Sure the iPhone lets you play casual games and do all kinds of other things, but there are also mobile apps focused on education and early development that are important as well. Though they could be better. Now a team has developed a simple way to merge toys with iOS apps for the education of our geeklings.
Ubooly was created by Carly Gloge and her husband Isaac. It’s basically a plush toy for your iPhone that interacts with your child. This toy can cover a wide range of learning situations. The plush toy and app cost $50 and updated learning games will be released for $1-$3 daily. Sounds pretty good for lots of learning on the cheap. This kickstarter project is over the halfway point for funding. If you like where this is going, give them a donation and help kids learn with a cute iToy.
A new iPhone Latch & Lanyard concept designed to be used with the Gymbl Case is currently over on the Kickstarter website looking to make the jump from concept to production, and has been designed to help you take iPhone photographs with ease. We have featured a number of different solutions here on Geeky Gadgets that have been designed to aid stability and help you hold and control your iPhone movement when taking photographs. But none have been as small or as convenient as the iPhone Latch & Lanyard concept. Watch the video after the jump to see it in action. Gordon Fowler explains a little more about his concept.
“Held taut against your neck, the iPhone is steady when taking photos and when capturing video you can hold it steady or swing it through a smooth and graceful arc. You will be surprised by how much of a difference it makes. It’s also amazing how natural and secure it feels to do this with one thumb steadying the camera while the other is over the shutter and adjusting the settings. It works both left- and right-handed and in portrait as well as landscape mode.”
The iPhone Latch & Lanyard concept is now looking to raise $20,000 to help get the concept into production, so if you think its something you would use make a pledge for $15 to make sure you have one once it goes into production at the special Kickstarter introductory offer price.
One of the best third party email apps on the Mac is called Sparrow, we heard recently it was headed to the iPhone, and Sparrow is now available from today on the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.
Sparrow is a third party email application that comes with a range of features, and it offers iMAP support, with Gmail, Apple’s iCloud, Mobile Me as well as custom iMAP accounts.
Sparrow features a unified inbox, faces which adds your friends photos to their emails, and much more. We have only had a brief chance to test out Sparrow on the iPhone, but from what I have seen so far it looks like it may be almost as good as the Mac version.
Sparrow for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch is available for $2.99 from iTunes, and it will support iOS devices running iOS 5.0 and above.
Scosche has been around for a while has a huge number of accessories for the iPhone and other Apple products. The company has added two new emergency chargers for the iPhone to its lineup for geeks to choose from called the flipCharge burst and rogue. Both of these chargers are designed power up your iPhone in a pinch when you’re on the road.
The rogue has an 1800mAh battery inside the uses lithium polymer technology. With a full charge of the rogue you can completely charge the iPhone or iPod. The burst is a smaller emergency battery that is intended to be more portable, but doesn’t fully charge your iPhone.
The burst is able to charge your iPhone from dead to 30% power and it can charge your iPod to 70% capacity. Both the rogue and the burst get their own power from the USB port on your computer or wall adapter. The burst will sell for $44.99 and the rogue will sell for $59.99. Scosche flipCHARGE Burst Review:
We have featured a number of different devices here on Geeky Gadgets that use Apple devices to create guitars and instruments. But an innovative instrument called the Futulele, now use both an iPad and iPhone to create a digital version of the classic Ukulele. The Futulele has been designed as an iPad application which can be used on its own with on just one iPad. But a case is also available which then combines both iOS devices together. Watch the video after the jump to see the Futulele is action.
Once combined into the Futulele case the iPad tablet is used to strum while the iPhone is used to select the chords required. The Futulele has been created by Amidio and is at the moment just a prototype concept.
The Futulele can be used to create up to 12 chords for each song and enables you to change chord sets on the fly if required. Amidio is now looking for assistance from a manufacturer to help the Futulele make the jump from concept to production. To tell the truth, the device composition looks so obvious that we’re wondering why no-one has thought of this before, but still – this is a completely new way of producing music with iOS devices. Introducing Futulele, the Ukulele app for the iPad and the iPhone:
You might want to give this circular polarizing filter lens (CPL) made especially for the said devices a try. The filter is attached to a case and promises to reduce reflections and glare on your shots. While there are quite a number of photo filtering apps now available that aims to do just that, nothing beats a hardware accessory to come up with your desired output.
With many people turning to their mobile phones for those casual photo-ops, this accessory could prove to be a handy tool to improve your shots. The add-on filter and case costs $37.99, expectedly not as cheap as its software alternatives but if you find yourself using your iPhone 4/4S more on your special occasions, then it could be worth the price tag. DSLR Tips: Using polarizing filters:
According to a study by RichRelevance, a retail marketing firm that specializes in online transactions, iPad and iPhone shoppers account for 90% of all mobile-based purchases. Furthermore, iPad and iPhone users spend 19% more per order than Android users. As for Apple, the company must be ecstatic. What these particular press releases have not articulated are the demographics of the iPad and iPhone user. This is important to understanding how the mobile commerce sector will grow. There are three types of retail consumers: • Brick-n-mortar • Landline online • Wireless online
What is interesting about the data points in the press release is that it shows a definite shift in mobile commerce. The M-Commerce market was brand new. We had stated the market was growing but we had also stated that there were definite issues regarding online purchasing. Among those issues being the need for a customer to scream bloody murder at a salesperson when things go wrong.
Online purchasing will continue to grow. However, store-fronts will never disappear. In the late 1990s, there were Internet moguls claiming the end of the brick-n-mortar store stating that we will be seeing empty stores lining the streets all across America. Those bankrupt Internet moguls realize just how important commercial real estate is nowadays. Think current Great Recession and the real estate market. iPhone - iPad Hack Pack:
Apple announced on Wednesday that iPhone 4S, its latest smartphone product, will be available in China and 21 other countries as of Jan. 13.
"Customers response to our products in China has been off the charts," Tim Cook, Apple's chief executive officer, said in a statement. He noted that with the launch in China next week, iPhone 4S will be available in over 90 countries and regions, making it Apple's fastest iPhone rollout ever. The iPhone 4S was launched in October last year.
Apple is scheduled to report its 2012 first fiscal quarter earnings on Jan. 24. As one of Apple's biggest revenue sources, the iPhone 4S sales are seen key to the results. In the last quarter, Apple missed projections from the Wall Street as customers had been awaiting the launch of iPhone 4S. Last October, Apple announced that it had sold more than four million units of iPhone 4S, just three days after the launch. Analysts have been giving rosy estimates on iPhone 4S sales for the first quarter after it hit the stores, saying that the company could have sold more than 30 million iPhones during the period.
The iPhone 4S, which looks the same as the iPhone 4, has major hardware upgrade inside, including a faster chip, a higher- resolution camera and Siri intelligent voice control.
Most of us have expected that, the final version of the iOS 5 firmware has been released to the general public by the Cupertino, California-based Apple. The new iOS 5 firmware with build number 9A334 is available for iPad 2, iPad 1, iPod Touch 4G, iPod Touch 3G, iPhone 4 (both GSM and CDMA), iPhone 3GS, and for the new iPhone 4S. The update, which was first previewed back in June at the company’s WWDC event, has seen 7 betas seeded to iOS app developers. You can download the iOS 5 firmware using the download link posted below.
Prior to this software update, the iPhone maker also released the iTunes 10.5 in order to bring support for the new mobile operating system. Aside from this, Apple also rolled out a software update for AppleTV 2G, technically iOS 4.4 with a custom build of 9A334v.
The new iOS 5 firmware is packed with more than 200 features which includes Notification Center, iMessage, Wi-Fi Sync, PC Free, Newsstand, Reminders, Wi-Fi Sync, full Twitter integration, and a lot more. So, if you are one of the million iOS device users waiting for this go ahead and update to iOS 5 through iTunes. To do that, all you need to do is connect your iOS device to iTunes and it will prompt you with an update notification.
Download iOS 5.0 for iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch [Direct Download Links]: File Name » iPad2,1_5.0_9A334_Restore.ipsw | Direct Link »iPad 2 (Wi-Fi) File Name » iPad2,2_5.0_9A334_Restore.ipsw | Direct Link » iPad 2 (GSM) File Name » iPad2,3_5.0_9A334_Restore.ipsw | Direct Link »iPad 2 (CDMA) File Name » iPad1,1_5.0_9A334_Restore.ipsw | Direct Link » iPad (1st Gen) File Name » iPhone4,1_5.0_9A334_Restore.ipsw | Direct Link »iPhone 4S File Name » iPhone3,1_5.0_9A334_Restore.ipsw | Direct Link » iPhone 4 (GSM) File Name » iPhone3,3_5.0_9A334_Restore.ipsw | Direct Link » iPhone 4 (CDMA) File Name » iPhone2,1_5.0_9A334_Restore.ipsw | Direct Link »iPhone 3GS File Name » iPod4,1_5.0_9A334_Restore.ipsw | Direct Link » iPod Touch 4G File Name » iPod3,1_5.0_9A334_Restore.ipsw | Direct Link »iPod Touch 3G NEW Jailbreak 5.0 / iOS 5.0.1 iPhone 4/3GS iPod Touch 4G/3G and iPad:
Good news for iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch users, a number of app developers have cut down the price of their precious apps in iTunes App Store in celebration of the Veterans Day last Friday. Folks over at TUAW have listed some discounted (up to 80 percent), on sale, or available for free. The list of free, discounted, and on sale apps is posted below:
Gameloft has also cut down the prices of their games. You can checkout this link for more details. EA games have also slashed the price of their games and offering up to 80% discount on their iPad and iPhone apps and games, which includes the ubër popular games like Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Need for Speed Hot Pursuit, and and Dead Space. Here’s the complete list of the iPad and iPhone games:
List of Discounted iPad Apps of the Week: Dead Space (iPad) – 50 percent off Battlefield: Bad Company 2 – 80 percent off Command & Conquer Red Alert – 60 percent off Mirror’s Edge – 50 percent off NBA JAM – 60 percent off Need for Speed Hot Pursuit – 80 percent off Reckless Racing – 60 percent off Rock Band Reloaded – 50 percent off Shift 2 Unleashed – 60 percent off Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 – 60 percent off
List of Discounted iPhone Apps of the Week: Dead Space – 57 percent off Battlefield: Bad Company 2 – 67 percent off Fight Night Champion – 60 percent off Need for Speed Hot Pursuit – 60 percent off Shift 2 Unleashed – 67 percent off TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON – 67 percent off
So don’t waste any time and download the ones you want as soon as possible. If your friends and family members have an iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch then don’t forget to let them know about the sale as well.
The ability to modify the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch homescreen with the help of awesome themes, using screensavers, as well as adding new folders and icons is one of the most popular reasons why people opted to jailbreak their beloved iOS device. You will be glad to know that one of the most popular jailbreak apps in Cydia Store that will allow you to add new icons on your homescreen has just been update in order to fully work on jailbroken iOS 5 firmware. The name of this app is InfiniBoard.
Developed and released by the popular app developer and iOS hacker chpwn, for those of you who aren’t aware, InfiniBoard (as the name of the app suggests) will provide ability to jailbreakers to add as many icons as they want to the springboard or homescreen of their beloved iOS device, which can be access by scrolling the homescreen vertically. This awesome iPhone / iPad jailbreak app basically remove the limit of 16 apps or folders per homescreen page. The updated version of InfiniBoard also supports almost all other App Store apps and jailbreak tweaks. And aside from the full iOS 5 support, chpwn has also includes a lot more customization settings, some necessary performance improvements and bugs fixes on this update.
Infiniboard is available through Cydia Store for $0.99. Of course, in order to install this awesome iPhone / iPad jailbreak app as well as access Cydia Store you will need to jailbreak iOS 5 on your iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch. You can jailbreak your iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch using Sn0wbreeze or Redsn0w on iOS 5. Then once jailbroken, just simply install Cydia app and reboot your iOS device. The step by step guide on how to jailbreak iOS 5 is posted on below links:
Steps to Tethered Jailbreak iOS 5 or iOS 5.0.1 on iPad using Sn0wbreeze or Redsn0w:
1) Tethered Jailbreak iPad on iOS 5 Using Redsn0w 0.9.9b5 2) Tethered Jailbreak iPad on iOS 5 Using Sn0wbreeze 2.8b8
Since this is a tethered jailbreak only, you will need to connect your iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch in your computer and boot it / power it ON using Redsn0w tethered boot utility or with Sn0wbreeze’s iBooty.
Top 10 Best Cydia IOS4 2011 Apps Tweaks of ALL TIME-| iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad:
Most of the time, when we’re browsing the World Wide Web and we saw some good looking images we wanted to save them on our device so that we can view it even we are off line. Additionally, you can also use this saved photos as wallpaper for your iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. Most iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch users aren’t familiar how to save images on the web into their iOS device, specially the newbies. So now we’re going to show you how to easily save images (any image format) on your Phone, iPad, and iPod Touch.
How To Save Internet Photo On iPhone, iPad And iPod Touch: Step 1: Fist, launch your web browser (Safari) on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. Step 2: Next, search the web and navigate to the image that you want to save and tap on the image. Step 3: Now, tap on and hold your finger over the image. After just a moment, a new menu will pop up, then simply tap o “Save Picture”.
You already saved the image on your iOS device. Now, if you want to use it as wallpaper, just simply follow this instruction:
How To Use Saved Photos As Wallpaper For iPhone, iPad, And iPod Touch: Step 1: Head to Settings -> General -> Wallpaper -> Saved Photos. Then atp on the image that you jaust saved and press “Set Wallpaper”.
We all know that the official iPhone 5 launch is just around the corner now and carriers already have all the details about the next generation iPhone. Vodafone which is a popular European carrier has accidentally revealed the existence of a white and black iPhone 5 on their UK website including details about the memory capacities that the iPhone 5 will be available in.
The iPhone 5 was accidentally revealed on their product page for the Vodafone Sure Signal which is a signal boosted that is used in crowded areas to increase a phone’s signal. This page detailed the list of supported products which included the iPhone 5 32GB in white and black and also the iPhone 5 16GB in white and black. We are sure that this mistake will be noted and pulled immediately and the company will surely say that it was just a typo or glitch on their page. With all the information that has come out on the iPhone 5 and including the fact that it is due for release in October this information is probably correct and just slipped out before the official launch was revealed.
What we do know from this however, is that the new iPhone 5 will come in both black and white models and that there might not be a 64GB version. With only weeks to go until we get all the official details it really does sound like what we have been reported on the iPhone 5 for the past couple of months now is more than likely going to be made official very shortly.
Vodafone UK Reveals iPhone 5′s Memory Capacities And Colours It Will Be Available In:
iOS 5 was released just over two weeks ago and it brought with it a number of great changes. With over 25 million users already enjoying the delights that iOS 5 has to bring we decided to take a look at exactly what users can expect to gain over their previous version iOS 4.
With iOS 5 users get the newly designed Notification Center and improved camera along with iCloud and some less publicized changes that have taken place. One of the changes we want to tell you about is the increase in web browsing speed. Pages now load more than twice as fast using iOS 5 than when running iOS 4.
These statistics actually come courtesy of New Relic who actually performed side by side tests on 3,000 web app using Safari 5.1 on iOS 5 and Safari 5.0 on iOS 4. New Relic haven’t however stated what device they used but we are guessing that it was an iPhone 4 or iPod judging by the infographics they released.
This information showed that on average, pages load in 9.6 seconds using iOS 4 and just 4.1 seconds when running iOS 5. Apple have always spent a lot of time with the rendering engine that is built into Mobile Safari and it is a good thing too. Even if you don’t upgrade your iPhone to the new iPhone 4S you will still see an increase in web performance if you update your software. iOS 5 is available as a free update for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. Unlock & Jailbreak 3.0.1 - iPhone 3GS, iPhone 3G, iPhone 2G:
According to a series of tweets signed Musclenerd over the past 10 hours, the latest iOS 5.0.1 IPSW features decrypted ramdisks. Developers looking to port the iPhone 4S-exclusive Siri to older-generation devices will now be able to do so, legally, as the revised IPSW makes it possible to avoid infringing on Apple’s copyright while extracting the necessary files.
We have already seen Siri running on the iPhone 4, and now it seems that we may get a port of Siri on the iPhone 4 from the developer community is it is now legally possible to port Siri to the iPhone 4. Apple has now released the iOS 5.0.1 update for iOS devices, and according to iPhone developer MuscleNerd, the latest version of Apple’s iOS now makes it possible to port Siri to the iPhone 4 without any sort of piracy. So we can expect to see Siri landing on the iPhone 4, unoficially over the next few weeks, unless Apple decides to make it illegal again in the next release of iOS.
The iPhone 4S Elite old is produced by Stuart Hughes, we have seen a few of his blinged out gadgets before on the site and this iPhone 4S will set you back £6 million which works out at around $9.4 million US dollars.
The most unique mobile phone ever created with a total construction cost of £6 million. The bezel is handmade from rose with approx 500 individual flawless diamonds which total over 100ct.The rear section is formed using 24ct gold with the added touch of its 24ct gold Apple logo and 53 diamonds. The main navigation is made from gold which holds a single cut 8.6ct diamond. Also included (not shown in picture) is a rare 7.4ct single cut Flawless pink diamond which can replace the existing one. The chest is made from solid Platinum with polished pieces of original Dinosaur bone from the T-REX along with rare stones such as Opal ,Pietersite, Charoite , Rutile Quartz ,Star Sunstone.
There are a lot of cool mobile device accessories you could put on your Christmas shopping list and one of them should probably be RF Laserworks’ heat sensitive backing for the iPhone. It’s self adhesive so you just slap it on to the back of your iPhone 4 or 4S and then watch your mobile change color depending on the temperature of the surface it comes in contact with. That would most frequently be either your hand or your pocket.
When the backing is black in color that means it’s still cold. Then it moves up from red, yellow, green, and finally to deep blue as the temperature rises. The material used is sensitive to within 90-95 degrees Fahrenheit. It’s also only .005 inches thick, which means it will fit nicely under any other protective wrapping you put on your Apple phone. Remember those mood rings back in the latter part of the 1970’s? Well you can basically turn your iPhone into one with this sort of backing.
The iPhone 4S joined on three of US biggest carriers – AT&T, Verizon and Sprint, and all of them reported very strong initial sales and Apple alone has confirmed record-breaking 4 million iPhones sold within the first weekend.
On AT&T, the waiting period reaches 21 days, but the carrier often manages to get the iPhone 4S out to customers within 10 days, spokesman Mark Siegel confirmed.
Sprint seems to handle the demand best of all and it would take you only around 14 days to get the next iPhone. Sprint's CEO Dan Hesse earlier had said that the lack of an iPhone in Sprint's phone lineup was the number one reason for the carrier loss of subscribers. Analysts expect the arrival of the iPhone 4S to Sprint to yield a 303,000 postpaid subscriber growth.
The iPhone 4S also recently launched on regional carrier C Spire Wireless, previously known under the Cellular South brand name. It seems getting it on C Spire, which unofficially has less than a million subscriber, is currently the fastest way to get the new iPhone.
More information's: http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2011/11/17/would-be-iphone-customers-still-facing-weeks-long-waits/
According to a new report, demand for the iPhone 4S may be about to stall a bit. Apple's new phone has been seeing huge sales numbers since its release, but today DigiTimes is reporting that Apple has reduced Q4 orders for parts and components for both the iPhone 4S and the iPad.
The reasons behind the reductionin orders may be a little bit more nuanced though. The word is that Apple has reduced orders to related suppliers for Q4 by 10-15%, but those orders may have been delayed until Q1 of 2012. Demand for the iPhone 4S may be part of the reasoning, but there also seem to be issues with component shortages.
So, ultimately, we don't really know what has caused the reduction in orders. It could be that demand is waning, and Apple expects it to bump in Q1 of 2012. There is also a good chance that Apple over-ordered components for Q4 in able to meet the holiday demand. Whatever the reason, the companies in the Apple supply chain are certainly not happy.
If you are looking for something a little special to dock your iPhone and play music then this fantastic ceramic MegaPhone passive amplifier might be worth a look. Each one is handmade and has been built using natural materials.
The iPhone passive amplifier is designed to boost and optimise the best sound output possible from Apple’s iOS devices and rests on a thin wooden stand that allows the object to float off the table and increases the vibration of the MegaPhone when in use to amplify the sound. Watch the video after the jump to see it in action.
Its designers and creators Enandis explain: “To underline both this “return to the roots” and the low tech side of MegaPhone, we have chosen traditional materials used in ancient manufacture: wood and ceramic. The materials we have chosen are natural, eco friendly and have always been a part of our environment. They belong to human culture in a deeper way than plastic and electronics do. ”
The handmade MegaPhone passive amplifier is compatible with iPhone 2G, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S and is available to purchase for €400 in either black or white, while the gold plated model is priced at €600.
Sure the iPhone lets you play casual games and do all kinds of other things, but there are also mobile apps focused on education and early development that are important as well. Though they could be better. Now a team has developed a simple way to merge toys with iOS apps for the education of our geeklings.
