Redmond Pie

iPhone 3.2 SDK Beta 5 Now Available for iPad

Taimur Asad — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 23:37:02 +0000

Apple has just released yet another update to iPhone 3.2 SDK for iPad. This Beta 5 of iPhone OS 3.2 SDK for iPad has been released only a week after Beta 4 was released. This release will most probably be the last Beta release as the devices are scheduled to ship with the final version on April 3.

Members enrolled in the iPhone Developer Standard or Enterprise Program can access the development bits of iPhone OS 3.2 Beta 5 for iPad by signing into Apple Developer Connection. Beta 3 of the SDK was released last month on February 24th, Beta 2 was released on February 10th, while the first Beta was released back in January when iPad was first officially announced by Apple.

Last week, Apple Store in the US was updated to include the new iPad, both the Wi-Fi only version, and Wi-Fi + 3G version for pre-orders. The Wi-Fi only model comes in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB versions and are available for $499, $599 and $699 respectively. It will ship on 3rd April for free. The Wi-Fi + 3G version of iPad also comes in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB versions and can be bought for $629, $729 and $829 respectively. The Wi-Fi + 3G version however wont ship before late April 2010.

Download iPhone 3.2 Beta 5 SDK (Apple Developer Connection)

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The War of Words Between Steve Jobs and Eric Schmidt

Skipper Eye — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 22:09:34 +0000

After years of cooperation, the two Silicon valley Titans are now converting themselves into Warlords. They seem to be dragger drawn and their rivalry is getting rather personal this time. This cold war between the two giants, has been going on for sometime now, and is slowly converting into into a full fledged battle.

Image Credit: Daniel Adel from New York Times

It was after the unveiling of iPad, when Steve Jobs was reported to be quite hostile and critical of Google. From Apple’s Town Hall meeting, some blunt criticisms came from CEO Steve Jobs, which was particularly targeted against Google and Adobe. In the wake of the iPad launch, Jobs opined that the search firm’s motto of "Don’t Be Evil" is simply "bullsh*t" and that the new rival is fully intent on killing the iPhone with its Android despite the companies’ partnership on iPhone services. He similarly explained his position by pointing out that the aggression was largely one-sided and that Apple hadn’t entered enter the Google’s domain, i.e. search. During the meeting, when Jobs was asked by an employee about his thoughts on Google and their competition, Jobs remarked:

We did not enter the search business, they entered the phone business. Make no mistake they want to kill the iPhone. We won’t let them. This don’t be evil mantra: It’s bullshit.

Last year, Google CEO, Eric Schmidt, was pushed off the Apple Board of Directors panel, with following brief announcement by Apple that hardly contained a vote of thanks to the out going Director.

Unfortunately, as Google enters more of Apple’s core businesses, with Android and now Chrome OS, Eric’s effectiveness as an Apple Board member will be significantly diminished, since he will have to recues himself from even larger portions of our meetings due to potential conflicts of interest. Therefore, we have mutually decided that now is the right time for Eric to resign his position on Apple’s Board.

Eric Schmidt, of course, must not be pleased with all these happenings. But on the other hand, the whole issue is based on Jobs’ belief of Schmidt’s betrayal of "picked his pocket" by developing Android powered smartphones that "physically, technologically and spiritually resembled the iPhone". Here’s how this encounter has been described:

At one particularly heated meeting in 2008 on Google’s campus, Mr. Jobs angrily told Google executives that if they deployed a version of multitouch – the popular iPhone feature that allows users to control their devices with flicks of their fingers – he would sue. Two people briefed on the meeting described it as "fierce" and "heated".

One of the critic, Tim Bray, the architect behind XML, who wrote a blog post yesterday announcing his new role as evangelist to software developers for Google’s Android platform, had this to say about competing with Apple:

The iPhone vision of the mobile Internet’s future omits controversy, sex, and freedom, but includes strict limits on who can know what and who can say what. It’s a sterile Disney-fied walled garden surrounded by sharp-toothed lawyers. The people who create the apps serve at the landlord’s pleasure and fear his anger. I hate it.

He further added:

Apple apparently thinks you can have the benefits of the Internet while at the same time controlling what programs can be run and what parts of the stack can be accessed and what developers can say to each other. I think they’re wrong and see this job as a chance to help prove it.

Earlier this month, Apple filed a lawsuit which targeted HTC (the maker of Google Nexus One), for its alleged involvement in infringing 20 patents, related to the iPhone’s user interface, underlying architecture and hardware.

Here is a video from CNBC, discussing this ongoing rivalry between Apple and Google.

So on which side of the fence are you? [via Engadget]

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GreenPois0n to Jailbreak iPad OS 3.2?

Taimur Asad — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 09:07:03 +0000

The developer behind Greenpois0n – p0sixninja has just posted a screenshot of his jailbreaking tool for iPhone and iPod touch which is said to now bring support for jailbreaking iPad. For those of you who don’t know, p0sixninja is a member of Chronic Dev Team and they have now tweeted about accepting donations to help them get an iPad in order to help them jailbreak it.

The long awaited Apple iPad was announced in January of this year, much to the delight of Apple fans who were waiting for Apple to reinvent the tablet/slate market. iPad is an all new tablet/slate like device that will run all of your existing iPhone Apps and Games on a a 9.7 inches IPS capacitive multitouch display.

Earlier, we also posted about all the possibilities that a jailbroken iPad could bring. Imagine the ability to multitask, updating twitter without having to launch an app using qTweeter, Tethering, and the ability to use Magic Mouse with iPad will make it one hell of a device. And also since one of the models of the iPad already has 3G capabilities, it wont be difficult for Cydia developers to bring phone calling / SMS capabilities over-the-air to this larger touchscreen device. Sending text messages from this large screen would be real awesome! We all know how the jailbroken community has changed the way we use our iPhone’s today. Apps like ProSwitcher, Backgrounder, qTweeter, YourTube, Google Voice, BTStack and so on have enabled iPhone and iPod touch users to do amazing things which otherwise would have never been possible.

Since Apple has already patched the exploits which were used by George Hotz and the iPhone Dev-Team to jailbreak iPhone and iPod touch on OS 3.1.2 using blackra1n, PwnageTool, redsn0w, a lot will now depend on the newer exploits, which hasn’t been made public yet.

Also take a look at our complete jailbreaking guide for iPhone 3.1.3 firmware for iPhone 2G, 3G, 3GS and iPod touch 1G/2G using redsn0w 0.9.3, redsn0w 0.9.4, sn0wbreeze, PwnageTool 3.1.5. Unlocking can be done using ultrasn0w or blacksn0w. [Thanks to Sandip of BlogsDNA for the hat tip]

You can follow me on twitter or join our facebook fanpage to keep yourself updated on all the latest jailbreaking and unlocking releases.

Shipping Of iPad Accessories Delayed

Skipper Eye — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 05:42:30 +0000

Apple started receiving pre-orders for the newly announced iPad on March 12, with the promise to start shipping iPad and its accessories by April 3. However, in the past few days, Apple has amended some of the shipping schedules of their branded iPad accessories. The revised schedule of some of these accessories can be seen in the screenshot below.

iPad Keyboard Dock, which was originally set to ship to in late-April has now been placed for shipping sometime in May. The same goes for iPad Case which will now ship in Mid-April instead of the original April 3rd date.

This is not a good omen for those outside the US who were looking to get their hands on the iPad and its accessories as soon as the first week of April, nor is it an encouraging sign for anyone in the US who hasn’t pre-ordered the product with its accessories yet.

The worse part of all is the delay of iPad Camera Connector Kit:

The kit which allows you to connect an SD card or digital cameras to your iPad is not even on Apple’s online store. The iPad’s lack of a standard USB port or an SD card slot built-in is a potential negative for prospective buyers, and this kit was supposed to resolve the issue.

Non delivering items on time has been a serious issue for April lately. These are not huge delays but it is a pointer towards some serious problem in Apple’s supply chain and management. We have experienced this in the recent past through the faulty 27’’ iMac saga, the slight delay of iPad, and now the non-availability of these simple in-house accessories for iPad. Apple needs to revise its marketing strategy for face saving, at least. [via 9to5Mac]

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Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview Now Available for Download

Taimur Asad — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 16:09:30 +0000

Today, the second day of MIX10 kicked off in style at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas. On this day of the conference, Dean Hachamovitch, General Manager for Internet Explorer announced the successor to IE 8, Internet Explorer 9. President of Windows Division Steven Sinofsky also made a guest appearance on stage for the IE 9 demo.

IE, despite all its flaws, has still been the most widely used browser on Windows. With IE 9. the IE team has done a lot of work to take it to a whole new level with all the graphics rendering taking place on the GPU level for HTML5 via the Microsoft DirectX technology. IE 9 has been re-written from the ground up and it takes advantage of the GPU power for all page rendering, and further enables web developers to exploit this power in ways they already understand (CSS, DHTML, JavaScript).

Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview is now available for download. This Platform Preview is released to basically give developers a sense of how the performance, compatibility and standards support is going to look like, come the final thing. This is not a full fledged (UI bits are not included) browser, and hence is not recommended to be used for regular web browsing.

Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview

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HTC HD3 Concept Images Will Make You Want One Right Now

Taimur Asad — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 13:30:33 +0000

Just stumbled upon these concept images of HTC HD3 and thought I should share it with you all. This one, unlike any previous leaks that we have seen looks closer to what could be the real deal come this fall, when Windows Phone 7 Series devices will finally roll out to the masses.

Hardware wise, this phone is said to sport a 1.5Ghz Snapdragon processor with 1GB of RAM and ROM. The built-in 8 megapixels camera will be able to shoot videos at 720p HD resolution. There will also be a front-facing camera for video conferencing, along with the three standard Windows Phone 7 Series buttons: Start, Search and Back.

HTC HD2 was released in October last year and was the first Windows phone to feature multi-touch support through HTC Sense (aka HTC TouchFLO 3D 2.5). By the time Windows Phone 7 Series devices are ready, HD2 will already be an year old and it would be a perfect time for HTC to unleash its successor in the form of HD3. If HD3 is anywhere near to these concept images and specs, I’ll be sold. [via Pocketnow]

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Windows Phone 7 ROM Build 7.0.0.6077

Taimur Asad — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 06:30:33 +0000

Folks over at XDA-Developers have dumped the Windows Phone 7 ROM Build 7.0.0.6077 off the PC Emulator software, which was released with dev tools at MIX10 yesterday. This marks the beginning of a long journey for XDA-devs to port this next-gen OS from Microsoft to the current-gen of Windows phone devices.

Since this dump doesn’t come off an actual “real” Windows Phone 7 Series device, it will be very hard, if not impossible to make a custom ROM out of it as it is meant for x86 CPU, not ARM based devices. XDA-Developers have surprised us in the past by releasing amazing stuff like dual booting Android and Windows Mobile on a Windows phone, so I wont rule them out for this one just yet.

You can follow the development on this by keeping an eye on this thread here. We’ll also update you when some new development takes place on this topic. [via Pocketnow]

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Windows Phone 7 Series Development Tools Announced

Taimur Asad — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 16:31:03 +0000

Microsoft today at the MIX10 conference has rolled out Release Candidate version of Silverlight 4, along with tons of other tools like Visual Studio 2010 Express for Windows Phone, Windows Phone 7 Series add-in to use with Visual Studio 2010 RC, XNA Game Studio 4.0, Windows Phone 7 Series Emulator for application testing, and Expression Blend for Windows Phone Community Technology Preview. It was announced by Scott Guthrie, Corporate Vice President of the .NET Developer Platform in his keynote today at MIX10, held at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer unveiled the next generation of Windows phones called the Windows Phone 7 Series in his keynote address at the Mobile World Congress 2010 last month. Windows Phone 7 Series refers to the next-generation Windows phones running Windows Phone OS 7.0.

All these tools are now available for download via http://developer.windowsphone.com/, or by navigating to the link here to download the following tools. ~~(Note: Download links aren’t Live yet)~~

• Silverlight 4 RC bits
• XNA Game Studio 4.0
• Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Express for Windows Phone [link]
• Windows Phone 7 Series Emulator for application testing
• Windows Phone 7 Series add-in to use with Visual Studio 2010 RC
• Expression Blend for Windows Phone Community Technology Preview (available as a separate download)

Credits: Thanks to @imhassan of ithinkdiff for the hat tip via twitter. Thanks to olegafx for the download link for Visual Studio 2010 Express for Windows Phone.

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ToolJail for iPhone 3.1.3 Jailbreak Assistance

Taimur Asad — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 15:14:02 +0000

If you loved F0recast, you will love this one too. ToolJail is designed for iPhone newbie’s to help them jailbreak and unlock their iPhone and iPod touch. It contains all the necessary jailbreak and unlock instructions, along with how-to’s on DFU and Recovery Mode, downgrading firmware, and direct download links for all the necessary tools required.

You use it by simply entering all the info about your iPhone and iPod touch and then the tool will report back on whether or not you can jailbreak and unlock your phone. In case you don’t know something, you can always click “How to find out?” link which will guide you in finding out that particular info about your iPhone or iPod touch.

For iPhone 3.1.2 firmware, you can use blackra1n, PwnageTool, redsn0w, sn0wbreeze, ultrasn0w and blacksn0w to jailbreak and unlock your iPhone and iPod touch.

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Download ToolJail 1.2.1 by Destructor95

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Google to Shutdown Search Engine in China

Skipper Eye — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 16:39:35 +0000

In view of the hardening of positions on both sides, Google reportedly has chalked out a detailed strategy for closure of its search engine in China, and it is almost final now as the talks over censorship with the Chinese authorities have reached an apparent deadlock since January of this year. The Chinese government on Friday warned the US based search company, that it was not prepared to compromise on internet censorship with Google in China.

To recap on what happened, it was December last year when the Google – China relations took a bad turn. Someone from China targeted human right activists Gmail accounts. These Google human rights activists accounts in China were hacked by hackers who originated from mainland China. As a reaction, the dismayed authorities at Google threatened to withdraw its services from China, saying that it can no longer censor its search results on the Chinese version of Google homepage i.e. Google.cn. Google, in a detailed blog post said that if it is unable to find a way to operate an unfiltered search engine within the Chinese law, which currently requires it to block access to millions of websites, it will have no option but to close its operations in China. Few days later, Google-China debacle took a new turn when Google in a secret counter-offensive encounter managed to hack these Chinese hackers back. It was successful in breaking into the source computer in Taiwan which was involved in these attacks. Google engineers, thus found out some evidence which were pointing fingers towards mainland China. It appeared as if the whole script was orchestrated by the Chinese government. Later in a new development, U.S. authorities were able to track down the man who wrote the code to attack Google in China. The guy in question was a freelance security consultant in China, and his discovery made it even more difficult for the Chinese government to deny their involvement.

In mid last month, some more scary details came to light where linkage of two Chinese Institutions were discovered in hacking Google sites. These schools were also reported having tacit connections with PLA.

Google also delayed the launch of two Android based smartphones from Motorola and Samsung, and didn’t plan to unveil Nexus One in China.

On Friday, Li Yizhong, minister for industry and information technology, said:

If [Google] takes steps that violate Chinese laws, that would be unfriendly, that would be irresponsible, and they would have to bear the consequences.

Chinese officials like Mr Li are trying their best to encourage Google to continue its operations in the country. Li said that “[Google] has taken 30 per cent of the Chinese search market”. He further asked Google to continue in China by saying:

If you don’t leave, China will welcome that, if you don’t leave, it will be beneficial for the development of the internet in China.

It appears rather clear now that a compromise between Google and China is far from arriving. Google will rather like to close down search engine than compromising on Chinese-made principles.

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