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The day that the iPhone OS 4.0 was announced, it seemed as though everyone wanted to know my opinion. I’m impressed, but not thrilled. I love the multi-tasking feature, of course. What Geek wouldn’t appreciate that ability? I love that the iPhone will remember the state an app was in when I switched to something else.

I can’t say I’m as happy with the Mail app, though. I am happy to see that they added the threaded conversations, and the ability to check more than one email account. I think they could have gone a step further, though. I’m frustrated that clicking a link takes me out to the browser. Why can’t it just be embedded into the Mail app much like other apps have done?

The idea of folders on the home screen is pretty awesome. I’ll be MUCH more organized now… I hope. I can choose how I want to name my folders and which apps to put in there. I’ve heard that folders can only hold a small number of icons, which I feel is detrimental. What if I want ALL of my games in one folder? Do you even know how many games I have?

What are your thoughts so far on the newest iteration of the iPhone operating system?

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Why the iPhone Keeps Getting Better

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Dylan called in during the live show the other night and wanted to talk about hardware and having to upgrade. He has an iPhone 3G and installed the new iPhone 4.0 operating system on it as a developer. His phone became very hot, and he began to wonder if it’s “really true” that you cannot use the new os on older versions of the iPhone and iPod Touch. Well, of course it’s true. Apple has every right to make that cutoff. You cannot expect manufacturers to support old hardware indefinitely.

We’ve been spoiled, I think, with Windows XP. There have now been two upgrades released beyond XP. Yet, we can still walk into some stores and buy machines off the shelf which have Win XP installed on them. I’m not saying that’s a “bad” thing. It’s just the way it is.

There has to be a cutoff point somewhere. Apple has defined theirs. You simply cannot expect any company to continue to support older hardware indefinitely… especially when it comes to mobile devices. The market for these gadgets is growing very quickly. Many models are leap-frogging right over others in the eternal quest to be “the best.”

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Backwards Compatibility Isn’t Viable with Hardware

As TUAW themselves have stated, there’s no telling how long this video may stay on YouTube. It’s in Polish, but the captioning should help you understand which features they are discussing.

If you don’t speak Polish, you likely won’t have a clue what’s being said. However, it’s still pretty cool to actually see the operating system in action!

iPhone OS 4.0 Beta Video

One teenager is not only broke… he tried wiping out his mother, as well. The 12-year-old UK boy racked up about $1400 USD in debt playing Farmville recently. A small portion of that came from his own savings account, while the rest was charged to his mother’s HSBC credit card. This debt was accumulated in only a short two-week time span.

Requests to both Facebook and HSBC to reinstate the funds have been denied thus far. In the popular casual Facebook game, players can spend real money to accrue virtual currency and items. With this much money invested, I would hope the kid has the best farm on the entire site. A spokeswoman for HSBC indicated that had the expenditures been on a gambling site the escalating transactions would have raised warning flags, but since the purchases were technically Facebook Credits, they didn’t warrant suspicion.

This goes back to the post from last night where we discussed a parent’s rights to check on what their child is doing online. Many of you will argue that the mother should have been more aware of what the youngun’ was doing on Facebook. I would have to agree with that sentiment. Then again, were this my child he would be doing one heck of a LOT of chores in the near future to be working that debt off.

What do you think? Who is to blame here… and should either Facebook or the credit card company have to refund the money to the parent?

• Sony has made a Linux comeback.
• A scatter-brained hard drive will slow down your system.
• Adobe patches are coming on Tuesday. Look for an auto-update feature.
• Now that you’ve likely had your iPad for a few days, what are your thoughts?
• Could we expand our memory capacity?
• Do you need personal safety tips?
• Will the Barnes and Noble Nook be sold at Best Buy?
• Does Windows 7 run well on older PCs?
• Cyberpunk fiction has become a reality.
• What ten commandments will keep your computer happy?
• Does Ubuntu have 12 million users?
• One identity theft ring gleaned socials from medical records.
• Ubuntu has switched back to Google.
• Has Google ever texted you?
• What bizarre holidays are there in the month of April?
• Would you drive an electric SUV?

Many of the programs and apps found on our software center won’t break the bank! Be sure to check them out today.

Lose Your Life Savings on Facebook

We’ve talked a few times already today about the imminent iPhone 4.0 OS. Likely the best new feature is multitasking.

FINALLY we will be able to do more than one thing at a time, and easily be able to switch between the tasks with a tap of the finger. The OS is only available to developers at this point, and one of them was kind enough to give us this sneak preview.

iPhone 4.0 Operating System: Multitasking

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I recorded an interview with a local radio station – and given that they’re likely to edit my thoughts down to 10 seconds of sound bytes, I thought I’d record my side of the conversation and save it for posterity.

Likely the biggest new development is the ability to multitask. The way that Apple has handled it is somewhat different than what other mobile carriers have given us. You’ll be able to run any type of application “in the background”. If you’re browsing the web and want to listen to your Pandora station you can do that now!

Another thing you’ll see is the ability to customize the wallpaper on your homescreen as you can on the iPad. This provides you with more options to make your iPhone (or iPod Touch) your own.

We’ll also see better organization in the new Folders. You can group apps together so that you have a much cleaner screen, and you can find things much easier. Theoretically, the devices will now be able to support over 200,000 apps.

We’re also going to have the ability to “gift” apps to friends and family members. If I have a wish-list of apps that I want, my family can just buy them for me!

This was just a short wrap-up of the new features in iPhone OS 4.0. I wrote a much more detailed post earlier today to discuss what’s coming in this iteration of the operating system.

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What’s Your Favorite Feature of iPhone OS 4.0?

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This video was recorded the night before Apple’s big iPhone OS 4.0 announcement. The community speculated as to what could be coming with the next iteration of the OS. With the announcement live now, I want to focus on talking about what is happening, instead of what might happen as we did in this recording. iPhone 4.0 OS will have more than 100 new features. Apple has seven major “tentpole” features that they feel are particularly important.

Multitasking – During the live event, Steve Jobs actually admitted that “we weren’t first to the party, but we’re gonna be the best.” He claims that multitasking is coming to the iPhone in a way that won’t kill your battery or your device performance. Many smart phones are sorely lacking in this area. They don’t handle background processes well. Therefore, users find themselves spending more time fixing things than they do actually getting things done. iPhone OS 4.0 lets you switch tasks by double-clicking your home button. A bar that looks like the dock will show up at the bottom of the screen, showing you a list of running applications.

Folders – I don’t know about you, but I get tired of trying to manage 2349320 screens full of apps. I need folders! It’s impossible to organize everything on my iPhone at this point. I’m seriously happy to see we are going to have this capability in the new version of the OS. The folders look very similar to Stacks from Mac OS X 10.6. You can drag and drop your apps on top of each other to create application folders. This takes the total number of apps that you can see on your phone from 180 up to 2160!

Mail – Mail has gotten a complete overhaul! The first big feature is the unified inbox. You’ll be able to read all of your unread messages in one pane. No more having to navigate around between accounts. If you check more than one email account on your iPhone or iPod Touch, this will be a huge timesaver for you! We also get to enjoy threaded messaging at long last. If you’ve ever used Gmail, you’re aware of how this works. All emails that pertain to each other will display together in a nice, threaded format. This makes it easier for you to refer back to earlier parts of a conversation, and saves you time in the long run.

iBooks – We had our first taste of iBooks on the iPad last weekend. The already-popular feature will now be available on the iPhone and iPod Touch as well. Apple is definitely here to stay in the eBook world.

Enterprise – Enterprise has always had to make their way to Apple. The company never really went after the Enterprise market. That is changing with OS 4.0, though. Look for better email encryption and APIs being made available to developers so that data can be encrypted inside their applications as well.

Game Center – No matter what Nintendo wants to believe, the iPhone OS is becoming a force to be reckoned with in the mobile gaming industry. Apple is planning to add social gaming to the repertoire… much like you’d find on Xbox Live.

iAds – iAd is designed to allow developers to make money while keeping their apps free to download. Interactive video content can be included in an ad without ever taking the user out of the application. This means you can return to your app any time you choose, and you don’t have to actually leave it to begin with. People will be much more likely to actually click on an ad if they know they aren’t going to have to back out of what they were doing in the first place. Apple plans a 60/40 split with developers – with devs pocketing the 60% mark of any ad earnings.

The sad news of the day is that multitasking will not be coming to older models. You have to have an iPhone 3GS (or a 3rd gen iPod Touch) in order to take advantage of this awesome feature. I know that many people in our community still use older models. Word is that these older models simply don’t have the right hardware to handle the additional resources needed.

The update will be available this summer for iPhones and iPod Touch devices. However, it won’t show up for the iPad until sometime this fall. If you’re a developer, though, it is available now!

What are your thoughts on the new operating system? Are you happy with all of the changes, or did you expect something more?

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iPhone OS 4.0 Thoughts

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I love my iPhone, that’s true. You might remember that I didn’t want to get the iPhone back when it first came out. I’ve eaten mountains of crow since that time, and have now accepted the iPhone into my life as my personal digital savior! iPhone OS 3.0 was recently released, and of course I’ve already upgraded. Is the upgrade worth it? Absolutely! There are so many features (some not even documented) are sitting under the interface!

Some of the awesome new features with this version of the os include cut,copy, paste, a landscape keyboard, spotlight search, voice memo recording, and an improved calendar! There are some small bugs, yes. But those I think are more personal preference, rather than actual bugs. I wanted to let you know the things that I feel are completely outstanding updates.

One of the first things you’ll notice is that Voice Memo app. It is relatively high-quality recordings, and it has a lot of features. You can send these to others, and even edit them if need be.

A lot of smaller tweaks in classic Apps are very welcome. For instance, in Notes you can now swipe and then delete a particular note. It also syncs through Notes back in iTunes. I think it’s cross-compatible with my Exchange account.

You can also have more page open for Apps. You not only have 11 pages, but you can put as many Apps that will fit in your iPhone! I had 300 of them at one point! I used to have to delete them, in order to stay under the threshold allowed. Now I don’t have to worry about it.

Spotlight Search is an amazing addition to the iPhone. Spotlight searches all of your contacts, email, calendars, and notes, as well as everything in your iPod. There really isn’t an App that hasn’t been updated, which is just awesome.

The iPhone no longer auto-corrects swear words! If you want to swear, then by golly you can! This may not seem like a big deal to some people, but to me it is. If I curse, you can believe I meant to. I wasn’t happy that the iPhone wouldn’t let me say the words I intended to say.

All in all, I’m VERY happy with this upgrade. What are your thoughts on the new iPhone os 3.0? Are you using it yet? Do you love it – and why? Do you hate it? If so, uh… have you really used it? No matter, let me know that, as well.

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Quick iPhone OS 3.0 Review