iPhone OS 4 Developer Preview: Install at Your Own Risk

When Apple tells iPhone developers to put the preview version of iPhone OS 4 only on devices used for testing, it’s giving very good advice.

5Words: OpenOffice.org, Crammed Into Palm’s WebOS

OpenOffice.org for WebOS? Could be!

iPhone OS 4: already jailbroken.

Official BlackBerry Twitter now available.

Adobe doesn’t want JooJoo blame.

iPhone OS 4 privacy issues.

64GB Zune HD has arrived.

RIM getting into car OSes.

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Coming on Monday: Live Coverage of Microsoft’s “It’s Time to Share” Event

On  Monday morning at 10am PT, Microsoft will be holding a press event in San Francisco. It isn’t saying what the news will involve. But the tagline is “It’s Time to Share,” and the invitations were festooned with photos of young people socializing. And multiple reliable sources say that the company will announce new phones–successors to the Sidekicks it acquired when it bought Danger–that run a version of Windows Mobile but are distinct from the Windows Phone 7 models that will come out later this year.

Whatever happens, we’ll be there–and will bring it to you live at Technologizer.com/timetoshare. Please join us…

iPhone Game Center: OS 4′s Most Revolutionary Feature?

Reading the coverage and comments on iPhone OS 4, I’ve seen some sentiment that Apple isn’t really doing anything fresh, and is merely catching up on features already offered on other mobile phones. That’s true for some things, but not with iPhone Game Center.

The service will be a social networking layer for iPhone games. Players can invite their friends to multiplayer games, and in lieu of friends, they can use a matchmaking service to find other players. There appear to be achievements for in-game tasks, which accumulate in a sort of meta-game, and there are online leaderboards as well.

As a list of bullet points, Game Center is nothing new. It’s more or less a clone of Xbox Live, which offers all the same features. Even on the iPhone, the existing Plus+ and OpenFeint networks offer friends lists, achievements and leaderboards.

So, why is this revolutionary? Because there isn’t a single mobile gaming platform that’s already doing it. Sony dropped the ball when it said last year that the PSP won’t support achievement-like trophies, and there’s no platform-wide invite feature that encourages players to jump between games. Nintendo’s just oblivious when it comes to online gaming, and Microsoft, which arguably could do great things with Xbox Live on Windows Phone 7, will still be months from launch when iPhone Game Center arrives.

Predictions are always risky, but I’d be surprised of other phone platforms and portable consoles don’t scramble to follow Apple’s lead. You can’t say that about multitasking, folders and customizable wallpapers.

Plastic Logic Sets a New Date

Plastic Logic’s frquently demoed, somewhat delayed QUE ProReader–which may end up being one of the last interesting devices based on E-Ink technology–has a new ship date: June 24th.

My iPhone Wish List: A 4.0 Tally

The day Apple released iPhone OS 3.0 last June, I compiled a list of features I was hoping to see in version 4.0. I went over it again earlier this week when Apple said it was about to preview 4.0. And here’s one last look at my June 2009 list–with both my annotations from earlier this week and a reality check [IN CAPS] of whether Steve Jobs and friends mentioned the feature today.

A bunch of things I hoped for are in 4.0; others weren’t mentioned today, but are subtle enough that I’m still holding out hope that they’ll be among the 100 new features Apple is touting.  And the update will include far more full-fledged multitasking capabilities than I had the guts to hope for next year, plus other new features I didn’t ask for but am looking forward to (such as an integrated e-mail inbox).

More thoughts on iPhone 4.0 later. Here’s the 2009 story, plus additional thoughts…
Continue reading this story…

Jobs Calls Out Android Over Porn

Easily the line of the day from today’s presentation. Following a question from gdgt’s Ryan Block on why the iPhone will not allow the running of unsigned apps like both Palm and Android already offer, Steve Jobs comes back calling out Android’s “porn store: “There’s a porn store for Android … your kids can download them … that’s a place where we just don’t want to go, so we’re not going to go there.” That is NOT going to make Google very happy…

Looks Like End-of-Line for Original iPhone, iPod Touch

At the end of today’s presentation, Jobs said that the full benefits of iPhone OS 4.0 would be available only to customers owning the iPhone 3GS and 3rd generation iPod Touch. For customers with an iPhone 3G or 2nd generation iPod Touch, the update would still be available, however functionality (including multitasking) would not work.

Left out was any mention of the original iPhone and iPod Touch, now both coming up on their 3rd anniversary. Looks like this means its the end of the line for these two devices…

Yet More: Enterprise Functionality, Game Center, iAd

Pointing out that 80% of Fortune 500 companies use iPhones, Jobs demoed some new enterprise level functionality for the iPhone. iPhone OS 4.0 would build on this success by offering APIs for encryption, wireless distribution of applications, and mobile device management for large iPhone deployments.

However, Jobs quickly came back to the consumer with the Game Center, which would be a Xbox Live or PSN of the iPhone community. The functionality would allow developers to tap into a centralized network where gamers could play against each other. Apple says the functionality would be available later this year.

Another not-so-surprising feature is iAd, Apple’s foray into mobile advertising. Acknowledging that many apps in the App Store are free, and that current available ad programs “suck,” Jobs debuted Apple’s own advertising network. He said that the average user spends 30 minutes a day in apps, and that soon the iPhone would have the capability to serve a billion ad impressions a day soon, “an incredible demographic.”

The centerpiece of iAds would be their interactivity, and would ensure that clicking on an ad would keep the user in the app since it is done through the OS itself. Developers would get 60% percent of all revenue from ads within their applications.

Next Up: Folders, New Mail App, iBooks for iPhone

Got too many applications on your iPhone? You will now be able to organize them into folders. These folders will also be able to be placed on the dock, making organization on the iPhone a lot easier.

Apple has also updated the Mail application allowing for multiple exchange accounts and a “unified inbox,” meaning all your accounts would appear in a single mailbox rather than separate ones. Although they might be not on the best terms with Google, they certainly are borrowing ideas: the new Mail app would allow threading of E-mails (a la Gmail, and to an extent the Desktop application as well), and attachments in e-mails could be opened by the corresponding application just like a desktop computer.

Not surprisingly Apple is bringing iBooks to the iPhone. The application looks quite similar to the iPad version, and truly puts the company in direct competition with Amazon. Better yet, if you own an iPad and iPhone, you can have the same book on either device. If you finish part of the book on the iPad, you can sync a bookmark to the iPhone and finish it from there, and vice versa.

iPhone OS 4.0 Big Feature #1: Multitasking

Apple will ship the next major update to its iPhone operating system this summer, claiming over 100 new features. CEO Steve Jobs decided to focus on what he called seven “tentpole” features that will make the latest version the best yet. And yes folks, this list of features does include multitasking.

Saying “we weren’t the first to this party, but we’re going to be the best,” Jobs lamented that most multitasking functionality on smart devices both kills the battery as well as reduce the performance of the foreground app. By double clicking the home button within an application, a list of applications come up, similar to what currently happens with Apple-Tab now.

This is great for non-iPod music apps. Now for instance you will continue to be able to listen to Pandora or Rhapsody without having to stay in those apps. For VoIP, you will now be able to receive calls from services like Skype even when it is not currently running. Geolocation would also work through multitasking as well.

Push applications going through Apple’s servers also become unnecessary: this means they can be served locally right from the iPhone. In addition, functions such as uploading would even continue after you leave an application.

450,000 iPads Sold

Steve Jobs has just took the stage at Cupertino for the iPhone OS 4.0 event and starts it off with iPad news: 450,000 have been sold to date. Jobs says Best Buy is out of stock, and  that Apple is “making them as fast as we can.” A total of 600,000 iBooks have been downloaded to date, along with 3.5 million applications. Jobs reports that some 3,500 applications are now available that have been optimized for use on the device.

Apple’s iPhone OS Event: Live Coverage

I’m at Apple’s iPhone OS 4.0 event. Join me to learn what’s in iPhone OS 4.0, starting at 10am PT.

5Words: Snapstream’s DVR Records Fifty Shows

Snapstream’s 50-tuner DVR demo.

HP: the future is memristors.

I’m no longer a PC?

Best Buy to get Nook?

Windows 7 SP1 has leaked.

AT&T: We’re ready for iPad.

Edit Go0gle Docs on iPad.

Gmail’s spam filter: too aggressive?

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Apple Planning “iPad Nano?”

Those iPads in different sizes I was wondering about? Taiwanese news site Digitimes, which isn’t always right but has sometimes breaks big stories, says a smaller model is on the way…

It’s Finally Time to Ditch Windows XP

(Here’s another story I wrote for FoxNews.com.)

When Microsoft released Windows XP in October of 2001, the software got upbeat reviews and sold briskly. But I doubt if even XP’s biggest boosters would have predicted just how long-running a hit it would be. Nine years later, it’s still the the world’s favorite operating system.

Two words explain XP’s uncommonly long reign: Windows Vista. The much-hyped 2007 Windows upgrade turned out to be notoriously glitchy (especially at first) and short on substance. Some PC users tried Vista and loathed it; others simply chose to avoid it. Either way, XP got a new lease on life.

And then Windows 7 arrived last October. For the millions of PC users who chose to skip Vista, 7 is the upgrade to XP. And it’s a nifty one, retaining what was good about Vista — such as the ability to instantly search your entire hard drive — while fixing every major problem. Features for juggling multiple applications are greatly improved, and annoyances such as pop-up messages are much reduced. Overall, Windows 7 is just plain pleasant in a way that even XP isn’t.

Continue reading this story…