
Thursday July 02, 2009 02:27 PM
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.

- 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.
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Thursday July 02, 2009 02:23 PM
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.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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Thursday July 02, 2009 12:18 PM
Psystar, manufacturer of unauthorized Mac clones currently involved in a legal battle with Apple, reports that it has exited Chapter 11 bankruptcy and is again prepared to take on Apple. Psystar filed for bankruptcy just over one month ago.
As you all may already be aware in late May, Psystar filed for Chapter 11 protection. Although this was critical to our continued daily operations, we now are ready to emerge and again battle Goliath.
More information will be available in the coming days when we will be formally discharged by the Bankruptcy court.
When life gives you apples, make applesauce.
[ 258 comments ]
Thursday July 02, 2009 04:01 AM
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.).


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Thursday July 02, 2009 03:33 AM

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.[ 51 comments ]