Archive for: iphone apps
- December 7, 2009 12:49 pm
The only people oblivious to AT&T’s utter craptastic network is that of higher up execs and perhaps some other random bodies taking up AT&T office space. Though as much as I rant about them, I can also appreciate them offering a small delicate hand of faith. If you are tired of continual network problems and calls to AT&T go unanswered, perhaps taking matters into your own hands is the best solution. That’s the goal of AT&T’s new in-house app “Mark the Spot”. The gist is simple: Venture wherever you like and send info back to AT&T as to network resilience. The options presented include:
- Dropped Call, Failed Call, No Coverage, Data Failure, Poor Voice Quality
Further adding value to the app, users then highlight as to how often their previously chosen option occurs:
- Once, Seldom, Often, and Always
Looking at the app and basic operation, one small thing becomes apparent: If AT&T uses cellular triangulation to determine a users location for “Mark the Spot”, how is someone supposed to mark a dead area if they don’t have a signal? Using said app over WiFi doesn’t make any sense. A small peculiarity that managed to slip out. The manual form option (bottom right) could clear up that small issue though. What do you think?
[iTunes Link]
ModMyi
[Image Source]
- November 11, 2009 9:08 pm
**Update inside: webOS in Joe’s Crosshairs?…
Apple may be rolling out a new window — albeit small window — that allows iPhone devs to peer into the inner workings of the App Store approval process, but is it too little too late? The link in the previous sentence goes to an article I just wrote on how Apple can make this new found gesture of “openness” actually useful. Again, that’s already old news. It happened several hours ago. The fact of the matter is, Apple has taken so long to get to this point and stepped on so many toes, they are now pushing away the very core of the iPhone platform. Don’t believe me? Let’s just take a look at the story of Joe Hewitt, the lead ex-lead developer for the Facebook iPhone app.
Now before we go more in depth, we have to throw out the appropriate question: “It surely can’t be all Apple can it? I mean, is it just some anti-Apple bias bubbling to the surface of my inner being? Not quite. Joe admits himself that Apple is the reason he’s ditching the iPhone platform…
We originally looked at David Guetta’s iPhone app a couple weeks ago. Though at that time I didn’t have a copy to officially review. That has obviously changed. After spending a good day playing with the app, I can honestly say that David Guetta has figured out how to make an iPhone app, engaging with his fans, and offering up a compelling product that could even lead to new fans. Creating a reason to spend money on music is something that many content owners somehow fail to grasp. They think that simple raising the price somehow magically ads some mysterious value. The more intelligent who are able to cut through propaganda know that isn’t the case. Several artists including Radiohead, and Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor have managed to break into this vast digital world that seems to elude so many in their line of business. But they aren’t alone. Other musicians and artists in other countries are figuring out that being viral and engaging in digital technologies increase their value as well as their content. Musicians such as David Guetta, a french based DJ, recently released an iPhone app. If you’re thinking this is a basic iPhone app with a couple songs, some old repeat news, and gimmicky calendar schedule for tours, you’ll be surprised to learn that it’s so much more. So did David Guetta succeed in making a music app centered around his work that actually makes me want to dig deeper?
Seriously Apple, WTF?! You reject dictionary apps because little Johnny might search for a naughty word yet you approve apps such as Baby Shaker. Now you’ve stooped to the ultimate in absolute stupidity and leaves me wondering where you find these morons that run the App Store approval process. Why the flaming? Do I really need to go into any greater detail on the image above? The ebook above is Adolf Hitler’s “Mein Kempf” — his “bible” if you will, full of his murderous and inhumane polices. Apparently supporting genocide is high up on Apple’s list. It’s bad enough that someone didn’t double check this app and think, “hmm, a pro-Nazi app, probably not a good idea”. What’s even worse though is that an app titled “Someecards”, a humorous app that made fun of various public figures and celebrites — past and present — was rejected. Humor doesn’t appear to be “in the cards” for Apple however as one particular card making fun of Hitler was one of the main reasons the app was rejected. The more politically correct response: “It ridiculed public figures”. Ridiculing a murder off limits. Pushing his hateful and murderous ideas? Awesome, no problem. So little of a problem in fact that Apple has only given this app a 9+ rating. WTF? Start ‘um young I guess. Mind you, this is the same group of individuals who reject f’n scholarly tools such as a simple dictionary app for having words like shit, damn, fuck, and so on? Wow. Classy Apple.
I haven’t written about any stupid app rejections or App Store processes in a while because they were mostly the same basic things over and over that we have already seen. app called “Someecards” that happened to have a particular card that criticized Hitler shows that the app approval process is a complete and utter joke. Should they all be fired? Well, that would be a start. Perhaps hiring some people that aren’t completely incompetent would help no?
In the end though, I shouldn’t be too hard on those ever so intelligent app approvers as the Mein Kempf app was written in Spanish. And the approvers surely couldn’t have understood that or hired someone who speaks Spanish. No sir, they’re on top of their app approvals. Speed, efficiency, and developer feedback are Apple’s top priority. Just ask the Trillian iPhone app developer…..
TechCrunch
- November 6, 2009 10:43 am
Those enough who either don’t want a higher end smartphone or simply can’t afford one know that on your mid to lower-end devices web browsing is a chore. Pages render like crap, it takes forever to open a simple link, etc. Many phones as of late are capable of running some form or another of the Opera browser whether it be the free, almost universal Opera Mini to the more desktop-like Opera Mobile variant. Either way, Opera while not quite the reckoning force it would like to be in the desktop arena is certainly a large force in the mobile sphere.
The iPhone already has an amazing browser with Mobile Safari. But does that mean someone else couldn’t come along and do better? Without a doubt, no. If you haven’t gathered yet, I’m leading to a potential release of Opera on the iPhone platform — if Apple loosens the restrictions that is. Jon von Tetzchner, Opera’s CEO has come forward and announced that his company has already developed a fully working iPhone version of Opera. What isn’t immediately clear however is how this browser works. Is it more like a server side browser which pre-renders and crunches pages like Opera Mini? Or is it a more robust offering akin to the higher-end Opera Mobile? An Opera Mini-esque version would speed up iPhone browsing even more while greatly reducing load on the carriers’ networks. (AT&T turns and takes notice). Meanwhile, a version based off of Opera Mobile would I assume bring many enhancements and functionality that currently lacks in Mobile Safari. I wouldn’t rule out a touched up UI either. So how soon can we expect this?
Don’t get too excited yet folks. Apple’s SDK strictly prohibits any apps from duplicating the functionality of native iPhone apps which means any full, third party browser hasn’t the slightest chance of making it through the ban hammer that is the App Store approval process. When questioned as to if Opera has reached out to Apple, Mr. Tetzchner said that “at the time” (eluding to earlier this past year) the company had not attempted to contact Apple. Have they contacted Apple or even attempted to in the last few weeks or months? That’s anybodies guess. For now, the Opera team is sitting on this fully capable and most likely awesome browser that sadly won’t see the light of day anytime soon — if ever. Still, if Apple does ever open up in that sense, Opera will be right there ready and waiting.
Electric Pig > The Register
- September 17, 2009 7:47 pm
Even though mobile devices are capacious enough to store many days worth of music, there are times when we just get bored with the music we have with us. With an old, outdated media player, you might have the choice of using the FM radio however, unless you’re in a big city, radio stations rarely play anything except the hit singles which also tires pretty quickly. Smartphone users and select feature phone users have within the last few years been able to take advantage of web enabled devices to stream music to their device thereby opening up new doors to break the monotonous playlist we listen to everyday.
For Palm Pre users, getting any worthwhile apps is a plus as Palm’s current release schedule is rather boring and slow. However, one app is aiming to change that. Fans of streaming music services will find Chicago-based webcaster, AccuRadio, a welcome addition to their Palm Pre’s sparse app screen. The benefits of joining club AccuRadio come in the form of 450+ radio stations covering any and every genre you can think of. If you like music, discovering new music, and just hearing something other than the same 40 songs that get the repeat treatment on the radio, AccuRadio is your app. The channel breakdown is as follows:
- And multiple channels of reggae, Celtic, classic hip-hop, French pop, and much more.
As you can see, this isn’t the typical mix of sonic selections. While they many stations aren’t my personal favorite, it’s nice to see someone finally catering to the many genres that are less popular and the people that often get left out when it comes to music apps. Unfortunately since this is Palm Pre only at the moment and because I don’t have a Palm Pre, I can’t test this app out and give it a true review. Any Pre users care to give some insight?
By the way, one other interesting tidbit that may tickle your digital fancy is the fact that the makers of AccuRadio are planning on subsequent Android, BlackBerry, and iPhone releases so that everyone, no matter their personal platform preference, gets in on the music streaming pie.
~ Thanks Kurt ~
**Larger screenshot inside
Another day, another fine example of Apple’s App Store employees’ incompetence, stupidity, useless, and all out lack of common sense. The app caught up in the web of stupidity today happens to be one of, if not the best measurement converting app available: ConvertBot (iTunes Link). Featuring a highly futuristic and extremely slick and intuitive layout has helped ConvertBot become my number one favorite conversion app in the app store. So why are Apple’s reviewers all in a circle drooling over each other pushing the reject button on this app? Look at the image above…yes…it’s that stupid. Because those two icons looks sooooo close, ConvertBot was given the ‘ol rejecteroo. Mind you, that icon in question is the same damn icon that the developers have used since the first release of the app!
Obviously it further highlights the need for an actual set of rules or policies to be followed and of course either the complete hiring of a newer, more competent Approval team, or the removal of this non-sense all together. Not even Phil’s heartfelt letters to distraught developers is going to be able to smooth this crap over much longer.
Source: iPhone Blog, Daring Fireball
Lets set the scene: You’re in a cramped and loaded movie theater. You’ve just consumed a full bucket of pop corn and an extra large pop. You were so excited to see *insert movie title here* that you forgot to go to the bathroom but figured you could hold it anyway….well…you were wrong. Your bladder is bursting like an obese stricken individual at a buffet line. What is a person to do? If you have an iPhone, download “RunPee”. This little app may seem odd and stupid at first. But, the usefulness will quickly pay itself off if you are a frequent movie goer. The app features suggestions and times into movies at which you can leave to go to the bathroom and miss as little as possible. Further adding to the app, there is scrambled text that with the touch of a finger can be unscrambled to show you just what you missed while you were answering the call of nature. The list of movies consists of just about every movie currently in theaters and can be and is constantly updated by app users. So, those of you with less than cooperative bladders and a knack for movies can now feel a tad more at ease knowing you won’t miss the best parts of the movie ever again.
Source: Into Mobile, Spring Wise
Gadgets are increasingly becoming common fall backs to do simple things in our everyday lives that we were once burdened with doing. Take for example the simple act of opening a door. For centuries human beings have had to open and close their own door each and every time they want to pass through. In the modern age in which we live, why the hell should we have to do that? Several decades ago the electric door came into being and brought humans their firsts taste of autonomous door opening/closing. Fast forward to the year 2009. With mobile devices that are full of mobile computing power why not make the next move? iDoor is an iPhone app that looks to make that move. Developed by an MIT student, this app for iPhones will allow you to control and open your own door. Obviously you have to rig the door so that it can receive the signals from said phone and carry out the command. Ok, so the door opens and closes at the push of a “button”. The really cool part is the auto answering feature thanks to built in vibration sensors. How sweet is that?! Though, I don’t know if I would want anyone simply walking in by just knocking. Still, the concept is pretty sweet! Don’t you agree!
Source: The Awesomer, iDoor
