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Apple’s Latest Patent: The Hitchhiker Gesture

It’s no secret Apple is looking for ways to better integrate multi-touch gestures into iOS devices and the Mac platform: the latest iOS 4.3 beta allows developers to set up “multitasking gestures” (which won’t ship with the final version of 4.3) and OS X Lion will make extensive use of gestures as well through the Launchpad and full-screen apps. Clearly, and we all know this, Apple is shifting user interaction with a computing device from pointing to touching.

That said, the latest gesturing patent Apple has been awarded left us kind of surprised initially. As reported by Patently Apple, Apple has patented as series of “real world and security” gestures for touch and hover-sensitive devices. While we’d leave the hover-sensitive design to geek dreams for the next decade (imagine interacting with a device without even touching it, like this), the new gestures surfaced in the patent are surely original. Among them, a “hitchhiker” gesture for scrolling, panning, windowing and general directional input. Read more

Verizon iPhone Will Have $30 Unlimited Option: Bon Appétit [Update]

Having been a Verizon customer for roughly a year now, I can say that a benefit of being on the Big Red would have to be their $30 unlimited plan. I’m not certain why a special case would be made for the iPhone where people couldn’t get an unlimited plan, but if those worries were keeping you up at night, the Wall Street Journal reports that the Verizon iPhone will have an unlimited plan available.

The carrier’s heir apparent and chief operating officer, Lowell McAdam, told us the news ahead of the company’s meeting with investors.

“I’m not going to shoot myself in the foot,” he said. Not offering an unlimited plan would put up a barrier for customers who might otherwise switch from AT&T, he said.

I don’t find it interesting that the iPhone will have an unlimited data plan (though skeptical wannabe-AT&T converts can now jump for joy): it’s more interesting that the $30 plan may be the only option available. Verizon does have a $15 plan at 150 MB a month for smartphones, but that will be axed in favor of upcharging customers with to the lure of LTE (the irony in our case being the iPhone 4 is CDMA only). Engadget reports that only feature phones would have the option of a 75 MB data plan for $10.

Update: As Verizon giveth… Verizon taketh away. An update via WSJ admits:

But you’d better act fast. Speaking later Tuesday morning, Mr. McAdam said the iPhone unlimited plan will be a temporary offer and that the carrier will follow AT&T’s move to tiered pricing in the not too distant future.

The axing of the unlimited plan shouldn’t exclusive to the iPhone: all phones available on Verizon’s network would move to tiered pricing.

[via WSJ, Engadget]

Pixelmator and Mac App Store: $1 Million in 20 Days

The first stories of success in the Mac App Store are starting to come in. First came Evernote, with its impressive Mac adoption rate thanks to the new Store; then Compartments, from a developer who went from 7 sales a day to 1500. Now the Pixelmator developers have posted a new entry on the company’s blog announcing that their graphic editing app has grossed $1 million in less than 20 days into the Mac App Store.

Taking Apple’s 30% away out of the equation, that leaves $700,000 to the Pixelmator team. Or maybe it’s $1 million after Apple’s cut? We don’t know. Either way, it’s an impressive result that we’re sure wasn’t possible back in the days when there was no Mac App Store.

This is a well-deserved milestone for the Pixelmator devs and we’re looking forward to what’s next for the app. The Pixelmator team, for instance, implemented a clever Mac App Store transition policy that forces existing customers to buy the app again, but will give them Pixelmator 2.0 for free once it’s released later this year.

Pixelmator is available at $29.99.

Cathode Is A Vintage Terminal For OS X

Here’s an interesting new Mac app for you Terminal junkies looking for new shiny this morning. Cathode came out of beta a few weeks ago, and it’s an alternative Terminal app for OS X with lots of “vintage” themes to apply to the regular session window. As the name suggests, Cathode emulates those old TV screens you might have seen (and owned, too) in the 1970s and 1980s – indeed cathodic monitors.

In spite of its vintage look, the app is entirely written in modern OpenGL and Cocoa, with graphic processing done by the Mac’s GPU. The app, in fact, uses a lot of animations to replicate the behavior of old televisions with flickering fonts, interlacing, curvatures and flashes. It really resembles the old monitor your grandparents might still be using today. You can choose between different themes and adjust fonts and colors, enter fullscreen mode and set the curvature of the screen to your liking.

The licensing method is clever as well: you can use the app for free, but the picture quality will slowly degrade until Cathode is relaunched. If you purchase a license ($20), you can customize the interface and avoid picture degradation.

Go download Cathode here. More screenshots below. Read more

Woman Tries To Get Past Airport Security with 44 iPhones Around Her Body

Looks like we have another “this is just wrong” story here. If yesterday’s suicide attempt from a woman who lost her iPhone wasn’t enough, here’s what we have today on the menu: a woman who wanted to become an iPhone smuggler and tried to a) get past airport security with 44 iPhones around her body in b) typical Georgian outfit. Picture the scene. 44 iPhone 4’s below the outfit to get them into Israeli without paying taxes. Must have sounded like a good plan to the woman.

The Ben-Gurion International Airport security staff of course got suspicious over this woman who was walking slowly, asked if there were any problems and the woman replied “she was not feeling well”. Perhaps 44 iPhones are a bit too much for anyone? Anyway, security called a full body scan and surprise, they found a Cupertino treasure in there.

You know what’s missing from this curious story? A white iPhone. Just because. [Engadget via Haaretz]

James Murdoch Confirms The Daily Subscriptions, Launching In The “Next Few Weeks”

Rumors about News Corp.’s The Daily, an upcoming digital newspaper for the iPad, have been floating around for months now. The publication, result of months of hard work from a team of 100+ journalists in New York, is expected to introduce a new automatic subscription system through iTunes and to be heavily based on images and videos. Until now, though, these have been more or less rumors.

At the DLD Conference in Munich, Germany, James Murdoch, son of Ruper Murdoch and Chairman & CEO of News Corp, gave some additional details about The Daily. Weekly subscriptions at $0.99 have been confirmed by Murdoch himself, and the app should finally launch in the “next few weeks”. Read more

iPhone, iPad Rumored to Get NFC Technology, Large Opportunity Awaits

A report by Bloomberg today suggests that Apple’s next iPhone and iPad are likely to feature NFC (Near-Field Communication) technology that would allow various forms of data transfer between the iPhone and another NFC capable device. Richard Doherty of consulting firm Envisioneering Group explains that the technology would be primarily used for making purchases at physical stores, expanding Apple’s reach in commerce beyond just iTunes.

Near-Field Communication is a technology that can send and receive data between two such devices with NFC that are up to 4 inches apart. The technology has gained popularity in recent times, most notably being included in Google’s Nexus S.

By including NFC into the iPhone and iPad, Apple could use it’s existing iTunes accounts and give consumers an alternative to more traditional financial services by Visa, MasterCard and PayPal. Richard Crone, an industry advisor suggests that “It would make a lot of sense for Apple to include NFC functionality in its products.”

Read more