Your iPhone MobileMe account randomly and spontaneously changing from [username]@me.com to [username]@mac.com? You’re not alone. Like the missing/mismatched app icon bug, this is another issue that was a problem to some during the betas, and continues to be a problem now that iPhone 3.0 has gone into release. Unfortunately, once the bug manifests, MobileMe doesn’t allow you to simply edit it back, and since everything changes from .me to .mac (your email address, SMTP server, etc.), it can be more than a little annoying. The only known way to “fix” it at this point is to delete and re-add your MobileMe account as .me, and then keep your fingers crossed it doesn’t change again. That, and hope Apple fixes it with iPhone 3.0.x or 3.1. This is a story by the iPhone... 

We’ve been talking about the zippiness of the iPhone 3GS — S as in Speed — since it launched, and report after report has confirmed that not only is it fast, it’s faster than we initially thought. Here’s more of the same. Running OpenGL 1.x like the iPhone 3G (never mind that it can run OpenGL 2.0 which the iPhone 3G can’t), the results are most impressive: The CPU performance is Faster by 40-70% The fillrate* is 3x to 4x higher Texture effects and filters are about 10x faster These are probably better indicators for now, since game developers likely won’t abandon the 40 million previous generation users (and their money) any time soon. Does make you wonder when it will happen, though, and what the games — and other apps — will eventually... 

Last week the first iPhone (and iPod touch) app to feature nudity was live in the iTunes App Store. Technically, however, it was simply a change in the server behind the app — the developer added nude images. Subsequently, however, the app became unavailable. The developer first reported that their own servers couldn’t keep up with demand for the newly nudified images, but it turns out Apple laid the hammer down on the “soft-core porn” app: Apple will not distribute applications that contain inappropriate content, such as pornography. The developer of this application added inappropriate content directly from their server after the application had been approved and distributed, and after the developer had subsequently been asked to remove some offensive content. This... 

The US Senate’s Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation is studying deals like AT&T’s exclusivity for the iPhone, and how that balances business freedoms, technology innovation, consumer competition, and the effects on smaller, rural carriers. In response to AT&T retail sales and services president, Paul Roth’s assertion that exclusivity provides more innovation, lower cost, and more choice, PC World quotes Senator John Kerry’s response: “I accept the benefits you articulated but I’m having a difficult time trying to envision why an innovator, given the size of the market and the number of outlets, is not going to innovate to produce a product that is equally competitive [to an exclusive phone] … because it wants to appeal across... 

DOOOOOOOOOM! [$9.99 - iTunes link] That’s right, the mother of all Martian first person shooters (FPS) is in the App Store now: -Advanced graphics engine designed from the ground up to take full advantage of the power found in Apple’s mobile devices -Wield an arsenal of heavy-hitting weapons to defeat a variety of hideous monsters and bosses -Innovative controls for fast-paced and accessible first-person action -An all-new chapter of the DOOM saga that new players and long-time DOOM fans can enjoy How does a golden oldie translate to the newest, greatest mobile platform? If you try it out, and live to tell the tale, let us know what you think! This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store. Quick App: DOOM Resurrection for iPhone  Read More →

Birdfeed [$4.99 - iTunes link] bills itself as “A very nice Twitter client for your iPhone”. That’s pretty much spot on. It doesn’t try to razzle-dazzle, or focus exclusively on one element or another, but what it does do is provide a quick, clean, interface to manage your Twitter account (or accounts). Highlighted features include the simple design, local caching of already-loaded tweets so you can keep reading when/if offline, SMS-style handling of direct messages (DMs) to help keep the conversation flow, unread @mentions (replies) and DM counters, and time stamps to indicate where you last read up to should new tweets have since been loaded. To answer the immediate question, no support for iPhone 3.0 push notification yet. Birdfeed’s Twitter account says that... 

Inspired by Gruber, who was rocking the Nokia freebiephone, on the eve of the original iPhone’s 2nd birthday, we want to know: What were you using before the iPhone? (I was on a Treo 680 that crashed almost as often as it successfully made or received calls). Update: Jeremy reminds me we have a huge thread on the TiPb Forums about this as well. Love. Up. This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store. What Were You Using Before the iPhone?  Read More →

With the return of Steve Jobs to Apple comes the return of Fake Steve to the interwebs. Fake Steve also returns to being bitingly satirical, something that had been lacking before its own hiatus. Recent gems include the excoriation of the New York Times, and lambasting Palm (twice) for focusing on Apple rather than the Pre in their own advertisements: Do you remember what the ads for the original iPhone looked like? You remember seeing anything in those ads about the BlackBerry or the Treo? No. It was a whole new thing — sui generis, as the French say. It had to be. If all we could do was to make a slightly less s****y BlackBerry, and offer it for a few bucks less than what RIM was charging, we would not have bothered to make the product. (Though he may be reaching in his claims of... 

I recently tried out a friend’s battery charger case and my iPhone 3GS began to buzz and flash between locked, wallpaper, and temperature warning screens. Not to be all Wall Street Journal about it, but according to sources in a position to know, this is not an uncommon problem and Apple is set to address it in the next firmware update, which should be coming soon — 3.1. 3.1 you ask? It’s what we asked as well, and were told the iPhone 3GS is already running what’s considered 3.0.1 and the next update would likely be 3.1 (though 3.0.2 or an “official” cross device 3.0.1 still sounds more like as a bug fix release to us). Consider it a rumor for now, but at the very least, if your charging case is giving you headaches, rest assured help is on the way. (And... 

Welcome back. “Steve Jobs is back to work. He is at Apple a few days a week and working from home the other days,” Apple spokesman Steve Dowling said. “We’re glad to have him back.” [via CNN] This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store. Steve Jobs Returns  Read More →