BMW Seriously Committed To iOS Integration

Looks like BMW is getting serious about iOS devices integration with their new car models. Engadget first detailed the system BMW was building to integrate iPads in their cars back in September; like it or not (I personally think it’s a little bit overkill) BMW thinks that’s how you’re supposed to enjoy using the iPad in the back seat.

A few days ago BMW launched an ad campaign to prove that what they have is the best way to use the iPad (and iPhone) on board – there’s no room for homemade stands and ugly wooden solutions. That’s really what the video is all about, check it out below.

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Greenpois0n Source Code Released→

Greenpois0n Source Code Released

The Chronic Dev-Team has kept their promise, and just made the source code for most of the limera1n-based jailbreaking tool available to the public. It has been released under the GNU license, so hopeful programmers are free to modify and distribute it as they please.

“Most of the limera1n-based tool” means the core components of Greenpois0n. The code is available here.

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What It’s Like to Work at Apple→

What It’s Like to Work at Apple

At Apple, it’s never, “How long did you work for the company?” but rather, “How many times did you work at Apple?” The Apple attitude seems to infect everyone who works closely with the technology – and, even after leaving the company, we all say that we still “bleed six colors,” in reference to the original six-color Apple logo.

Interesting post, perfect for some late night Instapaper.

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Buddies For iPad Provides A Better Way To Check On Your Facebook Contacts

At this point, I guess you’ve figured out there’s no official Facebook iPad app nor does Zuckerberg plan to tell his team to start developing one. Or perhaps we just have to wait a little bit more, as Facebook is currently focused on mobile devices and the iPad isn’t exactly a mobile device. No matter how you look at it, there is no Facebook for iPad and we have to rely on 3rd party offers when it comes to status updates and photo galleries on world’s most crowded social network running on the iPad.

Up until now, Friendly for Facebook has been the most successful unofficial app for iPad to land in the App Store, and sales of the app sky-rocketed with the recent release of a major update. A new 3rd party Facebook app was released yesterday, it’s called Buddies and simplifies the way you can check on your Facebook contacts on the iPad. All wrapped up in an interesting native interface with noteworthy features and curious navigation schemes. Let’s take a look at it. Read more

So That’s an iPhone Inside A Keyboard

Ever wanted to be able to have your iPhone sitting next to your keyboard? I mean, not really just next to your keyboard – docked into your keyboard. No? Come on. Think about the possibilities: you could easily jump from keyboard keys to the iPhone’s multitouch gestures, flick through your lolcat photo collection while doing some serious emacs text editing or constantly pinch and zoom on that small screen when you’re feeling bored. Still thinking you don’t want one?

Well in all seriousness, I’m not sure what this Omnio WOWKeys keyboard for iPhone (3GS and 4) is supposed to do either. Engadget reports:

What you’re looking at is a Made for iPhone keyboard called WOWKeys from Omnio. The $100 USB keyboard / iPhone (3GS or 4) dock is Mac or PC compatible (note the cohabitation of the Windows flag and Command key in the prototype images after the break) featuring 15 hotkeys designed for iPhone use.

And they said iOS devices didn’t come with physical keyboards.

Itsy Twitter Client for Mac Adds Custom Themes, Gesture Navigation

We have covered Itsy, a minimal Twitter client for Mac by mowglii, quite a few times in the past. What’s great about Itsy is that it’s simple and focused, taking the clutter way to let you concentrate on what really matters: the tweets.

The old 1.x version was falling under the weight of Twitter incompatibilities and different APIs – it needed a major update.

Last week developer mowglii released the long-awaited 2.0 version of the app, which adds support for custom themes (you can select them in the Preferences), tweet deletion, support for three-finger swipe gesture to navigate (Snow Leopard-only) and lots of bug fixes and overall improvements. Itsy was indeed very popular thanks to its community of designers and users who came up with stunning mods of the original interface. Now theming is officially supported in the app. Great news.

Itsy is free. You should give it a try.

ZTE Peel Launching On Sprint November 14th, Doesn’t Support The New iPod Touch

As BGR reported last week, the ZTE Peel 3G case for iPod Touch will indeed be available on Sprint starting November 14th at $29.99 per month with 1GB of included data usage. As you can see in a photo just posted by BGR:

The ZTE Peel will be available in retail stores at $79.99. In case you don’t know what this accessory does, it’s basically a case that comes with a built-in SIM which allows you to turn an iPod Touch into some sort of iPhone with 24/7 mobile internet connectivity. You’ll be able to make calls using services like Fring or Skype from anywhere.

The bad news? It doesn’t support the latest iPod Touch models, the 4th generation ones. The photo clearly shows “supports 2 & 3 generation”, and we can only assume the problem was with the camera on the latest iPod Touch. Or maybe they thought the installed user base of 4th gen iPod Touches was too small to ensure compatibility.

Did they think about the upcoming holiday season, though?

The Washington Post App for iPad Now Available, Free Access Until February 2011

An official Washington Post app for iPad was approved earlier today, and it’s available for free in the App Store here. What’s so interesting about it? Just like the official New York Times app, full access is granted until February 2011 (NYT app grants fere full access until January 2011) for free. No need to submit payment information, but an existing washingtonpost.com account is already required.

You can also create an account in-app. After February 2011, the service will go paid (with a so-called “paywall”) and you’ll need to have a subscription to enjoy the contents of The Washington Post on the iPad. Read more

Apple Considering Scrollable Menus and Toolbars For Lion and iOS 5?

A new European patent filing discovered by Patently Apple details how Apple might implement different interaction methods for menus and toolbars in the next version of OS X, Lion, and in the future iteration of their mobile operating system, iOS. The patent, filed in Q2 1010 and published last week, shows two specific models: scrollable menus and toolbars.

The main concept behind the patent is that menus and toolbars take too much space on screen, and the large majority of users don’t need to look at these elements all the time. To save space and implement multitouch gesture-based navigation in menus, there could be a way to scroll through toolbar icons and dropdown menus both on the desktop and iPhone / iPad. Read more