MacRumors.com

Cult of Mac reports on a "sketch-looking" non functional white iPhone that is being sold on eBay as a prototype iPhone 3GS.

The seller says there’s a problem with restoring the software: “This device is not eligible for the requested build,” iTunes says when he tries to restore it.

The seller, vofffka, of Ocean City, New Jersey, says an Apple genius at his local retail store verified the iPhone as an Apple product, but can’t service it, “because it’s never been sold.”

For those curious, the additional photos of the device's casing show that it does not have the rumored matte case that was thought to be destined for the iPhone 3GS. We can't be sure the auction is real, but prototype Apple devices have been known to find their way onto eBay. A prototype of the original iPhone was also sold on eBay.

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Last week, Nowhere Else began receiving reports [Google translation] from owners of the white iPhone 3GS that had experience significant overheating, leading in some cases to distinct pink or brown discoloration on the iPhone's back case. A later report from Wired suggested that faulty battery cells may be the cause of the overheating and could lead to a significant recall of the affected iPhones.


Image from Nowhereelse.fr
A number of reports today have pointed to an Apple support document providing advice on how to keep iPhones from overheating as an acknowledgement of the problem on the part of Apple. As Macworld points out, however, the document was originally posted many months ago, and was recently updated only to add references to the iPhone 3GS to the existing ones for the iPhone 3G. According to the Apple document, an overheating iPhone will display a warning screen and become inoperable with the exception of allowing emergency phone calls to be made. Apple also describes several situations that can lead to activation of the temperature warning screen.

- Leaving the device in a car on a hot day.
- Leaving it in direct sunlight for extended amounts of time.
- Using certain applications in hot conditions or direct sunlight for long periods of time, such as GPS tracking in a car on a sunny day or listening to music while in direct sunlight.

While heat is definitely a concern for any electronic device, particularly ones like the iPhone that pack a significant amount of power into a small space, Apple assures its iPhone 3G and 3GS customers that the devices do meet international safety standards for such devices. At this time, Apple has made no official response to these latest reports of overheating and discoloration on the new iPhone 3GS.

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Wired reports on the latest high profile app removal from the App Store related to nudity. This time, a free app called BeautyMeter was removed due to an inappropriate image of a nude minor.

The photo ... depicts a photo of a nude girl snapping a photo of her reflection in a mirror. In the screenshot, the girl, who is listed as a 15-year-old from the United States

BeautyMeter is an app that functions similarly to Hot or Not and allows users to upload their own photos to be rated by others. The developers of the application do not review each uploaded photo, so there appears to be no particular filter for content. They do claim that each photo is tagged with each iPhone's unique ID so that illegal content can be traced back to the owner of the phone, however.

Apple has not commented, but the app has been pulled from the App Store. According a lawyer cited in the article, neither Apple nor the developers are likely liable for the content:

Funnymals and Apple will probably not be held liable for the content because they would be protected by the Communications Decency Act, according to Mark Rasch, a lawyer and founder of computer security consulting firm Secure IT Experts. That's because when Apple approved the app, it did not contain the prohibited content. Instead, the app downloads images off the internet, thus placing the responsibility on the people who use the app

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MacDailyNews has obtained an internal AT&T memo promoting the record-breaking nature of the iPhone 3GS launch on Friday, June 19th.

iLaunch day 2009 was one for the record books, as AT&T customers scrambled to get their hands on the fastest, most powerful iPhone yet.

Here's a look at some of the milestones we achieved:

* Best-ever sales day in our retail stores
* Second-largest traffic day in our retail stores
* Most transactions processed via our IT systems in a single day
* Most upgrade eligibility checks in a single day
* Largest order day in att.com history
* Largest features sales day in att.com history

Furthermore, AT&T notes that it had surpassed the 2008 iPhone 3G launch sales numbers by noon on the iPhone 3GS launch day and sustained its record-setting sale pace for eleven straight hours.

Despite shorter lines on launch day than in 2008, due in large part to online availability, Apple announced that the iPhone 3GS had reached over one million sales in the first three days of availability, on par with the performance of the iPhone 3G at its 2008 launch.

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Apple has let loose a number of revealing new patent applications that cover some interesting technologies that could be used in future iPhones.

Haptic Tactile Feedback

Perhaps most interesting amongst the patent applications is the acknowledgement by Apple that despite the many advantages of the iPhone's multi-touch screen, a lack of tactile feedback remains its biggest disadvantage:

However, one of a touchscreen's biggest advantages (i.e., the ability to utilize the same physical space for different functions) is also one of a touchscreen's biggest disadvantages. When the user is unable to view the display (because the user is occupied with other tasks), the user can only feel the smooth hard surface of the touchscreen, regardless of the shape, size and location of the virtual buttons and/or other display elements. This makes it difficult for users to find icons, hyperlinks, textboxes or other user-selectable input elements that are being displayed, if any are even being displayed, without looking at the display.
...
Unless touch input components are improved, users that, for example, drive a motor vehicle, may avoid devices that have a touch input component and favor those that have a plurality of physical input components (e.g., buttons, wheels, etc.).

The proposed solution is the adoption of "haptic" display technologies which allow for some tactile feedback from touch screen displays. Apple proposes including a grid of piezoelectronic actuators that can be activated on command. By fluctuating the frequency of these actuators, the user will "feel" different surfaces as their finger moves across it. As an example, a display could include a virtual click wheel which vibrates at a different frequency as the center. Users could easily sense the difference and use the click wheel without having to look at it.

Haptic technology has started gaining adoption in other mobile phones and there had been some talk that Apple might have been looking to adopt it.

Fingerprint Identification as an Input Method

A second very intriguing patent application suggests the detection of a user's individual fingerprints as an input method. Fingerprints have already been used in computers for security purposes, but Apple's research involves the use of fingerprint patterns to actually identify distinct fingers. This could then be used to produce specific functions depending on which finger is being used. As shown in the table below, an index finger press might perform one action (PLAY/STOP) while a middle finger press could fast forward.


The reason for such a distinction again falls back on non-visual usage. Instead of requiring the user to find a button on the touchscreen, the use of different fingers alone could trigger different commands.

RFID Reader

Finally, the last notable application covers the dual use of a touch screen as an RFID reader. RFID tags are small circuits that can be embedded in objects for identification using a special reader. Apple suggests that the an RFID antenna can be placed in the touch sensor panel itself, allowing it to also be used as a RFID reader. As RFID tags become more prevalent, this could add a very useful function to future touch screen devices.

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Apple has published a very interesting patent application in which they explore how to provide a Karaoke experience on the iPhone. Not only would users be able to sing along with their favorite songs, but Apple wants to give real-time feedback to singers letting them know how they are doing.

The systems and methods for providing users with real-time feedback while they are singing on key/pitch and providing real-time feedback to the user while the karaoke song is being sung. The feedback will be positive feedback if user is on key/pitch and it will be negative feedback if user is off key/pitch.

The patent application addresses "one of the biggest obstacles faced by amateur sings: singing on key/pitch". Apple suggests that this system could actually improve the quality of people's singing. One novel way to accomplish this would be to measure the pitch of the singer's voice and if it were to be too low, the device could exaggerate the low pitch of the user's own voice to encourage them to sing higher.

Apple clearly depicts pictures of the iPhone's iPod application with an additional menu option for "Karaoke". The interface for the Karaoke section is also shown above. We don't know if Apple will pursue this option in a future version of the iPhone software, but it's a fun and interesting proposition.

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Following close on the heels of the two new iPhone 3GS commercials released yesterday, Apple has posted another new ad, entitled 'Skateboard', to its ad gallery. The new commercial focuses on several of the video features of the iPhone 3GS, demonstrating shooting, editing, and sharing via e-mail.

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Apple yesterday seeded iPhone OS 3.1 and iPhone SDK 3.1 betas to developers for testing, and users have been digging through the new releases to document new features. Among the changes found so far by readers in our forums, at Redmond Pie, and at MobileCrunch:

- Trimming video clips on the iPhone 3GS now offers the ability to save the edited version as a copy rather than simply overwriting the original file.
- Voice Control over Bluetooth is now available, allowing users to Initiate calls and control music playback via Bluetooth headsets.
- MMS is now enabled by default, but still not supported by AT&T.
- iPhone vibrates when rearranging Home screen icons.
- A "Fraud Protection" toggle is now available in Safari settings.
- iPhone startup and shutdown and app launching times have improved.
- New APIs allow developers of third-party application to access and edit videos.
- OpenGL and Quartz have seen improvements.

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Apple has released two new television commercials for the iPhone 3GS and posted them to its ad gallery.

Voice Control: Demonstrates the new Voice Control feature available on the iPhone 3GS, showing both the calling and music voice functions.


Copy and Paste: Demonstrates the copy and paste functions available on the iPhone 3GS and in iPhone OS 3.0 for other devices. The ad shows copy and pasting of phone numbers, formatted text and images from Web pages, and maps between applications.

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Skype [App Store, Free] has been updated to Version 1.1, bringing SMS and voicemail support to the iPhone application, as well as additional language support. Unfortunately, support for Push Notifications is not included in the new version.

What's new in this version:
- Support for the following languages:
English, German, Dutch, Brazilian Portuguese, Portuguese, Spanish, Norwegian, Russian, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Italian, French, Polish and Japanese.
- Send text (SMS) messages using Skype credit.
- Voicemail support.
- Improved dialing help when calling phones.

Skype was launched at the end of March, and reached one million downloads in its first two days of release.

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Even with the recent release of iPhone 3.0, Apple is hard at work at the next update: iPhone 3.1. Apple seeded registered developers with a beta version of the firmware and SDK today. Few details were provided as to the improvements to be found in the new firmware. The latest build number is 7C97D.

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id Software's original iPhone game Doom Resurrection [App Store] was released into the App Store earlier today. The Doom 3 inspired game offers a first person shooting experience that's been adapted to the iPhone. From a TouchArcade review of the game:

The best compliment I can offer to Doom Resurrection is that despite some controversial changes, it "feels" like Doom and is a lot of fun. And as a reviewer, there are games I have to play to the end and games I want to play to the end, and Doom Resurrection easily fell in the latter category. The game makes good use of the Doom 3 graphics and audio to provide an immersive game that sucks you in for the duration.

The player's movements in the game are scripted while the aiming/shooting is controlled by the accelerometer. This video shows the game in action:

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Late last week, we reported that Apple had posted an online availability database showing iPhone 3GS stock levels at each of its over 200 U.S. retail stores. At the time, the database showed solid availability of the new iPhone, with nearly 90% of stores showing availability of all four iPhone 3GS models and only five stores being completely sold out.

Apple's retail store stock levels declined over the course of the weekend, and the availability database is now showing significant iPhone 3GS shortages. According to the database, only about 40-45% of Apple's retail stores currently maintain stock of all four models, while nearly 15% of stores are completely sold out. Three states are currently listed as being entirely out of stock of all four models: Alabama (two stores), Oregon (three stores), and Utah (one store).

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Apple service provider MacMedics recently had the opportunity to examine a counterfeit iPhone 3G purchased by a customer off of eBay. The packaging and external appearance of the device appear convincingly genuine at first glance, demonstrating increasing sophistication from such counterfeiters.

The software, however, is the difficult part to imitate, and this is where the counterfeit iPhone falls flat. See the video for a complete walkthrough of the device.

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Reuters reports that ten top mobile phone manufacturers, including Apple, have agreed to adopt the Micro-USB connector standard for smartphone chargers in the European Union. The shift, planned to begin next year, will allow smartphones from the companies, which control 90% of the market, to use the same charging cables. Apple currently uses a proprietary dock connector compatible with both the iPhone and iPod touch.

The chargers will be usable only for data-enabled phones, which have more capability than just standard calls and SMS texts. Data-enabled phones are expected to account for almost half of all new mobile handset purchases in 2010.

The Commission hopes that as people discard their old handsets, within three to four years all data-enabled phones in Europe will be using standardized chargers.

The plan also calls for new phones to be sold with Micro-USB chargers for a period of time before ultimately selling phones and chargers separately in order to allow customers who already own chargers to continue using their existing ones. While the agreement extends only to European phones, it is expected that the standard will make its way into phones around the world as companies attempt to keep their design and manufacturing costs streamlined.

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Reuters reports that Sony Corp is working on a cellphone/game player hybrid to better compete with Apple's iPod Touch and iPhone.

Sony plans to set up a project team as early as July to develop a new product that combines functions of its portable game player and Sony Ericsson's mobile phones, the Nikkei said.

Sony appears to be considering a number of different moves to go head-to-head with Apple's iPod Touch and iPhone platform. An earlier report claims Sony was talking to major recording companies about providing downloadable music to the Playstation Portable (PSP). While Apple's devices aren't dedicated gaming machines, there is a notable overlap in audiences and the App Store has started attracting major gaming developers such as Capcom, id Software, and Square Enix.

The PSP has sold over 50 million units worldwide in the past 4 years, while Apple has already reached over 40 million units sold in the past 2 years.

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