TekGoblin

If you have an iPhone you probably have iOS 4, here is a guide to the features in iOS 4. Please remember that most of the features apply to only the 3GS or iPhone 4 not the iPhone 3G. I am only going to cover features that are new or changed in iOS 4.

I just received an email today that confirmed that Apple has shipped my free iPhone 4 case. The email provides tracking information and states that it should be delivered by August 4th not September 14th like previously said.

Today news surfaced that the DMCA had updated their rules which now allow you to jailbreak your iPhone with out legal action being taken against you. CultofMac reached out to Apple to ask for an official response on the new rules. They got a response and its detailed as follows:

“Apple’s goal has always been to insure that our customers have a great experience with their iPhone and we know that jailbreaking can severely degrade the experience. As we’ve said before, the vast majority of customers do not jailbreak their iPhones as this can violate the warranty and can cause the iPhone to become unstable and not work reliably.”

Basically while jailbreaking is now legal as long as its not used to obtain illegal items, Apple still frowns on this and will void your warranty. While it is true that you will probably have the best experience with the phone with its factory software on it, but we still should be able to do whatever we want with the hardware, however I do agree that it should violate your warranty if you modify the software outside the warranty’s terms.

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) has been amended and now allows users to jailbreak their iPhones. This is a great win for consumers, now Apple or other phone manufacturers cannot sue you for jailbreaking or rooting your device. Check out the excerpt below:

(2) Computer programs that enable wireless telephone handsets to execute software applications, where circumvention is accomplished for the sole purpose of enabling interoperability of such applications, when they have been lawfully obtained, with computer programs on the telephone handset.

Now if you noticed above it mentions that the software has to be ‘lawfully obtained’ so that still doesn’t mean that you can install cracked or stolen applications legally. The changes also allow you to unlock your phone and change carriers if you want, the manufacturer cannot stop you from doing so.

Good news for anyone in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Singapore, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland, the iPhone 4 will be available for purchase in these countries on July 30th which is Friday. However pricing has not been released for these countries yet by Apple.

Hipstamatic has done it again with their latest app called InrediBooth. This unique iPhone app brings the feel of an actual photo booth to your iPhone. The app features 3 different retro effects that you can apply to your photo strip. The app also features a share option to Facebook or email.

Skype released an update today that now allows for you to run Skype in the background on iOS 4. You can now receive calls and messages while Skype is in the background. You can also leave Skype and play with other apps while in a coversation. The update is available for the iPhone 4 and 3GS currently, no support for 3G because it cannot do multitasking.

This rumor might actually be more believable than the rumors that the iPhone was going to Verizon. One main reason being that T-Mobile’s network is already a GSM network and Verizon’s wasn’t so the iPhone would not have to change drastically to connect to their network. A reason that the iPhone was not logical on Verizon’s network is because the phone design would have to change to support a CDMA network while GSM is already an international standard. According to CultofMac their source says that the iPhone coming to T-Moblie has an 80% chance to happen in Q3.

STRATA has released results of their 2nd quarter survey. The results showed that mobile advertising is on the rise and that nearly 1/3 of advertisers are focusing on mobile ads.

With Apple’s launch of the iAd network, and Googles venture into Admob this would make a lot of sense. The report shows that the iPhone ranks at the top with 87% of clients interested in advertising on the iPhone, Blackberry and Android at 30%, and iPad at 26%. It would make sense that the iPhone would have the largest share of advertising considering it has been on the market longer than Android and iPad, but we are not sure what to say about Blackberry.

Another note, the survey reported that TV advertising may be on the rise with 72.5% of agencies interested in digital TV advertising. However advertising on TV is still down 16% from last quarter but the interest alone may be all it needs.

With all of the issues with the iPhone 4 and antennagate, Apple has lost its lead on Microsoft in the Stock Market. Apple had a lead on Microsoft for a couple of months leading up to the iPhone 4 release, but with all the negative news they have fallen again behind Microsoft. Here are some screenshots below of the current market caps of both companies courtesy of Google Finance. MSFT 220.05B, AAPL 219.41B Its not much of a lead, but they are back in front. Apple may rebound with the recent announcement of the iPad being available in 9 more countries this friday.

At Apple’s press conference today they offered a fix for the current proximity sensor issues with the iPhone 4. Apple stated that the proximity sensor fix will come in a later patch for iOS4. No more was stated about the proximity issues except the patch, we will keep our eyes out for more news on this issue. For now lets be patient, Apple should have the patch soon.

Steve Jobs announced at the Apple press conference today for the iPhone 4 that for iPhone purchases through September 30th will be eligible for a free case for their iPhone 4. Jobs stated that you can apply on the Apple website as early as next week. So if you are still having an issue with your iPhone 4 and dropped calls go ahead and order one from Apple next week.