Colorific for iPad now available [Kids Corner]

Colorific is a new coloring book for the iPad. Kids can either draw and color their own drawings or choose from five categories: Numbers, Animals & birds, Transport, Professions, Dinos.

Who says you need to be a kid to enjoying coloring? Even as an adult, I enjoy Colorific and find it very relaxing. The templates are well designed and don’t have frustratingly small areas to color. I have a stylus which really helps make it feel like I’m coloring a traditional coloring book.

The app allows children either to draw pictures from scratch or to color one of the multiple (40+) templates built into the app. The app includes templates from a variety of different categories:

Colorific is available on the iPad for $2.99.

[App Store link]

Have an app you’d love to see featured on TiPb? Email us at iosapps@tipb.com, tell us about your app (include an iTunes link), and we’ll take a look.

iPad Live 71: Hurricane straps and sex wax

Georgia, Rene, Seth, and Matthew Panzarino of The Next Web talk Steve Jobs resignation fallout, Tim Cook’s email to Apple, mobile malware, Acer’s iPad fever, Samsung’s Space Odyssey, and buh-bye TV rentals. This is iPad Live!

Thanks to the TiPb iPad Accessory Store for sponsoring the podcast, and to everyone who showed up for the live chat!

Music Hear me Roar by iPad Live theme song contest winner, DieselJesus!

Daily Tip: how to create free iPhone ringtones in GarageBand (Mac only)

On a Mac and wondering how to get free ringtones for your iPhone? We all know you can purchase or create ringtones in iTunes but… they can be limited in functionality or selection. Luckily GarageBand, which is part of the the iLife suite, has the ability to create ringtones built right in.

The process isn’t too difficult and you can fine tune them however you like; including fade ins, fade outs, splicing sections together, and more.

After you choose the song you want to use, you’ll need to drag it into GarageBand. For iLife 11 users, you’ll need to do these steps first. If you’re using an older version of iLife, you can simply skip to the next section.

If you want to use a song that was purchased from iTunes (a .m4r file), GarageBand is picky about you dragging those in as of iLife 11, so you’ll need to change the format from .m4r to .mp3 before dragging it in.

1. Drag the file from iTunes you’d like to use for your ringtone to your desktop.


2. Change the extension from .m4r to .mp3


3. Finder will prompt you asking if you’re sure you want to change it. Click use .mp3


4. Now move on to the next section.

1. Drag your song into GarageBand, you should see something similar to above (if GarageBand opened a virtual keyboard, just x it out). I also go to the counter and change it to time instead of measures (located on the bottom). That’s up to you. It’s just personal preference.


2. Now expand the view by clicking the tiny scissor icon in the bottom left hand corner of GarageBand (it’s the third icon from the left in most versions of GarageBand.


3. The expanded view should look like the screen above. This view allows you to highlight and cut sections out as well as finer tune your selection.


4. Now comes the Apple loop part, next to your play/pause/forward controls to the right, you should see the button above. Click it and you will now see a yellow bar that you can adjust appear above your song in the top section of GarageBand.


5. Simply slide this bar back and forth to select the portion of the song you’d like to make a ringtone out of. You can increase and decrease the length by dragging it at the beginning or end as well. Just make sure it’s under 30 seconds total.

Those are all the steps to create your ringtone, the video also explains a few more options as far as fading in and out as well as cutting and splicing so be sure to check that out as well.

Now all that’s left to do is to send the ringtone to iTunes.

That’s all there is to it! You can create as many ringtones as you want this way without paying any additional money. If you run into issues, check out our TiPb forums for more help and suggestions!

Apple releases iTunes Match beta to developers

Apple has sent out an email to developers advising them that Apple’s music locker service, iTunes Match, is now in beta.

iTunes Match stores your complete music library in iCloud, allowing you to enjoy your collection anywhere, anytime, on any iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or computer.
iTunes Match beta is currently available to developers in the United States. Beta subscribers will receive iTunes Match service during the beta period plus an additional 3 months for free with their 12 month paid subscription.

To get started with iTunes Match, download the current version of iOS 5 beta and iTunes 10.5 beta 6.1 with iTunes Match. Once installed, choose Turn On iTunes Match from the Store
menu, and click “Subscribe for $24.99.”

Please note that you must maintain a local backup of your iTunes library as well as any music you add to iCloud. Apple will periodically reset your iCloud library during the beta and it is critical that you backup your music regularly. Some features and optimizations of iTunes Match will not be available during the beta.

If anyone tries it out, let us know what you think of it, especially how it compares to competing services like Amazon Cloud Locker and Google Music Beta.

[Thanks W!]

Comex answers questions about his position at Apple

Over on Reddit, Jailbreak developer Comex has been answering a lot of questions about his upcoming internship at Apple. Many users have been wondering whether or not this will effect jailbreak and how hard it will be for other jailbreak developers to find exploits with Comex working for the other guys now.

Even though Comex won’t (read: can’t) participate the jailbreak community anymore, there are still tons of jailbreak developers out there more than willing to step up to the challenge of finding new exploits. The jailbreak cat and mouse game is far from over. Comex says he still wants to jailbreak his iPhone so he still hopes they’ll find those exploits too.

You can hit the Reddit link below to read the entire thread of Q & A’s with Comex.

[Reddit]

Move it On for the iPhone [Giveaway]

Move it On is a new iPhone game designed by a couple of teen developers and their company, Twirlbound Studios. In this game, your little robot has malfunctioned and rides on continuously – it’s your job to make sure he doesn’t get hurt.

Try to get Ridebot as far as possible in this new and exciting game! Slide platforms, destroy crates and blocks, think fast while pressing buttons and shake your way through the level. With five sorts of randomly generated and differently triggered obstacles, Move it On guarantees an addictive and polyvalent experience! The five categories each contain many different obstacles.

Twirlbound Studios has given us 5 promo codes to giveaway to you, our awesome readers! For a chance to win, all you have to do is leave a comment below!

Move it On is available on the iPhone for $0.99.

[App Store link]

Have an app you’d love to see featured on TiPb? Email us at iosapps@tipb.com, tell us about your app (include an iTunes link), and we’ll take a look.

A Public Chat with Jailbreak Specialist ‘Comex’

Even though 19 year old Comex, otherwise known as Nicholas Allegra or as the mastermind behind JailbreakMe.com, isn’t quite allowed to reveal anything about his upcoming internship with Apple, which we previously href="http://www.iphonealley.com/news/jailbreak-enthusiast-comex-hired-by-apple">posted about, he was kind enough to take questions publicly and answer them as well.

The jailbreak enthusiast recently picked up an internship with Apple, abandoning his website that made jailbreaking easy, dubbed JailbreakMe.com. Using onclick="javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('/outgoing/www.reddit.com/r/iphone/comments/jxezv/im_comex_i_made_some_jailbreaks_amaa/');" target="_blank" href="http://www.reddit.com/r/iphone/comments/jxezv/im_comex_i_made_some_jailbreaks_amaa/">Reddit, Comex hosted a public “Ask Me Anything” chat a couple of hours ago.

Many questions were asked, 203 comments to be exact, a good amount of them were answered. Here are a few I could see upon scrolling through the chat:

style="padding:2px 6px 4px 6px; color: #555555; background-color: #eeeeee; border: #dddddd 2px solid">Q: “After your internship with Apple and after iOS 5 is officially released, will you continue to support the jailbreak community by providing exploits?”/> A: “No. Edit: But I’ll want to jailbreak my phone, so I hope someone finds them :p”

style="padding:2px 6px 4px 6px; color: #555555; background-color: #eeeeee; border: #dddddd 2px solid">Q: “The jailbreak community took a huge hit when you left. Do you think the active players can outsmart you now that you’re playing for the other team, or are you Apple’s final solution to their jailbreak problem?”/> A: “There are a lot of smart people working for Apple already; maybe I can help, but I doubt I can stop people from finding exploits.”

style="padding:2px 6px 4px 6px; color: #555555; background-color: #eeeeee; border: #dddddd 2px solid">Q: “Have you made any money from the jb scene?”/> A: “I’ve made a good amount of money through donations, which is mostly being used to help pay for college. JailbreakMe 2.0 was like $40,000; 3.0 was $15,000 (not quite sure why it decreased).”

style="padding:2px 6px 4px 6px; color: #555555; background-color: #eeeeee; border: #dddddd 2px solid">Q: “Congratulations on your new position. Why an intern position though? It seems like you could carry a regular position at apple.”/> A: “I don’t know if I’d want to do that- I’ve never had a job before and I don’t know what it’s like- and I intend to go back to college soon.”

style="padding:2px 6px 4px 6px; color: #555555; background-color: #eeeeee; border: #dddddd 2px solid">Q: “Have you ever met Steve Jobs?”/> A: “I wish.”

Those above Q&As should have proved to be interested for those of you who do take a part in such discussions and take an interest in the jailbreaking community. Among the whole bunch of other answers, Comex also revealed that he thinks iOS will remain to be the dominant OS. If you want to read the whole chat, you can do so onclick="javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('/outgoing/www.reddit.com/r/iphone/comments/jxezv/im_comex_i_made_some_jailbreaks_amaa/');" target="_blank" href="http://www.reddit.com/r/iphone/comments/jxezv/im_comex_i_made_some_jailbreaks_amaa/">here.

Let us know what you think.

Adobe Releases CreatePDF For iOS

href="http://cdn.everythingicafe.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/mzl.ewgysvpt.480x480-75.jpg">class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-23390" title="mzl.ewgysvpt.480x480-75" src="http://cdn.everythingicafe.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/mzl.ewgysvpt.480x480-75.jpg" alt="" width="480" height="350" />Adobe’s newest addition to their iOS stable is href="http://itunes.apple.com/app/adobe-createpdf/id456561495?mt=8">CreatePDF — a $9.99 app that does exactly what it says on the tin. It creates PDFs. Here’s how Adobe describes it:

Adobe CreatePDF brings the same high-quality PDF creation as Adobe Acrobat to your iPad, iPhone and other iOS devices./> Highlights of Adobe CreatePDF:/> •High Quality PDF Creation/> oCreates PDF files that look exactly like the original using the same technology as Adobe Acrobat./> oConsistent, high-fidelity PDF conversion independent of device or software. Uses Adobe’s online services to ensure there is no compromise on quality or performance. The service does not keep a copy of your original or the PDF document./> oCreates PDF files that meet accessibility standards./> oPreserves links, end notes, foot notes and creates bookmarks automatically in PDF files converted from Office documents/> oPreserves Transitions and converts Multi-media Content for Power Point files./> •Intuitive Interface for PDF Conversion/> oConvert email attachments or files stored in the cloud or any application by opening them within the Adobe CreatePDF application./> •Share/> oHand over converted PDF files to other applications, including sending as email attachments with one touch/> Supported File Formats include:/> •MS Word (docx, doc), Excel(xlsx, xls), PowerPoint (pptx, ppt)/> •Adobe Illustrator (ai), Photoshop (psd) and InDesign (indd)/> •Images – JPEG, BMP, PNG, GIF, TIFF/> •RTF, Text and WordPerfect/> •OpenOffice and StarOffice documents

In other words, once you get a file onto your device, you use the “Open In…” functionality baked into iOS to send it to CreatePDF, which then compiles it into the universally accepted PDF format. From there you can share it via email or print, but there is href="http://www.macstories.net/news/adobe-releases-createpdf-for-ios">a lack of other sharing options.

From my perspective, what appears to be a missing feature would be the ability to combine multiple documents into a single one. While I haven’t played with this specific app yet, it doesn’t appear you can merge multiple documents into a single PDF, which would be otherwise very useful.

Engadget Gets N94 Prototype Front, Is This The iPhone 4S? [updated]

href="http://cdn.everythingicafe.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/iphone-4-s-08292011.jpg">class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-23384" title="iphone-4-s-08292011" src="http://cdn.everythingicafe.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/iphone-4-s-08292011.jpg" alt="" width="538" height="450" />

The iPhone href="http://www.everythingicafe.com/?s=n94">N94 is the internal prototype title for an upcoming iPhone — but we don’t know which one. Last week, an iPhone rear physically matching the iPhone 4 but href="http://www.everythingicafe.com/iphone-4s-prototype-back-spotted/2011/08/26/">with the N94 labeling was spotted. Now Engadget has obtained images of a front assembly that’s also marked as N94, and resembled the current generation iPhone — what some might call an iPhone 4S.

This is a slightly older piece of gear than the one from last week, marked ”EVT1″ (Engineering Verification Test), March 3rd 2011, while the back piece that was leaked was from EVT2 and the 7th of June.

Engadget believes that this could be part of a low-cost, low-capacity iPhone, which is my personal opinion too, and that a more radical iPhone redesign is also in the works. Their sources claimed that the N97 prototype was currently being tested, but that it was much earlier in the process.

UPDATE: href="http://www.macpost.net/1084/more-iphone-n94-prototype-photos-leaked-%E2%80%93-is-this-iphone-4s-or-iphone-5/">Looks like MacPost got something very similar.

Thank you Steve Jobs for….

Came across an interesting website today: onclick="javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('/outgoing/www.thankyoustevejobsfor.com/');" target="_blank" href="http://www.thankyoustevejobsfor.com/">www.ThankYouSteveJobsFor.com.

Was really surprised when I came across this today but it’s an interesting concept.  There isn’t much to the site, just Jobs showing off the white iPhone 4 and a box for you to type what you want to thank Jobs for.

After you type your thank you, you hit tweet and your thank you is posted to Twitter.  I just checked and it isn’t a trending topic yet so we all need to go to the onclick="javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('/outgoing/www.thankyoustevejobsfor.com/');" target="_blank" href="http://www.thankyoustevejobsfor.com/">site and post our thank yous to Jobs.

If you can’t think of anything specific off the top of your head that you’d want to thank Jobs for, take a look at either your hand or very close to you.  Most likely you have your iPhone or onclick="javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('/outgoing/www.ipadngravy.com');" target="_blank" title="iPad" href="http://www.ipadngravy.com">iPad extremely close for easy access and we can all thank Jobs for the those two devices that changed the way we view cell phone and mobile browsing forever.

Calorie Count app updated

The best way to reduce weight and stay healthy over a long period is to constantly monitor what we put into our bodies. Keeping track of all the food that we eat not only lets us examine the trends in our eating habits but also lets us set targets and monitor our progress over a long period of time. The only problem that most people have is manually entering the information on to the app. unfortunately, unlike a credit card, which automatically records even the smallest transactions and then lets you examine your spending habits, there is no real method of automatically keeping track of all the food you eat. Hence, you need to manually enter the information and the only room for improvement is in the input method. This is the problem that has been identified and properly address by the Calorie Count app, which recently released a new feature that allows users to use a new voice option to enter the relevant data.

The app uses iSpeech and allows users to enter multiple food choices at once with the use of a 15-second voice recording. Once you say type and quantity of the food you ate, the app examines over 250,000 different types of foods to find matching items. The results of the initial tests of the voice app’s accuracy have been very positive, which makes it a worthwhile addition.

If by some chance you want to be more specific, you can use the app’s barcode scanner to instantly record different foods. The app also rates the food from A+ to D- depending on the nutritional information. Other features that are already found on the app include interactive graphs that make it easy to identify your eating habits.

Even after the launching the latest update, the app’s creators, The About Group, have indicated that are planning tweaking the current app and adding some new features. iPhone weight watchers will no doubt be very happy to know this.

Luminance brings powerful photo editing to your iPhone, iPad

If you have been looking for a powerful photo editing application for your iPhone or iPad, Lumnance could be the one. Filters include White Balance, Exposure, Brightness/Contrast, Hue/Saturation, Tone Curve, Split Toning, Vignette, Colors and Sepia.

• Create any look, with an infinite combination of adjustment layers.


• Place your adjustment layers in any order to create unique effects.


• Choose from many built-in presets.


• Copy edits from a photo and apply them to multiple photos.


• Share photos via Facebook, Camera Roll, Email, Copy, and Print.


• View the history of any photo and easily jump back to a previous edit.


• Export photos at full resolution (Small, Medium, Large, or Original)

Luminance is available on the iPhone and iPad for $0.99.

[App Store link]

Have an app you’d love to see featured on TiPb? Email us at iosapps@tipb.com, tell us about your app (include an iTunes link), and we’ll take a look.

 

Create a new Marimba remix for iPhone Live, win fabulous prizes! [Contest]

Have some musical talent, think you can remix Marimba — the default iPhone ringtone — into a kickass anthem to take our iPhone Live podcast into 2012 and beyond, and want to win about $200 in cash and prizes? Oh yeah, it’s on!

Are you ready to kill it? Good. Here’s what you need to do to enter:

We’ll pick our favorite, most rocking, most iPhonetastic theme as the winner, you’ll give us creative commons (or similarly workable) license to use it on our show, and we’ll give you a fabulous prize pack including:

That’s over $200 in prizes, and we reserve the right to ad more, so what are you waiting for? Watch the video and get to work on the best dang theme music for the best dang iPhone podcast on the planet. NAO!

Luminance brings powerful photo editing to your iPhone and iPad

If you have been looking for a powerful photo editing application for your iPhone or iPad, Lumnance could be the one. Filters include White Balance, Exposure, Brightness/Contrast, Hue/Saturation, Tone Curve, Split Toning, Vignette, Colors and Sepia.

• Create any look, with an infinite combination of adjustment layers.


• Place your adjustment layers in any order to create unique effects.


• Choose from many built-in presets.


• Copy edits from a photo and apply them to multiple photos.


• Share photos via Facebook, Camera Roll, Email, Copy, and Print.


• View the history of any photo and easily jump back to a previous edit.


• Export photos at full resolution (Small, Medium, Large, or Original)

Luminance is available on the iPhone and iPad for $0.99.

[App Store link]

Have an app you’d love to see featured on TiPb? Email us at iosapps@tipb.com, tell us about your app (include an iTunes link), and we’ll take a look.

 

Engadget Gets N94 Prototype Front, Is This The iPhone 4S?

href="http://cdn.everythingicafe.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/iphone-4-s-08292011.jpg">class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-23384" title="iphone-4-s-08292011" src="http://cdn.everythingicafe.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/iphone-4-s-08292011.jpg" alt="" width="538" height="450" />

The iPhone href="http://www.everythingicafe.com/?s=n94">N94 is the internal prototype title for an upcoming iPhone — but we don’t know which one. Last week, an iPhone rear physically matching the iPhone 4 but href="http://www.everythingicafe.com/iphone-4s-prototype-back-spotted/2011/08/26/">with the N94 labeling was spotted. Now Engadget has obtained images of a front assembly that’s also marked as N94, and resembled the current generation iPhone — what some might call an iPhone 4S.

This is a slightly older piece of gear than the one from last week, marked ”EVT1″ (Engineering Verification Test), March 3rd 2011, while the back piece that was leaked was from EVT2 and the 7th of June.

Engadget believes that this could be part of a low-cost, low-capacity iPhone, which is my personal opinion too, and that a more radical iPhone redesign is also in the works. Their sources claimed that the N97 prototype was currently being tested, but that it was much earlier in the process.

Daily Deal: 81% off mophie Juice Pack air for iPhone 3GS, iPhone 3G — only $14.95

For today only, the TiPb Store has the Daily Deal: mophie Juice Pack air for iPhone 3GS, iPhone 3G on sale for only $$14.95 — that’s a whopping 81% off!. Keep your iPhone going and going and going and going… Just get them before they’re gone!

Daily Deal: mophie Juice Pack air for iPhone 3GS, iPhone 3G

New and updated iPhone and iPad apps for Monday, August 29

Every day, TiPb gets flooded with announcements for new and updated iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad apps and games. So every day we pick just a few of the most interesting, the most notable, and simply the most awesome to share with you!

Notes n Tasks: An easy-to-use but very effective app, that helps you staying focused on your everyday To-Dos or simply let’s you take quick notes to bring relieve to your mind. [$1.99 for iPad - App Store link]

Kauai Revealed: Combines the best-selling Kaua‘i guidebook “The Ultimate Kauai Guidebook ” with a custom location-aware map that works without a cell signal. [$5.99 for iPhone - App Store link]

Blowing Pixels Planet Defender: Three planets are attacked by alien bombs, saucers and asteroids. Your mission is to protect them by shooting laser missiles that will explode every enemy into thousands of pixels. [$0.99 for iPhone - App Store link]

ZOOLA: Took a great picture of your kid with his pet ? Join ZOOLA album, presenting kids from all over the world with their beloved pets [$2.99 for iPhone and iPad - App Store link]

Can’t Wait!: Be the first to watch new movie trailers as they come out, get reminders when the movies you want to see hit theaters, see what your friends are excited about, and share your favorite upcoming movies! [Free for iPhone - App Store link]

Any other big app or game releases or updates today?

Have an app you’d love to see featured on TiPb? Email us at iosapps@tipb.com, tell us about your app (include an iTunes link), and we’ll take a look.

Google+, iPhone 5 design, iPhone 5 on Sprint, iPhone 5 introduction [From the Forums]

Let’s be blunt — if you’re not in the TiPb Forums you’re missing out on the best darn discussion in iPhone and iPad today, so head on over and register now!

Get your Google+ invites here. And if you need people in your circles feel free to add myself or Rene and the rest of the TiPb crew!

iPhone 5 design

Will the iPhone actually land on Sprint?

Who will introduce the next generation iPhone?

See you in the forums!

Apple Kills TV Show Rentals

href="http://cdn.everythingicafe.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/apple_tv_rentals.png">class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-23373" title="apple_tv_rentals" src="http://cdn.everythingicafe.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/apple_tv_rentals.png" alt="" width="379" height="292" />

Late last week, we heard a rumor that Apple href="http://www.everythingicafe.com/apple-eyeing-up-streaming-media-says-wsj/2011/08/26/">might be eying up streaming media, and in an interesting twist over the weekend, href="http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/11/08/26/99_cent_tv_show_rentals_quietly_removed_from_apple_tv_itunes.html">they killed off $0.99 TV rentals. What was originally one of the big selling points of the AppleTV has now gone the way of the dodos, and you can no longer rent a single episode of a TV show via iTunes or AppleTV for a buck.

Apple spokesperson Tom Neumayr href="http://allthingsd.com/20110826/apple-pulls-the-plug-on-tv-rentals/">released a statement to AllThingsD saying:

“iTunes customers have shown they overwhelmingly prefer buying TV shows. iTunes in the Cloud lets customers download and watch their past TV purchases from their iOS devices, Apple TV, Mac or PC allowing them to enjoy their programming whenever and however they choose.”

Movie rentals remain unaffected.

Adobe CreatePDF for iPhone and iPad now available

Adobe has brought Acrobat to iOS and calls it CreatePDF. It allows you to convert email attachments, photos, MS documents, images, and many other file types to PDFs.

Adobe CreatePDF brings the same high-quality PDF creation as Adobe Acrobat to your iPad, iPhone and other iOS devices.

Adobe CreatePDF is available on the iPhone and iPad for $9.99.

[App Store link]

Have an app you’d love to see featured on TiPb? Email us at iosapps@tipb.com, tell us about your app (include an iTunes link), and we’ll take a look.

Tim Cook To Gain 1 Million Apple Shares If He Stays Until 2021

href="http://www.macrumors.com/2011/08/26/apple-awards-tim-cook-1000000-shares-of-stock-as-ceo-bonus/">MacRumors has spotted a href="http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/320193/000118143111047179/rrd320651.htm">securities filing by Apple which notifies shareholders of the change in leadership of the company, but also lays out some of the stock awards that Tim Cook will gain for staying with the company in the long term — totaling an impressive one million Apple shares:

In connection with Mr. Cook’s appointment as Chief Executive Officer, the Board awarded Mr. Cook 1,000,000 restricted stock units. Fifty percent of the restricted stock units are scheduled to vest on each of August 24, 2016 and August 24, 2021, subject to Mr. Cook’s continued employment with Apple through each such date.

That’s 500,000 after five years, then another 500,000 after 10. At current market rates, that worth over $383 million. That’s a pretty strong incentive for Cook to stay with the company, and also to do his utmost to keep the share prices as high as humanly possible.

Mobile Nations Monday Brief: August 29, 2011

Follow Ashley On: Twitter or Google+

DigiTimes: iPhone 5 To Have Sub 4 Inch Screen

DigiTimes has an incredibly spotty track record with getting rumors right, but their newest news report is a little interesting. They’re claiming that the href="http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20110829PD201.html">iPhone 5 will have a less than 4-inch screen, and a metal rear.

Despite rumors about iPhone 5 featuring a 4.2-inch panel circulating within the IT market for a while, following a leak from Apple’s website in Switzerland in early August, sources from upstream panel suppliers have recently revealed that the iPhone 5′s panel size will still be less than 4-inch.

In addition, iPhone 5′s back design will be changed to a metal chassis instead of reinforced-glasses./> [...]/> The sources added that the iPhone 5 will adopt a 3.5- to 3.7-inch panel with a design to allow the bezel of the panel to become thinner and make the screen look larger.

The funny thing? That Swiss leak they mention we didn’t report on because it was an obvious fake. A screen size increase from 3.5 to 3.7 inches would be a minuscule increase, and one that wouldn’t provide much of a different user experience than the iPhone 4.

It’s unusual that this close to the official announcement (pegged for next month), we still have a very vague idea of what this iPhone will look like.

Sprint Tells Employees to Keep Quiet About the iPhone

Sprint wants its employees to plead the fifth when it comes to the iPhone 5. An internal memo leaked to Sprint Feed instructs Sprint employees to offer no comment when approached about the possibility they will be offering the iPhone in October. Last week, the href="http://www.iphonealley.com/news/is-the-iphone-4-and-5-coming-to-sprint-in-october">Wall Street Journal announced that Sprint would be joining AT&T and Verizon as an iPhone carrier.

href="http://www.iphonealley.com/news/sprint-tells-employees-to-keep-quiet-about-the-iphone/attachment/iphone_sprint_memo" rel="attachment wp-att-21833">src="http://www.iphonealley.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/iPhone_Sprint_Memo.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="180" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-21833" />

The memo instructs employees to tell customers they have no “information to share,” and advises them to direct curious customers to onclick="javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('/outgoing/newsroom.sprint.com/');" target="_blank" href="http://newsroom.sprint.com/">Sprint’s Newsroom for the latest information. Does this mean an announcement from Sprint is coming soon?

href="http://www.iphonealley.com/news/is-sprint-and-t-mobile-both-joining-the-apple-family-in-october">MacTrast also received a tip about T-Mobile joining the Apple team last week. If the rumors turn out to be true, the iPhone 5 will be available on all four major US carriers in October, or whenever it’s officially launched.

[via onclick="javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('/outgoing/www.sprintfeed.com/2011/08/sprint-advising-employees-to-remain-mum-on-iphone/');" target="_blank" href="http://www.sprintfeed.com/2011/08/sprint-advising-employees-to-remain-mum-on-iphone/">SprintFeed]

Employees Told Not To Talk About Sprint iPhone

 

style="text-align: left;">href="http://cdn.everythingicafe.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/iPhonemum.png">class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-23378" title="iPhonemum" src="http://cdn.everythingicafe.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/iPhonemum.png" alt="" width="571" height="207" />href="http://www.everythingicafe.com/wsj-sprint-iphone-5-coming-this-october/2011/08/23/">With rumors of a Sprint iPhone 5 hitting a fever pitch, Sprint has told their employees href="http://www.sprintfeed.com/2011/08/sprint-advising-employees-to-remain-mum-on-iphone/">not to discuss the matter, but haven’t done anything to specifically quash the rumors. The memo tells staff to answer any questions about the iPhone, or mentioning they saw the rumors, but have no information on the matter.

style="text-align: left;">So, what does everyone think? Is this a non-denial, and does it pretty much confirm a Sprint iPhone? After all, if they weren’t getting it, why not just deny the rumor and push an Android handset on people? Or is Sprint trying to ride the hype, using the interest to pull in more people, even if they aren’t going to get the iPhone? What do you think?

style="text-align: left;">[via href="http://9to5mac.com/2011/08/28/sprint-tell-employees-not-to-discuss-upcoming-iphone-5-launch/">9to5 Mac]

iPhone 5 to have metal back, less than 4-inch display?

Randomly accurate Digitimes and their “upstream sources” are back again with some more rumors on iPhone 5, including changes to both the size of the display and the material used for the back plate:

In addition, iPhone 5′s back design will be changed to a metal chassis instead of reinforced-glasses.

The sources added that the iPhone 5 will adopt a 3.5- to 3.7-inch panel with a design to allow the bezel of the panel to become thinner and make the screen look larger.

If you’re thinking rumors about iPhone 5 have been all over the place, and wildly contradictory this year, you’re not alone. It could be that Apple, as it reportedly has done in the past, had a more ambitious and a more conservative iPhone 5 prototype and elements of both have leaked. It could also be that Apple’s rumored 2nd iPhone, the lower-budget iPhone nano is leading to some confusion about which rumors pertain to which devices. Lastly, iPhone 4, which historically should drop in price but stay on the market after iPhone 5 gets introduced, could also get some tweaks — become an iPhone 4S — to make it less expensive to produce or even upgrade its processor to a newer A5 so Apple doesn’t have to keep two chipsets in production.

We’ll only know for certain this October.

[Digitimes, mockup via MacRumors]

iPad starting to infiltrate classrooms throughout the UK

We have heard quite a few stories recently about the iPad being used in schools in the United States. It now appears that a similar roll out is starting to happen overseas too, with the UK leading the way.

According to The Telegraph, Longfield Academy in Kent will start to use iPads from the start of the new school year; which starts next month. The scheme was announced to parents earlier in the year with the school informing them that young people enjoy learning through technology.

The school said that the weight of the iPad and its battery life made it ideal for children to use for learning at home as well as through the school day. In return for a donation from parents, children will have access to an iPad 2 with a protective case, a range of apps plus insurance and technical support.

Another school in Northern Ireland has announced a similar system. For a cost of £170 ($277) a year, parents can provide their children with an iPad. More than 500 children are eligible for the scheme. The Cedars School of Excellence in Scotland has also already started its own scheme last year.

The reason the iPad has been chosen is down to the range of applications available, battery life, life expectancy of the hardware and the size and weight of the device.

[The Telegraph]

 

iFrogz expands its line of products for the iPhone and iPad

iFrogz, a company better known for its fine line of iPhone and iPad cases is finally beginning to refocus on its music accessories. The company has cleverly created a strategy emphasizing on style and culture in order to make a stronger appeal to younger generations of the iPhone and iPad users (and they keep getting younger). The latest expansion in the audio line with a variety of exciting earphones with a generous amount of attention devoted to every detail of the accessory.

 
The largest or the most noticeable of the new audio line is the Vertex ($49.99). These over-the-ear headphones comes equipped with 40mm drivers, AeroFoam cushions and an inline microphone that allow users to make phone calls without having to constantly messing with their headphones. However, despite the amazing sound and comfort that the Vertex delivers, it is still lightweight and foldable. This combination of style, power and mobility seems to be the theme that unites most of the accessories produced by iFrogz.

Another interesting addition is the Frequency headphones, which is of the one-ear variant. This features a woven code and can even be folded flat for easy storage, enhancing the mobility of the accessory.

However, its not only fancy high-end headphones on the list, the company have also released compact earbuds: Transport ($39.99) and TimbrePro ($49.99). The Transport comes with a colored anti-tangle cord. Meanwhile, the TibrePro features small speaker chamber that is made of real wood. This has much to do with sound quality as it does with style. New products also include the Evolution and the Legion, both of which are touted as the next-generation noise-isolating earbuds.

Meanwhile, the company is also investing heavily on other accessories including the UniqueSync 30-pin charge and sync cables designed for the iPhone, iPad and iPod. These devices also feature colored cables that really set them apart from the competition.

ZENandTECH 13: Priority one

Nokia dumped Symbia, HP dumped webOS hardware, Google bought Motorola, Steve Jobs resigned from Apple — it’s a stressful time in technology and now more than ever you need to take care of yourself. Georgia and Rene discuss how. This is ZENandTECH!