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iFixit Gyroscope Teardown

Posted by Trey Trawick at 5:00 pm

I’m not an engineer, so almost everything in this teardown went straight over my head, but I would still highly recommend taking a look. The microscopic technology behind mobile technology is truly mind-blowing.

From what I can piece together, the electronic gyroscope works by vibrating a small amount of mass, and when the phone is moved or rotated, this mass is displaced into the X, Y, and Z axis, and which is detected by a very tiny processor through equally tiny capacitors. This data is then transmitted to the iPhone’s processor, and allows you to play games. It’s incredible to think of what will be possible in the future, if something like this is possible now.

[iFixit]

[Review] Diacarta Daily Planner

Posted by Trey Trawick at 12:31 pm

Diacarta is a visual planner application for the iPhone and iPad created by Squnch. The app is beautifully designed, resembling an old-world map with a modern touch.

When you open the app, you’re presented with a blank clock. Hit the ‘Plus’ button, and icons of everyday tasks will pop up for your choosing. Once you pick one, you can drag it around to the correct time, or double click it to edit the details such as start time, end time, and location. Concentric circles around the clock provide an easy way to see the length of an activity, and your busy time shows up as red and free time as blue. If you click on the compass and then an icon, you can mark it as completed.

Swiping left or right goes forwards or backwards in 12 hour increments, or you can select the monthly calendar button to quickly go to a certain date. When you’re not on today’s date, a home button will appear that you can click to take you back to the current day.

And that’s all there is to it.

The app lacks power user features that others may offer like repeat events and syncing, but this app is not targeted to that audience. Diacarta it is perfect for those who just want a quick reminder of the day’s activities in a visually pleasing way, without too much fuss.

[iTunes]

iPhone 4 Cases – What’s available at the moment?

Posted by Abcmsaj at 5:31 am

I haven’t had any review units in (case companies… if you’re reading this…) but I have done my research into iPhone 4 cases. You don’t want to ruin the sleek design of your iPhone by covering up… but you don’t want to ruin the sleek design by dropping it either. So you’re caught in a catch 22…

So what actually IS available? This video demonstrates 5 potential cases you could buy for your new iPhone. Watch it after the break (more…)

iWork for iPhone screenshot tour

Posted by Trey Trawick at 5:01 pm

9 to 5 Mac has gotten a hold of Pages for the iPhone and posted a series of screenshots of the new mobile office suite. From the looks of it, you can create, edit and share documents straight from the app, just like its iPad counterpart. It comes with pre-made templates and the ability to add different types of media directly to the document. You can export the file to a PDF, Word, or Pages document, and all the files you create will be wirelessly synced to your other iDevices with iWork installed. I can’t imagine typing more than a paragraph on an iPhone, but the app should be well suited for quick changes and viewing.

[9 to 5 Mac]

Hulu Plus for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch

Posted by Trey Trawick at 12:04 pm

Hulu’s rumored premium HD service became a reality today with Hulu Plus, a $9.99 per month subscription. Hulu Plus allows you to watch every episode from the current season (and past seasons of select shows) from ABC, Fox, and NBC. Normal Hulu users are limited to the most recent episodes. Hulu Plus works on the iPhone 4, 3GS, and iPod Touch 3G running 4.0. The iPad version works over WiFi or 3g.

Hulu Plus is invitation only at the moment, and you can request an Preview Invite here. When the service will go public is unknown, but for those who have managed to get an invite, the App is available through iTunes. Sadly, the service is still ad-supported despite the monthly cost.

[Hulu]

FaceTime Demo – Between Abcmsaj and TheChungster

Posted by Abcmsaj at 10:07 am

iMovie on an iPhone 3GS

Posted by Trey Trawick at 10:18 pm

Taimur Asad at Redmond Pie has managed to get iMovie to work “almost perfectly” on his 3GS, and posted a guide so you can try it out for yourself. It requires a jailbroken device, some modifications to files, and a little SSH witchery. This method claims to work on any model iPod Touch and iPhone running 3.1.2 or newer firmware, but this is unconfirmed. The video shows it working surprisingly smooth on the 3GS’ 256 megabytes of RAM. If you try this out and get it to work, let us know how it performs in the comments.

Update: The guide has been removed due to a DRM violation.

[Redmond Pie]

Google Docs viewer goes Mobile

Posted by Trey Trawick at 5:09 pm

Today, Google announced that its handy browser-based documents viewer is going live for the iPad, iPhone, and Android devices. The viewer lets you zoom and pan around documents that you have uploaded to your Google Docs account, without the need to download them first. The viewer supports PDF, PowerPoint, and Word documents. This is wonderful step forward for the usability of mobile devices, and hopefully they will soon implement document editing.

[Google]

iPhone 4 sells 1.7 million units

Posted by Trey Trawick at 10:20 am

Deemed “the most successful product launch in Apple’s history”, the iPhone 4 has sold 1.7 million units in just 3 days. The 3GS sold 1 million in the same time frame when it was released last year, as did the iPhone 3g. Comparatively, the original iPhone took 74 days to reach the 1 million unit mark. If this same trend continues in the upcoming years, Apple will control a massive portion of the smartphone market. (And will surely have to spread out to more networks)

Please note that the graph does not reflect iPhone 4 sales.