Federico Viticci

10804 posts on MacStories since April 2009

Federico is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of MacStories, where he writes about Apple with a focus on apps, developers, iPad, and iOS productivity. He founded MacStories in April 2009 and has been writing about Apple since. Federico is also the co-host of AppStories, a weekly podcast exploring the world of apps, Unwind, a fun exploration of media and more, and NPC: Next Portable Console, a show about portable gaming and the handheld revolution.
@viticci@macstories.net
@viticci.macstories.net
viticci@macstories.net

Behind The Scenes Of The Verizon iPhone

Bloomberg reports of some interesting details behind the Apple / Verizon deal that made possible for the two companies to announce the iPhone 4 on Verizon starting February 10. The Verizon iPhone, as you may know, was one of the most anticipated devices in the United States because of the 4-year long AT&T exclusivity and the reported poor performances of the carrier in some areas.

First off, about the lack of Verizon branding on the CDMA iPhone 4, it looks like Verizon simply had to get along with it as Apple never puts logos on their devices and they really wanted to have the device in their portfolio anyway.

To reach a deal, Apple and Verizon had to reconcile different approaches to branding. Verizon puts its stamp on other manufacturers’ devices, including phones from Research In Motion Ltd. and Motorola. By contrast, only Apple’s name appears on the iPhone.

“They don’t put a lot of logos on their phones,” McAdam said in the interview. “So that wasn’t a major issue for us.”

Watching the success of the AT&T-Apple partnership may have led Verizon to accept a similar deal, said Jean-Louis Gassee, a former Apple executive who is now a venture capitalist at Allegis Capital in Palo Alto, California.

Read more

Seas0nPass Jailbreak for Apple TV 4.1.1 Released

The FireCore developers (the same guys behind aTV Flash) have released a jailbreak tool for the Apple TV 2nd generation called “Seas0nPass”. This jailbreak tool, like the popular Pwnage Tool app, can create a custom firmware file for the device to load and install non-Apple approved apps. Seas0nPass has been created exclusively for the Apple TV and also comes with an option to perform an easy “tethered boot” – a procedure that requires you to boot the Apple TV plugged in your computer. Seas0nPass lets you do that with a few clicks, in a simple and minimal user interface.

To use Seas0nPass, Mac OS X 10.6 is required. A Windows version will come out soon and, again, this only works on the 2nd gen Apple TV – don’t try to use with any other iOS device. Seas0nPass is free and open source, you can download the source code here. For instructions on how to use the app to jailbreak your Apple TV, see here.

Google Places App for iPhone Now Available

Earlier today, Google released its official Places app for the iPhone and iPod touch. The app is already live in iTunes and available for free here. Just like on Android, Google Places with Hotpot service helps you discover nearby places such as restaurants and cafes you might like. Google Places, though, not only does find nearby places, it also does take a guess at the best place for you with personalized search results.

You can rate places and build custom searches so the app will learn from your preferences; rating a place is easy and fast thanks to a Rate Now button that you can tap on at any time. The more places you rate and the more Hotpot reviews you write, the more Google Places will learn from your tastes and habits and send personalized recommendations to you. As for social features built into the app:

If you want to make things even tastier, just visit google.com/hotpot from your desktop computer. Here you can add friends to the mix and quickly rate all the places you already know. Once you’ve added friends, you’ll find your results seasoned not just with reviews from around the web and recommendations based on your own personal taste, but also with your friends’ opinions too.

Google Places for iPhone seems like a nice first version of a service that Google is testing to bring custom, personalized search results and recommendations to the web and mobile devices. The interface design of the app seems to be based on the usual schemes adopted by Google in all their iOS clients. If you feel like giving Places and Hotpot for iPhone a try, the app is available here.

Project Mag for iPad Issue 2 Now Available

Project, the iPad-only magazine from Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group, was off to a good start when it was first released and then, pretty much like any other iPad magazine, it quickly disappeared from the App Store charts. There was a lot of excitement and anticipation around Branson’s Project, mainly because it was the first magazine to be built entirely with the iPad in mind and because, well, anything from Branson is a little bit cool.

While we didn’t exactly go crazy over the first issue of Project (it had a great animated cover, and some fancy graphics here and there inside the magazine), perhaps the second issue, released today, will get us a bit more excited.  Issue 2 of Project Mag has another animated cover and interview featuring the star of Born Survivor/Man vs Wild Bear Grylls. Read more

Jon Stewart Is Pretty Excited About The Verizon iPhone

You know people have been waiting for the iPhone to lose exclusivity to AT&T when even The Daily Show covers the announcement of the Verizon iPhone. Indeed, Jon Stewart’s segment about the iPhone 4 now available on another – better, according to him – carrier perfectly shows all the excitement that has surrounded this historic announcement over the past years.

Stewart says that to be part of the iPhone community he has sacrificed the ability to make actual phone calls for many years. In the name of carrying around photos, videos, music and a compass, he – and millions of other users like him – stayed on AT&T to have an iPhone. But starting February 10, it will be all over.

So jump after the break, and check out The Daily Show’s take on the Verizon iPhone. [via CrunchGear] Read more

Personal Hotspot For All iPhones with iOS 4.3 In March?

Here’s an interesting rumor coming this morning from BGR: according to their source, iOS 4.3 will become available in March and will feature the Personal Hotspot functionality for all iPhones, although there will need to be carrier support. This means that iOS 4.3, according to BGR, will sport Personal Hotspot out of the box, but it’s up to a carrier like AT&T or Vodafone Italy to support it.

BGR also reports 4.3 will have build number 8F5148b, baseband will be 04.08.00 and “technical acceptance is planned for March”. It is unclear when we’ll see a developer beta for the next OS, and if AT&T in the US will support the hotspot feature.

Yesterday, both iPhoneclub.nl and iPhoneHellas reported Personal Hotspot would be available with a forthcoming iOS update for all GSM phones.

Wozniak Is Happy About Verizon iPhone, Says LTE Will Come

Steve Wozniak is glad about the iPhone finally available on Verizon, arguably the “best carrier in the United States”. In the following video posted by VentureBeat, the Woz also goes on to say he’s excited about the mobile hotspot feature which, in the past, saved him a couple of times. Woz, as usual, is a fan of choice, and he thinks that the device available on two carriers will give people the chance to evaluate options and pick the carrier that has the best reception where they live.

About different carriers, Woz explains he was happy when in the early days of unlocked phones you could have a device with two numbers on two carriers at the same time. He says he would be glad to see this coming back in the future, with iPhone capable of easily switching between AT&T and Verizon. Oh, and 4G LTE? Woz says it’ll come, to the iPhone as well. That’s pretty much a given, although we don’t know when.

Check out the video of the Verizon-loving Woz below. Read more

Reeder for iPhone Adds Readability Support, Fullscreen Image Viewing

Reeder for iPhone, our favorite RSS client on iOS, was updated a few minutes ago to include features already seen in the iPad version. Reeder 2.3, available in the App Store at $2.99, now allows you to read full-length articles from any website thanks to Readability integration. Readability, also used by Apple in Safari Reader, can fetch text from articles on the web removing all the clutter such as unnecessary ads and banners. Reeder can now display this “elegant” content with the tap of a button while in reading mode. You can also pinch to open an article through Readability.

Another neat feature of this new version is fullscreen image viewing. Available only on iOS 4 and later, you can pinch on images to reveal them in fullscreen and tap to read an image’s description. Pinch out, and you go back to the standard article mode.

Last, the app can now load up to 5,000 unread items. This should be great news for those who daily skim through a huge list of unread feeds – personally, I never found myself in the situation of having to deal with thousands of articles waiting to be marked as read. Still, the functionality is in there now.

Reeder is a $2.99 purchase in the App Store and it’s an absolute must-have for iPhone owners.

Verizon iPhone, Personal Hotspot and MyWi - Which One?

With the Verizon iPhone, Apple today showcased a new software feature that comes pre-installed with the slightly-redesigned device: Personal Hotspot. Already available for several Android devices running on Verizon’s network and made deeply integrated into iOS with a new software build, Personal Hotspot will allow you to create a mobile WiFi network to share your 3G connection with up to 5 nearby WiFi devices. The feature, put simply, looks great: you can activate wireless tethering with literally two taps and a password, or go with Bluetooth and USB tethering. As suggested by Apple’s Phil Schiller himself, Personal Hotspot makes for a great alternative to popular MiFi hotspots and will allow iPad owners to carry around an iPhone on Verizon’s network and have constant access to the Internet even if the iPad is WiFi-only. Read more