• Apple patents magic gloves to use your iPhone in the cold!

    // Gradly // Apple, blog, iPhone, News, Rants & Raves 1 Response

    Apple has patented a new glove that works with capacitive touch screens. Several devices on the market use capacitive screens such as all of Apple’s mobile iOS devices: iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. This highly advanced touch screen technology senses your inputs based on proximity sensors in the display, in addition to the human body’s natural conductivity.

    Because of these factors, devices like the iPhone cannot be used if the user is wearing something like a glove. Because of this, Apple is researching ways to build gloves that work around the issue. We can’t wait to see these stylishly overpriced Magic Gloves hit Apple Stores. For the full technical rundown of the patent view Patently Apple‘s report.

  • White iPhone 4 Issues Resolved With a New Miracle Paint?

    // Gradly // Apple, blog, iPhone, News, Rants & Raves 3 Responses

    Macotakara reports that Apple has teamed up with a Japanese-based company to develop a brand new paint for the white iPhone 4. This paint is dubbed as a “miracle painting material” and is meant to fix the white iPhone 4′s light leakage issues. The new paint apparently allows Apple to easily control the paint’s thickness prior to application on the iPhone 4.

    It appears that this new paint is truly a “miracle” as it looks like the white iPhone 4 will be launching soon. The device has already appeared in both AT&T‘s and Best Buy‘s databases.

  • Google Voice Number-Porting is Now Live

    // Gradly // blog, google, News, Rants & Raves 1 Response

    Google Voice users are now free to turn their current cellphone number into their main Google Voice number, the company announced Tuesday, bringing the much-requested feature to all users after a short, but very public, testing period.

    For many porting will bring joy. For others, expect hours of pain — on hold with your mobile carrier.

    Porting, which costs $20, allows users to turn their mobile number into a Google Voice number, obviating the need to try to spread a new number to your contacts.

    For those not clear on how Google Voice works, the company issues you a new phone number — your Google Voice number. It becomes your master number and when someone calls it, it rings some or all of your other phones and your Gmail/Google Talk account.

    This can include your mobile phone, your home phone, your work phone and your computer, if you have Gmail open. Additionally, Google lets you screen callers and set rules per caller — even blocking and diverting individual numbers to voicemail, which no wireless carrier does.

    Google Voice also transcribes your voicemail and sends your the transcript to your e-mail address. You can make and receive calls from your GV number from your computer, without affecting your mobile-phone minutes. From your computer, domestic calls are free, and internationals are cheap.

    Which all sounds great. And for new users, being able to port your existing mobile-phone number makes switching to Google Voice very easy, since all the people that know your cell number won’t even notice a change. Current users have had to get a new number and then publicize it, and spend months trying to wean people off the old number.

  • Apple to Add NFC Payments to iPad 2 and iPhone 5?

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

    Bloomberg claims that Apple will be incorporating NFC (Near Field Communication) hardware in the next iPhone and iPad. This feature would allow customers to use the iPhone and iPad to make purchases:

    The services are based on “Near-Field Communication,” a technology that can beam and receive information at a distance of up to 4 inches, due to be embedded in the next iteration of the iPhone for AT&T Inc. and the iPad 2, Doherty said. Both products are likely to be introduced this year, he said, citing engineers who are working on hardware for the Apple project.
    Apple could potentially tie this payment system into people’s existing iTunes accounts. It’s described to allow customers to walk into a store and make payments directly from their iOS device. Apple may also incorporate loyalty rewards and credit system in iTunes as well. Other possibilities include using location based transactions to improve iAd targeting.

    According to this source, Apple has already made prototype payment terminals intended for small businesses to scan NFC-enabled iPhones and iPads. These terminals could be subsidized or even given away to encourage adoption.

    Apple has been hiring NFC experts as well as applied for several patents on the technology. A couple of previous reports have also pegged the next generation iPhone as having NFC technology built in.