For anyone that doesn’t know, an oscilloscope, or O-scope, is an electronic measuring instrument that creates a visible two-dimensional graph, on a screen, of one or more continuously varying voltages or currents. Oscium has revealed the iMSO-104, a combination of a free universal iOS app and a $300 hardware kit that attaches via the iDevice’s dock connector. Read more
Posts tagged with "iPhone"
Oscium’s $300 Kit Turns iPad into Oscilloscope
iPhone Tab Bar Lessons→
iPhone Tab Bar Lessons
Over the last couple of years, the iPhone has greatly popularized the tab bar navigational model for mobile handsets. Apple has put together a design rationale for the tab bar in their Human Interface Guidelines (HIG) along with lots and lots of other information — they do however leave some question unanswered. Having worked with interaction and graphical design for iPhone applications during the last couple of years I’ve managed to pick up some lessons the hard way, and in this post I would like to share my thoughts on a couple of do’s and don’ts.
Petter Silfver compares different tab bar designs from popular iPhone apps and gives some insight into Apple’s subtle design decisions that most of us won’t even notice, but are important to build a consistent and natural experience on iOS. Such as colors and hues in the tab bar, the ideal number of tabs, or the problems with a “More” tab that distracts users and hides important functionalities of an app that should be discovered naturally.
If you’re an iOS geek like me, a designer, or simply interested in knowing more about this particular aspect of Apple’s Human Interface Guidelines, check out the post here. It’s full of details, and it’ll make you re-consider the implementation of Instagram’s Camera button.
#MacStoriesDeals - Tuesday
We’ll tweet the daily deals at @MacStoriesDeals as well as exclusive weekend deals too, so please follow! Here are today’s deals on iOS, Mac, and Mac App Store apps that are on sale for a limited time, so get ‘em while they’re hot!
iTable: First in a Line of Apple-Themed Furniture
What’s rectangular in shape, black and aluminum, plays music, and has touch-sensitive controls? Meet the iTable, a coffee table that looks like a stack of iPhone 4s. The iTable is the idea of Kyle Buckner, an interior designer best know for car interiors that’s also working on a new line of unique furniture. The iTable is the first in a line of Apple-themed furniture for your living space.
Video and more pictures after the break. Read more
Company Claims To Offer Permanent iPhone Unlock That Lasts “Forever”
Company CutYourSim, specialized in SIM cutters and adapters for the iPhone, has launched tonight a new service that promises to provide a permanent iPhone unlock solution that doesn’t need jailbreak, additional software or hacks. The company claims their method will carry on forever through any iOS or baseband update, so users don’t have to worry about updating to the latest version of iOS. More importantly, CutYourSim says it doesn’t affect your iPhone’s warranty status “because this is an official iPhone unlock.”
How is this possible? Apparently, someone at CutYourSim found a way to “whitelist” devices by adding IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) numbers to Apple’s own database – something that of course isn’t possible unless you have access to the aforementioned database. Which leads us to think Apple might soon find a way to block the service – but, then again, we don’t know all the details behind Apple’s IMEI database so we can’t judge right now. It is possible, however, that the procedure involves accessing the IMEI database from a carrier’s online backend. CutYourSim also says currently the CDMA sold on Verizon isn’t supported, and that the method doesn’t change a phone’s IMEI (which is illegal) but simply adds it to the whitelist. Interestingly, CutYourSim says this method has been around for a while (but never worked on AT&T) and was never cut off by Apple. Curious.
Previously, people who wanted to buy an iPhone from the United States at a cheaper price had to rely on tools like ultrasn0w for their unlocking needs. Otherwise, the phone wouldn’t work on an unsupported carrier. The obvious downside to hacks like ultrasn0w is that every iOS release and baseband update can “break them”, forcing iPhone users to stay on an older iOS version until a new unlocking tool is released. This is exactly what CutYourSim wants to improve by offering an unlock that works with any iOS update – again, because an iPhone’s IMEI is added to Apple’s whitelist.
Personally, I don’t recommend buying the $169 unlock process from CutYourSim as I have a feeling the whole thing is illegal and requires hacking into Apple’s own database. Still, I believe it would be interesting to know the technical details behind the process, and feedback from those who went ahead and purchased the unlock. If you did, let us know. [via @chronic]
Parrot to Engage in AR.Drone Combat SIM with AR.FlyingAce
Model airplane enthusiasts, iPhone owners, and any geek who likes a good ol’ fashioned RC helicopter hasfallen in love with Parrot’s AR.Drone quadricopter, a WiFi controlled helicopter that is piloted using the iPhone. Made to fly indoors (or outside with a special streamlined shell), the AR.Drone can pipe video back to your iPhone’s display, engage virtual targets, and tag other AR.Drones for a half real-life and half virtual-reality based air chase (AR.Pursuit which is available on the App Store for $2.99). iLounge via TUAW reports that a more complete dogfighting solution is coming for your flying drones called AR.FlyingAce will enable you to show down opposing players after taking enough virtual damage. Players on the same WiFi network can compete in multiplayer matches to be the last one standing. It’s just like playing laster tag, except you can sit on the couch instead of diving behind it. We’ve posted the promo video after the break, and you can expect AR.FlyingAce to hit the App Store on April 15th.
HP Launches ePrint Service For iPhone: Print & Pick Up Documents on the Move
Say you what you want about wasting paper and physical prints, but there’s still a necessity for physical documents, and Hewlett Packard is unveiling their ePrint service for the iPhone so you can print and pick up documents from just about anywhere (previously only available on Blackberry). Compatible with HP AirPrint printers, or via a registered public ePrint location, you can print documents on the fly using your iPhone and pick up your papers at a local printer, whether it be at home or at your hotel’s front desk. At public locations, your prints can be collected only with a retrieval code at a pickup desk (FedEx has 1,800 locations for ePrint). I don’t know how much you want to trust the person behind the counter, but for printing a map or getting a hard copy of a local flyer, it’s certainly a nice option to have. For enterprise users, you can print to your private-cloud so you’ll have your documents as you return to your desk (HP advertises their ePrint Enterprise Solution separately). HP’s ePrint is a free download in the App Store.
[via Yahoo Finance]
#MacStoriesDeals - Monday
If you didn’t already know, we’ve set up a new twitter account for Deals, it’s @MacStoriesDeals. We’ll tweet the daily deals there as well as exclusive weekend deals too. Help spread the word! Here are today’s deals on iOS, Mac, and Mac App Store apps that are on sale for a limited time, so get ‘em while they’re hot!
How many Macs did Apple sell last quarter?→
How many Macs did Apple sell last quarter?
None of the 43 analysts we polled – professional or amateur – think Apple sold more than 4 million Macs in the quarter that ended two weeks ago. But as a group they expect unit sales grew even faster – nearly 24% year over year. The high estimate of 3.865 million – submitted by both Traderhood’s Nicolae Mihalache and Apple’s Gold’s Dennis Hildebrand – represents more than 31% growth year over year.
For Apple’s first quarter fiscal results for the new year, Apple reported 4.13 million Macs sold following a strong demand for the MacBook Air. While we have seen updates in the MacBook Pro which include Sandy Bridge and Thunderbolt, analysts are predicting that Macs will see a decreased demand this quarter, which is in line with the sales trends from 2006. Analysts are also predicting that Apple will sell 19 million iPhones for the second quarter according to Fortune.