It was a longtimecoming, but as part of yesterday’s WWDC Keynote, TomTom co-founder Peter-Frans Pauwels demonstrated their company’s solution to turn-by-turn GSP navigation for iPhone 3.0, and interestingly, it comes in two parts:
The TomTom navigation application for iPhone; an Apple version of TomTom’s award-winning turn-by-turn navigation software, including IQ Routes and latest maps from Tele Atlas;
The TomTom car kit for iPhone; a specially developed car kit for secure docking, enhanced GPS performance, clear voice instructions, hands-free calling and in-car charging.
No word on pricing or availability yet, though it will be at some point later this summer, after the iPhone 3.0 release on June 17.
Was it worth the wait, and what kind of pricing are you anticipating (or hoping for)?
Short story: GP Apps made iVidCam, a video recording app. Apple rejected it for using undocumented APIs. The developers appealed on the grounds that other camera-related apps also use undocumented APIs and demanded Apple allow it in, and let them sell it for 2 months before Apple released their own video recording functionality, as anticipated for WWDC 2009. Apple thanked them for pointing out other API violators, said they would investigate, and let the rejection stand.
Long story, including personal response from Apple VP of marketing, Phil Schiller: See GPApps.com.
It’s hard not to sympathize with GP Apps given the amount of hard work and obvious passion they’ve put into iVidCam. They’ve made 680(!) other apps already and had them approved in the App Store.
But here’s the thing: the app is in clear violation of App Store policy. If Apple keeps the other violating apps in the store, GP Apps could clearly argue fairness, but if Apple investigates and removes the other apps, that’s a done deal. Basing significant development resources on the shaky foundation of others getting away with something is harder to sympathize with. It’s more of a gamble than an investment.
In other words, if several people jaywalk in front of us, and we get caught, we’re still getting the ticket. And demanding that the cop not give us the ticket, and give us two months of unmolested jaywalking privileges on top of it… Well, we admire the hutzpah, but when the cop’s name is Apple, we don’t see it getting us too far.
Still, we wish GP Apps good luck. If those APIs are made public (as happened with the undocumented API’s Google was using), and Apple restricts their built-in video functionality to third generation hardware, we expect it will iVidCam may still appeal to a lot of iPhone 2G and iPhone 3G owners.
Big entertainment company Warner Bros. has recently released a couple apps, one of which is Stuck Genie. This is a cute little puzzle game where you must collect all the balls on the board by sticking them to each other. The concept is very simple but not necessarily always easy to complete.
If there is one truth in the inter-verse, it’s this: Give Google time, and their WebApps will blow. your. mind. Some are brilliant, like Google Maps or Gmail. Some are tragic, like contacts, but all of them push the browserspace further and faster each and every time.
Their latest is Google Wave, revealed at I/O last week and built by the same brothers that kicked off the AJAX explosion with Google Maps. It asks the simple yet profound question: what if internet communication hadn’t been architected 40 years ago with email, but was imagined today?
Highly configurable, fabulously interactive, and — of course — entirely web-server centric, Google Wave lets users connect and work with other users via any browser and many devices. And you know the iPhone was front and center (alongside Android).
YouTube seems to be suffering lately (I blame Dieter’s Palm Pre videos for clogging the hubs!), and at an hour and twenty minutes long, the video above is time consuming to say the least, but if you watch even the beginning of it, win, lose, or draw, the glimpse it gives into the future of WebApps and especially mobile WebApps is fascinating.
Yeah, BeeJive is totally teasing us now. Instant messaging (IM) is one of the most anticipated services when it comes to iPhone 3.0’s Push Notification service, and BeeJive aims to deliver and soon.
Best of all — (see screenshot, above) — they aim to deliver it free to all current customers. Maybe as soon as WWDC next week?
Well, Hassan from Inside Redbox Mobile reminded us that, with iTunes 8.2 going into general availability — and into the hands of consumers — developers now have access to the full range of crash logs from their full base of installed customers. Bug. Fixing. Goldmine. (See the Inside Redbox Mobile crash log report, above.)
From the consumer standpoint, the information looks to be as anonymized as anything else sent from iTunes to Apple — Genius info, for example — and in exchange for sharing, users will likely get more stable apps.
With all the talk recently about Peggle, I was surprised that it hasn’t been reviewed (although it did get a “quick app” and a pick of the week) so I thought I would download and give it a try. And, well, Peggle has managed to crack my “regular game rotation” that currently consists of only a few other games.
In what might be the first and most widely accessible bit of WWDC schwag, Lonely Planet has made their San Francisco City Guide free for a limited time. [Usually $15.99 - iTunes link]
Whether you’re going to San Fran for WWDC, for any reason at any time at all, or just want you some free Golden Gated goodness for your iPhone, go grab it while it lasts!
We’ll avoid the obvious question (why live in a SIM world when you can live in the real one), and the metaphysical (maybe you’re just a SIM in someone else’s iPhone already…?) because, frankly, no one cares! The Sims 3 is — finally! — out for the iPhone and iPod touch:
Play with your Sim using touch and accelerometer controls while exploring stunning 3D open-world environments. Customize your Sim with personality traits and physical characteristics, as you decide whether to fulfill their destiny…or not. Do good or mischief. Fall in love or watch them get dumped. Pick a fight or make a friend. Good or bad, enjoy the ride with The Sims as they experience everything “real” life has to offer. ANYTHING’S POSSIBLE!
If you try it out, and manage to remember the rest of us still exist, let us know how you like the Sims 3 for the iPhone, okay?
Confession: Jeremy can’t believe we’re posting this, but after a bunch of forum questions, email queries, and a mini Twitter ’splosion, we figured we’d put this up as a public service message to the Jailbreak community.
First: don’t panic.
Second: those strange little black icon badges that have suddenly popped up on your Phone, Email, iPod, and perhaps other apps? Yeah, that’s because you installed Backgrounder, and that’s how Backgrounder shows you which applications, built-in or user-enabled, are currently running background tasks (multitasking).
