The popular IM+: Instant Messaging application from Shape Services has just been updated to introduce an innovative new feature called ‘Neighbors’, which offers users the ability to find new friends in their vicinity who share the same common interests.
When users are signed into the Neighbors service, they will be greeted by a map that allows them to locate and chat with friends in their area, post and view local announcements, and initiate conversations with other people nearby.
Wow. Is developer GhostBird really shoe-horning this much functionality into the second iteration of their legendary photo-editing app, PhotoForge? Looks like they’ve crammed practically every post-processing tool and feature on the planet into what will probably amount to an under-$5 app: curves, real layer support (including masking), ability to edit raw files (and images up to 20MB), editing timeline and a big pile of sharing options.
Add to that a smorgasbord of filters that simulate papers, processes, cameras and you’ve got the makings of what looks like the killer photo app. GhostBird also claims fast processing times — how they’re able to pull this one off, and just how fast it’ll clock on the slower processors of the 3G/s is the big question, though; we’ll know in a couple of weeks, the timeframe the developer has suggested for the app’s release.
It sounds like the poster boy (or product) for “have your cake and eat it too”: Third Rail Mobility‘s new backpack-battery system is a slim case (callled the Slim Case, just to be confusing) that allows their removable 1250 mAh Smart Battery to snap on. Smart? Heck, the battery sounds like a genius: Besides being able to power other electronic devices off its micro USB port, “stacked Smart Batteries will automatically and seamlessly transfer power to create as many fully-charged batteries as possible,” says the press release.
The whole kit runs $90, or the case and battery can be bought individually for $40 and $60, respectively. And right now, it’s only available for the iPhone 4 (Android flavors coming soon).
Are Apple sales cooling off? That’s the belief of one Wall Street analyst who tells investors Wednesday the Cupertino, Calif. firm may have seen a 7 percent drop in April sales, compared to a historical increase of nearly 5 percent increase for the third quarter. But when we’re talking about Apple, a “slowdown” needs to be put in some context.
Now that several reports show the iPad eating into sales of traditional low-cost PCs, the blame game has begun – starting with Acer. You may recall Apple sales in the U.S. recently surpassed Acer, which fell 42 percent. The computer maker’s former CEO now blames the company’s slowness in responding to the iPad threat.
“I already saw if we want to become a major player in this new world, we needed to do certain investments, mainly on software and on smartphones and tablets, on touch,” ex-CEO Gianfranco Lanci told a blog earlier this week. Lanci resigned in late March amid reports he was blamed for the iPad cannibalizing Acer’s market.
iAd slots in iOS applications designed for children will no longer be filled with adverts, according to an email one developer has received from Apple.
Mike Zornek, the developer of the Dex a Pokemon browser application for iPhone and iPod touch, noticed that his iAd fill rates had dropped and emailed Apple’s iAd Support Team for an explanation:
As promised, Apple sent V.P. Guy Tribble to Washington to address Senator Al Franken and other stuffy politicians about the so-called LocationGate scandal.
Cupertino’s message? Same as it ever was: we don’t track user locations. Period.
“We do not share customer information with third parties without our customers’ explicit consent. Apple does not track users’ locations. Apple has never done so and has no plans to do so,” said Tribble.
Curiously, while Apple may not track users’ locations, the United States Department of Justice would like mobile providers to start, allowing the Department of Justice to attain records that would “enable law enforcement to identify a suspect’s smartphone based on the IP addresses collected by Web sites that the suspect visited.”
What’s good for the goose isn’t necessarily what’s good for the gander. Apparently, it’s only okay for the government to keep track of what you do with your smartphone, not Apple.
A digital game manual discovered on Steam for the upcoming Duke Nukem Forever release features some information regarding Apple’s App Store that suggests the title could be headed to iOS devices.
Starjimstar from the Touch Arcade forums found that at the bottom of all the legal text in the game’s documentation, there’s some “Apple App Store Additional License Terms.”
A new jailbreak tweak that’s just hit Cydia allows users to upload photos to Facebook directly from the photo library on their iOS device without having to use a dedicated application. Native FB Upload allows you to select your photo and send it to Facebook just as easily as you can to MobileMe.
While the App Store is full of Facebook applications that allow you to upload photos, this $1.99 tweak from Tyler Nettleton (@InfectionX) cuts out the middle man. Once installed you can select a photo in your camera roll, or any other photo album, and tap the ‘export’ button in the bottom left that you’d usually use to send an image via MMS, email, or to MobileMe. You’ll have a new option to upload to Facebook.
Seems practically everyone has cottoned on to the idea that the iPhone makes for a stellar cycling computer — because hardware that turns the iPhone into a feature-packed riding companion keeps popping up. The latest is Velocomp’s iBike Dash series of app-enhanced hardware stashed inside their waterproof Phone Booth case that work with its free iBike app.
The unit starts out at $200 for the waterproof case with built-in ANT+ receiver and a speed sensor for your bike; $329 will bag you the Deluxe kit that adds a heart-rate strap, cadence sensor and supplemental battery for the iPhone. Velocomp also sells the Phone Booth case only — without the ANT+ electronics in it — for $50.
The waterproof case looks pretty rugged, but pricing strikes us as a tad steep compared with other kits out there from Wahoo, Digifit and New Potato Technologies (even though we were less-than-enthusiastic about the latter).
A few months ago, we reported that AT&T is starting to crack down on iPhone tethering usage. Jailbroken users are able to tether without subscribing to an extra plan. Some new information has emerged regarding how AT&T determines who’s tethering.
Kicking off this week’s selection of must-have iOS games is a brand new soccer game from X2 Games – the team behind the award-winning X2 Soccer titles. First Touch Soccer promises to be the true next-generation of soccer on iOS, offering the “most complete, realistic and addictive soccer sim available.”
Spider Jack is the latest puzzle release from Chillingo and I’m betting this game will be the next iOS game craze. Inspired by Cut the Rope, this game features a similar gameplay mechanic and all the ingredients needed to be a fantastic iOS puzzler.
Frisbee Forever is a whole new way to play frisbee and the only official frisbee game for iOS. It boasts super crisp 3D graphics and a frisbee experience like no other!
Find out more about the games above and check out Pulse: Volume One – this week’s final must-have – after the break!
Chinese American Carol Chow runs a trendy bakery in Beijing called CCSweets. Her most popular items are iPhone cookies and iPad cakes, which take hours to make. One iPhone cookie costs about $35. An iPad cake costs almost as much as a real iPad.
Chow says the popularity of her desserts has spawned local imitators, who simply copy her designs. (I wonder if they’re really Android-based pastries under the frosting….)
At the top of this week’s list of must-have iOS apps is the awesome comic creation tool that previously came bundled with Intel Macs. Comic Life from plasq allows you to use the photos in your iPad’s camera roll to create your own comic masterpieces.
Notificant is a brilliant new productivity app that makes is fast and simple to create reminders for the things you’d usually forget. Choose to have notifications alert you on your iPhone, as well as any of your other iOS or Mac devices.
Exploring your music collection has never been as stunning as it is with Planetary – a free iPad app that has climbed rapidly to the top of the free app charts. Fly through a 3D universe dynamically created by information about the recording artists you love.
Find out more about the applications above and check out the rest of this week’s must-haves – including Cadence.fm and 4oD Catch Up – after the break!
Apple’s iOS updates lately have been interesting because they haven’t performed a complete restore and recovery of my data — in other words I didn’t have to reload all my apps, media, etc. after the firmware was updated. This happened recently with iOS 4.3.3 and previously with iOS 4.3.2.
In some cases after short firmware updates like these I’ve experienced problems with apps, my internet connection, multitasking, and a few other things. Here are some tips that will help you eliminate these problems if you encounter them.
I often take these basic iOS troubleshooting tips for granted and I thought that this would be a good time to share them with all of you.
In an effort to appease the angered politicians in Washington, Apple is sending VP of Software, Bud Tribble, to the Senate hearing to discuss the storage of location data on iPhones. Location-Gate became one of the hottest topics concerning privacy and the use of cellular phones recently. At the center of the controversy, Apple quickly released an update to iOS (4.3.3) to amend the issue of iPhones storing user’s location data, which could possibly be acquired via a third-party to discern everywhere the user has been over the past few months. Senator Alan Franken has been the most vocal opponent of the recent discovery and was the one to initiate the hearing.
Bud Tribble has been with Apple since the 80’s, but as a Jobs loyalist, he left the company when Steve was ousted and became one of the founding members of NeXT, serving as the company’s VP of Software Development where he worked on projects that would later become the foundation for OS X.
Summer is upon us friends, and if you haven’t started losing that winter gut to get ready for the beach and other summer festivities now is as good a time as ever to get started. A lot of the guys here at Cult of Mac are fans of cycling and our favorite iPhone app for cycling workouts is the recently updated Cyclemeter ($4.99) by Abivo. One of the nicest things about the app is that it can be used not only for cycling but also running, swimming, or hiking. To celebrate the coming of summer, Abivo sent us 10 promo codes to give out today. We’ll be giving them out to 10 of our faithful Twitter followers on Saturday, May 7th at 10am PST.
Here’s how to enter the giveaway:
1: Follow Cult of Mac on Twitter (this contest is open to current followers and new followers).
2: Tweet the following line: “I need the new Cyclemeter app from @cultofmac because [insert your personal reason]”
3: 10 winners will be selected on Saturday morning at 10AM PST. I’ll DM the winners their promo codes.
Note: 5 Instant Winners will be chosen for the first 5 people who tweet us a picture of them riding a kids bike in Walmart.
Have fun, and good luck.
The iPhone Dev-Team’s PwnageTool has just been updated for Mac OS X users to provide a stable jailbreak for the latest iOS 4.3.3 release. Just as before the application provides an untethered jailbreak for the iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPad (1st-gen) and the iPod touch (3rd- & 4th-gen).
PwnageTool uses i0nic’s untethered exploit to safely install jailbroken 4.3.3 firmware whilst preserving your 1.59.00 baseband. This gives users the opportunity to continue to use UltraSn0w to unlock their device.
httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w85fxNueX4g
Apple has provided us with some of the best ads ever created. The Mac vs PC Campaign ads have been some of the most memorably entertaining advertisements to grace the television. Unfortunately Apple pulled the plug on the fun banter between Mac (Justin Long) and PC (John Hodgman) last year. However, should you feel so inclined to walk down memory lane with the plethora of Mac vs PC advertisements, Adweek has compiled all 66 ads for your viewing pleasure. They’ve even got them ordered out chronologically.
[via Adweek]
update: you can also view the ads in a much more pleasant layout on Squrl.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCP4dgqinYo
Spider Jack is a puzzle game from Chillingo that just hit the App Store, and I’m betting it will be the next iPhone game craze. It bears an uncanny resemblance to Cut the Rope and offers a similar style of play mechanic, but instead features an adorable green arachnid called Jack, whose mission is to return to his web to get his fill of flies.
It features 75 levels skilfully designed levels that promise to test your reflexes and foresight. Using pieces of web (not rope) you must carefully avoid the electrical beams and guide Jack safely home to his web. Use hairdryers to you advantage and try to collect as many stars as you can along the way.
Each level features multiple solutions, and the impressive visuals have been hand-drawn and optimized for the iPhone 4’s Retina display. Realistic physics attempt to give you a taste of “what real web-slinging is like,” and offer a puzzler that’s suitable for players of all ages and abilities.
Spider Jack’s similarities to Cut the Rope means many will already be familiar with its gameplay style, and to those who have beaten every level of Cut the Rope and are begging for something similar, Spider Jack has you covered. I’m sure it will follow in the footsteps of its inspiration and be the App Store’s next big success.
Give it a try and let us know what you think!
Wouldn’t it be great to get paid to play with your beloved iPhone? Thanks to a new startup Gigwalk, that dream is now a reality. The Silicon Valley startup launched their program today and are accepting applications for new Gigwalkers in cities across America.
Using Gigwalk’s iPhone app, Gigwalkers sign up to complete a list of task in their local area using their iPhone in exchange for a small cash sum (gigs pay between $3 – $50). Once a task is completed, Gigwalkers are paid via a PayPal account that is linked to their Gigwalk account, making everything incredibly simple and efficient. While these small gigs won’t replace your full-time job, you can earn a tidy sum on the side. Gigwalk reported that their highest paid Gigwalker earned $2,173 completing 277 gigs over the 6-month private-beta period.
The idea behind the new service is that every smartphone is a node in a vast network. By tapping into that huge network companies can accomplish huge data tasks that require small amounts of information from a large number of locations in a highly efficient manner.
Apple has officially informed AT&T that there will be no new iPhone this June or July, according to a customer care representative for the carrier. One AT&T customer noticed his eligibility date for a subsidized upgrade had been pushed back by over five months; when he contacted the carrier for an explanation, a rep gave him the following statement:
Apple has informed us that they do not plan to release the iPhone in the June to July timeframe, though there will be a newer version in the future. Unfortunately, we have not been given a release time for the new phone. We will release this information on our website when it is available to us.
It’s unusual that this kind of information would be passed down to employees ahead of an official Apple announcement, however, you can’t help but feel this particular AT&T rep is right. As June gets closer, the number of reports that suggests a later-than-usual iPhone release are increasing, and any hope of a new iPhone before September is quickly being quashed.
Apple is now expected to announce a new iPhone at its yearly iPod event traditionally held every September.
[via MacRumors]
While the beautiful hardware that Apple creates gets a lot of the attention, many people forget that the appeal of Apple’s devices is within the software more than anything else. Asymco.com recently published an article elaborating how the profit from Apple’s two operating systems (OSX and iOS) outpace the profits that Microsoft makes with Windows 3.5x over.
On the Mac side of operations the site says:
“While a lot of the credit for Apple’s success is rightfully assigned to the iOS franchises, the OS X business has more than quadrupled in five years. This has happened without drastic price fluctuations. Neither holds for the overall PC industry which has seen both volume and sales decline while prices have eroded along with profitability. On top of that, growth has nearly evaporated.”
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWPFfb4mF6k&feature=player_embedded
For a while Cydia has been the one and only source for jailbroken applications and tweaks, and it hasn’t really had a lot of competition. That’s about to change, as a new web-based installer called Lima is on its way to give Cydia something of a challenge.
Developed by the Infini Dev Team, Lima runs in the Safari browser and doesn’t require any additional applications – you just navigate to its webpage to access all of its packages. Downloading and installing packages is just as simple as it currently is with Cydia.
Judging from the video at the top, Lima looks like a nice, snappy way of accessing jailbroken apps and tweaks, without the downsides of the often slow Cydia. However, I’m not sure whether you’ll we’ll still be able to add our own repositories like we can with Cydia, or whether we’re stuck with whatever Lima has to offer.
As much as I love Cydia, sometimes its slow reload times and all too frequent errors prove to be a huge frustration, and I’m looking forward to giving Lima a try. What do you think; will Lima give Cydia a run for its money, or is it facing an uphill battle? Let us know in the comments!
[via iPhone Download Blog]
The SuperTooth Disco is a portable speaker that will wirelessly stream 28 watts of sound for your next parties dance floor. Here’s a hands-on review.
It won’t take the place of a dedicated sound system like the one you might have in your living room with only 28 watts of power, but for a portable Bluetooth device it is pretty impressive.