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Leave it to the pioneers of multi-touch in the mobile space to apply for a patent on all future versions of multi-touch. Apple’s latest patent filing suggests that Cupertino is working to integrate more than just touch-based input modalities in to future versions of multi-touch.

The problem with the current multi-touch setup is that it’s tailored to touch-based mechanics alone. Multi-touch on the iPhone and iPhone 3G is goo for mechanical manipulation, but without complementary input modalities like voice or finger-recognition, the current multi-touch setup falls short of offering truly immersive user interaction.

Imagine trying to resize and rotate a picture while changing its color and inserting a bit of text. It wouldn’t make sense to resize and rotate the picture using your voice. There are size and rotation-degree parameters that are just more well-suited for manipulation through touch-based multi-touch technology - it’s just easier to pinch/stretch and rotate the picture with your finger than with voice commands. Likewise, it’s easier to use voice commands to change the color of the background picture or add a text string to the picture.

Apple proposes, in their latest patent application, that future multi-touch technologies will integrate almost all foreseeable input modalities to complement touch-based multi-touch. Mechanical manipulations could be assigned to touch-based commands, while voice commands are relegated to functions that require choosing an option from a list.

Futhermore, Apple envisions future multi-touch setups incorporating finger-recognition that would allow the user to assign different functions to each finger - which would allow for more complex commands to be issued. Gaze-vector tracking could allow your future laptop or mobile phone to recognize which menu you’d like to select and automatically drill down to the appropriate category. Then there’s the proposition of using finger-tracking and force-sensing technologies that would allow the user to affect different degrees of control depending on finger-pressure and position.

Combine all that with accelerometer support and some pixie dust and you’ve got the makings of a seriously immersed control environment. We can’t wait for a future filled with multi multi-touch and pixie dust!

USPTO Apple patent application

Spore hit the Apple Keynote stage all those months ago to show iPhone 3G hopefuls what kind of gaming experience to expect on the iPhone 3G and iPhones running the iPhone 2.0 OS. Spore Origins, alongside Sega’s Super Monkey Ball, promised to usher the iPhone and iPhone 3G into the world of mobile gaming.

Unfortunately, the initial release of the Spore Origins game was only compatible with the iPod. More unfortunate is the fact that Spore Origins doesn’t offer character transfer or online play. Spore Origins will essentially spin-off of the Spore game title, offering little more amusement than guiding your Spore creature  through a primordial soup filled with smaller-than-you food creatures and larger-than-you predators. The goal will be to feed on smaller creatures while running away from larger predators.

Spore Origins is expected to launch on the AppStore later this week for $5. Were the game more integrated in to the Spore parent-game, Spore Origins would have a larger potential audience. As it stands, we’ll have to wait and see how the game fares against the competition.

[Via: TUAW]

There’s no slowing down the iPhone and the AppStore. As popularity for the Apple smartphone and its integrated AppStore continue to grow, companies and musicians alike are looking to new ways to market themselves with an iPhone-twist.

The latest group to take advantage of the iPhone and AppStore’s popularity is the Irish band Snow Patrol. According to Music Week, the band will be releasing an “interactive album,” complete with music, lyrics, album art, and videos via an iPhone application.

“It will be an interactive element; a digital booklet that will take you into the videos and content,” says Polydor product manager Liz Goodwin. “For fans it will be a real must-have, and the fact that they are the first band to do this gives us an additional angle for exposure.”

Snow Patrol is the first band to release such an interactive album that caters specifically to the iPhone market-base, and could pave the way for new interactive albums released as iPhone apps. Could we be poised to see immersed and content-filled albums hitting the AppStore? Let’s hope so.

[Via: MusicWeek]

Talk about a lame excuse. Apple, long known as the tech-company that does whatever it feels like doing, has rejected an up-and-coming iPhone application on grounds that it provides “limited utility.”

Granted, the iPhone application, Pull My Finger, does little more than generate a “fart” sound, Apple’s rejection of the application is a disturbing move. The precedent for Apple to reject future iPhone applications that it just doesn’t like has been set.

Victor Wang, Pull My Finger’s developer, posted Apple’s rejection letter for all to see:

“Hello Developer,

We’ve reviewed your application Pull My Finger. We have determined that this application is of limited utility to the broad iPhone and iPod touch user community, and will not be published to the App Store.

It may be very appropriate to share with friends and family, and we recommend you review the Ad Hoc method on the Distribution tab of the iPhone Developer Portal for details on distributing this application among a small group of people of your choosing.

Regards,

Victor Wang
Worldwide Developer Relations
Apple, Inc.”

Interestingly, other applications with likewise “limited utility” have been published through the iPhone AppStore. Koi Pond, for example, doesn’t provide much utility for the user, but has hit the top of the AppStore’s sales-charts in recent weeks.

So, what other applications will Apple reject on grounds that it’s just not worthy (read: in line with Apple’s taste) of the AppStore?

[Via: MacRumors]

The iPhone as a document scanner? No way!

It’s nigh impossible to hold an iPhone still enough and at just the right distance from a document to take a clear picture of said document for digital safe-keeping. That is, unless you’re rocking this DIY (do-it-yourself) homemade iPhone document scanner.

Digital warrior and University of Cincinnati’s school of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning (DAAP) industrial design student, Kyle A. Koch, crafted the home-brewed iPhone document scanner that you see above out of corrugated cardboard.

Says Kyle:

When I got my iPhone last year I loved having everything important in one place, and the ability to get rid of unnecessary devices, documents and information I kept with me. I would frequently snap photos of class assignments printed on copy paper so I wouldn’t have to worry about losing them. The documents normally came out pretty clear, but it was tough to keep still while taking the pictures. I set out to make something that would ensure clean, consistent pictures of documents taken with the iPhone that would be free and easy to make on your own. And so, here you will find pictures of and a link to a template to make your own iPhone document scanner.

The cardboard rig isn’t a document scanner, per se. It’s more like a copy-stand for your iPhone. Regardless, with an iPhone resting perfectly still on top of his iPhone document scanner/copystand, Kyle can now go about his document scanning ways with ease.

If you’d like to take a shot at scanning those all-important documents for digital storage on your iPhone or iPhone 3G, head on over to this link and download the printable templates to make your very own DIY iPhone document scanner.

DIY iPhone document copystand template

[Via: core77]

The latest evidence that Apple has to seriously give more thought to its iPhone SDK development guidelines comes to us in the form of Steve Wozniak’s “pwned” iPhone. The picture you see below shows Woz holding an iPhone that bears the telltale boot-logo of a jailbroken, “pwned” to be more precise, Apple handset.

With Pwnage Tool 2.0.3 released to jailbreak the latest iPhone 2.0.2 OS, it’s clear that the underground iPhone development culture is thriving. I wrote at length about Apple’s need to accommodate the iPhone development community with more flexible guidelines, but it seems that Apple is trotting along with their same, old game plan.

With jailbreak applications unhindered by Apple’s iPhone SDK guidelines that limit official iPhone applications from running in the background, Apple would do well to go live with their background notification service in the next iPhone OS release.

[Via: iPhoneAtlas]

AT&T has been struggling to keep up with demand on its data network since the launch of the iPhone 3G. Tests and speculation have all but absolved the iPhone 3G of any inherent defect as the root of sluggish data network performance on AT&T’s 3G network. At this point, AT&T’s recently upgraded 3G network is seemingly to blame for problematic 3G performance.

This morning, AT&T added some icing to their bitter 3G-cake when the No. 1 US wireless carrier’s data network took a nose dive. Reports indicate that AT&T customers on the East Coast saw their local 3G and EDGE networks go completely dark for 10-12 hours. The data network outage affected Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, Illinois and Missouri - leaving users without access to emails and unable to surf the web. The voice network was still operational, allowing for text messages and voice calls.

Customers posted complaints about the AT&T data network outage on AT&T support forums and Apple forums , with some customers reporting success in getting a credit of $20-$30 from AT&T.

AT&T says that they are looking in to the cause of the data network outage.

[Via: AP]

We knew O2 has wowed to offer the iPhone 3G sans any contracts as a “Pay and Go” device. However, when we covered the story in June, other than this information we hardly knew anything else. Now we have more details to report.

First the pricing - O2 will sell the 8GB and 16GB iPhone 3Gs for 349.99 GBP and 399.99 GBP, respectively. Yes, it’s kinda expensive but the price includes full year of unlimited web browsing and WiFi. Afterwards, to keep the habit going you’ll have to pour out 10 GBP every month.

As for the release date, the Pay and Go iPhone 3G is hitting the UK market on September 16th when interested users will be able to grab the device in O2 stores, The Carphone Warehouse and Apple stores.

On the downside, though, Visual Voicemail isn’t included in the service with “Pay and Go” iPhone 3G, but something’s gotta give, right?

[Via: Engadget Mobile]

According to the AFP, Apple is in the final stages of talks with China Mobile to bring the iPhone to the “world’s fastest growing economy.” Apparently, the two companies are likely to call on a deal in the near future, though China Mobile’s spokesman declined to comment.

There’s no doubt Apple could benefit from the vast Chinese market, even if only 1% of China Mobile’s users end up buying the device. A single percent of their user base is 6 million people and that’s huge. However, we’re more probably talking about the original iPhone than the iPhone 3G here. China Mobile’s 3G network uses China-only TD-SCDMA technology which at the moment can’t sing along Apple’s 3G handset. Will Apple tweak the 3G radio for Chinese market? It’s hard to tell at this stage, but they certainly have an incentive to do so. We’ll keep watching and get back to you as soon as we have more to report on the subject, k?

[Via: Unwired View]

I’m not sure many iPhone users will like the idea, but now they can make their shiny handset feel like the HTC Touch Diamond. Even if you’re a hard core Apple fanboy, you gotta admit — HTC Touch Diamond looks good. The TouchFLO 3D rocks and is certainly one of the best (if not the best) UI for Windows Mobile. And now you can at least try to see how it would work on the iPhone.

A jailbroken device is required and afterwards you just need to search for iPhoneFLO in Installer.app and take it from there. If you have something constructive to say about the theme, please use the comments bellow. Otherwise, please don’t use us for flame wars. Thanks.

[Via: MobilityToday]