• Mind Blowing 3D Maps by C3 Technologies [Updated]

    // Gradly // 3D, Acquisition, Apple, blog, google, iPad, iPhone, Microsoft, News, Rants & Raves, Tech. 7 Responses

    You are familiar with your current mapping services when it comes to Google Maps, Bing Maps or Google Earth, But a new technology will let you get beyond that and the Swedish company behind it thinks you actually deserve more and… seriously.

    Enter mind-blowing 3D mapping technology from Swedish startup C3 Technologies, the company that showcased their 3D maps on iPad at the CES show. Unlike your Ma and Pa’s maps, C3 Technologies calculates the terrain and buildings directly from aerial images. The approach takes into account the positions and angles of the cameras that took aerial images in order to give each pixel its geographical position with very high accuracy.

    When we say high precision, we mean it hundred percent because C3 maps incorporate recently declassified missile targeting technology by Saab, a well-known Swedish aerospace company. As a result of all this, you get military-grade, pixel-perfect realistic representation of the terrain that can be rotated and paned around to a stunning effect. And at CES, they showed off 3D view of San Francisco running surprisingly smoothly on an iPad, see above

    In addition to 3D maps, C3 also makes awesome street level imagery captured using “an advanced multiple camera system with overlapping viewing angles to capture the entire surroundings in stereo.” Topping it all off are incredible interior views of restaurants, hotels and other points of interest that can be found along the street.

    Don’t you think that would be amazing if this was chosen as the maps to power the upcoming iPhone 5?!

    Update:

    C3 Technologies was acquired in July and the buyer is a western company and currently kept secret. Certainly the big players such as Apple, Microsoft and Google are the prime candidates.

    As noted by macrumors, Apple is a good fit for the company, as they have already admitted to be working on their own turn-by-turn direction GPS service, and we’ve also found evidence that they have licensed map data from a number of companies. It would also reduce their dependance on Google’s mapping solution which presently is used on iOS devices. Apple previously purchased mapping company Placebase and has been aggressively hiring for their Geo Team to take Maps to the “next level”.

    [via brightsideofnews]

  • A Purported iPhone 5 Gets Leaked

    // Gradly // Apple, blog, Featured, iPhone, News, Rants & Raves, Rumors No Responses

    From the massive leaks back when the iPhone 4 was leaked totally before it debuted, we learned a lot, actually its becoming more easy to get our hands on whats Apple is preparing for us in the future. iPhone 5 as iPhone 4 before is being tested by different people and it might be hidden with iPhone 4 like case shell. We are over a month before launch, and Apple has acknowledged that they real world test this way in the past, think, Gray Powell, however. Last evening, a tipster sent the guys at 9to5mac a picture (above) of what he thinks is the iPhone 5.

    The tipster has an iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4 and what he saw was like nothing he’s ever seen. He said it would fit perfectly into the case below.

    This iPhone appears thinner than the current iPhone 4 but also wider. The edges are rounded metal like the edges of a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 but could still function as an antenna. The back is a curved/tapered glass or plastic.

    Tapered design and wider edge to edge screen were rumored a lot as well as a bigger home screen that could be capacitive and gestures-driven touch.

  • Google Books, Amazon Kindle and Nook Finally Adhere to Apple’s Rules

    // Gradly // Apple, blog, Books, google, News, Rants & Raves No Responses

    We knew this was going to happen: Google Books, Amazon Kindle, Nook in the latest releases, they’ve pulled out the link to external Stores directly and adhere to Apple in-app purchases only. Apple you win for sure 🙂

  • Facebook For iPad Has Arrived [Updated]

    // Gradly // Apple, blog, Gadgets, How To, iPad, Jailbreak, News, Rants & Raves, Social Networks, Tutorials No Responses

    The entire world has been patiently awaiting the arrival of a Facebook iPad app. This however is just about to change. As discovered by some folks on Twitter and confirmed by TechCrunch, the new Facebook iPad app is ready and actually already out there. Indeed, Facebook did develop the app and placed it inside its code already, but hasn’t simply activated it. Just a few lines of code to change can however make it happen.

    Hidden in the code of Facebook’s iPhone app is the code for something else. Something everyone has been waiting over a year for. The iPad app.

    The gist of the trick is a modification to make inside the Facebook app discovered by AeroEchelon on Twitter:

    If you change the UIDeviceFamily to 2 for iPhone on the Facebook app you get an iPad version!

    You can make apps iPad compatible without pixelation and 2x button and also you can make the app support all 4 orientations. Here is how:

    1.  Navigate to the app you want to make compatible in /var/mobile/Applications
    2.  Open the info.plist in the applications main folder
    3.  Add the follow:

    <key>UIDeviceFamily</key>
    <array>
    <integer>1</integer>
    <integer>2</integer>
    </array>

    4. Respring and then you should have a nice iPad size app

    iClarified has a full step by step guide on how to achieve just that. It’s actually the same technique that has been long used to force iPhone-only apps to run in full screen on the iPad.

    Update #1:

    Facebook has blocked access to iPad version

    Update #2:

    You can re-enable Facebook’s iPad app by doing this:

    • Download Facebook app
    • Open Cydia and install FaceForward [a free tweak available under BigBoss repo]

     

    [via appadvice]