Leander Kahney's Blog, page 1448

December 19, 2011

Customize Your Mail Signature On Your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad [iOS Tips]

Apple's iOS devices come with a default mail signature that reads "Sent from my iPhone/iPod/iPad." It was a nice novelty in 2007 when the iPhone was first released, but over the years, it's gotten a little boring.

But did you know that it's incredibly easy to customize your Mail signature and remove Apple's default? Here's how to change your signature on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad.

First, open up the Settings app on your device and tap on the 'Mail, Contacts, Calendars…' tab. Then tap the 'Signature' tab.

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You'll be presented with a text box that will include your device's default signature. Now it's time to delete this and enter in your own. Tap the 'Clear' button in the top right-hand corner and then enter your new signature into the text box.

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Once you're happy with it, go back into Mail settings to ensure your signature saves. Now, when you being a new mail message, your custom signature will be there.

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Published on December 19, 2011 12:00

Get A Rare Steve Jobs Signed iPod Shuffle (There's A Cool Story Behind It Too)

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Looking for that last minute Christmas gift for the hyper-obsessed Apple fan? How'd an iPod shuffle signed by Steve Jobs himself suit you? Just be warned: prepare to pay through the nose for it. Amongst philographists, a Steve Jobs autograph is considered a very rare prize indeed.

The official eBay description explains how Steve Jobs came to inscribe the iPod shuffle:

As part of a "innovators of tomorrow" program, myself and a 3 of my colleagues were invited to attend an in-house Apple event. Before hand, we received complimentary Apple products, including an iPod Shuffle and iTunes credits. As usual, the topics covered touched base on were a number of Apple's latest innovations, as well as a sneak peak to future plans. After the conference, we were given the opportunity to talk with Steve himself about the shift in technology to more companion-oriented devices. As the discussion wrapped up, one person in our group asked if Steve would mind signing our iPods.

Upon having it explained to him that they had heard he didn't like giving his autograph, Steve Jobs was uncharacteristically modest, replying:

You heard that about me? Well, I wouldn't say that I don't like giving autographs. I guess I was never comfortable with the idea solely taking credit for something, which is to me what an autograph might imply. To be honest, I think I'm the last person who should sign something. A writer signing a book I can understand, but I think if anybody within our company should sign something, it should be members from our R&D team and all the others responsible for product innovation. It's unfortunate that they all can't receive the same level recognition. But I suppose it's easier this way though…you would need a pretty big iPod to fit all those signatures.

Right now, with five days left to go, this iPod touch has an asking price of $5,900, and I imagine it'll triple or quadruple in value before all is said and done. Still, if you manage to win it, you'll be holding a very rare item in your hands indeed.

[via 9to5Mac]

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Published on December 19, 2011 11:48

Indispensable Jailbreak App BiteSMS Gets Full iOS 5 Support And More

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BiteSMS is a strong contender right now for our best jailbreak tweak of 2011, and almost as if it were trying to get ahead in the poll, they've gone ahead and released the new 6.0 version of the bite-sized text messaging app, which is the first to fully support iOS 5.

Here's what is new.

• iOS 5 compatibility, works on iPhone and iPod devices. Fully integrated with all iOS 5 features including iMessaging and Notification Center.
• NEW Look Quick Compose and Quick Reply.
• NEW Passcode lock feature inside Quick Reply.
• NEW Ability to use the native Messages icon instead of the biteSMS one.
• Note: For iOS 4 users, in effect you are installing Release 5.5 of biteSMS and don't get any new features.

If you don't have BiteSMS, it costs $9.99 and, for the first time ever, can be downloaded straight from the BigBoss Cydia repository, no custom repos required.

[via tipb]

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Published on December 19, 2011 11:28

This Cheap Mickey Mouse Point-And-Shoot Might Just Be The Future Of Digital Cameras

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The design of this little Mickey Mouse digicam might be for kids and ears-and-yellow-button-short-pants wearing man-children only, but look down a little at the 30-pin Apple connector and you might just see the future of digicams that hook up directly to iOS devices, no intermediary computer necessary.

The specs of the Sakar AppClix camera aren't anything to write home about. The $60 camera is meant for kids, and the specs are kid-sized: a seven megapixel sensor, 4X zoom, a microSD card slot and a 1.5-inch LCD display.

What's so cool here, though, is that you can just slap this camera into your iPad, load up the free accompanying app and start editing. When you're done, you can then save them to the iPad's camera roll or email them or post them to Facebook.

iOS 5 positioned the iPad as a stand-alone computer, and my guess is we're going to see more and more gadgets that interface directly with your iPhone or iPad now, instead of going through the intermediary of a computer. My prediction? CES is going to have a dozen cameras like this one, each with their own little 30 pin Dock connector.

[via Gizmodo]

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Published on December 19, 2011 10:32

Google: We're Planning Tablet 'Of Highest Quality' to Rival iPad

salendron - http://flic.kr/p/a2hBqJ

Remember the Motorola Xoom tablet, Google's first attempt to compete against Apple's iPad? It was only a bad dream. Google Chairman Eric Schmidt is now promising a purely Android tablet "of the highest quality" in six months.

Schmidt's comments to the Italian newspaper Corrier della Sea (Slash Gear has a report in English) follows the 2010 release of Motorola's Xoom tablet.

What's different this time? The new tablet is in the "Nexus" category of devices using pure Android. The Motorola Xoom used Honeycomb, a tablet-centric version of Android. The Nexus tablet Google is forecasting will use "Ice Cream Sandwich," a version of the mobile software combining both Honeycomb and Gingerbread. The Gingerbread variant of Android is aimed at smartphones. Last month, the Galaxy Nexus smartphone was unveiled using Android "Ice Cream Sandwich."

What's behind the push for a Nexus tablet? Perhaps it is the success Amazon is experiencing with the Kindle Fire. The Amazon tablet is powered by a heavily modified version of Android which links to a number of services offered by the online retail giant. Google would likely prefer the first successful Android-based tablet be one that includes features tightly woven into the Mountain View, Calif. company's family of products, such as Gmail and others.

The Nexus tablet will become a litmus test for how well Android can transfer from smartphones to tablets. There have been numerous flame-outs by Android tablets with HP's defunct TouchPad likely the most spectacular. A key problem for iPad alternatives is that all tablets are measured against the Apple device. I'll buy anything, as long as it operates and looks just like an iPad, is an often-heard response from consumers.

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Published on December 19, 2011 10:10

Santa's Appointments In New iPhone 4S Ad Are All For Staff At Apple's Marketing Firm

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If you haven't already seen Apple's new iPhone 4S ad in which Santa uses Siri, then go and check it out — it's really great. You may notice than when Santa checks his calendar, he has 3.7 billion appointments on Christmas Eve, four of which are with Whitney Kollar, Mark Sloan, Paula Cristalli, and David Young.

These aren't just random names dreamt up by employees at Apple's marketing firm — they are employees at Apple's marketing firm.

The discovery was made by one inquisitive Reddit user, "

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Published on December 19, 2011 05:38

Explosion At Pegatron's iPad Plant Hospitalizes 23 Workers [Report]

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A Pegatron plant in Shanghai, China, where rear panels for Apple's iPad will be manufactured, suffered an explosion over the weekend which hospitalized 23 workers and injured a further 38. Though the explosion did not cause a fire, according to a Reuters report, the Pegatron factory reports there is "some damage" to machinery.

Fortunately, none of those who were hospitalized have life threatening injuries, but the explosion has once again led to safety concerns over factories in China. In the last 12 months alone, we've seen two explosions at the Foxconn factories where Apple's gadgets are assembled, in addition to numerous reports surrounding employee suicides.

The Pegatron plant is yet to reach full operation, but will supply back panels for Apple's iPad 2. If the safety issues can be promptly resolved, Apple's supply chain will not be affected in the next quarter, according to the report. Meanwhile, the Cupertino company is said to be investigating the latest explosion.

[via 9to5Mac]

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Published on December 19, 2011 04:12

December 18, 2011

Scrivener, The Popular Word Processing App, Is Headed To iOS

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a Scrivener for iPad proof-of-concept

Literature & Latte, the development company behind the popular word processing app called Scrivener, has announced that an iOS version of Scrivener is in the works for a 2012 release.

Fans of Scrivener for Mac will be happy to know that the app is now in development for the iPhone and iPad. The professional writing tool will likely offer the most robust word processing experience for iOS to date.

From the Literature & Latte blog:

I think it's in the customers' interests to have a dedicated developer for each platform to ensure that each version is always kept up-to-date, and my hands are full with the Mac version. To that end, I'm very pleased to announce that we have just signed contracts with a developer, Jen Yates, to develop the iOS versions for us. Jen has been beavering away in secret for two or three months now, putting together some proof-of-concepts.

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Scrivener for Mac

An Android version of Scrivener is also planned, but an iOS app is being focused on first. Scrivener is designed as a digital writing studio and research tool, with many levels of organization and options for constructing complex novels, scripts and the like. Porting such a complicated, detailed app to a mobile platform like iOS will certainly be a challenging task.

I have to say that moving index cards around on a touch screen is a lot of fun, and the corkboard implementation she has come up with is, I think, one of the nicest I've seen on a touch screen device in terms of selection and dragging.

It's still early days, though – we are about to embark on the design process proper, and all we can say in terms of a release date is that our iPad and iPhone versions will be out some time in 2012.

While Apple does offer its own productivity suite for iOS, including Pages for word processing, Scrivener could very well be the best professional writing and research tool available in the App Store once it's released to the public.

Scrivener is currently available in the Mac App Store for $49.99. A free trail is available on the Literature & Latte website.

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Published on December 18, 2011 20:17

Apple Is Planning To Turn The TV Industry Upside Down [Report]

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The Wall Street Journal has shed light on Apple's plans for entering the TV industry. According to the WSJ, Apple is planning to reinvent not only the television itself, but the way we consume media every day.

Apple has been working on its top-secret TV project for quite some time. While the project is still in its early stages, all signs point towards Apple destroying and rebuilding the traditional way we watch movies and TV shows. The company wants to implement a unified experience that extends to the living room.

The WSJ reports:

In recent weeks, Apple executives have discussed their vision for the future of TV with media executives at several large companies, according to people familiar with the matter.

As was previously speculated, the TV itself looks to be a Siri-controlled experience that may also recognize motion, like the Xbox Kinect. Apple reportedly plans to circumvent the traditional providers altogether and rely on wireless streaming and a subscription-based model for delivering specific shows and movies.

Apple executives have given some specifics in its talks with media companies. The company, for example, has discussed new ways they could stream media companies' content, allowing a user to watch a video on a TV set, then pick up another device, such as a smartphone, and keep watching the video on the move, one of the people familiar said.

Apple seems to be taking a smart approach to its future plans for the TV by working out how it can implement its new technology into its existing products, specifically the Apple TV set-top box. Steve Jobs said that Apple entering the TV industry isn't a good idea because people "don't buy new televisions very frequently," according to the WSJ.

Jobs was actively involved with the project before his passing, with the WSJ reporting that "Mr. Jobs envisioned building a TV that would be controlled by Apple's mobile devices in order to be easier to use and more personalized." He wanted to revolutionize the TV industry in the same way he did the music industry with iTunes and the cell phone industry with the iPhone. Jobs told Walter Isaacson in his biography that he had "finally cracked" the Apple television before his death.

The TV device Apple is working on would use a version of Apple's wireless-streaming technology AirPlay to allow users to control it from iPhones and iPads, according to people briefed on the matter. When the company plans to start selling such a device and whether it would receive traditional broadcast or cable signals remains unclear, said these people, who say Apple may change its plans.

The technology could allow users to stream video from mobile devices to their televisions, without a set-top box. That process is already possible through its Apple TV set-top box, but it is cumbersome and some media companies, such as Time Warner Inc.'s cable channel HBO, prevent their apps from using the technology because they want closer control of how and where their content appears.

Apple has reportedly tested "integrating DVR storage and iCloud" into its TV, and the company wants to offer a Hulu-like experience for consuming content a la carte. Steve Jobs wanted to break down the barriers between the strict control of distribution and probed studio executives about "the universe of video content the providers actually had the rights to."

Set-top boxes like the Roku aim to offer a more a la carte, user-controlled method of media consumption, but Apple is all about a unified experience. If Apple were to unveil a standalone television with Siri-like controls, no ties to cable providers, and seamless integration with iCloud and the rest of the iTunes ecosystem, the TV industry will be turned upside down.

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Published on December 18, 2011 19:04

Facebook Brings Timeline To The iPhone

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Facebook has released an update to its iPhone app that brings the highly-anticpated Timeline view to mobile users. Version 4.1 of the Facebook for iOS app brings with it the ability to access friend lists, subscribers, and subscriptions. Photo viewing and overall speed improvements are also included.

An iPad version of Timeline is coming soon, according to Facebook. Users can download the latest update for free in the App Store.

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You can change your Timeline cover picture by clicking the tiny camera icon on the bottom right of the photo. Lists and subscriptions can be accessed in the app's left option pane.