Top AppAdvice News And Apps Of The Past Week
October 24, 2011
This week, we heard that Steve Jobs' mark will be on future Apple products for years to come, despite his death earlier this month. In addition, the iPhone 4S continued to impress and will soon be available in 22 additional countries. These and other topics made news this week. Here are some of the best articles.
Steve Jobs
Believe It Or Not, Steve Jobs Initially Didn't Like The Sound Of Third-Party Applications/ Read The Full Article
In the beginning, Steve Jobs didn’t like the idea of third-party native iOS apps.
It sounds crazy, but according to Walt Isaacson’s upcoming biography of the late Apple co-founder, pieces of which have started coming out late this week, “Jobs at first quashed the discussion” when Apple board member Art Levinson contacted him in an attempt to talk about the potential of mobile apps.
Steve Jobs Has A Hand In Apple's Next Product / Read The Full Article
As most of us know, Apple closed its campus and retail stores for a few hours today to mourn the passing of Steve Jobs. As we've come to learn, Steve was working on Apple's next product launch up until his last day.
PCMag is reporting that CEO of SoftBank, Masayoshi Son revealed in an interview with the U.S. Ambassador to Japan, John Roos that the former Apple CEO was still working on Apple's next product launch up until the day before he passed away.
The iPhone
The iPhone 4S is Headed Down South, Coming to C Spire Wireless/ Read The Full Article
Apple and C Spire announced today that the iPhone 4S will be landing on the small Mississippi-based carrier in November. Formally Cellular South, C Spire will be one of the first carriers Apple will use to expand its reach downmarket to smaller, regional providers.
Like most carriers C Spire's home page is covered with the 4S announcement. If you click through the splash image you are taken to a page where you may sign up for email alerts to be informed when the device becomes available.
The History Of The iPhone (Video)/ Read The Full Article
The folks at CNET UK recently released an impressive video showing the history of the iPhone and dedicated to the memory of Steve Jobs. Nearly four minutes in length, the video shows that the road to the first iPhone in 2007 was a long one.
Apple Begins Accepting iPhone 4S Preorders In 22 Countries/ Read The Full Article
Just one week after its debut in the U.S. and six other locations, the iPhone 4S is set to arrive soon in 22 additional countries. Beginning today, international preorders for Apple’s newest handset began, according to a check of regional Apple stores online.
Apple is beginning to take preorders via their website in the following countries, effective today: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.
You've Been Warned: Siri Likes Pet Names Too/ Read The Full Article
By default, Siri calls you by your first name as it is listed in the Contacts app on the iPhone 4S. However, this can be changed to whatever you want. Yet, you better be careful because others could get this information too.
Changing how Siri addresses you is as simple as asking her to call you something else. For example, as a test for this article, I’ve asked her to address me as “The Master” from now on. After confirming this change, Siri automatically changes my nickname in the Contacts app accordingly.
The iPhone 4S Can Connect To Russian Satellites Too/ Read The Full Article
Apple has quietly updated its iPhone 4S tech specs page this week to reflect support for Russia’s GLONASS, its version of GPS. This news, which was first uncovered by MacRumors, isn’t just good for those in Russia.
According to the report:
Far from being a Russia-only service, some current global positioning hardware and software is capable of utilizing both GPS and GLONASS satellite information to provide more accurate geolocation information with faster acquisition times. We have reached out to Apple for comment on whether the iPhone 4S can in fact take advantage of satellites from both systems on a worldwide basis, as it is unclear from the tech specs whether this is the case, but have yet to receive a response.Here Are 10 Ways To Improve Battery Life On The iPhone 4S/ Read The Full Article The iPhone 4S has made it through its first weekend. With over 4 million new owners, there have been widespread reports of the new handset's battery underperforming Apple's expectations. While it makes sense for the iPhone 4S to use more power due to its new A5 processor, 8MP camera with 1080p HD video recording, and iOS 5, some may find its depletion rate to be a letdown, or even a potential deal breaker considering what Apple had promised. Sprint Follows AT&T Into Ending Unlimited Data Plans For Tethering/ Read The Full Article Following in the footsteps of AT&T, and starting in November, Sprint will have to stop airing all those "true unlimited" commercials. The carrier that used the word unlimited so much is now becoming, limited. App News Google Voice Returns To App Store/ Read The Full Article One week after Google pulled it from the App Store, Google Voice is back. This news was announced earlier this evening via the official Google Voice Twitter account. Google Voice, which is currently only available in the U.S., allows users to send free text messages to U.S. phones and make international calls at low rates. When the app was pulled last week, Google said it was because some users were experiencing sign-in problems. Rather than face irate customers, Google decided to pull the app until it was fixed. According to its iTunes page, Google Voice Version 1.3.1.1891 fixes the crash “introduced” in a previous release. Zite Personalized Magazine Now Includes Multiple Profiles/ Read The Full Article Zite, the popular personalized news magazine for iPad, has just received a significant update. Today it was announced the publication now includes the addition of multiple profiles. Code-named Sybil, the new feature makes it simple for anyone in a family to share Zite with each getting his or her own custom-made news experience. First released earlier this year, Zite has always been unique in that it "learns" what type of news its reader enjoys most. Now, that concept extends to situations where multiple people use the app on the same iPad. For this to work, each user sets up a separate login within the app. Then, like the Zite experience itself, the real fun begins. Nuance Unveils Recorder App For iDevices/ Read The Full Article Nuance Communications today announced a brand new app for the iPhone/iPod touch and iPad. The Dragon Recorder app makes it possible for Dragon customers to use an iDevice as a voice recorder to capture their own voice. The free app, which is being released today, gives Dragon customers the ability to transcribe their recordings to quickly create notes, meeting minutes, emails, letters, papers, articles, blog posts, and more using Dragon speech recognition.