iPhone Reloaded: Architecting an iPhone Server

It is the iPhone, the singular creation upon which Apple's Mobile Wi-Fi platform is predicated. While its primary construct, and ergo heretofore deliberate focus, has been the express realization of an unparalleled client-side experience, it remains at its core irrevocably a UNIX-based operating system and hence capable of infinitely more.

While the sublime profundity of said client-side, and thus end-user, experience continues to approach perfection, anomalous entities -- self-designated 133t hax0rs -- have also succeeded in bending, perhaps even breaking, the iPhone's default parameters with a secondary, decidedly more server-oriented goal, vis-a-vis the porting of Apache, Python, vim, curl, and more apropos this posting: lighttpd.

Witness, as excerpted from the Unofficial Apple Weblog, the initial causality of such an implementation:

Mark Hoekstra of GEEKtechnique offers real-world proof that an iPhone can, indeed, function as a web server. He put up a static page and served 411 unique visitors during the time his server was offline for maintenance. Obviously, that's not battle-testing for a busier server, and the lack of database queries certainly aided the capacity of the tiny server, but it's definitely a fun example of the capabilities of a (hacked) iPhone.

Indeed.

Endemic to certain entities within the system are the simultaneous and yet conflicting desires for increased power in ever smaller footprints, previously demonstrated in the phenomena known as "Mac Mini Server Farms".

Will any such ridiculously intriguing architectures reliant solely upon the inimitable iPhone follow?

Inevitably.

Raging Thunder on the iPhone - WOW

We’ve covered gaming on the iPhone more than a few times here at PD. And the general consensus is a combination of hope, excitement, and we-can't-freaking-wait. Well jailbreakers, you might not have to. After getting a glimpse of Raging Thunder (via TUAW), a car racing game made by Polarbit and made available through Installer.app, all I can say is...

WOW.

I gave the game a quick test drive and the graphics are impressive for any handheld, not to mention a cell phone. The screen (with help of the accelerometer) functions much like Mario Kart for the Wii meaning tilt right to turn right, tilt left for left. Gameplay is fluid and responsive and it is just mind numbing fun to be playing something so advanced on your phone.

To be sure, there are flaws and glitches but at this point it is almost to be expected. (Tip: try to avoid pressing the home button mid-race. Just, trust me). But for one of the first steps into gaming on the iPhone, Raging Thunder works better than you would ever imagine.

Is it June yet?

Review: Case-Mate Signature Series Perforated Leather Case for iPhone

The Case-Mate Signature Series Perforated Leather Case for iPhone ($34.95) is a subtlety styled, high quality leather case that offers nearly full protection for your iPhone. It provides easy access to all buttons and ports on the iPhone and is a breeze to slide in. How does the Case-Mate Case perform?

Read on for the rest of the review!

Send in the iClones: Philips Xenium x800

Another day, another iClone! This one comes courtesy of the fine folks at Philips, and Gizmodo shares the duplicative details:

PC World China is saying that the upcoming Xenium x800 will have an "e2e" screen— that's an edge-to-edge touchscreen, apparently. From the photos it looks like it's got an orientation sensor, Wi-Fi, a browser, a curved design and a bevelled metal edge. Sounds a little familiar?

It sure does. It sounds just like the Samsung Instinct, Nokia Tube, RIM (and RIM), and HTC Touch Diamond, and every other device trying to be the iPhone in imitative form rather than revolutionary spirit.

How about iCloning that?

.Mac To Be Revamped Alongside iPhone 2.0?!

Updating yesterday's story about .Mac getting the push-email treatment in iPhone 2.0, TUAW's tipsters are back with this little gem:

According to our anonymous tipster, .Mac will undergo a complete revamp that will coincide with the iPhone 2.0 launch (which everyone expects to occur at WWDC 08).

Again with the asking and receiving, eh?

Rumored highlights for the updated .Mac include full wireless (cell + wifi?) calendar, contacts, and email (an Apple Exchange anyone?) and .Mac support for -- you guessed it! -- Windows.

First El Jobso gives PC users a cool glass of iTunes and iPhone, and now a possible consumer-centric push service.

Did I mention how June can't come fast enough yet?

Review: HWpen, Native App-a-Week

Can’t wait any longer for Native Apps? Me neither. (Late) June seems too far away? I’m with you. So why wait, when you can jailbreak! Over the next couple months before 2.0 is released, I’ll give you guys a glimpse into the jailbroken world of native apps every week. Plus: let's face it, Jailbreaking isn't going anywhere. The SDK is awesome, but some people won't settle for anything less than full-on access to all the hidden bits of the iPhone.

With Apple including handwriting recognition for Chinese characters in the latest 2.0 firmware build, I think it’s a great time to see what handwriting apps are currently available for jailbroken iPhones. HWpen is an app made by the developers over at Chinese company Hanwang and it offers handwriting recognition for both Chinese and English. Is it successful? Better than the iPhone’s soft keyboard?

Read on for the rest of the review! (and remember you'll need a Jailbroken iPhone to take advantage of this native app)

NBC Redux: iTunes No, iPhone Yes

Well, NBC is still boycotting iTunes, but in a surprising move, they're back on the iPhone (and iPod Touch). How? Streaming live through the built-in to MobileSafari QuickTime player -- take that, Flash snobs! -- and without advertising!

Silicon Valley Insider has the Hulu-trumping details:

NBC is streaming full episodes of "The Office" and "30 Rock" to the iPhone in unprotected Quicktime format. Without advertising. Go figure. To get there, go to nbc.com on an iPhone (or presumably, an iPod touch). Scroll past Howie Mandel and Sam Waterston, and NBC invites you to "WATCH FULL EPISODES!" Be warned: the quality is pretty bad and our borrowed iPhone froze twice.

Now, while I do get a snazzy iPhone-optimized web page, I don't get the watch full episodes option (probably because I'm not in the US, and were I to see such US content, the world would explode), so if you get it to work, please let me know, and let me know how well!

Weekly Web App Review: Hahlo

Attack of the iClones: Sprint to Spend $100 Million on iClone Advertising!

Either Gizmodo is pulling a CES-TV-Blackout caliber gag, or Sprint has done lost their iCloning minds:

Starting May 9th, Sprint will begin a massive, $100 million marketing campaign aimed straight at the iPhone's nether regions. Stacking its 3G Instinct against the iPhone, Sprint hopes to show that EVDO and GPS make their product way better than anything coming out of Cupertino.

Wha-wha-wha-what?!

What will $100 million buy the Samsung Instinct? Ads. Ads that compare them spec-for-spec with last year's iPhone...

Daring Fireball's John Gruber sums it up well:

[I]t boggles the mind that Sprint is hanging a $100 million dollar advertising campaign on two features — GPS and EVDO networking — that the iPhone is widely-rumored to be picking up in its next-generation hardware. Worse, side-by-side, even in commercials commissioned by Sprint, the Instinct looks like crap next to an iPhone — the screen is way smaller and way less bright. What’s clear is that Sprint is run by MBA-trained executives who see everything as a general “business” problem. In their minds, the same things apply to selling phones as toothpaste. How about this idea: Take $100 million and use it to design a better phone?

What do you think?

iPhone 2.0: .Mac "Push" Email?

Ask and ye shall receive, dig deep into the code and ye shall find fresh-baked Apple-y goodness.

No sooner did Apple drop iPhone 2.0 SDK Beta 5, than the developers began scouring it for any hint of what's to come, and as usually TUAW serves up what they found:

A certain, unnamed individual sent us some pictures of the latest build of the iPhone firmware showing .Mac push e-mail. The picture shows the main Settings page with a new button: "Fetch new data." When you click the button, you are taken to a list of your mail accounts, where you can choose between either "fetch" or "push." According to Mr. Anonymous, while .Mac is offering push e-mail, you are currently not able to do contact or calendar syncing.

Check out TUAW's gallery for the pics.

Boy, Apple is pushing the features fast and furiously. We already knew about "push" via the Microsoft licensed ActiveSync, which offers full Exchange support, but complementing that with .Mac for non-Exchange users? Very nice!

(Of course, much as I love Back-to-My-Mac, iSync, iDisk, and other .Mac features, it really needs a more competitive feature-set upgrade -- Imagine Google-like offerings and capacities with Apple's ease of use and integration! -- especially for the rather steep $100 a year.)

June really can't come fast enough!