Si bien hace unas semanas nos enteramos que el Parlamento Europeo planteaba entregarle un iPad a cada eurodiputado ahora hemos conocido que los 350 diputados del Congreso de Diputados de España tendrán después de verano un nuevo teléfono y él elegido podría ser el nuevo iPhone 4 de Apple.
Actualmente los diputados tienen un teléfono móvil HTC que vino a sustituir en 2008 a la primera PDA que fue entregada en 2006, una Qtek 9100. Si bien la situación no es igual que se podía dar en el Parlamento Europeo, debido a que en este caso se trata de una sustitución de dispositivos, tendrá igualmente un coste para el estado. Durante el verano los técnicos realizarán las pruebas oportunas y en el comienzo del nuevo curso político les harán entrega de los nuevos dispositivos.
Las negociaciones ya han comenzado con Movistar y se estima que el costo de la operación podría tener valor de 90.000 euros, lo que viene a ser algo más de 250 euros por cada diputado. Que no está demasiado mal comparando los precios que ha puesto la operadora a los particulares y empresas, pero, ¿cuántos puntos le quitarán al congreso por la renovación al iPhone 4?
Teniendo en cuenta que la última renovación de los smartphones de los diputados se realizó en 2008 es lógico que toque una renovación ya, en un periodo de dos años muchas personas cambian sus móviles y algunos incluso con más frecuencia, si podrían haber aguantado un año más con sus HTC y ahorrarse ese gasto… es posible y sin duda es algo que se deberían haber planteado ahora que estamos en una época de no tirar demasiados cohetes Y aunque es un gasto menor comparado con otros que se están haciendo, no está demasiado justificado, sobre todo teniendo en cuenta que el mayor coste vendrá cada mes con las facturas de todas las líneas de los diputados.
Sin duda el iPhone 4 es un gran dispositivo y tiene cierto sentido que lo hayan elegido, pero podrían haber elegido cualquier otro smartphone del mercado que les daría prestaciones similares. Sin olvidar lo cerrada que es la plataforma de Apple, veremos si para los técnicos del Congreso esto supone algún tipo de problema.
One of the things that Apple hasn’t made easy for iPhone owners is providing a way to create custom ringtones in Windows. If you’re a Mac owner you can use GarageBand, but Apple doesn’t provide that application on Windows. Instead what they expect you to do is purchase a song for $0.99, and then convert it to a ringtone for another $0.99.
As it turns out in a few steps you can actually convert a DRM-free song into a ringtone using only iTunes in Windows. The trick also works for Mac users, but using GarageBand is a lot simpler so we’re focusing primarily on the Windows side.
Here’s what you need to do:
Start iTunes and find the [DRM-free] song you want to convert to a ringtone. Right-click on it and select the Get Info option.
On the Options tab locate the Start Time and End Time options. This is where you want to specify the portion of the song you wanted converted into a ringtone. Check both of the boxes, and make sure your ringtone is under 30-seconds. Press OK when finished.
Right-click on the song you just modified, and choose the Convert to AAC option. If you don’t see this in the context menu navigate to Edit -> Preferences -> Advanced -> Importing, and make sure the AAC Encoder is selected in the Import Using menu.
Once the song has finished being converted to the new format it will appear in your music list, and the “Time” should reflect the correct duration of the ringtone (which should be less than 30-seconds). Now navigate to your iTunes music folder to find the converted song. Here’s an example of where my Green Day ringtone was located:
Make sure you’re able to see the file’s extension (.M4A) like in the screenshot above. If you don’t see the extension go to Tools -> Folder Options -> View (Organize -> Folder and Search Options on Vista), and uncheck the Hide extensions for known file types box. Then click OK.
Copy the music file (with the .M4A extension) to your desktop. Once you’ve done that rename the file’s extension to .M4R which will make iTunes recognize it as a ringtone. Make sure there are no symbols (underscores, hyphens, etc…) in the file name.
In iTunes go to File -> Add File to Library, and then browse for the file from step 6. Once you’ve selected it press the Open button. iTunes will place the ringtone in the respective section in your library:
Sync your iPhone with iTunes and your newly created ringtone should get transferred over. If it doesn’t be sure to check the Ringtones tab in the iPhone configuration section of iTunes to verify that it is setup to sync your ringtones.
–What is DRM?–
I’ve been getting all kinds of questions and emails from people asking what DRM is. An anonymous commenter below did a great job answering the question. Here is his response:
DRM stands for Digital Rights Management. In a nutshell, a song with DRM is meant to keep you from giving it to someone else. If you’re using Windows XP (and I’m sure there’s some equivalent for Vista), you can right-click on a song file, and choose Properties. Under the Summary tab, click the Advanced >> button if it’s there. Under the Origin heading, you will see an entry named ‘Protected’. If it says No, then the song does not have a DRM. If it says Yes, well, you may be able to pay Apple money to convert the song to an iTunes Plus track, which will be DRM-free. Hope this helps, best of luck!
That’s all there is to it. Now you can save yourself a bunch of money on ringtones. A big thanks to the Apple Blog who assembled the original instructions on how to do this for the Mac!
(Or, How to sync an iPhone with one computer and manually manage music and videos on another).
Note: This tutorial allows you to add music/videos/podcasts from multiple machines. If you just want to sync PIM (Contacts/Calenders etc) on one machine and media on another there’s a simpler way. On the computer you want to sync contacts/calendar with select only these items and perform a sync. Now, on the second machine enable Music/Photos/Etc and perform a second sync. You will be warned the media library will be deleted, but as there’s no media this is fine
Because I do most of my music listening at work and my Calendar/Address book are kept in Outlook I have my iPhone setup to sync with my office PC. When I’m at home however I find I also want to put music/podcasts/videos on my iPhone for the weekend or trips.
Normally it’s only possible to sync media on an iPhone with one computer. If you try to use a second computer you get the warning below that “the iPhone XXX is synced with another iTunes library. Do you want to erase this iPhone and sync with this iTunes library”?
However, I’ve found an easy fix for this. In the instructions below I’ll show how to modify any iTunes Library so it can also be synced with your iPhone. You can then either manually manage your iPhone on a second computer, or sync different data on different machines (E.g. Music at home, Contacts/Calendar at work).
The instructions below use the example of modifying the iTunes library on my home Mac to work with my existing iPhone/PC setup. If your existing library is on a Mac, or both machines are of the same type, then the steps are identical.
Notes
On the PC you can find your iTunes folder in your “My Music” (XP) or “Music” (Vista) directory. On the Mac it is in your Music directory.
For the editing part, I recommend UltraEdit on the PC and a combination of TextExit / HexEdit on the Mac. Any hex editor will do, and you only need to edit files on the second machine.
After completing these steps you will be able to sync your iPhone with both computers, either by normal syncing or choosing one machine to manually manage your music and videos. Unless you also keep your music libraries in sync, I recommend you do not attempt to normal sync the same types of data on both machines.
Backup Your Library
On the machine you want to sync with, backup “iTunes Music Library.xml” and “iTunes Music Library” (Tunes Music Library.itl on PC) to a safe location. These are the files you will be modifying.
1) Find your iTunes Library ID
On the machine your iPhone currently syncs with, open “iTunes Music Library.xml” with a text editor and find the entry between the <string></string> tags, after “Library Persistent ID”. In the example below this is 8B6C633F7DACB74B. Copy this entry exactly to a piece of paper, email, temporary file etc. You can then close this file.
2) Change your Library ID
iTunes stores your library information in two places. An XML file and a binary file. You now need to change the ID in both so they match your other library.
Make sure iTunes is not running.
On the machine you want to sync with open “iTunes Music Library.xml” in a text editor. Again, find the entry between the <string></string> tags after “Library Persistent ID” and copy this entry exactly. This time you can use the clipboard if you wish.
When you have a copy, replace this entry with the one you copied in part 1. Make sure you do not change anything else, and the length of the entry is 16 characters/digits. Save this file and close it.
In the Hex Editor, open “iTunes Music Library” (Tunes Music Library.itl on PC).
Select “Find and Replace” from the Edit menu. Make sure “Hex” matching is selected (not ASCII). In “Find” enter the ID you took a note of in Part 1. In Replace, enter the ID you copied at the start of Part 2. Choose Replace All, there should be one match.
Save this file and close it.
Success!
Start iTunes on the machine you wish to sync with and plug in your iPhone. When you select “Manually manage music and videos” you will no longer be prompted to erase your data, nor will the files on your iPhone be grayed out.
Additional Notes
Previously I’ve found that intentionally corrupting the binary “iTunes Library” file (e.g. replacing it with a text file) would cause iTunes to regenerate it using the XML data. This no longer appears to work for me in iTunes 7.6.1 and the “repaired” file only contains a few songs. This may be because I keep my music on an external drive but I cannot say for sure. Either way, patching the binary file does not take long and removes any chance of later problems.
he bright sparks over at Dramfield (Swedish post-production powerhouse) have figured out how to get the iPhone/iPod OS running on a Mac Pro with a touch screen monitor. Check out the brief vid below!
We know your pain, Vuzix users. You hop on the subway just trying to enjoy a little in-your-face action before the workday begins, and within minutes the accusations and stereotypes start flying. “Look, it’s Geordi La Forge!” “LeVar Burton, what’s good?!” “Can I try my Zune on that?” Depressing, really. Unfortunately for you, Vuzix’s latest cable will not make any of that any more sufferable, though it will enable you to use your existing eyewear with Apple’s iPhone and enjoy the spoils of side-by-side, interlaced and anaglyph 3D content. Said cable will be bundled in with the company’s iWear AV230XL, though existing customers will definitely want to snag the standalone version for $39.95. The full release is after the break.
Vuzix announces ‘Works with iPhone’ Apple Certified Cable with 3-D Support for Complete Line of AV Video Eyewear
Rochester, NY – April 2nd, 2009 – Vuzix Corporation, the leader in video eyewear for the consumer, defense and low vision assist markets, is thrilled to announce Apple iPhone® compatibility. Every “Works with iPhone” product is designed for optimal connectivity with the iPhone® and is certified by Vuzix to meet Apple performance standards. Additionally, the cable is the first on the market that supports 3-D video in the following formats:
• Side by Side
• Interlaced
• All 3 Major Anaglyph Modes
The cable will be available bundled with the Vuzix iWear® AV230XL and available as an upgrade for all current Vuzix Video Eyewear customers for only $39.95. Vuzix’ ability to allow the consumer to upgrade their video eyewear ensures users have the latest technology without having to repurchase a whole new product.
“The iPhone® compatibility combined with the recent announcements of the Wrap 920AV and the Augmented Reality Accessory Kit keep Vuzix at the forefront of the mobile video and 3-D revolutions,” said Vuzix CEO, Paul Travers. “As our products become increasingly more affordable, extensively available and highly compatible with a broad range of content types and mobile devices, the widespread adoption of Vuzix Video Eyewear is inevitable. We are excited to officially extend this compatibility to iPhone® enthusiasts worldwide,” added Travers.
Vuzix continues to set the standard for innovative and high-quality Video Eyewear products. The iWear® VR920 is the world’s best-selling virtual reality system while the iWear AV310 Widescreen boasts the world’s first 16:9 widescreen Video Eyewear. The AV230XL is designed for the everyday consumer and features the convenience of AA-battery power and a sub-$200 price point. The latest edition to the Video Eyewear family, the Wrap 920AV raises the bar once again with a true ‘sunglass look’.
To make a purchase or for more specific company information, please visit www.vuzix.com.
For more information on Apple and the process involved with achieving the “Works with iPhone” certification, please visit developer.apple.com/iphone/.
Even though it’s still a bit more intensive than plugging in and typing, the tweakers at Perceptive Development have managed to get an external keyboard working via a custom connection built for the headphone jack.
It’s a progression of their previous project which added an RS232 serial modem interface to the iPhone’s headphone jack—a dream of those who’ve spent most of their life huffing solder fumes. Serial interfaces can be mated to a world of electronics components cheaply and easily, and the headphone jack in/out hardware is one of the few interfaces that’s open in the official SDK.
Here they’ve built a microcontroller that converts input from an external Targus IR keyboard into a format the iPhone’s headphone jack can understand, which is then fed to a terminal app that doesn’t require jailbreak. Pretty cool.
There’s a whole lot of green in the iPhone 3.0 column of that chart above, and some red and yellow in the Android side. That’s mostly because we’re comparing Android to the feature set Apple unveiled yesterday; it doesn’t mean that new smartphone buyers stuck between iPhone and Android should automatically wait for iPhone 3.0. It all depends on what you need.
The phone features that actually matter to you: While much has been made of cut/copy and paste coming to iPhone 3.0, many smartphone users say they haven’t run into many situations where they needed it. The feature that’s getting less press but may add more usefulness to iPhone 3.0 is search: with Spotlight, and within Mail, Contacts, and Calendar.
Personally, besides its Gmail client, the feature I love most about Android that the iPhone doesn’t come close to is Android’s pull-down “window shade” notification area, that lists multiple alerts. So if you’ve gotten an SMS, new email, a Twitter reply, a missed call, you can drag and drop the window shade down to see them all. (See screenshot.) The iPhone still pops up a box you have to dismiss to do anything else (include hang up a call!), which is simply an inferior way to handle alerts.
Background processes versus push notifications: While it’s wonderful in theory that Android runs background processes, Apple’s point about how it kills your battery life is absolutely true in my experience. It remains to be seen how well iPhone 3.0′s push notifications will work when they actually do come out (hence the yellow coloring in the table), but right now, the battery life point is not just a bunch of marketing hooha (which is why it got the yellow coloring in the table, too). Besides, Apple has promised and not delivered push notifications before, so we’ll believe this one when we see it.
iPhone 3.0′s application potential: The other big “remains to be seen” part of iPhone 3.0 is where developers will take the new functionality available to them in iPhone 3.0. Voice over IP, maps integration, peer-to-peer Bluetooth, media access, accessory-specific apps—these are really exciting options for application developers that will surely bloom into a million great apps and functionality that haven’t been born yet.
When you’re in control of the hardware: When two different pieces of software are competing, it’s pretty easy to for one to respond to another feature by feature, and we expect Android will offer similar features as iPhone 3.0 eventually. But when you’re in control of the hardware like Apple is, you can do things like enable accessory support—which means, for example, that diabetics can plug their glucose meter into the iPhone and download readings. Since Google’s Android is just the operating system that will run on various handsets with different hardware configurations, that sort of software-to-hardware control will not be as easy.
But given what we know now… As a former iPhone user who switched to Android, I can say: iPhone 3.0 hasn’t made me regret my decision. Yet. Right now, Android’s killer Gmail client, proper MMS support (available now), background processes (even though they kill the battery), window shade, and general Google product integration makes me a happy camper. In fact, on the chart above, the top five items are the features most important to me, and Android—right now, not this summer—hits on almost all of them.
That said, given the potential of iPhone 3.0, gamers, audiophiles, and others may disagree. What about you?
As promised, Apple just debuted its upcoming iPhone OS 3.0. Much of the news seemed developer-centric, but there are certainly plenty of consumer implications down the road, along with long-awaited functions like copy and paste, A2DP, MMS and universal Spotlight search. Improvements include:
Peer-to-peer connectivity over Bluetooth for gaming and other info-swapping.
Paid apps will have the potential to be subscription fee-based, and can include optional paid content that can be bought from right inside the app.
Developers can now build apps that call out to Google Maps, and can also finally bring Apple-blessed turn-by-turn to the phone.
Devs can also connect with hardware accessories over in their apps now, such as a blood pressure monitor — or perhaps a keyboard? Connectivity works through the dock connector or over Bluetooth.
Long-promised push functionality will at last be included, but apps won’t run in the background.
Developers can add streaming video and audio to their apps, along with in-game voice use.
General functionality
Cut, copy and paste. At last! You can shake the phone to undo and redo the action, and it works with both text and photos, allowing Mail to send multiple photos at a time. (more here)
MMS, along with forward and delete for multiple messages. (more here)
A2DP stereo Bluetooth.
Unlocked Bluetooth functionality on 2G iPod touch. (more here)
Spotlight has been added to a new home screen page to the left of existing pages, allowing for universal search on the phone. (more here)
Tethering is built into 3.0, and Apple will work with carriers on that — who will have the last say on its implementation, most likely.
App Store will be available in 77 countries.
Parental controls for TV shows, movies and App Store apps.
Auto-login for WiFi hotspots.
Apple apps
A new app called Voice Memos which lets you record notes and reminders.
A revised Stocks app, with news stories and a landscape view.
Landscape view available for Mail, Text and Notes.
CalDAV support has been added to Calendar, along with subscriptions support in the .ics format.
Apple’s major apps have all been expanded with search functionality.
Note syncing to Mac and PC.
YouTube account support.
Form auto-fill.
Phishing protection.
Shake the shuffle iPod playback.
A developer beta of OS 3.0 is available today, and the 3.0 update will be coming to consumers this summer as a free update to all iPhone 3G customers. It’ll also work for 1st gen iPhone owners, though they won’t receive A2DP or MMS due to hardware limitations. iPod touch owners will be able to update for $9.95.
We just got the announcement, iPhone OS 3.0 is coming. Set your clocks, mark your calendars. It’s going down March 17th. Apparently, we’ll get a sneak peak at the new OS, as well as a look at a brand new version of the SDK. Exciting stuff indeed, and we’ll be there live at 10am PST (1pm EST) with the liveblog. Apple’s calling this an “advance preview of what we’re building,” so we’re not expecting anything ready to go as of the 17th, but hopefully this will allow developers to start building toward future functionality (hey, how about some push notifications?), and presumably users won’t have too many months to wait after that for the real deal.
My, my — now isn’t this something? Shortly after narrowly avoiding a dastardly collision with bankruptcy, Sirius XM is looking to connect itself with profitable enterprises in an attempt to build market share and regain interest from budget-conscience consumers. Just weeks after hearing that the sat radio company could be preparing a few Sirius / DirecTV bundles, CFO David Frear has now confirmed on a recent earnings call that the outfit is indeed developing an iPhone / iPod touch app. It’s interesting to think that a satellite radio firm could be warming to delivering more content via the internet, but it’s the apparent diversion from being a standalone offering that has us even more intrigued. It should be interesting to see how the pricing model works with this forthcoming app — will users be able to get an iPhone subscription only? Will it be tossed in gratis with traditional subscriptions? So many questions, not enough patience.
Por si el Dev Team no fuera suficiente pesadilla para Apple, ahora acaba de lanzarse la beta de Crackulous, una aplicación que se descarga desde Cydia y que asegura acabar con la protección de todos los programas, o dicho de otra manera, los libera sin pasar por caja.
Por descontado, necesitarás un iPhone liberado para instalarlo y viendo lo fácil que es usa la Pwnage Tool no nos queda ninguna duda que Crackulous será la sensación del momento.
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