Information Security, Apple, Film, Gaming & All Things Technology.
Over the last few weeks a lot of case designs have been leaking out to the internet, appearing to be for a new iPod Touch and iPod Nano with camera.
The new cases seem to look quite similar in hole positions as the previously leaked ones but these still may not be authentic. However if they are then we should see the announcement of a new iPod Touch and iPod Nano with photo/video recording, sometime around September per Apple’s usual release pattern.
Gregory McKenna has filed a suit against Apple, he alleges that Apple is conspiring with the mafia in an effort to coerce him to return to a New York based modeling agency he quit in 2000. As he explained in the 124 page complaint, an iPod Shuffle he brought in 2005 on eBay and an iPod Mini he got from an Apple store in 2006, possibly a Nano as iPod Mini’s were discontinued a year before. Both contain receivers that have allowed the mafia to send audio death threats that play with his music.
The suit seeks $14.3 million and lists ten defendants in all, including a local mechanic, a private investigator, the St. Louis Police Department, the FBI and the US Department of Justice.
According to a Wired.com report, Apple may have already started to manufacture a new iPod Touch with a built in 
camera and microphone.
A well-connected source tells us those rumors are on the money, and that Apple’s factories in China are already manufacturing iPod Touch models with integrated cameras and microphones. An Apple spokesman declined to comment when reached by phone.
Their source believes that the new devices will go on sale within 2/3 months. They would bring VOIP to capabilities to customers as well as voice commands, video capture and compatibility with many more iPhone applications.
Yesterday Apple provided iPhone developers with Beta 2 of the OS 3.1 firwamre. This release didn’t mention any changes, although the first beta included minor feature adjustments without Apples mentioning. Beta 2 will most likely contain bug fixes which address issues in Beta 1. Along with this a updated version of the iPhone SDK for both Leopard and Snow Leopard have been also released.
If your using Beta 2 and notice any changes feel free to leave a comment.
Update: I’ve just found that beta 2 also introduces a public API for manipulating live video. Developers are still testing the capabilities but it could open the door for many interesting apps in the near future.
Apple announced yesterday that they have had a total of 1.5 billion app downloads on just over 65,000 apps. There 
are currently 40 million iPhones and iPod Touches that are able to run the App Store, and over 100,000 developers registered in the iPhone Developer program making all these apps.
Apple today announced that customers have downloaded more than 1.5 billion applications in just one year from its revolutionary App Store, the largest applications store in the world. The App Store is also growing at an incredible pace with more than 65,000 apps and more than 100,000 developers in the iPhone? Developer Program.
“The App Store is like nothing the industry has ever seen before in both scale and quality,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “With 1.5 billion apps downloaded, it is going to be very hard for others to catch up.”
With the vast collection of new features from the new iPhone OS 3.0, also came the vast amount of problems it’
s causing.
As a 3.0 user myself I have been affected by some of these, such as the WiFi connectivity issues which have caused hundreds of users problems.
The battery life using 3.0, for some has dropped drastically and I have myself seen a bit of a drop in the batteries performance.
Destructive video editing on the iPhone 3GS. which Apple has fixed in 3.1. Also some unknown problem with 3.0 which causes the device to over heat and the battery to drop drastically as I experienced whilst using Qik to live stream a video.
These are just a few problems that 3.0 users are having and Apple really needs to sort these out, as a lot of people rely on there iPhone to last throughout the day, we don’t want it to be like the Palm Pre do we. Hopefully these will be fixed in 3.1 and anyone using the 3.1 Beta feel free to drop a comment on if any of these problems, or others, have been fixed or even maybe caused by that update.
This patent describes the ways to alter the voice output from the iPhone, such as the playback of audio files. Most would think this would be used for reading text from an eBook, but the patent suggests that it would be for audio and not text.
Despite the restrictions involved in playing back audio files, users of media devices may wish to change the audio output of audio files. A mother, for example, might wish to change the narrator’s voice in a pre-recorded, commercially available audiobook to her own voice, so that her child can listen to the audiobook as narrated in the mother’s voice in her absence. In another scenario, a student listening to a lecture as a podcast file might want to change the audio of certain sections of the lecture to sound like someone else’s voice, so as to emphasize important parts of the lecture.
I for one have experienced connectivity problems with my iPhone 3G over WiFi. My signal is never as strong as it used 
to be and even in the house I get no connection where I used to get a connection, all this after the 3.0 update.
Hundreds of people have been complaining of these issues of the iDevice not connecting to WiFi, less signal strength or saying you have a WiFi connection when you don’t.
Apple if fully aware of the problem and will be working to fix it. Some people think that the 3.1 update will fix these issues but some people don’t agree with this so we will have to see. If anyone is using 3.1 Beta do you experience any of the WiFi problems?
Some people have came up with many solutions to try and fix this problem, but they don’t work, some people even tried putting there iDevice in the freezer.
For all you out there who think it’s unfair that iPod Touch users have to pay $10/£5.99 for an upgrade which iPhone users 
get for free and the only reason Apple charge is to do with accounting, I’m offering you a free upgrade to 3.0. Just download the restore file from the link below and press Ctrl and Restore and choose the downloaded file.
I hold no responsibility for the file and you use it at your own risk, enjoy 3.0!
The same way that the iPhone 3GS came to light, there’s now online logs of a new 3rd Gen iPod Touch device being us
ed recently. Analytics firm Pinch Media, which spotted the iPhone 3GS online last year, now says’s it’s been seeing the device string (iPod 3,1) for the new iPod multiple times since April of this year.
The usage pattern shows that Apple are testing the new iPod Touch to ensure there are no major flaws before the device goes live, which is presumed to be in September.
Signs of the string iPod 3,1 were first seen in early iPhone 3.0 beta firmware, the hardware ID was shown alongside present and unreleased Apple handhelds, at the time. As with the iPhone 3GS, Apple’s naming scheme seems to show that this will be a substantial update, camera perhaps? The first number of the string always refers to a major generation leap whilst the second refers to less substantial updates. The current iPod Touch is listed as iPod 2,1,
Trying to determine the release date based on this data is difficult as the iPhone 3GS was seen 8 months before its release however there is a lot more things to test in a phone, therefore making it more likely the release will be in September, as the iPod Touch has always been updated in a special music themed event held in September.
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