Usually I use my iPod Nano for my music needs, but it’s sure nice to have music on my iPhone also. The new headphones provided with the iPhone 3G has a built-in mic and a “clicker” button to give you some modest control over your music without having to access the touchscreen on your iPhone. How does all this clicking work? Read on!
October 2008: Monthly Archive
[The Lightning Reviews are over, but from their ashes rise... the Forum Reviews! TiPb has assembled a crack team of App-aficionados, and every week we'll be bringing you a few of their very best reviews right here on the blog. And be sure to check out TiPb's iPhone App Store Forum for even more!]
Living Social Forum Review by msbaylor
Living Social is a very interesting app.
The LivingSocial app allows you to keep track of movies you’ve watched, want to see, didn’t like, etc. and the ratings you give them. It also does this with books, restaurants, beer, video games, & music. It will also give you recommendations in each category (provided you have entered a few entries). I personally like this because I can keep track of videos I’ve liked, what I want to see, books I want to read, places I want to eat at, etc. It is also somewhat of an inventory application because you can mark each entry as owned, want it, etc.
The BlueTrek Mini Bluetooth Headset is available in two flavors, “Chrome” and “Gun Metal”, and can be purchased at the TiPb Store for $59.95 here. There are a ton of different bluetooth headsets to choose from for your iPhone, so when you have such a wealth of choices and different prices, how does the BlueTrek Mini compare? I’ve been using the “Gun Metal” headset and let me tell you what I think after the break.
iPhone OS 2.2, Turn-by-Turn GPS Navigation, Google hearts the iPhone, and more. Listen in!
Apple Insider is reporting (via CNet) that Apple has hired away Mark Papermaster, IBM’s VP of Microprocessor Technology Development.
When Apple bought Palo Alto Semiconductor (PA Semi), and reportedly signed licensing agreements with ARM and PowerVR, we kinda sorta suspected Steve Jobs was getting serious about spinning his own custom systems-on-a-chip for the iPhone and the greater iPod platform.
Hey, if they can switch from Intel integrated to Nvidia chipsets to support their Core 2 Duos on the Macbook line, they can certainly role their own mobile brains, right?
IBM is suing on the grounds of a no-compete clause, which has historically been worthless in California (which is likely why IBM is suing in New York!)
TiPb, of course, doesn’t really care about no frivolous lawsuit. We just want to see what kind of “screaming” fast new iPhones we can has next year!
Happy Halloween, especially to our younger readers who’ll likely all be dressed up as iPhones or mini-Steve Jobs’.
Ready to get your trick or treat on? Several readers (and vendors!) were kind enough to share in their Halloween iPhone suggestions:
- Courtenay wants us to take a look at BatRest, a Halloween’y iPhone stand.
- Ken says iHalloween - Sound Collection will make for a creepier time.
- Damien offers up Halloween Boxto spook up your iphone.
- Tammy Chan thinks Sonic Vox will make you sound like a nightmare.
- And Serena drops the whole bag of candy, recommending YPMobile, Flashlight, Weatherbug, Photobucket, and Halloween Sound Machine
To no one’s surprise, but perhaps to a few’s disppointment, Apple may have denied entry to the iTunes App Store to Opera Mini. Says the New York Times (via Daring Fireball):
Mr. von Tetzchner said that Opera’s engineers have developed a version of Opera Mini that can run on an Apple iPhone, but Apple won’t let the company release it because it competes with Apple’s own Safari browser.
Opera doesn’t state what the terms of rejection were, be it “duplicative functionality” like PodCaster, they dared touch Steve Jobs’ sacred dock, or whether they were trying to parse JavaScript against the terms of the SDK. Whatever the reason, however, there remains uncertainty for developers and a deafening lack of justification from Apple. (Perhaps even more ironic, given Valley Wag’s assertion that Opera was once considered by Apple to be the iPhone browser!)
For those not familiar with Opera Mini, on the Windows Mobile, Palm, and even Blackberry platforms that have been woefully under-served by the likes of Blazer and Pocket IE, Opera Mini has become one of the first things installed in a desperate attempt to get at least something closer to the actual internet on their devices (though this is changing with the likes of Android, and devices such as the Blackberry Thunder). Opera has also found a niche in embedded systems (e.g. video game platforms).
However, Opera Mini pre-crunching all data on their own servers before shipping it to handsets sets off a “Gibsonian response” in my central security core, so while it wouldn’t appeal to me on the iPhone, I would prefer to reject it myself rather than have Apple do so perfunctorily on my behalf.
What about you? Anyone seriously bummed there won’t be Opera for the iPhone any time soon?
Are you wishing you had iDisk on your iPhone? Bummed you don’t? Looking for an alternative? Then look no further! Arstechnica informs us thatBox.net has just released an app for the iPhone! For those of you that don’t know, Box.net is a free service that gives you online access to 1GB of storage. Now, you can access this information directly from your iPhone!
After logging in you have access to your folders and documents; if the iPhone can render it, you can view it! You can even share folders with the handy “Share” button. You can also upload photos as well, but regretfully, only one at a time.
One neat feature is that if you share a file, you will be notified of an update via the updates section located in the bottom left of the app!
This is a 1.0 release, and we are looking forward to what new features Box.net might bring us! I took some pictures from my iPhone below, enjoy!
For most of us today, email is a major part of our lives. Whether it be for business or personal reasons, one thing we all look for in an email service, especially if we are paying for it, is reliability. So what if you’re not having the best of luck with Apple’s MobileMe service or any other IMAP alternatives? Maybe it’s time to consider a hosted Exchange account. Not familiar with Exchange? Then be sure to check out Rene’s excellent article from a while back, Walkthrough: Exchange ActiveSync On Your iPhone 2.0. That article can give you a great understanding of exactly how Exchange works on the iPhone.
Don’t have a corporate solution or your very own Exchange server, though? No problem! I’m going to be giving you some very reliable hosted Exchange services as well as some tips on getting it up and running for the flawless email you have been seeking!
More after the jump! Read the rest of this entry »
One of our favorite apps on the Mac — and the iPhone — is on sale for today only:
First, we have partnered with macZOT! to bring you a special deal! This Thursday, Oct 30th, for one day only, 1Password will be available for an incredible 50% off its regular price: 1Password Halloween Special!
The 1Password iPhone App is, of course, free, but the Mac app is usually $39 bucks, so this is almost a full $20 off. Of course, some people will complain it’s not “free” as well, but then these same people typically don’t work for free either, as trying to feed a family doesn’t work for “free”. Support great software and great developers will be here to support us with even more great apps.
Typically among the very first apps I install when I’m setting up a system, flawless password management and syncing make this not only a “just works” but a “must have”. (Plus, their UI and general graphic design work is awesome, and that hooks me every time!)
Get it before the stroke of midnight!
