We covered iChatr two weeks ago. It was a simple application for the iPhone 4 that, just like Chatroulette on desktop computers, allowed you to video chat with random strangers - all the time. You have no contacts, no friends, you just see the face of another user and click next.
Well, when you see the face you must be lucky. Problem is, being Chatroulette completely anonymous, people started to inappropriately expose themselves. The same happened to iChatr.
Brian X.Chen, reporting for Wired:
“Led by Ruben Caballero, a senior engineer and antenna expert at Apple, the tour gave about 10 reporters and bloggers a peek at Apple’s custom-built wireless testing lab, which consists of several anechoic chambers to measure frequency of each device in various settings.
Apple called the lab a “black” lab because it was a secret facility that even some employees were unaware of. The company made the lab public to show the world that Apple takes antenna design and wireless testing seriously.
“This is the most advanced lab for doing RF studies that anyone in the world has,” said Phil Schiller, vice president of marketing at Apple. “The designs we do wouldn’t be possible without it.”
Each test chamber is lined with blue pyramid-shaped styrofoam designed to absorb radio-frequency radiation. A robotic arm holding gadgets such as iPads and iPhones spins 360 degrees while a piece of analytics software (ironically running on Windows XP) visualizes the wireless activity of each device.
“To do the most challenging design in the world, this is what we have to do,” said Bob Mansfield, Apple’s senior vice president of Macintosh hardware. “This is hardcore stuff.”
Ever since Hulu announced its plans for Hulu +, a premium subscription service that gives you access to full HD content and mobile apps, we all applied for an invite. I know you did, and I did too. I still haven’t got mine.
But, my good friend Matthew Rex was able to get in and he posted some screenshots and impressions about the overall service and video quality. He’s got some interesting findings to share, too.
Following the official apple.com/antenna webpage, Apple has also introduced a section dedicated to its Antenna design and test labs.
Canal+ is a French TV channel which has recently released its official iPhone app in the App Store. Unlike many other TV channels, they decided to promote the app in a pretty unusual way, by airing an awesome commercial.
Check it out after the break. [via MelaMorsicata]
Looking to access your Firefox profile in the cloud? Firefox Home, approved by Apple yesterday, can now be found on the App Store. While I don’t touch Firefox too often, I still appreciate some of its features and am looking forward to the latest update. For those still using the mighty fox, Firefox Home for the iPhone can collect your open tabs, bookmarks, and other related data so that you have a portable carry-on for that workflow.
You can download Firefox Home at this link.
[via TechCrunch and CNET]
The official Flickr iPhone application was updated last night to include support for iOS 4 multitasking (fast app switching) and uploads in the background. It’s available for free here.
The 1.2 update also includes support for HD video uploads, Twitter integration with flic.kr short URLs and better full-screen browsing features. Sadly, there’s still no support for Retina Display.
What are you waiting for, Flickr?
Here’s an interesting story: when Apple officially announced the iPhone 4, they said they would release it in 8 countries first. Then, starting from July, it would be available in 18 more countries. These countries are Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.
So the rumors were true this morning: Apple has just pushed iOS 4.0.1 only for iPhone. It includes various bug fixes and improvements, including the signal formula one.
What we didn’t know, though, is that 3.2.1 for iPad was about to be released: the newest update of iOS for iPad brings many fixes, including the Wifi connectivity, video playback and PDF ones.
