2009: Yearly Archive

Apple quietly introduced a new Apple Remote [$19.00 - Apple Online Store link] along with the updated iMac, Mac Mini, Magic Mouse, and Apple TV 3.0 last month. Not to be confused with the Apple-produced Remote app [Free - iTunes link], which allows an iPhone or iPod touch to control an Apple TV or iTunes, the Apple Remote is a hardware accessory that not only controls the aforementioned Apple TV or iTunes (and Front Row!) all on its own, but can also control an iPhone or iPod touch when they’re placed in the — sold-separately — Apple Universal Dock [$49.00 - Apple Online Store link]

So, how new is it, why would an iPhone or iPod touch need a hardware remote anyway, and most importantly, how does it perform? Read on after the break!

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By now most of you have seen the infamous Verizon “map for that” attack ads against AT&T. It was only a matter of time before we heard Verizon’s response to the lawsuit [Full document PDF link] that AT&T recently slapped them with and respond they did. Verizon’s lawyers put their heads together to come up with the following opening line:

AT&T did not file this lawsuit because Verizon’s “There’s A Map For That” advertisements are untrue; AT&T sued because Verizon’s ads are true and the truth hurts.

Ouch, if you continue reading the lengthy document you will find that Verizon does not intend to remove the ads from the air unless it is forced to. They also claim AT&T agrees the map coverage is indeed accurate and before anything progresses both parties need to do some more of their own investigating into the matter.

All of this really isn’t necessary, both parties should agree to carry along and spend their time doing something more productive – improving both of their respective networks.

[Via Engadget Mobile]

Saw these last night while watching the show that used to be House MD, new Apple iPhone “App for That” commercials focusing on Gift and Song. Of course, the tag line has been bumped from 75,000 to 100,000, and they continue with “apps for just about anything”, which is likely legal cover in case “app for that” confused someone into suing over that still-missing Apple Glass Trackpad app…

• Gift features Target [Free - iTunes link], ColorChange [$2.99 - iTunes link], The Snow Report [Free - iTunes link], Monopoly Here and Now [$4.99 - iTunes link], Hotel Pal [Free - iTunes link], and Zipcar [Free - iTunes link]
• Song features Jaimie Oliver’s 20 Minute Meals [$7.99 - iTunes link], Credit Card Terminal [$0.99 - iTunes link], Facebook [Free - iTunes link], The Sims 3 [$6.99 - iTunes link], Redfin Real Estate [Free - iTunes link], Shazam [Free - iTunes link]

Again, Apple is sticking to apps to sell iPhones, and showing off some great variety, and killer good looks while doing so. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it, or time for Apple advertising to switch it up?

Is the Android Marketplace a more open alternative for developers compared to the iPhone App Store, or does the growing diversity of hardware, software, and overlays make it just as frustrating in its own way? Okay, so Fake Steve is likely to be more pro-Apple than a Fake Eric would be, fair enough. And, yes, some high-profile developers have taken issue with Apple’s draconian incompetent App Store approval process, well taken. But as much as Fake Steve is funny, the real Dan Lyons (of Newsweek) behind him is an equal opportunity offender, happy to take the p*ss out of Apple at any opportunity, often anti-Linux, and just as often insightful when it comes to things like Old Media and, yes, competing platforms. So take this with a giant-sized fake grain of salt, but take it:

There are just a bunch of different devices that have a lot in common with each other but aren’t quite the same. Trying to turn that into a “platform” is like trying to build a porch using three hundred pieces of wood, none of which are the same size. From the [Gadget Labs] story:

A slew of problems have made managing Android apps a “nightmare,” they say, including three versions of the OS (Android 1.5, 1.6 and 2.0), custom firmware on many phones, and hardware differences between different models.

Dear friends, this is only going to get worse, not better. Think about it. Every handset maker wants its device to be different. And special. So they intentionally tweak the OS to give themselves what they think of as an “advantage,” when really it’s nothing of the sort, because all it does is prevent ISVs from writing apps for them. Even if the handset makers weren’t totally short-sighted and evil, there’s the competency issue.

No doubt Apple’s App Store can make developers tear their flesh off in frustration, and GPS/CPU/GPU/Camera/etc. issues fragment the iPhone/iPod platform as well, but at the end of the day, does 50+ million “compatible enough” iDevices that are gate-keeper’ed still offer developers a better experience than a wide range of quasi-competitive, free’er devices?

(Yes, Google is closed as well, just not as closed…)

To quoth our good friend Phil from WMExperts (and by that we mean shameless copy): It is time, ladies and gentlemen, for the sixth annual SPB Survey. SPB Software House is looking to get a better look at your needs in the mobile applications, and they’re doing so worldwide, with the survey going out in 10 languages.

And your time may be rewarded. Three winners, picked at random, will receive the following:

• First place: A free smartphone of your choice from a major Internet retailer (such as Amazon or Expansys), valued up to $1,000.
• Second place: $100 worth of accessories from Smartphone Experts (that’s us), plus $100 worth of SPB Software.
• Third place: $100 worth of SPB software.

So, really, you have no excuse for not taking the survey, which runs through 7 p.m. GMT Dec. 4, 2009. Take the survey now!

The force is strong with Star Wars: Trench Run [$4.99 - iTunes link] for iPhone and iPod touch, as it’s just hit the iTunes App Store.

Features include Force Powers, 3D trench flying, X-Wing style, easter eggs (you tease!), and did we say 3D Death Star trench flying?

If this is the iPhone Star Wars game you’ve been looking for, go get it and tell us what you think!

For those of us looking for that pinnacle action RPG for the iPhone, Ravensword: The Fallen King [$6.99 - iTunes]has been released. This game looks absolutely fantastic! I have only played this game for a few minutes (enough to leave the inn and wander the town. I will have a more thorough update later) but the controls are great and there are lots of options to tweak the performance based on your hardware.

The character and environment detail is some of the best I have seen on the iPhone. The game is similar to other games such as Oblivion in this genre. There are NPCs to interact with and several weapons and items to use. There has not been a game quite like this so far on the iPhone, so it will be exciting to see its reception in the App Store. I for one, know what I will be playing this weekend!

Sure, okay, since Palm has been faking iPod status to provide iTunes sync for a while now, and Apple has been updating iTunes to stop them every chance they get, when a new version of Palm’s webOS comes out and it DOES NOT re-enable that sync, it’s news. Right?

So, to be clear, neither the newly introduced Palm Pixi candybar or the just-updated Palm Pre can sync with iTunes 9.0.2 (though older versions of iTunes 9 might still work).

Meanwhile, PreCentral.net’s own Derek Kessler has a suffered through for a year. Of course, this gets the iPhone part of the blame:

But I’m afraid that Apple has also changed the mobile computing space for the worse on the features front. Apple made it acceptable to launch a phone without all the standard phone features intact.

Derek excuses Apple somewhat, the iPhone being their first foray into the smartphone space. He’s not as forgiving with Palm, who’ve had decades of Pilot and Treo experience.

Given Palm’s financial position and the limits of all human resources, I’ll ask on their behalf what I asked on the iPhone’s in 2007 – what feature that was implemented would you have had them not implement, so they could have implemented something else instead? Would you have waited 2 years for cut and paste so you could have a great music app at launch?

Give the full rant a read and let us know what you think!

Call of Duty is a huge franchise, and what better way to expand that franchise then to unleash it, World of War style, on the iPhone and iPod touch — and add Zombies. Call of Duty: World at War: Zombies [$9.99 - iTunes link] contains only one map right now, “Nacht der Untoten” (Night of the undead) but allows 4 player multiplay via WiFi and over the internet, or 2 over Bluetooth. There are three control schemes, achievements, leader-boards, and the promise of in-app purchases (map expansions?) later.

So, Call of Duty fans and Zombie fanatics, how’re you liking your first iPhone experience?

MacRumors has heard from multiple sources that Apple is planning to release a (presumably free) Concierge app for the iPhone and iPod touch that would:

…provide many of the same functions available through the company’s retail store online reservations system, allowing customers to schedule Genius Bar and One to One appointments from their mobile devices. Sources have also indicated that the application will allow users to keep tabs on their premium membership subscriptions offered by the company.

Since the current option is via the web (screen shot above), it sounds good to us. If wanted to schedule service or training for your iPhone, Mac, or other Apple gear, would you use it?