Photos of Snow Leopard Disc and Retail Packaging?

MacRumors has received a set of images claimed to be the retail packaging and disc for Apple's forthcoming Mac OS X Snow Leopard. If the images, which appear to depict the Portuguese version of Snow Leopard, are in fact authentic, it would mean that...

Streaming video from your iPhone? They crippled the app for that.

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Multimedia, Bad Apple, iPhone, MobileMe, App Store, App Review

Qik [App Store link] is an eagerly awaited free app for the iPhone. Most other video capable phones have a version of it. Qik allows, among other things, live streaming from your phone to the web. How could someone not want that capability? Early on, Qik offered a version for jailbroken phones that worked quite well.

Well of course, we've learned that what can run on other smartphones may not necessarily make it to the iPhone, and predictably the App Store version has been crippled. You can record video, upload video (Wi-Fi only) but no streaming or uploading over the 3G network. In fact, you can't even live stream over WiFi.

I'm sure doing all this this violates the hastily revised terms of service from AT&T. It still grates that the phone that is helping to save AT&T financially has its users abused by having lesser services than other phones that are allowed on the same network.

Of course, if video streaming is forbidden, what about YouTube and MLB At Bat [iTunes link], that streams two live games a day? And what about the SlingPlayer app, that is allowed to stream across the cellular data network on other AT&T phones but only over Wi-Fi on the iPhone? I know, there are so many iPhones that it would swamp the inadequate AT&T network, but what did AT&T expect when they fought so hard to get the iPhone? Do they really think streaming by a few Slingbox users or Qik addicts will ever top the bandwidth stats of the baseball app?

Today Qik added this to its website: "We've submitted an update to the App Store which will have it working over 3G networks, too. We'll let you know as soon as that upgrade has been cleared. " I wouldn't hold my breath on that one, and it isn't clear if it's just for uploading or live streaming.

The Qik app works fine as far as it goes. I shot some video, and uploaded it to the Qik site after creating an account. The video was pretty compressed, but that's to be expected. It's a nice app, but without the main feature of live streaming it doesn't add much to what the iPhone 3GS can already do. The iPhone as-is allows you to send short videos via email, YouTube and MobileMe using the 3G network. Go figure.

The FCC is looking into all this, and the AT&T and Apple answers will be interesting. iPhone owners don't want to be treated like second class citizens, and as this farce continues that's what it is beginning to look like. If I could, I would require Apple and AT&T execs to take a look at the famous Apple 1984 commercial and decide if they are the one throwing the hammer, or if they are on the screen.

Streaming video from your iPhone? They crippled the app for that. originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 15 Aug 2009 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Streaming video from your iPhone? They crippled the app for that. originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 15 Aug 2009 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor, SportsTap, Zombies & Me, The Weather Channel, Reportage - TiPb Picks of the Week

Every week a few of us from team TiPb, bloggers and forum crew alike, will bring you our current favorite, funnest, most useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone (or iPod touch) related, they’re fair game.

So who’s on deck this week and what are our picks? Find out after the break!

Chad’s Pick: Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor.

This game is a blast! You play a spider who’s goal is to make it to the end of several levels from the lawn to closets. You can crawl anywhere on screen, jump with a swipe of you finger and create webs by creating a geometric pattern! The reason I like this game is that it is unique and fun! Catching bugs and finding the secret passages are a blast. The music is good, but gets a little repetitive. If you are in the mood for something different, give Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor a try! [$2.99 - iTunes link]

James’ Pick: SportsTap

SportsTap is a free application that allows you to keep up with the latest sports news and scores. The app also utilizes Push Notifications to alert you when your favorite team starts a game, every time there is a score update, and when the game is complete. A necessity for any sports fan who can’t watch the game! [Free - iTunes link]

Jeremy’s Pick: Zombies & Me

Electronic Arts has put together this fun little game that is perfect for “killing” a few minutes out of your day. At $.99 it really is a quality game that’s worth picking up. Did I mention you blow up zombies? [$0.99 - iTunes link]

Justin’s Pick: The Weather Channel

With hurricane season starting to kick into gear with the first named storm this is definitely an app I want to have handy. I’ve used this app for a while and it has come a long way since the early versions. You can view radar, watch videos, check severe weather alerts, and much more. The only thing missing that I wish it had, especially for hurricane season, is push alerts for severe weather updates. [Free - iTunes link]

Rene’s Pick: Reportage

What with Twitter once again going up and down faster than App Store rejection policies, I’ve found myself using Reportage to “tune in” to the people I follow so I can get updates in between the echoing silence of the great, not-even-whale-failing Twitter outages. The concept remains as specialized as it is killer, and if you want to read your way through different Twitter users, I’m hard pressed to think of a better paradigm than Reportage. [$3.99 - iTunes link]

Your Pick?

You’re part of team TiPb too, so what’s your pick? What app was your absolute fav last week? Let us — and everyone — know in the comments!

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

Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor, SportsTap, Zombies & Me, The Weather Channel, Reportage - TiPb Picks of the Week

iPhone App - Rising Card gets Approved after Schiller’s Intervention

iStudiez Pro helps to get you back on schedule

Filed under: iPhone, iPod touch, App Review

It's been a long summer, and students everywhere are starting to head back to universities and colleges around the country. It's not easy to get back into a daily grind of classes, assignments and activities but a new application called iStudiez Pro [iTunes Link] is here to help!

Created by Andriy Kachalo and Michael Balashoff, iStudiez Pro is designed to help you take charge of your own schedule by always keeping you on top of where you need to be and what needs to get done. With an intuitive interface, the application promises to make sure "you never miss another course, lecture, and lab, track tasks and deadlines, plan homework, arrange assignments and much more."

Some notable features include:

• Smart day view that automatically displays summary of currently classes and tasks
• Detailed schedule planner to break down classes and assignments
• A view to suit everyone including expanded month and week views, with colored labels for each course
  
• Specific icons for different types of classes
• Supports iPhone features like touch gestures and device rotation
• Integrated address book keeps your contacts and professor's information close at hand
  

The application, available for both iPhone and iPod touch, is selling for $2.99 on the App Store. If you're looking to snag a copy of this app for free, the developers are currently offering a deal that if you see the demo version of iStudiez Pro being used in an Apple store and take a picture, they'll send you a free promo code!

Here's a couple images of iStudiez Pro in action:

iStudiez Pro helps to get you back on schedule originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 15 Aug 2009 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

iStudiez Pro helps to get you back on schedule originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 15 Aug 2009 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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TUAW Fitness: An Apple a day update

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Software, iPhone

About two weeks ago I pledged to lose weight using my iPhone, AppleTV and Mac. Well, I'm happy to report that I've lost a whopping 6 pounds since then using my iPhone 3GS. Below is a short list of the apps I used as well as a mini-review of each.

LIVESTRONG

This iPhone app has a great feature set for calorie, exercise and weight tracking, although it is not without its problems. Overall, it needs a little "spit and polish." The foods I logged often failed to save correctly when I initially entered them. Instead, I'd have to save them, then go back and edit them in order to adjust time of day, or servings eaten. It wasn't a huge deal, but calorie tracking should be quick and easy to encourage me to keep doing it. If every entry takes twice as long because of editing, well, I'm probably going to give up eventually. Which I did.

In addition, the exercise trackers seem very skewed. LIVESTRONG tells me that a 2-hour bike ride burns about 1,600 calories, while Trailguru gives a much more conservative 750 for the same time and distance. When trying to lose weight, you should overestimate calorie input and underestimate calorie burning in my opinion. I learned pretty quickly to ignore however many calories it said I was burning.

Continue reading TUAW Fitness: An Apple a day update

TUAW Fitness: An Apple a day update originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 15 Aug 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

TUAW Fitness: An Apple a day update originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 15 Aug 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Turn-by-Turn GPS app CoPilot North America comes to the app store

Another developer has just entered the North American turn-by-turn GPS fray, joining Navigon, Sygic, iGO and others in providing an alternative to help iPhone 3GS and 3G users get where they need to go. CoPilot Live North America by ALK Technologies, Ltd. made it to the App Store earlier today and joins previously-published versions of [...]

Sony recruting iPhone developers for their PSPGo gadget

Sony plans to lure iPhone developers to the PSPgo, a revised version of its PlayStation Portable handheld gaming platform, and copy Apple’s low App Store prices to create demand for the relatively expensive new hardware, according to a gaming industry report. The article, published by PocketGamer, indicates that Sony plans to deliver a library of online [...]

Five Apps for the weekend warrior

Filed under: Software, iPhone

Getting through the work week is hard enough for most of us... but the minute Friday afternoon rolls around, there's a certain breed that face the weekend with a long list of "honey do" projects and household duties. Yes, the weekend warriors need iPhone app love too -- whether to help with those maintenance challenges, or find ways to make the break from the day job a bit more enjoyable. Here's a five app collection just for you, my brothers and sisters in the two-day sprint; enjoy.

Weber's On The Grill[TM] [iTunes link] for iPhone, at $4.99, would seem to be a bit pricey compared to other grill-centric cooking apps selling for $0.99 (dadoo's Grill Guide) or the large number of free and well-regarded cookbook apps on the store (check out Epicurious Recipies & Shopping List, for one). Nevertheless, if you're serious about getting the most out of your grill, the $5 you spend on this app will be well worth it.

Weber may be the world's largest grill manufacturer, but the relationship of Weber owners to their grills feels more personal than mass-marketed; in fact, the slightly obsessive and cultish fandom around the Weber brand may seem a wee bit familiar to, uh, owners of a particular company's computers, music players and cellphones. Ahem.

The iPhone app takes the Weber customer very seriously, providing a great collection of hundreds of recipes along with grilling technique guides (including videos from chef Jamie Purviance), time and temperature recommendations, a handy shopping list manager, and a convenient cooking timer right in the app. About the only thing that's missing is an optional meat thermometer to plug into the dock connector (which I would totally buy if they made one).

Continue reading Five Apps for the weekend warrior

Five Apps for the weekend warrior originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 15 Aug 2009 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Five Apps for the weekend warrior originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 15 Aug 2009 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Yet Another “Leaked” Apple iTablet “Image”

Yet another “leaked” Apple iTablet “image”.

There’s no way Steve Jobs lets the home button cut across the bezel like that, right?

[via Silicon Alley Insider, via Nowhereelse.fr]

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

Yet Another “Leaked” Apple iTablet “Image”

App Review: Hurricane Tracking for the iPhone

(Hurricane for iPhone Forum Review by cjvitek For more Forum Reviews, see the TiPb iPhone App Store Forum Review Index!)

Hurricane [$3.99 - iTunes link] is a hurricane tracking app for the iPhone and iPod touch.

Back when I lived in Florida, hurricanes were a yearly concern. Now that I am in Texas, they don’t play such a prominent role but they are still something to think about. Hurricane is an app designed to try to take away some of that concern.

I have actually had this app for well over 4 months, but I wanted to wait till the middle of hurricane season so I could see it in action. And let me say, the app generally performs very well. The app starts off with a screen where you can select Atlantic or Pacific hurricanes, and then gives you a list of the active storms as well as completed storms. When you click on a storm, you can look at the radar loop, projected path, tracking map, satellite images, and bulletins. All of this allows you to try to keep on top of these potentially devastating storms.

In addition, you can look a historical storms (from last year going back to 1851) and specific data feeds (like satellite images) from a variety of sources. For people with little hurricane experience, you can also see how hurricanes are rated on the Saffir-Simpson scale. While it certainly isn’t necessary, it would be nice to have some sort of hurricane checklist included (what to do, or not do, when one hits, for example).

Unfortunately, the app doesn’t provide any customization options. You can specify your location and only look at storms that may hit you. You can’t mark a storm as a “favorite” to keep close tabs on it. You don’t get push notifications when a storm status changes (or a new alert is released). These are all kinds of features that would put this app into an elite category. In addition, there is no ability to sort or search the historical data. I can’t look for all historical Cat 5 storms that have him Florida, for example. If I am curious about how frequently a specific area has been hit, I can’t only include storm that hit Texas. The historical data is nice, but in the present form it is a little unwieldy unless you know exactly what you are looking for.

Conclusion

As hurricane tracking apps go, this is a nicely designed app, giving you a lot of the pertinent and critical information. If you live in a hurricane prone area, it could certainly be worth the $3.99 price. However, the app is missing some features that would move it into a premium app category (which, I should note, I haven’t seen in other hurricane apps as well).

(In the interest of full disclosure, I received a promo code for this app.)

Pros

• Up to date hurricane tracking and projections
• Detailed data regarding hurricanes
• Historical data included

Cons

• No to choose “favorites”
• No push notifications
• No location based data
• No search or sort feature for historical data

TiPb Review Rating

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

App Review: Hurricane Tracking for the iPhone

$1000 Japanese Hand-Crafted iPhone Cases Anyone?

Would you pay $1000 for a hand-craft, culturally symbolic iPhone case?

Crunchgear says they’re intended “to show how Japanese warlords from the Sengoku period would probably use their iPhones if they lived today”:

The so-called JAPAN TEXTURE [JP] series consists of a total of five cases with different designs. Created under the supervision of a historian, SoftBank says each case is covered with special lacquer and gold dust. It takes three to four weeks to make one, which kind of explains the price.

Given the prices for lacquer bowls, tea sets, and other object d’art, maybe $1000 is no barrier? What say you?

[Picture credit - Nobi]

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

$1000 Japanese Hand-Crafted iPhone Cases Anyone?