Being in London, this year we haven't been lucky enough to attend the Apple World Wide Developer Conference at Moscone West in San Francisco. We'll be following Twitter along with the rest of the world's Apple fans, but just in case Twitter goes down (not that that's ever happened before... oh wait) we'll be keeping you posted on developments throughout the day.

Follow WWDC in style, updated every 30 seconds: http://wwdc.twistori.com/#apple

Updates

Apple homepage and iPhone pages updated.

Apple Store already back online

iPhone 3G Specs from online Apple Store:

Same camera 2MegaPixels - ouch.
Same screen.
GPS - wooooo.
3G - wooooo.
Price - woooooo from $199 for 8GB.

Read the rest of this entry »

Good work Gernot Poetsch on snapping the first shots of the Moscone West building in San Francisco where the WWDC keynote will take place on Monday.

Every year, these banners leave a few hints as to what will be revealed on the big day, and this year is no exception.

As mentioned in our earlier article "Thoughts on WWDC", the focus on OS X as much as iPhone here seems to suggest we will be seeing something about the next version of Apple's desktop operating system.

Interestingly, this is the first time we have seen Apple marketing their operating system without the term "Mac". Some people have noted this down as possibly meaning OS X could become available on PCs, but I sincerely doubt that. Instead, I see it as Apple strengthening the definition of each of their brands, so that they fall into the following categories:

• Mac: The computer hardware (Desktop and Notebook)
• iPhone: The mobile hardware (Perhaps a range of iPhones, gradually replacing the iPod)
• OS X: The firmware (One operating system that developers can build for using the same tools and services, while making it even easier for consumers to move from iPod > iPhone > Mac)

It is also interesting to see Apple reviving the idea of OS X on the iPhone, as until now it had seemed Apple had been making the firmware update seem more like the "iPhone OS" as opposed to a mobile version of the desktop operating system.

Another interesting little piece of information: Mystery unmarked boxes similar size to iMac boxes overflowing at Quanta shipping facility. If we were there, we would risk having a look.

So the new iPhone is only days away, and there are tons of rumours flying around all over the place. Let's have a look at what's being said, and what could be said at WWDC...

I've been thinking about how the keynote could go, and here's a little idea of how the show could pan out:

< -- Begin thinking like Steve -- >

Intro

iPhone

* A few slides about how iPhone market share has been growing (conveniently ignoring the last few months where it's been falling).

Yes, it's true. Today, we're introducing the new iPhone. And yes, it's 3G.

New iPhone, runs iPhone 2.0 firmware from the box.

Read the rest of this entry »

I'll be honest, I hadn't heard of this guy until today, but I thought it would be important to share just how (for want of a better word) STUPID he appears in this video.

When asked on what Apple needs to do to really improve its chances in the corporate sector, Mr Krakow suggested that Apple should "Bite the bullet, and either get Blackberry or Windows Mobile on the iPhone"

His reasons for Apple doing so were very vague, and mainly focused on people "being happy" with what they currently have. How can an industry ever evolve if they're always happy with what they have?

Gary's comments on "moving to the Apple system" made him sound as if he really didn't have a clue about what he was talking about. Also, on a side note, you don't tend to hear people in the industry calling anything a system these days - it's more "platforms" and "devices". His comments were as if Apple hadn't got ANY plans to bring out a whole host of enterprise features in the coming weeks.

All I can say is, it's hard to believe this isn't a joke.

Courtesy of the always fabulous Joy of Tech.

Inquisitor, the brilliant little search plugin for Safari has been purchased by web giant Yahoo!

In a move that has surprised many, Yahoo! has seemingly made a smart decision here. The Inquisitor plugin is used by a large number of Apple users to get instant search results from the built in search field that Safari comes with. The search field defaults to Google when Safari is first downloaded, enabling both Google and Apple to earn through search advertising from a high number of searches. So Yahoo! will ensure Inquisitor's default search is through them to increase their slice of the multi-billion dollar search advertising market. Thankfully, the default search engine is still changeable via the newly designed preference pane.

Yahoo! purchasing this plugin is not just a sign of good business sense. It is a very clear example of the importance of interface design. Interface = Brand. The interface of Inquisitor is beautiful, and has developed throughout its life. Being a user of Inquisitor from the beginning, it has been great to see it develop into a thoroughly useful, efficient, and beautiful tool.

Let's hope the buyout from Yahoo! will keep Inquisitor at its prime for years to come.

On a side note, David Watanabe has not joined the ranks of Yahoo!, he's still focused on creating his own awesome software.

This is an (unfortunately unofficial) video for a great song by The Bird and the Bee called "Again & Again".

It has been masterfully put together by Dennis Liu and we think it's great.

It really shows off OS X and its versatile, animated interface.

Brilliant stuff.

Found a cool video you want to share with us? Drop us a comment at GoSquared Discuss

So, it looks like the new iPhone is on its way. Come June's WWDC we'll almost certainly be watching a keynote with Steve Jobs praising the latest and greatest phone he's ever seen.

As iPhone customers since its release 6:02pm on November 9th in the UK, a new iPhone so soon makes us slightly annoyed, but hey, that's the way technology goes. We will go from having a great phone that is still considered awesome by everyone who sees it, to having "the old one".

A recent rumour on MacRumors shows speculation from Times Online. From such a quality newspaper (that we read everyday, over here in London), their speculation is poor.

The Times suggest that we may see a 3G iPhone (almost certain), along with a physical keyboard, and significant design changes that could include moving to a clamshell or sliding design.

The chance of Apple's 'Phone becoming 3G is a surefire bet. The current EDGE data connection is not as bad as many people make out, but as a previous 3G phone owner, the latter is considerably better. 3G service is also far more accessible in the UK, with the majority of towns now able to gain near broadband internet speeds over the air. Back in June of last year, when the iPhone was released to the US market, Apple's CEO blamed the lack of energy efficient, suitably sized chips for the lack of 3G in the iPhone. Almost a year on, and the majority of phones on sale in the UK and the rest of Europe are 3G - chips are no longer an issue.

On the subject of changing the iPhone's form factor to a flip or slider design, this is bordering on laughable. The iPhone's current "candybar" design is arguably what makes it great. The iPod has never ventured away from the "no moving parts" solid shape that is has today, and for good reason - this design works. The candybar shape is stronger, much stronger, and very unlikely to break. Flip phones are far more likely to break, and I should know, seeing as my old 3G phone's hinge broke after 5 months of use, the same use that my iPhone has survived for 6 months and counting.

Another issue with moving to a flip phone design is size. If Apple were to keep the phone at the same size as it is currently, and simply put a flip down keyboard over the top, the size would be likable to a small laptop in your hand. However, if they were to halve the size of the current iPhone by bending the screen in half, that would be a true innovation. The only problem is that bendable, and foldable screens are still in their infancy. There has been considerable development in this space recently, but I severely doubt that anyone, even Apple, will be able to bring an ultra high resolution, colour, touch sensitive display (that can fold) to market this year.

The most laughable prediction that Times Online make is the idea that Apple will integrate a physical keyboard into the iPhone. Steve Jobs spent a large proportion of the introductory keynote in January of last year proving to the world that Multi Touch was the way of the future. He even showed a slide comparing existing "smart" phones and insisted that they all had one thing in common - the lower half - the physical keyboard and navigation. After all of the criticism that Apple received over this controversial aspect of the iPhone (much of it before anyone had even tried Multi Touch out), the keyboard works great. Sure, the first week of use of the iPhone wasn't easy, but now, as Apple promised, I can type faster on the iPhone than on any other phone I have used. The touch screen keyboard is not going anywhere.

All in all, the new iPhone is going to look even better than the current one. It will probably do away with the chrome rim, and maybe even the gloss black, to show just how good anodised aluminium can look.

We have quite a few ideas for what could be included in the next iPhone, so stay tuned.

Two years ago, building a portable computer game in 14 days that responded to touch screen actions, and physical movement via accelerometers was something only the most revolutionary people would even dream of.

Today, Apple announced the iPhone SDK, and have made it possible to build apps for the most talked about device of the last year. The SDK (Software Development Kit) has been a long time coming, but was worth the wait - developers are only really limited by their imaginations, meaning we will be seeing some truly astonishing apps over the next year.

So far, applications on the iPhone have all been made by Apple. Some make more use of the iPhones abilities than others, but none show how truly capable this device is. An app shown in the keynote really made me think of just how natural to use this device can be - they showed an image editing tool, where you pinch the image to literally apply a pinch effect. Sure this is cool, but then to undo the change, you simply shake the phone (just like in the old Etch-a-Sketch days).

I am really looking forward to seeing how far people's imaginations can push the most advanced mobile computing platform ever made.

We are overwhelmed with the response from our first post on the Dream Browser project.

To follow up, we have a couple of small mockups of 1) A better way to look at Bookmarks, and 2) How you might go about viewing videos.

A Better Way of Looking at Bookmarks

We have CoverFlow in iTunes, we have it in the Finder, where next? Yep, the Browser.

CoverFlow is a controversial concept - people either love it or hate it. One could argue that CoverFlow makes sense in iTunes as you can view all of your music just like the ol' days by flipping through your virtual CD covers. One could also argue that it makes sense in the Finder because you can view all of your documents with a scaled down instant preview without even having to open them.

 However, there are others who may argue that CoverFlow is an over-engineered,  graphics hungry, time wasting piece of eye candy.

 I must admit I don't use CoverFlow terribly often in the Finder - it is useful for pictures, PSDs, and videos, but when I get to my Applications folder, CoverFlow serves very little purpose.

Hang on a minute, though - when was the last time you browsed through your internet history? How long did it take to find what you were looking for? It's true - currently, internet browser history sucks. To make a start, things need to be more visual.

Introducing CoverFlow into the Browser makes perfect sense - whenever you navigate to a web page, the Browser could capture a screen shot of that page at a smaller resolution of, say, 640x480. These images would then be stored in a directory that was easily accessible by the user. When browsing history, any item deleted would also remove the thumbnail from the directory.

Add to this an advanced method of search. When you currently search your history or bookmarks, the browser compares your search term to the URL and title of each page. A far superior way of finding what you want would be to index every site you have navigated to, so when you search, your query will be compared to more than just the title and URL, but also the very contents of every page, just like Spotlight does with your documents.

How to View Videos

In Sebastiaan's original post, he mentioned the archaic way of viewing video that is still the norm on the web.

 Breaking content apart has been something of a challenge for years on the web - separating content from design with HTML and CSS, but not much has been done on the user side to aid separation of content such as text, video, and pictures.

If we were able to identify different media (which we are), we could organise, for instance, all of the videos you have viewed in the last day into a list, and the same for photos, and maybe even maps*.

 The image above shows a simple, iTunes style list of videos. These videos could be QuickTime, YouTube, or any other video content provider theoretically. Perhaps it would be more beneficial to restrict the classification of content as"Video" within the Browser to avoid Flash sites being organised into the same category. Restricting the classification of video could be done by filtering files from certain domains that are between a range of media sizes.

So, for example, if the domain of the video file is one of the following "media-site-1.com; media-site-2.com; media-site-3.com;" AND the filetype is one of the following ".flv; .mov; .avi; .swf" AND the filesize is  between "X mb" and "Y mb" THEN class content as "Video"

 *Maps - that one literally just came to me - perhaps with a plug in we could gain better ways of keeping track of maps within the browser, and relating those maps to other information, such as contacts, web addresses, and more. 

 Just a few more thoughts, please keep the feedback coming!

 I might upload the Illustrator file I made for the screens I have been producing so you guys can visualise some of your ideas if you want.

Thanks, oh and see the previous post if you're not sure what this is all about.