Screens 1.5 Now Available: Still The Best VNC Client for iOS

When I first reviewed Screens, a universal VNC client for iOS by Edovia, I was impressed by the speed and elegance of the app, which made it super-simple to connect to Windows PCs or Macs on a local network, as well as remote computers powered by a global dynamic hostname. Together with that, Edovia’s Screens proved that a VNC client for iPhone or iPad didn’t need to completely mimic the functionality of a desktop computer: rather than putting a mouse cursor on screen, the app allowed you to turn a computer’s screen into a multi-touch based experience as if it was built for iOS in the first place. With Screens, you don’t move a cursor like in most VNC clients: you touch the computer’s windows and apps. With gorgeous animations, responsive loading times and a free service called Screens Connect to automatically and easily log into a remote machine without having to fiddle with IP addresses and router ports, Screens managed to become the most popular VNC app for iOS, and one of my favorites overall.

Months after the original release, Screens receives today a major update to version 1.5, which I had the pleasure to beta test and play with for the last couple of weeks. Screens 1.5 introduces a lot of optimizations to the underlying VNC engine to make connections faster, more stable and, based on my tests, more responsive with both PCs and Macs. Minor bug fixes and improvements aside, Screens 1.5 fixes an issue that caused a crash when disconnecting from a computer, and enhances responsiveness with several Windows VNC servers. As far as connecting to a remote computer goes, Screens now displays the Screens Connect status in the Settings, so you can instantly know whether your computer is remotely accessible or not. However, connecting to a machine on your local network is as easy as before – Screens automatically recognizes computers with screen sharing enabled, and all you’ll have to do is enter a password and choose a nickname.

Screens 1.5 also brings a new icon, a revamped UI and a new Grid View on the iPad that will come in handy for those who manage a lot of different computers; if you’re concerned about privacy, Screens now enables you to choose whether or not you want the app to grab a screenshot of your desktop upon disconnecting. If you don’t want to have “real” previews in Screens’ dashboard, a default image will be used. In the Settings, you can also set a computer to open in fullscreen mode, and you can toggle modes (full, partial, off) with a three-finger tap. It works really well.

Screens 1.5 is an important update to a great VNC client for iOS that keeps getting better with lots of options, and a fast engine. The developers didn’t sacrifice usability for options, though, as the app is still very easy to use and provides a simple way to add, modify and delete computers. The update is propagating now in iTunes, and you get the app here at $19.99. Highly recommended. Read more

White iPhone 4 Available Online, Ships In 3-5 Business Days

As announced yesterday, the white iPhone 4 went on sale in international Apple retail stores last night in Eastern Hemisphere countries, and it’s now available for purchase in the Apple online store as well. The white iPhone 4 came out after a 10-month delay explained by Apple’s Phil Schiller in an interview to Mobilized yesterday, and it’s available on both Verizon and AT&T in the United States. The device has the same price point of the black iPhone 4, although it features a different proximity sensor due to the use of white paint on the front panel (one of the reasons that caused the delay in the design and manufacturing process).

The Apple online store went down for a couple of hours last night, and it came back updated with the white iPhone available alongside the black model. The device is shipping in 3-5 business days in all international Apple online stores, so if you really want one now, perhaps you’d like to consider driving to the nearest Apple Store to get it.

As Apple writes on its homepage, the white iPhone 4 is finally available.

Apple Reducing CDMA iPhone Orders Following Low Sales?

In an article focused on Pegatron’s first quarter financial results for 2011 (in which the company posted net losses of $19.38 million), Digitimes reports an interesting tidbit about CDMA iPhone orders and the fact that, perhaps following sales under expectations, Apple lowered the estimated shipments for 2011 from 10 million to 5 million units.

Market watchers were originally optimistic about Pegatron’s performance in 2011 as the company landed orders for CDMA iPhone 4 from Apple, but as the company reported losses for the first quarter of 2011, the market watchers are turning conservative about CDMA iPhone 4 shipments in the future as volumes may not be as strong as expected.

Meanwhile, Pegatron originally expected to ship 10 million CDMA iPhone 4s in 2011, but sources from upstream component makers pointed out that Apple’s orders already saw a significant reduction and the volume is estimated to drop to only five million units.

There might be a few reasons behind slow CDMA iPhone sales: first off, the device was introduced on Verizon (a CDMA network in the United States) in February, by the end of the iPhone 4 lifecycle, and was never released on other CDMA networks worldwide, although Apple repeatedly confirmed its interest to expand the iPhone’s brand to other international markets. More importantly, slow Verizon iPhone sales had already been reported a few days after launch, although the company later announced 2.2 million activations in 2 months, and a report claimed the Verizon iPhone was the most acquired smartphone in the United States in February. Then why lowering orders from 10 million to 5 million? It is possible Digitimes’ report is incorrect, and the CDMA shipments mentioned in the article referred to CDMA iPhones on other carriers, which might have been delayed to late 2011 – when the iPhone 5, supposedly a universal GSM-CDMA handset, is set to come out. Digitimes’ article doesn’t mention Verizon Wireless, so there’s the possibility Pegatron was asked to lower shipments for iPhone 4s destined to international carriers. You can read the full report on Pegatron’s first quarter here.

Three Foxconn Employees Arrested for Leaking iPad 2 Design

In the months leading to the iPad 2 announcement, several “leaked” case designs coming from China and Taiwan seemed to provide good indication of what the device would look like. These cases were all based on the same design principles such as tapered edges, thinner body and flat back, clearly suggesting manufacturers had access to the same design documents that were quickly spreading across the tech industry. Digitimes reports today Chinese-language publication sznews.com claims three Foxconn employees were arrested and charged for violating Foxconn’s trade secrets and leaking the iPad 2 design weeks before Apple’s announcement.

Several online shopping retailers in China were able to sell iPad 2’s protective case products before the iPad 2 was even launched, leading Foxconn to suspect that there might have been some employees leaking the design of iPad 2 which it reported to the local police.

The local police on December 26, 2010, arrested three employees that were suspected of leaking the design, and officially charged the three employees for violating the company’s trade secrets on March 23, 2011, the reported added.

Foxconn assembles several Apple products such as iPhones, iPod touches and iPads. It’s not the first time products leaks from China have offered a glimpse of future Apple devices months ahead of the official launch, but you might remember the situation last year with case designs for the iPad 2 coming out every few days was pretty bad for Apple. Foxconn also announced its plans to invest in a $12 billion facility in Brazil, and start iPad production there in November.

Apple May Have Snagged iCloud For a Cool $4.5 Million

If you ever thought Apple might rebrand MobileMe to something more Apple-esque, the purchase of iCloud.com for $4.5 million could be a sign of things to come. While not confirmed, GigaOM reports that Xcerion (having recently rebranded iCloud to CloudMe) may have sold the iCloud.com domain. As of one o’clock tonight, Xcerion still shows up as the domain’s owner, though this could change in the coming hours. MacRumors reports that the domain will likely come under the control of MarkMonitor, a brand management firm that handles high-profile domain name registrations.

With Apple’s new cloud services preparing for launch, the purchase of iCloud.com could indicate that new services from Apple may be arriving sooner than later, as Apple is talks with record labels and have recently gotten Warner Music Group on board. A music subscription or storage service from Apple could cost $20 a year, and the iCloud also play a big role in a traffic and navigation app. Could MobileMe remain and entail its current email and contact sharing prowess, or would iCloud encompass the original service and expand to include new offerings? Don’t forget: Apple has recently stopped selling MobileMe on retail shelves, and have even turned down customers to opt for the free trial.

[GigaOM via MacRumors]

AViiQ Portable Quick Stand Now Available

The AViiQ Portable Quick Stand launched a week ago, but being a fan of the company and the great products they make, we didn’t want to miss out on celebrating the launch of AViiQ’s next generation of portable stands. Following AViiQ’s Premium Portable Laptop Stand (and we thought the original was a grade A laptop stand), the Portable Quick Stand is the younger brother that folds out into a triangle to lift your laptop to comfortable heights. Just like the Portable Laptop Stand, the Portable Quick Stand snaps open and uses the weight of the laptop to secure its position, utilizing a colored grip (so it totally fits your style) to stay seated and prevent any shifting. I just got mine a couple days ago, and I can tell you I’m pretty impressed with the quality of AViiQ’s newest family member so far. I’ll be doing a full review next week, so keep yours eye glued to MacStories for the final verdict. In the meantime, you can check out AViiQ’s Portable Quick Stand in action past the break, along with the press release.

Read more

Developer Gets First iOS 5 Crash Report, Hints At New Map APIs

FutureTap, developer of popular augmented reality app for iPhone Where To? we covered here, received earlier today a crash report coming from a device running iOS 5. The crash report, also posted online, doesn’t come as a total surprise in the way it confirms Apple is field-testing the new OS internally with App Store applications; however, a selector named MKUserLocationBreadCrumb indicated as the cause of the crash seems to suggest Apple made some changes in the location and map APIs, as widely speculated.

Just received the first iOS 5.0 crash report. MKUserLocationBreadCrumb sounds interesting.

Already fixed the iOS 5 crash. Now the big question: Mention in the update notes?

No further technical details have been provided by the developers, but it appears that changes made in the map APIs for iOS 5 (still referred to as “iPhone OS 5.0” in the report) may cause obvious incompatibilities with current iOS 4-based apps. Apple is expected to officially introduce iOS 5 at the WWDC ‘11 in June; rumors in the past weeks claimed Apple would offer an on-stage demo, as well as first developer betas soon after the main event. Virtual assistant software Siri, bought by Apple last year, is rumored to play a big role in iOS 5, alongside new cloud, social and location-based features. [via 9to5mac]

Fring with Group Video Calling for iPhone Now Available

As announced earlier this month, web communication service fring has released an update to their official iPhone client that brings group video calling both on WiFi and 3G. As detailed a few weeks ago, the new group video calling feature allows iPhone users to communicate in real-time with up to three other friends – doesn’t matter if they’re using an iPhone or Android device. As long as you keep adding friends to a group video call from your fring’s buddy list, the session will go through even if multiple iPhones and Android handsets are using the app. This is some serious cross-platform technology fring has implemented here, and the fact that it works on 3G as well provides an interesting alternative to Apple’s FaceTime – which is free and integrated into the iOS phone app, but only works on WiFi. Fring also promised higher video calling quality than competitors (read: Skype) thanks to their Dynamic Video Quality technology, which also runs in fullscreen mode.

If you want to test the new fring app for iPhone with group video calling, you can download the latest update from the App Store. Read more

Apple: White iPhone Was Challenging, Needed More UV Protection

Following this morning’s official white iPhone 4 announcement after a 10-month delay since the original unveiling at the WWDC 2010, Steve Jobs and Phil Schiller told in an interview to Mobilized’s Ina Fried that the white iPhone was really “challenging” to make because of “unexpected interactions” of the white color with several internal components. Although Jobs and Schiller didn’t go into the production details in the interview, it was rumored in the past that Apple was forced to delay the release of the white iPhone multiple times because of light leaking issues, washed out photographs, and other front-panel related technical problems. The white iPhone, coming out tomorrow, indeed sports a different proximity sensor than the one found on the black iPhone 4.

It was challenging,” Apple senior vice president Phil Schiller said during a joint interview with CEO Steve Jobs on Wednesday. “It’s not as simple as making something white. There’s a lot more that goes into both the material science of it–how it holds up over time… but also in how it all works with the sensors.

Schiller also noted they discovered the white iPhone needed stronger UV protection from the sun than the standard iPhone 4. Perhaps this kind of UV protection is the reason Apple was rumored to be considering a Japanese paint that managed to fix the production issues of the white iPhone.

We thought we were there a year ago, or less than that, when we launched the iPhone 4 and we weren’t,” Schiller said. By waiting, he said that the company was able to deliver a product that will live up to expectations.

Jobs noted that the work that Apple had to do to get the white iPhone ready has benefited the company more broadly.

The white iPhone 4 goes on sale tomorrow in 28 countries at the same price of the black iPhone 4. In the United States, it will be available on both AT&T and Verizon Wireless. Lines are already starting to form around the globe, send us photos and videos if you plan to drive to the Apple Store to get a new, final, white iPhone 4.