This post was written by Mary Joseff
Apple has filed for a patent that would cover a means of using a multi-touch device with gloves. The US Patent Office application notes that capacitive touchscreens like those on the iPhone and iPod touch are problematic in colder weather. As they depend on the electrical response from a user’s fingertips, which is often blocked off when wearing insulated gloves, the screens either force users to take off their gloves or else sit tight until they return indoors.
Apple has released a software upgrade for the iPhone 3G and iPod Touch that adds new features and fixes some stability bugs. Apple users were caught by surprise when they connected their iPhones to iTunes 8 and found the 2.2 software waiting for them. As one of the iPhone’s most frequently touted applications by Apple, Google Maps received the most attention in iPhone 2.2. At the top of the list is Google Street View, which lets users take a virtual walking tour by navigating through street level pictures of areas that have been located through Maps.
mindSHIFT Technologies Inc., a leading provider of premier IT infrastructure and software services for small and medium-sized organizations, has announced plans to support Apple Inc.’s recently released iPhone, as well as Mac laptops and desktops. This strategic move by mindSHIFT extends the company’s comprehensive suite of premier managed IT services, enabling customers to more easily take advantage of the benefits of innovative new technology with the confidence that their IT infrastructure will be expertly managed by a fully-staffed team of experienced IT professionals. As mindSHIFT’s newest supported mobile device, the iPhone provides mobile users with enterprise-class remote access any time, anywhere.
During its quarterly call, Apple Inc. provided a teaser on something big that might come up in the later half of the current year. While explaining an expected drop in the company’s gross profit margins in the next quarter, Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s chief financial officer, stated that it was due to “a future product transition, which I can’t discuss today.” Apple executives hinted that this new product would offer price points that will beat the competition. It is widely speculated to be a web tablet of sorts, a product with the touch interface of an iPhone, but with a larger form factor approaching that of a laptop.