One of the big new features in iOS 4.3 is the ability to use Home Sharing to stream content from your iTunes library on your Mac or PC to your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch over a Wi-Fi network.
It’s a cool feature, but the process to set it up is not terribly intuitive. I was actually going to write up a little tutorial, but Macworld beat me to it. Check out their tutorial, here.
This morning Apple released iOS 4.3 for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad, with some nice enhancements including, AirPlay Enhancements, Faster Safari, iTunes Home Sharing, and Personal Hotspot (for iPhone 4). Read all about the new features, here.
You’ll want to download iTunes 10.2.1 before updating, for full compatibility. And, as always, I suggest syncing your device before applying the iOS update in iTunes to make sure everything is backed up.
As a thank you for not jumping ship, AT&T is offering existing iPhone customers 1,000 free rollover minutes. All you have to do to get them is text, “YES”, to 11113020 by March 31st, 2011. It should also be noted that by sending this text, you’re opting in to receive future offers. But hey, it’s 1,000 free minutes, and you can always opt out again later.
I actually really like this new campaign by T-Mobile. I would go as far as to say they’re slightly brilliant, as the ads manage to say they’re the best, without saying anything negative at all about the iPhone or Apple. You can tell, they totally want to sell the iPhone. If this campaign lasts long enough, I bet we’ll see the iPhone guy hookup with the T-Mobile girl.
It was really no big surprise, but Verizon officially announced today that they are finally getting the iPhone. It will go on sale February 10th, 2011.
Personally, I don’t have any plans to switch right now. But, if you’ve been waiting for your chance to jump from AT&T to Verizon, there are a few important things you need to know before pulling out your wallet:
If you already have an iPhone, kiss it goodbye. You can’t take it with you. You’ll have to buy a new one from Verizon.
Because Verizon uses a CDMA network, their version of the iPhone will not allow you to use voice and data simultaneously the same way AT&T’s GSM network does.
Due to some slight variations in the iPhone itself, many iPhone 4 cases may not fit your new Verizon iPhone.
Personally, I won’t even consider switching until the iPhone 5 comes out. Hopefully Apple will release it on both carriers at the same time, and the Verizon version will use LTE (their next-generation network). If Apple holds to their previous pattern, we should see the iPhone 5 around mid-year.
YAY! The 3.0 iPhone software update was just released. I’m downloading it now (229MB). It’s free for all iPhone users. If iTunes doesn’t automatically prompt you to install, just click the Check for Updates button.
This Blackberry ad is simply brilliant. Too bad RIM (maker of the Blackberry) rejected it. The ad was actually created on spec by New York production house, Guava Studios, who’s gained quite a lot of worldwide attention for this little gem.
What an excellent idea… Transactions is an iPhone app that allows anyone to accept Credit Card payments wherever they have a wifi, 3G, or EDGE connection. It works in conjunction with PayPal Pro or Authorize.net accounts.
They make 2 versions of the app. The full (unrestricted) version costs $29.99. But, there’s a free (lite) version that has the same capabilities, but it limits you to 2 transactions every 12 hours.
Apple will be holding a special media event at 10:00am (pdt) next Tuesday, March 17th to give us a sneak peak at the next major revision to the iPhone operating system (3.0).
Don’t expect to be downloading it though. I’m guessing it probably won’t be released until the World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC). A date for WWDC 2009 hasn’t been set yet, but it usually takes place around June.
A good friend of mine recently decided he wanted to try his hand at making some iPhone applications. Being new to the platform, he decided to get his feet wet with something small. His first app is called, Loop, and it was just released into the iPhone App Store.
Loop is basically inspired by the old spirograph sets. With just a few parameters, you can draw infinite variations of spirals, and then save them to your camera roll.
Although I wasn’t involved in the making of the actual app, this was kind of my first involvement in an iPhone app too. I made the application icon.
Truthfully, Loop isn’t going to change your world or anything, but it is a fun little time waster, and you can make some cool images to use as iPhone wallpapers, etc.. Grab your copy of loop through the link, below.