Can’t get an iPhone? Fabricate your own

There are people with too much time on their hands, there are fanboys with too much time on their hands, and then there’s this. It seems some enterprising fella over in iPhone-less Japan took it upon himself to build his own dummy iPhone. Yes, “build,” as in “fabricate from scratch.” As opposed to, say, flying to the States and picking one up — at considerable expense, yes, but consider his chosen alternative. To his credit, the dummy looks absolutely superb right down to every minor detail — if you forgive the old-school fake display with Cingular branding and a missing YouTube icon. Click on for the full pictorial from sketch to finished product.

[Thanks, Dale]

Apple’s iPhone: yes, it plays Doom

Considering that Doom runs smooth as butter on Nokia’s 770, the OLPC XO, and the iPod, you knew it was only a matter of time before this classic made its way over to the iPhone. Just in time for the weekend, Doom is now available for Apple’s first handset. And just in case blasting through pixelated fiends wears you out, why not check out the new and improved NES emulator? We won’t waste anymore of your precious iPhone gaming time here, now get your downloads on below!

Update: So you can’t exactly — what’s the word we’re looking for — “play” Doom quite yet, it seems the controller ain’t working. It’s a promising sign, though!

Read – id Software Doom on iPhone
Read – iPhone NES v0.20.1 + Games

Man has thumbs altered to improve iPhone dexterity

This story isn’t for the faint of heart. In fact, we wouldn’t really recommend it for anybody, but we’ll soldier on regardless. Thomas Martel hails from Colorado, and after upgrading to an iPhone, he decided his big hands were just too much of a burden to bear. “From my old Treo, to my Blackberry, to this new iPhone, I had a hard time hitting the right buttons, and I always lost those little styluses,” says Martel. So what’s a man to do? Why, get those digits downsized, of course. Thomas went under the knife for a new technique called “whittling.” The doctors made a small cut in each thumb and shaved down the bones, then they adjusted the muscles and fingernails to fit the new thumb size. Martel’s new thumbs look a tad effeminate, and there’s always that problem of expense and general discomfort, but he thinks the procedure “will pay for itself in ten to fifteen years. And what it’s saving me in frustration – that’s priceless.” Whatever you say, Thomas.

Update: InformationWeek is reporting this story as false. North Denver News hasn’t pulled it yet, but given the far-fetched nature, we’re certainly having doubts of its authenticity. Either way, we don’t recommend you running out and getting your thumbs whittled any time soon.

Update 2: We called North Denver News, still no response, we’ll keep you posted.

Update 3: North Denver News finally confirmed the story as a hoax. “Satirical social commentary,” as they put it.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Apple quietly handling iPhone touchscreen issues?

It doesn’t appear to be particularly widespread, but according to a couple threads on Apple’s support forums and elsewhere, a small number of iPhones are suddenly getting “dead spots” on their touchscreens — mostly along the bottom, but occasionally affecting the entire surface. Apple is apparently being extremely proactive in dealing with the issue, calling customers who’ve posted in their forums and arranging replacements — the company can’t let anything tarnish the image of The Most Important Device Ever, after all. All of our iPhones are still working great (even after some casual hacking) — anyone else have this problem?

[Via AppleInsider]

Strong evidence found for first party iPhone games

Wait just a tick before you install an NES emulator on that iPhone of yours! (Actually, on second thought, go ahead and install it — but pay close attention here anyway.) Sister site Download Squad has stumbled upon some pretty damning evidence that Apple is cooking up games for the handset, finding this little gem in iTunes’ localization strings: “Are you sure you want to remove the selected game from your iPhone?” Seeing how there aren’t really any games to remove at the moment, we can only take this to mean that there are some in the pipe — which hopefully we won’t want to remove, hence Apple’s concerned tone in the string. Traditional iPods are now well entrenched in the brain-rotting, time-wasting downloadable app market, so a similar move on the iPhone almost seems like a foregone conclusion, especially considering the endless possibilities afforded by the gargantuan touchscreen and the recent posting of a senior game developer position out in Cupertino. Stay tuned! While you’re waiting, maybe you can kill some time with some Bubble Bobble, eh?

Update: Apparently, these strings have been floating around the nets for a little while now; our apologies for those that already knew!

Fake iPhone cut & paste demo loves you

Ok, we can officially and finally put this debate to rest: yes, Apple really could use its multi-touch input system to enable users to friggin’ copy / paste text in the iPhone. And to prove it, the usual random internet dude (lonelysandwich) has put his skills to the test and developed a demo proof of concept video that Conan O’Brien will probably sue over. Hit it up after the break!

[Via Kottke]

iPhone Copy and Paste from lonelysandwich and Vimeo.

iPhones automatically updated with “Send to Web Gallery” feature

At some point during the Jobsters lenghty unveiling of multifarious technologies today, iPhones across the nation were silently rejiggered (presumably by magical Apple wood-sprites) to allow for use of the just announced “Send to Web Gallery” feature. Whether this was a timed event scheduled into the new 1.0.1 update or an over-the-air transmission from Apple remains to be seen, but it is definitely true that the “fully integrated” web gallery upload option which Mr. Jobs demonstrated at today’s press conference is currently available for use on your iPhone. Right now. This second.

iPhone gets a voice recorder

A terminal app not quite to your liking? No worries — as expected, unofficial iPhone apps have been flying fast and furious, and thankfully, they’re getting more and more useful by the minute. Latest is a rudimentary voice recorder crafted by Erica Sadun of sister site TUAW, an app that the iPhone arguably should’ve never left the factory without. Notes are saved as AMR files that can be played back in QuickTime, and as Erica points out, this is a possible first step toward VoIP on the iPhone. Nice work!

NES emulator released for the iPhone

Yeah, the floodgates have opened, and we promise not to bug you with every new app to come down the pipe, but we figured you’d want to know when you can get your Mario on. Video is after the break.

[Via TUAW]

 

Apple facing patent lawsuit over iPhone keyboard

It may be a little slow out of the gate, but Florida-based SP Technologies is now taking aim at Apple over the iPhone’s touchscreen keyboard, claiming that it infringes on a patent it has held since 2004. According to MacNN, that patent describes a “method and medium for computer readable keyboard display incapable of user termination,” and the company is saying that Apple was “willful and deliberate” in its alleged infringement of it. As a result, SP Technologies is demanding that Apple pay “reasonable royalties” for each iPhone already sold, along with an injunction to prevent any further use of the allegedly offending intellectual property by Apple. No word on a next move but, as with most of these lawsuits, it’ll be up to a federal court in Texas to sort things out.

[Via TUAW]