Iphone Updates

Filed under: Software, Internet, Internet Tools, iPhone, iPod touch, App Review

I’ve been using 37signals’ Basecamp to manage projects large and small for almost a year now. It’s tremendously useful, and everyone I’ve shown it to falls in love. While the folks at 37signals have produced some great applications, they’ve left the extras to 3rd party developers.

I’ve been using Outpost for a bit, and this week I had a chance to try out Base Tent [App Store link]. While not as pretty as some of the others, it works very well.

The Pros

When first launched, Base Tent asks for your login criteria and begins its initial sync, which was much quicker than I anticipated (note that I did all testing over EDGE). Four tabs label your Dashboard, Projects, To Dos and Milestones, and they use the same color coding you’ll find on Basecamp.

Below is a series of icons that let you re-sync, access the app’s help pages or add and remove accounts (I only have one account, but I imagine those with more than one will appreciate being able to jump back and forth). Best of all is the option to find tasks, etc. assigned to a certain contact. Of course, the purpose of dropping ten bucks on an app like Base Tent is ubiquitous access to Basecamp.

Click any item in the Dashboard to jump directly to it. Reading and responding to messages is intuitive, though longer threads take a bit of time to load. The app includes an option to view a message title, post date and author or the full text, which is nice. Responding to a comment is just as easy as you’d expect and syncs as you publish.

The Projects page lists all aspects of a given project. What’s really nice here is the option to move between projects and contacts with a click, just like Basecamp’s “Switch to a different project” feature. I had a very easy time adding to dos, responding to messages and setting up appointments from the road.

The Cons

Base Tent syncs upon launch to look for changes. Unfortunately, this process commandeers the display until it’s finished. Additionally, and I know this is a bit superficial, but the Dashboard screen looks a bit cluttered. I’d like for the “Completed By” text and date to be a bit smaller. Finally, I know they’re going for the Basecamp “look” with the tabs, but they seem cramped in the iPhone’s display.

TUAW Buying Advice

The good news is that none of my complaints are about the app’s performance. Interacting with Basecamp via Base Tent, which is the point after all, is pleasant and reliable. Many of Basecamp’s customers, myself included, depend on the data in Basecamp for our living.

The developers have told us that a major update of Base Tent is complete and currently awaiting approval at the App Store. At $10.00 US it isn’t the cheapest solution in the App Store (nor its it the most expensive), but it’s worth it.

TUAWBase Tent offers mobile access to Basecamp originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 24 Apr 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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An alum of the Missouri School of Journalism, Zach Honig (appscout.com) was pleased to learn that his alma mater was hosting an iPhone app design competition. Seventy student teams vied for the yet-to-be-awarded top prize, and at least two of the apps created during the competition — NearBuy and Newsflash — have already appeared on the App Store. And earned rave reviews.

The results are in. And in its 2009 Wireless Consumer Smartphone Customer Satisfaction Study, J.D. Power and Associates reports that “Apple ranks highest among smartphone manufacturers with a score of 791 on a 1,000-point scale, performing particularly well in ease of operation, operating system, features and physical design.”

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, iTunes, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch

Of course there’s an app for this, but I’d never even considered it. While I do occasionally read .cbr (Comic Book Archive files) on my desktop, the iPhone didn’t really occur to me as a portable comic book reading device. But sure enough, there are apps for that. iComic is probably the cheapest, but I hear it’s a little tough to get set up. ComicZeal is extremely popular, and just a little bit cheaper from the somewhat similar myComics. Pull Lists uses a desktop client to sync up comics for you, which is a little more than I need, but it seems like some people like it. There are actually lots of choices, it turns out — I would have thought that the iPhone’s screen was pretty small for reading comic book pages, but I’ll have to give those apps a try.

Or, if you’re too cheap to pay a buck or two for a full app, you can even do it yourself. .cbr files are really just .jpg archives, so as this tip from a while back on the iPhone Comic Book Reader says, you can actually extract out the jpegs, and then just sync them up to your iPhone via iPhoto if you want. Three dollars really isn’t that much, and any of those apps listed above will give you a little more functionality (easy flipping between pages, bookmarking, and many other features per app), but if you really want to DIY, there you go.

Now it would be nice to be able to officially buy .cbr archives over the web from some of the major companies — the closest they’ve come that I know of is a subscription service, but of course you’ve got to use their own client for that (and there’s no iPhone app that I can find, though Uclick has a few apps in there for certain books). As long as reading pirated .cbr files is outlawed, only outlaws will end up reading them.

TUAWView .cbr comics on your iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 24 Apr 2009 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Smule calls their latest iPhone app “an instrument, a game, and a huge global social experience.” Most App Store reviewers simply call it “addictive.” And give it 5 stars. Like Ocarina, Leaf Trombone lets you turn iPhone or iPod touch into a musical instrument; this time, a trombone. But Leaf Trombone also lets you play for — and get instant reviews from — a global audience of fellow Leaf Trombone players. Ready to take the world stage?

At Doylestown Hospital, doctors don’t have to carry charts anymore. Instead, they carry an iPhone and enjoy secure, 24/7 access to patient records, including vital signs, medications, lab results, allergies, nurses’ notes, and therapy results. When with a patient, they can tap the iPhone screen, launch a program like Epocrates, and use it to help explain diseases, interpret lab results, or check on drug interactions.

“Mac mini–crazed,” Julio Ojeda-Zapata (twincities.com) “couldn’t be happier” with the “interesting uses” he has found for the new Mac mini. “Because it is so inexpensive,” Ojeda-Zapata found it a “compelling option” as a “mainstream Mac.” But the diminutive Mac mini “blew my mind” when he paired it with a 52-inch LCD. That’s when he realized why so many “Mac types have embraced the Mac Mini as the ultimate media center.”

If you can’t get to this year’s Tribeca Film Festival in New York City, you can at least enjoy trailers for a selection of the films that will be seen at the annual celebration of independent filmmaking. They includes the latest work from such directors as Atom Egoyan, Spike Lee, Carlos Cuaron, and other new and well-known filmmakers.

In his History of Jazz program, Dr. Gordon Vernick, Associate Professor of Music at Georgia State University looks at just one year in the rich history of this uniquely American musical genre. But Vernick sees 1959 as a “nexus point,” the year he “likes to think about as the most important year in jazz.” What occurred in 1959 to make it such a milestone for jazz music?

If you’re looking forward to the newest film in the X-Men series, you have only a week to wait. Opening on May 1, X-Men Origins: Wolverine — a prequel to the rest of the films in the series — focuses on Logan, the character, played by Hugh Jackman, who becomes Wolverine. On the Movie Trailers site, you’ll find an exclusive clip from the film, two trailers, and (coming soon) the Wolverine Weapons App.

Just nine months after the revolutionary App Store opened, Apple today announced, Connor Mulcahey, a thirteen year old from Weston, CT, downloaded the one billionth app. By downloading Bump, a free contact swapping app created by Bump Technologies, the teenager became the grand prize winner of Apple’s one billion app countdown contest and will receive a $10,000 iTunes gift card, an iPod touch, a Time Capsule, and a MacBook Pro.

“The App Store — stocked with 15,000 titles — is on tap to move its 1 billionth application any day now,” reports Jefferson Graham (usatoday.com). And it’s applications from relatively small developers, like Smule, that have created such entertaining apps as Ocarina (one of the best-selling apps on the App Store) and Leaf Trombone (a newcomer to the Store) that are leading the way.

In theaters on Earth Day 2010, Oceans invites us to journey beneath the waves to glimpse the wild and untamed world that few get to see. The Disneynature film tells the story of the perils and uncertain future the inhabitants of this world face while at the same time showing us the bright future that could occur if we’re willing to change the way we treat the world’s oceans.

“We are extremely pleased to report the best non-holiday quarter revenue and earnings in our history,” said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO, in announcing the company’s March quarter financial results. In its fiscal 2009 second quarter, Apple posted revenue of $8.16 billion and a net quarterly profit of $1.21 billion, or $1.33 per diluted share. Gross margin was 36.4 percent, up from 32.9 percent in the year-ago quarter.

Now you can enjoy the environmental friendly book from Elizabeth Rogers and Thomas Kostigen on your iPhone. And save a few more trees in the process. The digital version of the New York Times Bestseller “is full of green living tips and each section is accessible through the table of contents.” If you’d like to see more app options for Earth Day, pay a visit to the Green Room.

Eager to hear new tracks from the Dave Matthews Band? Subscribe to the iTunes Pass for Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King, and the hot single, Funny the Way It Is, will download immediately. The rest of the band’s eagerly anticipated eighth studio album will download as soon as it becomes available. And until the pass expires this September, you’ll receive bonus studio tracks, live tracks, and more.

Filed under: iPhone, iPod touch

Whether or not you agree with the hotly debated bailout, you may find it hard to say no to cash in your pocket. With this in mind we’re letting DoeDoe, makers of the iPhone platformer Bailout America, give you $1,000.

To win, all you have to do is name the 11 10 companies partially shown in the game screenshots. Go through the gallery, then come back to this post and leave your list in the comments. Of course, you could wait for someone else to do it and copy their answers, but where’s the fun in that? And how do you know they are right unless you check?

Be sure to check out the full rules on this page, but the usual stuff applies: must be over 18, only enter once, US-only (sorry about that). Remember: leave your list in the comments on this post and we’ll randomly select a winner with the correct list. Good luck!

• Open to legal US residents of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia who are 18 and older.
• To enter leave a comment with the names of the 10 companies shown in the gallery attached to this post.
• The comment must be left before Thursday, April 25, 11:59 PM Eastern Daylight Time.
• You may enter only once.
• One winner will be selected in a random drawing.
• Prize: a check for $1,000.
• Click here for Official Rules.

Continue reading Bailout America Cash Giveaway

TUAWBailout America Cash Giveaway originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 23 Apr 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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“Since it opened 10 months ago,” reports Dow Jones’ Ben Charny (smartmoney.com), ”the App Store has been a runaway hit selling a host of software that turn the smartphone into everything from a carpenter’s level to a virtual change purse.” Showing “no sign of letting up,” the success of the App Store has made Apple “‘the platform of choice‘ in the consumer smartphone area,” according to Gartner analyst Mike McGuire.

The Mac is energy efficient by design, but you can help conserve even more energy by taking advantage of Energy Saver options. Using the Sleep pane, for example, you can set the Display to sleep after your Mac has been inactive for a specific amount of time. But don’t make your Mac wait to get some sleep. Find out how to team Energy Saver with Exposé to put your Mac to sleep immediately.

When Forrester Research released the results of its annual survey on customer satisfaction, says Jim Dalrymple (macworld.com), “Apple not only topped the list, it blew away the competition.” In fact, Apple “dominated in each category” that the survey assessed, “scoring 82 percent (Useful), 86 percent (Easy to Use), and 72 percent (Enjoyable).”

Next Wednesday, you can celebrate Earth Day 2009 by watching Earth, which opens on April 22. Narrated by James Earl Jones and directed by Alastair Fothergill and Mark Linfield, the team who produced the Academy Award–winning Planet Earth, the first film in the Disneynature series offers incredible cinematography as it follows three animal families over the course of a year. Enjoy.

Mountain Gorillas have fascinated us since the earliest days of the 20th century. And that was well before we knew that they were our closest genetic relative on Earth, sharing close to 99% of our DNA. Now, thanks to iTunes U and Open University, you can learn all about the Mountain Gorillas still surviving in the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in Uganda.

The iPhone (and iPod Touch) have, perhaps surprisingly, become quite popular amongst musicians, particularly those dabbling in synth and ambient styles, so it’s rather fitting that the iPhone will be used during a Take That support act at Wembley in July. Gary Baker’s music was heard by Gary Barlow, who must’ve liked it so much that he invited him to play live. “I think it’s pretty amazing that I’m going to be using a mobile phone on stage at Wembley Stadium in front of so many people. I grew up behind the stadium, and used to listen to concerts in my back garden,” said Baker (stagename Go)…

You may have used Disk Utility to format, verify, repair, or partition disks on your Mac. But the Mac OS X Leopard utility also offers a great way to protect any sensitive or confidential data you’re sending to colleagues or clients. Encrypt a folder on your Mac as a .dmg file, and you can confidently email it or include it on an optical disc or thumb drive you overnight. Like to see how easy it is to create a .dmg in Disk Utility?

Have you gone Flick Sports Fishing? The Freeverse game — one of the all-time top 20 apps on the App Store — lets you virtually cast and reel in some really big fish using iPhone or iPod touch. You can play against friends and brag about your latest catch. And for a limited time, if you download Flick Fishing — or any other app on the App Store — you could reel in a really big catch in the Billion App Countdown Promotion.

Recommended for all those using Aperture 2, the Aperture 2.1.3 Update — available as a free download from the Aperture site or the Apple support site — improves overall stability and provides fixes for issues related to database integrity and compatibility with specific file types.

To create Back from the Dead, a new album from Spinal Tap scheduled for release in June, music producer CJ Vanston tapped Logic Studio. In fact, he says “every piece of the album was made using Macs running Apple’s Logic.” PCs, the engineer adds, “aren’t allowed within 20 feet of me. There’s always a problem with them, whether its a virus, defragging the drive, or something. They just slow you down.”

Truphone has today announced that the third version of its iPhone VoIP application is now available in the App Store. New features include a slicker, more intuitive user experience, better account management, faster operation and improved call quality. Naturally, Truphone is keen to boost its market share over obvious rival (and relative newcomer to the iPhone), Skype. Here are five reasons Truphone believes it trumps Skype:…

At Doylestown Hospital, doctors don’t have to carry charts anymore. Instead, they carry an iPhone and enjoy secure, 24/7 access to patient records, including vital signs, medications, lab results, allergies, nurses’ notes, and therapy results. When with a patient, they can tap the iPhone screen, launch a program like Epocrates, and use it to help explain diseases, interpret lab results, or check on drug interactions.

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

It’s a bit hot today in Arizona so I stayed in for Earth Day — I cut the air conditioning and ran the ceiling fans — and spent part of this day looking at GreenSpot, [App Store link] an iPhone/ iPod touch app that keeps you up to date on all things environmental. It includes tips, podcasts, and articles about everything from food and agriculture to green architecture and buildings. There are also ‘issue’ areas, with details on climate and energy, the two green hot buttons of late.

The $1.99US app puts all the information in one handy place, and makes it easy to access by topic just about any information you may want.

Podcasts include Sierra Club Radio, and many radio stations that do green programming, as well as some independent audio productions.

It was pretty easy to update myself on the latest green news, but I have these nits to pick. I couldn’t find many articles newer than a week old. I don’t know if the app is feed based, or people are manually posting material, but the world changes pretty fast, don’t ya know, and this app should be more up to date.

Some of the articles links are dead, so that’s not such a good thing either. The podcasts I tried all played well, but not from within Greenspot. They launched the QuickTime player, so you then manually have to re-start Greenspot.

None of these problems put me off the application. We’ve seen how important these issues are, and having this info in your pocket is just another reason why we are so happy the iPhone exists.

There are far worse ways to spend Earth Day than by getting up to date on the latest green news. Most of us will choose those worse ways today, thereby making the point on why it is important to be environmentally conscious.

Screen shots below:

TUAWA nice way to spend Earth Day originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 22 Apr 2009 15:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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“Mac mini–crazed,” Julio Ojeda-Zapata (twincities.com) “couldn’t be happier” with the “interesting uses” he has found for the new Mac mini. “Because it is so inexpensive,” Ojeda-Zapata found it a “compelling option” as a “mainstream Mac.” But the diminutive Mac mini “blew my mind” when he paired it with a 52-inch LCD. That’s when he realized why so many “Mac types have embraced the Mac Mini as the ultimate media center.”

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Multimedia, OS, Software, Odds and ends, Software Update

Sunday night on the Talkcast, we approached the rumors of a 10.5.7 release coming soon, and all pretty much agreed that yes — whatever is in it, it’s very likely coming soon. Here’s another rumble of thunder that hints at the storm: Nvidia announced a brand new card recently for Macs, called the Quadro FX 4800 — it offers “ultra fast performance,” “realistic effect,” and tons of triangles and all of the other things that comes along with a video card that looks more like a Flip Mini than an actual set of circuits.

But most importantly, under “Drivers and Downloads,” you can see that the Mac drivers require Leopard 10.5.7. Combine that with all of the other speculation flying around, and odds are that we’ll see a new version of the OS in Software Update as soon as later today.

Thanks, Daniel N!

TUAWNvidia Quadro FX 4800 requires 10.5.7, which should be out soon originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 21 Apr 2009 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you can’t get to this year’s Tribeca Film Festival in New York City, you can at least enjoy trailers for a selection of the films that will be seen at the annual celebration of independent filmmaking. They includes the latest work from such directors as Atom Egoyan, Spike Lee, Carlos Cuaron, and other new and well-known filmmakers.

In his History of Jazz program, Dr. Gordon Vernick, Associate Professor of Music at Georgia State University looks at just one year in the rich history of this uniquely American musical genre. But Vernick sees 1959 as a “nexus point,” the year he “likes to think about as the most important year in jazz.” What occurred in 1959 to make it such a milestone for jazz music?

If you’re looking forward to the newest film in the X-Men series, you have only a week to wait. Opening on May 1, X-Men Origins: Wolverine — a prequel to the rest of the films in the series — focuses on Logan, the character, played by Hugh Jackman, who becomes Wolverine. On the Movie Trailers site, you’ll find an exclusive clip from the film, two trailers, and (coming soon) the Wolverine Weapons App.

Just nine months after the revolutionary App Store opened, Apple today announced, Connor Mulcahey, a thirteen year old from Weston, CT, downloaded the one billionth app. By downloading Bump, a free contact swapping app created by Bump Technologies, the teenager became the grand prize winner of Apple’s one billion app countdown contest and will receive a $10,000 iTunes gift card, an iPod touch, a Time Capsule, and a MacBook Pro.

“We are extremely pleased to report the best non-holiday quarter revenue and earnings in our history,” said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO, in announcing the company’s March quarter financial results. In its fiscal 2009 second quarter, Apple posted revenue of $8.16 billion and a net quarterly profit of $1.21 billion, or $1.33 per diluted share. Gross margin was 36.4 percent, up from 32.9 percent in the year-ago quarter.

“The App Store — stocked with 15,000 titles — is on tap to move its 1 billionth application any day now,” reports Jefferson Graham (usatoday.com). And it’s applications from relatively small developers, like Smule, that have created such entertaining apps as Ocarina (one of the best-selling apps on the App Store) and Leaf Trombone (a newcomer to the Store) that are leading the way.

In theaters on Earth Day 2010, Oceans invites us to journey beneath the waves to glimpse the wild and untamed world that few get to see. The Disneynature film tells the story of the perils and uncertain future the inhabitants of this world face while at the same time showing us the bright future that could occur if we’re willing to change the way we treat the world’s oceans.

Now you can enjoy the environmental friendly book from Elizabeth Rogers and Thomas Kostigen on your iPhone. And save a few more trees in the process. The digital version of the New York Times Bestseller “is full of green living tips and each section is accessible through the table of contents.” If you’d like to see more app options for Earth Day, pay a visit to the Green Room.

Eager to hear new tracks from the Dave Matthews Band? Subscribe to the iTunes Pass for Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King, and the hot single, Funny the Way It Is, will download immediately. The rest of the band’s eagerly anticipated eighth studio album will download as soon as it becomes available. And until the pass expires this September, you’ll receive bonus studio tracks, live tracks, and more.

“Since it opened 10 months ago,” reports Dow Jones’ Ben Charny (smartmoney.com), ”the App Store has been a runaway hit selling a host of software that turn the smartphone into everything from a carpenter’s level to a virtual change purse.” Showing “no sign of letting up,” the success of the App Store has made Apple “‘the platform of choice‘ in the consumer smartphone area,” according to Gartner analyst Mike McGuire.

The Mac is energy efficient by design, but you can help conserve even more energy by taking advantage of Energy Saver options. Using the Sleep pane, for example, you can set the Display to sleep after your Mac has been inactive for a specific amount of time. But don’t make your Mac wait to get some sleep. Find out how to team Energy Saver with Exposé to put your Mac to sleep immediately.

When Forrester Research released the results of its annual survey on customer satisfaction, says Jim Dalrymple (macworld.com), “Apple not only topped the list, it blew away the competition.” In fact, Apple “dominated in each category” that the survey assessed, “scoring 82 percent (Useful), 86 percent (Easy to Use), and 72 percent (Enjoyable).”

Next Wednesday, you can celebrate Earth Day 2009 by watching Earth, which opens on April 22. Narrated by James Earl Jones and directed by Alastair Fothergill and Mark Linfield, the team who produced the Academy Award–winning Planet Earth, the first film in the Disneynature series offers incredible cinematography as it follows three animal families over the course of a year. Enjoy.

Filed under: Accessories, iPhone

Blogger Darren Murph over at our sister blog Engadget has posted a hands-on review and detailed photo gallery for a new extended battery pack and case for the iPhone — the mophie Juice Pack Air.

Billed as the world’s lightest and thinnest extended battery pack for the iPhone, the Juice Pack Air will ship on Tuesday, April 21st, at a suggested retail price of US$79.95. It’s available in the usual black and white iPhone colors, as well as purple for all of those Colorado Rockies fans out there.

The mophie Juice Pack Air (link to website) has achieved the Apple “Works with iPhone” certification, has a 1200 mAh Lithium Polymer battery to double your talk or play time, and even has an integrated 4-LED charge status indicator so you know when you’re really going to lose all of your power.

Darren found that with the Juice Pack Air and iPhone mated, the total package is only .75″ (19 mm) thick and adds just a tad more width and height. Whether or not that’s worth it to you depends on just how much you use your iPhone.

Be sure to check out Darren’s hands-on review and see if the Juice Pack Air is the battery for you!

TUAWEngadget’s take on the new mophie Juice Pack Air originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 20 Apr 2009 08:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mountain Gorillas have fascinated us since the earliest days of the 20th century. And that was well before we knew that they were our closest genetic relative on Earth, sharing close to 99% of our DNA. Now, thanks to iTunes U and Open University, you can learn all about the Mountain Gorillas still surviving in the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in Uganda.

You may have used Disk Utility to format, verify, repair, or partition disks on your Mac. But the Mac OS X Leopard utility also offers a great way to protect any sensitive or confidential data you’re sending to colleagues or clients. Encrypt a folder on your Mac as a .dmg file, and you can confidently email it or include it on an optical disc or thumb drive you overnight. Like to see how easy it is to create a .dmg in Disk Utility?

Have you gone Flick Sports Fishing? The Freeverse game — one of the all-time top 20 apps on the App Store — lets you virtually cast and reel in some really big fish using iPhone or iPod touch. You can play against friends and brag about your latest catch. And for a limited time, if you download Flick Fishing — or any other app on the App Store — you could reel in a really big catch in the Billion App Countdown Promotion.

Recommended for all those using Aperture 2, the Aperture 2.1.3 Update — available as a free download from the Aperture site or the Apple support site — improves overall stability and provides fixes for issues related to database integrity and compatibility with specific file types.