Apple fans and developers keep their ear close to the ground to find the new tidbits on coming Apple products from all sorts of sources. Often those sources include usage logs and deeply buried profiles in updates and software from Apple. Developer Pandav has discovered a usage record for an iPhone model that has not been announced.

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Redmadrobot LLC, leading Russian developer of iPhone applications, has updated Battleship Classic — its iPhone version of the famous guessing Battleship game. The game imitates old style pencil and paper version, with all graphics drawn by hand and all sounds made by human voice, and can now be played via Wi-Fi. It is available at the AppStore for $0.99.

Battleship Classic has two playing modes – classic and alternative. In the classic mode each player takes one shot at a time. In the alternative mode the number of shots each player takes is determined by the number and type of ships she has remaining. The game now supports peer-to-peer network play over Wi-Fi.

Before the fight begins each player decides where to place their ships. The player has to drag them with a finger onto the game field and then tap to change their orientation if necessary. The goal of the game is to sink all of the opponent’s ships before she does the same to you.

Battleship Classic is designed to take the player back to the times of pencil and paper games. All graphics in the game is drawn by hand with a ball point pen on squared paper. If the effects are turned on in the settings, every action in the game is accompanied with a sound, produced by an actor.

Although the game is very easy and fun to play, the self-training AI gradually makes it harder for the player to win if she plays against the device.

Today, Ambient Industries (www.ambientindustries.com), a mobile application software company, debuts flook (www.flook.it), in the Apple Store. Offered for free, Flook is a location browser that lets users discover and share the world around them. Flook’s design is being lead by a team of four co-creators with deep programming, entrepreneurial and creative backgrounds – Roger Nolan and Jane Sales founders of Symbian, led the teams creating that company’s comms and kernel respectively. Tristan Brotherton has deep web and media expertise and Dave Jennings’ background in machine intelligence and location services informed flook’s servers. Together, they have built an imagination-centric company, shrugging off the typical corporate structure, enabling the creativity and wonder that has gone into flook’s world of robots, color and whimsical interface.

“Flook is about serendipity, being lucky and finding something really great nearby, whether it is a beautiful building, a great tapas spot, some cool street art or a ridiculous sale,” says Roger Nolan. Flook’s design marries the photo, some text and the location and adds in a conversation to capture a moment that lives on. Jane Sales adds, “Now you can browse the world around you as if you were flipping through an ultra-local magazine made just for you – and then chat about it. Flook is the first mobile application to enable true location-based messaging.”

Judging from reader comments around the web, there are a lot of cellphone owners in America locked into Verizon contracts who would buy an iPhone in a minute if they didn’t have to switch carriers to get it (me included!).

Verizon has made it pretty clear that it would cut a deal with Apple, were it not for a couple of impediments: 1) the contract that makes AT&T the iPhone’s exclusive U.S. carrier, and 2) the fact that Verizon’s network (based on CDMA2000 technology) is incompatible with Apple’s smartphone (which uses W-CDMA (UMTS)).

The first roadblock — AT&T’s contract — is set to expire next year, according to a widely cited 2008 USA Today article that included an interview with chairman Randall Stephenson. (Stephenson declined to comment on the details of the contract.)

The second barrier could also disappear were Apple to build a new iPhone that is compatible with both AT&T and Verizon’s networks.

Last week, AppleInsider reported on rumors that Apple may be doing just that. Its source was a leaked OTR Global report, based on unnamed sources in Apple’s Taiwanese supply chain, that said Apple was making a “worldmode” phone using a new hybrid chip from Qualcomm.

Stay tuned for your up to the minute new on this.

via Brainstormtech

Protection One, Inc. (Nasdaq: PONE), one of the nation’s leading providers of security systems to homes and businesses, has developed an iPhone™ application that allows users to access their security panels and receive real-time security updates from their iPhone or iPod Touch®.

With the eSecure application from Protection One, users can confirm that their security system is armed while on vacation or turn off the alarm while at work to let in cleaning crews or other contractors. When armed, the eSecure system will send text or e-mail messages when motion is detected, a particular door is opened, in the event of a flood, if high carbon-monoxide levels are recorded and even when a liquor, medicine cabinet, safe or other sensitive area is accessed.

This technology is designed to offer peace of mind to users whenever they are outside of the home or business via real-time wireless access. Protection One is the first national provider of monitored security to offer this application.

“No one wants to spend a vacation or business trip worrying about leaving the garage door open or if the security alarm is set,” says Protection One President and CEO Richard Ginsburg. “This application puts security at your fingertips and keeps you connected, even when you’re away.”

The application maintains safety and security with multiple layers of password protection. A standard Protection One keypad code is required for access to the eSecure keypad, which is neither stored on the device nor visible to anyone looking at the screen.

The eSecure iPhone application, which is free with the eSecure service subscription and available for download now from Protection One at the iPhone Apps Store, is compatible with all iPhone and iPod Touch devices. Working in tandem with a Protection One security system, the iPhone application is customizable to deliver peace of mind every time you leave the home or office.

The Apple rumor mill claims that work is underway todevelop a ‘world-mode’ iPhone capable of operating on both CDMA and GSM/UMTS networks. World mode. Rumors also persist that Verizon will begin to carry the iPhone in 2010. All of these rumors suggest that the AT&T honeymoon with the iPhone is nearing an end.

A ‘wordl-mode’ iPhone could signal the end of exclusivity and be bad news for AT&TThese are just rumors at this point, but when a rumor is both pervasive and tenacious there is usually a reason. That gives AT&T some reason to be concerned. Without iPhone exclusivity, what does AT&T bring to the table that would entice customers to switch to, or stick with the wireless provider?

I think it’s about time that they expand to different networks so the consumer has more choice.

via NetworkWorld

That’s right, we said it — and we’re not taking it back. The iPhone may be the greatest handheld surfing device ever to rock the mobile Web, and a fabulous media player to boot. It may be the highest-rated mobile phone on CNET UK, rocking the pockets of half of our crack editorial team. It’s certainly the touchscreen face that launched a thousand apps. But as an actual call-making phone, it’s rubbish, and we aim to prove it.

Check out more of what they have to say at…CNet UK

The vendor claims they’ll be able to ship the OEM part within 5-12 days, as well as that they have “final pictures” of the iPhone 4th-gen back cover that they’ll be adding to the site soon. As for the midboard itself, it’s said to be 113.5 x 57.3 mm which makes it slightly shorter and slightly narrower than the current iPhone 3GS.

Normally we’d be indecently sceptical about any leaked Apple parts – in fact we are now – but as Gizmodo points out, China Ontrade were spot on when it came to the iPhone 3G’s display assembly. They had access to that part a month ahead of Apple’s official launch; that raises the question of when this fourth-gen device might drop, considering a new iPhone handset isn’t expected on the market for another eight months. Keep a lookout for it maybe coming to the market a little sooner.

via SlashGear