iPhone OS 3.0 to get voice recognition capabilities?

According to developers who are beta testing the next generation of iPhone operating system software, there's a built in feature called Jibbler that allows applications to take advantage of voice recognition technology.

While it's mainly speculation at present (why isn't that a surprise), ArsTechnica came across references to classes and methods called VSSpeechSynthesizer, VSRecognitionSession, SBVoiceControlDisableHandlerActions, SBSensitiveJibblerEnabled, and SBVoiceControlSoundCompletion.

SB means SpringBoard (an existing iPhone application) and VS could well be Voice Services.

I've long wanted decent voice recognition software on the Mac, so to get it on the iPhone instead would be great, presuming it does rather better than Mac OS X's current Speech application.

(Via PC Mag)

Posted by Andy Merrett on April 23, 2009 12:14 PM in iPhone SDK| iPhone applications
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iPhone 3.0 feature overview and why it matters to you

Yesterday, Apple announced details of its latest version of the iPhone operating system.

It's available in beta for developers to download now, with the final consumer version available some time in the summer. Free to iPhone users, $9.95 for iPod touch users. Most features are compatible with original iPhone.

Here's a potted guide to some of the new features to be included in iPhone 3.0 and why you should care.

It's about developers

It's worth noting right from the start that the whole presentation was aimed at developers, not the end consumer. That doesn't mean that the features won't be extremely useful / fun once they've been built in to new applications, but the iPhone won't necessarily get a ton of new functionality straight out of the box. It's all about the applications -- and, in part, how much you're willing to spend to enjoy those new features.

Right, here we go. Scroll down to read the whole lot or click on a title below to jump there:

• In App Purchasing
• Apple Push Notifications
• Peer to Peer Connectivity
• Maps
• Meebo Native app
• Greater accessory support
• Audio Recorder
• MMS
• Spotlight
• Stereo Bluetooth
• Cut, Copy and Paste
• Notes Sync
• Shake to Shuffle
• Wi-Fi auto login
• Safari anti-phishing and auto fill
• Landscape mode

Posted by Andy Merrett on March 18, 2009 10:59 AM in Latest iPhone news| iPhone 3G| iPhone SDK| iPhone applications| iPhone specifications
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Apple sets iPhone application limits

According to reports, Apple has set size and price limitations on applications sold through the iTunes Store.

Developers can charge anything from 99 cents to $999.99 (not sure how this translates to UK pricing), and no application can be larger than 2GB.

Two gigabytes would be a mighty big application, so I don't think that's going to be a problem to most developers.

(Via Phones Review)

Posted by Andy Merrett on June 27, 2008 12:05 PM in iPhone SDK| iPhone applications
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Could we see Firefox and Opera browsers on the iPhone?

Though I'm not keen on the idea of cramming another web browser on the iPhone (though I'll admit I'm fairly happy with Safari on the handset), it's possible that developers will find a way of porting other browsers to the phone.

The trouble is that there may be no official way to do this, as Apple's SDK licence agreement suggests that "No interpreted code may be downloaded and used in an Application except for code that is interpreted and run by Apple's Published APIs and built-in interpreter(s) [...] An Application may not itself install or launch other executable code by any means, including without limitation through the use of a plug-in architecture, calling other frameworks, other APIs or otherwise."

Posted by Andy Merrett on June 27, 2008 12:00 PM in iPhone SDK| iPhone applications
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Pinch Media launches Analytics tool for iPhone developers

With official third-party iPhone applications coming very soon, developers are sure to want a way to track how many people have downloaded and are using their software, and a new startup company, Pinch Media, thinks it has a solution.

Its Pinch Analytics software is designed to integrate with Apple's iPhone SDK, providing how many unique visitors have downloaded and are actively using an application, how much time a user spends with the app, and geographical location.

Posted by Andy Merrett on May 30, 2008 12:32 PM in iPhone SDK| iPhone applications
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Apple releases iPhone SDK beta release 5

Nothing spectacular has been updated in Apple's fifth iPhone SDK beta, released today. It's a bug-fixing exercise, with support for the latest iPhone OS. No doubt you have plenty of broadband bandwidth to download all these updates.

iPhone Developer page

Posted by Andy Merrett on May 7, 2008 10:16 AM in Latest iPhone news| iPhone SDK
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200,000 developers sign up for iPhone SDK

Over 200,000 developers have signed up for the iPhone SDK beta so far, according to Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer. That's just over a month after the 100,000 download milestone was reached.

Elaborating, Oppenheimer said that over 400 higher education organisations and one-third of Fortune 500 companies are creating software for the iPhone.

This figure is only based upon downloads, which requires registration, so it doesn't mean that anywhere near 200,000 people are actively creating applications for the iPhone. However, it's still encouraging.

(Via InfoWorld)

Posted by Andy Merrett on April 24, 2008 5:46 PM in Latest iPhone news| iPhone SDK
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