PhoneView by Ecamm [$19.95 - Web link] is a Mac app that lets you get to iTunes media, photos, notes, contacts, SMS and call history data stored on your iPhone (or iPod touch), and also send files and folders back for storage on your device. What’s in the latest update?
Along with iPhone OS 3.0 compatibility, version 2.2 also adds faster note editing and fast access to the iPhone’s open browser windows, bookmarks and browser history.
Since Apple doesn’t provide any way to get some of that data off the iPhone, Mac users who want to keep call logs, SMS histories, etc. documented for posterity might find this of particular interest.
If you try it out, let us know how it works for you!
During the WWDC 2009 Keynote, Apple announced that over 40,000,000 iPhones and iPods touches had been sold to date. We know what that looks like in the smartphone market space, but now Gizmodo has done some research and shown us what that might just look like in the gaming platform space as well. (See graph above).
Might explain why we see so many games already, and as Gizmodo points out:
Combine this with the fact that the faster graphics support in the iPhone 3GS is going to make it a pretty damn good gaming device, you’ve got a juicy target for game developers to hit.
No sooner did we ask (twice) whether the iPhone 3G S will speed up the splitting of the iPhone OS platform than Mobility Today finds the little pop-up alert, above, just chock-a-block full of confirmation.
Not the most elegant or user friendly of solutions, so perhaps this ultimately lies more with how developers handle different hardware options than the existence of the options themselves?
Could a video/camera button not disappear for a current iPod touch, default to launching only the camera for iPhone 2G and iPhone 3G, or launch the camera with a video switch (like Apple’s built in Camera app will have) for iPhone 3G S?
Apple.com has posted up the winners of the WWDC 2009 Apple Design Awards (APA), and specifically for our interests, the iPhone winners. Like last year, a lot of our favorites got the nod. Here they are, with iTunes links where available:
Ngmoco takes classic gaming concepts and genres, re-interprets them for the iPhone, and then makes them look better than anyone can believe an iPhone game can look. Star Defense, a galaxy-spanning take on tower defense, is no exception.
Shown off yesterday during the WWDC 2009 keynote, not only does Star Defense let you travel from planet to planet, touch, spin, and zoom your way around, deploy your firepower, and try to keep ahead of the deadly hoards of S’rath out to harshen your tower’s mellow, but it lets you challenge your friends over Facebook or Twitter for extra fun.
Star Defense is available now [$5.99 - iTunes link]
When iPhone 3.0 launches on June 17, Star Defense will use in-app purchases for expansion packs. For $2.99, for example, you can buy another galaxy of planets. A Plus Network will also allow for network play, leader-boards, and other online gaming features.
I had a chance to try the pre-release version out during the media tournament, and even though I didn’t fare to well in the rankings, I had skads of fun.
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?
The iPhone Blog merged with the Phone different site in May of 2008. Both sites were founded on a premise that comes one from one of Apple's old slogans: Think different. The iPhone Blog: for people who dare to phone different.
