TomTom has confirmed to SvenOnTech that it has indeed, “…tested and successfully [ran] our navigation software on the iPhone and it looks good and works well.” The Holland-based company told SvenOnTech that it is waiting to see what Apple’s strategy for the built-in GPS is on the next-generation iPhone, “…before we can say more about what kind of opportunities this will bring us.”

TomTom is excited that Apple is entering the GPS world with the 3G iPhone, due to release July 11th at both Apple Stores and AT&T stores in various markets, and is more than ready to bring its highly acclaimed navigation software to the iPhone.

TomTom believes with the development of more pedestrian navigation systems, such as the iPhone and Nokia’s offerings, it will continue to bring greater attention and demand to car navigation devices. “With more and more people getting acquainted with navigation, this will also further grow the demand for car navigation,” TomTom’s Karen CK Drake, Public Relations Manager for TomTom, told SvenOnTech last week. Drake emphasized that it does not believe the iPhone to be a replacement device for GPS but rather be “complementary” to its current offerings of car-mounted GPS units.

SvenOnTech will actively watch this developing story and keep our readers abreast of any new information as becomes available.

Remember the first version of Windows Media Player that came with Windows95? Ya, it was a joke. A big one. When compared to Apple’s QuickTime (QT), Microsoft had a long road of acquisitions ahead of it. Instead of standing still Apple pushed the envelope with QuickTime and added innovating features such as QuickTime VR. QT VR allowed a user to “spin” an object 360 degrees around and look up and down a bit with the movement of their mouse. This was a decade before it showed up in Flash on web sites! As the web became popular, Apple’s attention to it gave programmers interaction (QTi in 1998) with its users.

But Apple’s direction seemed to have made a change by 2002 when it released 6.x. Now supporting the competition through Flash 5 and scriptable ActiveX controls, outside of MPEG-4 support, there was little innovation anymore. Certainly the release of 7.x and H.264 was a great addition; however, by this time, less and less use of QuickTime could be found on the web. Flash was king and QuickTime seemed to no longer sing. While Adobe was thrusting user interaction features to developers in Flash, Apple seemed to slowly add a bread crumb here and a bread crumb there to QuickTime ignoring the flashy San Jose-based company’s web progress.

What used to be considered an excellent medium for multimedia presentation on the web is now not even considered by most web developers today. Apple’s limited supply of user interaction has left it in the cold of consideration and oddly enough, Apple doesn’t even seem to care. Using the same underlying architecture created in 1991, QuickTime is the heart and soul of iTunes and thus seems to be Apple’s only true intention for this multimedia maverick. With all the money Apple paid Apple Records, Ltd. in settlement fees all those years ago, one would think any company with half the brains of Apple would push such a ground breaking application. So why the disinterest? What happened? While Apple announced QuickTime X this week at WWDC 2008, it won’t be out for at least another year in which its market share will have been even more eroded. Even upon release, will it deliver?

SvenOnTech has spoken to and heard many developers complain about QuickTime. The complaints range from how heavy QuickTime is now (does Microsoft make this?) to its near zero user interaction interface. Even though it looks great for movie trailers and other video footage, the latest version of Flash handles this just as well if not better because of all the other goodies that come along with it. QuickTime is just not usable anymore. Sad. Once die-hard fans of the multimedia application are now completely ignoring it, just like Apple.

It seems I’ve been throwing a lot of difficult problems toward Apple Care to become baffled on. I wrote about my odd iCal problem back in December of last year that neither Apple Care nor Microsoft could figure out (to which I later solved on my own genius bar) and now I have another one to add to the list.

I purchased one smokin’ Mac Pro last July and it was pretty much at the top end when all the features where added. Even with a 10% discount, the baby was a tad under 5k. So when after a month I started experiencing some really annoying slow downs due to constant hard drive spinning, I got on the phone and gave Apple Care a holler. After getting over the hurdle of what “swap” space was, I attempted to explain to the customer care representative that my hard drive was spinning more than an old 78 rpm record. After not getting anywhere with the first tech, I was sent to the second level. I defeated Level 2 as well. No answers. No wait, reformat and install was a suggestion which I had already tried prior to the call. So I lived with the spin for nine months.

Yesterday I added two more drives to my Mac Pro filling up all available slots. I now had the original drive and three added drives. I like cleaning out the inside of my computers every so often, so I pulled out the two already installed SATA hard drives and got a can of air and sprayed until it was exhausted. I secured back the two hard drives as well as added the two new ones. I closed up the Mac Pro and booted up. Guess what? No more hard drive dance floor spins!

So what could have caused the constant hard drive spinning is hard to say. It could have been a number of things such as dirty contacts on the SATA interface, not a fully seated hard drive, or the hard drive controller freaking out on just having two hard drives plugged in. I doubt it was that later and most likely just a hard drive not fully seated. Dirt could be it, but I really think it was the hard drive not being fully secured.

So, if you’re having a similar problem and Apple Care along with its forms offer no help, then give this a try. It may help.

With the rumors running rampant on the Internet of 3G iPhones to be subsidized by AT&T for a final cost of $199 with a two-year contract, it seems that time is running out for supposed exclusive carrier for US iPhones. Signs seem to indicate that this rumor has substance. Apple’s reported recent deal with Italy’s Telecom Italia Mobile to sell the iPhone unlocked and with a lack of firmware updates from Apple here in the states to re-secure an easily hacked 1.1.4 release in February, one would presume Apple desires more sales than headaches.

Seeing the huge demand in China alone for hacked iPhones, Apple can no longer ignore the demand for the Super Phone it released nearly a year ago last June. If the Cupertino iCompany does indeed decide to sell an unlocked iPhone, then AT&T needs to find another way to lock in its customer base. It will have to do it the old fashion way by eating a loss on the phone hardware in exchange for two years of your life. At a 50% discount of the initial cost of the phone, this will surely spawn new sales to the phone as well as retain current iPhone users desiring the faster mobile data access and possibly other hardware upgrade goodies such as rumored GPS (which I say is most unlikely.)

With a lack of a large GSM pool in the States, there may be not a huge splurge in unlocked iPhone sales locally, but where GSM is king, such as Europe and China, Apple could make a killing on the next generation iPhone if it truly will be sold as an unlocked device. Apple stands to make a greater profit with this business plan than skimming a few dollars a month per AT&T customer as it is suggested it is doing currently. While Apple is nearly half way to Steve Jobs self-commissioned 10 million phones sold by the end of 2008, sales have sagged in the last few months. International sales are even lower. An unlocked phone will change all that and meet, if not exceed, that 10 million mark for sure.

Burgled Britons have spent a staggering £27 billion pounds in the last five years in an attempt to regain peace of mind following a break-in. That’s just one of the findings of a recent ICM nationwide survey, commissioned by Intamac Systems, which examined the measures taken and costs incurred by UK householders to feel safe in their homes in the aftermath of a break-in.

While many speak of the emotional burden caused by a burglary, few realise the financial implications, as victims take the steps they think necessary to feel safe in their homes again - something not covered by home insurance policies.

For a large proportion of people surveyed, it was too late - nothing could make them feel safe in their home again. The thought of criminals being in their home was too much to bear, and so almost one third of those surveyed packed up their possessions and moved home.

Peace of mind was not something that those questioned felt was being offered by the surrounding community. In a sad indictment of neighbourhood support across the UK, 22% added a burglar alarm following a break-in, yet over 60% believed that their neighbours or passers-by would not respond should their alarm go off. Only 11% were ‘very confident’ that someone would.

For others, fortifying their home after the event was paramount, with 46% adding extra locks, 42% adding outdoor security lights and 37% changing the locks on the doors to their home. Over 10% of those questions decided to put extra ‘bite’ into securing their home and hoped that buying a dog would deter would-be thieves. In addition, one in ten decided to shut out the outside world by erecting a high fence around their property. Read the rest of this entry »

With Apple’s announcement and details of the SDK yesterday at its Cupertino headquarters, many are now on the speculation path. The power of the SDK gives a slew of possibilities from voice activation, to video recording, to video streaming. No one seems to do the latter better then Slingbox and with its experience of the SlingPlayer on Windows Mobile devices as an example, its hard not to say the iPhone is next in line for a SlingPlayer.

For those unfamiliar with Slingbox, the technology is one that connects a box to your DVR (TiVo, ReplayTV, DISH, DIRECTV etc.), satellite receiver (DIRECTV, DISH, etc.), cable set-top box (Comcast, Cox, Time Warner, Cablevision, etc.), DVD player or VCR. Once connected, you have full access to any of these devices content from either your PC, Mac, or mobile device such as a Pocket PC, Nokia, or Palm. You can watch live TV, change channels, view recored content from your VCR or TiVo or play a DVD, all remotely from the actual video device. Adding the iPhone to the line up will only bring more customers to Sling Media’s door.

Sling Media’s Brian Jaquet, Director of Public Relations, has told SvenOnTech that Sling Media is indeed excited about the new SDK. Sling Media announced Blackberry support at CES and told SvenOnTech, “Before the BlackBerry announcement, the most requested two platforms were BlackBerry and iPhone/iPod Touch.” Jaquet went on to say, “We think the iPhone platform has a lot to offer and is ideally suited for mobile TV via its WiFi capabilities and to a lesser extent (today) its EDGE cellular capabilities.”

Sling Media already has a fully functioning Mac OS X client of SlingPlayer which would take little effort to add the CocoTouch interface to the SlingPlayers OS X client. Sling could either use streaming via Wi-Fi or EDGE or add the content right onto the iPhone itself using it’s newly announced SlingSync feature.

With the Slingbox ability to connect to a TiVo or even an AppleTV, millions of iPhone users could watch a movie, sporting event, or the latest news anywhere an Internet connection exists. With SlingSync, one could then watch prerecorded programming anywhere at any time.

While Sling Media cannot comment further on a SlingPlayer for the iPhone, SvenOnTech was told that its engineers have already downloaded the SDK and, “Are already taking a look at it.”

John Gildred, President of SyncTV (read SvenOnTech post SyncTV Embraces Multi-platform IPTV Scheme to Draw Larger Crowd), is just as keen to the possibilities of what the iPhone SDK could mean for mobile media. Gildred elaborated in his blog saying, “It means that consumers could get ad-funded, subscription and premium downloads from SyncTV in the not-too-distant future.”

And now for our really bad pun: Stay tuned media fans, you may just be Slinging the Summer Olympics on your iPhone from Beijing if all goes well.

Crumpler has to be the one of the most unique companies I have ever encountered. Just a visit to its web site will leave you wondering what you’ve just gotten yourself into. Clicking any of the links may make many blush and rush to turn down the volume in their cubicles at work. I won’t even mention the chain on the main page and what happens when you pull it. (Okay, I will. It flushes a toilet!) The company is obviously one that prides itself in having fun while making some killer bags. My press swag prize was some itty bitty matches. Ya, matches!

I was privileged enough to be able to talk a bit to Bianca Dillion, Crumpler’s brave face for media relations, at this years Macworld Expo. She showed me the many different bags Crumpler has to offer (you can see them on a “normal” web site at its store) and the variety of tasks each bag can hold (forgive the pun.) Unlike other companies with boring names like “Road-warrior” or “Trail King”, Crumpler names its product line with gusto such as “Tony Blair”, “Albert Stash” and the “Harry Board” bag. If that’s just too odd for you, then you’ll want to look at the Squirrel line, mate.

If you noticed an English theme here, one of the founders, Dave, comes from Great Briton and has brought a bit of home back to the Aussie based company. Started 12 years ago in Melvin, Australia, by Steward Crumpler, Crumpler desired to make a tough bag that just looked different. He did not want to produce just another bag that screamed, “Look! I’m carrying a laptop!” and after a few minutes in the Crumpler booth, I can tell you he has succeeded.

At one point of my interview with Bianca, someone walked in and asked her if the straps of Crumpler bags would rip with “really heavy stuff in the bag”. Without asking what this guy was carrying — or why anyone would carry such weight — she told him without even a single bead of sweat falling from her brow that Crumpler bags have a lifetime warranty and it would replace any damaged bag if it happened. When I questioned her about her confidence in the bag, she told me that one method of testing the bags is to put it, “On the back of a 4 x 4 and drag it” all over the place in the dry dessert heat of Down Under. Bianca again reiterated that Crumpler desire is to sale tough high quality bags. Period. Well, and with style.
You can tell that every bag Crumpler makes is well thought out. No bag is just another bag at Crumpler. From the crazy naming scheme to the bright colors, Crumpler bags stand out as something different. I don’t think Crumpler doesn’t have a bag in its mix that wouldn’t fit somebody’s need. From a basic bag for your laptop to one that could carry your entire office nicely, I just couldn’t stop being impressed by what I saw. Without doubt, Crumpler bags are just plain sweet!

With the degree of quality and style Crumpler is putting in its product line, it won’t be long before US cities become just like Melvin, Australia. Everyone will have a Crumpler on their back or shoulder.