iPhone Update 3.0.1 Does Not Disable Tether Hack
July 31, 2009 by admin · Leave a Comment
We just tested Bluetooth tethering on our 3.0.1 updated iPhone and were still able to surf the Internet with no problem.
Now we’re safe from MMS attacks and AT&T’s inability to deliver features.
Going On Holiday – Heads Up
July 31, 2009 by admin · Leave a Comment
Hey
Its that time of the year where us Brits leave the flood plains of the British Isles and go some where hot to get burnt. Tonight i’m leaving for the airport so I thought I would give you guys a little heads up to wonder why I am not replying to anything. My holiday will last two weeks, so if you really need help i’m afraid you are going to have to look somewhere else.
I have set up a couple of posts for the next two weeks. It is not as many as I hoped, writing so many in advance really takes up a lot of time. There is a couple of Noob2Pro posts, an application review and a general post. I hope it keeps you entertained. Since I am away I wont be able to answer you questions. However if you do have any please leave them, I will eventually get round to answering them.
I’ve got a friend looking after the site, so everything should be running smoothly. I have no reason to believe anything will go wrong. I’ve got plenty of backups so we should be OK.
For those interested i’m off to Greece, i’m flying from Birmingham tomorrow morning so if any one is on the same flight it will be a small world.
Thanks
James
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NetNewsWire starts syncing with Google Reader, NewsGator Online perishes
July 31, 2009 by admin · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Software
I have fervently wished for a desktop client to work with Google Reader for as long as Reader has been around. NewsGator finally answered my plea, announcing that NetNewsWire and the rest of the NewsGator RSS Reader Suite would be syncing solely with Google Reader after August 31, 2009. This signals an immediate move away from NewsGator Online, and the demise of the RSS feed syncing service.
NetNewsWire was a favorite of mine well before it became free software, and I’m excited to start using it again. While I’ve had a lot of fun tweaking my Fluid/Google Reader SSB, I miss the solid companionship of a desktop newsreader. I had originally given them up when I wanted to sync my feed-reading with my iPhone, as I wasn’t thrilled with NetNewsWire on the iPhone at the time and Google Reader was the only choice left for syncing. Byline and Google’s own mobile page were both top-notch, but up until today there were zero Google Reader clients (barring AIR apps … I have my reasons) available on the Mac, so it was Fluid/Reader on the desktop. While I have the warmest of warm spots in my heart for Fluid, I’m ecstatic to have NetNewsWire back!
NetNewsWire is free, and a new beta with Google Reader sync is available for download. The updated NetNewsWire iPhone app is promised soon, but Byline will work for me right now. For current users of the NewsGator Online syncing service, detailed instructions for making the transition have been provided. You’ve got until August 31st to make the move and stay in sync. Lastly, if you haven’t already picked a favorite stylesheet, don’t miss Brockmann … just another reason I’ve missed NNW!
Thanks Stephen, Barkin and everyone who sent this in!
NetNewsWire starts syncing with Google Reader, NewsGator Online perishes originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 30 Jul 2009 18:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
NetNewsWire starts syncing with Google Reader, NewsGator Online perishes originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 30 Jul 2009 18:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Updating doesn’t help your iPhone app, but price drops do
July 31, 2009 by admin · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Gaming, Developer, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch
Here are two different insights from Pocket Gamer about how developers can grow the profile of their iPhone apps. The first comes to us from the wisdom of Peggle, that game that I just can’t stop playing. Apparently, they’ve coined the term “Peggling,” which means lowering the price of your app, and seeing a huge benefit from it. Whenever a game drops its price down to 99 cents, much as Peggle did soon after release, it sees a significant bump in the charts. I’m sure there are many other factors at play here — Peggle was a great game, so you can’t sell more of a crappy game just by selling it for cheaper, and I saw a lot of Twitter and blog attention when the price dropped, so it pays to have people watching the price in the first place. But under the right circumstances, dropping the price can do a lot for a game that’s already selling pretty well.
But an update, apparently, won’t. That’s what the makers of Zen Bound told Pocket Gamer — they say that when they released an update with new levels and new features, it didn’t make a difference in their sale numbers at all. Games like Pocket God have made a reputation for themselves by providing regular and solid updates, and certainly it seems like those updates have at least spurred sales, if not made them blow up, but the Zen Bound guys say that singular updates on major products probably won’t kick sales into gear.
Interesting. We’re at least a few generations into App Store sales at this point, and we’re started to see trends and consumer behavior in better relief; developers are getting better and better ideas every day about how to price and service their apps and customers.
Updating doesn’t help your iPhone app, but price drops do originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 30 Jul 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Updating doesn’t help your iPhone app, but price drops do originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 30 Jul 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Yeah, there’s an app for that. But for how long, and at what cost?
July 31, 2009 by admin · Leave a Comment
Filed under: iPod Family, Apple, iPhone, App Store
With the recent kerfuffle surrounding the removal and rejection of Google Voice apps from the App Store, many developers are beginning to question the trust they have placed in Apple to provide them with a reliable system for developing and distributing applications.
Generally, the major hurdle associated with iPhone development is getting approved by Apple. It’s no secret that this process is often quite frustrating, and sometimes downright arduous. Developers often wait several weeks without any response before they are suddenly rejected, and then they must make the requested changes (if possible), resubmit their application, and again wait for a response.
But once they have put your app through the paces, and presumably have double and triple checked to ensure that you have complied with the terms, you’re safe, right? Your hard work has paid off, Apple has accepted your app, and now you can move on.
Wrong.
As the developers of GV Mobile and VoiceCentral recently discovered, Apple can take an app that was previously given the all-clear, decide that it now duplicates native functionality of the iPhone, and yank it from the App Store in a matter of minutes. Needless to say, there are some serious flaws in this process. First, the functionality provided by both of these apps isn’t actually provided by the iPhone, so there’s really nothing to duplicate, unless Apple is going to start expecting developers to predict future features and avoid duplicating those too. Then you have the fact that the feature sets provided by the apps and the iPhone itself have not changed since Apple approved them in the first place, so if they truly are duplicating native functionality, they should have been rejected from the start, not months after they were approved.
Now one might also argue that some features offered by Google Voice do overlap with the iPhone, such as the SMS and voicemail functions, although contrary to popular belief, Google Voice is not a VoIP service and doesn’t really compete against AT&T. But even if you concede that point to Apple, couldn’t they just ask the developers to remove those features and resubmit? What about the other apps — like Skype, TextFree, or iCall — that offer similar feature sets, are they going to disappear too? And if AT&T is really responsible for this, as has been suggested previously, why was the app pulled from the App Stores of other countries? Why not just honestly tell the developer that the app is being pulled at the request of the carrier?
Continue reading Yeah, there’s an app for that. But for how long, and at what cost?
Yeah, there’s an app for that. But for how long, and at what cost? originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 30 Jul 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Yeah, there’s an app for that. But for how long, and at what cost? originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 30 Jul 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Updating doesn’t help your iPhone app, but price drops do
July 31, 2009 by admin · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Gaming, Developer, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch
Here are two different insights from Pocket Gamer about how developers can grow the profile of their iPhone apps. The first comes to us from the wisdom of Peggle, that game that I just can’t stop playing. Apparently, they’ve coined the term “Peggling,” which means lowering the price of your app, and seeing a huge benefit from it. Whenever a game drops its price down to 99 cents, much as Peggle did soon after release, it sees a significant bump in the charts. I’m sure there are many other factors at play here — Peggle was a great game, so you can’t sell more of a crappy game just by selling it for cheaper, and I saw a lot of Twitter and blog attention when the price dropped, so it pays to have people watching the price in the first place. But under the right circumstances, dropping the price can do a lot for a game that’s already selling pretty well.
But an update, apparently, won’t. That’s what the makers of Zen Bound told Pocket Gamer — they say that when they released an update with new levels and new features, it didn’t make a difference in their sale numbers at all. Games like Pocket God have made a reputation for themselves by providing regular and solid updates, and certainly it seems like those updates have at least spurred sales, if not made them blow up, but the Zen Bound guys say that singular updates on major products probably won’t kick sales into gear.
Interesting. We’re at least a few generations into App Store sales at this point, and we’re started to see trends and consumer behavior in better relief; developers are getting better and better ideas every day about how to price and service their apps and customers.
Updating doesn’t help your iPhone app, but price drops do originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 30 Jul 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Updating doesn’t help your iPhone app, but price drops do originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 30 Jul 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Uh Oh, Steve Ballmer Likes the MacBook Air’s Chances
July 31, 2009 by admin · Leave a Comment
Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer has an unimpressive track record at predictions, which is why his latest comments should be of concern to Apple and, especially, MacBook Air fans:
Those new ultra-thin PCs, the first of which will be coming later this year and, presumably running Windows 7, won’t be as cheap as $299 or $399 netbooks, Ballmer admitted, but they will combine netbooks’ portability, with some unnamed but higher-sounding prices.
Though the MacBook Air won’t be running Windows 7 any time soon, the rest of the quote is a pretty good description of it. Ballmer had earlier defined this “new” class of PC when speaking at the kick-off presentation for Microsoft’s Financial Analyst Meeting:
Ballmer told analysts there would be a new class of “ultra-thin” PCs” — or high-end netbooks –coming this year that would combine the light weight of netbooks with high-power and high-performance of traditional PCs.
Yep, that’s the MacBook Air alright.
When the Air was introduced, Steve Jobs first outlined these three problems (compromises) with netbooks:
- Small screens
- Tiny keyboard
- Low processing power
The MacBook Air went on to address them all. And it did so as a “high-end” model for a “higher-sounding” price, exactly as Ballmer is predicting will not appear until “later this year.”
Will Ballmer’s bad track record seal the MacBook Air’s fate? Or will this particular “prediction,” which is of the past, and tantamount to predicting yesterday’s sunrise, be an isolated case of him being correct?
I guess only time will tell if the MacBook Air is truly finished.
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