CoPilot live is updated and continues 30 day free trial offer
March 15, 2010 by admin · Leave a Comment
Filed under: iPhone, App Review
A new version of CoPilot Live enhances and fixes a lot of issues in the previous versions. According to the company, the app now includes improved guidance at complex intersections, Facebook status updates, free local search, and the latest maps of North America. More than 15,000 miles of roads have been added, 73 completely updated counties and hundreds of map improvements submitted by the CoPilot Live User Community.
If you want to try a sophisticated nav app but don’t want to shell out any money right away, ALK technologies is continuing to offer a free version of CoPilot Live Directions for a month. The app is full featured, and includes things like voice guidance and 3D mapping.
If you decide not to buy the app, you’ll lose the voice guidance and 3D, but still will have use of turn by turn directions throughout the U.S. and Canada. If you want to upgrade after the 30 days, the app charges U.S. $2.99 a month or $19.99 a year. You can get more details on the free app deal here.
Continue reading CoPilot live is updated and continues 30 day free trial offer
CoPilot live is updated and continues 30 day free trial offer originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
CoPilot live is updated and continues 30 day free trial offer originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Boo Hoo! SimplifyMedia dropping products and changing direction
March 13, 2010 by admin · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Multimedia, Internet Tools, iTunes, iPhone, Music
The problem is, we just don’t know where they’re going. In a Saturday blog post, the company announced it is “…taking a new direction” and won’t be offering their current apps to new users.
SimplifyMedia has been offering free software for computer-to-computer and iPhone-to-computer music sharing over the internet. Using the iPhone app, you could connect to your computer at home and stream albums, playlists or songs without any complicated firewall setups. A newer version of the software also allowed remote access to your iPhoto library.
It also looks like the company is going to slowly sunset current customer accounts but will continue to keep them functioning for at least another 3 months.
The Simplify iPhone app has been removed from the App Store, and the company says new account creation will be disabled soon.
I don’t have any idea where the company is headed, but the current product will be missed. SimplifyMedia was offered for Mac, PC and Ubuntu.
[Thanks to Robert for the tip]
Boo Hoo! SimplifyMedia dropping products and changing direction originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 13 Mar 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Boo Hoo! SimplifyMedia dropping products and changing direction originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 13 Mar 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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More suggestions of multitasking in iPhone OS 4.0
March 12, 2010 by admin · Leave a Comment
Filed under: OS, Software, Developer, iPhone
Developers have found further evidence of multitasking support for 3rd party iPhone apps in the latest beta (3.2 beta 4) of the iPhone SDK, and suggest that it will become a reality this summer.
9to5 Mac reports on a new line found deep within the latest iPhone SDK. Specifically, SpringBoard.js has a reference to a “multitasking dialog box” that did not appear in version 3.1.3 of the SDK; it seems that it’s new to version 3.2. Of course, there’s no assurance that this refers to 3rd party support for multitasking, but it is new.
Additionally, Appleinsider’s souces with “proven track records” state that Apple has developed “a full-on solution” for 3rd-party multitasking which will be a part of iPhone OS 4.0. No specifics were given on how it will be pulled off or how it will address the two main concerns: battery life and security.
Let’s assume that Apple’s plan addresses the security issue, but battery life still presents a problem, one that was supposedly addressed by Push Notifications. Apple’s remote notification service allows applications to offload polling processes to web servers. By keeping the update algorithms working off the device, the iPhone’s battery is spared. Certainly the iPhone itself must take on the task of keeping all of those apps up and running.
It should also be noted that iPhone OS does not use a paged memory model. That means, multi-tasking applications must compete for the same memory space, making it more likely that apps will receive memory warnings and even crash when they use too much memory. That’s not an issue in the one-app-at-a-time space, but a real problem with multitasking
Of course, the iPhone OS is already fully capable of multitasking. In order for non-Apple apps to participate, Apple must lift the current restrictions within the OS. That’s something the company won’t do until the iPhone engineers have devised the best and safest method. As for iPhone OS 4.0, Appleinsider notes that it’s got “a ways to go.” Hopefully we’ll have an answer in July.
More suggestions of multitasking in iPhone OS 4.0 originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
More suggestions of multitasking in iPhone OS 4.0 originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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GDC 2010: Street Fighter IV for the iPhone out now
March 10, 2010 by admin · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Gaming, Software, iPhone, App Store
Before you go press buy, though, I’ll also tell you that I got a chance to play the game, and while it is about as faithful a Street Fighter IV game as you can get on the iPhone, playing a fighting game without actual buttons is not really an ideal experience. While I was able to pull off a Hadoken and almost all of the other old moves after a few tries, the highest levels of competition in a fighting game require precision and subtlety, and this control scheme has neither of those. If you just want to play Street Fighter on an iPhone, sure — be an early adopter, pick up the game, and enjoy a few rounds of Guile vs. Ryu. But if you’re looking for the kind of in-depth fighting experience that Street Fighter IV on consoles and in the arcades offered, you probably won’t find it here — the controls are a little too inconsistent to really dig into the deep counter and powerup systems on display.
Continue reading GDC 2010: Street Fighter IV for the iPhone out now
GDC 2010: Street Fighter IV for the iPhone out now originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 02:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
GDC 2010: Street Fighter IV for the iPhone out now originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 02:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Enter to win Trip Journal 4.0 for the iPhone DO NOT POST
March 8, 2010 by admin · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Software, Developer, iPhone
iQapps has updated their app Trip Journal to version 4.0, and the new update adds a fair bit of functionality to the already pretty impressive set of trip recording and tagging features. As with previous versions, you can track pictures, notes, and maps of your trips, and communicate via a number of social networks and features with friends and family. The newest version allows for either manual or automatic waypointing as you travel around the world, multiple trip management, and hooks into social networks like Google Earth, Picasa, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube, straight from the iPhone 3GS’ GPS and video camera.
The app is on sale for 99 cents right now, but it’ll be back to the standard $2.99 price soon. We’ve got an even better deal, however — iQapps has offered five download codes for us to give five lucky commenters on this post. Just leave a comment telling us where you’d like to travel to, and we’ll choose five random winners after 48 hours to win the app for free. Here are the rules:
- Open to legal US residents of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia who are 18 and older.
- To enter leave a comment telling us where you’d like to travel with Trip Journal
- The comment must be left before March 11th, 11:59 PM Eastern Standard Time.
- You may enter only once.
- Five winners will be selected in a random drawing.
- Prizes: Promo Code for one copy of Trip Journal (Value: US$2.99)
- Click Here for complete Official Rules.
Good luck to everyone who enters!
Gallery: Trip Journal 4.0
Enter to win Trip Journal 4.0 for the iPhone DO NOT POST originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 08 Mar 2010 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Enter to win Trip Journal 4.0 for the iPhone DO NOT POST originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 08 Mar 2010 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Apple’s video advertising options detailed in patent application
March 6, 2010 by admin · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Multimedia, Rumors, One More Thing, iPhone, Apple TV, iPad
In the battle of the network superstars between free-to-stream, ad-supported video (the Hulu model) and pay-per-show, ad-free TV (the iTunes model), there’s been a big missing piece: how to monetize shows and sell ads for content that’s downloaded and played on mobile devices like the iPad? Obviously, it’s a better deal for the user if they can watch at will, without having to maintain network connectivity on the go (to say nothing of the streaming quality, or lack thereof, when connected over 3G), but making sure they see the ads in the content — and reporting back to advertisers who want to know who watched what — is much more challenging for anywhere, anytime viewers.
Wherever there’s trouble, they’re there on the double: the Bloodhound Gang known as Apple’s engineering team has a patent application that may offer a way forward. First filed in September of 2008 and made public on March 4, this patent received a thorough analysis over at Patently Apple. The core idea: watch a block of ads to ‘unlock’ the next segment of video content, not unlike the way most network streaming sites appear to work now. The difference is in the implementation, reporting and controlling how the ads appear and which content is freed up. Users might be able to ‘pay past’ the ads, or watch them all at the beginning of the program to deliver a more seamless viewing session.
More intriguingly, Apple’s patents suggest that advertisers can require or customize a particular level & kind of user interaction that will be embedded in the ad experience, requiring viewers to engage on some level before proceeding to the next segment (thereby ensuring that they’re paying attention and not off making a snack). That would be something of a Holy Grail for advertisers who fear that their messaging is getting lost in the TiVo/DVR ‘just skip it’ timeshifting era.
Combined with the October 2009 patent regarding ad-subsidized hardware platforms, which lists Steve Jobs and Mike Matas among its co-inventors, and it’s looking like we might be moving towards a future where that $499 iPad can be had for a fantastic, subsidized price of $199… if you accept a certain level of embedded and un-skippable advertising alongside your media and mobility experience. “Magical & revolutionary,” you betcha. The idea of power-ads taking over your media playback might not bother everyone, but if you buy Fake Steve’s argument, that’s where the $30/month TV subscription plan comes in. Can’t take the ads? Just pay to play.
[via MacRumors]
Image from Apple patent, courtesy Patently Apple site. No comment on the fact that it looks like a picture of Charlie from Lost (Dominic Monaghan).
Apple’s video advertising options detailed in patent application originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 06 Mar 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Apple’s video advertising options detailed in patent application originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 06 Mar 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Paid app upgrades coming to App Store?
March 4, 2010 by admin · Leave a Comment
Filed under: iPhone, App Store, iPod touch
Developer Fraser Speirs came across an unexpected iTunes dialog earlier today that could be a hint of a new, long-sought App Store feature: the ability to offer for-fee upgrades to apps, complete with discounts for those who bought older versions.
Up until now, App Store vendors have worked around the lack of a paid upgrade feature by offering different “versions” of their apps, but this has also meant there’s been no ability to offer discounts to loyal purchasers of the previous version of the app, short of applying a temporary price discount to everyone and raising the price later on. Assuming this dialog box isn’t a simple error (notice that it asks you to click OK, even though the button says Buy) and is an indication of the future direction of App Store purchases, it’s indicative of far greater pricing flexibility for App Store vendors, and it could also mean the App Store won’t be cluttered with old versions of apps that are no longer updated. Developers have been asking for an option like this since the beginning of the App Store — it looks like Apple might finally be listening.
Editor’s Note: Several commenters have noted that this dialog is also visible when you attempt to upgrade an app while logged into the ‘wrong’ iTunes store account, and may not actually signify the policy change that Craig Hockenberry wants to see.
Paid app upgrades coming to App Store? originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 04 Mar 2010 17:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Paid app upgrades coming to App Store? originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 04 Mar 2010 17:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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