Filed under: iPhone, SDK

As expected, Apple didn't introduce any new iPhone hardware today; knowing Steve Jobs & co., they still want to save some surprises when they unveil the 4G iPhone later this summer. Could one of those surprises be a front-facing camera with iChat support?

Close TUAW reader AW sent us this screen shot that shows an iChatAgent process showing up in iStat ($0.99 in the App Store) on an iPhone running the new iPhone OS 4.0 SDK. The process is new to iPhone OS 4.0 and it suggests that Apple plans to implement iChat on the phone in some form.

It seems unlikely that Apple would merely introduce an instant messaging app without support for video conferencing. Although a front-facing camera on the iPhone has been rumored from time to time and it’s one of the most requested hardware features for the iPhone, battery drain during video conferencing is always a concern on a mobile device.

If Apple has found a way to support multitasking without significant battery drain, it’s possible that mobile video conferencing battery drain has been overcome as well.

UPDATE: another screen shot from within Activity Monitor (sent to us by reader Mr. X) after the break.

TUAWiChatAgent process shows up in iPhone OS 4.0 — video conferencing coming? originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 08 Apr 2010 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Fully Utilizing Your X-Core CPU

Almost all systems sold nowadays have at least a dual-core CPU, even
triple- or quad-cores are getting cheaper and getting standard in the
near future. But how to utilize your shiny x-core to it’s full
potential, with applications that are only utilizing one core ? With
Linux, which has strong multitasking capabilities as all unixoid
operating systems, there is an easy possibility to parallelize tasks
which are normally only using one core of an x-core CPU.

Web development can be tricky and time-consuming. To be more effective and productive, we, designers and developers, can integrate useful tools in our daily routine. Also, handy resources can be very valuable as they can help us enhance communication with clients and other developers as well as improve the quality of our work. We are permanently looking for new tools, techniques, resources and services that can improve your workflow and increase your productivity.

In this post we present a couple of extremely useful and valuable tools and resources that we found over the last months. Please make sure to follow us on Twitter for a stream of useful resources, tools and design-related articles.

Getting Inspired: Interesting Redesign Projects

Boarding Pass / Fail
A boarding pass redesign project by Tyler Thompson, the Creative Director at Squarespace. How would you design a boarding pass? The result is very impressive.

You’re killing me, Zappos
Andrew Wilkinson’s attempt to redesign Zappos.

Dollar ReDe$ign Project
An attempt to rebrand the US Dollar, rebuild financial confidence and revive our failing economy. Created by Richard Smith.

Useful Front-End and Back-End Tools

ie-css3.js
CSS3 pseudo selector emulation for Internet Explorer 5-8. ie-css3.js allows Internet Explorer to identify CSS3 pseudo selectors and render any style rules defined with them. Simply include the script in your pages and start using these selectors in your style sheets — they’ll work in IE. An alternative is Offspring.js.

CorMVC
CorMVC is a jQuery-powered Model-View-Controller (MVC) framework that can aide in the development of single-page, web-based applications. CorMVC stands for client-only-required model-view-controller and is designed to be lowest possible entry point to learning about single-page application architecture. It does not presuppose any server-side technologies, or a web server of any kind, and requires no more than a web browser to get up and running.

Typograph
A typographic tool that generates CSS for beautiful web typography, according to traditional scale and vertical rhythm.

Venkman JavaScript Debugger project page
Venkman is the code name for Mozilla’s JavaScript Debugger. Venkman aims to provide a powerful JavaScript debugging environment for Gecko-based browsers namely Firefox 3.x, the Netscape 7.x series of browsers, Netscape 9.x series, Mozilla Seamonkey 1.x and Mozilla Seamonkey 2.x. It does not include Gecko-based browsers such as K-Meleon 1.x, Galeon 2.x and Netscape 8.x. The debugger is available as an add-on package in XPI format. Venkman JavaScript Debugger has been provided as part of the Mozilla install distribution since October 3rd 2001.

Having just got back from CES 2010 I’m exhausted and need to catch up at work.  In the mean time I’ll be taking some products I’ve received @ CES 2010 through their paces.  Here’s a quick list of products that I have and will have a piece coming shortly:

AblePlanet Prototype Headphones:  Can’t say much aside from they are the successor to the white sound isolation headphones.
OrbitSound T3 Portable Speaker
Tunebug Vibe
IvySkin Quattro T2
MiPlug T
BandShell
Yurtopia
KonoAudio iPopperz
Pineapple Rumble KW

Some manufactures didn’t have press demo’s available at the show and said they would send me a unit after.  I’m only going to list the ones I’m really looking forward to and that really have a promising future in the consumer and military market.

FrameWizard from FaceCake
DataJack
Wink Glasses
Kidos
i2i Stream XR from Aerielle
Casio EX-G1
AudioEngine w1
Album2
5barz

Some interesting things to come.  Check back shortly for more info.  And remember, these won’t be just reviews or tech specs but rather also possible use cases and how these products fit into personal military usage and lifestyle.