AP Mobile for iPhone still a dog for many

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch, App Review

The AP Mobile app from the Associated Press was much admired when the iPhone first came out. It was quick and reliable, and at the time, it was one of the few dedicated news apps. Now, after a few revisions and updates which didn't go so well, AP Mobile is still a popular download, but for many, that's where the popularity ends.

The newest version, released in June, supports 'push' updates, so even if you are not in the app you get an alert with breaking news updates. It seems to work well, although sometimes I would quibble with the editorial choices. It can be turned off, but it would be better if it could be customized -- only domestic news, or only sports bulletins, etc. By comparison, the Twitter-based Breaking News On newswire now also offers a BNO iPhone app that supports push notifications and some advanced filtering capability; it's $1.99 + $0.99/month to maintain the full filtering toolset.

My main complaints about the AP app are still there. It remains buggy, which often manifests itself in crashes or slowness. One problem is that when you first bring it up, the last stories it loaded are seen on screen. You might want to look at one and then the update takes place, snatching the story away from you into news heaven. Yes, you could probably scroll down to find it, but it is a disconcerting way for an app to work.

The worst problem is the use of screen real estate. AP is now selling ads on the app. Then they have a large front page panel with links to photos and videos. Those interface elements take about 40% of the screen space. Even when you do select a story, it often has a picture and ad associated with it, taking up about half the screen.

It's just not reader friendly to do it that way. How about giving me an option to see or not see the pictures? How about skipping the star symbols that accompany each story -- what the heck are those for anyway? Are news stories evolving into some kind of poll now where we can rate them? AP has taken great pains to provide a way for me to rate stories, but frankly I can't see the point. If I'm interested in a story, I'll read it. If I'm not, I'll skip it. Why do I care what other people thought of the story? Absent any specific comments, which aren't allowed, the ratings make no sense.

In some ways, AP seems to have lost their way with this app. It's been out in this latest version for a couple of months, and the app store ratings are dismal. I love news, and I love reading the news. Why has the AP made it so difficult to do just that?

AP Mobile for iPhone still a dog for many originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 08 Aug 2009 21:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

AP Mobile for iPhone still a dog for many originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 08 Aug 2009 21:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iTunes 9 to Include Blu-ray Support and iPhone App Organization?

Boy Genius Report has received a tip from a "pretty reliable source" claiming to have knowledge of several new features to be included in iTunes 9. The rumored features include support for Blu-ray media and visual organization of iPhone and iPod tou...

UK group Underworld streaming footage of tonight’s concert live to iPhone

Sure, Google Voice and Slingbox on iPhone might give carriers the willies, but at midnight tonight (ET) you can tune into a live feed of British techno duo Underworld's concert in Oakland, California. Being touted as the first-ever live event streamed to the iPhone -- and if not, it's certainly the highest profile -- the feed utilizes iPhone OS 3.0's HTTP streaming capabilities and plays via Quicktime. Simply point your iPhone's browser to either one of the two streams linked below to join in on the fun tonight. Assuming your local carrier's service (hello there, AT&T) doesn't cave in under the strain, that is.

[Via PC World and NewTeeVee]

Read - Akamai stream
Read - Underworld live

Filed under: Cellphones

UK group Underworld streaming footage of tonight's concert live to iPhone originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 08 Aug 2009 19:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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New Features in iTunes 9: Ability to Organize iPhone apps; Blu-ray Support & Social Media Integration

Win a copy of Convert for your iPhone or iPod touch

Filed under: iPhone, App Store, iPod touch, App Review

Convert is, as you might suspect, a tool for converting ducks to witches. No, wait! It's a simple conversion tool for your iPhone or iPod touch. Convert bears a slight resemblance to ConvertBot with a big, blue readout and simple gray icons, but I prefer Convert's simpler interface. You'll find the same features as in any converter, only in a compact, easy-to-use format.

Polar Bear Farm gave us 40 promo codes to give away, and that's what we're doing over the weekend. To enter, tell us if you prefer good ol' English units like inches and feet, or the nefarious but accurate Metric system, beloved by nerds all over the world. As per the usual, the giveaway is only good in the US (we didn't make that rule), you must be over 18 and winners will be chosen randomly. Good luck!

Here are the rules and a link to the legal statement:

• Open to legal US residents of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia who are 18 and older.
• To enter leave a comment indicating your preference in unit measurements: English or Metric.
• The comment must be left before Monday, August 10, 11:59PM Eastern Daylight Time.
• You may enter only once.
• Forty winners will be selected in a random drawing.
• Prize: Promo code for one copy of Convert (Unit Converter by PBF), US$1.99 value
• Click Here for complete Official Rules.

Win a copy of Convert for your iPhone or iPod touch originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 08 Aug 2009 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Win a copy of Convert for your iPhone or iPod touch originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 08 Aug 2009 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google Developing iPhone Web App version of Google Voice

Offender locator app removed from the Store by Apple

Offender Locator, a controversial, high-profile application that allowed users to find registered sex offenders, was removed from the App Store this week. The software from ThinAir Wireless was priced at $0.99, and had resided among the top 10 selling applications in Apple’s App Store for weeks. But according to CNet, the application was banished from the [...]

GeekBrief.tv Roundup: Control iPhone with WiiMote, Record and Upload Video to Ustream, Tom Tom Car Kit Priced in UK

Cali Lewis of Geekbrief.tv rounds up some of the news from last week that TiPb somehow didn’t get to, including the iPhone mirroring a WiiMote, the new UStream 3GS Recorder app [Free - iTunes link] that lets you record and upload video to Ustream (no live streaming though…), and the first signs of life for the TomTom car kit for the iPhone… along with a big UK price tag that makes us think it may land at US$200.

While Cali recently broke her iPhone, and Apple’s App Store shenanigans have encouraged her to look at alternate handsets to replace it with, here’s hoping she stays iCali for a while still and helps all of us help Apple evolve their thinking…

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

GeekBrief.tv Roundup: Control iPhone with WiiMote, Record and Upload Video to Ustream, Tom Tom Car Kit Priced in UK

Five Apps for the cyclist

Filed under: Cool tools, iPhone, App Store, App Review

Apple products and the bike go together well. They seem to appeal to the same sort of folks: evangelistic, committed aficionados willing to pay any premium, to be brutally honest about it. Oh, and let's not forget, they love to talk at length about these objects of their affection at parties. You know who you are. You've got a copy of Colorado Cyclist in your bathroom.

So it seems like getting the iPhone working for you on the bike would be a no-brainer. And it pretty much is. Here are five apps that I've found I like, most centered around the fact that the iPhone's built-in GPS gives cyclists the kind of on-bike information they want, and the après vélo experience they crave until the next fix, I mean "ride." From the outset, you'll need a bike mount, if you want to take advantage of these apps' functions en route. Otherwise, the iPhone slips just fine into a jersey pocket, and will hold a GPS lock even though a ziploc sandwich baggie. Mount-wise, pickings are slim, but there are a few out there that are relatively low-profile. Plus, battery life can be a problem. Most endurance athletes are out there for hours at a time, and GPS tracking can quickly drain an iPhone battery. if you take care to turn off everything non-essential, you may be able to get that whole ride in. Or, you can do what this guy is doing; he's building an iPhone bike mount with power. Maybe now the iPhone can make its RAAM debut.

On to the apps!

1) Ascent Mobile. I have a warm place in my heart for Montebello Software's Ascent. If I harken back to the old days, Garmin could barely be bothered to come out with a Mac version of its then-popular TrainingCenter software and had shunted all its Mac users to MotionBased. Ascent came through with elegant desktop software that tapped into the data side of the bike geek. Finally, a place to really churn through the routes and elevation, while watching your heart rate, speed and cadence throughout that quad-shredding ride. You can zoom right into your loop post-ride and slice and dice the data to see any element of it you like. What's more, Ascent really made it look good. By the time Garmin came out with its watered-down and feature-hobbled Mac version of TrainingCenter I was so over Garmin software. I used it strictly for the route-upload function and kept everything else on Ascent, with an online version stored on MotionBased for route sharing (though I've since moved from MotionBased to RunningAhead now that RA has GPS upload.) So I was thrilled to hear that Ascent was coming out with Ascent Mobile, $9.99US.

Ascent Mobile gives you all the relevant data you could want on a ride, plus lots of ways to check out your ride right on the iPhone afterward. Best of all, it naturally syncs with the desktop version of Ascent, sold separately. Can I let go of my trusty Garmin Edge 705? Quite possibly. We'll see where this little relationship goes. (Oh, and yes, Erica, it gives your max speed.)

2) B.iCycle. Ok, maybe you're more of a "just the facts, ma'am" kind of rider. We've got one for you, too. B.iCycle, $9.99US, is a simple, GPS-based tracker that gives you some easy stats during your ride. It saves your tracks for later viewing on a map, and gives you all of the essential features you might want, without too much feature clutter. It has a nice map view for on-bike routing, and a way to email your route to yourself afterward. Think of it as a very inspired bike computer.

3) Bicycle Gear Calculator. Ok, grease monkeys, this one is for you. It's obviously not intended for on-bike use, but half the fun of the sport is the tinkering you get to do with your bike while you're not on it, talking about it at parties, or relentlessly reloading chainlove.com for the next steal. Now you can talk gear ratios with ease. Input chainring size, sprocket size, and crank length and all the relevant math is done for you. Plan ahead for a big hill ride and get your bike properly geared so you look like Laurent, Stefano, or Marco (may he rest in peace) on those hills. $4.99US at the iTunes store.

4) iMapMyRide. iMapMyRide is another GPS tracker, but is borne out of the website mapmyride.com, which is the sister site to mapmyrun.com, a favorite of mine, pre-Garmin Forerunner. The nice thing about this app -- other than the fact that it's free -- is that it is built to work well with the website, which is a great place to discover new routes and make connections with other like-sported people. I can't say the app itself is revolutionary in any way, but if you're already multi-sport and have been taking advantage of the MapMyFitness community-based functions, iMapMyRide may be a useful way to go for you.

5) TrailGuru. I didn't want to leave the mountain bikers completely out of the loop, so here's something for you singletrackers. I'm not entirely sure how this differs from some of the other GPS-based tracking software, but the community associated with it seems to be more interested in off-road use, so you may find that you discover new and interesting ways to tear up the trails near you. It seems to be a fave around TUAW, so I'd be remiss not to mention it. If you have experience with this app, let us know in the comments.

I'm still working on integrating the iPhone into my fitness endeavors. I admit I love my Garmins (yes, I have both the Edge and the Forerunner.) And I can't imagine I'd be brave enough to do with my iPhone what I did with my Forerunner 305: put it under my swim cap at the start of a triathlon. But you never know. If you ever see a fellow race participant with what seems to be a very oddly-shaped head under that swim cap, come and introduce yourself to me.

Five Apps for the cyclist originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 08 Aug 2009 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Five Apps for the cyclist originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 08 Aug 2009 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Software upgrade for the iRecord Pro PMR-200 now available

Streaming Networks, a leader in on-the-go audio and video solutions, has announced the availability of a software upgrade for their iRecord Pro PMR-200, to record movies and music directly to the iPhone 3GS without the need of a computer. With iRecord Pro, users can enjoy video and audio on their iPhone [...]

TV receiver device Seg Clip for iPhone sold in Japan

Watching live TV on your phone is something that everyone does in Japan, unlike America, so naturally they want to be able to do it on their iPhones. This USB antenna lets them do just that. The SEG Clip works by plugging into your laptop’s USB port and then broadcasting TV to your iPhone via WiFi. [...]

Flash memory in high demand in the future, thanks to Apple and the iPhone

A new report predicts that demand for NAND flash memory in cell phones will more than triple by 2013, with a majority of that need being driven by Apple and its iPhone. In all, sales of solid state memory in phones are predicted to have a nearly sixfold increase in the span from 2008 to 2013, [...]

Quick App: GPush iPhone Push Notifications for Gmail

GPush [$0.99 - iTunes link] provides a work-around for Gmail push notifications for iPhone 3.0 users. GPush is not an email client in its own right; it serves only to notify a user via sound/vibrate, text alert pop-up, and/or numerical badge, but the user still has to manually launch the iPhone’s built-in Mail app to actually download and interact with the email.

We’ve only had a chance to try it very briefly, but it worked well, notifying us incoming GMail messages very quickly. Job. Done.

Unlike Boxcar, for example, which provides similar intermediary push notification for Twitter clients, GPush doesn’t have the option to automatically launch Mail when you get an alert (only an “okay” button, not a “view” button). We also couldn’t get it to work with Google Accounts, the paid version of Gmail that uses custom domain names. (GPush makes no mention of Google Accounts support, but if it occurred to us to try it, we figured it would occur to readers as well).

Lastly, GPush keeps asking to know our location. Why does it need that information?

All in all, GPush does exactly what it claims to — it provides near instant notification for Gmail for iPhone users. Until Google adds Gmail to Google Sync, or Apple and Google get off their duffs and build IMAP IDLE into the Mail App proper, if you want “push” Gmail on your iPhone, check out GPush and let us know what you think.

More pics after the break!

[Thanks John-Fox for the tip!]

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Quick App: GPush iPhone Push Notifications for Gmail