Professional number crunching falls short with the Formulator Series calculators

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

My name is Steve, and I'm a recovering engineer. Although I'm no longer a practicing engineer, I still hold a Professional Engineer license and I'm still interested in most things dealing with engineering. That's why I perked up when I received an email from MultiEducator, Inc., a software development firm known previously for multimedia history CDs and their Historycentral.com website.

Their new Formulator Series of specialized iPhone calculators for engineers, architects, plumbers, and construction professionals features 22 individual apps priced between US$0.99 and US$17.99. Since my background is in Civil Engineering, I requested a review copy of Civil Engineering Formulator [US$4.99, iTunes Link] to get a feel for the depth and breadth of a typical Formulator Series app.

A look at the web page for Civil Engineering Formulator shows that the app began with 75 formulas in the Civil Engineering areas of beams, bridges, columns, elevators, piles, plates, roads, soil, and structural steel. Over the next few months, the app is to grow to more than 200 formulas, at which time the price will increase for new buyers. Civil Engineering Formulator also includes almost 100 conversion formulas, as well as 50 area calculations.

Continue reading Professional number crunching falls short with the Formulator Series calculators

Professional number crunching falls short with the Formulator Series calculators originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 26 Jan 2010 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Professional number crunching falls short with the Formulator Series calculators originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 26 Jan 2010 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Will the Apple Tablet Look Like This?

Nexus One update will fix some 3G woes

A fix is coming for the 3G connectivity problems that some Google Nexus One users have been reporting since the phone's launch in early January.

Apple Defends AT&T: Highest in Broadband Usage, Working on Fixing Problem Cities

During Apple’s Q1 2010 conference call yesterday, Chief Operating Officer, Tim Cook came to AT&T’s defense when questioned about whether or not poor public perception of the exclusive iPhone carrier was hurting Apple’s brand.

Despite increasing iTablet and iPhone on Verizon rumors, Cook said that AT&T has to deal with higher broadband (3G) usage than any other carrier, and still provides a “great experience” for many of their customers. Furthermore, Cook said AT&T had admitted to problems in certain areas (such as New York City), had come up with plans on fixing those problems, and had shared those plans with Apple.

This is in contrast to Apple Senior Vice-President of iPhone Software, Scott Forstall sounded last year at WWDC 2009 when he introduced MMS and tethering features as part of iPhone 3.0, and clarified that AT&T would not be supporting either initially (and still doesn’t support tethering at all).

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

Apple Defends AT&T: Highest in Broadband Usage, Working on Fixing Problem Cities

The Apple Tablet Rumor Roundup

Over the years, there have always been those rumored Apple products and announcements that seem to take on a life of their own. Products that have been rumored for so long that you never actually think they will ever arrive. We can remember three ...

Access Google Voice from the iPhone via Safari

Filed under: Software, Internet, Internet Tools, iPhone

Earlier today, Google made a mobile web version of Google Voice available for the iPhone. To understand the significance of this move, here's a bit of back story.

Apple pulled all Google Voice related apps from the App Store back in July, which led to an FCC inquiry, which led Apple to claim they had not rejected but were "studying" Google Voice, which Google contradicted. The biggest surprise in the whole scenario is that AT&T said that they had no problem with Google Voice on the iPhone. Months later, there's still no official Google Voice app in the App Store. You can view the long version of the story here.

The mobile web version announced today (iPhone 3.0 required), while not the first, utilizes HTML 5 to accomplish some new and impressive tasks. For example, it lets you display your Google Voice number on outgoing calls and provides easy access to voice mail plus text messaging (send and receive). Additionally, you can dial with the virtual keypad and read transcripts of messages.

It's not all roses, of course. For instance, it won't access your iPhone's contact list or push incoming SMS.

Unless they're going to limit the capabilities of the iPhone's browser, or somehow block access, there isn't much Apple can do to prevent users from trying it out.

Note that this is limited to the US. To try it out, point Mobile Safari to http://m.google.com/voice. Pro tip: Add a bookmark to your iPhone's home screen to launch with a tap.

[Via ZDnet]

Access Google Voice from the iPhone via Safari originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 26 Jan 2010 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Access Google Voice from the iPhone via Safari originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 26 Jan 2010 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Review: Block Fall for iPhone

In Block Fall, you can connect as many blocks as you want -- but beware. The game screen fills with brightly colored blocks, which you tap away in groups. However, you start the game with three lives (you can increase the number through high scoring), and each time you tap a group of blocks smaller than three, you lose a life.

Fake Apple Tablet or Apple iPad Ad

Could Apple’s iPhone/iPod touch Platform be Nearing 70 Million? TiPb Calculates!

Could Apple’s iPhone have moved over 40 million units, and the iPod touch almost 30 million yet, for a combined platform total hurtling towards 70 million?

We don’t know, but we’re opening the iPhone calculator app in an effort to find out.

Let’s start with the last “official” tally. At the Apple “It’s only rock and roll, but we like it” Music Event in Sept. 2009, Steve Jobs reported 30 million iPhones sold, and 20 million iPod touches for a platform total of 50 million.

A month later, during the Q4 2009 conference call, Apple reported 7.4 million iPhones sold, with iPod touch sales not broken out but said to be up 100% year-to-year.

Skip ahead to yesterday’s Q1 2010 conference call, and Apple reported 8.7 million iPhones sold, and iPod touch up 55%.

Adding up the iPhone totals starts off easily enough: 30 + Q1 8.7 = 38.7 million. However, we don’t know how many of the 7.4 million sold in Q4 were included in the September event numbers. (The quarter ended in September, but likely not the reporting). A quarter being 3 months, we’ll make the colossally inaccurate leap of assuming 2/3 were counted, leaving 2.5 million to be added to the pot. So that makes 41.1 million iPhones on the market. (If Gene Munster’s figures about 40% of those being on AT&T, then that makes 16.5 million in the US).

iPod touch is harder math, given the lack of breakdown. We could play it safe and keep the 3:2 ratio from October going, which would mean 27.4 million iPod touches, for a platform total of 68.5 million, but again, that’s just a crazy bag of maybe.

Anyone have any better figures (or just better at math?)

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

Could Apple’s iPhone/iPod touch Platform be Nearing 70 Million? TiPb Calculates!

In Stock: PowerMat Portable Mat for iPhone

In Stock: PowerMat Portable Mat for iPhone

The PowerMat Portable Mat for iPhone [$97.95 - TiPb store link] is the charging station you always dreamed of. One cord, one mat, one place to charge all your not just your iPhone, but all your handheld devices!

Includes:

• PowerMat Portable Mat (4 charging positions)
• Universal, International Power Supply (Energy Star Level 5, 100-240) with built-in Cord Management
• Powercube Universal Receiver with 8 Tips

Learn more about the PowerMat Portable Mat for iPhone at the TiPb iPhone accessory store…

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

In Stock: PowerMat Portable Mat for iPhone

Classic Final Fantasy games coming to iPhone

Game developer Square Enix has announced that their iconic RPG titles Final Fantasy 1 and 2 will be making their way to the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Ngmoco introduces GodFinger

Ngmoco is teaming up with Wonderland Software to bring this god simulation to the App Store. You take on the role of a would-be deity.

Apple’s U.S. Carrier Arrangements for iPhone and Tablet Remain Muddled

With Apple's major media event scheduled for tomorrow, the company's plans for wireless carrier arrangements in the U.S. for the iPhone and tablet device remain unclear, with reports coming down on all sides of the issue.

Regarding the...

Google Voice rolls out iPhone Web app

Google has improved the experience of interacting with its Voice telephony service via the iPhone's Web browser.

Google Unleashes Google Voice WebApp for iPhone

Google has released the long-awaited Google Voice WebApp for iPhone (and Palm webOS), something they said they’d be doing in the wake of their exclusion from the iTunes App Store.

Similar to Google’s other, marvelous WebApps like Gmail, it leverages the advanced web technologies built into iPhone Safari to provide an optimized UI through which make calls from your Google Voice number and send SMS. Or so we hear… TiPb HQ has been trying to try it, but it’s been “fail city” according to Dieter, with lots of network request errors. (At least on the iPhone, his Palm Pre is doing better).

“It’s a very pretty “Network Request Failed” pop up dialog box. Quite impressive,” he says. (See it after the jump.)

According to TechCrunch, however:

It is built on HTML5 with most of the functionality of the original iPhone app, except that it cannot access the local contact list in your iPhone’s address book. It lets you manage a separate Google Voice contact list which is kept in the cloud instead. Google Voice voice routes your calls through its servers and acts as a new hub through which you can manage calls and forward them to various phones. You can also manage your settings and various phone numbers. The HTML5 makes it very fast, allows for local caching of data, and supports the voice tags necessary to play the audio voicemails through the browser.

You can access it via http://m.google.com/voice. If you’re a Google Voice user, let us know how it works for you, and how it compares to a native app like GV Mobile for Jailbreak.

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

Google Unleashes Google Voice WebApp for iPhone

Google Voice comes to iPhone and webOS, as a web app

FCC investigation be damned, Google has finally managed to bypass the App Store and release Google Voice to the iPhone (and webOS, too) the same way it pulled off Latitude, i.e. via a HTML5-based web app. According to Senior Product Manager Vincent Paquet, it should work with any HTML5-compliant device, although the formatting at this point has been tailored to Apple and Palm's platforms. So here's how it works: much like with its mobile Gmail site, the app caches your contacts list in a browser page. All the usual GV functionality is there, writing SMS messages, checking your inbox, and even listening to voicemails (although that latter functionality wasn't working for us yet in our trials). Placing phone calls is an interesting trick: as pictured above, after you choose the recipient, the app prompts you to call one of Google's local numbers via the native dialer -- even for international calls, hence the lower rates by paying through Google. The recipient will see your proper GV digits, and upside with this method is you'll still be able to utilize call waiting and background usage. The catch, of course, is a call history littered with random numbers. It's not a perfect solution by any means -- if anything, take solace in an assortment of home screen icons for each section of the app -- but it's probably the best we're gonna get for the time being. The page should be up and running later today, so if you're anxious, direct your mobile browser to voice.google.com and just keep hitting refresh.

Google Voice comes to iPhone and webOS, as a web app originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 26 Jan 2010 10:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple Pressuring TV Networks to Halve iTunes Episode Pricing?

Financial Times reports that Apple has been pressuring TV networks to lower their prices for iTunes content, hoping to pass along the savings to customers in order to spur sales. According to the report, Apple has been unhappy with the sales of tele...

Will we see iPhone updates at Apple’s event?

Everybody's abuzz over what Apple will announce at Wednesday's event. Dan Moren wonders if Apple's last creation, the iPhone, will get any love.

Apple Tablet Mockup Photos Gain Attention

As typical prior to any Apple event, supposedly "leaked" product images tend to start circulating. Unfortunately, actual product image leaks are quite rare and they typically come from a trusted source or site. In fact, it's been extremely ...

Apple rumor roundup: ‘the day before’ edition

We'll just come right out and say it: we couldn't possibly be happier to see that January 27, 2010 is tomorrow. Shortly after 10AM on the left coast, Stevie J himself will finally put a hush to the rumors that have been swirling constantly over the past fortnight or so (and we'll be there live to cover it). Till then, however, we've got one more round of scuttlebutt to serve up. Kicking things off is a New York Times report that explains in some level of detail what exactly the supposed Apple tablet will feature in terms of specifications. To quote: "It will run all the applications of the iPhone and iPod Touch, have a persistent wireless connection over 3G cellphone networks and Wi-Fi, and will be built with a 10-inch color display, allowing newspapers, magazines and book publishers to deliver their products with an eye to the design that had grabbed readers in print." We shall see.

Moving on, we've got even more whispers that publishers -- with the NYT mentioned specifically -- around the globe have been getting wind of this thing as the suits in Cupertino attempt to nail down content deals. Broadcast Engineering even has a piece that straight-up states that Apple was "was in New York City last week showing the tablet to media companies as a new way to sell books, newspapers and other reading material through its iTunes online store." Still not convinced? NetbookNews has an apparently ongoing article about the authenticity / non-authenticity of a Media Markt tweet that "accidentally" leaked a supposed €899 price point for the device, while Hot Hardware switches things up and reports that AT&T will lose its iPhone exclusivity during tomorrow's event. Oh, and the very first hands-on review of the Apple tablet is also live (courtesy of Mosspuppet), while yet another hotly contested image has arisen to perch atop these very words. Phew.

Apple rumor roundup: 'the day before' edition originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 26 Jan 2010 09:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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