iPod Classic & iPod Nano Being Phased Out By Apple?

Latest reports hint that Apple are trying to slowly phase out the iPods that feature the trademark Click Wheel. It seems strange as they just re-released the iPod Nano with video support.

Joystiq reported on some upcoming games, they happened to mention that some of the original Click Wheel games, Song Summoner and Song Summoner 2, were coming to the iPhone soon. However Song Summoner 2 never was released for the iPod because apparently Apple has abandoned the Click Wheel game format. Perhaps this means that Apple wants to move to cheaper iPod Touches to maximize profit from the App Store but also keep the Shuffle.

The App Store still offers a big amount of iPod Click Wheel Games from the iTunes Store, but no new games have been released since Cake Mania 3 in February of 2009. Apple had introduced iPod Click Wheel Games with the release of iTunes 7 in September 2006 and a total of nearly 50 games were released over the next 2 and a half years.

These reports are not confirmed yet and so are still rumours, it may not mean that Apple are ditching the iPod Classic and iPod Nano but maybe focusing their attention elsewhere, on the Apple Tablet perhaps?

iPhone Security Issues Not Exclusive To Jailbroken Devices

In the past few months there have been multiple worms released into the wild that affected inadequately protected jailbroken iPhones. However a Swiss iPhone developer has published research that indicates that there are also security vulnerabilities affected un-jailbroken devices too. This doesn’t come as much of a surprise to most as it was only a matter of time.

The developer, Nicholas Seriot has created a proof of concept app called SpyPhone to demonstrate how Apple’s own APIs can be used to read and edit user’s address books, gain access to the user’s web surfing history or even recent location information. Although this is not as bad as what can be done with root permissions to the device, it can still effect users, especially when they think they are safe.

For the attacks to work, the application with the malicious code would need to get through the App Store approval system, however this wouldn’t be very hard as pointed out by many developers, as Apple doesn’t check source code but does have a kill switch on every app. The code would be delayed, so that it only beings to work so many weeks after the app is released or it could be an encrypted payload.

Nicholas Seriot detailed these possible iPhone privacy risks in a talk he delivered in Geneva, during which he also outlined possible defense strategies, suggesting that Apple should design the iPhone OS to require users to authorize read or read-write access by iPhone applications to potentially sensitive on-device information such as the Address Book, add firewall functionality to the device and ensure the keyboard cache is not as readily available to third-party applications.

Developers Research

Bebo Finally Releases iPhone App

Social network Bebo, has today released their native iPhone app. Now that most major social networks have a native iPhone app it means you can spend less time on the desktop or feature-lacking mobile versions of the popular social networks.

Although it is only the first release the app doesn’t shine compared to the Facebook app which in its recent release it has really improved by vast amounts. It offers a slightly better and tweaked experience compared to that of the mobile site. With the ability to directly upload images from the phone, ability to view your time line and some other nice features it’s a step up from the mobile site. Overall the app is fine for checking your profile and uploading pictures but hopefully they integrate more of the websites functionality.

The Bebo app is free and available on the App Store now.

Website Coming In The New Year

So I’ve been going on for months about how I was going to re-open my website.
Well after many months I was going to buy the domain and set it up, but just my luck, the domain had just been sold.
So I’ve been thinking over the last few weeks do I either think of a new name for the site or just buy a different non .co.uk domain name. In the end I’ve decided to go with an alternate domain name and also considering purchasing a .mobi domain which will have a iPhone designed site.

As I currently have no extra money the website will be set up hopefully at the beginning of January and hopefully some App Development will soon follow.
Keep your eyes peeled for more information as I will be posting updates on Twitter.

Mirror’s Edge Coming In 2010

Mirror’s Edge, a new 3G for the iPod Touch and iPhone has been announced today by EA. It’s going to be similar to the console and PC counterpart. The game consists of 14 levels, it describes them as “fast” and “fluid”. It’s expected to be available in the App Store in January of next year.

AdBlocking On iPhone Causing Apps To Stop Working

Developers of apps on the App Store worked out a way of stopping users from running cracked apps on their device but now the developer of the LockDown app on the Cydia store has stopped the application from running, if you’re blocking AdMob ad’s on the iPhone. Using the app AdMob BeGone on the device stops the app from running and requires you to remove it before it will work again.

It makes sense as LockDown is a free app from Cydia and so they rely on donations and Ad’s but will this be the beginning of all app’s doing this, or just a select few like cracked apps?

BBC iPlayer App Finally Becoming Reality?

If you re-call my article from months ago, I suggested how the BBC need to make a native BBC iPlayer app and their latest press pack hints that this has finally begun.

The image shows the native app running on Wi-Fi, much like the website, which restricts you to only WiFi. It will be up to O2, Orange and Vodafone whether or not they will allow it to run on their 3G network. Little is known about the app, except what we can see from the images.

It appears to show a downloads section, meaning the possibility of downloading radio and TV to listen to when your not in WiFi, much like on the computer. This will probably have the same DRM which will delete it after so many days. The DRM on the media could have been the reason it’s took the BBC so long to develop the app as last time it was put on a portable device it wasn’t long until someone worked around it.

There still no confirmation of the native iPhone application but from these images we know that something is in the works.

Related:
iPhone Idea: BBC iPlayer App

iPhone 3,1 In Testing?

The developer of the public transportation guide for San Francisco, iBART. Has spotted an iPhone3,1 user in their log files. This is similar to when the 3GS was spotted before it was announced by the device string in log files.

“iPhone3,1” was first spotted in Pandav’s usage logs in November. The identifier “iPhone3,1” does not match any shipping iPhones. The last iPhone released was the iPhone 3GS which carries the identification string “iPhone2,1”.

If the reports are correct the next iPhone should be around in about 8 months, if the cycle is the same as before.

R5 Release Dates (November 3rd – May 2010) [UPDATE]

Check the R5 Release Dates page for the latest release dates. (Dates go up to December 2010)

Update: Avatar – January 14^th 2010

November 2009
Bring It On: Fight to the Finish – November 3^rd
Zombieland – November 5^th
The Prince & Me 3: A Royal Honeymoon – November 5^th
Hardwired – November 5^th
Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure – November 5^th
Banlieue 13 Ultimatum – November 12^th
Julie & Julia – November 12^th
The Private Lives of Pippa Lee – November 12^th
OSS 117: Rio ne répond plus – November 19^th
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs – November 19^th
Little Hercules in 3-D – November 19^th
Driven to Kill – November 19^th
Hachiko: A Dog’s Story – November 19^th
The Butterfly Effect 3: Revelations – November 19^th
Saw VI – November 26^th
Playmobil: The Secret of Pirate Island – November 26^th

December
My Sister’s Keeper – December 1^st
Astro Boy – December 3^rd
Jennifer’s Body – December 3^rd (2nd Date)
Law Abiding Citizen – December 3^rd
American Pie: Book of Love – December 8^th
Inglourious Basterds – December 8^th
2012 – December 10^th
The Box – December 10^th
Love Happens – December 11^th
Funny People – December 15^th
Zombieland – December 17^th (2nd Date)
This Is It – December 17^th
The Stepfather – December 17^th
Planet 51 – December 17^th
The Private Lives of Pippa Lee – December 24^th

January 2010
The Soloist – January 12^th 2010
Avatar – January 14^th 2010
Shrink – January 21^st 2010
The Final Destination – January 26^th 2010
Smokin’ Aces 2: Assassins’ Ball – January 26^th 2010
City Island – January 26^th 2010
Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel – January 28^th 2010
This Is It – January 2010 (2nd Date)

February 2010
The Informant! – February 2^nd 2010
500 Days of Summer – February 4^th 2010
Whiteout – February 9^th 2010
The Time Traveler’s Wife – February 9^th 2010
Couples Retreat – February 9^th 2010
The Invention of Lying – February 16^th 2010
Amelia – February 18^th 2010
Into the Blue 2: The Reef – February 18^th 2010
Wrong Turn 3: Left for Dead – February 18^th 2010
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant – February 23^rd 2010
The Blind Side – February 23^rd 2010
Tooth Fairy – February 25^th 2010

March 2010
Free Willy: Escape from Pirate’s Cove – March 2^nd 2010
Fantastic Mr. Fox – March 4^th 2010
The Marine 2 – March 4^th 2010
Ninja Assassin – March 9^th 2010
Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief – March 11^th 2010
Where the Wild Things Are – March 23^rd 2010
Surviving Evil – March 25^th 2010
The Cabin in the Woods – March 25^th 2010
Sherlock Holmes – March 30^th 2010
The Wolfman – March 2010
A Christmas Carol – March 2010

April 2010
Paranormal Activity – April 6^th 2010
It’s Complicated – April 20^th 2010
Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel – April 25^th 2010 (2nd Date)

May 2010
Preacher’s Kid – May 4^th 2010
Valentine’s Day – May 18^th 2010

For the rest of the dates go to http://tinyurl.com/r5dates

Updated: 28^th November 2009

Note: not all dates are 100% accurate and are likely to vary, please keep checking back for updated release dates.

O2 Will Unlock iPhones For £15

O2 will now unlock your iPhone if your contract has expired or you’ve been had a Pay As You Go iPhone for 12 months.

Sine O2 lost exclusively of the iPhone to Orange and Vodafone early next year. O2 have said they will unlock the device.

However it comes with a price, customers will have to pay £15 to get the code to unlock the device.

This makes me believe there must be a similar method, as used on other phones to unlock the device via a code which will be calculated by O2.