Is it possible that web apps can return from the dead? It seems to me that the 2.0 firmware pretty much buried the poor web apps six feet under. Even if they are not used nearly as often since we have 3rd party apps along with the App store, it seems as if Apple are quietly tweaking the iPhone for them.

According to a reader over at AppleInsider.com:

One unpublicized feature introduced by Apple’s latest iPhone software updates is the ability save Web Apps to the home screen and have them launch in full-screen mode without the Safari wrapper, essentially mimicking the experience of a native app.

The reader also notes that the capability is “only present in Web applications specifically authored to include the full-screen code”. Pretty clever trick Apple. But is this enough for you to start using web apps again? Or have you never given up on them even though we have the App Store?

We here at TiPb are curious what you think, sound off in the comments!

[Via AppleInsider]

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Return of the Web Apps?

The news used to be more simple. You had your choice of three major television networks, newspaper, magazines, or radio. Twenty-four-hour cable news was yet to come and the Internet was not even a glimmer in Al Gore’s eye. If the constant bombardment of information via satellite broadcast wasn’t enough to overwhelm the mere mortal, along came the Internet with the rise of blogging (ahem) and countless web sites feeding information. Something had to be done to make information easier to digest for the busy person on the go, and Spreed:News uses an innovative way to deliver it. Read on for the review!

What is Spreed:News?

Spreed:News

There are a variety of pre-set news sources to choose from, like CNN Top Stories, Blog Maverick, ESPN – Headlines, and People.com, to name several. The ability to customize the types of news and articles you are interested in is also a feature of Spreed:News.

Using Spreed:News

Also on the main page of the site is a “Customize” button. Tapping on it permits you to choose from several different categories so that each time you visit Spreed:News, you can select from sites and read news and articles that match your interests.

As I see it, there are three main benefits of using Spreed:News, and they are somewhat interrelated. First, it increases your ability to read faster. Second, it presents the information in such a way that, as you learn to read faster, you can digest larger amounts of information in shorter periods of time. Finally, it makes it much easier to read on a mobile device, like the iPhone. Although the iPhone sports a best-in-class Internet browser for rendering full web pages, it goes without saying that ALL mobile devices leave much to be desired for reading large amounts of information due to the small screen real-estate. Even the iPhone, with it’s expansive screen, benefits greatly from this eye-friendly presentation of information.

Once you have customized your interests and selected a news source, just tap on the stories that interest you, set your desired WPM, and start reading the word groupings as they flash in front of your eyes – it’s that easy. Or is it?

What’s It REALLY Like?

A Spreed:News user and fan, Michael, has put together a helpful video here, so I recommend you take a look so you can get a feel for how it works. Thanks, Michael!

The exciting thing about Spreed:News, aside from the obvious way in which it speeds up your ability to digest news and information, is the fact that the company is very responsive to user feedback and improvements are implemented all the time. Also, once you finish reading an article, you are presented with a screen with several options. Users can rate articles so you can see what is recommended reading and what isn’t, post the article on Twitter, send it to a friend, post it on Facebook, and leave feedback. Spreed:News is not only a great way to read information, but it’s also a great way to share the information with others in a variety of ways.

Final Impressions

It is challenging at first to get used to the innovative method of reading word groupings at a high rate of speed on your iPhone, but if you hang in there for a little bit, you will be rewarded with increased reading speed, surprising comprehension, and time savings in dealing with your daily information overload. I highly recommend you give it a try – at the low price of FREE, what are you waiting for?

RATING:

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Web App Review: SpreedNews

Even though the folks at Apple are toting the iPhone 3G as being business-friendly by offering some extra functionality and Exchange support via the iPhone 2.0 upgrade, the iPhone has always been a worthy platform for the business and finance-minded user (in my humble opinion).   Case in point,  the list of twenty-five (yes, 25!) different financial apps for the iPhone at currencytrading.net. I’ll cover briefly just a few of these apps in today’s Tip and you can explore the rest to your heart’s content.

iCalc Mortgage Calculator is great for finding out what your mortgage payment will be when buying a new home, or you can use it to figure out what your payment WILL be once your interest-only payments expire (ouch!).

Another useful app is Currency Exchange. Given the free-fall of the dollar, it’s not a bad idea to have a way to see how it stacks up against other world currencies.

iTIPZ Tip Calculator is exactly like it sounds – let this app compute your tip, split it as many ways as you have payers, and even let it round off the number for you.  Sweet!

Compound Interest Calculator helps you compute how much moolah ($$$) you can save over a period of time.  Remember when you were young (cough) and someone much older and wiser told you that if you saved $5 a week for 30 years you would have a gazillion dollars due to the magic of compound interest?  Yeah, well, I didn’t save the $5/week either, but at least if you start now, you can use this app to set your goals.

These are just four of the twenty-five apps at currencytrading.net.  Just head on over there at the speed of a click to see the rest.  If you have finances on the brain, there’s bound to be an app there that will be useful.

That’s it for this week’s Tip.  If you have a tip of your own that you would like to share with the rest of us, please leave a Comment or you can email me at: brian.hart@tipb.com.

Disclaimer:  Tip o’ the Week makes no guarantee, express or implied, that any tip found herein will be new or particularly useful to the reader (ok, ok.  I may have exaggerated the “gazillion” you can save via compound interest if you sock away $5/week.  It’s more like a bazillion).

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Tip o’ the Week: iPhone Financial Apps

In an article over at Brighthand, Antoine Wright raised an interesting and thought-provoking point, that Apple should have ignored developer’s wishes and maintain their web app platform. He believes that Safari, one of the most capable mobile browsers available, could have paved the way for an even better web experience by offering very polished web apps. He lists examples such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and banking sites as those who have created great web apps.

Apple, with its own browser, Safari, and a fresh mobile platform, had the opportunity to really change the game when it came to making web applications. These could have become a standard type of software platform model for mobile devices. The company chose instead to listen to developers.

Though we at TiPb would have loved to see Apple make some headway in Web Apps and do see a future in it, we just don’t think straying away from Native Apps would have been the answer. Native Apps provide a distinct advantage, they work without an internet connection and offer a more immersive experience. Native Apps aren’t trapped to the confines of Safari and theoretically, offer limitless potential. TiPb’s vote goes to Native Apps FTW.

What do you guys think? Web Apps all the way? Or did Apple make the smart decision in admitting an error and allowing 3rd party native apps?

Read

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Did Apple Make a Mistake With 3rd Party Apps?

Before we hit the sure-to-be-craziness of WWDC, TiPb has some definite house cleaning to do. Meaning lucky for you readers, more roundups! With Rene handling every roundup possible for the iPhone 3G and beyond I thought it’d be a great time to focus on the device we’ve all been unconsciously neglecting: the iPhone!

Every few weeks, I’ll present you with a quick list of web apps, native apps, and games that should tie up any loose ends that we might have missed. Click on each link to learn more about the program and be sure to mention your experience in the comments or forums. Before we start, with the iPhone 3G just mere days away, make sure you participate in TiPb’s Wait-A-Thon-Tastic and give yourself a chance to win a FREE iPhone 3G!

Read on for the Rest of the Software Roundup!

Web Apps

HyperOffice promises to make your iPhone a mobile business collaboration and productivity tool. With HyperOffice, you can share your data with associates and clients. Also, you can access your data in Outlook and even remain in sync. HyperOffice is an award winning software that makes things easier for iPhone business users.

iZoho

Zoho is a web office suite that includes tools for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, databases, note-taking, wikis, etc. With the launch of 2.0, Zoho has completely revamped their web app, iZoho, for the iPhone. The new design introduces tabbed interface for easy navigation between Zoho Apps. I gave iZoho a twirl and couldn’t manage to edit my documents as promised, viewing was a cinch though. However, the interface is slick and I remain hopeful that the customizability of Zoho can translate to the iPhone.

Mobispine

Mobispine is a free mobile news reader that offers easy categorization and over 250,000 global sources to comb through. It’s a great way to streamline your daily blog visits and quicken the pace for how you read websites. The best thing is it’s easily customizable!

Widgetop

This web app allows you to run single Dashboard widgets from the Widgetop catalog without loading Mobile Widgetop Desktop. Essentially, it puts the widgets on the homescreen of the iPhone which allows for easier access to the widgets.

Games

A FPS that uses the accelerometer and multi-touch for controls is planned to be released very soon. There is a video of gameplay footage and graphic-wise it is pretty amazing. This is probably a first glimpse of many, many FPS to come to the iPhone.

Tribal

For jailbroken iPhones this game has a basic premise but is executed beautifully. The graphics and animation are definitely exciting but the gameplay leaves a lot more to be desired. The whole idea behind the game is to “shoot the targets that pop up on the screen”. As simple as it is, it’s a great time killer when waiting for the next appointment.

temper4iPhone

An old favorite for the oldies. Temper4iPhone is an emulator of TurboGrafx-16 also known as PC Engine for the iPhone. Which basically means, you can play Bonk on the iPhone. Emulators are a sweet way to gain access to incredibly vast game libraries rich with history.

Native Apps

This Native App for jailbroken iPhones allows you to post new web logs to your LiveJournal account. With a simple interface, it serves as an extension of your LiveJournal page and could be extremely useful for anybody who wishes to blog-on-the-go. Since it’s in the beginning stages of development there is still much more work that can be done.

RetroPhone

Ever wanted a rotary dialer for your iPhone? It’s trendy these days to use our advanced technology to recreate ancient technology, isn’t it? It’ll be available through the AppStore. Can’t wait for a developer to create a telegram machine for the iPhone..

And that’s it for this roundup! Hope you guys listened to Dieter on how to prep for WWDC. And be sure to be a part of TiPb’s Live Color Commentary Blog!

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Roundup: Apps Aplenty, Games Galore, & Loose Ends