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iPhone Firmware Updated To v1.1.4

Tuesday, February 26th, 2008

Apple updated the iPhone firmware to v1.1.4 this morning via a new iTunes update. The iPhone SDK hasn’t been officially released yet, so we’re not quite sure exactly what this new update brings us, but stayed tuned, we’ll update you as soon as we know.

The Unofficial Apple Weblog has a play-by-play going on here. Obviously, if you’ve previously unlocked/jailbroken your iPhone, don’t do this update until you’ve got confirmation that it’s been jailbroken, as well.

On a more editorial note, does anyone else think it’s slightly odd/interesting that it’s referred to as being ‘jailbroken’? As if it’s being ‘freed’ when you perform the jailbreak? Fascinating.

Another thought, as it seems to be easier and easier for the dev crews to jailbreak the newer firmwares, do you think maybe Steve Jobs has his hooligans setting that up. Any other phone gets a firmware update, it’s slow news. The iPhone, however, hits the front page of most sites, and has the tech world wondering how long it’ll be until it’s jailbroken. Personally I think it’s a BRILLIANT way to keep the hackers entertained, techies attentive, and everyone else interested.

Posted in Apple, iPhone | Comments

Abilene Christian University First In U.S. To Give iPhones To Students

Tuesday, February 26th, 2008

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I could not be more proud to announce this morning that Abilene Christian University, my alma mater, has officially become the first university in the U.S. to provide an iPhone or iPod Touch to all incoming freshmen. They will use their iPhone or iPod Touch to answer surveys and quizzes, receive homework notifications, and even check their meal and account balances. More than 15 web applications have been developed specifically for this program.

ACU’s CIO Kevin Roberts recently returned from Cupertino where he presented the school’s ‘Connected’ initiative to Apple Execs, as well as leaders from Harvard, Yale, MIT, Duke, and others. They’ve put together this whole ‘Connected’ video, showing just how the university plans to use mobile connectivity to enrich students’ lives and the learning process.

The coolest part isn’t the iPhones, it’s the ideas behind them, and how they’re using advanced mobile devices to help students learn. I think it’s fascinating.

I’m really beaming right now. How cool is this.

Posted in iPhone | Comments

BeamMe.Info Allows Users A Quick Way To Get SMS Info

Monday, February 25th, 2008

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BeamMe.Info is a cool new service for web publishers that places a small link next to content, so that users can quickly and easily send the info to their handset via SMS. There is a ‘Beam Generator’ that will generate the code, which you merely paste into your website, wherever you want the function to be.

BeamMe.Info securely asks for a user’s mobile number and sends the information via SMS. The webmaster never sees the mobile number, and it’s not stored anywhere, since there’s no registration or anything. Very easy for readers, with no barriers other than an SMS-capable handset.

Standard SMS rates apply to receive the SMS, so readers don’t incur large costs. However, for the webmaster, they’ll be billed per message sent. Rates are mostly <$.20, and are tier-priced according to the number sent. BeamMe.Info also has budgeting built-in, so webmasters can set a monthly limit, and the logos will disappear until either a new month or the budget is increased.

[Via: Textually.org]

Posted in Mobile, SMS | Comments

Spinvox Launches Blackberry Plugin To Textify Voicemail

Monday, February 25th, 2008

SpinVox for BlackBerry Feb 08
Spinvox, everyone’s favorite speech-to-text company, today launched the first device-based service in the form of a Blackberry plugin. For GBP 5.00/year (US$10), in addition to your standard Spinvox package, Blackberry users will receive their voicemail in the form of an email delivered to their inbox with the word ‘Spinvox’ appended to the subject line. From the email they can easily return the call, or file the voicemail accordingly.

There is a free trial period, and interested individuals can cruise over to www.spinvox.com/blackberry to get the full scoop on packages. For the hyper-connected individual with a Blackberry, this is completely priceless, as you can now get your voicemail whether you’re in a meeting, in a library, or anywhere else that’s considered rude to make an actual phone call. Brilliant.

As someone who has completely disabled voicemail on his mobile phone simply to avoid the inconvenience of having to ‘dial in’ to retrieve them, I’d say this new feature for Blackberry users is priceless.

Posted in Mobile Services | Comments

New York Times Allows Notes To Be ShifD To Your Mobile

Monday, February 25th, 2008

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The New York Times today launched a new service called ‘Shifd‘ that allows you to transfer notes, links, anything quickly and easily from your PC to your mobile and back again. Using Mowser, an internet mobilizing service created by Russell Beattie, Shifd has a simple UI and organization, with things split up into notes, links, or places.

Currently free, and not integrated into the NYtimes.com website, Nick Bilton, the creator, says ad-supported is a possibility in the future. Shifd is built on Adobe’s new AIR technology platform. ShifD is in open beta, meaning you don’t need an invite or anything to sign up and give it a whirl. There’s also a mobile-specific site, with iPhone and Blackberry optimised interfaces that will automatically be delivered based on your device.

They’ve got an easy browser plugin, or you can download the desktop application (Mac and Windows are supported), along with the mobile side. I’ve been using the Google Firefox plugin SendToPhone for a long time now, to quickly and easily send links and notes to myself via SMS, but Shifd seems to make it easier to keep a log of all these little notes. Very nice.

Posted in Mobile | Comments

Nokia Invests In Morpho Imaging Processing

Monday, February 25th, 2008

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Nokia Growth Partners, the venture capital department of the Finnish behemoth, has invested in Morpho, Inc., to the tune of 165 million Japanese Yen (~US$1.5 million). Morpho specializes in image processing software for mobile gadgets. PhotoSolid and MovieSolid, both from Morpho and designed to help with image and video stabilization, have grown to be well-respected in the industry. Morpho also offers embedded solutions for motion tracking, panoramic imaging, and backlight compensation.

With Nokia’s Nseries handsets on the frontline of cameraphones and the Nokia N82 sporting a 5 megapixel camera with autofocus, Carl Zeiss optics, and Xenon flash, the ability to efficiently process the image with enhanced features is going to be key. Samsung’s G810, which was announced at the Mobile World Congress 2008 and sports Nokia’s S60v3 Feature Pack 1 OS, like the N82, already has an image stabilization feature.

I’ll be anxious to see how Morpho progresses, and if we see more Nokia interest in imaging-related companies.

Posted in Mobile Development | Comments

Nokia Morph Takes Over Museum of Modern Art

Monday, February 25th, 2008

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The Nokia Research Center, together with the University of Cambridge, has created the Morph, a concept phone that allows users to physically stretch and reshape the device according to their usage. The Morph uses nanotechnology, in addition to flexible materials and transparent electronics to create something extremely customisable. It also features self-cleaning capabilities, to eliminate bacteria and germs, a feature that has been making its way onto handsets in Japan for a while now.

The Morph will be shown off at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City from February 24th to May 12th, 2008, as part of the ‘Design and Elastic Mind’ campaign. You can check out the campaign’s official website here, and get more info on the Morph in the official press release.

Technology that exists in the Morph could make its way to the mainstream in 7 years or so. The Nokia Research Center looks beyond Nokia’s existing business and product development to challenge current strategies and to stimulate renewal in the company’s direction. Working closely with all Nokia business units, NRC’s research explores new frontiers in digital services, physical-digital connections, human interaction, data and content technologies, device architecture, and access and connectivity. NRC promotes open innovation by working on research projects in collaboration with universities and research institutes around the world.

Posted in Devices, Research | Comments

RIM Sees More Subscribers, Same Revenue

Saturday, February 23rd, 2008

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Research In Motion, the company that brings you the Blackberry (and lets the service go down periodically) recently upped its estimates for new subscriber growth for their fiscal quarter which ends on the first of March. The company raised its forecast by 15-20%, bringing the total forecast to around 2.1 million new subscribers. This strong growth expectation comes in spite of recent outages, and is likely due to the slower holiday shopping season and older inventory.

The company did not, however, increase its financial projections for the same quarter. Analysts guess this is either because RIM expects to exceed expectations, or possibly simply a slower upgrade trend for the higher-end handsets.

In any case, it definitely shows that smartphone shipments continue to grow, with more and more subscribers picking up a new smartphone.

Posted in News | Comments

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