announcement, and the possible press event, has been dominant news in the tech blogosphere for months.

The invitation to Apple’s event gives only a cryptic message about what news will come, however.

“Come see our latest creation,” says the invite, which was sent Monday by e-mail.

The e-mail invitation shows an image of bright colors splashed around an Apple logo. It does not show photos of products or specify what products Apple will discuss at the event.

The press event will be held at San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center for the Arts at 10 a.m. PT on January 27, according to the announcement.

The amorphous “slate” and “tablet” computer categories have drawn much attention from technology writers and the public in recent months.

Some companies say the devices — which fall in size and function somewhere between smartphones and laptop computers — are good for reading books, sorting through photos and browsing Web sites.

Others have criticized these emerging computer categories as overhyped.

Apple has a history of game-changing product announcements. The Cupertino, California-based company also has a reputation for being tight-lipped about its plans. The company has not commented on the frenzy of rumors about its supposedly upcoming tablet computer.

It’s been less than a year since the iPhone 3GS launched, and the rumor mill is already churning out speculation about an upcoming iPhone 4G, expected as early as May.

New rumors have been circulating over the past couple of days, saying a new Apple iPhone 4G will be available by June, or even as early as May. Besides the earlier-than-expected launch date (new iPhone models traditionally come out in June or July), potential new features are in discussion as well, such as a better camera, an OLED screen, a removable battery, and different casing.

A Bloomberg/BusinessWeek report quotes an analyst from the Goldman Sachs Group saying the iPhone 4G would have a better camera than the 3-megapixel shooter found on the iPhone 3GS. The iPhone 4G’s camera could offer up to 5 megapixels, which would put it on the par with the camera in Google’s Nexus One.

The story also speculates that Apple is working on an updated version of the iPhone OS with an overhauled App Store. The analyst in the Bloomberg story did not identify who gave him the information, but speculates the iPhone 4G will go into production as early as April, with availability expected sometime in June or July.

Derailing from the usual July/July launch timeframe though, is a report originating from a French Web site, which claims we are likely to see the next generation iPhone in May. The report says Apple targeted May because it thought that’s when Google would release their Nexus One Android smartphone. Actually, the Nexus One was unveiled earlier this month. Is it like that Apple would move up the release of a new iPhone to compete with Google? Maybe. But it doesn’t seem likely that Apple would misjudge Google’s launch date by several months.

Also this week, a report from Korea Times quoted unnamed mobile executives claiming the iPhone 4G will have an OLED screen and support for video chat. Most surprisingly, it claimed that the upcoming iPhone would feature a removable battery – though the chances of this happening are slight (Apple refused to use removable batteries in all three generations of iPhones and its latest laptops also sport non-removable batteries).

All-in-all, some of these rumors are plausible, such as the OLED screen and a better camera, though earlier launch dates as soon as May might seem a bit far-fetched, as Apple usually refreshes products in a yearly cycle.