Washington Post iPhone app not winning very many friends

Filed under: iPhone

Somehow in my recent comments on News apps I missed the Washington Post effort, which has been recently updated. It's not a home run, combining a subscription cost and intrusive ads.

The app, called Wash Post costs US$1.99 a year. Wash Post contains articles and photos, and it allows you to share content via Twitter or e-mail. The app has built in search, which helps to make up for some of the shortcomings I'll detail later.

The Washington Post is a bit schizophrenic about their content. You can pay for this app, or you can go to their iPhone-friendly website for free. That's right -- you get the same content and pictures for free at the website that you pay for on the iPhone. Like many media companies, the Washington Post is eagerly awaiting the time when they can charge for all online content. What I don't understand is why they're charging for the content in the iPhone app and giving it away for free at the website? Why not be just a bit consistent?

Continue reading Washington Post iPhone app not winning very many friends

Washington Post iPhone app not winning very many friends originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 17 May 2010 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Washington Post iPhone app not winning very many friends originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 17 May 2010 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple Might Announce Cloud-Based iTunes Service At WWDC

Review: Hire Me for iPhone

Hire Me is an earnest attempt to help you land a job. Sadly, in spite of its good intentions, the app just isn't that genuinely useful.

Apple’s New iPhone To Come With Improved Display, 512MB RAM, Bigger Battery

Todo for iPad – app review

Appigo’s Todo for iPad complements their existing Todo for iPhone app very well and if you already use Todo for iPhone, you will be quite pleased with the iPad version. If not, you’ll certainly appreciate Todo for iPad on its own merits.

One of the first things you will notice is the aesthetic; Appigo went for a traditional three ring binder look and feel. You can change the color of the binder, paper and rings in the settings menu. Appigo promises more themes in a future update.

Outside of looking pretty, Todo gets the job done just like its iPhone cousin. You can create a your standard task, project, checklist, contact or website. If you are a Getting Things Done (GTD) user, you will be happy to know that @contexts as well as tags are supported. Holding the iPad in landscape gives you full view of all your task information. On the left side you have your lists, Inbox, Starred and Focus list. Let’s discuss this in a little more detail.

Inbox is where tasks go that you have not assigned to a list yet. They just kind of hang out there till you move them, they can stay there, it is all up to your own workflow. Starred tasks are a way to flag a task. I use this functionality to star any items I want to do today, regardless of due date. Focus list allows you to create a dynamic list based on filters. Maybe you want to only see tasks with a due date of one week from now. You can do this with the Focus list.

If you are like me, you have a bunch of tasks you have given an arbitrary due date to, and inevitably that date slips. You can very quickly and easily move these items to another list, simply reschedule or reassign to a context in bulk with Todo.

For me the biggest benefit with Todo is online synchronization. Sure you can sync via Wi-Fi from your desktop with iCal, but for me it has to be the ability to sync with the excellent free service Toodledo [link]. I have used all of the other major task apps that sync and currently they all sync via the desktop through Wi-Fi. This can be very frustrating for me. During the day I may add a task only on the iPhone, complete a task on the iPad, but there is no way to merge them together till I get home. By Appigo partnering with Toodledo, I get free over-the-air (OTA) syncing and web-based management of my tasks from any web browser when I am not near my iPhone or iPad.

I find few faults with this application and I am so glad it is finally available. The functionality and price cannot be beaten. Checkout the video and pictures below!

[$4.99- iTunes link].

(more...)

Facebook integration into iPhone OS – Apple patent watch

Patently Apple discovered a recently published Apple patent detailing an “Add Contact” workflow and “Social Networking” workflow that specifically uses Facebook as it’s main example. Now that does not mean this patent will not work with other social networks, but Facebook is the current king of the mountain and it makes sense considering that it was just last week heard Apple was looking to integrate Facebook into iPhone OS 4.

With the deep integration of social networking sites on various Android-based devices Apple does have some catching up to do. We all know, when Apple takes their time the final product usually tops all other implementations out there. Cut/Copy/Paste ring a bell? Good things come to those who wait.

[Patently Apple]

Facebook integration into iPhone OS – Apple patent watch is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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

Microsoft, Apple work to fix iPad Hotmail glitch

MIcrosoft says it's working with Apple to solve problems that iPad users have had with Windows Live Hotmail.

iPhone manufacturer seeks mental-health workers to aid staff

iPhone manufacturer Foxconn Technology is seeking out mental-health professionals following an unprecedented series of suicides and suicide attempts.

DIYer combines iPhone 3GS with Show WX for pico projected gaming bliss (video)

digg_url = 'http://digg.com/gadgets/Worlds_First_Pico_Projector_iPhone_Camera'; The Moject project proved that smartphones and pico projectors do indeed have a thing for one another, but Ethan Janson has taken things one step further with an unnamed contraption that holds his iPhone 3GS, a Microvision Show WX and an "ancient" point-and-shoot camera. Put simply, the handmade thingamajig allows him to play his iPhone games on a far larger screen, and since the Show WX continually autofocuses regardless of distance from walls, there's never a blurring issue when flailing about in order to control the gameplay. The full skinny is down there in the source, but shortcut takers can head straight past the break for a video.

[Thanks, Ethan]

Continue reading DIYer combines iPhone 3GS with Show WX for pico projected gaming bliss (video)

DIYer combines iPhone 3GS with Show WX for pico projected gaming bliss (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 17 May 2010 13:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Videos Of Yet Another Next Generation iPhone Prototype

NPD Data: Strong Mac Sales in April, Some iPod Cannibalization by iPad?

Fortune reports on a new research note from analyst Gene Munster at Piper Jaffray, who examined new April U.S. retail sales data for Apple from NPD and found very strong year-over-year Mac growth and a so...

Apple clarifies Japan iPad SIM-lock, sort of

Apple has attempted to clarify the situation surrounding SIM-locked 3G iPads in Japan, but has it merely muddied the waters further?

Full iPhone potential, Verizon, Waiting for 2nd generation iPad, Jailbreak apps – From the Forums

From the Forums is a great way to see all of the current hot topics in our iPhone and iPad forums. In order to create any new threads of your own or reply to any of the existing threads, you must be a registered member. Becoming a member is a simple process that will only take a few minutes out of your day, so if you have not already already done so, head on over and register now!

• A good poll thread – Do you use your iPhone to it’s fullest potential?

• Want more iPhone on Verizon chat? This is your thread – Verizon iPhone not looking so good now.

• If you are on the fence about purchasing an iPad now or to wait for the 2nd generation, this is your thread right here.

• Need a place to discuss the latest and greatest jailbroken apps, here is your forum – Jailbreak Apps, Games, and Themes.

See you in the forums!

Full iPhone potential, Verizon, Waiting for 2nd generation iPad, Jailbreak apps – From the Forums is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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

Post pictures to Tumblr Quickr

Filed under: Internet Tools, iPhone

Quickr is a $0.99US iPhone app to take pictures and quickly post them to your Tumblr account. Here's the simplest explanation I can give for how Quickr lives up to its name:

Steps necessary to take a picture and post it through the Tumblr app:

1. launch Tumblr app
2. tap post (assuming you have the dashboard shown by default)
3. tap photo
4. tap "take new photo"
5. take picture

Steps necessary to email a picture to Tumblr from the iPhone camera app:

1. launch camera
2. take picture
3. tap button to see photo library
4. tap arrow at bottom left
5. tap "email photo" (wait for Mail to launch)
6. tap 'to'
7. fill in email address for your Tumblr

Steps to post a picture using Quickr

1. launch Quickr
2. take picture

Quickr will let you decide if you want to store the picture in your iPhone's library or not (you can set a default yes/no and then change very easily it for individual pictures from inside the app). As of v.1.0 posting to "sub-Tumblrs" is not supported, but I spoke with the developer and he is planning to include support for that in the future. He also mentioned that a bug exists in 1.0 which prevents the app from running on an iPad. A fix has already been submitted to the App Store. (Even though the iPad doesn't have a camera, Quickr will eventually allow you to upload pictures from your photo library on the iPad.)

The bulk of the pictures that my wife and I take with our iPhones are intended to be posted to Tumblr, so Quickr is going to get a lot of use in our house.

Post pictures to Tumblr Quickr originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 17 May 2010 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Post pictures to Tumblr Quickr originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 17 May 2010 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iPhone OS 4.0 beta 3 brings new media controls, file sharing, more

iPhone OS 4.0 beta 3 is out, and there are some pretty juicy additions that Steve Jobs failed to mention when he took to the stage last month. BGR has been digging around the new release and has turned up not only an updated multitasking system – tweaked for quicker use – but media [...]

Beatles on iTunes Still Hung Up on ‘Business Hassles’

It's the rumor that undoubtedly won't die until it comes true, but the BBC takes another look at the prospect of The Beatles coming to Apple's iTunes Store, a topic that has been raised on a regular basis...

Review: The Chronicles of Inotia 2 for iPhone

The Chronicles of Inotia 2: A Wanderer of Luone is your classic fantasy role-playing game: you are a lone hero looking for some innocent mercenary work when you're suddenly swept up in an epic storyline of demons, magical keys, and world-saving.

Digitimes: Foxconn will ship 24 million 4G iPhones in 2010

Filed under: iPhone

DigiTimes reports today on Foxconn's supposed plans to ship 24 million 4G iPhones this year, starting in June. June iPhone updates have become traditional for Apple watchers (just like iPod updates in September), and most observers expect WWDC to be this year's launch date.

According to the report, the iPhones will be divvied up so that 4.5 million units go out in the first half of the year, reserving 19.5 million phones for the rest of 2010.

DigiTimes analyst Ming-Chi Kuo also suggests that the new iPhones will feature a thinner, 960×640 resolution screen, which will create room for larger batteries and exceed Android's 854×480 resolution (on the highest end). Finally, fringe-field switching (FFS) technology will improve the display's performance in sunlight and create a wider viewing angle, just in time for iBooks on the iPhone.

Note these claims with a healthy dose of your typical rumor skepticism and mark your calendars for June 7th. That's when all will be revealed. Probably.

Digitimes: Foxconn will ship 24 million 4G iPhones in 2010 originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 17 May 2010 10:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Digitimes: Foxconn will ship 24 million 4G iPhones in 2010 originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 17 May 2010 10:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple killing iPhone cross-compilers in 2010 like they killed Mac clones in 1997?

Apple has recently made headlines for banning cross-compilers in iPhone OS 4 SDK, and Steve Jobs fleshed out the specifics in his Thoughts on Flash open letter. This is nothing new. Back in September 1997, Apple and Steve Jobs made headlines for killing something else — the Mac clones. And as is often the case, the past sheds some interesting light on the present and future of Apple and the iPhone and iPad. This is what Doc Searls wrote about it at the time:

To Steve, clones are the drag of the ordinary on the innovative. All that crap about cloners not sharing the cost of R&D is just rationalization. Steve puts enormous value on the engines of innovation. Killing off the cloners just eliminates a drag on his own R&D, as well as a way to reposition Apple as something closer to what he would have made the company if he had been in charge through the intervening years.

[...] These things I can guarantee about whatever Apple makes from this point forward:

1. It will be original.
2. It will be innovative.
3. It will be exclusive.
4. It will be expensive.
5. It’s aesthetics will be impeccable.
6. The influence of developers, even influential developers like you, will be minimal. 7. The influence of customers and users will be held in even higher contempt.
7. The influence of fellow business artisans such as Larry Ellison (and even Larry’s nemesis, Bill Gates) will be significant, though secondary at best to Steve’s own muse.

Substitute clones for cross-compilers, pick up an iPhone or iPad, and the post is both still relevant and uncannily prescient.

[Scripting.com DaveNet, thanks to Dev for sending this in!]

Apple killing iPhone cross-compilers in 2010 like they killed Mac clones in 1997? is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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Wi-Fi Sync for iPhone video hands-on: it works!

We just got our hands on Wi-FI Sync and guess what? It actually works -- fancy that! For those of you out of the loop, Apple recently rejected this gem of an app (go figure), but thanks to the magic of jailbreaking, that was hardly the end of the road. Days later, Wi-Fi Sync ended up on Cydia with a completely-affordable price tag of $9.99, promising iPhone and iPod touch users the ability to sync their device with iTunes sans any cabling whatsoever. Since we're notoriously lazy when it comes to actually plugging in our phones and syncing, we fired up the program on our jailbroken 3GS in order to see exactly what the law-abiders in attendance were missing out on.

Installation couldn't have been easier. We parted ways with our Hamilton, downloaded the necessary companion software for our laptop, and fired up the application. The iPhone was immediately recognized, and after a few prompts we were ready for action. Syncing was just as easy as it normally is (with "easy" being a relative term here), just without that iPod wire hanging around and bumming everyone out. We will say, however, that things weren't as snappy OTA as a standard hardwired connection. It was a bit sluggish on the first couple of runs, and although iTunes crashed a few times (boo), we're fairly confident in saying that a poor WiFi connection was to blame for the jankiness. Once we migrated closer to the router, things went much smoother. Still unsure if it's worth the investment? Then give the video past the break a look.

Continue reading Wi-Fi Sync for iPhone video hands-on: it works!

Wi-Fi Sync for iPhone video hands-on: it works! originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 17 May 2010 10:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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