Review: Touch-Fill-Go for iPhone

This app, which lets you scan documents with the iPhone's built-in camera and then fill in those documents on your mobile device, is a good productivity tool with the potential to be a great one.

Desk Phone Dock promises to bring some landline charm to the iPhone

Desk Phone Dock promises to bring some landline charm to the iPhone originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Mar 2010 14:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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And TiPb’s big iPad give-away goes to…

Four weeks to enter and four great prizes given away already, now it’s time to announce who got what, and most importantly — who’s getting the iPad gift-certificate!

Week 1: iSkin Solo FX SE Give-away

• Black: afoodieslife
• Pink: lubsyb
• White: TroyOneOn

(Note: none of you have responded to our YouTube messages telling you you’ve won; if we don’t get a response by next Tuesday, April 6, 2010, we’re going to declare it abandoned and pick new winners — so check your YouTube messages!)

Week 2: Griffin PowerJolt

• @bendoke

Week 3: Special Edition Street Fighter IV iPhone cases

• Joseph Hoffmeyer
• Dave01568

Week 4: SCOTTeVEST $150 gift-certificate

• spiderman001728

And the big one: iPad Give-away

• Zeagus!

Congratulations and thanks to everyone who participated! If you didn’t get anything this time, fret not! we’ll be announcing more give-aways soon!

And TiPb’s big iPad give-away goes to… is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

Chilli X promises iPad version of PhotoFrame app

The souped-up version of PhotoFrame will take advantage of the iPad's larger screen to display the time, date, and a monthly calendar. But this photo frame and clock app promises other capabilities as well.

Apple’s Product Launch Security Profiled Ahead of iPad Debut

Reuters takes a look at the security surrounding Apple product launches, using iPhone introductions as an example of what Apple retail staff can expect for the iPad's U.S. debut this Saturday. Apple, which is known for its secrecy, will almo...

Untethered Jailbreak For iPhone OS 3.1.3 Using Mobile Safari Coming Soon?

Google Chrome Set to Gain Integrated Flash Player Plug-In

Google today announced the release of new developer builds of its Google Chrome browser that incorporate an integrated Flash Player plug-in, eliminating the need for users to separately install and update...

New iTunes Update To Bring Dedicated Books Section For iPad Users And More

App Store Now Available Through Facebook

Mashable yesterday noted that Apple has rolled out revamped App Store pages in Facebook offering full browsing and search access for the store.

In the Featured tab on the App Store's Facebook page, you can see top apps and vie...

SlingPlayer for iPad Coming “Some day”

This may not be much of a surprise but according to a former Sling Media employee over at Zatsnotfunny.com, the company will be working on a iPad-specific version of the ever popular SlingPlayer Mobile app – “some day”. Unfortunately that day will not be April 3rd.

“When it makes a noticeable difference in quality, we will definitely provide higher resolution streaming. The iPad is a good example of a device where we are hard at work on this, but unfortunately it won’t be there at the April launch.”

With the absence of the likes of Hulu and Netflix streaming on our iPads we can only hope SlingPlayer gets here sooner rather than later, and that the bigger iPad screen doesn’t cause AT&T to once again re-think their network usage policies…

[Via 9to5Mac via Zatsnotfunny]

SlingPlayer for iPad Coming “Some day” is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

MapQuest 4 Mobile adds free voice navigation

For those times when you can't afford a human backseat driver, MapQuest's free iPhone app now includes turn-by-turn voice prompts.

Review: Raging Thunder 2 for iPhone

Eschewing realism for arcade-style fun, Raging Thunder 2 by Polarbit is a retro racing game for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Polarbit has created an addictive and fun title that brings back the adrenaline-infused chaos of old school racing games and puts it where it is sorely missed—on your mobile platform.

Sling Media ‘Hard at Work’ on SlingPlayer for iPad

Zatz Not Funny! reports that Sling Media has plans to launch higher-resolution television streaming services for the iPad, although the company has acknowledged that it will not be prepared to roll out the new application and streaming servic...

Bobo Crash gem-switch game for iPhone

Here we have Bobo Crash [$0.99 - iTunes Link], a fun new gem-switching game for the iPhone and iPod touch from Playbrains. In this game you have to match similar coloured gems with adjacent gems in sets of three or more, in a similar fashion to Bejeweled. The difference in Bobo Crash is that if you match up more than 4 gems you unleash specialized hero gems. These hero gems, when matched, have specialized gem-busting powers.

Bobo Crash has over 21 levels of gem smashing fun that gets faster as you go along. It also uses the OpenFeint system so you also have access to leaderboards and achievements online.

If you want to see screenshots of the game in action (and find out how you can get yourself a free promo code for the game!), stay with us after the break.

How can you get your hands on this game for free? Sweet and easy — just leave a comment below telling me why you would enjoy the game and you are entered. We’ll pick the winner at random (though saying something cute or funny never hurts!) Make sure to use a real e-address or we will not be able to contact you. Give-away starts now and ends Thursday, March

(Note: Unfortunately, Promo Codes only work in the US App Store, so if you don’t have access, you won’t be able to claim a prize.)

Bobo Crash gem-switch game for iPhone is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

Navigon updates Mobile Navigator North America

Filed under: iPhone

These Navigon guys really do constant upgrades and enhancements of this popular app. Today, the US$79.99 North American version of the Navigon iPhone app has added connections to Facebook and Twitter, along with Navigon MyRoutes.

According to the company, MyRoutes recommendations are based on the personal driving behavior of the user, the day of the week, and the time of day. MyRoutes always shows the best possible route for the driver on the basis of his or her driving behavior and by means of an optical "MyRoute" indicator. In addition to this recommended route, up to two alternatives are displayed.

Also added is the option to buy Panorama View 3D, which gives you a more topographic view of the terrain based on NASA data. That option is an in-app $9.99 purchase. The 3D views require an additional 580 MB download.

The Panorama, Facebook, and Twitter features will be coming to the recently released lower cost regional versions of the app. In fact, a spokesman for the company told me that the less expensive versions of the app will include all of the features of the North America version. The MyRoutes feature has already been included in the regional versions.

I've just downloaded the 1.46 GB update, and will be testing the new features over the next few days. I will report soon on my findings.

Navigon updates Mobile Navigator North America originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 30 Mar 2010 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Navigon updates Mobile Navigator North America originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 30 Mar 2010 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iPhone and iPad Developers and the Upcoming UDID Crunch

Apple is about to add a third device to their iPhone OS family, the iPad, but so far developers are still limited to 100 UDID “slots” for ad-hoc distribution (aka beta testing), leading Craig Hockenberry of the Icon Factory to wonder on his Furbo.org blog if the “crunch” is coming.

Let’s say you (or your company) has a developer account with Apple, two popular iPhone/iPod touch apps, and are about to release an iPad app. That’s three apps total. But all you get are 100 slots total — not per app, not per-user, not 100 for iPhone and 100 for iPad. Total. So if you have 5 developers in-house and each wants to test on all three iPhone OS devices (iPhone, iPod touch, iPad), that’s 15 slots gone already. If you want to maintain compatibility with older devices like the iPhone 2G or the iPod touch G1, you might need slots for those as well. If anyone has replaced a lost or broken device, or had one swapped out under warranty, that means a new UDID and another slot taken. We could be up to 20 slots gone already.

If you have beta testers, the problem scales. Each device each tester has comes with a UDID and takes a slot. If you want to maximize your beta testers, that could be 3 slots each (one for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad) and perhaps more if they have old iPhones or iPod touches, or if they’re replaced a device. That means 15-20 beta testers can consume every slot you have left. Sure you could stretch that out by only having each tester register 1 device but that adds complexity and still only delays hitting the limit.

Further compounding the problem is that Apple only frees up the UDID slots once a year, so any lost devices, developers who have left the company, or beta testers who have dropped out can equate to wasted slots just sitting there for up to a year.

With the iPad launch, it means any developer whose already maxed out and whose slots don’t free up before April 3 is in a tough spot. They can’t register any new UDIDs, which means they can’t register any iPads to test on. That’s not only bad for them, it’s bad for users who expect well-tested, well-polished apps and games.

Hockenberry thinks there’s a better system for Apple to adopt:

A tweet from Mike Piontek crystalized this thought: the limitation for Ad Hoc provisioning should be based around individuals, not the devices that they own. It makes more sense to regulate Apple IDs rather than UDIDs. I want John Gruber to be able to run my apps on whatever devices he currently owns. I want to put my own name on the provisioning list and enable the five iPhone OS devices sitting on my desk. All that Apple cares about is that are only 98 other people besides Gruber and me.

And he points out it’s not just developers but those same Fortune 100 companies Apple often touts who would benefit:

(I suspect that Enterprise IT has similar problems and would welcome a solution based on employees rather than the hardware they own. I can only imagine the headaches of managing thousands of devices.)

If you’re a developer, let us know if the ad-hoc crunch is a concern and what, if anything, you’re doing to handle the oncoming iPad UDID storm.

iPhone and iPad Developers and the Upcoming UDID Crunch is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

Elan Microelectronics Turns to U.S. International Trade Commission in Multi-Touch Patent Dispute With Apple

Bloomberg reports that Taiwanese firm Elan Microelectronics has filed a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) seeking the halt of imports of a variety of Apple products under claims of patent infringement. The complain...

More pics and video of possible next-gen iPhone display leaked

Filed under: iPhone

Back in February, we showed you some leaked pics from iResQ that were supposedly pictures of the next-gen iPhone's front face. Now, SmartPhone Medic, another iPhone repair outfit, has released pictures and video of what appears to be almost the exact same next-gen iPhone faceplate that iResQ showed off. SmartPhone Medic's video shows a bubble-wrapped part being removed from packaging labelled as "OEM 4G LCD & DIGITIZER," along with some other lettering that I can't quite make out, which either says "IPB," "IPS," or possibly something else entirely.

Like the faceplate iResQ revealed in February, this faceplate is approximately 1/4 of an inch longer than the faceplate from the current iPhone 3GS, but SmartPhone Medic's video makes it much clearer where this extra 1/4 inch is coming from. The display dimensions on the "4G" LCD are exactly the same as those on the 3GS, and the upper portion of the faceplate, where the headphone jack, proximity and ambient light sensors, and top speaker are all housed, is almost exactly the same size. The bottom of the unit accounts for almost all of the extra space -- notably, this is where the current iPhone 3GS's primary antenna is housed, near the dock connector. It's widely expected that the next iPhone will have an 802.11n antenna, so perhaps this accounts for the need to lengthen the iPhone's antenna section.

This faceplate from SmartPhone Medic differs from the one iResQ showed off in one very important way. While the faceplate from iResQ had no obvious new holes in it, the SmartPhone Medic faceplate has a small hole next to the top speaker, in approximately the same location as the current iPhone's proximity and ambient light sensors. Since those sensors are perfectly capable of operating through the iPhone's display glass, as any possible indicator lights would be, the most plausible reason for this hole's existence is a new piece of hardware in the iPhone -- quite possibly a front-facing camera.

One other thing was made pretty clear in the video: something is different about the display itself. Read on to find out what else has changed.

Continue reading More pics and video of possible next-gen iPhone display leaked

More pics and video of possible next-gen iPhone display leaked originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 30 Mar 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

More pics and video of possible next-gen iPhone display leaked originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 30 Mar 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iPod ‘Godfather’ Tony Fadell Steps Down as Apple Advisor

The New York Times reports that Tony Fadell, who has variously been known as the father, grandfather, and godfather of the iPod, has severed his final ties with Apple, stepping down from his position as s...

First batch of games ported to iPad sport higher prices

A quick look at the prices for iPad games suggests they're going to cost more than their iPhone counterparts.