Filed under: iphone

BookBook iPhone case from twelvesouth

Picked up a BookBook iPhone case today. I've been looking for a wallet case, and this one seemed to be the best option.

When I saw it online, I was afraid it was going to be excessively bulky, but it really isn't bad. Fits pretty well in a front jeans pocket. I managed to fit my drivers' license, 3 credit cards, medical insurance cards, and a little cash in the inside pockets. I'm a fan of "less is more" when it comes to carrying things around. For years, I sported the Batman utility belt--phone, P&S camera, and a Gerber multi-tool, all threaded onto my belt. I know what you're thinking--total chick magnet. I quit carrying the Gerber years ago, the P&S camera went when I got the iPhone, so the final move for enjoying an accessory-free belt was the phone.

I'm too OCD about scratching my phone to put it in the same pocket as my keys, but my wallet was in the other pocket. The only option was to consolidate the wallet and the phone, and the BookBook case does that well. My only gripe would be that there is no hole for the camera. Taking a photo requires pushing the phone up a little so the camera lens clears the top of the case. Minor, but worth mentioning.

$60 at your nearest Apple Store, and worth it if you keep your cases as long as I do.

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iPhone 4s and the Case of the 30-Second Signal Drop

I've had the iPhone 4s for a few weeks now, and love it. So much faster than the 4, and the photos are phenomenal. Video recording has been hugely improved by the presence of built-in stabilization.

But… 

(There's always a "but", right?)

Tuesday morning, I started having problems with the phone. Every 30 seconds it would completely drop the cell signal and the display would read "Searching…"

I did some Googling, and discovered I was not alone. One forum member suggested that turning off cellular data fixed the problem, so I tried that. It worked like a charm, except I had no data when I was out of WiFi range. Whatever--at least I could make phone calls until I had time to get to the Apple Store, (I was out of town, with no access to an Apple Store.)

Thursday, I made my Genius Bar appointment at the Washington Square Apple Store, confident that they'd know how to fix it. Knowing that wiping the phone would probably be one of the troubleshooting options, I made sure my phone was backed up before I left. I arrived to find the Apple Store packed, as usual. Checked in, I browsed iPhone accessories until my turn came up. Several, "ooooh, shiny-s" later, a Genius tracked me down and started working on my phone. 

He reset the network settings… No luck.

He swapped out the SIM card… Seemed to work at first, but then dropped the signal.

He finally did a complete wipe and restore of iOS, and that did the trick.

I skipped (not really, I'm too cool to skip,) out of the Apple Store. The Genius had assured me that it wasn't an app issue, so restoring it from backup would be just fine.

I keep more than 100 apps on my iPhone, (they're all necessary, I swear!) So restoring from the backup I made earlier in the day took awhile. But the phone worked. I was happy.

Friday morning, the phone started dropping the signal every 30 seconds again.

Bridgeport Village in Tigard has an AT&T store and an Apple Store with a block of each other, so I headed there. The Genius had mentioned that it could be a SIM issue, so I stopped at AT&T first. They swapped the SIM card. 

No luck. 

AT&T instructed me to take it to the Apple Store, because it was most likely a hardware issue. They see this problem quite often.

If you've been to an Apple Store for service, you know that it's always wise to make an appointment. I didn't have one, but they were able to fit me in within a half hour of my arrival.

Coffee. Sitting on a bench outside the Apple Store so I could hop on their WiFi (remember, cellular data was turned off so I could still use my phone as a… phone.) It was a sunny, chilly day in Portland, so I didn't mind the wait.

They got me in almost exactly at my appointment time. The new Genius listened as I ran through the past few days and what had been attempted up to that point. He ran some diagnostics and returned with some questions. 

Genius: "After restoring your phone last time, did you apply your latest backup?"

Me: "Yep. That's what they told me to do."

"That's probably the problem. Your backup has a glitch. We'll go ahead and replace the phone, but set it up as a new phone--don't restore from that backup."

"You mean I have to start from scratch on Angry Birds?"

*crickets* (I thought it was funny. Tough room.)

So here I sit, iTunes in one hand, Evernote (for writing this blog entry,) in the other (figuratively speaking,) re-adding apps to my shiny new iPhone 4s. It's not so bad--kinda like spring cleaning. All my contacts and calendars are on iCloud, so they flowed down to the phone as soon as I logged in with my Apple ID.
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I find it semi-interesting that they claim it was a software problem, but replaced the phone anyway. I mean, if it was a software problem, I could have just restored my original 4s and set it up as a new phone instead of restoring the last backup. I'm not complaining though. As long as this one works, I'm a happy camper.

So… If you're having the same problem--signal dropping every 30 seconds--do the following, in order:
  1. Visit the AT&T store, have them replace the SIM card (just to be sure, and to show Apple that you've done your due diligence as far as troubleshooting goes.)
  2. Make an appointment at the Genius Bar. Hopefully they'll replace your phone.
  3. If you get a new phone, set it up as a new phone--don't restore from your latest backup.
I'll report back if the problem persists, but I think I'm good to go.

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Apple clears up the location conspiracy

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April 27, 2011

Apple Q&A on Location Data

Apple would like to respond to the questions we have recently received about the gathering and use of location information by our devices.

1. Why is Apple tracking the location of my iPhone?
Apple is not tracking the location of your iPhone. Apple has never done so and has no plans to ever do so.

2. Then why is everyone so concerned about this?
Providing mobile users with fast and accurate location information while preserving their security and privacy has raised some very complex technical issues which are hard to communicate in a soundbite. Users are confused, partly because the creators of this new technology (including Apple) have not provided enough education about these issues to date.

3. Why is my iPhone logging my location?
The iPhone is not logging your location. Rather, it’s maintaining a database of Wi-Fi hotspots and cell towers around your current location, some of which may be located more than one hundred miles away from your iPhone, to help your iPhone rapidly and accurately calculate its location when requested. Calculating a phone’s location using just GPS satellite data can take up to several minutes. iPhone can reduce this time to just a few seconds by using Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower data to quickly find GPS satellites, and even triangulate its location using just Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower data when GPS is not available (such as indoors or in basements). These calculations are performed live on the iPhone using a crowd-sourced database of Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower data that is generated by tens of millions of iPhones sending the geo-tagged locations of nearby Wi-Fi hotspots and cell towers in an anonymous and encrypted form to Apple.

4. Is this crowd-sourced database stored on the iPhone?
The entire crowd-sourced database is too big to store on an iPhone, so we download an appropriate subset (cache) onto each iPhone. This cache is protected but not encrypted, and is backed up in iTunes whenever you back up your iPhone. The backup is encrypted or not, depending on the user settings in iTunes. The location data that researchers are seeing on the iPhone is not the past or present location of the iPhone, but rather the locations of Wi-Fi hotspots and cell towers surrounding the iPhone’s location, which can be more than one hundred miles away from the iPhone. We plan to cease backing up this cache in a software update coming soon (see Software Update section below).

5. Can Apple locate me based on my geo-tagged Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower data?
No. This data is sent to Apple in an anonymous and encrypted form. Apple cannot identify the source of this data.

6. People have identified up to a year’s worth of location data being stored on the iPhone. Why does my iPhone need so much data in order to assist it in finding my location today?
This data is not the iPhone’s location data—it is a subset (cache) of the crowd-sourced Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower database which is downloaded from Apple into the iPhone to assist the iPhone in rapidly and accurately calculating location. The reason the iPhone stores so much data is a bug we uncovered and plan to fix shortly (see Software Update section below). We don’t think the iPhone needs to store more than seven days of this data.

7. When I turn off Location Services, why does my iPhone sometimes continue updating its Wi-Fi and cell tower data from Apple’s crowd-sourced database? 
It shouldn’t. This is a bug, which we plan to fix shortly (see Software Update section below).

8. What other location data is Apple collecting from the iPhone besides crowd-sourced Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower data?
Apple is now collecting anonymous traffic data to build a crowd-sourced traffic database with the goal of providing iPhone users an improved traffic service in the next couple of years.

9. Does Apple currently provide any data collected from iPhones to third parties? 
We provide anonymous crash logs from users that have opted in to third-party developers to help them debug their apps. Our iAds advertising system can use location as a factor in targeting ads. Location is not shared with any third party or ad unless the user explicitly approves giving the current location to the current ad (for example, to request the ad locate the Target store nearest them).

10. Does Apple believe that personal information security and privacy are important?
Yes, we strongly do. For example, iPhone was the first to ask users to give their permission for each and every app that wanted to use location. Apple will continue to be one of the leaders in strengthening personal information security and privacy.

Software Update
Sometime in the next few weeks Apple will release a free iOS software update that:

 

  • reduces the size of the crowd-sourced Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower database cached on the iPhone,
  • ceases backing up this cache, and
  • deletes this cache entirely when Location Services is turned off.

 

In the next major iOS software release the cache will also be encrypted on the iPhone.

This release from Apple should clear things up for people. Take a deep breath, and relax.

iPhone Location Tracking Conspiracy

You may have read on Gizmodo or other sites about the fact that your iPhone knows where you've been. It stores that data in a file on your iPhone that is backed up to your computer when you sync via iTunes.

There is a tool available (Mac only,) that will allow you to see this location data on a map. I ran this app against my iPhone location data, and it did, in fact, show me everywhere I've been since first turning on my iPhone 4 back in November. 

Here's the thing, though. It appears to only use cell phone towers to pinpoint your location, so it isn't very accurate. The data looks more like a heat map than an actual GPS track (like you'll see if you enable background updating in the Google Latitude app.) So I'm not sure I see the crisis. 

Location data has been a big deal lately. Apps for Foursquare, GoWalla, Facebook, Twitter, and others use your location. But they do it with your permission. It does seem a little skeezy that Apple is doing it without consent or notification. I'm more concerned with uploading geotagged photos to Flickr than I am about my iPhone keeping track of where I've been. Those geotagged photos use GPS to determine location. Fine if I'm traveling, but I have to remember to turn off the geotagging if I'm at a location I don't necessarily want broadcasted to the world, (like my house, or the homes of friends or family.)

What's your take on it? Does it bother you? Does it even surprise you? I imagine that Apple can't be the only company whose phones keep track of this type of data. What are your thoughts?

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Vimeo for iPhone and iPad 2

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I just downloaded Vimeo for iPhone today, so I haven't had much of a chance to test it out. What I see so far, though is an extremely slick app. iMovie is cool, and will upload to YouTube, but the Vimeo app is free.

I'll throw together a quick video sometime today to test it out. Anyone else take the app for a spin? What are your thoughts?

Vimeo for iPhone doesn't disappoint

Filed under: Software, iPhone

Vimeo for iPhone doesn't disappoint

by Dave Caolo (RSS feed) on Mar 31st 2011 at 3:30PM

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Vimeo released an official iPhone app yesterday, and it does not disappoint. As a 1.0 release, it's impressive. Consider it a one-stop shop for watching, recording, editing and delivering video to Vimeo. There are a few bumps in the road, but all-in-all Vimeo for iPhone is a solid offering. Here's my experience with the app.

UI

Vimeo for iPhone is a portrait orientation kind of app. Unless you're shooting or viewing video, it wants to be vertical. You're first presented with your video library, aptly named "My Video Library." Across the top of the screen are the Camera and New ("+") buttons, followed by a list of your previously-uploaded videos. These can be viewed in list or thumbnail layout, and sorted by date or number of views. A search function returns results as you type, which is nice.

At the bottom of the screen you'll find buttons for My Videos, Recordings, My Stuff (which includes sub-tabs for Inbox, Watch Later and Likes,) Browse (by channel) and finally account information.

Browsing your videos in list view provides information on views, number of favorites and comments at a glance. Otherwise, tap a video to find those details and more, like tags, privacy setting, stats and licensing options.

Speaking of stats, here's one of my complaints. Like much of the app, they're only available in portrait orientation. The amount of information available -- like number of plays, loads, finishes, likes and so on across days, weeks and months, sorted by location -- is extensive. There's a lot of scrolling to be done, much of which could be eliminated with landscape presentation.

As for shooting and editing video, Vimeo for iPhone looks great. While shooting, your subject goes full-screen as you'd expect and the three semi-opaque buttons, Start/Stop, Menu and Recordings, are unobtrusive. Finally, the editor looks great, putting your footage in the upper left-hand corner with a project summary to the right and timeline across the bottom. Now, let's talk about how it works.

Use

There are five things one might do with Vimeo for iPhone. Check stats on their own videos, view others' submissions, shoot video, edit video and finally post a completed project to Vimeo.com for all to see. That's quite a bit, and each one is pulled off well.

View your videos

To view our own videos, simply tap "My Videos" in the lower left-hand corner. Each will be listed above. Sort as you wish and tap any thumbnail to play the video. For more detail, tap the information to the right of the thumbnail. There you'll find options to share, tag and add your video to a group. You can also see who has listed it as a favorite and read comments. Additionally, you can determine privacy and licensing settings. Finally, and this is the coolest bit, you can opt to re-download an existing video for further editing or replace a video with a new copy.

View others' videos

Tap the Browse button to see a list of channels. Each contains a number of videos for you to watch. For example, as of this writing the Staff Picks channel lists 20 videos. Next to every thumbnail you'll find the title, author and date added. Tap for more information, like an option to leave a comment, mark a clip as a favorite or save for later. Finally, hit the familiar triangle to watch.

Shooting video

This process will be familiar to anyone who's shot video with an iPhone. To get started, tap the blue Camera button that's available on the My Videos and Recordings screens. The rear camera is activated and you'll see three buttons across the bottom of the screen (both landscape and portrait). The first returns you to the last screen, the middle button starts and stops the recording and the settings button offers a few nice options. The flash can be turned off, on or set to automatic. Fill options let you fill the recording area with your subject or go letterbox and finally grid overlays let you compose the perfect shot.

I quite like the exposure and focus features. Tap once to focus on a given area. Double-tap and an iris icon briefly appears, setting the exposure to that area. It's nice to have these functions separated.

When you're done recording, your clip "jumps" down to your Recordings library.

Editing Video

Tap any clip in your Recordings library and then tap Open in Video Editor. You'll see the clip on the left, an information panel on the right and the timeline on the bottom. Tap the clip once to play and again to pause. You can also go full-screen if you like.

There are three tracks in the timeline: video, titles and audio. Tap your video to perform some simple trimming, much as you would with Apple's Photos or iMovie apps. You can also add additional clips or even photos from the Photos app. Just tap the "+" at the end of the timeline to open up an options window. Then grab existing video or photos from our library or shoot something new. The new addition will be placed at the end of the timeline, but clips can be re-ordered with a tap and drag.

Adding titles is limited but effective. Again, tap the "+" at the end of the timeline to produce the titles window. Here you can type your title and adjust its size, position and title. Hit Done when you're finished and it will appear over the selected clip.

The sound options are pretty cool. Tap the "+" to bring up the audio window. You've got two main choices: the audio library or record your own. The library contains a number of tracks that you're free to insert into your project.

Alternatively, you can record your own audio. Tap the Recordings microphone and then tap Star Recording. Speak your audio or hold the iPhone up close to a bit of external audio. Next, give that snippet a name (it'll be saved for later use). Tap Add and it'll be added to your library. Finally, tap the clip you'd like to add to your project and it'll appear in the timeline.

Even when you've got multiple audio, titles and video clips, the whole thing is neat and tidy. Editing is intuitive, as I was able to figure everything out with a minimum of tapping.

Sharing your video

Here's where I ran into trouble. Once in the Recordings library, tap the project you'd like to share and hit Export and off it goes. Usually. I had a few crashes here, just as the export was beginning. Fortunately the project was undamaged, and the upload eventually completed, but it was a bit annoying.

Conclusion

Vimeo for iPhone is a solid app. You can't really beat shooting, editing and posting to Vimeo from a single device, let a lone a single app. In the future I'd like to see landscape options and less crashing during upload. But still, I have to recommend this app for Vimeo customers. You'll enjoy it. My only issues were no landscape mode when viewing stats, and a couple of crashes at export.

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I haven't tried it yet... Anyone else taken Vimeo for iPhone for a spin?