Having tested – and loved – WildCharge’s wire-free charging system last year, we’re pleased to see that the company has updated their range of “skins” cases to fit the iPhone 3GS. WildCharge allows you to recharge your handset without actually plugging in a cable, similar to the Palm Pre’s Touchstone; when we caught up with WildCharge this week, they confirmed their intentions to move toward broader licensing of their wire-free system.
SlashGear has heard that the issue affecting promo codes and App Store titles rated 17+ has been fixed, and that developers responsible for such software will indeed be able to pass out free-access trials to reviewers. The problem, which we reported last Friday, concerned Apple’s terms and conditions for age restrictions.
Under Apple’s initial guidelines, any application that allowed for internet access to third party content – such as Twitter or IM clients – should automatically carry a 17+ rating and thus, under their trial terms, be ineligible for promo codes. What we’re hearing is that while the age restriction terms are unchanged, developers of 17+ apps will, in fact, be allowed to give out such codes.
We’re waiting on an official comment from either Apple or the developers who initially brought the issue to our awareness. We’ll update when we’ve heard more.
Fast & Furious and finger-friendly? Universal Studios have revealed that the Blu-ray special edition version of the film Fast & Furious will be accompanied by an iPhone and iPod touch app that allows viewers to navigate a virtual garage on their big-screen TV. The software, which will be distributed free through the App Store, takes advantage of Blu-ray Profile 2.0.
Poor Apple. All the company wanted to do was announce some healthy download figures from their App Store and then sit back to bask in the congratulatory glow, and then along comes a report [pdf link] suggesting that many of the titles responsible for that “1.5bn downloads in one year” may in fact be cookie-cutter “bulk apps”.
Apple have released iPhone OS 3.1 beta 2 to developers, around fifteen days after the launch of the first beta. Among its most anticipated features is WiFi connectivity during development; however it also comes with a sting in its tale, as Apple have seemingly closed off the loophole which had been used for unofficially enabling data tethering on the AT&T network.
It took Apple nine months to hit the one billion apps mark; now the company has announced that more than 1.5 billion titles have been download from the App Store. That’s in just the space of a year, with more than 65,000 apps available and in excess of 100,000 developers registered in Apple’s official program.
Apple is reportedly blocking one of the most anticipated features of iPhone OS 3.0, Push Notifications, for those users who have unlocked their handsets. The issue has been flagged up by developer PoweryBase, who offer the NotifyMe reminder app, after finding “more than 80-percent of customer support requests” are from users complaining their hacked iPhone and iPod touch devices prove incompatible with the software. The issue is being blamed on Apple’s servers, which handle the Push Notification Service (APNS); the company is seemingly denying APNS updates to those handsets which have been unlocked.
Nike have updated last year’s Nike+ SportBand, improving the display, tweaking the color scheme and throwing water-resistance into the mix too. The new Nike+ SportBand can give real-time performance stats – including distance, pace, time and calories burned – as well as funneling spoken information through an iPod nano, touch or iPhone.
Could Apple UK be shopping around for a new carrier deal? Expect a flurry of denials from O2 and Apple themselves, but Orange and T-Mobile UK are both apparently in talks regarding carrying the iPhone 3G, Apple’s entry-level device now that the iPhone 3GS has arrived. According to the latest rumors, T-Mobile’s customer services team has been telling callers that the carrier is negotiating with Apple regarding the second-gen smartphone.
We probably shouldn’t be surprised, but AT&T have reportedly delayed the activation of MMS for the iPhone until September. According to Appmodo, AT&T themselves suggested that the originally tipped date of mid-July would be missed; they’ve now heard that in fact MMS will come three months after Apple enabled the feature in iPhone OS 3.0.
MMS will be accompanied by iPhone tethering, it’s believed, which Appmodo insist is still expected to cost an extra $55 per month. That’s on top of existing data plans for the iPhone. Users will be able to connect their laptops via USB or Bluetooth.
AT&T tethering cost denial after the cut
Updated with new comments from AT&T
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