ios4 posts

Our friends at Engadget have heard from a trusted source that Apple is indeed remaking the Apple TV, as was previously guessed based on its past trajectory. But the final product may surprise you: it won't have 1080p output, according to Engadget (which refutes earlier rumors), but it will keep that US$99 price, and bring apps from the App Store to the table. It's not yet known whether it will simply use iPhone or iPad apps (or get a brand new entry of its own), but Engadget says some connection to both the App Store and streaming services is going to happen. Internally, the box is supposed to be comparable to the hardware found in an iPhone 4, including one of Apple's own A4 chips running the show.

And with all of these other changes, the device is reportedly getting a new name, the iTV. That makes a lot of sense, actually -- not only does it distinguish this new unit from the "AppleTV" hobby, but it brings the device in line with the iPhone, iPad, and Apple's other iOS devices. Engadget also notes that the iTV isn't a new name so much as it is a return to the old one, so if all of this turns out to be true, it would seem like Apple has a much more directed strategy for its set-top box this time around.

Engadget says we'll see all revealed by sometime this Fall. It all sounds very interesting -- if Apple can squeeze all of that into a box that costs only $99, who wouldn't plug that into their television?

Within the last few minutes, iOS 4.0.2 for iPhone 3G, 3GS, 4, and iPod touch 2nd and 3rd generation (late 2009 models with 32 or 64 GB) has become available for download. In addition, the iPad has received an update to iOS 3.2.2.

The updates fix a security vulnerability that was associated with viewing malicious PDF files. It doesn't appear that there are any fixes to any other issues (i.e., the proximity sensor glitch), but the fix to the PDF exploit insures that the iOS platform remains secure.

For a security fix, the update is huge -- the iPhone update is 580MB in size and the iPad update is 457MB. For a look at more detailed information about what the updates patch, check out the iOS 4.0.2 Update description and the iOS 3.2.2 Update description on Apple's website.

In June, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) began an investigation into Apple's decision to ban developers from using Adobe's Flash-to-iPhone compiler and similar tools to create apps for iOS devices. Apple has also banned Adobe Flash from iOS devices, throwing its full support behind HTML5 as a much more efficient and stable alternative.

The New York Post reported today that the FTC isn't the only governmental authority looking into Apple's Flash ban. Now the European Commission has joined the FTC probe based on concerns that Apple's business practices harm competition. Apple's viewpoint is that the ban is well within its rights, and is necessary to maintain the high level of quality in iOS applications.

The investigation is expected to last another four to six months. In the meantime, Flash is appearing (in an unofficial and not fully functional way) on jailbroken iPhone 4s with the release of Frash earlier this week.

[via MacRumors]

This year has just flown by -- it's almost that time again, when the leaves start to change color, the kids head back to school, and footballs fill the air. That also means the new Madden is now out, and for the first time, EA has brought the game to the iPad. By all accounts, it's pretty good -- the graphics are not quite comparable to the console versions, but they look nice, and you also get the ability to draw out hot routes and use an adapted version of the GameFlow feature from the console versions. Plus, the iPad version is also getting multiplayer soon, as well as a "Vintage Voltage Football" mode, a Madden-style homage to the old electric football games.

The only drawback is that the game's not cheap -- EA is going all out with a price for the iPad of $12.99. The game's also available for the iPhone for $7.99, which ain't real cheap, either. But this is EA's most premium game on the iOS to date, as well as their perpetual moneymaker every year around this time, so if they're going to try inching up the prices on their iOS titles, this would be the one to do it on.

That said, EA's also been learning the value of the sale recently, so I'll bet that if you give this one a month or two, you'll be able to pick it up for much cheaper. Too bad there's no lite version yet -- the football fans who've taken the leap seem to really enjoy the game so far.