Confusing: Developers Who Complain Apple’s iPhone is Closed AND Think HTML5 is the Future

TechCrunch links to noted developer Tim Bray who’s taking a position as “Developer Advocate” at Google for Android but who announces it while taking a swipe at Apple’s iPhone and the closed nature of the App Store:

The iPhone vision of the mobile Internet’s future omits controversy, sex, and freedom, but includes strict limits on who can know what and who can say what. It’s a sterile Disney-fied walled garden surrounded by sharp-toothed lawyers. The people who create the apps serve at the landlord’s pleasure and fear his anger.

Which is completely and utterly wrong, of course. That’s Apple’s vision of the mobile, curated App Store which they intend to be a family friendly, corporately liable software repository. Apple’s vision of the mobile internet is Mobile Safari and its WebKit rendering engine and other technological underpinnings, most of which are open source and heavily supported by Apple.

You can, now, today, get porn on the iPhone via Mobile Safari. You can get Google Voice. You can pretty much get anything and everything without any interference from or need for approval by Apple. It’s the definition of the Winer-ian vendor-less platform Bray quotes. Never mind:

I’m going to have to get savvier about HTML5-based applications, because a lot of smart people think the future’s there, that the “native app” notion will soon seem quaint.

And HTML5 (which allows web-based apps to behave more like native apps) is something Apple has been pushing very hard as well (from promotion at Apple’s Developer Tech Talk World Tour to WebKit.org itself). And again, now, today, you can code and run some of the best, most robust HTML5 applications for mobile to run well on iPhone Safari — and other WebKit-based mobile browsers.

We’ve said many times Safari is Apple’s open app store, and Apple even includes it beside Mac and iPhone on developer.apple.com. That’s what confuses us about comments like Bray’s and TechCrunch’s mention of former Facebook for iPhone developer Joe Hewitt (who has since said the iPad is “everything he’s wished for”).

It’s awesome for Bray and Google and Android and developers, and we congratulate and wish all of them well on his new position. But it’s important to point out that while Apple’s App Store might be “closed”, Mobile Safari is wide open; if you’re a web developer it’s delivering as well or better than anyone else on the promise of of that platform today.

Confusing: Developers Who Complain Apple’s iPhone is Closed AND Think HTML5 is the Future is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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Nokia accuses Apple of ‘legal alchemy’

Nokia wants a judge to throw out Apple's antitrust claims against the Finnish smartphone maker, saying the iPhone maker is trying to divert attention from its "free-riding" of Nokia's intellectual property.

Apple Hires Expert in Wearable Computing

Computerworld reports that Apple recently hired Richard DeVaul, an expert in wearable computers, to the position of "Senior Prototype Engineer". The move appears to signify efforts by Apple to remain at ...

TomTom for U.S. and Canada updated with real time traffic and more

Filed under: Software, Odds and ends, iPhone, iPod touch

We told you it was coming, and now it has arrived. The popular US$59.95 TomTom app is ready to hit the road with real time traffic available as an additional in-app purchase.

Included with the 1.3 update at no additional charge is Google local search, revised map data, music fading, automatic day and night mode based on your location, and the ability to add locations from other applications.

The real time traffic option has some nice features. Updates are received every 3 minutes. If a delay along your route is found, you will get notification from the app and automatically be re-routed. The not-so-great feature is that the traffic info will set you back $19.95 for 12 months of information. By contrast, when I reviewed the live traffic option on the Navigon app in November, it was a one time price of $19.95. The Navigon app itself is 10 bucks more expensive than the TomTom app that includes the U.S. and Canada, but those yearly fees from TomTom can add up.

All the navigation app developers are loading up their products with more and more features, and iPhone owners are lucky to have the chance to agonize a bit over which app to get. There are worse problems to have.

The TomTom nav app works on an iPhone or an iPod touch but requires a car kit. Including Canada and the U.S., the app costs $69.95.

[Thanks Jared for the tip]

TomTom for U.S. and Canada updated with real time traffic and more originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

TomTom for U.S. and Canada updated with real time traffic and more originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iPad Opening Weekend Pre-Orders Pegged at Roughly 150,000 Units

Fortune continues following an organized effort being made to track iPad pre-orders in the U.S., noting that demand for Apple's new tablet device has significantly tapered off since Friday's pre-order launch and settled in the neighborhood of...

Asteroid shooter 1.0 released - New iPhone Game

Independent software developer Martin Knotek today is pleased to announce the release of Asteroid shooter 1.0 for iPhone and iPod touch devices. Asteroid shooter is classic arcade game, with cool space design, where the goal is to shoot all asteroids in the playfield. The game is simple with focus just on ...

SPE at Microsoft MIX10 for Windows Phone 7 Series — The Competition!

I had the chance to talk to Microsoft’s Loke Uei about Windows Phone 7 Series at GDC last week and he was cagey and super-secretive about the version running on his pre-production unit. He did, however, promise more would be revealed at MIX 10 this week in Las Vegas. Well, our very own editor-in-chief, Dieter Bohn, is at the show right now to seek it out. He’ll be covering the keynote live at 9am PT, 12pm ET over at WMExperts.com.

What might be interesting to TiPb readers is the approach Microsoft is taking — it looks to be one of the first truly different post-iPhone smartphone concepts that’s not really app-centric but rather aggregation centric. They haven’t sold me on the UI yet, but the flow between “experiences” looks stellar, as does the logical way in which information is grouped and made available. It’s going after consumers, which is the heart of the iPhone market.

Will Apple have to up their game for iPhone 4.0 in face of what the competition is (finally!) bringing to market in 2010?

SPE at Microsoft MIX10 for Windows Phone 7 Series — The Competition! is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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GDC 2010: Interview with Keith Lee of Booyah

Filed under: Gaming, Software, Internet, Developer, iPhone

Continue reading GDC 2010: Interview with Keith Lee of Booyah

GDC 2010: Interview with Keith Lee of Booyah originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

GDC 2010: Interview with Keith Lee of Booyah originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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TaskPaper for iPhone

This free-form task-management app inherits many features of its Mac counterpart, along with a few iPhone tweaks. While it doesn't provide the kind of advanced scheduling and task-management features you'll find in some other apps, for many types of lists, as well as for creating outlines and taking notes, there's a lot to like.

Monday Fun Video: Typing 83 Words a Minute on an iPhone

Once again proving that iPhone users don’t need no stinkin’ hardware keyboards, this YouTube’r claims 83 words a minute on iTextSpeed [$0.99 - iTunes link] which would be impressive on a full-sized desktop, never mind an iPhone.

And if you’ve got mad iPhone typing skills, feel free to drop your numbers in the comments as well! (I got 22 words correct, 0 incorrect, 43 words per minute).

Video after the break!

[148apps via Gizmodo]

YouTube link

Monday Fun Video: Typing 83 Words a Minute on an iPhone is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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Facebook and MySpace Social Gaming Scams Moving to iPhone?

According to TechCrunch, some of the worst scams in social gaming are moving from Facebook and MySpace to the iPhone:

Users are offered virtual currency in exchange for answering a quiz or some other seemingly harmless offer. But once they click through and awswer the quiz questions they’re told they need to enter their mobile phone number to get quiz results. Often there is fine print outlining the charges. But the already tiny print is completely unreadable on a mobile screen, making that disclosure meaningless even when it appears.

SMS subscription scams are among the most lucrative offers to game publishers because users get a recurring fee of $10 – $25 per month until they are able to terminate the subscription. Many users never notice them, and those that do usually have a lot of trouble getting them shut off.

TechCrunch has reached out to the companies they claim are powering the scams, including “OfferPal Media and SuperRewards and now Google” and has received reassurances from some of them that they are working towards guidelines and policies — not to get rid of the practice but to make the terms clearer for end users. Apparently, there’s so much money involved in this type of “advertising” that it’s not going anywhere soon, it just might get less “scammy”.

Read the articles linked above for more information on how it works and who the players are, but bottom line remember — if something sounds too good to be true, it is. If a game offers you”free” in-game currency (or whatever they use to incentive play) there’s always a cost. Don’t give out your mobile number, and don’t download apps unless you trust them completely.

If you’ve had any experiences with social gaming scams, or any type of in-app scams, let us know!

Facebook and MySpace Social Gaming Scams Moving to iPhone? is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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TiPb Apps 5.1: GodFinger for iPhone (GDC 2010)

Live from GDC 2010, Rene talks with Jason Oberfest, VP of Social Applications at ngmoco about GodFinger for iPhone. Currently available in Canada [Free - iTunes link] with internationally release to follow soon, we get a sneak peak at playing deity to our own digital, mobile planet.

Watch along after the break and let us know what you think.

YouTube link

TiPb Apps 5.1: GodFinger for iPhone (GDC 2010) is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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Review: Street Fighter IV for iPhone

Street Fighter fans are rejoicing everywhere, because Capcom's Street Fighter IV has finally made its way onto the iPhone. While not a pitch-perfect port of the popular console fighter, Street Fighter IV for the iPhone captures the spirit of the intense one-on-one battles that distinguish the series.