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Apple has decided to retire the iPhone OS name with version 4.0, as they’ve just announced at the WWDC 2010 keynote. The new name will be iOS 4. It makes perfect sense, since the iPad runs iOS as well (as does the iPod touch,) and isn’t a phone.
Gallery: iPhone OS 4 renamed iOS 4
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iBooks Enhancements: Native PDF support, notes, bookmarks
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Software,
During his WWDC 2010 keynote, Steve Jobs announced some upcoming enhancements to the iBooks app. The biggest, by our estimation, is the addition of native PDF support. You’ll be able to drag PDFs into iTunes to have them sync up with iBooks. In order to keep things nice and tidy, PDFs will even have their own bookshelf. Other enhancements include one-touch bookmarking of a page, as well as the ability to add notes. The notes appear as post-it notes on a page. These are in addition to the currently available highlighting. Very nice.
Gallery: iBooks Enhancements: Native PDF support, notes, bookmarks
iPhone OS 4.0 beta 4 reveals AT&T tethering option
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Smartphones, Rumors, Software, Wireless / WiFi,
So check this out, we’ve been waiting for iPhone tethering since the original device, and when Apple built tethering into iPhone OS 3.0, we figured that was where our dreams would turn to reality—but of course, in the US, this is AT&T we’re dealing with, which means…we are still waiting a year later. However, in the just-released iPhone OS 4.0 beta 4, there’s finally an option to enable tethering, and when you tap it, you are instructed to contact AT&T at 611 or to visit the AT&T website to add tethering to your account.
Obviously, there’s been progress here. Still, no word from AT&T as to when they will give us tethering. Also interesting that this news comes well after the launch of the iPad 3G, as we’re sure that many iPhone owners that bought the 3G model of the iPad would have just gone with a Wi-Fi model if they knew tethering was around the corner, right?
Read More 
| MacRumors
Gallery: iPhone OS 4.0 beta 4 reveals AT&T tethering option
iPhone OS 4.0 SDK beta 4 released
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Smartphones, Handhelds, Software,
For all you iPhone and iPad devs out there, you can now head on over to the iPhone Developer Portal to grab iPhone OS 4 beta 4, which Apple just released, alongside beta 4 of the SDK. The software build is 8A274b, while the SDK build is 10M2252. Apple is right on time, continuing to deliver iPhone OS 4.0 betas about two weeks apart from each other, every other Tuesday. It should drop down to weekly releases sometime soon here, what with the iPhone Pro rumored to make its debut sometime next month.
Gallery: iPhone OS 4.0 SDK beta 4 released
Android 2.2 Froyo update brings USB tethering, Wi-Fi hotspot feature
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Smartphones, Google, Software,
Okay, so we already know that Android 2.2 is gonna run 450% faster than 2.1, but we’ve just got even more awesome news about the ‘Froyo’ update by way of TechCrunch. It looks like Android 2.2 will also bring with it option for USB tethering and Wi-Fi hotspot support. In other words, you can use your phone’s 3G (or 4G if you are rocking the Sprint HTC EVO) signal to get your laptop, iPad, or whatever other device online, either by USB or Wi-Fi. Now, we’re guessing that the carriers get the ultimate say over how this will work and what it might cost, but hey, having the options built right in to Android is a major step in the right direction.
Read More | TechCrunch
Gallery: Android 2.2 Froyo update brings USB tethering, Wi-Fi hotspot feature
Apple readying software fix for iPad Wi-Fi issues
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Handhelds, Software, Wireless / WiFi,
Hey, looks like Apple is finally owning up to those iPad Wi-Fi connectivity issues that a bunch of people have been having. Rather than asking people to turn off dual-band mode on their routers (although we’e found that this certainly does help in the meantime,) Apple will be releasing a fix as a software update for the iPad. Of course, we have no timeframe for when we will see it, but we are thinking it will have to happen sooner rather than later, now that both the Wi-Fi model and the Wi-Fi + 3G are both out and about, selling in droves. They won’t want that issue hanging around for too much longer, since without Internet connectivity, the iPad becomes a fairly useless device. Yeah, I said it.
Read More | Apple
Gallery: Apple readying software fix for iPad Wi-Fi issues
iPhone OS 4.0 SDK beta 3 released
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Smartphones, Handhelds, Software,
iPhone and iPad devs, head on over to the iPhone Developer Portal, because Apple has just released iPhone OS 4 beta 3, alongside beta 3 of the SDK. The software build is 8A260b, while the SDK build is 10M2247. Again, Apple is right on time, continuing to deliver iPhone OS 4.0 betas about two weeks apart from each other. We will know that things are getting a bit more serious when they drop it down to weekly intervals.
Gallery: iPhone OS 4.0 SDK beta 3 released
Spirit iPad jailbreak now available
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Handhelds, Mods / Hacks, Software,
Ever since the iPad was announced, one of the many things users had been waiting for was a way to jailbreak the thing. Well, your iPad jailbreak method has arrived in the form of the free Spirit download. It’s an untethered hack, and it works with any activated iPhone OS device, including iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad, as long as they are running iPhone OS 3.1.2, 3.1.3, or 3.2. iPad users, listen up—the people behind Spirit say that things are still a little shaky on that end, and any errors or crashes may result in you having to do a factory restore. Now go and download the software, and proceed at your own risk!
Read More | Spirit Jailbreak
Gallery: Spirit iPad jailbreak now available
HP buys Palm, we want a webOS Slate
Posted by Dan Hughes Categories: Smartphones, Corporate News, Handhelds, Software,
Palm, that company that used to run the handheld business, after several attempts to solicit buyers/license its software to any bidders/play music on corners with its hat out for tips, finally has a new home. HP announced yesterday that it will purchase Palm, Inc. to the tune of $1.2 billion.
Several companies, including big-boy-in-the-market phone manufacturer HTC, took a look at Palm and passed. The webOS PDA platform that Palm has created, while beautiful and functional in its own right, just was not enticing enough to garner a lot of suitors in the smartphone market.
Click to continue reading HP buys Palm, we want a webOS Slate
Read More | HP Newsroom
Gallery: HP buys Palm, we want a webOS Slate
BlackBerry 6 OS shown at RIM WES 2010 keynote
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Smartphones, Corporate News, Software, Videos,
This morning at WES 2010, RIM finally took the wraps off of their upcoming BlackBerry 6 operating system, introducing it with the video you see above. While it’s easy to be captivated by the dancers, when you focus on the actual screen activity being teased here, you see that this is all focused on touchscreen gestures, but we are sure that RIM won’t be throwing away that true QWERTY keyboard anytime soon. Also, interestingly enough, the web browser got almost no play at all in the video. Maybe they’ve still got some work to do on that one. Still, it’s nice to see the company progressing and aiming to bring BlackBerry devices a bunch of new hotness in the near future.
