SayAgain - an audio bookmarking app

Filed under: Podcasts, iPhone, iPod touch, App Review, Music

A few weeks ago we covered the Bookmark app, a subsystem for playing and bookmarking audio books. I was quite impressed with it, but some comments dinged it for not playing in the background when the app is closed. It also only handled audiobooks and some felt it would be more useful if it covered any audio file in your iTunes library.

SayAgain [iTunes Link] is another bookmarking app which solves both of those problems, but not nearly as well or as elegantly. It is compatible with the iPhone and iPod touch and requires iPhone OS 3.0 or later. It sells for US$1.99.

One of my pet-peeves is that many apps give you no instruction on how they work, and SayAgain is one of those. When you run it you are presented with a lined screen titled 'Annotated Media'. To the left is a + button and to the right is an edit button. Now what? Clicking on the developer link in iTunes brings you no help, only a description of what the app does. Nowhere in the app is an info button to bring some direction. But, one might say, it's intuitive. You don't need help. I say, nonsense. Everyone comes from a different level of experience and assuming intuitiveness is a bad assumption. Bookmark, on the other hand, gives full instructions and a tutorial right inside the app.

SayAgain is a generalist audio bookmarking app, allowing you to add bookmarks to any audio file in iTunes. This is quite useful since you might want to bookmark a story in podcast or even a great drum solo as well as a place in an audiobook.

There are two ways to use it. Either play something in iTunes and then run the app which will display your audio file as Now playing, along with the name of the song or file. Or you can run it without playing anything and hit the + button which brings up iTunes. Leaving the app doesn't stop the audio, a major advantage. To add a book mark you click the star (which in other apps means favorites), and you'll get a window with a keyboard and buttons to 'Set start marker' and 'Set end marker'. On top of the screen are buttons marked back and play.

Read on to see how well it worked.

Continue reading SayAgain - an audio bookmarking app

SayAgain - an audio bookmarking app originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 24 Sep 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

SayAgain - an audio bookmarking app originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 24 Sep 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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AT&T states more MMS details for Friday

Filed under: Software, iPhone

As the AT&T iPhone MMS launch is only one day away now, Engadget is reporting that they heard some launch details from AT&T. Specifically, AT&T has stated that it expects MMS for the iPhone to launch in the "late morning" Pacific time, which would mean it "early afternoon" Eastern time.

Also, this update will arrive as a carrier settings update, which means you'll have to connect your iPhone to iTunes to update. These updates are very small and don't require a restart. Just make sure you and your iPhone are ready to update on Friday.

AT&T states more MMS details for Friday originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 24 Sep 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

AT&T states more MMS details for Friday originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 24 Sep 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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New study says Palm Pre second only to iPhone 3GS in mindshare

Market research firm Interpret recently made some discoveries about public perception of smartphones that should shock, surprise, and amaze you. The just released report, dubbed "Signature Smartphones: Gaining Mindshare in Order to Gain Market Share," reveals that despite being massively disadvantaged in the marketplace, Palm managed to nab a huge chunk of mindshare with the Pre -- in fact, the report suggests that the Pre is number two only to the iPhone 3GS in the metric. The study looks at the driving factors behind purchaser's decisions to buy a smartphone, narrowing down the list to three major components: belief that the phone is "smart," belief that the phone is "hip / cool," and belief that the phone will make them more productive. Rating a swath of phones (BlackBerry Curve and Storm, G1, iPhone), the report found that only the iPhone and Pre balanced the three factors in a way in which consumers felt the higher price tags were warranted. More to the point, only the Pre and the iPhone 3GS managed to strike that balance at all; offerings such as the two BlackBerrys were lopsided. There's not much more meat to the study, though it does shed some interesting light on just how Palm managed to squeeze its way back into the limelight (of course, it doesn't hurt to have a product that's actually kind of cool). Check out the whole PDF for yourself over at that read link.

Disclosure: Engadget columnist Michael Gartenberg is an employee of Interpret, and worked on the study cited above.

Filed under: Cellphones

New study says Palm Pre second only to iPhone 3GS in mindshare originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 Sep 2009 08:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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One year on, Android’s not quite there yet

One year after the launch of the first Android phone, analysts say it's too early to declare the platform a success.

AT&T Staggering MMS Roll-out, Pre-Launch Jitters

When you wake up Friday morning, don’t expect to see MMS working on your iPhone immediately as AT&T will be systematically activating groups throughout the day, starting at 10 AM Eastern time. Also don’t forget that to enable MMS on your iPhone you must first connect to iTunes and download and install an updated carrier file.

That is, if AT&T’s network holds up as millions of iPhone users rush to test the new service. That very thought has AT&T is feeling extremely nervous right now, according to MacRumors:

“early testing has been a little rocky, with AT&T seeing a fairly significant test outage yesterday that has them rushing to beef up their MMSC messaging servers. Estimates among those working on the project are that traffic on AT&T’s wireless network will be about 40% higher all day on Friday as iPhone users fire pictures and video at one another.”

Guess we will know soon enough…

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

AT&T Staggering MMS Roll-out, Pre-Launch Jitters

Change in Subscription Accounting Rules to Benefit Apple, iPhone Profit Statements

The Financial Accounting Standards Board has approved a change in the way revenue can be recognized from products sold under the subscription accounting model, like Apple’s iPhone.

Apple uses a subscription accounting model for the iPhone (and Apple TV) to justify — under their interpretation of Sarbanes Oxley — adding new features for 2 year after the sale of the device proper. So, if they get $600 for an iPhone from AT&T, rather than putting that on the books immediately and in full, they spread it out over 24 months, recognizing a portion of the revenue each month. This also means that their earnings look smaller in the actual quarter of sale, which has led them to release two sets of numbers in recent quarters, GAAP and non-GAAP (generally accepted accounting practices).

Now, however, Apple and others, like Palm, will be able to book a large portion of that revenue up-front, in the actual quarter of sale, allowing a closer representation of actual earnings numbers.

iPod touch, of course, is not currently accounted for using the subscription method, which is why Apple believes they much charge a nominal fee for major OS updates. Whether or not that will change given the new rules is uncertain (though we hold to hope!)

[Via PreCentral.net]

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

Change in Subscription Accounting Rules to Benefit Apple, iPhone Profit Statements

Microsoft Pure Pink Turtle Phones Leaked!

Some feel there’s got to be more to this Microsoft Pink platform, Turtle and Pure phone concept than meets the eye. We’re wondering if, like Newman on Seinfeld, there’s actually less?

Could it really just be a Microsoft Sidekick running Zune HD software?

On the face, we’d say that’s crazy. Microsoft already has Windows Mobile 6.5, Windows Mobile 7, and the Zune HD on the market, would they really fragment their offering further by releasing an Instinct-class consumer phone?

Anyone else, never. Microsoft, absolutely.

In their defense, they’ve said Windows 7 will be their iPhone killa, while Windows 6.5 targets Android. These bad boys? We’re honestly not sure…

However, going this route does mean they likely won’t stab their WinMo hardware partners where it hurts, the way they did their MP3 player partners when they abandoned PlaysForSure and released the Zune…

[Gizmodo via WMExperts]

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

Microsoft Pure Pink Turtle Phones Leaked!

TomTom iPhone Car Kit up for £100 UK pre-order, includes navigation app

The TomTom iPhone Car Kit has just gone up for pre-order on the Apple UK store -- we presume it will go global in the hours to come. It'll cost 5 pence shy of £100 and ships in 2-3 weeks with the dock and adhesive disk in the box. Better yet, for that price you also get the £60 navigation app for the UK/Ireland. Then there's this little note:

"The Car Kit dock is compatible with all iPhone models, but the Car Kit app only works with iPhone 3GS and iPhone 3G"

So what about the iPod touch compatibility as claimed in the TomTom FAQ? Or is that just a gaming device now?

Update: Just hit mainland Europe for €99,95.

[Via Recombu]

Filed under: Cellphones, GPS

TomTom iPhone Car Kit up for £100 UK pre-order, includes navigation app originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 Sep 2009 03:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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