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TheAppleBlog, published by and for the day-to-day Apple user, is a prominent source for news, reviews, walkthroughs, and real life application of all Apple products. Rumor Has It: iPhone 4.0 Bringing MultitaskingThe iPhone has many advantages over smartphone competitors, but one thing it hasn't had that users have been clamoring for is true multitasking. Now, true app backgrounding capabilities are said to be on the way in iPhone OS 4.0. Posted on 11 March 2010 | 11:25 am Write for TheAppleBlogInterested in writing for TheAppleBlog? We’re looking for a few new folks to bring on board and would love to talk to you.
A few notes about writing for TAB:
You MUST have previous Apple-related writing experience. No exceptions.
We’re looking for people who are great at writing either how-to/tutorial articles or more in-depth, analytical, commentary-based writing than [...] Posted on 11 March 2010 | 10:15 am Street Fighter IV Arrives on the iPhoneSquare-Enix recently brought its popular Final Fantasy series to the iPhone, and now another heavy-hitter, Capcom, is bringing yet another marquee title to the platform. That title is Street Fighter — and Street Fighter IV, a port of the latest installment in the series, is now available for purchase in the App Store for $9.99.
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Pro2 for Mac lets you access and manage your remote Mac from virtually any Internet-enabled device. [...] Posted on 11 March 2010 | 10:00 am Revisiting FluidI first used Fluid, the site-specific browser creation tool for Mac OS X, a long time ago. But I didn’t find it compelling enough to integrate it into my daily life, in part because virtually all of my digital life still lived on the desktop. As I personally moved more and more to the cloud, it [...] Posted on 11 March 2010 | 8:45 am App Store SEO: The Impact of iTunes Web PreviewWhen iTunes web preview pages first appeared for songs and albums the industry was abuzz with the possibility that iTunes could be migrating to the cloud. iTunes preview has so far had little impact on how we use purchased media content, but it has had a huge impact on how we find iTunes media content [...] Posted on 10 March 2010 | 2:00 pm Analyst: iPhone to Overtake BlackBerry in 2011A few years ago it would’ve been only the insane and the insanely prescient who were predicting that Apple would replace RIM in terms of world mobile phone market share. Now it doesn’t seem that outlandish, but the question of how soon we’ll actually see it happen remains up in the air.
According to a new [...] Posted on 10 March 2010 | 8:33 am You Look Ridiculous: The Other Augmented Reality IssueAugmented Reality (AR) is a hot topic in the app stores these days. So, what’s AR? It’s multiple technologies being used simultaneously to provide you with data relevant to your location. This includes your phone’s compass to determine the direction you are facing, GPS to determine your exact location, an Internet connection to gather information [...] Posted on 10 March 2010 | 8:27 am Why Apple Should Buy AdobeThe rumors of Adobe being bought by Apple come up every so often. Apple could easily afford such a purchase and the results would be interesting. I would love to see Adobe restructured by a company like Apple. Adobe has many applications that are the gold standard but it seems to lack focus. These are [...] Posted on 9 March 2010 | 3:00 pm First Look: FileMaker Pro 11A year after the launch of FileMaker Pro 10, the Apple-owned database company is back to debut the latest version of its franchise product. FileMaker Pro 11 introduces long-awaited features and builds on the interface and engine improvements to create new capabilities. I have been taking the product through its paces for the last few [...] Posted on 9 March 2010 | 1:00 pm Analyst: Apple “Disrupting” iPhone Competitors With Legal ThreatsVia Apple 2.0, Oppenheimer analyst Yair Reiner asserts in a research note that Apple’s lawsuit with HTC over the iPhone interface was the culmination of “blunt talks” with other phone manufacturers.
According to Reiner, starting in January Apple began closed-door discussions with OEMs regarding the company’s “growing displeasure” with the theft of Apple’s intellectual property.
That displeasure [...] Posted on 9 March 2010 | 11:30 am Not Every iPhone Apple App to Get the iPad TreatmentLike the iPhone, the iPad will have a default set of applications, but it won't necessarily include all the familiar apps you know and possibly love. Apparently, Cupertino couldn't come up with iPad-complementary large-format designs for the user interfaces on many apps. Posted on 9 March 2010 | 9:58 am Apple’s iTunes LP 6 Months Later: LP What?When it was first unveiled, Apple’s new iTunes LP format -– codenamed “Cocktail” and introduced at a “rock and roll event” in San Francisco -– promised to give consumers a new reason to buy albums instead of individual songs. Offering expanded cover art, lyrics, videos, animation and other digital goodies, iTunes LP was intended to [...] Posted on 9 March 2010 | 9:45 am My iPad Wish List: 10 App RequestsWatching the iPad’s first television spot on the Oscars Sunday night, I got giddy all over again in anticipation of getting my hands on this hot new product. Though it’s still a few weeks away, I’m even more excited for the applications that will be coming to the platform. Here’s my top 10 list of [...] Posted on 9 March 2010 | 8:00 am Microsoft Courier Shaping Up as a Truly Novel iPad CompetitorIt may be a little early to say this, but to me it seems like Microsoft took all the disappointment and fear resulting from Apple’s dominance of the mobile devices category over its own products through the years and used that energy to create the Courier. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen another company’s [...] Posted on 8 March 2010 | 4:00 pm Apple at the OscarsSwapping turtleneck for tuxedo, Steve Jobs made a rare public appearance when he took to the red carpet at the Academy Awards last night, spotted first by eagle-eyed social media maven Wayne Sutton who posted to his blog; OMG it’s Steve Jobs! I’m the only one yelling at him! #oscars #kodakredcarpet
Sutton doesn’t mention whether his yells [...] Posted on 8 March 2010 | 3:25 pm Snow Leopard’s Been Out for Six Months, Why Are So Many of Us Still Using Leopard?So here we are, just past the six month mark since Mac OS 10.6 Snow Leopard was sprung last August 28, and I’m still using OS 10.5 Leopard.
I have lots of company. The NetApplications HitsLink Market Share data for February 2010 shows that Leopard is still the most widely-used OS X version, with a 2.21 [...] Posted on 8 March 2010 | 10:30 am Mac Developer Program Invites iPhone SDK Halo EffectThis past Thursday Apple announced sweeping changes to the Developer Program. The old Select and Premiere programs have been replaced by a $99/year Mac Developer Program that is similar to the iPhone Developer Program. The old ADC programs were substantially more expensive ($499 and $3,499) and the program benefits have been simplified to match the [...] Posted on 8 March 2010 | 9:00 am Social CRM on the CheapMac users are missing out on cheap (read: free), social customer relationship management. Windows users have xobni, a simple tool that integrates with Outlook, and Microsoft will also be releasing a solution in Office 2010 called Outlook Social Connector. But what if you have a Mac? Xobni doesn’t support Entourage or Mail.app, and who knows [...] Posted on 8 March 2010 | 8:42 am Android Rising, Sony Poised to Join the Smartphone FightYesterday Apple announced the arrival date of its much-ballyhooed tablet, the iPad. It will have a staggered release throughout April, beginning on the 3rd in the U.S. Once it does arrive, we’ll see what effect it has on the mobile landscape. But right now, Apple has other things to worry about if it wants to [...] Posted on 6 March 2010 | 8:35 am iPad Preorders Start 5:30 AM PST on 12 March 2010If you're getting twitchy waiting for Apple to start accepting pre-orders for the iPad, it's time to set your alarm. According to Apple, "customers can pre-order online at www.apple.com at 5:30 AM Pacific time on Friday, March 12." We anticipate demand to be high, so we'll be placing our orders early to ensure we get iPads as soon as possible.
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Posted on 11 March 2010 | 3:38 pm Why Google Wave Needs a Major OverhaulI really wanted to like Google Wave. But after several months of attempting to use it in a variety of ways, I've come to the conclusion that the current incarnation of Google Wave is too fundamentally flawed to be useful. That said, Google has made it very clear that Google Wave is still in preview release, so I hold out hope that Google will radically revamp the service. I think Google is aware of these issues, since a Feedback survey link just appeared in Google Wave itself, and many of the questions seem to acknowledge that users are wildly unhappy. Here are the things I attempted to do in Google Wave, all with some level of frustration and relatively little overall success.
Worse, my experience is that even tech-savvy people like those I work with seem generally dubious of Google Wave, and that's even before they've gotten into the system. Getting someone signed up with Google Wave is often an exercise in hair-pulling frustration requiring multiple back-and-forth email messages as you send an invitation, request their Google Wave account information (which is a pseudo email address @googlewave.com, not any other Google account or email address), add them to a wave, and explain some of the basics of using Google Wave. And again, these frustrations occurred when working with some extremely savvy tech writers and programmers, not everyday users. The next problem, also related to the fact that people aren't already using Google Wave in a big way, is that essentially no one checks their Google Wave account regularly for new waves or replies. So you can't guarantee that anyone will even notice communication happening in Google Wave. For a while, I worked around that with an extension that people could use to request email-based notifications of changes; now Google has announced that it's building email notifications into Google Wave itself. The other workaround is to use a program like Waveboard (see "Catch a Google Wave with Waveboard," 30 October 2009), which adds a variety of local notification methods, including Growl, Dock icon badges, and more. But still, convincing someone to use Waveboard and keep it running all the time for Google Wave is an exercise in futility. One last concern - although you can mark waves as being public and thus available for anyone with a Google Wave account to see and comment on, that struck me as just weird. I can't see Google Wave as a publishing system like a blog or even Twitter; it just seemed too random for that since there isn't the context of a blog, which generally revolves around a topic or a person or an organization, or the implied personal context of Twitter, where people follow those who have interesting things to say. Neither email nor instant messaging have this concept of public posting to an entirely random audience, and without some major changes, Google Wave's approach is inherently confusing and unsatisfying.
So I decided to hold the conversation in Google Wave, figuring that it would serve as a semi-permanent record of what was said, presenting all my points at all times, rather than letting my panelists focus on one thing to the exclusion of all others. This was perhaps the most successful of my Google Wave experiments, since everyone got in there and read what I wrote, at least at first, and there was some discussion that helped me refine my approach to the session. But after the initial chatter died down, no one but me visited it again, which emphasizes Google Wave's notification problems, and perhaps points to my desire for a semi-permanent record not being as important as I thought. And, as the date came very close, I still ended up having face-to-face discussions about the session with each panelist individually to make sure we were all on the same page. In the end, this task could have been handled in email just as well, if not better.
The theoretical benefit of Google Wave for document collaboration is that everyone in the wave could either make changes directly in the text or could leave comments that could turn into discussions with other reviewers. The concept was great, but it didn't work well in practice. Although you can edit any part of any wave by double-clicking it and clicking the Edit button in the Reply/Edit lozenge that appears, it's difficult for other people to see the changes you've made. If they're watching in real time as you edit, it's possible to see changes happening, and the other approach is to use Google Wave's playback feature, which steps through the changes each person makes. But that's horribly clumsy, since you have to take a step in the playback, scroll through the document looking for highlighted changes, and then take another step. Since the playback records replies separately from edits, when one reviewer would make some edits, then insert a reply, and then some more edits, and so on, it resulted in many different steps in the playback to consider. As a result, Google Wave worked acceptably only when the textual changes were minor. If more significant development editing was necessary, its text-handling and author-marking tools simply weren't up to the task. In one case I found myself pulling text out to EtherPad where it was obvious who was making what change. The replies were troublesome too. If you double-click in the document and click the Reply button in the Reply/Edit lozenge, Google Wave sometimes inserts the reply in the middle of sentences, or between a bullet and its text. The only way to guarantee that a reply follows a paragraph or come at a certain point is to select some text, double-click the selected text, and then click Reply. I found that I had to explain that technique to everyone I invited to a wave, or risk a significantly more confusing layout. Another problem with replies is that it's difficult to control whether or not they were hierarchical to one another. In general, if you reply to some text in the initial blip (an excellent name for the units of text in Google Wave, by the way), your reply is indented under that blip, unless your reply comes at the very end of the blip. Replying to a reply generally does not indent your reply, unless you selected some text in the reply first. And it's tremendously easy to create a reply when you don't mean to, or in an incorrect location, forcing you to delete the just-created blip. The fact that Google Wave shows you when others are typing sounds cool, but was generally irritating, since I could tell what someone was going to say before they finished typing. I ended up responding before they finished, which I'm sure was annoying, but I just couldn't resist. iChat's approach of indicating that someone is typing without actually showing it works better, since then you respond to fully formed thoughts. Switching back and forth between editing and replying is also cumbersome. There is a keyboard shortcut (Shift-Return) that lets you avoid scrolling to the bottom of a long blip to click the Done button, button, but even still, switching between editing and replying modes requires conscious thought that's not necessary in most programs that allow editing and commenting, even long-standing ones like Microsoft Word. Finally, there is no good way to mark replies as having been viewed, so you could avoid seeing them in the future, or to hide them entirely so you could look at the document without them. Once again, Microsoft Word's change tracking and commenting features put others to shame, even if it has no collaboration capabilities at all. One unexpected positive about using Google Wave for document collaboration was that when I selected the text of an original blip and copied it out to BBEdit, I got only the text of my now-edited draft, not all the interspersed replies. That's what you'd want, of course, but you would have no idea that it's possible without trying it. And, although this worked for me, one other person was completely unable to copy text out at all for reasons we never determined. In the end, Google Wave proved far more frustrating for document collaboration than Google Docs or EtherPad (now owned by Google too, see "EtherPad Open-Sourced after Google Acquisition," 4 December 2009), or even the venerable QuickTopic Document Review. In Google Docs, editing is much easier, but commenting and discussions are extremely clumsy, and change tracking and versioning aren't great. In EtherPad, change tracking and versioning are generally well done, and discussions can take place outside the document in a separate chat pane. And in QuickTopic Document Review, which we rely on for Take Control ebook technical reviews, commenting is easy, but there's no way to edit at all.
To this end, I created a wave shared with Glenn Fleishman, our technical guru, and Adam Khan, our freelance ExpressionEngine developer, and I outlined all the tasks. The idea was that I could create a task and spec out its associated feature in a blip. Then, if Adam or Glenn had questions or comments, they could reply inside that task blip, and I could reply back as well, keeping all the discussion together and coherent. By this time I had the email notification add-on working, so we could all be alerted when there were changes, which helped keep us all on track. But even with that, I found myself resorting to email to ask how things were going, since there was no way to know if the others were seeing my changes. The real problem, though, was in overload. The wave ended up with nearly 200 messages by the time we abandoned it, and as you can imagine, there could be many replies under each item. That was fine at first, but as tasks were completed, there was no good way to hide them and their associated discussion. You can delete blips in Google Wave, and you can see the deleted ones in the playback, so they're not lost forever, but since you would be deleting other people's words, it felt wrong to do so. Plus, it was unclear if it would be easy to find something again, once deleted. You can also collapse a thread of replies, but Google Wave wouldn't retain that collapsed state the next time you come in. And more to the point, there is no real way to assign a task to a particular person (we used initials at the start of the task description), no coherent way to see what needed attention, and no real way to mark a task as completed (we used a checkmark in front of the initials). In other words, it worked, but proved only slightly better than a straight text document in Google Docs. (We've done that too; it's also awkward and painful.) In the end, we moved the project to a project collaboration site called Manymoon, which has features roughly similar to the popular Basecamp project collaboration site, but which can be used for small stuff like this for free. Manymoon makes it easy to create tasks, assign them to particular people, leave comments on the task (the most important feature, in my experience), notify all members of the project of changes and comments via email, view tasks by user and status, and mark them as done once completed. If you're looking for a project collaboration site, Manymoon is definitely worth a look. During this process, I tried using Google Wave to manage several other projects where I thought there might be a fair amount of discussion, but in each case, it basically became a roach motel where I stored information and everyone else took one look and ignored it afterwards. Those projects will also be moving to Manymoon at some point; I'm not worried about losing what I did in Google Wave, but I simply can't (and don't want to) force all the parties involved to use it.
It seems as though Google may be aware of this problem from the way in which they introduced Google Buzz as part of Gmail, which ensured that Buzz would have vast numbers of users from the beginning. Unfortunately, Google went too far in that direction, since lots of people didn't want Buzz turned on, and vastly more had no idea what it was. Google should listen to the developers of the recently acquired EtherPad, which did a good job of eliminating the need for accounts, making for a very lightweight system (in EtherPad, the creator of a pad simply shares a URL to the pad via email or instant messaging or any other medium). The ideal middle ground for any system like Google Wave or Google Buzz is to make it dead simple to join without doing anything special or signing up for anything else (just because I might want to use Buzz doesn't mean I want a full Google account) while at the same time making the service sufficiently compelling and viral that people want to sign up in droves. That has worked for Twitter and Facebook, and countless other systems that rely on the network effect. I realize Google Wave is a slightly special case, since it's designed as a protocol and server that could be run by any organization, but even still, it has to be lightweight for adoption to occur. I'm almost hesitant to make concrete recommendations for Google Wave, since it has seen so few significant changes since its introduction that I wonder if Google isn't working on a major revision behind the scenes. But I think my criticisms above should lend some insight into the kind of changes that would help. Other thoughts:
These are relatively minor conceptual changes, though I freely acknowledge that they could require significant architectural and interface modifications. As such, I can't say that I'd be happy to use Google Wave even if Google were to implement all of them, but I'd certainly return with fresh enthusiasm replacing the frustration Google Wave has caused me thus far.
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Posted on 11 March 2010 | 1:58 pm Can T-Mobile's 3G Speed Overcome Its Frequency Limitations?Do you remember car-rental firm Avis's ads: "We're number two; we try harder"? Hertz was the big dog, and Avis used this campaign to explain why its service was better, because it had to be. T-Mobile is in the same boat, except it's number four. Verizon Wireless, AT&T, and Sprint Nextel, in that order, are bigger than T-Mobile in terms of subscribers, revenue, and 3G coverage. But the plucky number four is trying to catch up. I've been following T-Mobile closely because the company is trying to build the fastest and most robust 3G network in the United States, all while keeping its pricing structure competitive with and more flexible than the three dominant carriers. It's in the process of dramatically increasing its already fast network, too, far ahead of its competitors. T-Mobile may be poised to be an alternative to AT&T, because both firms use the same worldwide GSM standard and the 3G flavors that have emerged from it; Sprint and Verizon chose CDMA, although both are migrating to different technology in future networks. But T-Mobile has a technical disadvantage that has kept it from being a true alternative from AT&T for the iPhone (jailbroken or unlocked) and that will prevent it from being a choice for the iPad with 3G. (Although it's technically legal to unlock an iPhone, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act seems to make it impossible in fact to unlock one legally.)
But by starting from scratch so recently with 3G, T-Mobile hopes to have an advantage. Because the demands on 3G networks were already being understood as T-Mobile planned its build out, the company says it has developed more-robust backhaul - the link from cell towers to the rest of the network. Where AT&T has struggled, T-Mobile claims to have the links in most places at the scale needed to serve the fastest 3G that will be out this year. AT&T and T-Mobile have both deployed HSPA (High Speed Packet Access), and both started with the 3.6 Mbps downstream flavor and have moved to 7.2 Mbps downstream (often called HSPA 7.2). In contrast, Sprint and Verizon's 3G service uses EVDO Rev. A, which tops out at 3.1 Mbps downstream. (These are the highest possible throughput over the air, and users on average see 20 to 50 percent of that rate with higher bursts.) But AT&T, despite having put in the software update to make HSPA 7.2 possible, said it's not yet actually offering the higher speed because of limited backhaul. The company plans to roll HSPA 7.2 out on a city-by-city basis as it upgrades base station sites with additional backhaul capacity. In contrast, T-Mobile says it's ready now; some reports claim T-Mobile has fiber and wireless links that provide as much as 20 Mbps per site, which is enough to cover multiple separate channels of 3G in the same location. This backhaul capacity might give T-Mobile bragging rights. Its 7.2 Mbps network was announced only a few weeks ago, and the latest PCWorld tests conducted by Novarum - a firm I rely on for accurate data about wireless rates - were completed in January 2010. Where T-Mobile suffers is in the frequencies it uses for 3G. Cell phones come with radio chips that allow them to operate over many different frequencies, because different bands (ranges of frequencies at various points in the radio spectrum) are available to different companies and in different countries. The iPhone 3GS, for instance, supports several bands for worldwide compatibility without Apple having to create different models: 850, 1900, and 2100 MHz are available for 3G, and 850, 900, 1800, and 1900 MHz for 1G (plain GSM) and 2G (EDGE). Here's the problem. T-Mobile wasn't able to acquire any of the 1900 MHz band, and uses the 1700 MHz band instead. Further, phones designed for the T-Mobile 3G network send transmissions using 1700 MHz and receive data from the network using 2100 MHz. T-Mobile is nearly unique worldwide in using the 1700 MHz band at all. AT&T uses either 850 MHz or 1900 MHz for 3G, and sends and receives in the same band. This means that a GSM 3G phone or data device compatible with any other carrier cannot work on T-Mobile's network, and devices intended just for T-Mobile's network won't work on nearly any other network worldwide. EDGE frequencies are compatible, however. If you buy a 3G iPad and want to use it on T-Mobile's network, and T-Mobile starts producing micro-SIM cards, you could use the network at EDGE speeds, which are typically no faster than about 200 Kbps. That's a bummer for consumers and T-Mobile, as it means we don't have the compatibility necessary for true unlocked competition between the two GSM carriers in the United States. In most other countries with multiple 3G carriers, frequencies are harmonized, and this won't be an issue.
The modem, made by Huawei, is an attractive stick with support for Mac OS X 10.4 and later, along with several flavors of Windows. It costs $129.99 retail, or $19.99 with a two-year contract. The modem requires a simple software installation of unobtrusive - if not particularly attractive - connection software. I pre-tested the extent to which it would drain my 2008 MacBook's battery before the trip to the iPad launch to see whether I could get through a two-hour event on a full charge; it looked like I could just squeak through, which turned out to be the case. (I get about the same battery life with Wi-Fi turned on and active, too.) The USB stick performed admirably during Steve Jobs and company's talk, while I heard grumbles all around me from other 3G networks that were failing under the collective load. Score one for diversity. In testing, I didn't see the faster HSPA 7.2 rates - I tested mostly in January and early February 2010 - but I frequently saw speeds well over 1 Mbps downstream.
T-Mobile also offers a lower, lighter-weight usage plan: 200 MB for $29.99 per month, with the same additional per-megabyte fee. Competitors charge $5 or $10 more per month for the same or slightly more data. As I wrote in "Can You Get By with 250 MB of Data Per Month?" (2 February 2010), it's hard to figure out how much data you wind up using. Laptop usage tends to be far higher than the smartphone usage I was tracking. You can check usage directly from within the connection software. But T-Mobile now charges those monthly rates only if you accept the company's subsidized 3G hardware; those plans also require a two-year contract. If you pay the $129.99 retail price for its USB modem, a $110 difference from the subsidized price, T-Mobile will let you have a month-by-month 5 GB plan for $49.99 each month, and a 200 MB plan for $19.99 each month. Over two years, that's a $240 price difference on either plan, and you retain all the flexibility of not paying for the service when you don't need it. Unmetered Wi-Fi usage at all of T-Mobile's own and roaming partner hotspots is included with all plans. T-Mobile also recently became the first carrier to offer a lower monthly data price for the Google Nexus One phone when purchased outright; AT&T and others charge you the same monthly rate whether you own the phone or got a subsidy by signing a two-year contract, while T-Mobile drops the price $20 per month. That's $480 over two years, far more than the difference between the subsidized and unsubsidized rate. Virgin Mobile Broadband has an interesting alternative to T-Mobile's month-to-month possibility. Despite being owned by Sprint Nextel, Virgin has a distinctly original broadband approach. Buy its $99.99 USB modem (Mac OS X 10.4 or later), and purchase units of access from its Broadband2Go plan. Rates are $10 for use of up to 100 MB within 10 days, or, with a 30-day expiration, pay $20, $40, or $60, for up to 300 MB, 1 GB, or 5 GB, respectively. There are no overage fees; you just buy more units of service. T-Mobile now beats Virgin Mobile for an unsubsidized plan at the 5 GB level, but Virgin Mobile (using Sprint's network) still has more coverage area. However, T-Mobile charges its 20-cents-per-MB overage for extra usage during any billing period: another 5 GB would be $1,000 on T-Mobile but just $60 with Virgin.
The company isn't promising specific downstream speeds, but it will likely be possible to get the same range as Clearwire's WiMax service, which, in the limited markets currently served, pumps 3 to 6 Mbps downstream with higher burst rates. Clearwire aims for 120 million people covered by the end of 2010. For now, T-Mobile's HSPA+ service is available just in Philadelphia, with the upgrades to both coasts coming as we move into spring and summer, and most of T-Mobile's national footprint by the end of 2010. A new HSPA+ modem, the Rocket, is due out on 14 March 2010 for $99.99 with a two-year contract. (The unsubsidized price hasn't been announced.) HSPA+ puts T-Mobile at the top of the speed heap, and possibly with the best backhaul among 3G operators. Only testing will tell. Verizon's next-generation LTE (Long Term Evolution) service - fourth generation or 4G - can deliver 5 to 12 Mbps downstream, but won't be ready until later in 2010. Initial LTE devices will be limited to data adapters; smartphones may not appear until 2012. Verizon says it will light up 25 to 30 metro areas with LTE in 2010, covering 100 million users, with the rest of its footprint covered by 2013. AT&T will also deploy LTE, but its timetable extends further into the future, with 2011 seeing its first commercial deployment. The real question will be whether T-Mobile can deliver a service that's enough faster, better, and cheaper than its more heavily used competitors. If so, it could rise from the ranks of the also-rans to take a place on the medal stand.
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Posted on 11 March 2010 | 11:33 am Verizon to Woo iPad Buyers with MiFiEngadget posted a leaked photo of a Verizon Wireless marketing campaign that's being prepared to lure early iPad buyers into choosing Verizon over AT&T for 3G service. How so? Verizon offers the MiFi, a wireless router that connects to the Internet over Verizon's 3G network, and then allows up to five devices to piggyback over Wi-Fi. The MiFi is a nifty device, fitting in a shirt pocket, working off a fully charged internal battery for four hours or indefinitely via an AC adapter. Steve Jobs recently confirmed for someone who emailed him that the iPad would not support tethering or a "hot spot" mode, where the iPad's 3G plan could be used as a conduit to connect a laptop via USB or Wi-Fi. Verizon is trying to capitalize on that lack. The problem is the service plan. Verizon requires a two-year commitment from MiFi buyers for either a $39.99 per month plan for 250 MB of combined upstream and downstream usage (and 10 cents per MB above that), or $59.99 per month for 5 GB of combined usage (and 5 cents per MB for overages). That's far more expensive than the 3G-enabled iPad, which requires no contract commitment, and offers two monthly plans: $14.99 for 250 MB usage per month and $29.99 for unlimited usage. Still, it's smart of Verizon to seize the opportunity to show alternatives. I've heard great things about the MiFi because of its flexibility and portability, and the way it gives users have a single 3G data plan and hardware device that works with all Wi-Fi-capable laptops and handhelds.
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Posted on 11 March 2010 | 10:43 am Transferring Vinyl LPs to Digital: One ApproachFor some years now, I've been using my computer to transfer analog recordings to digital. I started with all my cassette tapes, as they were physically deteriorating as they sat on the shelf. Having completed that task - I no longer have any cassette tapes - I've been transferring a number of vinyl LPs. It's important to be clear on the reasons for transferring vinyl assets to digital, since they are not deteriorating. It isn't that I think I can improve the sound significantly. It's true that I can remove some of the annoying clicks and pops; but at the same time I'm one of those wacky audiophiles who thinks that vinyl sounds better than any digital derivation. (Compressed music, such as MP3 or AAC, is compressed lossily, and I can hear the loss; and even an uncompressed digital format like AIFF is sampled, and reconstructed during playback, with consequent loss, artifacts, and errors.) No, I'm transferring vinyl for the clear and sane reason that I rarely play the vinyl, since setting up and attending to the record player is an elaborate business, and each playing wears down the record slightly. Digital music, on the other hand, is readily available and playable at any time, with no adverse effects to the medium. In short, digital is a lot more convenient! While doing all this transferring, I've often thought of writing a long technical article, perhaps even something of book length, explaining how to do it. But writing such a piece seems like an insane amount of work. Besides, it would be ephemeral, since the technology changes constantly; and it would please no one, since no two people use exactly the same procedure. So I've decided instead to sketch (rather than even describing in detail) the procedure that I'm currently using. The goal of this procedure, as it has developed over the years, involves keeping costs low and speeds high. I used to spend many days nursing a single recording, but now my priorities are more balanced, and I get results that are good enough in just the hour it takes to record two sides of vinyl and less than a second hour of processing. And although there exists extremely fine audio restoration software costing thousands of dollars, my method is sufficiently effective and suits my budget-conscious temperament. So I present my procedure, for what it's worth, in case anyone is interested. As I've already said, this presentation deliberately avoids too much detail, since this isn't a book, and makes no pretense to dictate to anyone else, let alone to enter the many realms of technical detail and near-religious controversy. I'm just going to tell you what I am currently doing, along with some of my thoughts about each step.
In case you don't have that equipment, or you're wondering whether what you already have is sufficient, I'll just quickly sketch the train of musical production. Assuming we're starting with a vinyl LP, there's a turntable, including a cartridge and needle. Then there's a pre-amplifier. This is an important component, for two reasons. First, the signal from a turntable is too weak to feed directly into a computer. Second, the direct signal from an LP is incorrectly equalized; because of the physical (analog) nature of vinyl LPs and turntables, records are made with high frequencies boosted (to help drown out the noise of physical imperfections in the medium) and low frequencies attenuated (to reduce the physical distance the needle must vibrate during playback). A dedicated pre-amp reverses this. What I use is an old-fashioned standard amplifier that contains a "phono stage." In other words, my pre-amp is a special circuit inside my regular amplifier, that comes into play when I switch the amplifier to "phono." If and when it goes bad, I might have to purchase a dedicated pre-amp costing several hundreds of dollars, but so far that has not been necessary. In the accelerated transfer procedure I'm describing here, I don't worry about the inexactness of the match between an individual record's built-in equalization and the reverse equalization of the phono stage. (It is likely to be inexact, because the so-called RIAA curve was never a universal standard.) I just take what I get. I can always equalize further, if I like, while listening to the digital transfer. The question you have to solve is how to get the sound out of your analog equipment and conduct it in the general direction of your computer. The idea is to get electrical signals representing the sound coming down some cables. My stereo amplifier has two holes in the back marked OUT (on other amps they might say TAPE OUT or similar). So I have cables with RCA jacks running out of those holes. If you're not using a standard amplifier, a similar cable might be coming directly out of your pre-amp. The question now is what to do with the other ends of those cables to get the signal into the computer.
Instead, you want some sort of device that accepts analog signals and transforms them into digital and runs into your computer's USB port - or, in higher-end cases, into a FireWire port. It should be good quality and it should support, at a minimum, a 44.1 kHz sample rate and 24-bit bit rate. (You really want to record in 24-bit if possible, because it provides far better quality than 16-bit and lets you worry less about excessive headroom. More about that later.) Such a device is often termed a "sound card" even though it doesn't look like a card; you might also see the term DAC (for "digital-analog converter"). A visit to a site like Sweetwater will give you a sense of the sort of equipment that's available. Bear in mind that you're going to get what you pay for. Your goal is to refrain from cheaping out completely, while at the same time not spending more than is necessary for your purposes. If you are not also planning on starting up a home sound recording studio, mixing live vocals and instruments and that sort of thing, something like this Tascam device would probably make a good starting place. Obviously you can spend considerably more if you want to. Whatever you're thinking of getting, make very certain there are drivers for your system! Also, if your device is a USB device that draws its power from the USB port, it might be a good idea to invest in an inexpensive powered USB hub, since some computers (especially portables) might not provide enough power direct from a built-in USB port.
I record as AIFF in 24-bit with a 44.1 kHz sampling rate; these settings must be made both for the A/D conversion device and for the recording software. Your A/D conversion device should also have volume settings that allow you to set a good level. Your goal is to minimize headroom without clipping. What I mean is this. Let's assume that your recording consists of both soft and loud sounds. Then the loudest sounds should be close to the 0.0 saturation point without actually reaching or going above it, since a wave peak that exceeds the saturation point is useless because the top is sliced off (clipping). But you don't want to be overly cautious in the other direction, either, since if you never get close to the saturation point - that is, you have too much headroom between the loudest sounds and the saturation point - you are wasting your capabilities, and not getting all the digital information you're entitled to, which can degrade the ultimate quality of the recording. This is one reason why you really, really should record in 24-bit; those extra bits per sample mean, among other things, that having a little extra headroom is nowhere near as disastrous as it would be when you record in 16-bit, and thus you don't have to be so nervous about it. As a result, instead of recording many takes in an attempt to minimize headroom without clipping, a single recording is usually sufficient. It's important to understand that not all clipping is bad. If the recording clicks because there is a loud crack or pop on the record, that's completely unimportant. The signal you are trying to capture here is the music. The click is not part of that signal; it's noise, and you're going to remove it later anyway. It's a pity it's there, but it's irrelevant to the business of setting levels. Moreover, if just one or two (or even, say, half a dozen) wave peaks of the music happen to exceed saturation point, that's not important either; you can mend those individual wave peaks later on, and indeed, the fact that this is happening is a good sign, because it means that the rest of your signal is minimizing headroom.
Now we look for clipping. In Amadeus, press Command-Option-P to find a clip. Then move the playhead to the right of the clip and do it again, running through the entire file. As I just said, if a clip is due to an extraneous click on the record (very obvious from its shape), it's fine, and if a clip is an isolated case of one wave peak being too tall, that's fine too, especially if there are only a few such cases in the file. What's bad is a stretch of a dozen saturated peaks in a row. This means the gain was just too high and the entire recording must be made all over again at slightly lower amplification. Next we fix any clipping we just discovered. Start again at the beginning of the file, and this time, each time you find a clip, select the region around it and choose Effects > Interpolate. Amadeus's wonderful click repair function will remove the click or clipped wave. At this point I often select the whole file and press Command-Option-P again, which, when there's a selection, means we locate the tallest peak in the selection. If this peak is a click, select it and remove it using Interpolate and start again, until you find the tallest actual wave peak. Now we can judge our headroom. If the tallest wave peak is insufficiently tall (too much headroom), and if this is supposed to be a loud sound, this might be a reason to make the recording again at slightly higher amplification. But if the headroom is pretty good (about -3 db, let's say), I don't get my knickers in a twist. We've recorded in 24-bit, so there's plenty of information present if we want to increase the amplitude artificially later on. On the other hand, if the headroom is significantly more than that, our softest signals may be so diluted with noise that re-recording at higher amplification might be a good idea.
So, first, I remove the grossest imperfections with Amadeus. Open the Repair Centre window, start at the beginning of the document, set the sensitivity quite low (less than 50 percent), and press N to find the first click. If it is obviously a real click and not a miscalculation - and, at this low sensitivity, it probably will be a real click - press R to repair it. You can repeatedly press N and R to run through the whole document, or if you're fairly confident, press Shift-R ("repair and find next") repeatedly. Unfortunately, Amadeus Pro has no command for continuing through the file in this way automatically (the earlier version of Amadeus did). After I get to the end of the document in Amadeus, I start at the beginning and do the process again. The reason is that if two clicks are close to one another, one of them will have been missed during the first pass, due to the nature of Amadeus's click-detection algorithm. We have now removed the grossest clicks and pops, thus paving the way for ClickRepair. So now I save the file and close it, and open it with ClickRepair ($40). This effective and inexpensive program will suppress the smaller clicks and pops. I'm so confident in ClickRepair that I just set it to DeClick about 22 (no higher, or the resulting sound starts to degrade), no DeCrackle, completely Automatic, Pitch Protection on, Wavelet algorithm, and just process the entire file (sound output set to Off). In the case of a recording that's in quite poor shape, I skip using Amadeus (because even at low sensitivity it finds just too many clicks) and use ClickRepair alone. In this case I might use a setting more like DeClick 22, DeCrackle 10, Pitch Protection off, Wavelet x2 algorithm. This might cause a little additional degradation of the sound, but the extent of the rescue from the scratchy and crackly overlay of the original is simply astounding.
First, however, we must help DeNoise determine the level and nature of the underlying noise. The idea is to select a short stretch of pure surface noise and tell DeNoise to Sample Noise. If your LP recording starts with a blank area between the time the needle hits the record and the time the music starts, you might be able to find and use this area within DeNoise. But I find it easiest to open the file with Amadeus, select this area or some other area between tracks that's empty of any music, and save it off as a separate file. Then I open that file with DeNoise and use it to sample the noise. This causes DeNoise to set its parameters appropriately. Now I open the complete ClickRepair-generated file with DeNoise and prepare to process it. I tend to take a fairly conservative approach to noise reduction, so I usually slide the Noise Floor slightly to the left of where DeNoise sets it, and I keep the "Limit reduction" slider somewhere around 8 db. It might be worth listening to the effect of different settings (and if you're going to do that, it might be worth investing in another piece of hardware, namely a good pair of reference headphones), but on the whole my goal here is to spend as little time as possible fussing, so I don't usually bother. In praise of DeNoise, I want to say that it does nearly as good a job of reducing surface noise and hiss without degrading the music as high-end software costing literally thousands of dollars. The interface (and this is true for ClickRepair as well) takes some getting used to, and you will definitely have to read the manual, but once you've understood how to use the software, it processes a whole record side in just a few seconds. It's important, however, to be technically and philosophically clear about what you're trying to accomplish during this step. Until you've practiced some noise reduction followed by listening under realistic conditions, there is a danger, especially if you're using sensitive reference headphones, that you'll be tempted to try to remove far too much of the noise. Resist that temptation! The results will be sonically unnatural; and besides, the effort is completely unnecessary. Remember that you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear; even more important, you don't need to make a silk purse. The goal is not to turn an LP into something magically resembling a CD. That goal is unreachable and unrealistic. You don't have the original tapes from which the LP was made, and you probably don't have the magic production ears of a professional. Your goal is simply to make listening to the digital form of the LP easy and pleasant. Your greatest ally here is not the software but the magic of the human ear (and brain). If the background noise is not obnoxious, your perceptions will effectively filter it out while you're listening. So you want to make the noise and hiss situation a little better, while not making the listening experience worse than listening to the actual LP.
My choice of archival format is FLAC. That's because FLAC saves some space, but is non-lossy. (I do not favor Apple's "Apple Lossless" format, as it is proprietary and, in my experience, unreliable.) Of course I could save as AIFF, but FLAC can represent a space savings of nearly 50 percent, which is significant. The only downside is that FLAC makes no provision for "markers," which are strings associated with specific points in time within the sound file. The reason we might need markers is in order to designate where individual tracks begin. There are two solutions to this problem: split the file into individual FLAC files, each file representing a track; or, keep the file as one large FLAC file, but accompany it with a CUE file, which is a text file in a special format describing the tracks. Amadeus makes either approach extremely easy. So, I open the file generated by DeNoise (which, by default, has a "dn" suffix in its name) with Amadeus. I "top and tail" the file, deleting the initial and ending silences. Now I place markers - one at the very start, and one at the start of each subsequent track. Finally, I either split the file at these markers while at the same time converting to FLAC (this is a single, easy move with Amadeus) or else I export the markers (which creates a CUE file) and then save the entire file as a single FLAC file. Unfortunately, the CUE file generated by Amadeus is not legal, and many applications cannot read it properly. This is easily mended by hand. Open the CUE file with your favorite text editor and, after the first line, insert a second line specifying a PERFORMER parameter (the word PERFORMER followed by a space and some text in quotes). Also, in the third line, specifying the FILE parameter, change the value in quotes to match the exact name of the FLAC file. Now place the CUE file and the FLAC file together in a single folder. That's it! The CUE file is a legal file and points correctly at the FLAC file. So, for example, you can listen to the archived tracks directly by opening the CUE file with Cog, and you can generate a compressed-format version of the tracks, suitable for use with iTunes or your iPod, by opening the CUE file with Max or XLD (all are freeware).
No matter what the variation, I've probably been there and done that. What I've described here is what I happen to be doing now. There is plenty of experimentation and sound reasoning behind my choices at every step, and the results suit me. They might also provide a starting place for someone puzzled or hesitating over how to accomplish a similar aim. If that's you, be reassured that it's possible to turn an hour of vinyl into very acceptable digital in just a couple of hours and without a capital outlay that will bust your budget.
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Posted on 10 March 2010 | 9:24 pm External Link: EFF Examines iPhone Developer License AgreementAlongside Apple's undeniable success with the iPhone App Store have been the near-constant stories of app rejections for dubious or entirely bogus reasons (to be fair, most rejections are entirely legitimate). But what gives Apple the right to reject or even remove apps? The iPhone Developer Program License Agreement, to which all iPhone developers must agree. The EFF has now acquired copies of the agreement and analyzed some of the more troubling clauses. Would they stand up in court? There's no way to know until someone sues Apple.
Read and post comments about this article | Tweet this article Fetch Softworks: Fetch 5.5 has new support for Mac OS X10.5 Leopard technologies like Quick Look. And you can upload with the oldest technology of all, Copy and Paste! Download your free trial version! <http://fetchsoftworks.com/>
Posted on 10 March 2010 | 3:43 pm TextExpander 3.0Want to use a text expansion utility to save typing cumbersome phrases but dislike switching programs to create snippets? The new TextExpander 3.0 from SmileOnMyMac adds a hotkey combination that opens a quick entry window for snippet creation, and another hotkey lets you edit the last-expanded snippet, making it easier to update one that's no longer quite right. Other new features in TextExpander include "fill-in" snippets that can prompt you for additional text to be entered manually, new options for finding snippets in your collection, and snippet syncing via both MobileMe and Dropbox. Minor changes include the capability to insert Tab and Return characters in snippets, correction of accidental double-capitalizations at the start of sentences, automatic updates via Sparkle, and more. Finally, TextExpander 3 is now a full-fledged application rather than a preference pane. ($34.95 new, $15 upgrades, free for those who purchased after 1 November 2009, 4.5 MB)
Read and post comments about this article | Tweet this article Microsoft's MacBU: Supporting Mac users with Office 2008.Is your Office up-to-date? Make sure you're running the latest versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Entourage by choosing Check for Updates from the Help menu of any Office application!
Posted on 10 March 2010 | 3:32 pm DEVONthink and DEVONnote 2.0DEVONtechnologies has released major upgrades of its document and information management programs DEVONnote and DEVONthink (which comes in three flavors: Personal, Professional, and Pro Office). Changes in both programs include a refreshed interface with a new Welcome Assistant, a tagging interface for those who prefer tagging to hierarchical groups, improved annotation capabilities for PDFs, and added support for text substitutions and data detectors under Snow Leopard. Changes specific to DEVONthink 2.0 include enhanced search capabilities with advanced search operators, the capability to save complex search strings as smart groups, the capability to open multiple databases and documents simultaneously (Pro and Pro Office only), unlimited undos, and synchronization support for a forthcoming iPhone OS app. DEVONnote 2.0 absorbs several features from its more-capable sibling, including expanded support for common file formats, a new Finder-esque sidebar, a full-screen mode, separate document windows, a three-pane view, and smart templates. Full release notes for both DEVONthink and DEVONnote are available on the DEVONtechnologies Web site. (Pricing varies, 17.5/10.6 MB)
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Posted on 8 March 2010 | 2:37 pm External Link: Jakob Nielsen Criticizes iTunes App Update InterfaceUsability guru Jakob Nielsen devoted his Alertbox post this week to showing how interfaces can become confusing if elements like buttons and checkboxes are too far away from the objects they act on, using the iPhone app updating interface in iTunes as an example. Our take is that the overall mistake here is that Apple is relying on iTunes for too many unrelated tasks that call out for different interface approaches.
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Posted on 8 March 2010 | 1:38 pm Default Folder X 4.3.6St. Clair Software has released a maintenance and stability update to the Open/Save dialog enhancement utility Default Folder X. Version 4.3.6 improves the handling of recently used folders in Carbon-based applications such as the Adobe Creative Suite, Microsoft Office, and Mozilla Firefox; adds support for Flash- and AJAX-driven file dialogs, such as those triggered by attaching files in Gmail and uploading videos to YouTube; and now utilizes Sparkle for automatic update checks. The update also adds the capability to drag any file onto the program's Dock icon to get info on it, improves compatibility with Mac OS X 10.4, adds the option to set a default minimum size for the sidebar, and includes a number of other minor bug fixes and improvements. ($34.95 new, $14.95 upgrade, free update for owners of version 4.x or 3.x owners who purchased their copy after 1 June 2007, 9.7 MB)
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Posted on 8 March 2010 | 10:55 am Mactracker 5.1Ian Page has released the latest version of Mactracker, a freeware utility that provides detailed technical information on Apple hardware. The update includes a new Compare function that enables users to note differences between models easily, an improved engine that searches specification entries, updated support status for vintage and obsolete products, and new listings for the 20-inch mid-2009 iMac and the forthcoming iPad. The latest version also addresses a crashing bug that occurred when running the program under Snow Leopard, an issue that caused incorrect search results when using certain characters, and other unspecified minor problems. (Free, 25.1 MB)
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Posted on 8 March 2010 | 10:51 am BusyCal 1.2.2BusyMac has released its latest version of BusyCal, the desktop calendar application with built-in sharing capabilities, adding a handful of minor bug fixes and performance tweaks. Version 1.2.2 removes the word BusyCal from meeting invitations and responses, alerts you when you are sending an invitation or response without a Me card attached, enables you to remove a single instance of a repeating meeting, enhances compatibility with Outlook .ics/.vcs files, and supports shorter Google alarm times. The update also prevents the info panel from going blank when edits arrive over a LAN, supports ISO-8859-1 and Shift-JIS in .ics files, improves the visibility of the To Do status in Month view, and fixes a number of unspecified crashing bugs. ($40, free updates, 6.8 MB)
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Posted on 8 March 2010 | 10:18 am TidBITS Watchlist: Notable Software Updates for 8 March 2010
Changes specific to DEVONthink 2.0 include enhanced search capabilities with advanced search operators, the capability to save complex search strings as smart groups, the capability to open multiple databases and documents simultaneously (Pro and Pro Office only), unlimited undos, and synchronization support for a forthcoming iPhone OS app. DEVONnote 2.0 absorbs several features from its more-capable sibling, including expanded support for common file formats, a new Finder-esque sidebar, a full-screen mode, separate document windows, a three-pane view, and smart templates. Full release notes for both DEVONthink and DEVONnote are available on the DEVONtechnologies Web site. (Pricing varies, 17.5/10.6 MB) Read/post comments about DEVONthink and DEVONnote 2.0.
Read/post comments about BusyCal 1.2.2.
Read/post comments about Default Folder X 4.3.6.
Read/post comments about Mactracker 5.1.
Read/post comments about Mailplane 2.1.5.
Read/post comments about ProKit 5.1 (Leopard and Snow Leopard).
Read and post comments about this article | Tweet this article READERS LIKE YOU! Support TidBITS with a contribution today!<http://www.tidbits.com/about/support/contributors.html> Special thanks this week to Keith Holzman, Joe Parrish, Conrad Halling, and Richard Rumage for their generous support!
Posted on 8 March 2010 | 2:44 am ExtraBITS for 8 March 2010The future of iPad development captured our attention this week, with Jeff Carlson pointing out how The Omni Group is developing for a device they don't yet have and how Penguin Books plans to go beyond the book on the iPad. Also, Adam chats about iPhone multitasking with Shawn King on Your Mac Life, and the EFF compiles a list of abuses of the DMCA.
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Posted on 8 March 2010 | 2:38 am iPad to Arrive in U.S. on April 3rdApple has announced the U.S. shipping date for the Wi-Fi-only iPad: 3 April 2010. The company will start taking orders at the online Apple Store and at Apple retail stores on 12 March 2010. Models that have both Wi-Fi and 3G will ship in late April. In a press release, Apple said that the iBooks app and iBookstore will be available on 3 April 2010 as well, but only in the United States. Oddly, the free iBooks app won't be included on the iPad and must be downloaded separately. Apple will ship the iPad in both of its network flavors in late April in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the UK. Pricing hasn't been announced, but will be revealed in April. Apple will also ship the iPad in more countries later this year. However, the Wi-Fi flavor of the iPad will work worldwide, and the version with 3G has an unlocked, swappable micro-SIM slot. (The micro-SIM format isn't yet widely available, however.)
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Posted on 5 March 2010 | 8:14 am Cartoons Reveal DRM FrustrationsI was struck by two recent cartoons that echo a common frustration with digital rights managed media: it's so hard to use the clumsy, purposely frustrating interfaces that it's easier to download and play a pirated version of media for which you have legitimate access. First, Geekologie outlined in PowerPoint-like form the way in which the marketing and copyright geniuses at movie studios have ruined the experience of getting to a movie once you've inserted a DVD into a player. There have been discs I've accessed lately that I wanted to put into the microwave oven after spending multiple minutes just getting to the point where I could actually watch the main feature. There's no reason for all this: the FBI, Interpol, and other warnings obviously don't ever stop anyone from any activity, but they are de rigueur irritations. Increasingly, unskippable trailers market to us just like we're bombarded at movie theaters. The alternative? Stick a ripped-and-burned disc into a drive - or open a ripped file - and watch the film sans preludes. The second cartoon, from the super-geeky Web designer duo The Brads (Brad Colbow and Brad Dielman), hits close to our heart: it shows Brad D. attempting to check out and listen to an audio book in digital form from his local library. (This cartoon is too big to display here; click the link to view it.) Matt Neuburg painted a word story of the same horrible process in "A Silly Saga: How I Downloaded an Audio Book from My Library" (5 March 2009). Brad Dielman's saga ends with downloading the audio from a BitTorrent site. In both cases, the examples aren't, "Hey, go steal stuff and rip off the copyright holder!" Rather, the humor lies in how hard companies make it to access content we have already paid for and can access entirely legitimately. Media firms seem to delight in making it hard, all of which contributes to "piracy" as a form of civil disobedience.
Read and post comments about this article | Tweet this article Microsoft's MacBU: Supporting Mac users with Office 2008.Straighten up your Office with the latest updates to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Entourage. Update today at Mactopia! <http://www.microsoft.com/mac/downloads.mspx>
Posted on 4 March 2010 | 9:15 pm Apple Offers Cheaper Mac Developer ProgramThe Apple Developer Connection (ADC) is no more; it has been renamed to the Mac Developer Program to parallel the iPhone Developer Program. The Mac Developer Program's price is now a uniform $99 per year, without any hardware discounts; a limited free version of the program remains available. This change comes shortly after Apple imposed mandatory membership at $99 per year in the iPhone Developer Program to receive future iPhone OS betas. Before the iPhone 3.2 beta release, members could join at no cost, and pay only if they wanted to release software through the App Store. (It's possible the iPhone Developer Program fee applies only during the beta period; Apple says elsewhere that the iPhone SDK is available at no cost.) ADC membership used to have many tiers, differentiated partly by whether Mac OS X update and new version betas were included. A free membership included access to technical documentation ($199 got you the same stuff shipped on discs by mail), while paid levels included Mac OS X betas. The $499 Select level included Mac OS X builds, two technical support incidents with which developers could get detailed troubleshooting help, and one hardware discount. The hardware discount allowed purchases of Macs at reduced prices, sometimes high enough to offset the full price of Select. A $3,499 Premier membership included a ticket to WWDC (Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference), 10 hardware discounts, and eight technical support incidents. Both programs also provided access to Apple onsite compatibility labs, marketing help, and other tidbits. A Student membership cost $99, and included just the hardware discount and operating system builds. In contrast, the new Mac Developer Program is a thing of simplicity: $99 per year for access to Mac OS X releases, including server versions. This price includes two technical support incidents, and additional incidents cost $99 for a pack of two or $249 for a pack of five. The $99 price is the same for individuals or for companies of any size. Apple dropped WWDC-related material and hardware discounts in the new program. At one point, when Macs cost substantially more and developers regularly needed new models to test, the hardware discount made those purchases palatable; a developer subscription was often cheaper than the difference Apple charged between its street price and its developer price for a high-end computer. Now, many developers don't need to buy hardware every year (and Apple's entry-level models are powerful enough to allow software development), but do need the technical support incidents. For many developers, this is a massive price drop. Daniel Jalkut of Red Sweater Software tweeted, "Whoah, my annual Apple tax dropped from $600 to $200?" (He was referring to the cost of his iPhone and Mac developer memberships combined.) A free option remains, which looks identical to the previous ADC free level and provides access to Apple's Xcode 3 developer tools, online resources, and bug reporting. Apple's intention is clearly to make it more affordable to dip one's toes into the Mac OS X development pool without a $500 (plus sales tax) tab. It also means that those of us who write about Mac OS X or develop Web applications can have far cheaper access to future releases and upgrades against which we can test before they ship. Apple has a FAQ that explains the transition for existing ADC members, who retain various benefits such as transferrable assets (the ability to let other account holders get a hardware discount or access to Mac OS X pre-releases) until current memberships expire. Recent subscribers or those who purchased renewals may be able to get refunds.
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Posted on 4 March 2010 | 9:02 pm External Link: Adam Discusses iPhone OS Multitasking on Your Mac LifeYour Mac Life host Shawn King admitted that he normally glazes over when topics like multitasking are broached, but a good time was had by all while discussing all the things we think of when we say "multitasking" and how (or if) we'll see support for them in the iPhone OS.
Read and post comments about this article | Tweet this article THE MISSING SYNC: Take it with you! The Missing Sync makesit easy to synchronize contacts, calendars, notes, photos and more from your Mac to your BlackBerry, HTC, Treo, iPhone and other phones. <http://www.markspace.com/bits>
Posted on 4 March 2010 | 2:58 pm External Link: EFF Examines 12 Years of the DMCA's Unintended ConsequencesOur friends at the EFF have compiled a list of situations in which the anti-circumvention provisions of the DMCA - the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 - have been used to chill free expression and scientific research, attack fair use, impede competition and innovation, and interfere with computer intrusion laws. Isn't it time to rewrite the DMCA so it can no longer be used to hinder the legitimate activities of journalists, scientists, innovators, and the rest of us?
Read and post comments about this article | Tweet this article Microsoft's MacBU: Supporting Mac users with Office 2008.Straighten up your Office with the latest updates to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Entourage. Update today at Mactopia! <http://www.microsoft.com/mac/downloads.mspx>
Posted on 4 March 2010 | 1:50 pm Mailplane 2.1.5Uncomplex has released a minor maintenance update to Mailplane, its WebKit wrapper for Gmail, with a handful of fixes and improvements. The latest version adds highly welcome support for Gmail's recently enhanced "separate window" feature, which enables users to open multiple Gmail windows more quickly for multitasking purposes. The update also fixes an issue that prevented Growl notifications from opening when the main window was hidden, reinstates the capability to upload attachments when using Flash 10.1b3, addresses a memory leak that occurred when using drag-and-drop, fixes an AppleScript bug, and resolves several smaller problems. ($24.95 new, free update, 7.6 MB)
Read and post comments about this article | Tweet this article WebCrossing Neighbors Creates Private Social NetworksCreate a complete social network with your company or group's own look. Scalable, extensible and extremely customizable. Take a guided tour today <http://www.webcrossing.com/tour>
Posted on 4 March 2010 | 7:54 am WeatherBug Elite 1.0WeatherBug Elite is a full-featured weather conditions and forecast app from AWS Convergence Technologies. Reviewed version: 1.0, released on 24 April 2009 and priced at $0.99. I admit it, I care deeply about the weather. Perhaps that's unfashionable in today's technological (and largely indoor) society, but I grew up on a farm listening to forecasts on our Radio Shack weather radio because we needed to know when there would be enough dry weather to make hay, for instance. While I managed to escape the farm, I still want to know what the current and near-future weather is before I go out for a run, and it's especially important when planning for upcoming races. I used to think that weather Web sites were one of the best uses of the Internet, but after using weather apps on my iPhone, I've switched completely. When you want to know what the weather is going to be like, it's much easier to pull out your iPhone and tap an icon than it is to get to a computer, load a Web page, and attempt to parse the forecast out of the horrible layouts of many weather sites. After looking at a few weather apps a while back, I settled on WeatherBug Elite, which also comes in a free, ad-supported version called WeatherBug that lacks a few advanced features. I used the free version for a while, but the ads are a bit annoying, and at $0.99, it was easy to ante up for WeatherBug Elite.
I chose WeatherBug over other options at the time for two basic reasons. First, it displays current conditions on the main screen in an easy-to-read yet detailed fashion. Second, it also shows the next half-day forecast on the main screen, complete with an overview icon, a text forecast, and the daytime high or nighttime low. Thus, a single tap on the WeatherBug icon gives me all the basic weather information I'm likely to want with a single glance, after only a brief pause for the app to fetch new data. Also, if there are any weather alerts, such as the winter storm watch shown here, WeatherBug puts a red badge on its icon and displays the alert between the current conditions and the next half-day forecast. Tapping the current conditions part of the main screen provides a separate Current Conditions screen that repeats the same information in a tabular layout, adding only two more pieces of data: Monthly Rain and Rain Rate. As a result, I seldom bother to check it. (For hyper-local information, I use the Ithaca Climate Page, which includes data from a station only a few miles away, along with monthly summary information that's key for discussion about how hot or cold, or how wet or snowy, a particular month has been.) I often tap the half-day forecast from the main screen to show the Forecast Details screen for each half-day for the upcoming week. This screen offers a lovely level of detail, again with icons, full text forecasts, and the high and low temperatures. Too many other weather apps (including Apple's own lowly Weather app) rely purely on icons, as if an icon could somehow encapsulate a forecast like this: Snow with rain likely in the morning... then snow in the afternoon. Snow may be heavy at times in the afternoon. Snow accumulation of 3 to 5 inches. Highs in the lower 30s. Northwest winds 10 to 15 mph. Gusts up to 30 mph. Chance of precipitation near 100 percent.
Now that's a forecast you can sink your teeth into! Oddly, tapping the Forecasts button in the toolbar at the bottom presents you with an abbreviated and less useful Forecasts screen, requiring another tap to get to the good Forecast Details screen. Tapping a forecast in the Forecast Details screen, or tapping the Hourly button in the abbreviated Forecasts screen, shows the hourly forecasts for the current day. Unfortunately, it always shows the current day initially, no matter which day you've tapped in the Forecast Details screen, which seems like a bug to me. Once in the Hourly Forecast screen, you can tap arrows at the top of the screen to move from day to day. The other aspect of WeatherBug that I adore is the radar map, which can zoom to the individual house level. That's too close, of course, but I often like seeing the weather within a 20 mile radius to see what will happen in the next hour or two, as well as within a 200 mile radius to see what's coming later in the day. Standard iPhone controls provide smooth zooming. Even better, the radar map can be animated, so you can see the motion of any precipitation over the last few hours. You can also adjust the opacity of the precipitation overlay in the radar map. WeatherBug puts a pin in the location you've set, but that's likely generic. All you have to do to drop another pin is tap and hold on the desired location. Once a pin has been dropped, tap it to show an icon of the current conditions, the current temperature, and, optionally, a circle of user-specified radius (so you can tell how far away some rain is). WeatherBug Elite also offers temperature, pressure, humidity, and windspeed maps, along with infrared and visible satellite maps, plus maps of the next day's high and low temperatures. I occasionally turn one of those on to see something specific, but always return to the radar map (it can show only one data overlay at a time). The final two buttons on the toolbar - Video and Camera - display a 2 minute national weather forecast that I've never watched all the way through, since I'm generally uninterested in the overall weather across the country (though I love checking out the radar maps of storm systems when I hear complaints from geographically dispersed friends in Twitter). Almost as pointless are the still images from cameras that WeatherBug has installed on various schools and other buildings in the area. Unless I'm going to one of those exact locations, I can't see the utility - though the photos can be animated to get a sense of clouds moving through. It's easy to add multiple locations to WeatherBug and to switch between them using the arrows at the top of the screen (though it would be useful to have the list wrap around when there are many sites included, or to be able to visit a station from the Locations screen), and you can always select Current Location to get the nearest station, which is nice when travelling.
From an interface standpoint, WeatherBug suffers mostly from replication - the Current Conditions screen should add more data (like snowfall, and current snow depth) that's not on the main screen or be dropped, and the abbreviated Forecasts screen is simply unnecessary and could be eliminated in favor of the Forecast Details screen. Plus, as I noted before, the hourly forecast should reflect the day from which it's accessed. The main thing that's missing from WeatherBug, for those of us who care deeply about our weather, is historical data of temperature and precipitation. That data is undoubtedly available, and WeatherBug's developers just need to figure out a way to display it in a useful form. Finally, if historical data were available, something I'd love to see in a weather site or app is a retrospective view on accuracy. We all know that weather forecasts are based on percentages and likelihoods, and the actual weather can often vary quite widely. Wouldn't it be great if WeatherBug could be honest about how accurate its forecasts were?
Read and post comments about this article | Tweet this article Fetch Softworks: Fetch 5.5 lets you edit remote files withany application, or Quick Look them for a snappy preview. Best of all, uploads are faster and more reliable than ever. Download your free trial version! <http://fetchsoftworks.com/>
Posted on 4 March 2010 | 7:39 am External Link: Designing for the iPad before It's AvailableHow do you design software for a device that doesn't yet exist in the market? Developers can use the iPad simulator included with Apple's Xcode, but that's a limited approach when the main method of interaction is touch. In a blog post, the Omni Group reveals how they're using paper mockups, a prototype created with a 3D printer (which we saw at Macworld Expo - it's cool), and even a pad of graph paper cut down to size with a table saw to develop OmniGraphSketcher for the iPad.
Read and post comments about this article | Tweet this article  Yojimbo 2.0 from Bare Bones Software: The effortless,reliable information organizer for Mac OS X. It will change your life, without changing the way you work. Try it today! <http://www.barebones.com/products/yojimbo/>
Posted on 3 March 2010 | 1:28 pm ProKit 5.1 (Leopard and Snow Leopard)Apple has released ProKit 5.1 (Leopard and Snow Leopard), an update to operating system-level components shared by the company's professional and semi-professional applications (Final Cut Studio, Final Cut Pro, Motion, Soundtrack Pro, DVD Studio Pro, Aperture, Final Cut Express, Soundtrack, Logic Pro and Logic Express). Addressed in ProKit 5.1 are improper scrolling behavior, memory leaks, and the "layout of interface elements in certain application alert windows." (Free update, 32.39 MB)
Read and post comments about this article | Tweet this article Fetch Softworks: Fetch 5.5 lets you edit remote files withany application, or Quick Look them for a snappy preview. Best of all, uploads are faster and more reliable than ever. Download your free trial version! <http://fetchsoftworks.com/>
Posted on 2 March 2010 | 9:40 pm What Is that $1 MobileMe Charge from Apple?A call came through to my iPhone from an unknown 866 number while I was in a meeting, so I ignored it. But when I checked voicemail later, the automated message claimed to be from Citibank, with whom we have several credit cards, and said I should call a particular number to talk with them about a potential fraud warning. I have a firm policy never to call such numbers, since there's no way to verify that the people on the other end aren't scammers, but when I called the customer service number on the back of my credit card, the representative confirmed the automated call. Oddly, the charge which Citibank was worried about was for $1.00 exactly, and it had been charged by MobileMe. Tonya and I both confirmed that we hadn't ordered anything recently via iTunes by logging into our accounts (besides, I've never seen iTunes charge $1.00 exactly for anything) or from the Apple Store (check the Apple Store Order Status page for Apple Store orders, and the Apple Internet Services Order Status page for iPhoto orders), and neither of us has ever purchased additional storage from MobileMe. But it's entirely likely that we could have ordered something from Apple, so I let the Citibank people put our card on hold while I investigated further. Logging in to my MobileMe account revealed nothing unusual, so I clicked Contact Support, then Account & Billing and then Renew & Reactivate, since that was as close as I could see to information about billing problems. Nothing there looked helpful, but the page offered me a chance to chat with a MobileMe Advisor, so I clicked the Chat Now button. The support rep asked reasonable questions, the key one of which was if I had other MobileMe accounts. Since Tonya's account is also associated with that card, I said yes, and he asked if either of us had made changes to our accounts recently, such as personal or billing information. Neither of us had, and he admitted to being stumped, but explained that Apple normally uses a $1.00 charge as a preauthorization charge to verify that a stored credit card number is still good. When I asked what the preauthorization would be for, since we weren't buying anything, he explained further that it could happen any time personal or billing information changed, or when an account is created or renewed. Since we had renewed our accounts by buying less-expensive MobileMe boxes from Amazon (a known trick for paying less than $99 for a year of MobileMe service - you'll currently save $30), he didn't see why a preauthorization should have occurred. But then came the light bulb, since Tonya noted from the other room that her MobileMe account was set to renew automatically in April 2010, something that I had turned off for my account. When I mentioned that to the support rep, he apologized profusely for not noticing that fact, since it explained everything. In essence, roughly a month before automatic renewal, Apple charges your credit card $1.00 to verify that it's still good, and 3 to 5 business days later, refunds the money to your card. So most people don't even see the charge. It was only because Citibank's fraud warning system noticed that we were alerted. This makes perfect sense from Apple's perspective, since if the preauthorization charge fails, there's some time for the user to switch to a different card before the renewal date arrives. Otherwise, if Apple cut off access without warning due to a card failing, the user would likely be unhappy about losing access to email and other MobileMe services. A friend on Facebook said that Citibank had actually denied his WWDC registration fee a few years in a row because Apple did the same thing - charging $1.00 to verify the card, followed by a large charge for the conference registration. That sort of behavior isn't uncommon for credit card thieves, who try a small, innocuous charge that many people won't notice on their statements, after which they know they can abuse the card more fully. In fact, the last time we experienced a similar problem, it was a touch embarrassing, since we saw a $19.95 charge for Yahoo on our credit card bill, and couldn't figure it out (it turned out that our card number had been stolen). But when Tonya called, the credit card rep told her that it was actually for Yahoo Personals, and asked if perhaps I had made the charge without saying anything. Yeesh! Meanwhile, back at this MobileMe charge, since it was entirely legitimate, I called Citibank again to explain and remove the hold on the card. It was a wasted hour out of my day, but I appreciated the decent customer service experiences with both Citibank and Apple. And more important, I learned something I didn't know before, and it's something that could help reduce confusion for other Mac users who see unusual $1.00 charges from Apple.
Read and post comments about this article | Tweet this article THE MISSING SYNC: Take it with you! The Missing Sync makesit easy to synchronize contacts, calendars, notes, photos and more from your Mac to your BlackBerry, HTC, Treo, iPhone and other phones. <http://www.markspace.com/bits>
Posted on 2 March 2010 | 5:09 pm External Link: Penguin Shows Off Upcoming iPad Book IdeasPaidContent.uk writes about a recent presentation made by Penguin Books CEO John Makinson, who was demonstrating the company's ideas for how to offer content on the iPad. Penguin plans to offer books as applications, primarily, to take advantage of multimedia features (such as interactive travel maps, children's games, and animated textbook illustrations) that are difficult or impossible to include in the EPUB format currently required by the iBookstore. Be sure to watch the accompanying video to see what Penguin has in mind. It's great to see a book publisher jump on the possibilities made by the iPad and other electronic readers - with pixels and processors, why merely stick with a reproduction of the paper experience?
Read and post comments about this article | Tweet this article Microsoft's MacBU: Supporting Mac users with Office 2008.Straighten up your Office with the latest updates to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Entourage. Update today at Mactopia! <http://www.microsoft.com/mac/downloads.mspx>
Posted on 2 March 2010 | 1:54 pm Things, a Nimble, Flexible To-Do List ApplicationIn recent years, I've tried some applications dedicated to the elaborate Getting Things Done (GTD) model of organizing your to-do list, such as Thinking Rock and OmniFocus. I also use a calendar program, Remember?, that tells me when an event is upcoming, and is smart about events that repeat at regular intervals. I've also used some utterly simple to-do list programs, such as Ambrosia Software's ToDo! desk accessory. (ToDo! doesn't run on Mac OS X, and I bet most of you don't even remember what a "desk accessory" was; you can get a notion of ToDo!'s simple, clean interface from the screenshots of Omicron's ToDo X, which is modeled after it.) The nice thing about Things, from Cultured Code (a development house based in Stuttgart, Germany), is that it combines aspects of all of these. Its interface is bright, clean, and simple. It understands due dates and has a very good notion of repeating events. It can be used in the very simplest way, with the most basic organization, like assigning a task a priority value or a vague target date. But it can also implement something very like a full-fledged GTD system. And that flexibility is the whole point: Things gives you a few elementary tools, and you combine them the way you want to.
On the left side of the window is a sidebar containing levels of commitment to which a task can be assigned:
A task that isn't in the Inbox must be in Someday or in Scheduled or in Next, and a task in Next either is or is not also in Today; that basic fact is one of the few Things fundamentals that must actively be grasped in order to use the program effectively. The sidebar can also display areas of responsibility. These are arbitrary categories, rather like tags; and at first you might not see why you'd use areas of responsibility as opposed to tags. One reason is that it's nice to have a way of seeing tasks that's independent of levels of commitment. For example, I've got a "Programming" area of responsibility, just to have a place in the sidebar where all programming-related tasks live, regardless of their "levels" status. You can actually combine areas and tag: every task in an area of responsibility automatically acquires any tags assigned to that area. Some tasks are complex, and need to be broken down into simpler sub-tasks, providing you with a clear sense you're getting somewhere even though you haven't yet completed the whole task; a task like that should be a project. A project is itself a task, with a few special features. For example, a project's tags are automatically assigned to its sub-tasks. Most important, if a project is in Next, just its first few uncompleted sub-tasks are displayed there. This keeps a project from becoming overwhelming, and keeps you focussed on the sub-tasks in order. (A project cannot have sub-projects.) To focus on a set of tasks, click on something in the sidebar; this limits the main display to the contents of what you clicked. For example, to see the Next tasks, click Next. Then, at the top of the window, there's a region called the filter bar, which lets you focus still further. This region appears only if it's needed, and it contains only buttons relevant to what's being displayed in the window. So, if some tasks displayed in the window have due dates, the filter bar appears, with an alarm-clock button in it; click that button to see only the tasks with due dates (in date order). If the window is showing some tasks that have tags, the filter bar appears, with buttons representing those tags; click one (or more) to see only the tasks with those tags. There's also a search field at the bottom of the window, so you can limit what you're seeing to tasks whose title, note, or tasks contain certain characters. Things has some additional features that I haven't tried, such as synchronization with iCal or the Things iPhone app (which I also haven't tried). And there are some other features, such as the Add Teammate menu item, whose purpose is not clear to me.
Sometimes the interface seems a bit too simple, though. For example, the filter bar lets me limit my view to tasks that have a certain tag; but there's no way to see only tasks that don't have a certain tag. To see why this might be needed, consider a tag whose meaning is negative ("on hold", "waiting"); it's still in Next, but you can't actually perform it right now, so you need to hide it in order to pick something you can do. Similarly, there is no view in which you see all your tasks: you must click on just one level of commitment in the sidebar, and then you see only the tasks in that level. Similarly, the pending arrival of an item's due date isn't magically signalled; you have to deliberately look in Next and deliberately filter/sort by due date. As a result, as soon as I've more than a few tasks, I tend to become confused about what's where; I have to keep poking around, looking at various lists, trying to get an overall picture of the situation. But those are minor quibbles compared to the lack of decent documentation. What documentation there is feels like an afterthought; indeed, until fairly recently the best explanation of Things was a user's online video, not even hosted at Cultured Code's site! There's online help (which appears in Apple's dreaded Help Viewer), but it's sketchy and uninformative, not to mention downright incomplete: for example, you'd never know from the online help that you can drag files into a tag's Note, or what the mysterious Add Teammate menu item is for. Similarly, Things is scriptable with AppleScript, and there's a PDF Things AppleScript Guide; but this isn't mentioned in the online documentation, and the download doesn't include the Guide, so how on earth are you supposed to find out about it? Cultured Code has a habit of describing a feature on their blog or their wiki and leaving documentation to catch up a year or two later; but not everyone wants to search the Web for basic facts about what an application does. The online help is also inconsistent, using different terms for the same concept in different places (is it a "task," an "item," or a "to-do"?). The application's interface terminology has the same problem. The Add Teammate menu item creates a sidebar section called People (not Teammate) - two terms for one thing. "Levels of commitment" (documentation) are also called "Focus" (sidebar). When a task is selected, a certain menu item reads Move to Someday or Move to Next; when a project is selected, the very same menu item reads Make Inactive or Make Active, and does exactly the same thing - a clear candidate for Occam's Razor. My prescription is, as usual, that Cultured Code should hire an experienced teacher and documentation writer to rewrite the online help, provide a PDF manual, and straighten out the interface terminology. Despite my reservations, I think that Things is an eminently usable application, which, ironically, is just what you want when what you're really after is not to use the application at all, but rather, to get things done. The price seems a little steep, but that hasn't damped the enthusiasm of users on Culture Code's forum, who are vociferously telling Cultured Code how they really use this program. That's a healthy sign; another is that Cultured Code is fairly open about what new features they're working on. Things requires Mac OS X 10.4.11 or later. It costs $49.95 ($74.95 for a five-user, one-household "family pack"), and the download is fully functional without a license for 15 days.
Read and post comments about this article | Tweet this article READERS LIKE YOU! Support TidBITS with a contribution today!<http://www.tidbits.com/about/support/contributors.html> Special thanks this week to Keith Holzman, Joe Parrish, Conrad Halling, and Richard Rumage for their generous support!
Posted on 2 March 2010 | 8:52 am TidBITS Watchlist: Notable Software Updates for 1 March 2010
Read/post comments about Digital Camera Raw Compatibility Update 3.1.
Read/post comments about PDFpen 4.6 and PDFpenPro 4.6.
Read/post comments about Keyboard Maestro 4.1.
Read/post comments about Camino 2.0.2.
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Posted on 1 March 2010 | 12:50 pm External Link: Apple Acknowledges iMac Display Issues to GizmodoIn a statement to Gizmodo, Apple publicly acknowledged the vexing display issues plaguing its latest iMac models. The symptoms of these issues, which mostly affect the 27-inch model, include yellow discoloration and screen flickering. In its statement Apple said, "We've addressed the issues that caused display flickering and yellow tint. Customers concerned that their iMac is affected should contact AppleCare." While the company has been too slow in addressing this problem, better late than never.
Read and post comments about this article | Tweet this article WebCrossing Neighbors Creates Private Social NetworksCreate a complete social network with your company or group's own look. Scalable, extensible and extremely customizable. Take a guided tour today <http://www.webcrossing.com/tour>
Posted on 1 March 2010 | 7:04 am Digital Camera Raw Compatibility Update 3.1When companies release new camera models that are capable of capturing raw images (where the sensor saves the original image data as it was recorded, without compression or optimization), the raw format used by each is slightly (and annoyingly) different and proprietary. Apple incorporates support for the cameras at the system level, rolling them into bulk updates such as the recently released Digital Camera Raw Compatibility Update 3.1. This round adds support for the following cameras: Hasselblad H3DII-50, Leica M9, Leica X1, Olympus E-P1, Olympus E-P2, Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF1, Pentax K-7, Pentax K-x, Sony Alpha DSLR-A500, Sony Alpha DSLR-A550, Sony Alpha DSLR-A850. (Free update, 6.77 MB)
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Posted on 28 February 2010 | 11:15 pm ExtraBITS for 1 March 2010Our Web explorations this week ranged among many different topics, including Apple acknowledging iMac display issues, more on Macworld Expo and Google Buzz, the winner of Apple's iTunes Countdown to 10 Billion Songs, a survey suggesting that the iPad may prove initially more popular than the iPhone, how Apple interacts with external suppliers, a look back with one of the Mac's earliest developers, and Wal-Mart buying the Vudu video service.
Read and post comments about this article | Tweet this article THE MISSING SYNC: Take it with you! The Missing Sync makesit easy to synchronize contacts, calendars, notes, photos and more from your Mac to your BlackBerry, HTC, Treo, iPhone and other phones. <http://www.markspace.com/bits>
Posted on 28 February 2010 | 10:53 pm Learn How To Make a Quilt on Your iPhone or iPod touchArizona based Technical Made Easy today announces Easy Quilt 1.0 for the iPhone and iPod touch. Easy Quilt provides step-by-step instruction with video based lessons on every aspect of Quilt Making, with over 100 different block ideas and all the tools you need to get started right away. Easy Quilt ensures that the Art of Quilting can be taught and referenced from a mobile device. Included with the app are complete descriptions of Fabrics, Supplies, Tools, Charts, Formulas and Tips and Tricks. Posted on 11 March 2010 | 1:40 pm Macgamestore.com Releases Warbirds: Dogfights Digital DownloadMacgamestore.com today announces the digital download release of Warbirds: Dogfights for the Macintosh. The game is an action-air combat game that puts players in the cockpit of the greatest World War II air combat planes during the pivotal battles of the war. The game was developed and published by iEntertainment Network. The game features the ability to engage in dogfights as a member of either the Allies or Axis powers, more than 100 realistically modeled WWII aircraft. Posted on 11 March 2010 | 9:25 am Maintain releases Cocktail 4.6.1 (Leopard Edition)Maintain today announced Cocktail 4.6.1 (Leopard Edition), the latest maintenance update of Cocktail for users running Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. This version adds ability to stop Cocktail from logging out, restarting or shutting down the computer at the end of a scheduled programme. The update also features improvements on the clear Adobe Flash Player caches and cookies procedure as well as overall performance improvements. Posted on 11 March 2010 | 9:20 am WindowFlow Beta released for Mac OS X – Organize Your App WindowsIndependent developer Benedict Lowndes today announces WindowFlow Beta for Mac OS X. WindowFlow provides powerful keyboard commands for organizing your application windows. You can seamlessly move and resize windows which will snap into alignment with each other. WindowFlow's clean and simple interface also acts as a window switcher, allowing you to easily browse all of your open application windows. The beta is available today at a discount for early adopters. Posted on 11 March 2010 | 7:00 am SintraWorks releases Metron 2.0 for iPhone OS – Professional MetronomeSintraWorks today releases Metron 2.0, an update to their professional digital metronome for iPhone and iPod touch. Featuring an intuitive front panel, Metron offers a high-precision playback engine and a bar based sequencer to provide detailed control over tempo settings & time signatures, including mixed meters, accelerandos and ritardandos. Metron incorporates an instrument tuner. Version 2.0 adds a redesigned UI, copy/paste and fully customisable rhythmic subdivisions of the beat. Posted on 11 March 2010 | 5:30 am Fitaide Lite – Innovative iPhone App for Those with No Time for FitnessPOSCITECH today announces Fitaide Lite 1.0, the free version of Fitaide, for the iPhone or iPod touch. The Lite version retains the core features of Fitaide, but can be run for a maximum of 30 minutes per session. To celebrate the launch of the Lite version and to demonstrate the versatility of the app, iTunes gift certificates will be up for grabs this weekend for those who can use the app to capture the maximum number of distinct activities per day. Posted on 11 March 2010 | 5:00 am MUG Leader: Use Terrific TopXNotes For All Your Personal InformationAppleJac Mac User Group president Tom Piper had some great things to say about TopXNotes in a recent review. TopXNotes is an award-winning full-featured personal note manager. Create, view, organize, and instantly access your Mac notes with TopXNotes. You can also encrypt sensitive information to protect it and create Classic iPod notes with TopXNotes. Version 1.5 includes many improvements, including an all new toolbar that puts the post frequently used tools at the user's fingertips. Posted on 11 March 2010 | 5:00 am Markzware’s Deep Desktop Search Finds Smoking GunCalifornia based Markzware today announces PageZephyr 2.0, an update to their desktop search product. PageZephyr 2.0 allows publishing companies, advertising firms, legal eDiscovery or any company possessing so-called proprietary files to manage more of their digital data regardless of how small or large their business' archives may be. PageZephyr 2.0 captures, indexes, and converts content created in proprietary or non-common formats without the need for the original authoring application. Posted on 10 March 2010 | 4:15 pm Group Logic, Inc. Announces New Board MembersVirginia based Group Logic, the leading provider of desktop client integration and data transfer solutions, today announced the appointment of two new members to its Board of Directors. John Malone, who will serve as Chairman, and Dave Ellison. In addition, the company has re-organized its executive team to better position the company for aggressive growth. John Malone has served in a number of leadership roles with a strong emphasis on driving rapid organizational growth. Posted on 10 March 2010 | 3:00 pm PixelMags – 100+ Magazine Apps for iPadCalifornia based PixelMags has 100+ apps ready for Apple's iPad. PixelMags publications are releasing to top paid book app spots all over the world. 30% of readers are making subscriptions their top In App purchase. The release of the iPad is sure to increase this digital publishing phenomenon. Since PixelMags launched in December, 60+ titles for iPhone and iPod touch have been sold in 77 countries through the iTunes App Store. Posted on 10 March 2010 | 2:50 pm |
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PLACENE APPS, KOJE SU UPRAVO POSTALE BESPLATNE - SVE KATEGORIJE TO DOWNLOAD AN APP CLICK THE ----- (iTunes) ----- LINK |
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 Flaboo! 1.2.2Category: Games Price: $0.99 -> Free (iTunes)  Description:Flaboo! in collaboration with www.FreeAppaDay.com will be Free today and today only. -= Please keep your 5 star reviews coming in! =- --- Flaboo! The cutest, most compulsive game around! Tap, tilt and shake the screen to help Fat Chick bounce his considerable bulk off clouds and ever higher in this unique rhythm-action game. On his journey through the weird world of Flaboo, Fat Chick will encounter magical coffee, his own spaceship, lightbulbs and full plate-mail armour. With its unique blend of humour, cute graphics and compulsive gameplay, Flaboo! is sure to keep you tap-tap-tapping away until the wee hours of the morning. ************************ First reviews coming in! App Spy: "Whether you're young or old at heart this is a great buy that you'll find irresistably fun and emminently replayable." App Advice: "The best aspect of Flaboo is the gameplay, which is superior to any casual endless game." DIYGamer: "...it?s so bright and cheery that I?m pretty sure most anti-depressant medication would pale in comparison to a little daily Flaboo." TheMacFeed: "Flaboo is an amazing, gorgeous app that literally keeps you busy for hours" What's New Update to Open Feint 2.4.4 Flaboo!  Mighty Miyo 1.1Category: Games Price: $0.99 -> Free (iTunes)  Description:Mighty Miyo is on a mission. Her mission is to gather all the cheese she can in every level. She has to get the cheeses in each level to move on to the next. This isn't as easy as she thinks because every level is set up with traps and fireballs dropping down. Getting in touch with the fire or any of the traps will kill miyo. She needs your help to guide her through the traps and the fireballs to get to the cheeses and return home safely. She is waiting for you to start this game and reach victory. Levels 10 What's New High Score Mighty Miyo  Two Points 1.2Category: Education Price: $0.99 -> Free (iTunes)  Description:If you are a math student or math teacher, ?Two Points? will be one of your best friends. Business Analysts, Engineers, Architects, and other professionals will also consider this application to be essential. The concept is simple, and the execution is elegant. Simply enter the X and Y coordinates of two points and instantly learn about the points themselves, the segment between them, and the line they fall upon. With the push of a button, this application shows you: - The points in polar notation (great for trigonometry!) - The coordinates of the midpoint - The distance between the points - The slope of the line through the points - The slope of any perpendicular line - The X intercept of the line - The Y intercept of the line - The equation of the line - A graphical representation of the line This application handles vertical lines correctly! Since it?s crucial for students to understand the concepts behind the formulas, ?Two Points? also provides a thorough explanation of the computations that are performed. Math students will love the ability to check their homework answers quickly. Teachers and other professionals will appreciate the ability to discover a wealth of information in the blink of an eye. I welcome all comments, questions, and suggestions: lf@digitalstaffing.com Please check out my other applications: Algebra Pro Calculus Pro Geometry Pro Math Pro (8 math apps for the price of 3!) Parabola Physics Pro Probability Pro Statistics Pro Trig Pro What's New - minor formatting changes Two Points  Quotes and sayings 2.00.01Category: Lifestyle Price: $0.99 -> Free (iTunes)  Description:*** FREE FOR A LIMITED TIME *** ?Quotes and sayings?, top-5 rated App in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, is now available in English with thousands of english quotes and sayings. With this App, you can impress your friends and relatives. Just ask them, if they know what Abraham Lincoln said about being rich or what Barack Obama recently said about bureaucracy. Just use full text search to search for people or even for quotes or just browse the different categories like Advice, Cynicism, Humor etc. You can share quotes via E-Mail, facebook or twitter with other people. You can bookmark your favorite quotes for later reference. There is also a ?Quote of the day? which randomly selects a different quote for every day. You can see the image and additional information to every single author. As requested by many english users, it is also possible to switch between German and English quotes without changing the language of the user interface. In this version, there is also a new button to randomly select a new quote. Quotes and sayings  KanaBlaster 1Category: Games Price: $1.99 -> Free (iTunes)  Description:A fun, free way to practice what you learned from WriteKana. Adrift in a mine field, the good ship SJC is out of fuel and out of luck. With no one on board capable of reading the characters, the crew are in panic, shouting at the tops of their lungs in a plea for help. If only someone could touch the mines in the right order to disarm them, gracefully freeing our heroes from their horrible fate... Look at the command in the bottom of the window, and touch the mines in the proper order. Do this before they reach the bottom to disarm them before they touch the ship, but be careful: if you get one wrong, you'll have to start over! Let the mines reach the bottom, and you'll lose a life, but keep going (you've got 10!). The longer you last, the faster they'll come; in a pinch, tilt the screen forward to slow down time, but don't get used to it?it'll catch up to you! Fast cats can speed up time by tilting the screen back, but be careful what you wish for... Remember: there are evil forces at play here. The game may try to make you lose your focus! Features Include: -The intense puzzle-like structure engages and reenforces what the user already knows and teaches confidence. -Three modes for different learning levels: hiragana, katakana, and Murder Mode: a mad-cap mix of both! -Entrancing soundtrack by killa.fr0gg KanaBlaster  Hit Me 1.00Category: Games Price: $0.99 -> Free (iTunes)  Description:Hit Me is a Whac-A-Mole game with cute graphics. You may be addicted with it's simple and easy playing game style. Let's challenge a higher score today! Features: - Cute graphics - Sounds & Vibrations - Score board - Real time ave and resume on disturb or quiting game. - Other hidden effects Hit Me  Fallen Sorcerer 1.0Category: Games Price: $0.99 -> Free (iTunes)  Description:FREE for 2 days! A addicting game that captivates from the first moments of playing in it. The bride of Our hero - young magician was killed and he goes to hell to save her soul Monsters: The rocket - is flying on an arbitrary trajectory into the hero's island Lavamover - is moving just over the hero. Flying up to him it throws lava n him. Shooter - moves on a chaotic trajectory, shoots with fireballs through hero's island Upgrades: - The number of lives, - Mana quantity - Damage - Accuracy. 4 types of skill: fireballs with double damage Freezing the enemies Repair of the island (replenishment of lives) Help magician, because he is now in Hell and rescues his beloved! Fallen Sorcerer  Drunkometer 1.1Category: Entertainment Price: $0.99 -> Free (iTunes)  Description:*** As a weekend special, the Drunkometer is now free *** Out drinking with friends? Take the Drunkometer with you! The Drunkometer tests whether you're drunk or not. The test checks your reaction time and stability. If it finds out that you're drunk, it gives you the option to email your current location to a friend. Don't have a friend that can come and get you? That's okay, the Drunkometer also lets you look for a taxi nearby. On the first time you play, it might take you few times to pass... So give it few tries before you go out drinking! Drunkometer is for entertainment purposes only. Passing the test doesn't mean you should be driving. Don't drink and drive. What's New Faster location services. Drunkometer  Bomb Master Physics Puzzler 1.0.5Category: Games Price: $1.99 -> Free (iTunes)  Description:Free Game of the day! Only Today 100% SALE! Let's destroy! Bomb master is a classic "easy to learn, hard to handle" casual game that will pull you in and won't let go. This is a new game for iphone and ipod touch where all you have to do is destroying! Feel free with your demolish thoughs. Destroy different bridges and make it perfectly, recieve money for that, buy amunition for next adventures. Open Feint integration is letting you become richest player around the world or become a proffesional with biggest game score. Play with friends, become better than your friends! Features: - realistic physics - 4 different bomb type is avaliable - 40 unique levels with absolutely different demolition ways - cash rewards and ammo shop - unique lite design - unique task system, here you have to totally clean some area on the screen - sync with your twitter, facebook, add friends (open feint integration) - 2 global leaderboards (Highest demolition score and Richest player) - tutorial What's New 1) Open Feint Crash fixed 2) Gave more time for all the objects to 'settle' problem is solved! Thanks to Arun from www.averageapper.com and to everybody who is playing! Waiting for yours feedbacks and ratings ;) Best, Ivan. Bomb Master Physics Puzzler  Fairfax Radio News 2.0.0Category: News Price: $0.99 -> Free (iTunes)  Description:Instant access to Australia?s best radio news live on your iPhone, wherever and whenever you want it. Version 2.0 gives you National plus State-based news bulletins from Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and selected regional markets. Features: - 3-5 minutes duration, updated regularly - Select your favourite city?s news as the default - Resources of the Fairfax Radio News Network and affiliate radio stations throughout Australia What's New - City selection Fairfax Radio News  Romaclub 1.3Category: Sports Price: $0.99 -> Free (iTunes)  Description:Romaclub sempre con te! Da la possibilit di portare la propria squadra del cuore sempre con te. Compatibile con iPhone; richiede un collegamento online tramite WiFi o Rete Cellulare. Caratteristiche tecniche: ? Essere costantemente aggiornato su tutte le news e sulle anticipazioni in tempo reale. ? Guardare in ogni momento l'elenco di tutti i giocatori della Roma con le informazioni sul giocatore e l'attuale allenatore. ? Essere costantemente aggiornato sulla: - Classifica di serie A 2009/10; - Il calendario; - Risultato della partita; - Risultato delle partite di Coppa Italia 2009/10; - Risultato della Uefa Europa League 2009/10. ? Visualizzare i prezzi dei biglietti per il campionato di serie A 2009/10. ? Leggete qualche informazione sulla Storia della societ, Organigramma, Albo d'oro e il Centro sportivo. ? Accedere direttamente alla pagina di FaceBook dando la possibilit di chattare direttamente sull'applicazione. ? Ascoltare l'inno della Roma. ? Guardare e vedere le informazioni su come raggiungere lo stadio con collegamento GPS e vedere qualche immagini dello stadio. What's New Aggiornamento Applicazione: ? Scheda Giocatori. Romaclub  3D Jingle Balls 1.1.1Category: Games Price: $0.99 -> Free (iTunes)  Description:Looking for a quality balance game with great polish FOR FREE? This is it! If you are up to the challenge, check out also ? Libra Balance ? [On Sale $0.99]. 3D Jingle Balls is a unique balance puzzler with topnotch graphics and an original concept. Guide the balls in the hole, while getting around obstacles like Christmas trees, snowmen, teddy bears and gifts. Beautiful, snowy outdoor and warm indoor scenes with seasonal themes guarantee to provide fun for all ages. Check out ?Libra Balance? for even more balancing fun! Gameplay video: http://tinyurl.com/jingleVideo KEY FEATURES: ? full 3D (OpenGL) ? topnotch graphics ? accurate physics ? 8 beautiful, holiday-themed levels ? auto save and resume ? intuitive, accelerometer based tilt controls ? easy, medium and hard game modes ? music and sound fx can be switched off ? global or local high scores ? ability to submit your highscores to Twitter and Facebook ? send and accept invitations from friends ? comment your friends' achievements ? PICK UP AND PLAY ? 3D Jingle Balls can be played on the go and absorb you into the game regardless of the time you have. ? GAMEPLAY ? Your goal is to get all the balls into the hole to proceed to the next level. Tilt, turn and shake your device to move the in-game platter and the balls. ? AUTO SAVE AND RESUME ? No worries if you get a phone call or need to exit out the game in a hurry. The game auto saves your progress so you can stop and resume with no hassle or fuss. You can disable the in-game music and the sound fx and listen to your own. ? ONLINE OR OFFLINE HIGHSCORES ? You can choose to take ownership of the automatically created, default offline profile, which can be customized and promoted to an online profile. Check out your ranking on the online leaderboards and invite your friends to compete with you! In addition, you can submit your highest score to Twitter and Facebook. Tap the ?Highscores? button or visit: ?http://tinyurl.com/JingleScores? This is a special holiday edition of Libra Balance - the highly addictive 3D balance puzzler. Check out Libra Balance for even more balancing fun! What's New ? fine-tuned controls for better gameplay experience ? highscore management improvements We continue to improve the game based on ideas and suggestions we have received through your submissions. Thank you for the positive iTunes reviews! 3D Jingle Balls  Compass of Luck(French Version) 1.1Category: Lifestyle Price: $0.99 -> Free (iTunes)  Description:Compass of Luck is a causal style game for all kind of players. If you want to guess your luck, or try the positive/negative predication. It is a divination gadget and may bring good luck to you. The game player can play this game simply by swiping the screen and shaking the iPhone or iPod touch. By swiping the screen, game player can spin the pointer or compass. When the pointer or compass stops the rotation at a certain position, the game shows divination result based on the pointer direction. This game includes two themes, TaiJi compass and Compass of Luck. The theme of TaiJi compass will predicate the positive/negative result. The theme of compass of luck will tell four possible lucky results: the best luck ?King of the world?, good luck ?Lucky bird?, bad luck ?Sad dog?, worst luck ?Dead fish?. Each theme has its unique compass. The game player can switch theme by shaking the iPhone or iPod touch three times. The game has 7 type pointers and 8 wallpapers. The game player can change the pointer and wallpaper by shaking the iPhone or iPod touch?And shaking the iPhone or iPod touch three times, the game will change the theme. For the each divination result, the game will display different animation to indicate the meanings and level of the predication result. What's New Add new online Advertisment system Compass of Luck(French Version)  Compass of Luck(German Version) 1.1Category: Lifestyle Price: $0.99 -> Free (iTunes)  Description:Compass of Luck is a causal style game for all kind of players. If you want to guess your luck, or try the positive/negative predication. It is a divination gadget and may bring good luck to you. The game player can play this game simply by swiping the screen and shaking the iPhone or iPod touch. By swiping the screen, game player can spin the pointer or compass. When the pointer or compass stops the rotation at a certain position, the game shows divination result based on the pointer direction. This game includes two themes, TaiJi compass and Compass of Luck. The theme of TaiJi compass will predicate the positive/negative result. The theme of compass of luck will tell four possible lucky results: the best luck ?King of the world?, good luck ?Lucky bird?, bad luck ?Sad dog?, worst luck ?Dead fish?. Each theme has its unique compass. The game player can switch theme by shaking the iPhone or iPod touch three times. The game has 7 type pointers and 8 wallpapers. The game player can change the pointer and wallpaper by shaking the iPhone or iPod touch?And shaking the iPhone or iPod touch three times, the game will change the theme. For the each divination result, the game will display different animation to indicate the meanings and level of the predication result. What's New System update Compass of Luck(German Version)  Under Over 2010.01.12Category: Games Price: $0.99 -> Free (iTunes)  Description:The Under Over game is a dice game played at various festivals all over the world. The object of the game is to predict whether the dice will roll to a total of under 7 or over 7 or at 7. The game is typically played with 2 wooden dice. A player typically places a wager on one of three spaces. These spaces are: Under 7 (Usually pays 1-1) Over 7 (Usually pays 1-1) 7 (Usually pays 4-1) Get the game and discover what people love to play all over the world! Under Over  CowOvans 1.2Category: Games Price: $0.99 -> Free (iTunes)  Description:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ FREE! TIME SALE IS LIMITED! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Welcome to post-apocalyptica, my friend! You come here eager to raid and plunder, looking for glory across the Wastes? Then listen up! Those pesky Cowovans transport supplies and weapons our tribes need so much. Cowovans are nothing more than supply-vans dragged by mutated cows. Very angry, armored and smart Kows, so they make a good enemy for every honorable desert raider. Besides, this is our land and them Cowovans dare to enter without sharing. That's outrageous! So we're kinda good guys here - you lead the boys and help us get what is rightfully ours. FEATURES: - raid and plunder Cowovans in Mad Max style - carefully plan your raids to survive the fight - lead your raiders to achieve top glory in Online Score table - play NuclearSnake(r) while your raid-boys recouperate - enjoy post-apocalyptica! What's New - added ability "help in combat" - fixed minor bugs - fixed design CowOvans  Flower Wall 1.0Category: Photography Price: $0.99 -> Free (iTunes)  Description:Flower Walls is a collection of 130 beautiful flower photographs presented in a form of a slide show. If you are bored of your wallpaper, how about some refreshing flower images from the Orient? Flower Walls contains ninety gorgeous pictures of flowers shot by Xiao-Ke in China and Japan. There are tulips and lotuses, orchids and peonies, and others that I cannot name but sure look pretty. We can view the images in slideshow or thumbnail format. If we want to set a certain image as wallpaper, we can tap on the left bottom button which stores it in the photo gallery. We can then go there and set it as our wallpaper. If you are a flower or/and photography enthusiast, I would say it?s well worth it. Flower Wall  Hello Washington 1.1Category: Lifestyle Price: $2.99 -> Free (iTunes)  Description:Spread the word. From now until March 16th, Hello Washington is available to you for FREE. Download it and write your representative and let them know how you feel about the pressing issues that are facing this Nation. Spread the word!! Designed and developed exclusively for the iPhone and iPod Touch Let your voice be heard! Hello Washington allows you to do just that. Do you know who your State Senator or Representative is? Do you know how to even get in touch with them? Well now you can. Hello Washington gives you the power to have your voice be heard in our nation?s capital. * Hello Washington allows you to: * Look up who your representative is. * To call their office * Email them right from your device * Send a snail mail letter. * Keep up with all the news coming out of Washington D.C. * Join a forum, create threads * Read the biography of everyone representing us in Washington D.C. * Follow all the current Bills on Capitol Hill and see who the sponsors of those bills are How many times have you just wanted to write your representative but didn't because you didn?t know how to get in touch with them or you simply forgot to write them by the time you got to your destination? Hello Washington makes it convenient by allowing you to contact Washington officials with ease, right on the spot! Appolicious - "Gives Hello Washington 4 out of 5 Bars" PC GENIUS - "Air Your Grievances to the U.S. Government with Hello Washington" Apple Ipad News "If you?re a political activist or just a concerned citizen with something to get off their chest, you?ll be happy to know that there?s finally an app for the common man (and woman) to communicate with the U.S. government." Technology Review will feature Hello Washington in their April Magazine. "We love your app. best of luck with it" What's New Better categorization of representatives and senators by state. Hello Washington  MEmories 1.3Category: Lifestyle Price: $0.99 -> Free (iTunes)  Description:New in 1.2: --Added the ability to disable password. Backup->Settings->Disable Password ON --Removed the badge feature from calendar and app --Fixed stretching app problem. ** Added interactive map in 1.1. ** Waiting for Apple's approval. SALE!!! SALE!!! SALE!!! We're going to raise the price soon! Get it NOW!!! *** To the customer who complained about the lack of deletion: deletion is supported in the Memories and Search tabs. Just swipe a row and confirm deletion. You can delete years, months, days, as well as individual memories. *** Please tell us what you think at: memoriesapp@gmail.com MEmories is a versatile iPhone/iPod touch application that can be used as a diary, to-do manager, secure photo vault, notebook, audio recorder, and much more! A memory is a point in time and space with additional optional data. A memory can belong to a category. A category has text and color. You can create unlimited number of categories. A memory can be described by emotion. Emotions include: happy, crazy and sad, etc. A memory has a note. A note is composed of text (HTML is supported) A memory can have audio. Record minutes or hours. Compose your memories and view them in lists or calendar view. Backup your memories and restore them via free GUI-based FTP support. Play slide show of your selected memories by shaking the device. Protect your memories using a password (stored on your keychain) Extensive search capabilities (e.g., find me memories that are within 10 miles from here, with category TODO, emotion Happy that contain the text laugh.) Bookmark your queries for later use. Use your existing email account to send memories via email. TXT your location to ATT customers. Enjoy! What's New 3.0 compatibility. Email now uses the Mail.app. MEmories  Rate My Professors 1.1.1Category: Education Price: $0.99 -> Free (iTunes)  Description:Need help choosing your classes this semester? Want to give feedback on a professor you've had before? With more than 10 million comments on over 1 million professors at 6,000+ schools across the United States, Rate My Professors is the leading source of professor ratings based on feedback straight from students. With Rate My Professors on the iPhone, you?ll get everything the website has to offer ? in the palm of your hand. Submit a rating right from the classroom, see what others are saying, and find out if your professors make the grade. It's the must have application for any college student. What's New - New "List All Professors" feature - Added class info to ratings detail Rate My Professors  Lightbulb Trader 1.1Category: Social Networking Price: $0.99 -> Free (iTunes)  Description:Lightbulb Trader is the new way of generating and sharing ideas across the world and having your problems solved by others. This application will allow you to take your creative ideas, your problems to be solved and put them onto your ipod/itouch which you will be able to share with others. ?Lightbulb Trader gives you all the tools you will need to generate your ideas into picture and/or word form. From here, you will be able to rate others ideas and gain points which will be ranked through a worldwide leaderboard. ? This application is for people of all ages! ? ? ?Lightbulb Trader is paying the top ten earning ideas $50.00 each after every month. One idea will be chosen to have an application built around the idea (Royalties contract) for the winner.? ? ?- Bonus Features ? ? ?Along with all the tools we offer to generate your ideas, we also offer buddy lists to keep track of your closest friends on Lightbulb Trader. We allow you to submit questions to the network, which allows for creative responses answers, and send messages to other users. This app is all given to you for FREE ! ?Be a Creative Genius, Get Paid Like One!? Lightbulb Trader  gunShots 1.3Category: Entertainment Price: $0.99 -> Free (iTunes)  Description:Do I hear gunShots ? !!!! gunShots is a load and shoot gun game. You select a gun, shake the iPhone/iPod to load a shot, then pull(touch) the trigger. You must shake the iPhone/iPod to load each shot. The guns can be shot single shot or multiple shots, meaning a full clip. You can set the shots to run infinitely or one at a time. You must load the gun before shooting, it will let you know if it isn't. And, you cannot load until you select a gun. The guns include: Smith & Wesson 44 Magnum Beretta 9MM Pump 12 gauge shotgun Remington 30-06 M4 Bushmaster AR-15 Ruger 357 Magnum gunShots are REAL recordings, not virtualized or purchased sounds. The pictures are THE actual guns used and shot. Everything you see and hear was created by the Lagniappe Applications crew, nothing FAKE. What's New New look shiny buttons and trigger highlights when pressed gunShots  TK 1.4Category: Reference Price: $1.99 -> Free (iTunes)  Description:*???????????? ??????? ???????* ? ???????? ?????????? ???????? ??? ??? ????? ??? 12/03/2010 ??? 21:00 . UPDATING... +? ?????????? v1.4 ????????? ??? ??? apple. ??????????? ??? http://tkcodes.blogspot.com * ???????? ?????????? ?? ???? ??? ????? GPS ??? iPhone ??? ??? Google Maps. ??????? ???? ??????? GPS ??? ????? ????? ?????? ?????? ??? ???? ???????????: ????,????,???????,????-???????,??. ?????? ???????? ?? ???????? ??? ??????????? ?? email. ?????????? ??????? ??? ????????? ??? ??? ????????????? ???????????. * ?????? ?????? ??? ??????? ????? ????? ? ?? ???? ????? ? ???? ???????? ???? ?????? ??? ?? ??????????. ?? ????????? ???????????? ???? ??? 50.000 ????????. ?? ????? ?????????????????? ?????, ?????-??????,????????-????,??. ??? ?????????? ??????? ??? internet. ?? ???????? ????? ???? ??? ????????. ?? ????? ??? ??????????????? ??? ????????? ????? ?? ?????????: ???????????????? ????????? ???????? ????? ??????? ?????? ???????? ???????? ?????? ??????????? ????? ??????? ?????????? ???????? ?????? ??????? ????????? ?????????? ???????????? ????????? ??????? ????????? ????????? ???????? ??????????? ?????? ??????? ????????? ???????? ???????? ??????? ???????? ?????? ???????? ????????? ????????? ?????? ?????? ??????? ???????? ???????? ??????? ????? ?????? ???????? ????????? ???????? ??????? ?????????? ?????? ???? ??????? ??? ??? ??????? ??? ???????? ?? ?????? ???????? ?? ??? ???????? ?? ????? ?? ?????????: -????? ????? ? ?? ??? ?????,????????,???? ??? ?????? -????? ? ?? ??? ????? ?? ???? ????,???????,??? ??????? -???? ? ???? ?? ???? ???? ??????? -???? ? ??????? ?? ???? ???? ??????? -???? ????? ? ????,????,???????,???? ??? ?????????? (?????????? ??????? ??? ?????????) ????????: +????????? ?? ???? +????????? ?? ???? ? ???? +????????? ?? ??????? ? ??? +????????? ?? ?? +??????? ????????? ?? ????,????-????,???????-??? +??????? ????????? ?? ????-????,???????-??? ???????: ??????? ???????? ?? ?????? ???? ??????? ??????? ??? ?????????. What's New +??????? ??? Interface. +? ????????? ????????? ?? ???????????? ??? ???????. +??????????? ??????? ???????/video. +???????? ?? ??? ???????? ???? email ??? ??????? ??? ??? ????????? ???. +????????????? ?????? ??? ??? ?????????? ???? ?????????? ??? ??. TK  RoadTweets 1.2Category: Social Networking Price: $0.99 -> Free (iTunes)  Description:NOW BEING USED IN 30 COUNTRIES!! RoadTweets users have now tweeted trip updates from 30 countries! From Japan to Italy to Kuwait to Australia roadtweeters around the globe are sharing travel experiences in real time with their friends and family back home. Check out the interactive map at www.roadtweets.com/travel iphone app RoadTweets is your perfect companion for road trips or travel of any kind. It makes it SUPER EASY to share travel experiences from the road in real time, while you are experiencing them! TAP 'n GO! RoadTweets is designed to minimize the number of steps needed to send trip updates by automatically adding your location information into your tweets. With RoadTweets you don't have to type in any text at all, RoadTweets adds it all for you. You can literally TAP and GO! AS FEATURED IN THRILLIST "Tap 'n Go Technology!" It's like the not-too-distant future..at roadtweets.com Features - Allows you to notify your Twitter followers AND Facebook friends when you start and end a trip, and all updates in-between. - Automatically adds your location in a tweet ("I am starting a trip from Cupertino, CA, USA!") so there is no typing required! - Adds a location link pointing to Google Maps - Lets you add photos to your tweets via the popular TwitPic service - Allows you to quickly erase text by simply shaking your iPhone Please note that RoadTweets is not a full service Twitter application as its designed for sending, not receiving, tweets. If you are looking for a full service Twitter application we suggest you investigate some of the popular apps like Twitterrific, Tweetie, TweetDeck or Echofon. RoadTweets makes a perfect companion product to any of these fine apps. RoadTweets requires an internet connection and is optimized to work with the iPhone 3G and 3GS phones. However many of the features will work on the 2G iPhone and iPod touch. Although RoadTweets is ideal for road trips and car vacations, it is NOT designed for use while driving. Be smart and safe and DO NOT use RoadTweets while operating a vehicle of any kind. Also, RoadTweets allows you to publicly share location information. Although street address information does not appear in the tweet, it is included in the link to Google maps. If you DO NOT want to share location information, delete the bit.ly URL from your tweet before sending it. RoadTweets was created by C2G, LLC, the company that built and operates the popular Cost2Drive.com Website. What's New This version fixes an issue with the link for viewing trip photos RoadTweets  Just Spy It 2010.02Category: Utilities Price: $0.99 -> Free (iTunes)  Description:You dreamed about it ? Slapwares did it! The Perfect walkie-talkie is finally there! You will be able to play the role of secret agent anywhere on the planet! With this kit "Just Spy It" you can finally use your iPhone or iPod touch in walkie-talkie mode over the bluetooth connection! It's amazing and almost unbelievable what you can do with this application! Not only you can now communicate between any iPhone or iTouch in voice mode but also in writing mode at the same time! You are in a highly confidential meeting and you use your device to take notes ... Discreetly send your notes to your friend located a few meters away! He will both receive your message and listen to the conversation! Make sure to synchronize your devices beforehand and then "Just Spy it"! With the kit "Just Spy It" record your conversations ! It is simply revolutionary! What you are you waiting for? Immediately You and your friends download this application at a ridiculous price and then "Just Spy It"! You are in class and have your device, Use "Just Spy It" to send free messages to other devices ! Even if there is no telephone or wireless network you can send your messages with "Just Spy It"! It is the ideal application to use in all circumstances! What's New In this 2010.02 version it is now possible for the users to send recorded files to their friends by email. Completely reworded the Look and Feel. Just Spy It  bitFlip 1.0.0Category: Games Price: $0.99 -> Free (iTunes)  Description:Winner of The Portable Gamer Picks of 2009 Award hdn? - Bit flippin? fun! ******* WHAT THE WORLD IS SAYING ******* ?The fact that bitFLIP is flanked by a killer soundtrack is just icing; it will appeal to any genre fan (like me).? 8/10 (Impressive), Levi Buchanan, IGN.com ??it makes itself essential by being intuitive, refreshing, and altogether one big synergistic delight?bitFLIP does an outstanding job of taking an established concept and overhauling it to a near-unrecognizable degree?consider bitFLIP an essential download.? Cole Jones, The Tilt, 1up.com "[bitFLIP] is a puzzle game that's really well suited to the iPhone .. it's a trip. Nice one to sorta zone out and not think for a while." - Justin McElroy, Joystiq.com ?Mixing interesting puzzle mechanics, great music, a truly unique (and often beautiful) visual presentation, and a variety of gameplay options, I can confidently say that there's more than enough enjoyable gaming to be had here to warrant your two bucks.? - Ben Gilbert, Joystiq.com ?Although essentially a match-three variant, bitFlip brings a bunch of style and some welcome innovation to the mix.? (4/5 stars) - Robert Corra, 148Apps.com ?The fact that I have been coming back to it every couple days ? another iPhone puzzle game in an endless sea of iPhone puzzle games ? means I like what I see.? (4/5) - Joe Fourhman, Aeropause.com ***************************************************** A new FLIP on the classic match-three genre! bitFLIP combines quality aesthetics and sound to create a fun and frantic take on a game that we all enjoy. Play with your earbuds and get lost in the experience. Match three or more pieces by swapping bits on the grid. For a real advantage, double tap to flip bits and clear the layer below. Head-to-Head multiplayer over bluetooth or WIFI brings the excitement to a whole new level. With three modes of game play, three grid sizes and three difficulty settings, bitFLIP is poised to challenge any gamer. The soundtrack features and introduces up and coming electronic musician Robert Clouth. You can download the soundtrack for free at http://www.tapme.info or try out our in-game media player that doubles as an interactive art piece. Please let us know what you think by visiting http://metamoorephosis.com! Your feedback is always important to us. 1.1 Update will include: - Performance enhancements on iPhone Classic and 3G models - Online Leaderboards & iComplishments - Surprises :) *NOTE: iPhone Classic users - if you have trouble running bitFLIP please turn your phone off then restart it* Support hdn? and check out: iBailout!!, Hospital Havoc, Karnival, and Seven Wonders: Quest for Koh-i-noor or go to developer.handson.com to start your own hdn experience! Follow us on Twitter @HandsOnMobile Follow us on Facebook at Facebook.com/handsonmobile bitFlip  First Animals 1.0.1Category: Entertainment Price: $0.99 -> Free (iTunes)  Description:First Animals app is a great app for kids to help them learn, make them sleep and engage them. What's in this app: 1) Musical Engager: Move across the different screens to explore animals. Touch any animal to see it come to life. Discover surprises by touching other items. Move the Santa sledge as he distributes gifts for the Christmas season, make the dog bark, pluck the fruits from trees, make the hen lay eggs and make the chickens jump, make the seals play with balls, ring the bells, make the camel move, un-tie the balloons and many more..... 2) Musical Soother: Plays the cartoon illustrations on a beautiful background with lullabies playing in the background to help the baby sleep. 3) Learn & Photos: - Containing 37 beautiful animals illustrations and their sounds - More than 260 real animals pictures - Add pictures from your iPhone to the existing animal pictures - Play slideshow of the pictures 4) Animal Sounds 5) Quiz: - Quiz to recognize the animals from their sound Made for my 1.5 years old kid. He loves the app and recognizes all the animals and their sounds. Animal Names localized in 16 languages. Names are displayed based on the language of iPhone: English French German Japanese Dutch Polish Spanish Portuguese Danish Hebrew Italian Korean Norwegian Swedish Chinese Simplified Chinese Traditional For any technical issues or suggestions, please drop us an email at santpal.dhillon@gmail.com. Thank you. What's New 1) Includes a new animal - Antelope 2) Info about the app added 3) Includes help for various sections First Animals  Comet Racer 1.01Category: Games Price: $0.99 -> Free (iTunes)  Description:* * * OMG! IT'S FREE! * * * For a limited time only, COMET RACER is available for FREE! Tell your friends! Also, check out our other FREE full games during this crazy campaign: - "Icy Escort" - "Traffic Rush" - "Rudolph's Kick n Fly" Search the AppStore for "Donut Games" - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Prepare for wild races inside abanadoned mining rocks and comets throughout the universe! Race against the clock or your own shadow through squiggly mazes packed with power-ups, secret passages and hidden items. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * TOUCH ARCADE SAYS: - "Comet Racer is easy to get into and fun to try to master. It's one of those games that can draw you in for hours..." THE PEOPLE SAY: - "I can't stop playing. Having lots of fun racing against shadow." - "Controls are perfect, graphics are cool and like all games by Donut Games, it is addicting." - "Donut Games Delivers Another Gem!" Featured by APPLE as: - "What's Hot" in iTunes - "Hot New Games" in App Store * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * THIS IS COMET RACER: - Varying Race Tracks in space and inside squiggly comets - 2 Control Modes (Normal buttons and an innovative Control Circle) - Hidden secrets and surprises spread throught the game - Power-ups to protect and upgrade your ship - Donut Games' highly acclaimed Challenge system - Support for playing your own iTunes music - Global High Score support - And much more... * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Enjoy another Donut Games release! What's New - Tweaked 3-Star ranks - Fixed a minor bug where long track times could affect your total score negatively Comet Racer  TapScanner 1.02Category: Utilities Price: $1.99 -> Free (iTunes)  Description:Barcode scanning gets social! TapScanner allows fast and accurate scanning of products that incorporate standard 1D barcodes - such as books, CDs, and other gadgets. Use the scanner to retrieve pricing information from popular online stores such as Amazon.com and others. Searches can be stored on your iPhone or iPod Touch for later review. With a couple of taps, share your thoughts on the product - using popular social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook. And iPod Touch users aren't forgotten. Simply key in the barcode of interest and you're on your way! Fast. Easy. And Convenient! What's New Minor UI improvements and bug fixes. TapScanner  Twitch Origins 1.03Category: Games Price: $0.99 -> Free (iTunes)  Description:Twitch - The addictive quiz reaction game for one to four players, download now for unlimited fun! Twitch tests your reaction skills to the limit, pushing your brain to new extremes. Featuring a unique multi-player interface, Twitch lets you play against three other friends using just one iPhone or iPod Touch. NEW FEATURES ? Up to four players can compete on a single device ? Brilliant single-player mode with rewards and high-scores ? Eye-blowing visuals ? Addictive, mind-bending, reaction-action gameplay ? Star reward system that rates every Twitch ? Challenge friends to a game anytime, anywhere ? Perfect for family outings, at parties, or just on your own ? Total control over your game settings ? Super-fast loading, no waiting around HOW DO I PLAY? Twitch takes seconds to learn. Place your finger on the reaction pad, leave it there, and wait for instructions. The game will ask you to Twitch for ?Animals? or ?Flying things? or ?Things heavier than you? or one of many other mind-twisting possibilities. Players are shown beautifully drawn objects that might match the description. The faster you lift your finger for the right object, the more points you score. It?s simple to grasp, and fiendishly addictive to play. MULTI-PLAYER Twitch is brilliant in single-player mode, but there's no need for your friends to miss out on the fun. Twitch includes a unique multi-player mode that lets up to four friends compete at once. Four people can play Twitch at the same time, on the same iPhone, because of the special way we've designed the game. What's New Updated to run on 3.0 OS Twitch Origins  Pocatello Val-You Card 1.01Category: Entertainment Price: $2.99 -> Free (iTunes)  Description:How would you like to SAVE MONEY when you go out to eat at Subway Restaurants, Pizza Hut, Chili?s, Winger?s, Papa Murphy?s, Perkins Family Restaurant, Sonic, Taco Time, and lots of other local Restaurants and Service Businesses in your community or when you travel throughout the nation? Well, now you can! Download your Val-You Card Application and enjoy REPEATED, UNLIMITED, use at Restaurants, and other businesses that you visit daily. Access UNLIMITED Exclusive Dining Deals using your Mobile iPhone or IPod Touch device. Val-You Card provides you with the BEST DISCOUNTS AND SAVINGS in the nation. Enjoy FREE Entrees, FREE Pizzas, FREE Sandwiches, FREE Appetizers, FREE Dessert, FREE Ice Cream, and LOTS, LOTS MORE! We provide you with a long list of businesses to choose from, and then we provide you with GREAT DEALS that give you HUGE SAVINGS every time you go out to eat. EVERYTIME! Val-You Card is VERY EASY TO USE. We provide you with EASY-TO-USE ways to SAVE MONEY EVERYDAY. SAVE MONEY on Sandwiches, Pizza, Italian Food, Photography, Oil Changes, and MUCH MORE daily. DOWNLOAD your Val-You Card application NOW and you can BEGIN SAVING TODAY! GETTING STARTED IS VERY EASY: Launch your Val-You Card Application and BEGIN SAVING. You can browse the list of Available businesses in Alphabetical Order, or you can view the businesses by Category. We also provide you with the Daily HOT DEALS. The HOT DEALS option will provide you with the HOTTEST DEALS available at many businesses in your area. After you locate the Deal you wish to use, just show the Deal to your Server/Cashier, and ENJOY YOUR SAVINGS. Be sure to connect to your Val-You Card application daily to see the NEW DEALS as we secure new businesses across the nation. Version 1.0 - CATEGORY: Browse DEALS by category. For example, Italian Food, Pizza, Sandwiches, Mexican Restaurant - MERCHANT ADDRESS: View the Address and Phone Number for the business you would like to visit and Save - AUTHENTIC DEALS: Our Merchants enter into agreements with us to ensure that your Deals are HONORED EVERY TIME YOU VISIT THEIR STORE - UNILITED VALUE ? There is NO LIMIT to the number of times you can use the Deal. For example, you can use your Subway Deal every day of the week and SAVE EVERYTIME - NO HASSLE ? Merchants are very familiar with the application and the deals. - SUPPORT: If for some reason, you have a question, we will respond to you in a timely manner by Phone (208-339-2838) or Email (valyoucard@hotmail.com) - WEBSITE: You can visit us on the Internet at http://www.valyoucard.com/ - ADDITIONAL DEALS: You can receive ADDITIONAL DEALS by texting ?deals? to the number ?53318?. Do not enter the quotes (?). What's New Intro Splash Screen has been updated to allow users to Touch and Skip Intro Screen. Should load faster. Pocatello Val-You Card  Rexburg Val-You Card 1.0.1Category: Entertainment Price: $2.99 -> Free (iTunes)  Description:How would you like to SAVE MONEY when you go out to eat at Subway Restaurants, Pizza Hut, Chili?s, Winger?s, Papa Murphy?s, Perkins Family Restaurant, Sonic, Taco Time, and lots of other local Restaurants and Service Businesses in your community or when you travel throughout the nation? Well, now you can! Download your Val-You Card Application and enjoy REPEATED, UNLIMITED, use at Restaurants, and other businesses that you visit daily. Access UNLIMITED Exclusive Dining Deals using your Mobile iPhone or IPod Touch device. Val-You Card provides you with the BEST DISCOUNTS AND SAVINGS in the nation. Enjoy FREE Entrees, FREE Pizzas, FREE Sandwiches, FREE Appetizers, FREE Dessert, FREE Ice Cream, and LOTS, LOTS MORE! We provide you with a long list of businesses to choose from, and then we provide you with GREAT DEALS that give you HUGE SAVINGS every time you go out to eat. EVERYTIME! Val-You Card is VERY EASY TO USE. We provide you with EASY-TO-USE ways to SAVE MONEY EVERYDAY. SAVE MONEY on Sandwiches, Pizza, Italian Food, Photography, Oil Changes, and MUCH MORE daily. DOWNLOAD your Val-You Card application NOW and you can BEGIN SAVING TODAY! GETTING STARTED IS VERY EASY: Launch your Val-You Card Application and BEGIN SAVING. You can browse the list of Available businesses in Alphabetical Order, or you can view the businesses by Category. We also provide you with the Daily HOT DEALS. The HOT DEALS option will provide you with the HOTTEST DEALS available at many businesses in your area. After you locate the Deal you wish to use, just show the Deal to your Server/Cashier, and ENJOY YOUR SAVINGS. Be sure to connect to your Val-You Card application daily to see the NEW DEALS as we secure new businesses across the nation. Version 1.0 - CATEGORY: Browse DEALS by category. For example, Italian Food, Pizza, Sandwiches, Mexican Restaurant - MERCHANT ADDRESS: View the Address and Phone Number for the business you would like to visit and Save - AUTHENTIC DEALS: Our Merchants enter into agreements with us to ensure that your Deals are HONORED EVERY TIME YOU VISIT THEIR STORE - UNILITED VALUE ? There is NO LIMIT to the number of times you can use the Deal. For example, you can use your Subway Deal every day of the week and SAVE EVERYTIME - NO HASSLE ? Merchants are very familiar with the application and the deals. - SUPPORT: If for some reason, you have a question, we will respond to you in a timely manner by Phone (208-339-2838) or Email (valyoucard@hotmail.com) - WEBSITE: You can visit us on the Internet at http://www.valyoucard.com/ - ADDITIONAL DEALS: You can receive ADDITIONAL DEALS by texting ?deals? to the number ?53318?. Do not enter the quotes (?). What's New Intro Splash Screen has been updated to allow users to Touch and Skip Intro Screen. Should load faster. Rexburg Val-You Card  Idaho Falls Val-You Card 1.01Category: Entertainment Price: $2.99 -> Free (iTunes)  Description:How would you like to SAVE MONEY when you go out to eat at Subway Restaurants, Pizza Hut, Chili?s, Winger?s, Papa Murphy?s, Perkins Family Restaurant, Sonic, Taco Time, and lots of other local Restaurants and Service Businesses in your community or when you travel throughout the nation? Well, now you can! Download your Val-You Card Application and enjoy REPEATED, UNLIMITED, use at Restaurants, and other businesses that you visit daily. Access UNLIMITED Exclusive Dining Deals using your Mobile iPhone or IPod Touch device. Val-You Card provides you with the BEST DISCOUNTS AND SAVINGS in the nation. Enjoy FREE Entrees, FREE Pizzas, FREE Sandwiches, FREE Appetizers, FREE Dessert, FREE Ice Cream, and LOTS, LOTS MORE! We provide you with a long list of businesses to choose from, and then we provide you with GREAT DEALS that give you HUGE SAVINGS every time you go out to eat. EVERYTIME! Val-You Card is VERY EASY TO USE. We provide you with EASY-TO-USE ways to SAVE MONEY EVERYDAY. SAVE MONEY on Sandwiches, Pizza, Italian Food, Photography, Oil Changes, and MUCH MORE daily. DOWNLOAD your Val-You Card application NOW and you can BEGIN SAVING TODAY! GETTING STARTED IS VERY EASY: Launch your Val-You Card Application and BEGIN SAVING. You can browse the list of Available businesses in Alphabetical Order, or you can view the businesses by Category. We also provide you with the Daily HOT DEALS. The HOT DEALS option will provide you with the HOTTEST DEALS available at many businesses in your area. After you locate the Deal you wish to use, just show the Deal to your Server/Cashier, and ENJOY YOUR SAVINGS. Be sure to connect to your Val-You Card application daily to see the NEW DEALS as we secure new businesses across the nation. Version 1.0 - CATEGORY: Browse DEALS by category. For example, Italian Food, Pizza, Sandwiches, Mexican Restaurant - MERCHANT ADDRESS: View the Address and Phone Number for the business you would like to visit and Save - AUTHENTIC DEALS: Our Merchants enter into agreements with us to ensure that your Deals are HONORED EVERY TIME YOU VISIT THEIR STORE - UNILITED VALUE ? There is NO LIMIT to the number of times you can use the Deal. For example, you can use your Subway Deal every day of the week and SAVE EVERYTIME - NO HASSLE ? Merchants are very familiar with the application and the deals. - SUPPORT: If for some reason, you have a question, we will respond to you in a timely manner by Phone (208-339-2838) or Email (valyoucard@hotmail.com) - WEBSITE: You can visit us on the Internet at http://www.valyoucard.com/ - ADDITIONAL DEALS: You can receive ADDITIONAL DEALS by texting ?deals? to the number ?53318?. Do not enter the quotes (?). What's New Intro Splash Screen has been updated to allow users to Touch and Skip Intro Screen. Should load faster. Idaho Falls Val-You Card  Gita in Audio 1.0Category: Books Price: $0.99 -> Free (iTunes)  Description:*** FREE for a limited time (depending on the server load for audio streaming) *** Srimad Bhagavad Gita is a dialogue between Lord Krishna and Arjuna, narrated in the Bhishma Parva of the Mahabharata. It comprises eighteen discourses of a total of 700 Sanskrit verses. On the battlefield of Kurukshetra, Sri Krishna, during the course of His most instructive and interesting talk with Arjuna, revealed profound, sublime and soul-stirring spiritual truths, and expounded the rare secrets of Yoga, Vedanta, Bhakti and Karma. In all the spiritual literature of the world there is no book so elevating and inspiring as the Gita. It is the source of all wisdom. It is your great guide. It is your supreme teacher. It is an inexhaustible spiritual treasure. It is a fountain of bliss. It is an ocean of knowledge. It is full of divine splendour and grandeur. The study of the Gita alone is sufficient for daily Swadhyaya (scriptural study). You will find here a solution for all your doubts. The more you study it with devotion and faith, the more you will acquire deeper knowledge, penetrative insight and clear, right thinking. Read, Listen, Reflect and Live the Gita way and you are sure to find eternal Bliss. Hare Krishna. About the App: It is our humble attempt to bring you this presentation of Srimad Bhagavad Gita verse-by-verse in Audio and Text format. The English Translations are the work of His Divine Grace Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. My effort is just in bringing it on the iPhone for all you devotees. You can get more info on the App and support from http://sites.google.com/site/gitaoniphone/. This is a follow up to our Free "Gita in Text" application. App Features: ? Each Verse is represented in Sanskrit followed by its English Translation in Text ? Synchronized Streaming Audio Content in a language of your choice (and availability) ? Audio Caching feature stores the Audio content locally for future playbacks ? In-App new Language updates as and when available. ? Quickly browse through the chapters using forward & back functionality ? Automatic Verse advancement synchronized with the Audio Content changes ? Email any individual verse to your friends & family with one touch of a button. ? Powerful Search feature to search within the 700 verses ? Favorites feature lets you create favorite lists and add/remove verses of your interest Based on your inputs & feedback, we would add support for more languages and implement more features. Gita in Audio  IT-News 1.5Category: News Price: $0.99 -> Free (iTunes)  Description:"IT-News" is a newsreader Application for Golem.de. The application requires an internet connection to show the news. It was developed in consultation with Golem (concretely: Kla & Ihlenfeld Verlag GmbH) What's New -removed video function -changed theme view -bugfixes IT-News  Galleryify! 2.1Category: Entertainment Price: $1.99 -> Free (iTunes)  Description:*** Galleryify! is free for a limited time only! *** Galleryify! makes it easy to browse the visual web by detecting and storing only the content you care about: the images. Galleryified pages are stored and viewable in a familiar photo browsing interface, even while offline. To get started, browse to one of your favorite image thumbnail websites. Keep an eye on the meter at the top of the screen, then Galleryify! when you've found a page you like. Features include: - Browse, save, and view images from the web - Save the good images and skips things like banner ads - Images are stored on your phone for offline viewing - Go to the original source page at any time - Organize, label, and delete galleries - Save galleries to your camera roll for syncing to your desktop - Protect access with a passcode What's New Added ability to clear browser history and fixed a few minor bugs. Keep the feedback coming! Galleryify!  iSwipe Global Credit Card Terminal 1.4Category: Business Price: $12.99 -> Free (iTunes)  Description:NOTICE: Please purchase 'Swipe Pro' instead of iSwipe Global. You can download Swipe now from the App Store: http://appninjas.com/swipeapp Swipe has many additional features and is where we've decided to focus our development time. If there is a feature in iSwipe Global that you would like to see in Swipe, please let us know! support@appninjas.com _______________________________ With iSwipe Global Credit Card Terminal, you can accept credit cards with your iPhone/iPod Touch in a variety of worldwide currencies: Canadian Dollars, Euros, British Pounds, U.S. Dollars, Yen, Australian Dollars, New Zealand Dollars, Swiss Francs, Hong Kong Dollars, Singapore Dollars, Swedish Kroner, Danish Kroner, Polish Zloty, Norwegian Kroner, Hungarian Forints, Czech Koruny, Israeli Shekels, Mexican Pesos Increase sales as much as 40-60% by accepting credit cards with your iPhone, the most affordable and effective way to accept credit cards for your small business. Global Credit Card Terminal supports: ? PayPal Website Payments Pro ? Cybersource When you're at that next trade show, at the market, or even selling door to door, iSwipe Global will allow you to accept credit cards from your customers, and Make The Sale, in any currency you need to accept. * * * FEATURES * * * ? Secure: Credit card information is transmitted securely to the gateway over SSL ? Safer: Credit card numbers are verified as entered with instant feedback for approved or declined charges. ? Better Fraud Detection: Full Address Verification (AVS) support with ZIP, street, and CVV2 code support ? Easy to use: Customer gives you their CC, you enter the details, and off you go! ? Turns your iPhone into a Credit Card Terminal with support for all major credit cards: VISA, Mastercard, American Express, Discover ? Have a sales team? One merchant account can be installed across multiple iPhones. ? Supports all mobile data (2g/3g) and wifi connections ? Free upgrades and no hidden fees! If you want to accept credit cards or charge cards on the run, Global Credit Card Terminal is the CC Terminal solution for you. Don't have PayPal Website Payments Pro yet? Set it up in 10 minutes: http://appninjas.com/paypal Global Credit Card Terminal charges no extra fees whatsoever - you just buy the app, and sign up for the merchant account and gateway, and that's it! * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * TECHNICAL SUPPORT * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Contact us at support@appninjas.com if you need help with anything at all. We respond really fast, usually within a few minutes, and we guarantee a response within 24 hours. What's New + Upgrade to Swipe: http://appninjas.com/swipeapp iSwipe Global Credit Card Terminal  Fun Faces! 1.0.1Category: Entertainment Price: $0.99 -> Free (iTunes)  Description:*** FREE *** for a limited time! ? Speak into the microphone to make the characters animate and have a ton of fun! When you speak into the microphone your voice will make the Fun Face animate. Each character has a fun and unique expression. The characters were created with dozens of frames to create a fluid animated look and feel. ?OMG This is fantastic! My kids love it. They can?t wait to see more? -- Francis You have six fun character to choose from... Monkey Duck Frog Hippo Pig Bunny ...and we have more coming! This app requires a microphone and is intended for use with iPhone. This app will work with an iPod touch only if you have a microphone attached to it. Talking into your iPhone has never been this much fun! What's New Performance optimization and bug fix Fun Faces!  Mon Chri 1.0Category: Lifestyle Price: $0.99 -> Free (iTunes)  Description:Call or Send a TEXT to your boyfriend in one click. No need to use the classic iPhone way to do that, you only have to enter your boyfriend's phone number in settings. Mon Chri  BGluMon - Blood Glucose Monitor 1.1Category: Medical Price: $1.99 -> Free (iTunes)  Description:BGluMon ? Blood Glucose Monitor is advanced and easy-to-use tool to watch for your blood glucose concentration on a daily basis and included tools for recording, editing, exporting data, calculating and drawing statistics and reports. Features: - Past 24-hours averages and distribution calculation and charts on the front page. - Allows you to enter glucose concentration values any number of times per day. - Allows to add categories and comments to each record. - Allows to add, edit and delete your own categories ('morning', 'before lunch', etc). - Commenting entered glucose concentration ('high','normal','danger', etc). - Easy editing or deleting any saved record. - Allows to edit records by tapping on the averages charts at the desired position. - Auto-scaling logarithmic charts are comfortable as for high as for low glucose level observation. - Calculating glucose averages on daily, weekly, monthly or annual basis and drawing corresponding charts. - Calculating distribution of measurements on daily, weekly, monthly or annual basis and drawing correspondent summary and hourly charts. - Noting by color on the charts low, normal and high glucose level fields. - Marking each history record by red, green or blue icon and color depends on glucose level - high, normal or low. - Exporting history data to e-mail in plain table or CSV format for analyzing by external tools. - Producing 5-days summary report with daily and total averages, distributions and charts. - Supporting both mg/dl and mmol/l units. - Included storage manager to delete obsolete records. See more screenshots on our web site.? Please note: ?This application is information recording tool only and is not intended to diagnose, prevent or recommend treatment for any disease or illness. Consult your doctor for informed medical advice about your health. What's New - fixed small bugs in charts drawing BGluMon - Blood Glucose Monitor |
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