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“Let’s Talk iPhone” Event Rumor Roundup

Tomorrow morning, Apple will hold a press conference in Cupertino, where CEO Tim Cook is widely expected to introduce the next-generation iPhone, a new iOS 5 feature called “Assistant”, and a refreshed line-up for Apple’s iPod family. However, speculation has been running wild in the past months as to whether Apple will announce not one, but two different iPhone models, or perhaps even an iPhone 4 revision to target the low-end market. With rumors of upcoming Facebook integration, voice-recognition features and cheaper iPhone 4 models, Apple’s “Let’s talk iPhone” may turn out to be bigger than expected. Or, as the name of the event suggests, perhaps the company will only focus on the iPhone, leaving other announcements for press releases and minor store updates in the next weeks.

In this post, we’ve rounded up the most recent October 4th rumors and predictions, some old rumors that haven’t been reported in a while, as well as last-minute speculation on what Apple will introduce tomorrow.

Come back tomorrow at 10 AM Pacific on MacStories for our coverage of Apple announcements.

iPhone 4S: This is the device that Apple is rumored to unveil as the “next-generation iPhone” tomorrow. Initially described as an “iPhone 5 inside an iPhone 4 case” for developers’ testing back in April, the iPhone 4S with codename N94 should pack an A5 processor, 1 GB of RAM, SGX 543MP2 GPU (same as iPad 2), GSM-CDMA dual mode, HSPA+, same 3.5-inch screen and design of the existing iPhone 4. The device will come with a new software featured called Assistant for voice-recognition, and possibly a new panoramic photo functionality, likely related to the (rumored) new 8 MP camera. The iPhone 4S name has been spotted on packaging for third-party cases, carrier websites and even Apple’s iTunes 10.5 beta. In the past months, several leaked parts and components have suggested the 4S will share the same design of the iPhone 4, only with largely improved specs.

iPhone 5: The confusion caused by the “iPhone 5” name is due to the fact that it’s been widely used to generally indicate the new iPhone (iPhone 5 comes after iPhone 4) as well as a “completely redesigned” device, as opposed to the iPhone 4S. In fact, several analysts and industry sources believe Apple will announce two new iPhones tomorrow, a 4S for the low-end, and a “real” iPhone 5 as top-line device. The iPhone 5 was rumored to feature a new design months ago, although over time some of its alleged specs have overlapped with the iPhone 4S (improved camera, A5 CPU, 8 MP camera). The distinctive rumor about the iPhone 5 is a new “teardrop” design with tapered edges and thinner form factor, possibly a bigger screen with edge-to-edge LCD and a new “elongated” Home button.

No parts or internal components of the iPhone 5 have been leaked, suggesting such device hasn’t entered production yet and won’t be announced tomorrow.

More iPhone 4S/5 rumors in our roundup.

Read more

Sandboxing and App Culture

Andy Ihnatko and Jason Snell have published two articles on Macworld over the weekend, covering the upcoming sandboxing restrictions that Apple will begin enforcing this November for Mac App Store apps (with its possible implications for Apple’s own technologies like AppleScript) and the broader subject of app culture, which in a way is related to sandboxing and might lead to an overly simplified software environment that some people imagined a year ago.

Ihnatko:

But I fret about AppleScript. I’ve come to think of it as a brilliant and infinitely-resourceful friend who’s been working for twenty years at a company that doesn’t seem to appreciate all of his or her contributions. I’m not worried about Apple killing AppleScript outright; I’m worried that the company doesn’t collectively feel like system automation is a feature that’s worth rescuing if the building ever caught on fire. Some day, Apple’s OS engineers will come up with an idea for a new system architecture that delivers a long list of benefits but which will require tons of work to prevent it from breaking AppleScript. And at that point, scripting on the Mac will finally die.

Snell:

Apple getting serious about app security is a good thing. Unfortunately, many of the apps we Mac users have come to know and love over the years require a broad amount of access to the system for a lot of their key functions. Not as much as SuperDuper, say, but still quite a lot. What I’m hearing from some Mac developers is that they may actually have to remove features from their apps, or reduce their functionality, in order to fit them inside Apple’s new sandbox.

Whilst after the Back to the Mac event in October 2010 we feared the Mac App Store’s lack of trials and license migration options for existing customers would kill the ecosystem and, ultimately, cause the Mac App Store to never take off, that hasn’t been the case. Apple is betting heavily on the Mac App Store as the future of digital distribution for desktop software, and it’s doing so by releasing Lion on the App Store, alongside several other apps (at a discounted price). Since January 6, when the Mac App Store opened for business, third-party developers have rushed to release their apps on it (most of the times with discounted prices) and Apple awarded those who did in time at last June’s WWDC. Some developers needed, obviously, to rethink how their apps would work with Apple’s Mac App Store rules.

The issue mentioned by Ihnatko and Snell isn’t a logistic problem with the infrastructure itself, it’s a real technical question that has arisen lately. How much will sandboxing entitlements affect the functionalities of existing apps? An example is the aforementioned 1Password, whose Mac App Store version won’t allow you to keep its database sync file in Dropbox if that folder is not under your User’s directory. The change wasn’t well received, but that’s just the way it works now. Starting November, it’s safe to assume other apps will need to be updated with this kind of tweaks – a restriction here, some documents can’t be accessed there, and so forth.

You can see how sandboxing, security and app culture are related in Apple’s App Store vision. The concept of “app” has evolved over time to indicate a piece of software that does one thing well, and Apple is doubling down on this new idea by enhancing security (which is a good thing) and making sure an app is limited “to just those operations that it needs to perform”. App and security have come full circle.

In the past nine months, the Mac App Store did just fine for the majority of developers without trials and demo versions. Then Apple introduced in-app purchases and delta updates. Every major change creates victims – those who couldn’t settle down in a new environment – and winners, literally. What will be interesting to observe in the upcoming months isn’t sandboxing itself of Apple’s evilness, but the trade-off third-party developers will seemingly have to come to terms with if they want to keep their apps on the Store., with the same degree of power and innovation we’ve become accustomed to in the past decades.

Scripting BBEdit - Part I

I was recently listening to an episode of the popular podcast Build and Analyze where Marco Arment was discussing his experience of leaving the comfort of TextMate to test drive BBEdit for a week. The results of his experiment were similar to many others who have attempted the same feat and after that week, according to Marco, he had returned to TextMate. I once did the same experiment. A dedicated TextMate user who switched to BBEdit for no other reason than the lack of updates and BBEdit happened to be in the Mac App Store at a greatly reduced price. I jumped on the opportunity to try the legendary text editor with its newly added fullscreen, auto-save, and resume features.

The humorous part of listening to Marco describe his time with BBEdit was knowing that we shared identical opinions on all of the quirks that differentiate TextMate and BBEdit. I don’t think one is any better than the other, I just think they solve the same problem with two different methods. What features BBEdit lacks, it generally makes up for in scripting ability. It has one of the most detailed and feature-rich AppleScript dictionary I have ever seen. So as I came across quirks that I could change with AppleScript, I wrote a script for them and that is what I would like to share in this mini-series of posts. Please note these articles are intended for people that are familiar enough with BBEdit to be able to add a new script and assign a keyboard shortcut in the preferences.

Wrapping Text

The first thing that drove me absolutely crazy with BBEdit is when hitting the quotes or parentheses key while text is selected, BBEdit doesn’t wrap the text in that punctuation but instead writes over the selection.

To alleviate this issue I wrote six AppleScripts (one for each commonly wrapped punctuation) and I assigned each one a keyboard shortcut. In this situation I think the keyboard shortcut is just as important as the script itself. It has to be easy to remember and close to the position your hand is already in when typing the punctuation key. So in five of the six shortcuts I simply added the command key and it felt as natural as typing the punctuation normally. For the single quotes script I settled with the Option + Command combo because it is on the same key as the double quotes.

  • Wrap in Asterisks: ⇧ + ⌘ + *
  • Wrap in Backticks: ⇧ + ⌘ + `
  • Wrap in Brackets: ⇧ + ⌘ + ]
  • Wrap in Parentheses: ⇧ + ⌘ + )
  • Wrap in Quotes: ⇧ + ⌘ + “
  • Wrap in Single Quotes: ⌥ + ⌘ + ’

All six scripts are variations of the same code shown below:

Download these scripts here: Wrap Text scripts

Save these scripts to the directory: ~/Library/Application Support/BBEdit/Scripts

Commenting Entire Line

The second feature of BBEdit that bugged me was the way commenting was implemented. Most of the time when I hit the “Comment” keyboard shortcut I actually wanted to comment out the entire line; instead, BBEdit starts the comment wherever the cursor is located. I wrote a script that reads the documents source language and comments out the entire current line using the correct syntax for that language.

For the keyboard shortcut I actually changed BBEdit’s default Un/Comment Selection to ⌥ + ⌘ + / so that I could configure my script with the default combination I was already used to: ⌘ + /

The script is configured to work with but is not limited to these languages:

  • Unix Shell Script
  • Python
  • Perl
  • Ruby
  • Java
  • Javascript
  • PHP
  • Objective-C
  • ANSI C
  • C++
  • HTML

If you don’t see the language you want it is very easy to add your own – just open the script and take a look at the code.

Download the script here: Comment Entire Line

Save these scripts to the directory: ~/Library/Application Support/BBEdit/Scripts

*Stay tuned for more posts on ways to really get the most out of BBEdit!

iPhone Parts For An N90A Model Found In Foxconn’s Brazil Factory?

The above photo, taken by Gizmodo Brazil, is supposedly a new iPhone SKU taken from a Foxconn factory in Brazil. Shown on a quality control form, these iPhone parts are for a model N90A iPhone - a new model that does not currently exists.

Our Brazilian brothers, Gizmodo.com.br, got their hot little hands on a few photos of one a new iPhone, to be announced next week. How? Well, there’s a Foxconn factory in Brazil, and Pedro & co got one of their men inside. Inside, they found a new-SKU iPhone that looks just like the old iPhone 4.

A report from earlier this week noted that an iPhone with the codename N90A had appeared in Apple’s internal inventory system. Because the current codename for the iPhone 4 is N90 it is believed that this new SKU would represent an iPhone 4 with minor changes — likely becoming the cheaper iPhone available with 8 GB of storage at a lower cost.

[Translation of key sections of the above image, from Mike in the comments below]

JULGAMENTO DO LOTE means something like BATCH EVALUATION RESULT, certainly from quality control. APPROVADO and REPROVADO means APPROVED and REPROVED and the current batch was reproved with the indication “lentes manchadas” (stained lenses), written in blue over the REPROVADO box.

[Via Gizmodo]

“iPhone 4S” Name Found In Latest iTunes Beta

Apple has apparently included the “iPhone 4S” name in a file inside the latest iTunes beta seeded on Friday, 9to5mac reports. As shown in the screenshot above, two strings report “iPhone 4S” in the description, with a link to the same image used by iTunes for the older CDMA iPhone 4. Whilst the iPhone 4 had separate references for colors (black/white) and carrier variations (GSM/CDMA), the “4S” name in iTunes 10.5 beta 9 is only differentiated by color.

Speculation surrounding the next-generation iPhone initially described the “iPhone 4S” as the lower end model with improved specs over the iPhone 4, although recent rumors have suggested the “iPhone 5” may end up being the 4S itself, thus contradicting reports of two different models, one being “completely redesigned”.

The iPhone 4S name recently appeared on packaging for third-party cases and it also supposedly hit Apple’s internal inventory system with the codename N94. The CDMA image associated to the 4S in the iTunes beta may be a placeholder, but the 4S was previously rumored to have dual CDMA-GSM capabilities.

Apple will hold a keynote in Cupertino on Tuesday, October 4th, where it’s widely expected to unveil the next-generation iPhone.

The Strenuous Relationship Between Apple And Facebook

It’s been known that Apple and Facebook have had a strenuous relationship over the past year and a half or so - with the debacle of iTunes Ping being the key event known to the public over which the companies clashed. Mashable has a nice scoop today that delves deeper into the rift between the two companies and how things seemed to have taken a positive turn in recent months.

According to Mashable’s sources, Apple approached Facebook over fully integrating Facebook into iOS 4 as well as making their own Facebook app — apparently “lacking confidence in Facebook’s ability to build a great application”. Disagreements arose and negotiations broke down, Apple canned most of the Facebook integration, except Ping which they didn’t fully inform Facebook of — this then led to Facebook banning Apple from the APIs soon after it launched.

Three months ago Steve Jobs supposedly visited Facebook to talk with Mark Zuckerberg about a Facebook iPad app. Jobs learnt that Facebook was working with HP to release a native webOS app and according to Mashable’s sources, Jobs was furious about it. Zuckerberg tried to appease Jobs by pulling the app, but Jon Rubenstien of HP’s webOS division refused. Nonetheless the app wasn’t perfect when released and was restricted because Facebook pulled certain APIs, just as it had done with Ping in the previous year.

Was Facebook playing both sides? Absolutely, says a source close to HP. Facebook was made aware of the application and device integrations. The company knew what was coming, changed its tune right before release — and only did so to appease Apple. For its part, HP was furious. It had hoped the Facebook application would help differentiate the TouchPad from other tablets on the market.

Since then it appears Facebook and Apple have mended their relationship. As reported earlier this week from MG Siegler of TechCrunch, Apple and Facebook have been working together on a Facebook iPad app and on an HTML5 web app platform (Project Spartan) and could well be sharing the stage at Tuesday’s iPhone event to launch the products. Just as Siegler mentioned, Mashable notes that this collaboration seems to stem from the fact that they both share a common enemy: Google.

Be sure to jump over to Mashable and read their full article, they mention other interesting snippets of information and do a great job of putting together the juicy jigsaw puzzle that is the Facebook and Apple relationship.

[Via Mashable]

 

Diminish Debt with DebtMinder

DebtMinder is the latest creation from the talented developers over at Return7 and aims to help users eliminate their debt. You might already be familiar with their successful BillMinder app that helps users keep track of when bills are due to ensure that late fees are a thing of the past. BillMinder is known for being polished, reliable, and incredibly easy to keep multiple devices in sync. Thankfully the developers were able to bring those features and more to DebtMinder all wrapped up in a familiar interface.

DebtMinder allows you to input multiple accounts of debt into the app and it will help calculate the best payment plan to reduce your debt as quickly as possible. You can also customize this plan by telling DebtMinder that you either want to focus on debt that has the highest interest rate or debt with the lowest balance. This is known as the debt-snowball method. You basically pay off the smallest debt first while paying the minimum payment on the larger debt. It is the quickest way to decrease your total number of bills. Once a payment plan is created your monthly minimum payment is calculated and you can begin paying off you bills.

If you are a user of BillMinder then you will be able to pick up DebtMinder and feel as if you already know how to use the app. I was able to log in with my BillMinder credentials (new users will have to set up an account). As I added accounts to DebtMinder I had the option to link them with accounts that I had already set up in BillMinder. It was hard to appreciate this at first because it was so easy to set up, only two clicks. Once the account was linked and I added a payment to DebtMinder, I was able to launch BillMinder and see that the bill had already been paid. And not just on my phone, but on my iPad and on my wife’s phone as well because all devices are kept in sync under one account.

DebtMinder is my favorite kind of app for iOS because it is inexpensive, useful, and easy on the eyes. It will more than pay for itself when your credit card gets paid off ahead of schedule and unnecessary interest fees are avoided.

BillMinder is available in the iTunes App Store today for only $1.99

Apple To Announce International iTunes Match on Tuesday?

According to a report by Greg Sandoval at CNET, Apple may announce international support for its iCloud music service at the media event scheduled for next week. Apple is said to be in negotiations with record companies and music publishers to gain worldwide music rights for iCloud, although CNET reports nothing has been signed yet, but if negotiations wrap up in time there could be an announcement on Tuesday.

Whilst CNET mentions “access to iCloud”, iCloud music rights most likely refer to the specific iTunes Match service; however, another music-related feature of iCloud – iTunes in the Cloud – is also being tested in the US-only at the moment, as it can be seen on Apple’s international iCloud pages. It’s not clear whether CNET is referring to iTunes Match, iTunes in the Cloud, or both – thus bringing full iCloud access for music worldwide.

Managers at iTunes are trying to lock down worldwide cloud-music rights, CNET has learned.

[…]

Some of the countries that could receive access to iCloud include Germany, France and the United Kingdom, the sources said.

iTunes Match, originally previewed at the WWDC in June, is set to publicly launch this Fall in the United States. Apple hasn’t detailed a public plan for an international rollout of the service, which is currently in beta and requires a US iTunes account with credit card on file. The service costs $24.99 per year for 25,000 songs, but iTunes purchases won’t count against this limit. iTunes Match was previously rumored to be coming to the UK in 2012, however CNET has a solid track record in reporting Apple’s negotiations with the music labels and publishers, correctly predicting ahead of WWDC that Apple would announce a new cloud-based music service.

Gradient for Mac Public Beta: Creating Simple CSS Gradients

Gradient, made by JUMPZERO, is a simple yet powerful Mac OS X app that lets you easily create CSS gradients by getting rid of the clumsiness of vendor prefixes. The user interface is beautiful and works wonderfully. Gradient is in open beta for any designer that wants to help test the app out or see what Gradient will be able to do.  In Gradient, you can pick/select/input the colors and then define which type of gradient you’re looking for; click the Copy button near the bottom of the application window and paste the generated code into your favorite editor.

Gradient is customizeable as to which browser needs support by opening the preference pane and activating the radio buttons for the browsers you are going to support. No need for Internet Explorer? Simply uncheck the button. Gradient not only supports linear gradients but radial as well, just move the slider over to the type you need. The gradients’ directions can be altered by the directional arrows for linear and by using the radial-center-matrix-button for radial gradients. Before you decide to copy the CSS, you can preview the code in-app by clicking the CSS button. A hovering code box pops up and displays your code all within Gradient.

Gradient lives in your dock, menubar, or whatever mix you want. You can click the menu bar icon to activate the app and get to work. You can also click either of the two large top colors to bring up the OS X built-in color selector or click the magnifying glass icon to bring up the zoom tool to use on every pixel of your Mac’s screen.

Gradient feels very polished for only being in beta 2, and it looks like this will be a great tool for web designers looking for a simple yet intuitive way to create CSS gradients. Gradient’s development roadmap consists of adding HSL input & output, SASS syntax and multiple step gradients. No details on the app’s release date have been provided, but it should be soon according to the website.