Over the past several months, there has been widespread speculation over the possibility of a fourth-generation iPhone being released this sumer. There’s been quite a few stories with rumors regarding things like a Verizon and T-Mobile iPhone, but how much can you read and listen to until it has your head spinning? As it stands right now, there’s no guarantee that a fourth-generation iPhone is even in development right now.

Today, I want to distinguish fact from fiction and share my insights on what you can expect in regards to a new iPhone model, based on research and information I’ve been provided with.

Rumors:

• Multiple Carrier Support – There’s been a lot of discussion about Apple breaking the iPhone’s AT&T exclusiveness and creating an iPhone specifically for Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile, and even Sprint. I haven’t been able to confirm or discuss the carrier aspect of stories with any sources, AT&T or Apple, but it seems likely that a Verizon model is likely, and as usual, GeoHot or other iPhone hackers will find some sort of unlock for whatever is released.
• Hardware and Feature Additions – With the upcoming release of iPhone OS 4 this summer, many people speculate this is why June is the expected release time of a 4th generation iPhone. In addition to coming bundled with the latest firmware improvements and feature updates, the internal hardware is expected to receive some upgrades, too. An LCD screen, improved camera and video, improved battery and a faster processor are just some of the many improvements rumored. A camera update is imminent, as is an improved processor. Many consumers are hoping for a battery improvement, but based on the size of the iPhone, I’ve heard not a whole lot can be done to improve battery life.
• iPhone HD – This is something that has only recently gained the attention of speculators, and it seems to be a fair rumor. The iPhone HD may be the name of the newest iPhone, rather than the iPhone 4G (to avoid confusion that the phone will work on a 4G network AT&T may launch in the future).
• Other Rumors – The rumor mill for a new iPhone is always huge, so it’s difficult to cover everything you hear. One rumor I’ve heard that hasn’t been publicized is that the new iPhone will be factory unlocked, regardless of how you purchase it, though I’m not going to give this one a whole lot of credibility. The June/July release date speculation seems to be the most reliable thus far, and if it is true, the phone will be announced in late May or early June.

A visual of the new iPhone 4G, courtesy of French magazine’s Nowhere Else website.

Facts:

• Employee Vacations Blocked – Just yesterday, April 16, Boy Genius Report posted a story in which they confirmed from multiple sources that AT&T would be blocking employee vacations in June, which has only been done previously when a new iPhone model was to be released.
• Previous History – If you’re a statistical sort of person, you’d know that the iPhone 3G was released in June 2008, followed by the release of the 3G S in June 2009. If history is to repeat itself, June 2010 sounds realistic, as does a new date I’ve come across: June 22, 2010, according to a source I just received an email from. History is a fact, but whether or not it’ll repeat itself is never certain or based on fact.

The iPhone 4G is riding the hype train right now, and nobody is expecting anything less than an extraordinary product that will revolutionize the iPhone product line all over again and change our perspective on mobile phones forever.

On April 8, Apple held a special keynote presentation in which they unveiled their new iPhone operating system and gave a handful of lucky developers a preview of what’s to come. I recently managed to get my hands on a device with the iPhone OS 4.0 Beta 1 firmware installed on it, so I’d like to give you an in-depth analysis of what to expect, along with some of the pros and cons of this new OS.

1.) Multitasking – To me, this is the most important and best feature Apple has added to their new firmware. This feature allows you to jump from one application to the next without losing your work. This is great if you’re in the middle of a game of Doodle Jump and get an important text or an email. All you have to do is double tap the Home button, and you can jump between any of your applications with ease. The video below demonstrates how simple yet effective multitasking is.

Don’t take my word for it, watch the demo video to see how revolutionary Apple’s multitasking feature is!

2.) Folders – You’ll now be able to organize all of your favorite applications into simple folders, giving you quick access to all of your favorite applications. You can now separate your apps into categories, such as “Games”, “Work”, etc. Plus, you’ll now be able to manage 2160 applications! That’s 1,980 applications more than the previous limit of a mere 180. It can also categorize applications based on how they were categorized when downloaded from the App Store and you can simply just change the name of the folder, so now you’re applications will already be organized with just a few simple commands.

Steve Jobs explains the functionality of the Folders feature in his Keynote.

3.) Mail – Although the Mail application won’t change dramatically, you’ll be able to view messages from multiple accounts in one large inbox, switch between accounts at a fairly quicker pace, and open business attachments in third-party applications, which can make doing things like simple revisions a breeze.

4.) iBooks – iBooks will now become a default application with the release of OS 4. If you have yet to try iBooks, it’s fantastic on the iPad. Though it’s a bit of an eye strainer to read a book on the screen of a smaller device like the iPhone and iPod touch, it’s still great to just enjoy a book and pass the time with a bit of reading. If you’re familiar with the Classics application, it’s merely an improvement of that application with a much larger selection of books, free and paid, which is fantastic for the avid and even casual reader.

5.) iAd – Here’s where I held my breath during the keynote, because Apple announced they’d be adding in interactive advertisements when opening certain applications. Although you have the option to close it and go back to what you’re doing without losing what you’re working on, I’m not fond of having advertisements appear on days where I just want to try out a handful of new applications I purchased or something similar to that.

I’ll be a bit fair and say I’ve come across some cool ads that have linked me to some interesting applications or have been interactive and fun to fool around with, but still, I’d rather have my iPhone be ad-free, though I can see where Apple is coming from on this and how it’s going to generate even more revenue and help make other products and developers a success.

6.) Developers & Business – Both the common business man and iPhone developer have the chance to use the new features of this iPhone OS to improve the functionality of their communication and applications.

If you use your iPhone regularly for business-related purposes, you’ll find that the new security features will help protect your data and information if your device is lost, stolen or compromised. Wireless App Management is great because larger enterprises can distribute in-house applications that can be acquired without even having to connect to their PC or Mac. Mobile Device Management is a great solution to make sure all devices are being used responsibly and comply with corporate guidelines, and these unique APIs are great to make sure a large network of devices can be easily managed. Finally, the improved Mail services allows your device to work with Exchange Server 2010, which is useful if you’re on a trip and need to read and file a report, send out a memo to certain office employees, or make sure your presentation was received properly. The other changes to Mail mentioned earlier make it easy to edit and review documents viewable in third-party applications, too.

Developers can benefit from the new iPhone SDK package, which features over 1500 new APIs that developers can use to enhance their graphics or make their applications more interactive and user-friendly. Although I’m not a commercial application developer, several have already begun experimenting with the SKD 4 beta, available for download from the iPhone Dev Center if you’re enrolled in the iPhone Developer Program(which costs $99 a year), have already been able to significantly improve their existing applications and create beautiful new ones with this fantastic tool kit.

7.) Other Features

- Over 100 new features have been added to iPhone OS 4, including the few majors updates listed above. Some other cool but less significant changes include being able to set a custom home screen background, download and gift applications straight from your phone, focus on a specific target in video instead of just photos on your iPhone 3GS, and several others.

If you’d like to see some of these features in action, click the link to the Keynote added at the beginning of the article (or simply click here). iPhone OS 4 will first debut this summer for iPhone and iPod touch, and for iPad in the fall. The firmware will be compatible with the iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPod touch 2nd Generation, and iPod touch Third Generation. However, certain devices won’t be able to use all of the features listed; i.e. the 2nd Gen. iPod and iPhone 3G do not have the ability to use multitasking because of their outdated hardware. The first iPod and iPhone models will not see any OS 4 support because of their inability to use most of these newer features due to outdated hardware and performance issues.

With that in mind, I can’t wait until the final version of iPhone OS 4 is released, and based on what I’ve seen in a somewhat buggy beta so far, you won’t be disappointed.

Hey everyone, I’d like to start out by saying Happy New Year to all of you from Amar and myself, even though it’s just a tad bit belated. We’ve been gone from the blogging scene for a while due to personal matters, but now we plan on resuming our daily postings here at AbleBlogger. I’d like to start out by announcing a few smalls changes and points of importance before I begin posting new articles tomorrow.

1.New Writer for AbleBlogger – Although I’ve been writing articles for the site for a month or so, I’d like to inform you all that I’m the newest addition to the writing team here.

My name is Clayton, and I’ve been a blogger and website designer for about two years now. I originally met Amar through another website project and we’ve been working together here and there ever since. Over the coming months, I’ll be the main blog writer and will likely only post one article a day about the main technology story of the day, a summary of the day’s events, and some opinion and review columns on a variety of things, so stay tuned for that. Also, if you’re not interested in subscribing to our e-mail feed, you can follow me on Twitter to receive tweets regarding new posts and information.

2. Upcoming Website Additions – Ever since we first started out, we’ve wanted to slowly add some new things to our blog, including things like contests and giveaways. Although I’m not sure how long it’ll be until we begin doing stuff like this, it will happen eventually I hope, as we feel our members should all have a chance to win something and be thanked for their continued readership and support.

However, we need a lot more readers and viewers before we begin doing stuff like this, so please start supporting AbleBlogger and recommended it to anyone you contact on a regular basis, as we’ll soon have some superb articles, fun contests and giveaways, etc.

Our goal in general is simply to create a blog that people want to visit and read on a daily basis, so if we can meet or surpass that goal, that’d be great, and we can use your help and support.

Thanks for your continued readership and support,
Clayton and Amar

P.S.: If you have any suggestions on how we can change or improve AbleBlogger for the better, just leave a comment with your thoughts and/or opinions.

Howdy Everyone?

I am sorry I have not been regular to this blog as I am really busy with this event company I have started. This company aims to bring the best and the hottest parties in India. I have already organized two parties and both the parties rocked. After my local city I am heading towards different cities, I have few plans to organize parties in different cities. Our party was really appreciated by the crowd and was covered by the media. We would soon be doing GiG’s in Delhi, Pune, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Calcutta, Etc.. If you stay in one of these cities. Get in touch.

My experience has been pretty good with this event company and I have made great money in the last 2 parties. Event managing is fun but at the same time its very hectic you have to work a lot but hard work brings in the fruit. I am working hard to make this company popular all over India. Any suggestions? shoot’em

We know that many of our readers blog daily, and for some of you it’s what you do for a living. Although many of you have great ideas, sometimes you can’t write them down the way you want to, or the article ends up becoming a disorganized mess and you think that you need to start from scratch. However, we’re here to help those of you that may be struggling to put you’re big and important idea into an organized post. By the end of this article, we hope you’ll be able to write long and informative pieces without having to worry about the simple and annoying struggles you may currently face.

Always write down your thoughts – When someone comes up with an idea, they typically try to remember what it is mentally and never write it down unless it’s something they can find again later on, which I do myself sometimes. If you have a good idea, get to a computer or write it down on paper and save it, even though you may not have fully thought it out. Saving your ideas is important when writing because you should always have a lot of topics and content to choose from, and you can simply cross out or delete ideas that don’t sound as great the second time you read them.

Referencing your paper and read other articles that are similar to your topic – When writing about a major news event or breaking story, it is important that you carefully read reports and other information about the topic. This will help you write more and cite a lot of important facts and key points that other bloggers may have missed or forgotten. If another blog manages to post an article about the same topic before you, take a moment to read what they have. You may end up realizing you left something out of your article or they missed a key point that will help make your article better than theirs.

Using the Six Traits of Writing – Although this may make your work seem like  an English or Language Arts paper, using these traits will help you write a better article, whether you know it or not. The six traits of writing are: Ideas & Content, Voice, Sentence Fluency, Word Choice, Organization, and Conventions. These are the six key points to everything you’ll write, and it’s important to check your paper over and over to make sure it flows well and is truly a good piece of writing. I always read my posts twice to make sure I didn’t misspell a word or Microsoft Word didn’t change a word to something else by mistake. Also, send your paper to trusted friends or an adult and have them critique your work, because sometimes it takes another pair of eyes to catch our mistakes.

Try to be unique, not just mainstream – If you’re a professional blogger, you know that writing about mainstream news and information is important if you want to compete with larger sites, but it’s also important to include a fair share of unique content that’ll make you stand out from the crowd. Those that blog for fun always share their own ideas, stories and tips, so it’s actually a good idea to learn from some of the smaller bloggers, because even though they don’t have a large audience, you could take a skill they have and apply it to your professional blog.

If you aren’t enjoying what you’re writing, what’s the point? – All bloggers should enjoy what they are working on, because the purpose of maintaining and writing a series of blogs and articles is to have fun and take a break from other activities that may not peak your interests. There are times when some professional bloggers write about things that aren’t necessarily interesting to them, but it is important to enjoy your line of work most of the time. If you’re constantly bored while writing a blog, then perhaps this kind of hobby just isn’t for you.

Include opinions, not just facts – Unless you’re writing about a national or world news event, you should typically include your thoughts and opinions. You should be willing to see why others may disagree with your opinion, not just write in a biased format and never let your readers share their thoughts. However, articles should be based mostly on fact with less opinion, but some topics may call for mostly opinion and smaller amounts of facts.

Presenting your article to the public – After you have put your piece together, you must now decide how you want to organize your article, whether or not you want to use images, etc. Blogs should use some HTML and images when necessary, but try to post professionally unless you’re writing about things that are based on decoration and home improvement. Still, nearly every article could use a little extra design, so if you avoid overdoing it with colors and graphics, you should be fine.

Although many of you apply these tips to the articles you regularly post, it’s still important to analyze your previous articles and improve upon them in any way you can. I don’t think it’s possible for any blog to be completely perfect and polished, but there’s definitely room for improvement most of the time

Over the past several years, social networking websites have grown from small communities to the most trafficked websites on the Web and are now a part of our daily lives. Whether it’s playing a game on Facebook, listening to new music posted by an artist on MySpace or informing the world how great your cup of coffee is on Twitter, two-thirds of the Internet population visit these kinds of websites, which accumulates for 10% of all time spent on the Internet. However, as smartphones are becoming cheaper and a lot more common among cellular device owners, more and more people are experiencing the Net in a whole new way, which means websites like Twitter and Facebook must begin improving mobile services.

More than 63% of U.S. Web traffic on mobile devices is to social networks, which means that networking through a mobile device is growing rapidly. Social networking through mobile devices experienced a 152% increase between November 2007 and November 2008 alone, and by the end of the year, that number has been expected by some to rise as high as 400% from 2008.

The three main networking giants, Twitter, Facebook and MySpace, have all launched mobile versions of their websites and made them easy to use and navigate, which is good news for social junkies. However, many features available on the desktop version of the websites are not available on mobile versions, including Facebook and MySpace IM, editing profile information on Twitter, etc. However, all three websites are currently working on improving the desktop and mobile versions of their site to meet the needs of the future Web 3.0

For example, MySpace President & Co-Founder Tom Anderson is constantly working on reducing advertisements and improving the sections of the website that make it unique, such as MySpace Music. Tom also recently spoke about plans for an updated homepage, along with several new additions to the Music section, although nothing has been formally announced. Twitter recently launched a Spanish and Japanese version of their site, along with enabling SMS to the expanding Internet userbase in India. As for Facebook, no recent changes have been made aside from the homepage redesign that is still creating outrage among the community, which we reported on last week.

Many of these websites are taking steps to meet the future of Mobile Web users, but they all have a long way to go before the needs of every Web user will be satisfied.

We know that many of our readers are actually bloggers themselves, and we supply you with content that you want to read about. So, how do you know what niche your blog does and does not appeal to? If you follow our tips below, perhaps you’ll have a better understanding of the type of content people want to read about.

Social Media – As we all know, everyone is always looking for the latest social media and popular culture news, and websites like TMZ are always first to break the biggest stories concerning celebrities, etc. If you want readers to really be interested, be sure to include your personal opinions, because people find your own ideas far more interesting than just a repost of an article in different words.

Technology – Next up, we have technology. I’m sure many of you have heard of Mashable at one point or another, and they are one of the leaders when it comes to reporting on technology, and are one of the biggest websites on the Web right now. Technology is important to our modern society, and people really want a solid review on a product or application before they think to spend, especially during this recession.

News & Politics – The idea of a political blog is a little more complex, yet may be more promising. This is where you’ll want more opinions than coverage, but when writing, don’t modify quotes from articles or write an article that’s based purely on bias. Everyone wants plain, simple, and fair news, and in addition to companies like CNN, FOX News, etc, bloggers are becoming the main source for breaking news.

Online Business & Website Design - While it’s difficult to write tutorials and long articles on how people and entrepreneurs should go about their online business, this niche is becoming more and more popular among readers and bloggers alike. With so many ways to make money on the Internet, people are constantly searching for reliable sources, systems and information, and there aren’t too many of these blogs out there. So, if you are writing tutorials on SEO, making money online, etc, then you should be able to use your knowledge to promote your blog with some of the tools you write about and attract thousands of visitors and hopefully hundreds of unique visits. Either way, you’ll always receive a few hits if your articles are helpful.

Tips and Tricks on Blogging - Although blogging about blogging itself may sound weird, it’s actually great when trying to write an interesting article. People are constantly wondering why they have no readers, and there are blogs that specifically help those people, whether it’s with promotion or how to write a great article in general. Passing on what you know is great for everyone, and your readers will definitely appreciate it.

These are merely ideas of what your blog should cover, but the most successful blogs on the Internet typically cover one or more of these topics, so it wouldn’t hurt to post an article about one of the topics mentioned above on occasion. Even if you choose to write about something not listed above, make sure each and every post has quality content, because that’s what readers want. Hey, that’s the reason why you visit our website every day, right?

This past weekend, Facebook rolled out a few new additions and changes to the website, yet no users had any idea that these changes were coming. The first change was the removal of the Highlights section, which shows what your friends have recently done while you were offline or what’s popular among them. Facebook also changed their News Feed, splitting it into two sections: Live Feed and News Feed. However, many members feel these changes are not for the better, and even some groups wanting the changes reversed have appeared, growing by hundreds of users per hour. So, why such a huge fuss over such “minor” tweaks?

Facebook hasn’t been known to make large amounts of design changes to their website, and when they have, it wasn’t a huge deal. However, the News Feed separation seems to be creating the most dissatisfaction. The Live Feed shows everything your friends are doing now, while the News Feed is for older events from the days before. Many say this is a small replication of the Twitter stream and so users who may not have been able to access the website for a day or two can catch up on the best news and updates from the previous day. However, many people disagree and prefer the old feed just the way it was and hate the new design, but it did not cause a significant traffic drop.

This displays the News Feed section, which shows older posts. The Live Feed, blank in the image, would show posts friends make while you’re online or throughout the course of the day.

Although Facebook executives plan to keep things the way they are, many users are still sending in their complaints. Many are comparing this to the dramatic changes made to MySpace that caused many users to leave or spending less time on the site, but many aren’t expecting people to leave over something like this. There are also rumors that Facebook will make more changes to profiles and their design by December, but there has been no conformation thus far.

Personally, I don’t like these changes, although change is important when you’re a site of this magnitude.

On Wednesday, Bing announced a partnership that would include status updates from both social networking websites in search results, according to a report by All Things Digital’s, which has been confirmed since then. Twitter has reportedly been looking for search partnerships the past month, while Microsoft had already invested $240 million into Facebook back in 2007 and has signed multiple search and advertisement deals with the website. A short while ago, a Beta version of the search feature was launched and new information is being revealed as we speak by Microsoft’s search team, led by executive Qi Lu at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco. To check out Bing’s version of Twitter integration, visit http://www.bing.com/twitter

However, just a short while ago, Google announced that they have reached a deal with Twitter to include tweets in search results as well. While not much has been announced, the staff of Google made a few statements on the deal.

Quote from the Official Google Blog: http://www.googleblog.blogspot.com

“At Google, our goal is to create the most comprehensive, relevant and fast search in the world. In the past few years, an entirely new type of data has emerged — real-time updates like those on Twitter have appeared not only as a way for people to communicate their thoughts and feelings, but also as an interesting source of data about what is happening right now in regard to a particular topic.

Given this new type of information and its value to search, we are very excited to announce that we have reached an agreement with Twitter to include their updates in our search results. We believe that our search results and user experience will greatly benefit from the inclusion of this up-to-the-minute data, and we look forward to having a product that showcases how tweets can make search better in the coming months. That way, the next time you search for something that can be aided by a real-time observation, say, snow conditions at your favorite ski resort, you’ll find tweets from other users who are there and sharing the latest and greatest information.”

As we all know, social network has become a big part of our daily routine. Whether it’s posting a Tweet about your day, updating your Mood and Status on MySpace, or sending an IM to your friend on Facebook, the majority of Internet users use at least one social networking website. There are many aside from the three I’ve mentioned, but these three are the biggest ones on the Web and have the most traffic. A lot of people want to know how these websites fair against one another. So, we’ll be comparing traffic, the general user base, and a few other things.

MySpace – Likely the most well-known of the three websites, MySpace was founded in August 2003 by Chris DeWolfe and Tom Anderson. In 2005, it was purchased by News Corporation for $580 million dollars, and while many people it was the end of the MySpace era, is became the most popular social networking site in the United States in June 2006, but was surpassed by Facebook for worldwide unique visits in 2008. The website is believed to be best known for revolutionizing pop culture and launching the still widely-popular MySpace Music service.

However, in recent months, MySpace’s unique visitor average has dropped from 55.6 million unique visitors in August to 50.2 million in September, and the company has dropped 20% in US traffic since June, and because of this, MySpace’s net value is decreasing greatly. There are still millions of people that use MySpace, but if you take a look at their traffic now compared to 2006, it’s dropped rapidly. Personally, I still prefer MySpace over Facebook, but as traffic drops, you’ll begin to notice more advertisements and some of your favorite features may start to disappear over time. However, the one website that has been gaining traffic while MySpace is slowly becoming irrelevant is Facebook, our next website to discuss.

Facebook – On February 4, 2004, Facebook was founded by Mark Zuckerberg, a student at Harvard University, along with several of his roommates. It started out as Thefacebook, but it has transformed into the second most viewed website, second only to Google. The website currently has more than 300 million active users worldwide, and while met with controversy, is widely popular. In January, a Compete.com study ranked Facebook as the most used social network by worldwide monthly active users, followed by MySpace. So, what is Facebook all about, and why should you use it?

Facebook has recently been rapidly expanding over the past two years. The reason? Facebook was originally designed for college students, but over time it has become a place for people who are typically older, whereas MySpace has become the social hub for a younger audience, although statistically speaking, the average MySpace user is 32, while the everyday Facebook user is 35 and older. Many older people are making the transition from MySpace to Facebook, though, so we can expect the numbers to change over the next few years. As of last month, Facebook is receiving 82.9 million unique visitors, which is about 33 million more than MySpace and almost 76 million more than Twitter. Facebook has a much simpler interface than MySpace and makes connecting with relatives and friends a lot easier than Twitter, so it’s fairly easy to see why people choose it. So, now we’re left with Twitter, the smallest of the three, yet what also appears to be the most promising.

Twitter – By now, you’ve probably heard of Twitter, whether is was mentioned by some celebrity, news corporation, etc. You may also hear people mention something about things called Tweets, and either it sounds like something ridiculous or a thing a bird would do. Originally founded by Jack Dorsey, Evan Williams, and Biz Stone, it is created purely from private funding, which keeps the website running smooth and advertisement free. Twitter is known for 140 text-based messages and for sharing video, pictures, and links to cool web pages. So, what makes Twitter so unique? Let’s find out.

Although Twitter receives 55 million hits monthly, only about 6 or 7 of these are unique hits, which mean not many people are registering, but just a year ago, you would’ve never guessed Twitter would be such a huge hit. Over this past year, Twitter had a monthly growth of 1,382 percent, and no other website has come close to that kind of growth; Facebook, the second closest website, is trailing by over 1,000 percent. With an incredibly simple interface, the fastest growing network on the Web and one of the best ways for people to connect through short messages, Twitter is one of the most revolutionary websites we’ve ever seen, and it’s a great tool for anyone, including us at AbleBlogger.

So, with all of the new social networking buzz, it appears that Twitter and Facebook will soon dethrone MySpace as the “King of Social Networking” and fiercely compete for the title of best social networking website.