Siri will pour you an ice cold beer with Beeri

The folks over at Red Pepper Land came up with an ingenious way to get Siri to pour you a cold glass of beer, completely hands free, using Twitter, an Arduino controller and an R/C toy car. They call it Beeri, and I want it..

When Beeri sees a new Tweet containing the word “pour” she triggers the sequence of preprogrammed pour commands (go, stop, adjust) that interface with the truck’s circuit board to control her movement. Her route is preprogrammed (drive straight) until her two proximity detectors sense her moving away from the puncture wall after impact. This allows her to halt the driving sequence and adjust to a 6 inch depth in order to get the beer to enter the funnel. With a clean pint glass underneath to collect the liquid gold, the only thing left to do is enjoy your tasty beverage.

Hey, no one promised you the cool new future wouldn’t be a little messy, right?

Source: Red Pepper Land

Google Voice returns to App Store

Less than a week since Google Voice voluntarily pulled their iPhone app from the App Store, it has already returned and is ready for iOS 5.

Google removed the the app earlier this week because of an incompatibility issue that was causing Google Voice to crash at sign in.

Google Voice is available on the iPhone for free.

[App Store link]

Source: @googlevoice

Daily Tip: How to protect your iPhone or iPad with a Passcode Lock

New to iOS, worried about the security of your iPhone or iPad, and wondering how to set a Passcode Lock for better protection? While the current version may not be perfect, it provides a number of real advantages over just leaving your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad unlocked. It’s also easy to set up. here’s how:

To simple, 4-digit Passcode Lock:

If 4 numbers just doesn’t make you feel secure enough, you can switch to a stronger, alphanumeric Passcode.

The iPhone 4S’ voice control system, Siri, has the ability to bypass Passcodes for some functions, like making calls or sending messages. If you consider this a security risk, you can toggle it off from the same screen.

At the bottom of the page, you have an option to Erase Data in the event of ten incorrect passcode entries.

If you have small children who think it’s a fun game to tap away at the numbers while your phone turns red, you may not want to enable this or you’ll be restoring your phone a lot. Security is constantly at war with convenience, make your choice.

Once you’ve enabled a Passcode Lock on an iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPad 2, iPad, iPod touch 4, or iPod touch 3, you get the added benefit securing the hardware encryption keys. This makes everything from email to App Store apps more secure.

Daily Tips range from beginner-level 101 to advanced-level ninjary. If you already know this tip, keep the link handy as a quick way to help a friend. If you have a tip of your own you’d like to suggest, add them to the comments or send them in to dailytips@tipb.com. (If it’s especially awesome and previously unknown to us, we’ll even give ya a reward…)

Siri will pour your an ice cold beer with Beeri

The folks over at Red Pepper Land came up with an ingenious way to get Siri to pour you a cold glass of beer, completely hands free, using Twitter, an Arduino controller and an R/C toy car. They call it Beeri, and I want it..

When Beeri sees a new Tweet containing the word “pour” she triggers the sequence of preprogrammed pour commands (go, stop, adjust) that interface with the truck’s circuit board to control her movement. Her route is preprogrammed (drive straight) until her two proximity detectors sense her moving away from the puncture wall after impact. This allows her to halt the driving sequence and adjust to a 6 inch depth in order to get the beer to enter the funnel. With a clean pint glass underneath to collect the liquid gold, the only thing left to do is enjoy your tasty beverage.

Hey, no one promised you the cool new future wouldn’t be a little messy, right?

Source: Red Pepper Land

iPhone 4S Gets Its First Commercial, Starring Siri

iPhone 4S made its television debut in a new advertisement last night, initially during comedy blocks and the World Series.

The commercial begins with a woman telling Siri that she has a flat tire, then continues to demonstrate a variety of questions that Siri can answer as people are found in situations portraying real-life potential. In thirty seconds, the point of how whether a bow tie needs to be tied, a reminder for milk needs to be set, or a solution for being locked-out needs to be found, Siri can help. Ending in Apple’s typical advertising style, a voiceover tells us to “Say hello to the most amazing iPhone yet” as “iPhone 4S” and an Apple logo flash across the display.

Siri’s ability to understand and assist is very convincing, and will undoubtedly have a strong effect on consumer interest since it is a new feature that is shown to have a possible use for practically any scenario. By demonstrating how different people could use the feature, iPhone 4S’s first commercial follows the format of iPhone 4′s FaceTime ad.

Along with significant performance and camera improvements, iPhone 4S exclusively features the personal virtual assistant Siri. Siri is based around powerful voice recognition, contextual comprehension, and access to collections of personal and general information. Users can speak to Siri to ask questions as well as control many functions of built-in apps.

Apple’s description of the commercial is “You speak. Siri helps. Say hello to the most amazing iPhone yet.”

width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/8uS6d7fsPnM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen>

Why You will not experience a BlackBerry-like outage with iOS or Android

Last week’s BlackBerry outage was an immensely embarrassing episode for the veteran handset maker. As a results thousands of existing BlackBerry users are planning to switch to Android and iOS enabled devices, which will undoubtedly do a lot more harm to BlackBerry’s global operations, having already recorded a disappointing quarter. The reality is that while security is BlackBerry’s greatest strength, it is also its greatest weakness because the firm has structured itself to be the middleman between the carriers and the phones. This structure is not what you see over at Apple or Android and therefore these platforms are by design, immune to the type of shortage suffered by BlackBerry.

Unlike its rivals, BlackBerry has set up vast server farms that process emails and other data in order to encrypt them and make it more secure. Thus, when an email is sent via BlackBerry, it first goes through RIM’s servers and then is sent to the phone’s carrier. iOS and Android devices, on the other hand, do not play the part of middle man. In this case, the data is sent directly to the phone carrier. In addition to security, another advantage that BlackBerry has is the limited amount of strain imposed on the device’s battery. Since all the encryption is handled by the RIM servers, the phone itself does not have to spend a lot of energy on security. This double advantage is what makes it so appealing to business users.

Apple may already have a lot to gain by BlackBerry’s stumble because as it is, major financial firms such as RBS are planning to test iOS enabled devices to check if they are indeed meet the requirements set by these institutions. While the test results are not yet clear, it must be noted that Apple and Android are both introducing a variety of security features that is making their devices more attractive to business users all around the world. Right now, Apple seems to have the lead but it would take awhile to see if its efforts have not been in vain.

New and updated iPhone and iPad apps for Friday, October 21

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!

IncrediBooth: A Photo Booth in your Pocket – Awesome Photo Strips Anywhere! [$0.99 for iPhone and iPad - App Store link]

Convert Any Unit: Convert between units quickly, and easily without first choosing a category. Just start typing your unit and the app will pop up probable choices as you type! [$0.99 for iPhone - App Store link]

BOGOF Price Comparison: So, which is the better buy? Six-packs of 500ml beverages (costing £7.50 each) in a “Get 3 for the Price of 2″ offer OR a crate of twenty 12fl oz beverages that normally costs £15, but has a 10% deduction off the marked price. With BOGOF you’ll have the answer, and be saving money, in seconds. [$0.99 for iPhone - App Store link]

Lotto Alert: For people that play Mega Millions, Powerball and all other lotteries available in the United States. It is a feature packed lottery application that notifies the users of a win. [$0.99 for iPhone and iPad - App Store link]

MONSTER HUNTER Dynamic Hunting: New weapons and monsters! On sale for a limited time! [$0.99 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.

Found Footage: Have Siri Pour You A Beer

Beeri from redpepper on Vimeo.

What better thing could you possibly do with Siri’s voice controls than have it send a Tweet to an account, which then causes a robot to pour you a beer? The methodology is a bit inelegant, but you can’t argue with the concept. Frankly, I think all future technological endeavors should be based on how well they provide you with alcohol.

Sorry iPad, I guess you just can’t cut it.

[via TUAW]

Mage Gauntlet Is The Retro Action RPG You’ve Been Waiting For

Rocketcat Games made me a huge fan with the incredible Hookshot game, and their newest title looks to be even better. Mage Gauntlet is a retro-action RPG in the vein of Secret of Mana or Zelda, circa the SNES. How do I know it’s any good? It’s sitting on five stars in the app store with more than 300 reviews. That’s insane, that’s how good it is.

If you’re interested in giving it a try, it’s on a launch sale for $1.99, and that’ll doubtless be the cheapest you’ll see it. Rocketcat are known for very rarely having sales. They haven’t dropped the price on Hookchamp for almost two years, so if you want to save some scratch, now’s the time.

[via TUAW]

Ballistic Life Style iPhone 4/4S Case Review

When it comes to iPhone cases, there are more options when it comes to rugged protection. Let’s face it, who wants to drop $400 on an iPhone 4S only to have it shatter into a million pieces. One such case maker in this category is Ballistic. They offer a customizable protective case called the Ballistic Life Style.

The Ballistic Life Style is not a hard plastic case, but a gel skin. I found the case to be very rigid. While feeling solid, it retains some of the flexibility you’d find in a silicone case. Next to the display, the most vulnerable areas on the iPhone are the corners. Drop your iPhone and there is a 33% chance it lands on one of those corners. Ballistic has done something interesting in that they have bumper inserts for the four corners. The bumpers are interchangeable allowing you to select a different color and/or protection level. The Ballistic Life Style comes with 10 bumpers; 5 red and 5 black. Ballistic amps up protection of the corners, but keeps a relatively slim form factor in place throughout the iPhone.

There is no protection for the display itself. However, the edges of the case are not flat to the display. If you happen to leave your iPhone face down, the display will not be impacted. A screen protector such as the very excellent Steinheil EX would be a nice addition to extend the protection.

The case fits both the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S. I tested it with both Verizon and AT&T models. Despite the shift in the mute button, there were no issues with the fit due to the ample cutout. Overall, it hugs the iPhone 4 very tightly. There are cutouts for the headphone jack and 30-pin dock connector. The case is very thin at the dock connector, so it should work with most car chargers. The power and volume up/down buttons are encased in the gel skin hard plastic. I found no issues adjusting my volume, powering on/off or switching the ringer switch.

The material isn’t very grippy, nor is it what I would call slippery. It’s somewhere in between. The back has a rather lackluster design which reminds me of an HTC Droid backplate. The large Ballistic logo cannot be missed, despite my wishes otherwise. In the center of the back, there is a small piece of plastic that you can feel with your index finger each time you pick up the phone. The model tested was transparent blue, but it’s also available in a more subdued transparent smoke.

Pros:

Cons:

Conclusion

As someone who isn’t normally in the heavy duty protection category when it comes to iPhone cases, I was pleasantly surprised by the Ballistic Life Style. They have gotten plenty right with the design and I certainly appreciate the added protection without giving up the sleek form factor of my iPhone 4.

Ballistic Life Style for iPhone 4/4S is priced at $29.99 and it is available in either Transparent Blue (shown above) or Transparent Smoke. More information can be found at GoBallistic.com.

App Giveaway: iDownloader Pro

iDownloader Pro is an app that lets you download anything from the web onto your iPhone or iPad. You can then view them on your device or transfer them to your computer with iTunes File Sharing.

We believe that downloading to your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad should be as easy as it is on your computer. That is why we created iDownloader Pro.

Web browser

Download manager

Music player

Video player

File manager

File safe with passcode lock

The good folks at Apps2be have given us 5 promo codes to give away to our readers! For a chance to win, just leave a comment below! Must provide a valid email address.

iDownloader Pro is available on the iPhone and iPad for $1.99.

[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 few reasons why the iPhone 4S is going to be the biggest hit ever!

The iPhone 4S has been out for awhile now and already critics are arguing what an amazing success/flop this device will be. As the latest results start coming in, it turns out that the latest generation of the iPhone will be the biggest hit ever and here are a few reasons why.

Steve Jobs Bio Heading To Stores, Juicy Tidbits Go Online

The official Steve Jobs bio is pegged to go on sale on Monday, but major media outlets have already gotten hold of it, and are posting some of the juicier and more scandalous parts online. Both AP and HuffPo have read large chunks of the book, and digested them for us. The picture that’s painted is not a surprising one, an extremely driven man who was an utter perfection and demanded the absolute best from everyone around him — and that they follow absolutely all orders.

From what’s gone online, one of the more interesting snippets is his view on Android, which he called “grand theft”:

“I will spend my last dying breath if I need to, and I will spend every penny of Apple’s $40 billion in the bank, to right this wrong,” Jobs said. “I’m going to destroy Android, because it’s a stolen product. I’m willing to go thermonuclear war on this.”

 

Smart Cover security flaw allows limited iPad 2 passcode bypass

A potential security flaw involving the iPad 2 on iOS 5 and Apple’s Smart Cover’s ability to bypass the Passcode Lock is making the rounds this week.

a Smart Cover can essentially unlock an iPad 2. The person who unlocks your iPad 2 will not have complete access to your iPad, but will be able to gain entrance to whatever you locked your iPad 2 on. If your iPad 2 went to sleep in Mail, Safari, Messages, Contacts, or Maps, you can imagine the sorts of personal information that can be viewed on your iPad.

A temporary solution here would be to simply disable Smart Cover unlocking from within the Settings app on your iPad 2. This is the latest in a series of Siri, Camera and Photo Stream related security issues with iOS 5. Here’s hoping Apple directly addresses them with an update soon.

Source: apfeltalk.de via 9to5Mac

How to set up iOS 5 Twitter integration for iPhone or iPad

If you’re new to iPhone or iPad and have just gotten started with iOS 5, you might be wondering how to set up the new Twitter integration feature. It gives you the ability to tweet directly from Photos, YouTube, Safari, Maps, and any other third party applications that request access to your twitter settings. It’s also easy to set up. Here’s how.

2. Enter the Twitter Settings

3. Enter your @username and password

4. Select which apps you wish to have access to the twitter settings.

5. Now, you’ll be able to share from Photos, YouTube, Safari, Maps and other third party apps that support the twitter integration.

Bonus: When you’re in Twitter settings, you can install the official twitter app, directly from settings.

Optional: You can merge your twitter friends with your contacts. Twitter uses phone numbers and email addresses to match twitter names with your friends, and adds a link to their profile to their contact.

You’ve now got Twitter set up on your iPhone, allowing you to tweet straight from some of Apple’s native apps, as well as some third party apps. You can also login to select Twitter apps, without having to re-enter your login.

iPhone 4S pre-orders go live in 22 more countries

The iPhone 4S is now available for pre-order in 22 additional countries, including Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. Shipping times are listed at 1-2 weeks.

Apple had over 1 million pre-orders within the first 24 hours in the original 7 launch countries on October 7, and and over 4 million in total sales during the launch weekend starting October 14.

Are you pre-ordering an international iPhone 4S? If you’re having trouble deciding which generation, color, or capacity to get, we have a complete iPhone 4S buyers guide ready and waiting. Check it out and then come back and tell us which one you ordered!

Source: MacStories

App Giveaway: Shows for iPhone

Shows is an iPhone app that uses your music library to determine who your favorite artists are and then keeps you up to date and notified about upcoming concerts near you. You can also search for specific artists and share concerts on Facebook and Twitter.

If you love live music, and you love nicely designed, smartly executed iPhone apps, you want Shows on your home screen.

Shows is the ultimate live music companion you’ve been waiting for. It automatically scans your iPod for artists and makes it easy to import ones from your Last.fm and Rdio libraries. But that’s just the start.

The developer, Sam Vermette, has given us 5 promo codes to give away to our readers! For a chance to win, just leave a comment letting us know which band or artist you most love seeing live — who’s concert can you simply not miss!

Shows is available on the iPhone for $2.99.

[App Store link - Web Site 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.

Sprint Killing Unlimited Data For Hotspot And Tethering

Sprint’s major differentiating factor from the other iPhone carriers is that they still offer unlimited data plans — which both Verizon and AT&T killed after getting the megapopular smartphone. Now it looks like they might be cutting back on that, for tetherers at least.

If you tether with a Sprint smartphone, you now have a hard limit of 5GB:

Currently, if you use your phone’s Mobile Hotspot add-on, the Mobile Hotspot data usage is combined with your phone data usage. Effective on your next bill following notification, your monthly mobile hotspot on-network data usage will be limited to 5GB of 3G or combined 3G/4G usage dependent upon device capability. Additional data use above 5GB is $.05/MB. Your monthly off-network data limit will continue to be 300MB, which is a combination of phone and Mobile Hotspot data usage.

The situation’s even worse if you have a mobile Broadband plan, as you will now have to switch to a 3GB, 5GB or 10GB plan.

Plus, existing plans won’t get grandfathered in. Even you already have an unlimited plan, this will cut you off.

We hope this isn’t the first indication that Sprint might cut back on unlimited data for the smartphone as well.

[via Engadget]

Verizon Sold 2 Million iPhones Last Quarter

AT&T has already activated 1 million iPhone 4S’, and activated 2.7 million of the iPhone 4 last quarter in a gangbuster term. But what about the competition? Verizon has just announced their quarterly earnings, and they did extremely well, but not quite as well as AT&T.

Big Red sold two million iPhone 4 units last quarter, still 700,000 short of the number hit by AT&T. However, quarterly earnings were up massively, $1.38 billion up from $659 million a year ago.

Verizon also cited lower than hoped for iPhone sales on the back of expectations of the iPhone 4S. When pressed for numbers on how the latter sold, they would merely say that they ran out on the first day, but now how many units they’ve put in consumer’s hands all told.

While the 700,000 phone gap between them and AT&T may seem large, the previous quarter saw one of 1.3 million phones, so the division between the two is closing. Now that Sprint’s in the mix too, I wonder if that’ll influence things at all…

FX Photo Studio Just $0.99 This Weekend

Everyone loves a good photo filters app and FX Photo Studio is a highly rated app that offers over 194 high-quality photo effects. Also included are a vast array of sharing options to share your photo creation. The app is 50% off this weekend, but the deal ends on Sunday evening.

FX Photo Studio is available on sale for $0.99 in the App Store.

Verizon activated 2 million iPhone 4 handsets last quarter

Verizon has announced their Q3 2011 results and in the accompanying conference call revealed that they sold 2 million iPhone 4 handsets last quarter. As to iPhone 4S, unlike AT&T, who’ve already boasted about a million activations, Verizon offered only:

On Oct. 14, the Apple iPhone 4S became available on the Verizon Wireless 3G network.

The current quarter should be interesting.

Source: Verizon, AllThingsD

OtterBox Defender Series Case for iPad 2 only $49.95 (50% off!)

For today only, the TiPb Store has the OtterBox Defender Series Case for iPad 2 on sale for only $49.95!. That’s full plate armor protection — get them before they’re gone!

Shop OtterBox Defender Series Case for iPad 2 now!

TomTom updated, now optimized for iPad

TomTom, the GPS enabled navigation app has just been updated and it now includes an optimized version for the iPad. The app is now a universal binary so there will be no need to pay for an additional navigation app for your iPad if you already have it on your iPhone.

• Make the most of your iPad, with a full-screen display that shows you driving view and Advanced Lane Guidance images at the same time. Purchase connected services in-App or easily transfer your existing subscriptions (cellular connection required). When you want to go bigger, move your TomTom App to iPad.

• Because roads are constantly changing, on average 15% of roads change every year, your TomTom App update comes with the latest and most up-to-date map.

• Your TomTom App is quicker and easier to use than ever. See driving view with one touch from anywhere, access guidance options in a tap, and switch between different route types more easily. It’s a simpler way to enjoy TomTom navigation on your iPhone or iPad.

A word of warning to those still using TomTom with an iPhone 3G — This will be the last version of the app to fully support it. Future versions should still work but any new features added will not be supported.

TomTom is available for the iPhone and iPad for $49.99.

[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.

T-Mobile US says they’re waiting on Apple, AWS-capable iPhone

While Apple has launched the iPhone 4S on AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint, and is even about to launch on regional carrier, C-Spire, T-Mobile says they’re still waiting for their turn, and for a version of world’s most popular handset that runs on their rare AWS high speed frequencies.

T-Mobile thinks the iPhone is a good device and we’ve expressed our interest to Apple to offer it to our customers. Ultimately, it is Apple’s decision. The issue remains that Apple has not developed a version of the iPhone with technology that works on our fast 3G and 4G networks. We believe a capable version of the iPhone for our 3G and 4G networks would offer an additional compelling option for our customers on a fast 4G network. However, the iPhone is not the only option to experience the benefit that smartphones offer.

Note: When T-Mobile talks about 4G, they mean HSPA+, not the truly next-generation LTE. Like several smaller carriers in the US and Canada, T-Mobile operates their higher speed network on the AWS frequencies, which means the current iPhones can’t run on them. (An unlocked iPhone on T-Mobile can only run on their older, slower, 2G EDGE network.)

Maybe Apple doesn’t want to complicate their current one-model-rules-them-all strategy of a single GSM/CDMA world phone, and simple adding AWS to the radio stack isn’t an option, or maybe they’re waiting to see how the AT&T-Mobile merger pans out before deciding.

All we know for sure is that T-Mobile customers remain among the increasingly smaller group without access to a fully functional iPhone on their carrier of choice.

Source: T-Mobile