Patent Points to Camera-Based Swipe Controls For iPhone [Apple]

With a new iPhone expected to debut this summer, Apple’s phone-related patents start to take on added weight. Especially when they’re as badass as the one unveiled yesterday that turns the iPhone’s camera into a swipe pad.

The technology described in the patent, dug up by the diligent folks at Patently Apple, would allow an iPhone user to fast forward and rewind through voicemails, navigate web pages, or scroll through contact lists and iTunes simply by swiping one finger against the iPhone’s camera.

The proposed controls would also be tap sensitive, meaning that you can access different phone or UI functions simply by tapping the camera with your forefinger. Theoretically, all of these controls would also apply to the iPad… should it ever, you know, get a camera.

The patent was originally filed in Q3 of 2008, which may have left just enough time for Apple to have implemented the tech by this summer. Let’s hope so… this is one of those patents that actually seems as functional as it does cool. [Patently Apple]
Written by: Brian Barrett

The Week’s Best iPhone Apps

In this week’s porn-free app roundup: Expensive instant messaging apps, humbled! Cars, leered at! Zombies, organically defeated! Enigmatic Japanese game developers, being enigmatic! The sun, closely monitored! Malls, fearlessly navigated! And more…

This Week’s Apps

If you’d like to view the following gallery as a single page, click here

This Week’s App News on Giz

• This Is Why I Want Photoshop 1.0 on My iPhone Right Now

• A Better Way to Passcode Lock Your iPhone (At Your Own Risk)

• You Can Now Download iPhone Apps Up to 20MB Over 3G

• Google Buys iPhone Email Search App reMail and Pulls It From the App Store

• SlingPlayer Mobile 1.2 With 3G Streaming Now Available

• Street Fighter IV on iPhone Brings New Definition to Sore Thumbs

• Apple Removes An Innocent Boob-Jiggling App From the App Store

• Opera Mini On iPhone Is “Fast,” Though There’s No Pinch To Zoom

• Here’s What Final Fantasy For iPhone Will Look Like

This list is in no way definitive. If you’ve spotted a great app that hit the store this week, give us a heads up or, better yet, your firsthand impressions in the comments. And for even more apps: see our previous weekly roundups here, and check out our Favorite iPhone Apps Directory. Have a great weekend, everybody!

Written by: John Herrman

iTunes Preview Now Available For iPhone, So You Can Browse Apps Online

Very quietly, Apple has slipped a new feature into the iPhone and iPod Touch—iTunes Preview, which we saw last November for the desktop.

It allows you to click on an App Store link and be taken to a website showing the app’s details, so you know what to expect before downloading. A picture, description, price, rating, reviews and screenshots are included in the app profile, but in order to download it you will have to revert back to the App Store.

While it won’t change your life, it’s certainly a more intuitive way to browse apps, and bodes well for a future where we could see the entire App Store taken online. [TechCrunch]

Written by: Kat Hannaford

RealSki Augmented Reality iPhone App Might Save A Few Black Diamond-Chancing Lives

Gizmodo helm-man and keen snowman Brian nearly creamed his pants when he heard about RealSki’s augmented reality iPhone app, and rightly so—the app uses the camera, accelerometer, compass and GPS to map ski-trails of over 80 US mountains.

You’ll need to be running at least OS 3.1.2 on your iPhone 3GS to use RealSki, and to make it work you move the phone around you on the ski-trail, so it can map the location. Then, digital overlays will appear within the app, showing you where the lifts, lodges, restrooms and restaurants are, as well as trails (and their level of skill) and any other parks or features of that resort.

The free download will provide maps for five of the major resorts, but if you’re going off-piste and need other maps, you can purchase additional ones (there’s 80 available) from within the app. Here’s hoping the RealSki app is intelligent enough to bolt you to the chair lift when you decide to conquer the difficult Black Diamond course. [RealSki on iTunes]

Written by: Kat Hannaford

26 Interesting (But Fake) Interfaces for iPhone 4.0

For this week’s Photoshop Contest, I asked you to design some new interfaces for iPhone 4.0. And you know what? Some of these look pretty damned cool.

First Place— Juan Ozuna

Second Place—Katrina Laffey

Third Place—Torsten Wulff

Written by: Adam Frucci

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars Hits the App Store

The iPhone’s got its first GTA title, and it looks pretty great. As teased before, this is a top-down GTA, and it’s a near-direct port of the Nintendo DS version, albeit with better graphics, and more awkward controls.

Touch Arcade’s had some time to run/jack/drive/murder their way around the game a little bit, and here’s what they noticed:

• The graphics are much better than they looked in the early screenshots, falling closer to the PSP version of the game than the DS version.

• The plot and writing are classic GTA, which is to say decent, and gratuitously profane. In a good way!

• The controls aren’t as awkward as they look. (Note: they look very awkward.)

• It’s a full-fledged GTA title, with integrated minigames, hours of gameplay and an appropriately high price: $10.

GTA: Chinatown Wars is live in the App Store. [Touch Arcade]

Written by: John Herrman

Apple Reportedly Looking for LED Flash Components for Next iPhone

Improvements to the iPhone’s camera are pretty much inevitable for the next iteration, and it looks like Apple may be looking for mass quantities of LED flash components to improve low-light shooting.

The rumor points to Philips’ LumiLEDs line for the contract, thought to be in the tens of millions of units. The flash would be a boon for low-light shooting, which is a distinct weakness of the iPhone. Apple’s previously been rumored to be popping a 5MP sensor into the iPhone. [9to5Mac]

Written by: Dan Nosowitz