iSights.org

Is Apple stealing ideas from iPhone developers? No.

iPhone Atlas is running an article asking if Apple stealing ideas from iPhone developers. The Atlas article, in turn, is based primarily on accusations being made by Jonathan Zdziarski, best known for the iPhone 2.0 "emergency call" passcode hack.

Fundamentally, Jonathan accuses Apple of attempting to patent a home screen idea previously used by an application called Intelliscreen.

He writes, "At the worst, this is an attempt to steal a concept. At the very best, it's an attempt to patent something that was so obvious, a competitor figured it out long before Apple did."

So is it true? Is the big Apple ripping off some poor defenseless developer?

Quick answer: No. Apple did not rip off Intelliscreen.

Intelliscreen, however, could have ripped off Apple. Keep on reading for the proof.

Worthless App Store "Reviews"

Is it just me, or are you also getting tired of all of the application "reviews" on the App Store that say nothing more than "first post", ask "who would want this", complain about the price, or offer some other in-depth opinion of an application... that they don't even own.

I'm especially fond of the "reviews" that complain about features and point you to some other application, often free, that supposedly does the same thing... when it's obvious they haven't used either one, and as such have no way of knowing that app B is actually and in fact a true replacement for app A. Who cares? It's free.

Personally, I think you could increase the quality of the reviews considerably if you limited the ability to review an application to those customers who have actually purchased, downloaded, and installed the application in question.

Another issue relates to the current mess with Electronic Arts, Spore, DRM, and Amazon.

Plug In Your iPhones: Software Update 2.1 Is Ready

If you have a 3G iPhone, or an original iPhone that you've upgraded to 2.0.2, then it's time to plug it into iTunes 8 and click that "Check for updates" button.

Why? Because the new iPhone 2.1 update is now available from Apple's servers. Weighing in at 237.8 MB , it promises:

• Decrease in call set-up failures and dropped calls
• Significantly better battery life for most users
• Dramatically reduced time to backup to iTunes
• Improved email reliability, notably fetching email from POP and Exchange accounts
• Faster installation of 3rd party applications
• Fixed bugs causing hangs and crashes for users with lots of third party applications
• Improved performance in text messaging
• Faster loading and searching of contacts
• Improved accuracy of the 3G signal strength display
• Repeat alert up to two additional times for incoming text messages
• Option to wipe data after ten failed passcode attempts
• Genius playlist creation

Will it deliver? I'll know in approximately 27 minutes.

Visit the Apple iPhone Software Update page for more information.