iPhone apps - page 49

Ostensibly for keeping track of your kids, employees or your child labor’s iPad surfing, Mobile Spy’s iPad Spy is probably really meant for the jealous paramour, the sleazy private dick or the professional identity thief: it allows you to record the email and website visits of anyone using the iPad on which it is installed.

iPad Spy runs as a background process, so it requires a jailbroken iPad to work. When it’s installed, there’s no hint that anything is running, but the software will record all of your emails and website visits and silently upload the data to a website to be perused by the (probably malicious) installer.

Sure, this technically could be used as another level of iPad parental controls, or to make sure your employees aren’t looking at porn on their company iPads, but let’s face it: this is really just for creeps. If you’re paranoid about such things, the best advice is to just not trust any iPad with a Cydia icon on the homescreen.

[via Gizmodo]

Over at Daring Fireball, John Gruber pointed out this excellent alt-universe mock-up of what icons for non-universal iPhone apps should look like on the iPad home screen.

With the FTC trying to decide whether or not it will pursue Apple for antitrust violations in relation to its newly announced iAd network, this leak from Apple-owned Quattro Wireless detailing iAd’s competitive advantage over other mobile advertising networks has some interesting timing.

The leak describes iAd’s VIP, or Verification of iTunes Purchase, program. Essentially, the program is aimed at developers who want to use iPhone ads to promote downloads and purchases of their own apps. Because VIP ties directly into iTunes sales data, developers who use iAd to promote their apps can get exact numbers on their ads’ conversion rates… no code, SDKs or APIs required.

httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZW_JEo59Nw

As the resident sadomasochist in love with roguelike games, I’ve been waiting for months for Dinofarm Games to release their lovingly crafted take on the genre, 100 Rogues. Now they have, and it’s available on the App Store for $4.99! Kalloo! Kallay!

During a call discussing News Corp’s latest financial results, Rupert Murdoch told investors that the Wall Street Journal has been extremely successful on the iPad, and it’s far more profitable for them than similar content on the Kindle, at least on a per subscriber basis.

I am all for the Federal government funding and deploying a robust and relentless antitrust division. I don’t wish to go into detail or name examples here and now, but I believe the emasculation of antitrust and restraint of trade investigation and prosecution over the past 30 years has meant a great disservice to the public and to the economy. If that arm of the Justice Department gets revived under Obama it will be a good thing for the country and for the world.

With respect to antitrust claims against Apple related to either the iPhone Developer’s Agreement or the iAds program I don’t think Apple has a thing to worry about.

I haven’t eaten watermelon in what must be going on a year now, but I’m sure this dollar-app is a must-have for serious watermelon afficionados (the clip looks like it was filmed in Israel, which is notoriously watermelon-crazy).

The developer claims iWatermelon Deluxe can determine if a watermelon is ripe just by having the user set the iPhone onto the melon in question, selecting the melon’s color and size, and tapping its rind a few times.

A somewhat odd description on the dev’s website additionally suggests that “iWatermelon is also fun to try on more Hollow [sic], round objects.” Not sure what they’re suggesting, but plopping an iPhone on someone’s head, rapping on that head and then explaining that you’re using an app made for watermelons to determine whether they’re ripe or not is sure to be a conversation starter.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCU0RcoxKxE&feature=player_embedded#!

Italy’s Justice Minister used an iPhone to cite a wiretapping law during a prime-time talk show.

Minister Angelino Alfano, best known outside Italy for a controversial immunity law meant to save the bacon of beleaguered Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, pulled out a patriotic iPhone to consult an app called Laws and Codices (Codici and Leggi).

The €19.99 euro app promises to guide users through Italy’s notoriously complicated legal system, which often makes the old quip true that “in Italy, under the law, everything is permitted, especially that which is prohibited.”

Alfano used it on the show to quote verbatim a  much-debated law on wiretapping, the talk show was about the “war over wiretaps,” which has again exploded recently.

While there’s no shortage of politicians who use Apple products — of late iPad aficionados Norway’s Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg and Russian premier Dimitri Medvedev — this may be the first time one relies on an app to get it right in public.

Via iPhoner, hat tip to  Andrea Nepori

If you took the plunge on the Spirit jailbreak over the weekend, no need to wait for AT&T to fulfill their long ignored promise to bring data tethering to the iPhone in the United States: the MyWi App will turn your iPhone into a wireless 3G modem right now.

The app costs $10 on jailbroken iPhones and it looks pretty simple: you just launch the MyWi app, flip the “WiFi Tethering” switch to “On” and then you can connect any WiFi-capable device to your iPhone.

This would be a great way to make your iPad WiFi 3G capable while saving yourself $130 bucks. If you want to try MyWi, you can grab it now through Cydia.

[via Gadget Lab]

Dropbox, the indispensable document syncing app for the Mac, PC and iPhone, has now come to the iPad, thanks to an update that makes the program universal across all iDevices.

Don’t expect anything different: all the core functionality is the same, including the ability to access, edit, sync, download, upload and share files with others through Dropbox. The iPad version does look better than the iPhone app, though, and comes with a useful dual-pane mode.

If you’re a Dropbox user, you can grab Dropbox for iPad now for free over on iTunes.

[via Gizmodo]

Happy Sex with Maryline, a sexuality coaching and education guide for adults from La Roche Communication hit the iTunes App Store Tuesday, intimating a new, more comfortable, perhaps an even more mature approach to Apple’s understanding of the relationship between the iPhone and Sex.

After nearly two years of sophomoric inconsistency regulating which kinds of sexually charged material could legally be powered by its iPhone OS, Apple seems prepared to grow beyond the “Whose Boobs” era into one in which iPhone users might legitimately ask, “is that a sex coach in your pocket or are you just glad to see me?”

I’ve been infatuated with Iron Man ever since I was wee — so give me any reason to mention the red and gold-clad champion and I’m as giddy as a mad scientist in a repulsor-equipped, titanium-alloy exoskeleton.

Iron Man Central, a collection of all-things Iron Man, has just come to the iPhone. There’s a lot of content for fans to play around within the free app: videos, background information on the character, real-world news about Iron Man titles and events, wallpapers, social media interaction — and of course, the obligatory pimp for the new movie.

Yes, the app’s release coincides with that of the new Iron Man flick, but Zumobi, the app’s developer (and creator of a number of media-related apps like NBC’s Meet The Press and FHM magazine apps) says the updates won’t fade when Iron Man 2 finally does from theaters. iPad version’s coming soon.

[via Mashable]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PG-uYQxTpbA

When HootSuite’s iPhone app landed late last year, it had already set itself apart with a unique stat-tracking feature.

Now, it’s leapt even further away from the pack with a slew of new tricks, including the ability to translate tweets from 50 different languages and a supercool feature that lets users bump the iPhone of users they’d like to follow. The developers have also upgraded HootSuite’s Facebook integration, given it geolocation functionality and generally tweaked the hell out of it.

The video above has evidently been shoved through a simplification transmogrifier a few times too many, but I’ve included it because owls in stereotypically French costume are remarkably entertaining.

It’s time for our weekly digest of tiny iPhone reviews, courtesy of iPhoneTiny.com, with some extra commentary exclusive to Cult of Mac.

This time, we review Asteroid Panic (iPad), Dizzypad, Doppelgänger, PapiJump for iPad, and Super Turbo Action Pig.

Had enough curling? Of course not! No one ever gets sick of curling (and if they do, they’re surreptitiously hauled off to Scotland/Canada/Sweden and fed a steady diet of haggis/mapled moose/IKEA furniture until they recant or end up completely insane, or both).

That’s why we’re pretty excited to see iCurling come to the iPhone. Unfortunately, as much as I’d like to slather this post in sarcasm, the graphics look slick and the app’s only a buck; pretty sure that flaming stone isn’t regulation though.

Gay hook-up app Grindr, in the hot seat after a 15-year-old Canadian teen says he was assaulted by a 54-year old met via the free app, has issued a statement about the case.

App makers Nearby Buddy Finder are standing by their terms of use and parental control in the hopes of avoiding legal problems:

“Grindr has a very strict 18 years-and-over terms of use policy that all users of our service must agree to, additionally we actively monitor for potential violations of this policy and bar anyone who violates its terms.

We voluntarily have this policy in place to help protect the safety of minors. Unfortunately, as with any Web technology, people can find ways to bypass even the most robust control mechanisms.”

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The iPhone perhaps does not have the native tele-dildonic abilities of more prolifically vibrating devices like the Nintendo Wiimote, but if you’ve ever looked at your beloved handset and wished that love could be exhibited in a deep muscular rubdown, there’s an app for that… along with a $5,999 chair.

The Human Touch Connect is your typical Brookstone-esque massage chair, with the added ability to be controlled through the Internet, Bluetooth or any iPhone OS device. Use the app and you have access to a full library of massaging programs like the Coccyx Blaster or the O-Ring Loosener, although be wary of using the triggering the latter setting without a waterproof iPhone case.

httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fyx7U7TH2bQ

This fantastic proof of concept video by the guys over at Magic Jungle Software demonstrates their forthcoming game, Chopper 2, being output from an iPad to a 42-inch HDTV, with an iPhone or iPod Touch used as the game’s controller.

It looks incredible, but perhaps more interesting is Distorted Loop’s take on the video, which is that this would be a fantastic direction for a relaunched Apple TV to take: an audio-visual, app-running console hooked up to your television that can be controlled by an iPhone, iPod Touch or even a “future low-cost touch sensitive remote control” that would ship in the box.

A product like that would not only finally realize the wasted potential of the Apple TV product line, but put Apple on track to compete with the likes of the Wii, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 as furiously as the iPhone currently competes with the Nintendo DS.

A 15-year old teen is pointing the finger at social networking iPhone app Grindr for being assaulted by a 54-year-old man.

The incident happened in Vancouver, where Brent Tynan is being charged with sexual interference, invitation to sexual touching and sexual assault following an incident that took place last August. Tynan, who was arrested April 13, is expected back in court today.

Tynan met the teen through free app Grindr, which uses GPS in order to connect users to nearby gay and bisexual men.

I love to travel. Whether it be for work or for pleasure, nothing beats exploring the country or the world. What I don’t like about work travel is keeping up with expenses. It sucks out any fun I may be having and adds on to any frustrations I might be experiencing.

The only way to make expense reports even worse is to try and tackle them on the flight home in coach with a one-year-old behind you screaming and kicking your seat. But a free new iPhone app, Expensify, makes expense reports easier for those who travel with an iPhone.

Read on for the full review:

In an age when voice and video from half a world away can be sucked up from the soup of electromagnetic radiation invisibly swirling around us, plugging in my iPhone to sync with iTunes makes me feel like a caveman. I’ve been waiting for an app that would allow me to wirelessly sync my iDevices for awhile, and now, it looks like it might be here: Wi-Fi Sync by Greg Hughes allows you to pair your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch to your computer through WiFi, no wires required.

Apple has filed a very interesting patent for a travel app called iTravel that books flights, hotels and car reservations. But the most interesting part is how it uses a radio chip to check you in at the airport, whisk you through security and allows you to wireless board your flight.

The iTravel app uses Near Field Communications, a short-range wireless technology that is starting to become widely used in cell phones for mobile ticketing, payment and electronic keys, especially in countries like Japan.

Apple is rumored to be adding NFC chipset to the next iPhone. If so, it could turn the iPhone into an electronic wallet, allowing you to for everything, from a cup of coffee to a subway ride. Your iPhone could unlock your car, pick up e-coupons at the local mall, and pay for all your supermarket groceries just by laying it on top of the checkout.

The Uffizi Gallery in Florence is one of the largest treasure troves of Renaissance art in the world, but getting around the meandering rooms searching for sparse or missing signage can be a challenge.

Getting good information about the paintings usually means bringing a guide book and often overlooking anything but the A-list paintings.

Enter the official Uffizi iPhone app, which will get you from Giotto to Botticelli and back again in Italian and English.  The best part:  you can download it for free for the first two weeks, until April 26.

This isn’t the first time the gallery has tried to get more hands on with visitors: they also recently launched a touch screen system to give more info about the paintings.

Via the Uffizi web site

Microsoft and its upstart search engine Bing have partnered with mobile music system developer Melodeo to bring iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad users 100 great songs from every year between 1947 – 2009 – for free. Since coming out earlier in April at $1.99, the app Top 100s by Year has taken on sponsorship by Bing, been transformed into Top 100s by Year by Bing and is now free “for a limited time” on the iTunes App Store.

The app allows users to pick any year from ’47 – ’09 and hear 100 “songs that have stood the test of time to become the greatest songs for any given year” (according to the app description), streamed in random order over WiFi, 3G or Edge networks. Users can view a list of songs for any year and listen to a short preview of each, as well as buy the song on iTunes — but listening to songs in their entirety requires listening to the randomized stream. If a distasteful song comes up in the stream users can tap to move on to the next tune.

Bing, of course, offers up ads promoting its search engine every four or five tunes, though ads can be disappeared with a tap.

Another downside is that, unlike listening to songs from an iTunes library on the iPod app, Top 100s won’t permit other apps to run on a user’s device while it’s playing, at least not until iPhone OS 4.0 comes out and Melodeo upgrades the app to take advantage of the new OS’s multitasking functionality.

But hey, what do you expect for free?

Want porn on the go? Go buy an Android phone is the advice of none other than Apple founder Steve Jobs.