Apple has finally pushed out the WiFi iTunes iPhone firmware promised by Jobs several weeks ago and Pogue a couple of hours ago.
Fire up your desktop iTunes and connect your iPhone to download and install the update. And be prepared to wait, as this firmware takes several minutes to download and install. Far longer than I’ve seen with previous iPhone firmware releases.
Apple has also changed the Calculator icon a bit on the home screen. It now has the same appearance, with the orange equals sign etc., as the Calculator icon on the iPod touch. If you find any other differences, please post in the comments.
It is no accident that we are announcing GeoLocator™ 2.0 today, on the sixth anniversary of the September 11th attacks.
11 September 2001 crystalized Digital Reasoning Systems’ vision into a mission. Because we had already been working on discerning meaning inherent in unstructured data before the attacks, we were able to deliver a functional proof of concept of GeoLocator™ to the US Army National Ground Intelligence Center within a few months afterwards.
Our solution delivered superior accuracy and a more flexible architecture at a fraction of the cost of our competitors.
The same powerful technology used by intelligence professionals is now available to you.
Today we deliver GeoLocator™ 2.0 for everyone, government and commercial customers alike. GeoLocator™ 2.0 unleashes accurate, flexible, cross-platform geolocation for commercial applications. We have enabled straightforward integration into existing software systems using Java or Web Services APIs. We have also made significant further improvements in performance, administration, and analysis flexibility. And we are still far, far cheaper than our competitors.
GeoLocator™ 2.0 provides:
- Better performance (at least a 200% improvement over previous versions)
- Easier installation of the application and gazetteer (location database) versus competitive products
- Ability for customers to input their own locations as well as modify existing locations in the gazetteer
- A GUI for interactive administration and analysis as well as a command line interface for batch processing and scriptable control
- Built-in capability to export aligned locations into Google Earth, NASA World Wind, CSV, and other XML-based formats via standard XSLT transforms
- A variety of text markup features (see datasheet for more details)
- Web Services and Java API interfaces enabling the integration of GeoLocator™ functions into other applications
- Support for customer-specified metadata field tags that can be used in the location disambiguation process
- Enhanced application status and error reporting including configurable log file support
Access the datasheet for all the details including more information on capabilities, system requirements, and contacting Digital Reasoning Systems to evaluate GeoLocator™. Click here to read the GeoLocator™ datasheet.
Digital Reasoning Systems starts with the assumption that there is order inherent in the signal.
In other words, we treat text representations of human language as signals.
This video provides a concise overview of how Digital Reasoning Systems’ patented technology derives and uses that signal:
Watch this video to better understand how our core engine creates and uses multidimensional Point-of-View (POV) files. For more in depth information after the video overview, read our “Digital Reasoning Technology Overview” whitepaper.
It’s been a long while since I posted updates on my work at Digital Reasoning Systems. That’s about to change, in a big way!
Our key patent for discovering the meaning of words solely from unstructured data was granted by the USPTO on July 24, 2007 as US Patent No. 7249117. Click here to read the full patent or reference the TinyURL http://tinyurl.com/2h6nz4 as a shortcut.
Read the full press release on Forbes.com and check out this video tribute to the great thinkers in mathematics, science, technology and industry who made it possible for us to submit and receive US Patent No. 7249117:
As our CEO Tim Estes noted in the press release:
We believe this is a seminal moment in developing algorithms for understanding human language. The applications that will arise as a result of our patented technologies will allow machines to learn language much the way that children do and revolutionize the knowledge engineering process that is at the root of the most complicated systems.
Tim goes on to note that:
The implications for search engines, machine translation, and most knowledge-centric applications are immense. Finally, we can have broad machine understanding of what humans mean simply by reading what we say.
Meaning is inherent in the signal. Re-read that and think about the implications.
Powerful and awesome! And we’re just getting started unleashing that meaning…watch for more on my blog shortly.
Walt Mossberg’s iPhone review is now live on WSJ.com.
Among other things, Walt claims that the on-screen keyboard takes a few days to get used to but after that is a non-issue and that the biggest shortcoming is iPhone‘s availability only on AT&T.
Watch his video review:
http://services.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f8/452319854
Apple has posted a 24 minute long iPhone guided tour.
This tour provides the longest look yet at iPhone‘s capabilities and details how to use the phone for various tasks. It works through all of the applications including the recently announced YouTube support. Apple announced the tour via an email sent to those who previously signed up to receive iPhone news.
Click here to view the video online or download a copy in QuickTime format.
Apple has sent an email out to everyone who signed up to receive iPhone updates.
The email offers tips on organizing things now so that one can get a new iPhone up and running quickly once they are out. Among the services and software that iPhone will support:
- iTunes – Apple’s iPhone email says one will need to have an iTunes Store account (very interesting to see that this is required)
- Phone contacts from Address Book or Entourage on Mac, Outlook or Outlook Express on a PC, Yahoo! Address Book on the Web
- Calendar appointments with iCal or Entourage on the Mac, or Outlook on a PC
- Email using Yahoo! Mail, Gmail, AOL, and .Mac Mail, or most POP3 and IMAP email systems as well as Mail on a Mac or Outlook on a PC
- Photos with iPhoto on a Mac or Adobe Photoshop Elements, Adobe Photoshop Album, or any picture folder on a PC
The body of the message reads:
iPhone arrives on June 29. iPhone features an amazing mobile phone, is the best iPod we’ve ever created, and puts the Internet in your pocket with desktop-class email, web browsing, searching, and maps. And iPhone makes it all easy to use with its revolutionary multi-touch user interface. iPhone syncs with your PC or Mac just like an iPod, so organizing your content now will help you start calling, texting, emailing, surfing, listening, and watching even faster when you get your iPhone. Here are a few suggestions to help you get ready:
Making a call with iPhone is as simple as tapping a name. You won’t need to re-enter all your contacts because iPhone syncs with the address book you already use on your computer—Address Book or Entourage on a Mac, or Outlook or Outlook Express on a PC. If you keep your contacts on the web using Yahoo! Address Book, iPhone can sync with them, too. To get ready for iPhone, organize your contacts in one of these applications and make sure they’re up to date with the latest phone numbers and email addresses. If you don’t have contacts on your computer, don’t worry. You can still enter them directly into iPhone.
Using its built-in calendar, iPhone lets you check your appointments with the flick of a finger. iPhone uses iTunes to sync with the calendar application you already use on your computer—iCal or Entourage on the Mac, or Outlook on a PC—just like it does with your contacts. If you don’t already use one of these applications to manage your appointments, now is a great time to start, so you’ll be ready to sync when your iPhone arrives. If you choose not to use a calendar program, that’s OK. You’ll be able to enter appointments directly into the iPhone calendar.
iPhone is the first phone to come with a desktop-class email application. So now your phone can display rich HTML email with graphics and photos alongside the text. iPhone will even fetch your latest email every time you open the application and automatically retrieve your email on a set schedule, just like a computer does. iPhone works with the most popular email systems—including Yahoo! Mail, Gmail, AOL, and .Mac Mail. If you’re not already using one of these services, now would be a great time to get an account. iTunes will make email setup on iPhone a breeze by automatically syncing the settings from email accounts stored in Mail on a Mac or Outlook on a PC. Don’t worry if you’re not on one of these email services; iPhone also works with almost any industry-standard POP3 and IMAP email system.
iPhone has a 2-megapixel camera and a gorgeous 3.5-inch display, so it’s a great way to enjoy and show off your digital photos. iPhone uses iTunes to sync your photos from iPhoto on a Mac or Adobe Photoshop Elements, Adobe Photoshop Album, or any picture folder on a PC. You can carry thousands of photos on iPhone, but you can start by creating an album or two with 50 to 100 of your favorite photos, so that when you first sync your iPhone, you’ll be ready to quickly show off some of your best shots.
iPhone is the best iPod ever. Its beautiful, 3.5-inch widescreen display allows you to easily enjoy the music, TV shows, and movies you have in your iTunes library. If you already use iTunes, you can start getting ready for iPhone by creating a playlist of a few hundred of your favorite songs. If you don’t have iTunes, now is a good time to download it and start a music and video library. That way, when you sync your iPhone with iTunes, you’ll be able to take your favorite music, as well as a few of your TV shows and movies, with you wherever you go.
To set up your iPhone, you’ll need an account with Apple’s iTunes Store. If you already have an iTunes account, make sure you know your account name and password. If you don’t have an account, you should set one up now to save time later. To set up an account, launch iTunes, select the iTunes Store, and click the Sign In button in the upper right corner of iTunes. Sign in and you’re ready to go.
BillDay.com 