Okay Geek Farm
iPhone/iTouch Firmware 3.0 Announced
Brandon DavenportApple is soon releasing their 3.0 software and I (including everyone) am very exited. I feel that since steve has taken leave from apple, they have done some strange (but good) things, such as the ipod shuffle (which is the worst iPod in the world, BUT the best iPod shuffle ever, (think about it!)) and the iPhone/iTouch 3.0 software. You can tell this was NOT steves idea, or that he has come to a sad realization that he cant make everything closed source forever. Take for example, allowing app creators to use and manipulate ipod accesories attached the the pod with no limitations, or allowing to utilize google maps right inside the app, and even have there own built in purchasing system to buy upgrades and add-ons, right inside the app! This is defiantly not steves idea, and obviusly not the track record apple has had since the beginning of time, but this could change how apple works from now on. Could this be the downward spiral that has happened to apple in the past when steve has left and he came back and brought apple to its feet? How he did that was he made everything closed and safe, and now that they are opening there os to developers, this might be a sign of a huge change in apple! What do you think? leave a comment... and now for a sneak peek at what is coming to iPhone and iPod touch!
Cut/Copy and Paste
This appears to be the big one. Daring Fireball wished for it back before Macworld (and reminded us they did) and MacRumors backing up the notion.Kevin Rose told us that it will work with pinch-able quotation marks, and Daring Fireball just weighed in again with:
I have no idea whether this description of how it’s going to work is accurate, but from what I’m hearing Copy-and-Paste is a big part of tomorrow’s announcement.
Push Notifications/Background Multi-Tasking
Another from Daring Fireball’s wish-list that MacRumors backed up, but Kevin Rose said he hadn’t heard anything about. Apple, of course, promised Push Notification back at WWDC 2008, and targeted it for September, though that deadline came and went. Did they fear a MobileMe-style launch failure? Did they realize true background tasking was necessary? Were they just delayed? Or will this still be missing in action come Tuesday?
MMS
No sooner had Apple announced their March 17 event than Boy Genius Reportclaimed they’d heard MMS was coming in the update, but again Kevin Rose said it wasn’t anything on his rumor list.
New App Launcher
Back on Daring Fireball’s site, and yet again given weight by MacRumors, another new addition was wish-listed as an improved, rebuilt SpringBoard, aka the Home Screen that houses all the application icons. Rumors say it could include categories, like the old style PalmOS did.
Tethering
Apple and AT&T said they were working on Tethering, and Boy Genius Reportclaims we’ll finally see it with iPhone OS 3.0. Will it be free? $20 more a month? Not even show up? Guess we’ll see…
Compass
In addition to backing up Daring Fireball’s wish-list, MacRumors added a feature of their own: compass. The Android G1 already has this functionality — when you turns, it knows and can turn the view with you (for example, in incredibly cool looking Google Street View demos). Does the iPhone need this? It would make sense if turn-by-turn GPS apps were about to appear in…
Premium App Store Plus
Rumors of a “premium” App Store Plus have been around for a while, and Wired just brought them back into the spotlight. It would be a place where $20 apps could enjoy attention exclusively away from the free fart apps that glut the regular old App Store. Office suites, high end games, and Turn-by-Turn GPS are all fantasies for this type of deployment. (Though reader antonoj did point out G-Maps has mysteriously disappeared from the App Store, and will “return soon”…) Source :: theiphoneblog.com
