Category: Iphone
Google calls Apple “valuable partner”
Posted by Mike Schramm in Apple, Bing, Google, Iphone, Microsoft, close, companies, company, direct, partner, redmond, relationship, valuable-partner Wednesday, 17 February 2010 22:45 No Comments
Filed under: Steve Jobs, Apple, Developer, Apple History
Steve Jobs is trashing Google internally according to rumors, but Google is having none of it. Company reps told the press at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this week that Google considers Apple "a very close and valuable partner," and that they believe that the relationship between the two companies "is stable."Of course, they were responding to rumors that Microsoft's Bing search engine would replace Google on the iPhone, and common sense will tell you that it'll be a cold day somewhere very warm before Apple chooses to partner with Microsoft over Google. If push came to shove, Steve would probably create his own search engine before partnering up with anyone in Redmond.
But maybe the Google folks are also playing politics a little here -- Steve is not an unreasonable man, and he is known for being direct, especially in personal communication. Jobs can complain all he want in an internal meeting, but in public, it's probably best that Google takes the high road. Apple and Google may eventually have to show down over cell phones, but until they absolutely have to, it's probably better if they both play as nice as possible.
[via Ars]
TUAWGoogle calls Apple "valuable partner" originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 17 Feb 2010 17:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Case Turns iPhone Into Universal Remote While Charging It
Posted by Brian X. Chen in Accessories and Peripherals, Apple, Apps, Iphone, app-store, home entertainment, living room, universal remotes Wednesday, 17 February 2010 21:43 No Comments
You would think that turning the iPhone into a universal remote control would be easy, but it turns out it’s not: We’ve seen a couple of unimpressive attempts from developers. FastMac and Umee’s solution looks like it might work though.
Dubbed iV Plus, the gadget consists of an iPhone case with an integrated battery and a built-in infrared transmitter, which communicates with an app to control your home entertainment products. The idea is such: After a long day of work, you can plop down in front of the couch, pop your iPhone in the case and charge the handset while using it as a remote to control your TV, your stereo or whatever else is in your living room. And if you’re OK with carrying your iPhone around in a chunky case, there’s a bonus: It actually includes a LED flash for snapping photos.
Even more interesting is Umee’s design of the app. You can select remote control codes based on manufacturer and types of devices in your living room. From there on, you can actually customize the remote control buttons, adding or removing whatever ones you wish. So say for instance you only use five buttons on your Comcast cable box remote: the power, select, guide, page-up and page-down buttons, for example. You can delete all the junk and keep those buttons you actually use.
The iV Plus sounds promising, because past universal remote apps we’ve seen have failed to create an intuitive user interface to comfortably control your living room gadgets, rendering the product impractical.
We tried a demo of the iV Plus at Macworld Expo last week, and it was only working with television sets at the time. We’re looking forward to trying the iV Plus when a full version is available. Due for release in the second quarter of 2010, the case will cost $130 and the app will be free.
Compage page [FastMac]
See Also:
- First Look: Accessory-Powered App Turns iPhone Into Universal …
- IR Dongle Turns iPhone into Universal Remote
- Experimental Tech Turns Your Coffee Table Into a Universal Remote …
- 5 Nifty Apps That Turn Your Android Into A Universal Remote …
Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com
TUAW review and giveaway: KeyGrinder for iPhone. It’s PwdHash in an app
Posted by Steven Sande in AppReview, Iphone, IpodTouch, app review, app-store, appstore, giveaway, ipod touch, password, pwdhash, security Wednesday, 17 February 2010 20:00 No Comments
Filed under: Software, Internet Tools, Reviews, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch, App Review
Have you ever heard of PwdHash? It's a Stanford University security project that has been implemented in a website, browser extensions, and now an iPhone app -- KeyGrinder for iPhone. This US$0.99 application is from the same people at Massively Overrated who brought you the popular Typewar game.Many of us are guilty of the same crime against computer security -- using one password across many websites. If someone manages to lift your password from one low-security website, they have a good chance of using that same password at many other sites. PwdHash uses a user-generated password, the URL of the website you're visiting, and a pseudo random function to transparently transform the user's password into a domain-specific hash of the password. If someone steals a password file from a website, they're only getting a hash for that domain -- not the user's actual password. The fact that the hash is generated for a particular domain also acts as an effective defense against phishing scams.
The same function is used across platforms, so regardless of what type of operating system you're using with PwdHash, the same user password will generate the same hash. You can use the Firefox browser extension on your Mac or PC, the PwdHash.com website on any computer, or KeyGrinder on iPhone, and your generated hash will open the proverbial gates.KeyGrinder isn't the most visually attractive app you'll ever see, but it doesn't need to be pretty. To generate your hash, you enter the address of the site you wish to visit and your user-generated password. Press the create button, and the hash code appears, ready for you to enter as a new password for a website. With KeyGrinder, you can enter a number of web addresses and create each of the hashes, then call them up later by using a standard picker to select a site and generate the hash with a single tap.
You can choose to have the app open a website as soon as the hash has been generated. The hash is automatically copied to the iPhone clipboard for pasting into the password field for your favorite site.
Be sure to check out the video at the end of this post to get an idea of how KeyGrinder works. Once you're done checking out the app, enter our giveaway for a chance to win one of ten copies of KeyGrinder. All you need to do is leave us a comment telling us how many keys you have on your keychain (real keychain, not your Mac OS X keychain).
The details of the giveaway are as follows:
- Open to legal US residents of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia who are 18 and older.
- To enter, leave a comment tell us how many keys are on your keychain.
- The comment must be left before Friday, February 19, 2010, 11:59PM Eastern Standard Time.
- You may enter only once.
- Ten winners will be selected in a random drawing.
- Prize: One promo code for a copy of KeyGrinder (Value: US$0.99)
- Click Here for complete Official Rules.
TUAWTUAW review and giveaway: KeyGrinder for iPhone. It's PwdHash in an app originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 17 Feb 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Macworld 2010: TUAW talks to OpenFeint
Posted by Mike Schramm in Games, Gaming, Iphone, Marketing, Networking, Social Networking, Video, app-store, appstore, attention, device, eros-remini, interview, mike-schramm, openfeint, users Wednesday, 17 February 2010 19:45 No Comments
Filed under: Gaming, Software, Internet, Interviews, iPhone, App Store
He also told us about the OpenFeint app that was released last month, as well as their popular free game of the day giveaway -- once per day, they give away an OpenFeint game for free right there inside the app. And we also talked about both how OpenFeint is serving as connection between developer and customer, as well as why Apple hasn't really shown an interest in an official iTunes gaming network like this.
You can check out the whole interview on video right after clicking through the link below. Enjoy!
TUAWMacworld 2010: TUAW talks to OpenFeint originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 17 Feb 2010 14:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
iPhone battery dead? In a squeeze you can charge it with Jaffa oranges
Posted by David Winograd in Iphone, Marketing, ScienceProject, Video, battery, oranges, patience, science project, strange Wednesday, 17 February 2010 18:00 No Comments
Filed under: Video, How-tos, Cult of Mac, iPhone
[via Engadget and Macenstein]
Click on the Read More link to view the ad.
TUAWiPhone battery dead? In a squeeze you can charge it with Jaffa oranges originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 17 Feb 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.