Touch User Guide is reporting that Apple’s AU website has been updated with a March release date for the iPad. Looks like it will be a pretty global release date.

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The Device and Application created by Verifone “called PAYware Mobile” allows your to make credit card payments using your iPhone. VeriFone says, there is already a credit card reader for the iPhone but thanks to a secure payment gateway Payware is safer to use.

“A quick download of the PAYware Mobile app to your iPhone 3G or 3GS opens the door to increased sales and margins by enabling you to accept more “card present” payments. And the app is remarkably easy to use. Just swipe the card and a tone tells you the fully encrypted transaction data has been accepted. Pusha button to capture the signature. Push another to add a tip to the bill. Push one more to finalize the sale. Want to email the receipt to your customer? Click. Done. Any time, you can review previous transactions, check daily transaction summaries, even bring up a map showing where each transaction took place. Powerful, yet easy-to-operateSignature captureOne-button, customizable email receiptsPA-DSS certified It’s the complete payment solution that transforms the iPhone into a secure payment portal. With VeriFone’s PAYware Mobile, you’ll never miss a sale. Simply swipe a card, capture a signature and enjoy the convenience of payments wherever, whenever. With PAYware Mobile, not only do you have the ultimate in convenience, you have the ultimate in security. In addition, the app-plus-reader combination can lower your cost of accepting credit cards by 30%. PAYware Mobile. Solid. Secure. Delivered.”

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For those of you holding your breath for Skype to work over AT&T’s 3G network, you will soon be able to relax as Skyp esay it’s only a matter of time.

From their blog: You may have seen other apps offering calls over 3G, but we’re holding ours back for a little bit longer. Why? So that we can give you the very best audio quality we can. When our 3G-capable Skype for iPhone app is released, it’ll let you make calls in wideband audio, giving you greater clarity and fidelity – because that’s what you expect from Skype.

We’ve been waiting since way back in November, when AT&T decided to allow VoIP over their 3G network, and Apple’s iPhone 3.2 SDK for iPad has now removed the last hurdle. It’s no surprise we heard earlier that AT&T has been working with Apple to improve their network before the release of the highly anticipated Apple iPad. Perfect timing don’t you think?

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At 10.30AM PST on February 2nd 2010 Apple released the 3.1.3 version (7E18) of the iPhoneOS.

If you care about your jailbreak and unlock, don’t update your device - 3G and 3G(S) owners should pay particular attention to this warning.

• PwnageTool and redsn0w are not yet compatible with 3.1.3
• There is no estimated release time for compatible tools (please don’t bug us about this).
• Any information we have regarding this update will be posted here.
• You can also follow us on twitter - @iphone_dev

Update 1: [Don’t go near this if you have 3GS, newer ipt2G, or any ipt3G] Thanks to daring experimenters in the comments, we can confirm that yesterday’s redsn0w works for today’s 3.1.3 update for iPhone 2G. Just point it at the 3.1.2 iPhone 2G IPSW after doing update or restore to 3.1.3. So far we’ve only confirmed this for iPhone 2G. (Note that if this does work for iPhone 3G too, you can *only* use it if you don’t care about the unlock.)

Update 2: [Don’t go near this if you have 3GS, newer ipt2G, or any ipt3G] Can confirm that this method works for iPhone 3G and iPod touch 1G too. Don’t do it for iPhone 3G if you need an unlock though (really, don’t!). For older iPod touch 2G, we’ll need a small (1-character) change in redsn0w source.

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After Apple announced an update to the iPhone SDK earlier this week, which finally saw users being allowed access to VoIP services over the carrier’s 3G network, Israel based VoIP startup Fring has said that their iPhone app now lets users make video and voice calls over 3G. Announcing this on the company blog, Fring says this does not require any update to the current iPhone app and users wishing to make VoIP calls over 3G may do so right away.

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Make sure you bookmark the site because we’ve got some nice surprises coming up for all your iPad fans over the next few weeks prior to launch.

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MacRumors is reporting that the new iPhone 3.2 SDK, now available via developer.apple.com, but (currently?) only supporting the just-announced iPad, brings a couple interesting new features to the tablet.

• External displays, which had potential but no official APIs in previous iPhone SDKs, looks like they’ve gone legit. Video out to come? No word on an HDMI cable still…
• Shared file directory, which mounts on both Mac and PC. It isn’t the Mobile Finder we’ve wanted, but it sounds like it might make getting docs on and off a whole lot easier.
• Universal apps, which means developers can make a single build that will support both the smaller iPhone and iPod touch, and the bigger iPad.

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The battle between Apple and Google over the rejection of Google’s iPhone applications has been a long fought one. While Google has claimed that their iPhone app has been unfairly targeted, Apple has maintained to this day that the iPhone app have not been rejected and is still under review.

Earlier this month, Vic Gundotra, the Vice President of Engineering at Google had indicated that his company will ensure that Google Voice is made available to iPhone users “one way or the other”. Back then, it was not clear if Google was planning to fight Apple and get their native iPhone app back on the App Store or if they intended to take the web-app route; much similar to the other Google Voice related applications like VoiceCentral.

Apparently, it is the latter. The company has now unveiled a new browser based version of Google Voice that can be accessed by iPhone users on their Safari browser. This is clearly a strategy to circumvent the strict control that Apple has had over its App Store. Noting that the new version of Google Voice is a “Web App”, the company claims that this is much more interactive than the earlier browser based version. Here are some of the salient features of the new Google Voice web app:

• Built on HTML5
• Ability to display Google Voice number as your outbound called ID
• Lets users listen to voice mails directly from the browser
• Dial phone numbers on an interactive on-screen keypad

However, the problem with an iPhone web app or for that matter even a native iPhone app, which cannot run in the background is that it dilutes the functionality by a great extent. In case of an iPhone web app, it’s even worse as it doesn’t have the Push Notification feature. Anyways, the new Google Voice web app is built for iPhone OS 3.0 and higher and can be accessed from your iPhone at m.Google.com/voice. Let us know your experience with the new application.

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iCall is the first and only VoIP application that functions on the iPhone and iPod Touch over cellular 3G networks.

iCall is a market leader in desktop and mobile-based desktop calling platforms, including its highly popular version for the Apple iPhone. Until today, restrictions imposed on developers prohibited VoIP functionality on any 3G network.

VoIP on the iPhone has been the source of many debates with companies such as Google being denied access to the platform and the FCC inquiring as to the restrictions in the Apple App Store; iCall is one of the few VoIP applications that has been permitted by Apple to operate on the iPhone platform.

With the latest revisions Apple has made to the iPhone developer agreement and Software Development Kit, iCall for the iPhone and iPod Touch now enabled unrestricted free local and long distance calling over 3G data networks. iCall with support for VoIP over 3G networks is now available in the App Store for download. iCall is the first and only VoIP application available for the iPhone platform that allows use over 3G networks. iCall for the iPhone and iPod Touch may now be downloaded from the App Store at http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/icall-fr … ?mt=8&uo=6
—–

The lifting of this restriction should pave the way for other VOIP applications to offer 3G versions of their apps. Skype recently revealed that they have a 3G version of their iPhone application ready to go.

“Many of you have also been asking when we’ll release a version which allows you to make calls over 3G - the holy grail of Skype on the mobile, if you like. We’ve had a 3G-capable version ready for some time now, but Apple’s current restrictions mean that they won’t allow us to make it available on the App Store for the moment”

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• January 28, 2010 — Google Voice Finally Comes to iPhone But as an iPhone Web App
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Safari

The large Multi-Touch screen on iPad lets you see web pages as they were meant to be seen — one whole page at a time. With vibrant color and sharp text. So whether you’re looking at a page in portrait or landscape, you can see everything at a size that’s actually readable. And with iPad, navigating through the web has never been easier, or more intuitive. Because you use the most natural pointing device there is: your finger. You can scroll through a page just by flicking your finger up or down on the screen. Or pinch to zoom in or out on a photo. There’s also a thumbnail view that shows all your open pages in a grid, to let you quickly move from one page to the next.

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Apple’s new App: Brushes, is their version of a simple Photoshop app, enabling users of all abilities to create their own artwork and upload it straight to their favourite social networks.

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EA says the first thing they wanted to check out was the device’s performance, and for that, Need For Speed. They’re showing off a BMW M3, which looks quite good (definitely better than the iPhone), but not as good as on a PC. It looks somewhere inbetween, which is kinda the point of the device. Though it’s closer to the iPhone. “It’s like holding an HD screen up to your face.” The game is also “fully touch enabled.” To see inside the car, just tap inside the car, and swipe up and down on the shifter to change gears, and tap on the mirror to look behind you.

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Apple has revealed iBooks, the new addition to the App Store on the iPad, which will allow you to buy books direct from some of the biggest publishers in the world, and read them directly on your iPad.

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After nearly a decade of rumors and speculation, Apple’s finally unveiled the iPad. It’s a half-inch thick and weighs just 1.5 pounds, with a 9.7-inch capacitive touchscreen IPS LCD display, and it’s running a custom 1GHz Apple “A4″ chip developed by the P.A. Semi team, with a 10-hour battery life and a month of standby. It’ll come in 16, 32, and 64GB sizes, and it’s got the expected connectivity: very little. There’s a 30-pin Dock connector, a speaker, a microphone, Bluetooth, and 802.11n WiFi, as well as an accelerometer and a compass. There’s also a keyboard dock, which connects underneath in the portrait orientation. The device is managed by iTunes, just like the iPhone — you sync everything over to your Mac. As expected, it can run iPhone apps — either pixel-for-pixel in a window, or pixel-doubled fullscreen — but developers can also target the new screen size using the updated iPhone OS SDK, which is available today. The 3G version comes with new data plans: 250MB for $14.99 and an unlimited plan for $29.99 a month contract-free on… AT&T. Activations are handled on the iPad, so you can activate and cancel whenever you want. Every iPad is unlocked and comes with a GSM micro-SIM, so you can use it abroad, but there aren’t any international deals in place right now — Steve says they’ll be back “this summer” with news on that front.

It starts at $499 for 16GB, 32GB for $599, and $699 64GB. Adding 3G costs a $130 per model, so the most expensive model (64GB / 3G) is $829. The WiFi-only model will ship in 60 days, and the 3G models will come in 90.

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iPad Specifications

• 9.7 inch IPS display
  
• 0.5 inches thin
  
• 1.5 pounds
  
• Full capacitive multi-touch interface
  
• 16-64GB of Flash memory storage
  
• 1 GHz Apple-branded A4 chip (developed in-house)
  
• Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
  
• 802.11n WiFi
  
• Built-in Speaker
  
• Built-in Microphone
  
• Accelerometer & Compass
  
• 30-pin Dock connector (same as iPod and iPhone)
  
• 10-hours of battery life (Over one month standby time)
  
• Runs all iPhone apps
  
• App Store application included

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Calling it “way better than a laptop, way better than a phone,” Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled his company’s long-awaited iPad tablet-style multi-touch device Wednesday.

The device weighs just 1.5 pounds — lighter than any netbook, Jobs noted — and sports a 9.7-inch display. It also includes a 1GHz Apple-built ARM A4 processor which includes the CPU and graphics.

“Everything is one chip, and it screams,” Jobs said.

He also touted that device gets 10 hours battery life watching video, and has a one-month standby charge. It will come in capacities of 16GB to 64GB of flash storage.

As expected, the device also can connect to the existing App Store. It was revealed that current iPhone and iPod touch applications will work on the iPad. With just a tap, existing applications can be run in full-screen mode.

Also introduced was “iBooks,” Apple’s e-book reading application. Jobs credited Amazon with pioneering the e-book market with its Kindle, but said Apple intends to improve on that model.

“We’re going to stand on their shoulders and go a bit further,” he said.

Jobs noted that the hardware is a “dream to type on,” and demonstrated how to read, view media and content and access applications on the hardware.

It includes calendar, address book, maps and music applications built-in. It also connects to the iTunes store.

“You can discover music, you can purchase it,” Jobs said. “Movies, TV shows, podcasts, iTunes University — everything built right in.”

It also has access to YouTube the streaming service’s high-definition streaming content.

“Using this thing is remarkable. It’s so much more intimate than a laptop, and it’s so much more capable than a smartphone,” Jobs said.

He then demonstrated browsing the Web on the device. Jobs sat on a couch on the stage at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco and bought movie tickets on Fandango.

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We will be live blogging the whole Apple Event that kicks off at 10am PST. Be sure to check back in the morning.

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iClarified reports:

USBFever has announced a solar power pack for the iPhone which can also charge other devices via a USB slot.

With this Power Pack for the iPhone 3G, you can enjoy your movies, music, phone calls and internet surfing without worrying about the battery running out! This portable charger can recharge your iPhone to 100% about one and half times when the this powerpack is fully charged!

Features:
- Additional USB Port for charging other USB Gadgets
- DUAL Power Sources for re-charging - Solar or USB Mini 5 pin (see notes below)
- LED indicators for battery status
- An External Battery for other USB Gadgets
- Perfectly fit for your iPhone 3G / 3G S
- Recharge your iPhone in a convenient way
- Still access to key buttons and ports.
- You can still have it for Photo-taking (still can use your camera).

This accessory is compatible with:
- iPhone 3G (or 2.0)
- iPhone 3GS
- iPhone 2G (or 1.0) (not a 100% fit)

Specifications:
- Capacity: 2100mAh
- Input: 5V, 500mA
- Output: 5V 500mA (max.)

The Solar Power Pack from USBFever can be purchased for $54.99 US.

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9to5Mac has learned some additional tablet details from sources inside publishing companies recently briefed on the device by Apple.

Here is a summary of the key points:

● Apple has been aggressively working on partnerships over the last month and hopes by Wednesday to say, we’ve signed up “all of the major publishers”.

● Apple is pitching an “Agency model” which gives publishers more control and freedom for pricing vs. Amazon.

● Scrollmotion, the biggest current book contributor to the App Store, isn’t part of this deal: “The smaller outfits are going to get screwed”

● Apple was looking for an example for the event but won’t have large libraries of material in their book store until “mid 2010 at the very earliest”

● No prototypes were brought to the meetings, but the tablet was described as “a very-readable 10-inch glass screen smaller in size than the Kindle DX with a similar weight.”

● Apple mentioned that the “software was the key to the experience and it would be the game changer”. The shift from B&W televisions to Color is analogous to the Kindle vs. the Tablet.

● They say it isn’t going to cost anywhere near $1000 as has been reported elsewhere.

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Apple has begun preparing the Yerba Buena Center for its special event on Wednesday.

MacRumors received the photo below from a reader, Samuel Powell, who noticed the workers placing large banners on the side of the building.

Apple’s “Come see our latest creation” special event takes place on January 27th at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco and begins at 10AM Pacific Time.

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• January 27, 2010 — Apple Event Live Blogging

iLounge has double confirmed with sources that the Apple Tablet will have two dock connectors and an antenna compartment.

We’re hearing that the tablet is going to have one on the vertical bottom edge and one on the horizontal bottom edge, enabling this device for the first time to be both mounted and charged either in portrait or landscape mode. If Apple allows multiple accessory connections this could offer some other nice benefits as well.

The various reports of the tablet’s iPhone-ish-ness continue with the antenna compartment, which like the original iPhone has a long rear stripe for wireless radio broadcasting. The large size of the tablet would provide ample room for some nice-sized antennas, and 802.11n compatibility.

Read more at Touch User Guide

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There is a lot of speculation about what will be revealed on the 27th by Apple. We’re siding with a definite yes on Boy Genius Report’s ideas:

• There will be multi-touch gestures OS-wide. (Would make sense for that as the rumored OS for the iTablet is close if not the same as the iPhone)
• “A few new ways” to run applications in the background — multitasking.
• Many graphical and UI changes to make navigating through the OS easier and more efficient. We haven’t had this broken down, but we can only hope for improved notifications, a refreshed homescreen, etc.
• The update will supposedly be available for only the iPhone 3G and 3GS, but will “put them ahead in the smartphone market because it will make them more like full-fledged computers” more than any other phone to date. Everyone is “really excited.”
• The last piece of information is the most vague, but apparently there will be some brand new syncing ability for the contacts and calendar applications.

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We love this probability chart, and our little ears have heard some nice rumours that certain make many of these things quite viable in the coming months… what do you think?

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Watch the video to see just how it works.

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The blog posted a collection of iPhone 4.0 features (with a screenshot to validate its source) we’re likely to see at next week’s highly anticipated Apple event, the most intriguing of which is multitasking.

On the multitasking front, Apple’s extremely popular iPhone falls behind the smartphone competition. BlackBerries, Android devices, and Palm’s Pre and Pixi all support multitasking, which enables background running applications.

For smartphone users, the feature is killer because you can have multiple applications running at the same time and simply switch between them without having to exit out. Multitasking means instant updates from applications that are running, but not in use.

Apple has been reluctant to release an update to support multitasking, although it did release push notifications last year as somewhat of a workaround. In light of all of the tablet rumors, however, multitasking does sound more likely this time around (and users can already jailbreak their iPhones to support it). Should iPhone OS 4.0 be the software that powers the elusive tablet, then background-running applications would be critical for that product.

On the mobile front, the Boy Genius source claims that first generation iPhone owners are out of luck, as the 4.0 software update is said to only be available for 3G and 3GS phones.

Here’s what the source purports, per the Boy Genius’ report:

- There will be multi-touch gestures OS-wide. (Would make sense for that as the rumored OS for the tablet is close if not the same as the iPhone.)

- “A few new ways” to run applications in the background — multitasking.

- Many graphical and UI changes to make navigating through the OS easier and more efficient. We haven’t had this broken down, but we can only hope for improved notifications, a refreshed homescreen, etc.

- The update will supposedly be available for only the iPhone 3G and 3GS, but will “put them ahead in the smartphone market because it will make them more like full-fledged computers” than any other phone to date. Everyone is “really excited.”

- The last piece of information is the most vague, but apparently there will be some brand new syncing ability for the contacts and calendar applications.

(via Mashable)

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• January 28, 2010 — Google Voice Finally Comes to iPhone But as an iPhone Web App
• January 28, 2010 — Apple Lifts 3G VoIP Restrictions for iPhone Apps

As expected, Apple is holding a “special event” on Jan. 27 to “come see our latest creation,” with invitations being sent out JUST SECONDS AGO. 10am PST, at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater in San Francisco. Let’s take a closer look at the invite, which is, again, to “come see our latest creation.” Using the word “creation” is telling in both its vagueness and its specificity: It says it’s something new. Apple likes playing with words, too—remember the “something’s in the air” tagline for the event they introduced the MacBook Air, their latest truly new product? At the same time, it’s interestingly far less weighty than the tagline for the Macworld where Apple introduced the iPhone, which indicated that it would be the beginning of something huge: “The first 30 years were just the beginning.” It’s a light and fluffy blurb, not the one you might expect for something that some people think could be the beginning of a brand new kind kind of personal computing, previously only depicted in movies. (via gizmodo)

Related iPhone News

• February 9, 2010 — iPad to hit Australia in March 2010
• February 7, 2010 — PAYware Mobile for iPhone
• February 5, 2010 — Skype will work over 3G anyday now
• February 3, 2010 — iPhone release 3.1.3 Software - Jailbreakers wait a minute!
• February 1, 2010 — Fring Brings Video And Voice Calls Over 3G to iPhone