As usual, we’ll have a liveblog of the event. Stay tuned for more details. – r.
Apple will be hosting a media event on 17th March to preview their iPhone 3.0 software.
Join us at an invitation-only event to learn about the new SDK and get a sneak peek at the iPhone OS 3.0 software. The event takes place at Apple, Building 4, Town Hall on March 17 at 10:00 a.m.*
*March 18 at 4:00 am AEDT
-c.
Yep, it’s today.
At least some of the TGR team genuinely wishes you a happy 54th birthday – r.
Happy B’day.
- s.
Aqua Jigsaw & Jigsaw Wild
Developer: 99 Games, Robosoft
Genre: Games (Puzzle)
Device: iPod touch 1G (Compatible with all iPhone and iPod touch models)
Price: AJ – $1.99 (USD), $2.49 (AUD) JW – $1.99 (USD), $2.49 (AUD)
Aqua Jigsaw is a fun mobile game that keeps you going on those long trips that seem to drag on forever. It’s a classic jigsaw game with a nice twist – you’re timed on how fast you can assemble your puzzle together. The goal is to beat your score, or beat friends’ scores. A particularly neat feature is being able to customize your own puzzle, according to a saved photo of your choice.
With a name like ‘Aqua Jigsaw’, it’s kinda obvious that all of the puzzle you’re solving are water and sea based, giving the player a nice theme to play with. The 24 photos featured in the game are aesthetically pleasing and are customized to the iPhone’s 320×480 screen, varying from sea animals to land forms – they seem to fit the game perfectly.
Jigsaw Wild is (unsurprisingly) similar to Aqua Jigsaw. Gameplay doesn’t differ greatly from that of AJ, but opts for a different theme. Jigsaw Wild includes a variety of good quality images – birds, insects, reptiles and animals etc. Like Aqua Jigsaw, it’s a worthy addition to your iPhone or iPod touch.
Both games load quickly, rarely lag, and perhaps most importantly, don’t cause a major drain on your battery life. I was impressed with the nicely polished animations and encourage you to take a look at these games.
- o.
Don’t get me wrong – when Apple announces software updates that are actually useful (like the incredible new 2.2.1 update), I get excited. What annoys me about these updates is the file size. The last five updates (2.0.1, 2.0.2, 2.1, 2.2, 2.2.1) were all 200MB+. The “less exciting releases” (those that go into three decimals) often only include minor bug fixes, like Safari stability or improved Mobile Me sync. With my ADSL connection, these downloads take up to three hours. The size of the update really baffles me, and I hope Apple will look at this flaw for future software. – r.
The above photo seen on the New York Times site shows Paul Pelosi playing with his iPhone while Barack Obama takes the Presidential oath on Inauguration day. Gizmodo’s caption was great, but we want to see what you can come up with. Leave a response in the comments section or email us. We’ll showcase the best in a subsequent post. – r.
[Gizmodo]
Singapore Airlines today unveiled their latest addition to their Economy Class in-flight entertainment system: iPod and iPhone connectivity. The new system allows you to charge your iPod or iPhone while watching or listening to your content on the, er, bigger screen.
Singapore is one of the better airlines when it comes to technology and in-flight entertainment. It’s disappointing that other airlines are less than willing to embrace this smart idea. Australians are stuck with the technologically challenged Qantas, who still believe a time delayed, limited content “portal” serves as a better alternative to in-flight Wi-Fi.
Singapore is rolling out the service on their A330 aircraft this year, after a successful Business Class trial was conducted on A340 aircraft in late 2008.
[Singapore Airlines via cnet]
Here’s just one example of online criminals cashing in on big news. President Barack Obama has been targeted on many occasions by scammers, and his inauguration has been no exception. Take the site obama stimulus program dot com (formatted for inactive hyperlinking) promising free government grants, all thanks to the new President.
The site sports typical poorly translated English, fake CNN, Fox, Yahoo! etc endorsements, too-good-to-be-true offers and a large, clearly visible FREE Government Funds button. Click that, and you’re taken to an all too familiar offer:
Yes, that’s right. The United States Federal Government wants you to answer a question about who makes the iPhone before getting access to funding (/sarcasm). By this point, it’s pretty obvious there’s no way you’ll be getting those “Government Grants” from this website. Especially since the terms and conditions reveal a nasty $58.61 monthly charge unless you cancel their 7-day trial bonus period. Hang on, WHAT trial period?
Folks, please remember that if you land on a site like this it’s a pretty safe bet it isn’t legit. The easiest way to keep safe in situations like this? Check for the .gov domain when surfing Government websites. - r.
Somewhere in between all the hype of Obama being the first African American and first Hawaiian President of the United States, we all seemed to forget that Barack Obama is also the first president to be a Mac user.
However, the Obamas weren’t the only presidential candidates in 2008 to use a Mac. John McCain’s daughter Meghan was featured in this month’s copy of GQ with her trusty MacBook Pro.
In fact, even the Vice Presidential candidates are almost all Mac users. Democrat Joe Biden has been pictured using an iPhone on several occassions, but Sarah Palin was recently spotted using a Dell notebook. Then again, that’s probably more of a good thing. – r.
[Obama - 9to5mac,
McCain - GQ via Macenstein]
This evening Apple announced (through a banner placed on their home page) that it’s App Store for the iPhone and iPod touch had reached more than 15,000 apps, and 500 million downloads have taken place since the time the store opened in July 2008.
This milestone is particularly notable as it represents an incredible increase in developer interest within the past month. The 10,000 apps mark was reached on December 6th, almost six months after it opened. Now, just 42 days after that announcement, the number of available apps has increased by 50%. At this rate, you can expect to see 20,000+ apps available by the end of February. – r.
Going through the archives of Ars Technica the other day, I discovered an article that revealed Apple’s trademark filing of the “Mobile Me” name, dated January 2006.
Last week, Apple filed four applications with the US Patent and Trademark Office for the term “Mobile Me.” According to the filings, Mobile Me relates to a number of goods and services, including “telecommunication services for the dissemination of information by mobile telephone, namely the transmission of data to mobile telephones” along with “music players,” “digital video players,” “MP3 players,” and “software related thereto.”
It is quite interesting to see that Apple filed the trademark more than two years before announcing the product (at WWDC 2008), or indeed before they announced the iPhone in January 2007. Was Mobile Me slated for an earlier release? Tell us what you think in the comment section or email us. – r.
