Posted by: Marianne Schultz
on Oct 24, 2008
According to MacRumors, developers have received the second version of the 2.2 firmware beta. The first 2.2 beta included elements of Google Street View, as we reported then, and this 2nd beta fully enables this feature.
Street View on the iPhone will make its mapping capabilities very similar to those of the new T-Mobile G1. Street View enables a realistic view of your current location in Google Maps, and also includes a compass function that automatically adjusts the view as you move around on the G1. Street view is currently available on Google Maps online (pictured below), and iPhoneYap has pictures of how it will look on the iPhone in the 2.2 firmware.
Posted by: Marianne Schultz
on Oct 6, 2008
Developers working with the iPhone firmware 2.2 beta that was released a short time ago have uncovered a few new features. These will be a welcome addition to the iPhone’s features, and one in particular should help to increase the iPhone’s appeal in Japan.
Developers uncovered the existence of emoji, small graphic images used often by the Japanese in text messaging, hidden in the iPhone’s firmware. 461 (!) of these were found, and they appear to include a number of smiley face emoticons that texters in the U.S. and other countries have been used to on other phones.
Posted by: Marianne Schultz
on Sep 30, 2008
Despite easy access to the SDK itself and reference documentation for just about anyone and their mother through Apple's site, app developers have been itching for a way to collaborate with other developers to share information and help improve their offerings. But the non-disclosure agreement governing the SDK put a choke hold on that, and developers did so at the risk of earning Apple's ire. Apparently, Apple received enough feedback about this to change their ways, and posted the following note on the Developer Connection site:
It's really nice to know (and a pleasant surprise) that Apple has actually been listening to some feedback about the iPhone and App Store, but I have to think they've received so much more feedback about the things the iPhone has been missing since day one (you remember - copy & paste, video recording, voice dialing, etc.). What a frustrating use of selective hearing on their part.
Posted by: Marianne Schultz
on Sep 24, 2008
According to
MacRumors, the 2.2 firmware beta has been seeded to developers for testing. No new features have surfaced yet, though one interface change in Safari has been noticed. In 2.2, the Google search bar is now visible next to the address bar at the top of the screen - see
here for a screen shot.
No reports of the push notification service previously promised have surfaced, though many iPhone users and developers are anxiously awaiting this feature.
Posted by: Marianne Schultz
on Sep 7, 2008
When Kevin Rose
first described what he believed would be released by Apple in September, he listed the 2.1 firmware for the iPod Touch with the version for the iPhone to follow shortly after. Now, others are chiming in to say that we might see the iPhone 2.1 firmware tomorrow as well, not later. I am personally all for that since I've experienced many of the problems with apps not opening, text entry lag, and GPS/triangulation not working, and I want all of that fixed NOW, thank you very much.
Ars Technica has
gone on to say that we might even see new features in iPhone firmware 2.1, such as background push notification and more GPS capability. The background push notification sounds a little questionable, since this was removed from the last SDK beta, but I could definitely picture Apple intentionally hiding this feature so they could do something surprising with it before developers get to see it. Of course, this means that whatever that surprising thing is, it will not have been tested very much outside of Apple, and that doesn't inspire the most confidence in its stability and operability these days.
I normally love new stuff from Apple, but I think that this is the first time in my history as an Apple fan that I don't want new stuff for my iPhone.
Posted by: Marianne Schultz
on Aug 23, 2008
Remember Open Clip’s Copy & Paste framework I
mentioned the other day? Well, it’s already broken. Yep, you read that right. Broken. The beta version of the iPhone’s next firmware (2.1b4) was released to developers around the same time that Open Clip’s framework was getting talked up on the internets, and it turns out that the “community space” that Open Clip was relying on to be the holding place for copied information to be accessed between applications will be closed off. According to an
update posted on Open Clip’s website , copy and paste within a single application using Open Clip’s framework will still be possible in 2.1, but copy and paste will no longer work between different applications.
Open Clip’s developer, Zac White, does not think that this was an intentional move by Apple, but just normal tightening-up on their part of the firmware that was probably in the works for a while. We can still hope that Apple will eventually implement copy and paste between applications in the future - it has been mentioned that this is on their radar, but just not very high on the priority list. Or that a developer will again find a way to make this work that will “stick” despite future firmware updates. I don’t know about you, but I am dying for a way to copy and paste the log-in information for that terrible viewmymessage.com site that AT&T so kindly sends vis SMS to remind me of the fact that I can’t view MMS messages on my iPhone when my friends forget that I can’t get those kinds of messages. Who’s with me?
Posted by: Marianne Schultz
on Aug 16, 2008
If you're one of the iPhone users who has been waiting for copy and paste (like me!) your wait for this key feature might be getting shorter. A software developer has put together a framework that all iPhone app developers can use to allow copy and paste to work between different applications.
The trouble in implementing copy and paste on the iPhone to date has been the restrictions put in place by Apple: apps are not allowed to write data to other apps. So if you do copy information in one app, it is not allowed to put this data anywhere outside of its own framework. Also, since apps cannot run in the background, anything copied in an app closes down along with the app when you leave it.
Enter OpenClip, a not-for-profit open-source project that is building a framework that will allow apps by participating developers to copy and paste information between them. Zac White is the developer who created the framework to make this happen. In this framework, apps will use space in the iPhone's system that is open and available to all apps to store copied information. Other apps built using this framework can then access this "community" space and pull out the copied information for pasting or further manipulation.
OpenClip states that this framework does not violate Apple's SDK in any way. And the more apps that participate and use the framework, the ability to copy and paste on the iPhone will become a true feature. It's unknown what Apple will do with this framework and if it will be implemented in the core iPhone apps like Safari, Contacts, Notes, and others. But we can hope that this framework will be a way for Apple to implement copy and paste in the apps where it's most needed!
See more at
OpenClip's site .
Via [
MacRumors ]
