TransMedia’s Glide web OS 4.0 brings Safari compatibility to its massively available cloud storage and Web apps for a wide variety of computers, iOS, and handheld devices.
Rumors have persisted for three years that Apple would be adding a front-facing camera to the iPhone similar to high-end devices from Nokia and others — and a new patent revealed this week shows that the day may finally be near.
AppleInsider, Gizmodo and others are reporting on the newly-disclosed patent filing that shows “improved video and photo performance on handheld devices” which includes a sketch that clearly shows a front-facing camera as part of an Apple handset.
The patent is called “Apparatus and Method for Compensating for Variations in Digital Cameras” (say that three times fast!), and the document mainly outlines the ways in which Apple could “account for variations in the lens manufacturing process.” As any user who’s hand to get a replacement for a broken or malfunctioning iPhone may have noticed, not every camera is built exactly the same.
"Similar cameras manufactured on similar product lines may operate non-uniformly. For example manufacturing variations may result in variations in response to external stimuli, such as ambient light," the patent application reads. "Such variations in camera responses may produce a non-uniformity in images rendered by digital cameras of the same type, consequently, leading to an inconsistent product performance and to variations in product lines(s)."
Apple’s solution — and the main purpose of the patent application — would use acquired “video images of colored light” to measure the light intensity and compensate for it accordingly.
But the real story in the patent filing is the concept of a front-facing camera at long last. Potential iPad owners were discouraged to find that the device had no camera of any kind — particularly disappointing for a light, portable device with such potential for videoconferencing.
As AppleInsider points out, “a forward facing camera on an iPad or iPhone could allow for video conferencing, self-portraits or self-recording with the portable hardware.” Sounds good to us!
(Image courtesy of AppleInsider)
The BBC announced today that it will soon offer iPhone apps for its news and sport content. The apps will then be followed by version for the BlackBerry and those running the Android operating system.
The BBC said that the apps were developed because more people use "sophisticated handheld devices" to view content.
CCS Insight analysts think the apps would "increase tension between publishers of paid-for content and those reliant on other revenue." Some think the news industry is struggling to find the means to get rolling within the digital world.
"Whilst the BBC’s impulse to enter an already crowded news and sport apps market place is understandable, the move belies the fundamentally competitive nature of the Corporation’s approach to new services," said Emily Bell, director of digital content at the Guardian. "Applications are a long way away from being ‘broadcast’ media, and, unlike the web, they form a market which the BBC is seeking to disrupt." Bell continued saying the "considerable cost" of developing apps for all platforms meant the BBC was in "territory most publishers could not afford to inhabit."
On the contrary, Erik Huggers, BBC director of future media and technology, said the BBC audience "want to access the digital services that they have paid for at a time and place that suits them. Today’s announcement means that we are catching up with our audiences," he explained at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
As for the actual app, which is due in April, will provide content from the BBC News website, including features such as written stories, correspondent blogs as well as audio and video. Users will be able to send comments and pictures directly to the newsroom. The sports app will be released just in time for the World Cup, which begins in June.
Image courtesy of Zahipedia.com
Love it or hate it, Adobe Flash is finally making the leap from the desktop to handheld devices in a big way this year — including the iPhone, whether or not Apple wants to bless its existence.
Adobe announced back in October of last year that the next version of its Flash developer tools (part of Creative Suite 5, which is now in private beta testing) will include a “Packager for iPhone” to convert Flash apps into iPhone apps. That’s good news to the 2 million Flash developers already in existence, according to TechCrunch.
The competition is heating up, with Adobe offering a public demo last week of Flash running on Google’s Nexus One, and Palm announcing that the next update to WebOS will also include Flash for the Pre and Pixi. Apple’s excuses for the lack of Flash on the iPhone have been numerous (even though they’re all valid): It’s too slow, it’s a battery hog and it’s not capable enough.
Of course, as TechCrunch notes, Apple’s biggest concern about Flash relates more to its own iPhone SDK — they simply didn’t want a competing developer platform to get in the way of their own. But they may no longer have a choice, if Adobe CS5 makes good on its promise to easily convert Flash apps to iPhone apps. Microsoft is also planning a similar tactic for Silverlight, so the heat is on.
Apple has an estimated 125,000 or so iPhone developers, which pales in comparison to the installed base of 2 million Adobe Flash developers. While none of them can magically make Flash apps and video start playing in Mobile Safari, once the Flash-to-iPhone app floodgates open, Apple may have little choice but to embrace Flash or risk some of its iPhone OS developers jumping ship.
For their part, Adobe has been streamlining the mobile version of Flash to address the common complaints about the desktop version. Here’s hoping the two can put aside their differences, put their heads together and provide the best experience for Flash on any mobile device yet!
