Hands On: Cheers For iOS.

It’s been quite a while since I signed up to be notified about about Cheers, so much so that I honestly forgot about it. But today an email hit my inbox saying the new iOS app was live. If you haven’t heard of Cheers, I’ll preface this hands-on by saying it is very similar to both Oink and Stamped — “life rating” apps — with a little bit of Instagram ideology thrown in.

Still interested? Hop inside.

Report: iPad 3 Getting Announced First Week Of March.

AllThingsD has several sources allegedly confirming the iPad 3 is getting its grand reveal sometime during the first week of March. The date is believable for a number of reasons, most notably the recent rash of rumored iPad 3 parts leaking out. First it was the back casing. Then it was talk of the A6 processor being a more efficient dual-core processor — not the quad-core it has been long rumored to be. This morning it is Sharp’s 2048 x 1536 9.7″ display, which if is accurate, will instantly one-up every other tablet on the market.

Further adding credibility to AllThingD’s claim is a recent discovery of “March 9th” being detailed in newly released carrier profiles for iOS 5.1 straight from Apple — files which could mean absolutely nothing at all, or, could mean Apple will launch both the new iPad and software.

Generally speaking, when (multiple) pieces of a next-gen Apple device begin hitting the web in troves, it’s usually a good sign that we’re nearing the official announcement/release.

That said, the iPad 3 is still shrouded in mystery. Until Apple makes it official (or people starting leaving those in bars) we’re not going to know for sure.

Hands On: Tweetbot For iPad.

Tweetbot 2.0 for iPhone is finally here. Now what? Get Tweetbot for iPad of course!

Ok. So Tweetbot isn’t a universal app. In our opinion, it’s easily worth the $6 spread across two devices. We, as well as countless iPad users who use and abuse Twitter have been waiting for months to get Tweetbots beautiful pixels all over their 9.7″ of Cupertino-designed glass. And now that Tweetbot for iPad is available, what do we think? It’s great! It is robust and full of features, yet at the same time simple in design. Honestly, if you’ve used Tweetbot for iPhone, the iPad version is pretty much identical, just bigger. Everything from the iPhone app: Push Notifications, gestures, gorgeous UI, support for multiple services (Read It Later, Instapaper, Cloud App & more) as well as the ability to customize which shortcut links are present on the sidebar.

At $2.99 it’s not worth a second thought as to if you should purchase it or not, because quite frankly, it’s awesome. Tweetbot has instantly become our favorite Twitter app for iPad, unseating our previous favorite (stock Twitter app). Download it now (App Store link).

Gallery full of eye candy after the break…

iOS 5.1 March 9th Date Revealed In New Carrier Profiles?

Finding the next big hardware or software update in the Apple-sphere is a never-ending race. Most times it takes a few very well placed sources or determined, patient souls to weed through mountains of lines of code in .plist files and so on. This time, strike one for the code sniffers. New carrier profiles recently released by Apple contain a line of code that points to March 9th as the go-live date for said profiles, which in turn could very well mean that’s when the first major iOS 5 update will drop.

If you let your mind wander a bit more, one could deduce that March 9th is also the date in which Apple will announce and/or release the iPad 3 seeing as how it is supposed to get its grand reveal in the February/March timeframe. But of course, Apple release rumors are always to to be consumer with a heaping pile of salt.

Tweetbot 2.0 Is Out! Here’s What’s New. (It’s Awesome).

Tweetbot 2.0 has been teased around twitter for the last couple of weeks. Though if you follow either @tapbots_paul or the official @tweetbot account, you’ll know the taunting has been especially brutal the last couple of weeks. But the waiting is finally over. Tweetbot 2.0 is here. Hop past the break for a breakdown of the new features and screenshots…

G-Form’s New X-Protect iPhone Case Takes An 82 MPH Slapshot To The Gut, Survives

Selling gadget accessories is an increasingly difficult business, exponentially so for iPhone accessory designers/makers. There are so many different products out there chasing after the same few goals that it’s literally almost not worth it to jump in at this point. But every once in a while we get surprised. Is G-Form’s new X-Protect rugged iPhone case something that would surprise us? We’ve yet to test one (working on it). But we’re certainly intrigued by the 82 MPH hockey stick their X-Protect covered iPhone took to the gut.

The X-Protect (and similarly designed, equally robust Extreme Grid) are now available for pre-order over at G-Form’s website – $39.95.

• Extreme Grid
• X-Protect

Video of what an 82 MPH slap shot against an iPhone 4/4S might look like after the break…

Speck CandyShell – Review & Roundup

If you have spent any time hanging out at the GS headquarters, or even read the site once in a while, by now you have probably noticed we like iPhone cases. When I say we like them, I mean we like to review the heck out of them. I personally hate iPhone cases for the pure fact it takes away from the beauty of the iPhone. But when someone sends me a case to review, I won’t say no. I’ll give em a shot and see how they stand up to my sweaty 8bit-blistered fingers day in and day out.

If you recall, a few weeks ago we were trolling the streets of Vegas and the Halls of the Las Vegas Convention Center. A tiny little tech convention that goes by the name of CES was in town and we were there to not only check out the Thunder From Down-under, but to also see all the latest technology being announced. We happened by the Speck booth to see their new line of cases and see if they had anything else worthy of our magnificent eyes. We left with not only a sweet MacBook Air case, but we also left with over9000 iPhone cases. I am here to give you the lowdown on what is coming out of the Speck castle to protect your iPhone 4/4S.

Drop on in for some Specky good times and read our oh-so-nasty important thoughts…

[Update] Software Copyright Lawsuits And IP Bickering Is Getting Ridiculous. [Apple And Motorola]

The constant back and forth fighting over old, outdated and common sense patents and IP is getting ridiculous. Seriously. Look no further than this morning’s news which sees Apple and Motorola currently battling it out in Germany over email push services (the biggest infringement claim, according to Motorola). The initial result of the two cases is a permanent injunction on Apple’s iPhone 3G, 3GS, 4 and iPads in their German online store. (It’s worth noting that Apple retail stores and authorized Apple resellers can still sell the banned Apple gear because of how Apple separates their businesses.)

Florian Mueller from FOSS Patents believes the new injunction is actually the result of a case that took place back in November of 2011, and is coincidence that the new lawsuit(s) and their outcomes are being announced at the same time iPhones and iPads are disappearing from Apple’s German online store.

Motorola is now deciding on whether or not to enforce a patent on high-end, highly advanced pieces of mobile gadgetry (iPhones/iPads) with a patent that pertains to pagers and push services like email. Yes. Fucking pagers from the dawn of the mobile industry. The fact that a company (regardless of who it is) can stop another company with a patent, that by this time should have been invalidated/rendered a museum artifact, is mind boggling and troubling to me. Even more disturbing: Motorola is looking to use the same patent(s) in question to sue Apple in U.S. court, too.

In order for Apple to comply, they’ll have to either (1) license motorola’s pager technology or (2) remove the feature in question. So Germans will have to either get non-push iCloud email or Apple will have to figure out another way to push email to devices — all stuff that should be common IP not “owned” by anyone at this point.

Innovation around the world isn’t being hampered by copying between companies/people. It’s being hampered by useless and unnecessary lawsuits that do nothing but fund IP lawyers’ fancy houses and extreme vacations while the rest of us suffer.

This has got to stop.

Update

The same German court that issued the injunction be enforced beginning this morning has pulled it (for now). If they haven’t already, expect Apple’s online German store to once again see iPhones and iPads available for order and shipment.

Is this the iPod Nano 7th Generation?

Rumors of next-gen Apple gear are always floating around. But a new (alleged) prototype iPod Nano has something new — a camera.

From the leaked pictures, the only physical improvements appears to be the addition of a camera and a camera alone.

In other Nano news, a patent filing back in November eludes to an iPod Nano featuring a built-in speaker of some sort, possibly for future Siri integration. Bluetooth 4.0 has also been name dropped a few times. Maybe the iPod Nano will become the new “iPod Touch Nano/iPhone Nano” if Siri, internet capabilities, and a camera end up making an appearance, no?

It seems like it would be kind of weird taking a picture with something as tiny as the iPod Nano (with camera) would be. Of course, on the opposite end of the spectrum, taking pictures with an iPad isn’t exactly natural looking either.  

If the rumors pan out, look for the new iPod Nano to hit stores sometime in March/April.