For those of you waiting for another blog editor other than TypePad, WordPress users rejoice! WordPress for iPhone is now available from the iTunes store for free! Word came this morning from TUAW that the native app would be available today. You can read more about the application here.
This app allows you to manage several blogs, create and edit posts and even upload photos to your blog directly from your iPhone. This is a strong competitor to TypePad’s offering, especially since WordPress is free, though they do appear very similar. The one function WordPress for iPhone does this is unique is the ability to preview a post. Check out the gallery below!
Sadly, it’s not all wine and roses blog posts and galleries here at TiPb, something about our server isn’t sitting right with the app, it crashes on configure. Ah, full size computers: we wish we could quit you.
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Another day, another potential problem with MobileMe? Fair enough, some Windows users were made a little hyper-sensitive a while back when Apple included Safari as a pre-selected update alongside Windows iTunes 7.6. An uproar arose, and Apple responded by shifting Safari slightly downward and into its own section.
Now comes word that iTunes 7.7 installed a MobileMe section into Windows Control Panel (similar to the Quicktime section) — whether you use MobileMe or not.
Sure, Apple is engaging Windows users like never before. Their largest iPod and iPhone installed base, Windows users have had Quicktime forever (Microsoft’s own shenanigans in that arena aside), iTunes for a long time, Safari last year, and now MobileMe (kinda sorta, depending on whether or its or not at any given moment). Some, however, are taking issue with the methods of this engagement, and the “trojan horse” like way Apple is choosing to slip new initiatives in alongside established applications.
Are you a Windows user? What do you think? Are you happy Apple is providing features even if you don’t currently use them, or would you prefer they wait until you ask them for those features before installing on your machine?
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Sure, we’re hard on the BlackBerry here at TiPb, what with its aging operating system (it still has legs, sure, but one suspects they’re coming up on the limits of the OS’s capabilities), its tic-tac keyboard (although, honestly, I still prefer physical keyboard myself), and its sad little browser. One thing we haven’t touched on yet, though, is how RIM (like every other Smartphone company out there) has utterly missed the boat when it comes to 3rd party application developers. You probably know where this is going, but Apple’s App Store may just be the biggest deal of all the big deals that have come out in the past two weeks. Lest you think we’re totally biased, let us point you to this excellent essay by a (former?) BlackBerry developer: “Galileo and Apples.”
What Apple has done is for the first time ever successfully given a finger to carriers and torn down walls. And the net result? Users are loving it. And so are developers. Who would’ve thought…Oh yeah, that’s right we all did! It was patently obvious to every single mobile developer that if everybody just got out of our way and let us do our thing we’d be able to drive activations (device handset sales), device stickiness, and all around there would be rejoicing and everyone would profit. But nobody would listen.
They’re listening now though.
The App Store isn’t doing to grab developers just because the iPhone is going to become the #1 smartphone on the face of the planet and destroy all others in enterprise and the consumer space alike — because let’s face it, it won’t. No, what the App Store does it offer developers gobs of money simply because it’s the first way to purchase and download smartphone apps that doesn’t stink. As Neil Sainsbury writes, most folks with even a passing familiarity with the smartphone world have long thought that the faustian pact between carriers and smartphone makers has stifled innovation, progress, and profit. Apple’s App Store has proven us right.
The Seidio Slim Rubberized Hard Case for iPhone is available here at the Phone different Store for $29.95. With so many choices to protect and stylize your iPhone, how does this case measure up? Read on for the full review!
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Depending on your carrier, their terms of service (TOS), and your willingness to break said terms and face possible consequences including death-by-over-billing, you can now tether you newly pwned/jailbroken iPhone 3G to your laptop to share the mobile 3G internet connection anywhere and everywhere you go (your coverage area, of course, may vary).
The process is a little involved, according to Macrumors (via Cre.ations.net):
Jailbreak your iPhone 3G. Install 3Proxy and Terminal. Create an ad-hoc Wi-fi network using your laptop. Join the network with your iPhone. Find the iPhone’s IP address
Open Terminal and run the proxy program. Open Safari on your iPhone and open a web page. Configure your browser to use the proxy.
Not a 133t level hax0r? Don’t worry. AT&T (and other carriers) might just offer this option, complete with inevitable bandwidth cap, ‘natch, sometime in the next millennium…
We told you that today’s earnings would be thin on iPhone details and that is definitely the case. Apple’s just posted their 3rd quarter results and the results are: dizzang!
Dig the full results (minus the legal speak) after the break. Here’s the short version: a record number of Macs were sold, just shy of 2.5 million, which works out to about 41% growth year over year, 43% revenue growth. That’s ALottaMacs, friends, and it helped Apple hit a quarterly profit of over a billion dollars on $7.46 billion in revenue — both significant increases over the same quarter last year. Margins were down a hair, but whatev — Apple’s selling Macs, dig?
We can’t wait to see what the financial results are for iPhone sales (they’ll come next quarter), but we have a sneaking suspicion that numbers like these mean that the just-dandy sales for iPhones 2 quarters ago have translated into quite a few people getting interested in replacing a PC with a Mac. As Mac-users ourselves, we welcome you folks to the fold. Are you a recent switcher? Was it the Halo effect? Is your new iPhone 3G spotting a shiny halo that has you thinking Mac for your next purchase?
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My iPhone 3G, 16gb in the white flavor, has hardware issues. As I reported in our forums, it started with the volume-down button not working, and then the issue seemed to spread to volume up, the ringer switch, and the sleep button. A full restore from iTunes didn’t save it — confirmed hardware. Having no Apple Store nearby, I decided to give Apple’s phone support a try. Twenty minutes on hold and a few questions later, they sent me a box. The procedure is very simple, read on for the mini-gallery and return process details.
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In the continuing saga of the launch that’s more and more like a sputter (though hopefully not a full crash and burn, right Apple?), MobileMe is reporting:
1% of MobileMe members cannot access MobileMe Mail. We apologize for any inconvenience.
TUAW is saying that the problem might be (or getting ready to become), larger?
Personally, I’m having NO PROBLEMS whatsoever. Email, fine. Push, fine. Web access, fine.
How about you?
Is the faulty launch making everyone hyperaware and quick to find (and post) problems? Or is MobileMe really cursed by scaling bugs?
Between the time you click a link and a web page finishes loading on your iPhone, there are many factors that ultimately decide just how fast that process will be, including connection speed (2.5 G EDGE/3G HSDPA/WiFi) CPU speed, and rendering engine. Like desktop Safari, Mobile Safari uses Apple’s open source WebKit rendering engine, and it seems like for 2.0, WebKit has gotten its turbo on, especially in handling Javascript. Says Daring Fireball:
For all the hubbub regarding the new App Store, most “iPhone software” runs in the web browser. But improvements in WebKit performance often help native iPhone app performance, too — a slew of my favorite native iPhone apps have built-in WebKit browsers (e.g., NetNewsWire, Twitterrific, Instapaper, and Cocktails). When WebKit performance improves, any app that uses WebKit improves, and WebKit improved a lot between iPhone 1.1.4 and 2.0.0
The original iPhone on 1.0 was already fast compared to some 3G phones because of the speed of its CPU and the optimization of its WebKit engine. Now it’s getting silly fast. And I don’t think we’ve even gotten the extra nitro from the new Safari 4 and SquirelFish tech yet either?
Check out Daring Fireball for the graphs and stats…
Masseym drops our latest Lightning Review, for MLB At Bat ($4.99 at iTunes), which we publish today even though masseym clearly was trying to play this Minnesota boy’s heart by using a Twins game in his screenshot. We’re publishing Lightning reviews of iPhone apps nearly every day, write your review in our forums and you’ll get a chance to win a 25% off coupon to our iPhone accessories Store. Click here for full details!
As an avid baseball fan (ok, just the Mets) living in Texas, I was excited when MLB announced their app. I could see the strike/ball/out counts live and then watch highlight clips from anywhere in the world! What an exciting application.
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