The iOS 4.3 update enabled third-party applications to take advantage of AirPlay and stream content to the AppleTV and other compatible devices. Since it went live, developers have been updating their apps to include AirPlay support, and we’ve put together a list of the top 10 iOS apps that are currently AirPlay ready. We’ve chosen apps to keep you entertained, up to date with the latest news, and even one to help you workout.
Check them out after the break!
The official Facebook application for the iPhone has been updated today, introducing new features that allow you to view your friends’ Places check ins in map view, check into events you’re attending, and ‘unfriend’ people directly from your device. The update also makes improvements to the news feed and the notifications UI.
If you’re lucky enough to posses an iPhone 4 and haven’t already downloaded freebie Ball Pit, do it now and play around with it a little. Go ahead, I’ll wait.
Pretty cool, right? For those of you at work or still saving for an iPhone 4, the game is basically a first-person shooter set in the middle of a what looks like a holodeck from the later Star Trek shows, with the objective of shooting down the spheres that happen to be floating around in the big room with you.
Gift Plan – (Free for today – usually $0.99) iPhone – Productivity
Gift Plan is a fantastic little application for the iPhone that could save you a lot of trouble. Usually $0.99 – but free for 24 hours – it will remind you of special occasions and ensure you never miss a birthday or anniversary again.
TrapCall is an application by Tel Tech Systems that enables an iPhone user to find out who’s calling them from blocked or private telephone numbers. It just arrived in the App Store, but the developers submitted the application to Apple months ago – waiting a staggering 201 days for their app to be approved.
By using the TrapCall service and accompanying iPhone application, users who receive calls from a blocked number can tap the sleep button twice to decline it and pass it over toTrapCall. Almost instantly, the service will then send the user a text message with the name, telephone number and address of their caller.
With an estimated 2.5 million users, MapMyFitness is almost certainly one of the top fitness-tracking services on the web and the iPhone; which means last week’s announcement that their apps now fully integrate with the Wahoo Fisica dongle should make a lot of people happy.
The MMF website and apps, most of which are free, are already chock-full of features like a deep library of user-generated maps, mapping functions (like route elevation profile generation) and their new nutrition-tracking feature; adding the ability to record sensor data should catapult the system to the top of the heap. The integration with the ANT+ Fisica sensor dongle doesn’t quite extend across MapMyFitness’s whole suite of apps, but hits the major ones, like MapMyRun, MapMyRide and MapMyFitness (all three of which are really almost identical).
It’s hard to recall now, but the number-one complaint about the iPhone when it first came out was the on-screen keyboard.
Engadget’s Ryan Block asked: “Will the iPhone be undone by its keyboard?” People talked about how on-screen typing would destroy the iPhone in the same way that the hand-writing recognition system helped kill the Newton.
Even more incredibly, one of the main iPad criticisms when it first came out was the visibility of finger smudges on the screen when you turn the power off.
These concerns seem quaint now, textbook examples of the limited human-ape mind trying to grapple with novelty. It’s like people complaining about their new “motor car” a hundred years ago by saying the infernal contraption fails to slow down when they say, “whoa, Nellie!” and won’t speed up when they whip the fender with a riding crop. “It’ll never catch on!”
Many annoying tech pundits (including and especially Yours Truly) bitched and moaned about Apple’s global ban on the sale of third-party physical keyboard and refusal to create one of their own.
I believe Apple deliberately used its red-hot iPhone product to force the world to accept and learn to appreciate on-screen keyboards, and break them of their physical keyboard habit. When Apple released the iPad a year ago, it was usable with two Apple keyboards (the standard Bluetooth keyboard and a new cradle keyboard). But no matter. The on-screen keyboard idea had already been accepted by a critical mass of users.
Despite widespread acceptance, people are still divided on whether on-screen keyboards are good or bad, and most still prefer a physical keyboard. But let’s look at the big picture.
We received these cryptic press releases from two fairly well-known developers today, and we just thought we’d share them with you — especially since one of them was marked confidential and requested we not reveal anything till Monday; as if! We’re revealing it NOW! (Yes, we’re horribly easy to manipulate).
Concerned citizens in Kentucky can report “suspicious activity” to their state branch of Homeland Security through an iPhone app.
Called Eyes and Ears of Kentucky, the app is offered gratis on iTunes. The handiwork of developers NICUSA, it has been in the store since March 7. So far, it has not received enough reviews to reach an average rating. Through the app, you can report a suspicious incident or activity along with details about the alleged subjects and their vehicles.
Those of you of a certain age might remember the Game Boy Camera, an ingenious add-on for the original Nintendo Game Boy that snapped tiny 128×112 pictures.
It was briefly one of the most exciting ideas in handheld consoles – suddenly the Game Boy wasn’t just for games, it was for other fun stuff too!
Better still, if you had the money to spare, you could buy a Game Boy Printer and print out your pixellated works of art to give to friends.
All that’s ancient history, which is precisely what makes it the ideal starting point for an iOS app.
It’s called 8 Bit Pocket Camera, and it’s lots of fun and, at just a dollar, excellent value.
A thief fleeing with an iPhone pushed a woman to her death down a flight of metro stairs in Chicago.
At rush hour on Monday, a man snatched an iPhone from a woman who was using it at Fullerton station platform in the Lincoln Park neighborhood.
As he ran off, the man knocked over Sally Katona-King, 68, on her way home from her church receptionist’s job.
Katona-King died yesterday after tumbling down the station stairs. Hospital officials believe that she suffered a cerebral hemorrhage.
“It’s a worldwide problem where iPhones are being taken, resold to fences, which are then resold for a higher price,” detective Cmdr. Gary Yamashiroya said. “It’s something that police departments across the country are trying to find solutions to.”
Police have not located the perp, though they hope video surveillance footage will help lead them to him.
Daily coupon upstarts like Groupon and Living Social have become so massively popular that it’s gotta be increasingly difficult for older and more fogey-ish coupon flingers like Valpak to keep up.
So what Valpak has done is team up with the Junaio augmented reality app to provide an AR channel for Valpak deals in the area. Which is cool, because since Junaio is location based, rather than flip through Valpak’s iPhone app (yeah, they have an iPhone app now too) any potential coupon would just pop up on the screen when standing right outside the store.
Unfortunately, Valpak still seems to have retained its stodgy image; a pity, because the deals are actually pretty good. The Junaio channel’s a start though.
The folks at Digifit seem to have been working feverishly on evolving their iPhone-linked fitness-monitoring system since the last time we covered them, a few months ago.
In fact, the system seems to be evolving very closely along the lines of Wahoo’s Fisica system — so closely that their new $50 Digifit Connect 2 dongle (that’s it pictured below) looks the spitting image of Wahoo’s version. No surprise then that the $15 Digifit app is now also compatible with the Wahoo dongle. In addition, there’s a new $120, water-resistant, iPhone 3/4-compatible Digifit Connect Case for mounting on bicycle handlebars.
Way back in the early days of the App Store, an early hot property in the store was Podcaster, a simple utility that allowed users to browse, subscribe to, and download podcasts to the iPhone. It was very useful, both for finding new things to listen to on the go, but also for eliminating one of the key reasons for unnecessary and redundant syncing to a computer.
Naturally, Apple had it removed. Then it came back as RSS Player a few months later. And got stripped out again, in both cases for providing redundant functionality, an absurd claim, as Apple’s built-in iTunes app is only capable of searching for podcasts — subscriptions aren’t allowed. Fortunately, Apple has finallycome to its senses and now allows podcasting apps to be installed on non-jailbroken phones again, including the original Podcaster. Better still, the choices have multiplied, which brings us to the stellar subject of this review, Instacast.
This $1.99 app (a price I happily paid), approaches phone-based podcast management exactly the way I would like it. Its sole focus is on subscriptions rather than individual files. It uses a simple search mechanism that was able to track down every podcast I wanted to track. It also offers recommendations for popular series. You can also subscribe to any podcast you currently have loaded onto your iPhone. Rather than downloading these podcasts immediately (a potential nightmare), Instacast snags episode descriptions including links to either download or stream any given podcast. Piece of cake.
But the simple power of the app only becomes clearer with longer term use as you build out your library. It implements the increasingly-standard swipe down to refresh gesture first seen in Tweetie. This pulls down descriptions for any newly released episodes within your existing subscriptions and adds them to the existing queue. I have only synced my iPhone once since I downloaded Instacast, and that was to install iOS 4.3.1. I’m actually strongly considering deleting my podcast subscriptions from iTunes.
Now, the app isn’t perfect. Though the UI is fairly intuitive (usually through borrowing conventions of Twitter/Tweetie and Reeder) it has a few oddities, including an easy-to-miss play button, no on-screen volume controls, and no obvious way to delete a downloaded episode (you have to mark it as read). I assume such issues will be resolved in the near future, and the positives definitely outweigh the disadvantages.
In short, Instacast fixes part of a problem of both the iPhone and iPad: much as Apple has defined a new class of mobile computers that doesn’t rely on a desktop or laptop for full functionality, the company has also pushed administration of such devices onto desktop and laptop devices. It’s impossible to boot up an iPad for the first time without syncing it to a computer, and neither machine can install its own software updates without a tether. While this attitude is understandable for firmware and OS updates, it makes no sense for podcasts and other kinds of content. The longer I use Instacast, the more it feels like I’m finally cutting the cable.
Cult of Mac rated: [xrr rating=8/10]
iOS 4.3.1 was only released a couple of days ago, but thanks to one hacker, it’s already possible to jailbreak the software with PwnageTool 4.2. Before you jump into this, however, there are some things you need to know…
This is a tethered jailbreak, so you’ll have to hook your device up to your computer every time you need to reboot – this could pose a problem if your device crashes while you’re out and about and away from your computer. At the moment, this jailbreak is still in its early stages and not considered a stable release – it’s best not to perform this on your primary device.
With that said, if you’d still like to perform the jailbreak, you’ll need the following things:
You can then follow the step-by-step guide over at Redmond Pie to have your way with your device. Good luck!
According to two “solid sources” for TechCruch, Apple’s forthcoming iOS 5 software may bring with it a major revamp of the operating system built around the cloud, but we’ll have to wait for a fall release to enjoy its new features.
A fall release would break the pattern of previous iOS releases, which have typically been unveiled in early spring and released alongside a new iPhone in the summer. However, it’s believed iOS 5 may come with a third-generation iPad rumored to launch later this year.
The TechCrunch sources say that:
Earlier reports had suggested that iOS 5 would be previewed at Apple’s iPad 2 keynote earlier this year, and when that didn’t happen, new reports then rumored that another event in April would take place to talk about iOS 5 and a revamped MobileMe. If the TechCrunch sources are correct, it seems this event won’t go ahead either.
Unfortunately, these sources didn’t provide any details on the iPhone 5, but we’re guessing the device is still on track for its unveiling at WWDC with a launch this summer. Of course, if that is the case, the device will launch with the latest version of iOS 4 and not iOS 5.
iPhone users are downloading, and VCs are throwing money at, a new iPhone app called Color.
Don’t get it? You’re not alone.
What the Naysayers are Naysaying
The general reception to Color has been overwhelmingly negative — even worse than the initial reception to the Apple iPad.
Gizmodo quipped that Color’s main purpose is to “amuse yourself by creeping out strangers.”
All Things Digital said Color reminds them of a mock news story created by The Onion, in which investigators establish the cause of a fire by examining the “43,000 pictures taken by students at a party.”
Fortune called Color a “whimsical” “Trojan horse.”
Computerworld called it a “social network for voyeurs.”
Daring Fireball says Color is a “breathlessly overhyped piece of crap.”
The app is currently rated by users with only two stars out of five in the iTunes App Store. Compare that with, say, the 99-cent “Mr. Ninja” game app, which is getting five stars.
The two main strains of criticism center around uselessness and privacy. People aren’t understanding how to use Color, nor why they might want to. Also: The app doesn’t give you any way to know who’s seeing your pictures, and enables creepy weirdos to potentially observe others unwisely sharing private or inappropriate moments. Also: Many users I’ve talked to don’t realize that when you connect to others at a specific event, Color then gives you access not only to their photos and videos taken at the same event, but all taken by them previously elsewhere as well.
All this criticism and mockery is interesting, but largely misguided. I’ll tell you why below, but first lets understand what Color actually is.
By now, seems to be pretty well accepted that texting while driving is even more dangerous than driving while intoxicated. SuperTooth, a French company behind a variety of Bluetooth gadgets, released a version of their hands-free Bluetooth speakerphone earlier this week at the CTIA mobile conference in Florida.
The SuperTooth HD is a more powerful version of the company’s other models, like the SuperTooth Voice, and features two speakers outputting a relatively powerful a 5 watts through a 5.4 watt amplifier (which SuperTooth says is three times as powerful as any other speakerphone out there). Pair that with dual mics, and you’ve got what sounds like a fairly formidable hands-free package.
The HD also has the same voice-control and text-to-speech features as some of the company’s earlier offerings, like answering calls, retrieving voicemail and composing Facebook, Twitter, e-mail and text messages. The SuperTooth HD will be available next month for $129.
In what appears to be an effort to persuade users to not switch over to Verizon, AT&T is sending out marketing materials elaborating why their network is the perfect match for your beautiful iPhone.. Have the recent estimates that Verizon has snagged 10% of the US iPhone market-share after only a few months gotten AT&T a little bit worried that a lot of users will switch networks once the iPhone 5 comes out? Coupled with their recent gift of 1,000 free rollover minutes to customers, maybe AT&T is finally trying to put forth some legitimate efforts to satisfy their customers after years of complaints. I’ve been an AT&T subscriber since June 29th, 2007 (the day the first iPhone was released). Never once has AT&T decided to send me their seasonal magazine title “AT&T Magazine.” Yet for some reason I was greeted by their 12-page mag when I received my mail today.
The reasons AT&T says you should stay with their network are as follows:
AT&T’s proposed $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile would result in new efficiencies and economies of scale. It would enable the provisioning of more and better services at lower cost than the two companies could achieve separately.
And that’s exactly why the Obama administration may block it.
Like one of the commenters says, “What other phone platform has a mascot THIS cool????”
Joey Chun had an idea, and the idea was this: a cute iPhone stand with a sturdy fold-out arm, so you can use it as a viewing stand, or to keep your device still while recording video and taking photos.
This is gorgeous. Everyday is a $2 app that reminds you, once a day, to take a photo of yourself. Then it combines all the photos you’ve taken into a timelapse movie of your changing features.
I’m not sure this is news to anyone, but Apple is working on an iPhone with a Near Field Communications chip, the New York Times has confirmed.
Whether the prototype iPhone is the next iPhone, the NYT’s source couldn’t say.
This all sounds a lot like our NFC iPhone story last week, wherein our source said Apple is working on several NFC-equipped prototypes. Of course, an NFC iPhone has been rumored for some time.
What the Times brings to the story is not one, but two sources:
According to two people with knowledge of the inner workings of a coming iteration of the Apple iPhone — although not necessarily the next one — a chip made by Qualcomm for the phone’s processor will also include near-field communication technology, known as N.F.C. This technology enables short-range wireless communications between the phone and an N.F.C reader, and can be used to make mobile payments. It is unclear which version of an iPhone this technology would be built into.
New York Times: The Technology Behind Making Mobile Payments a Reality
Steve Jobs famously once quoted Picasso as saying: “Good artists copy; great artists steal.” And by that metric, Apple is a lousy artist.
Apple is stolen from by just about everybody. Microsoft and other companies steal design and interface ideas from Apple’s OS X. Cell phone handset makers steal Apple’s iPhone design elements. The new tablet market is essentially Apple’s iPad plus the tablets that steal ideas from the iPad. Everybody has stolen Apple’s approach to app stores.
There’s a difference between stealing ideas and stealing intellectual property. Stealing winning general approaches to doing things like multi-touch gestures on a tablet device is good. Stealing the code to do that is bad.
Microsoft has long been accused of stealing Apple ideas in the many designs of Windows that have occurred over the years. Windows has tended to be more challenging to use than OS X over the years, and Windows products tend to be less elegant. Because of all this, Apple fans often dismiss Microsoft as a company without innovation.
In fact, the opposite is true. Microsoft’s research wing is an under-appreciated engine of invention, in my opinion. And while Microsoft fails to productize some of its best inventions, it’s also occasionally successful at implementing new ideas in real products.
I’ll go further. Apple and its customers would benefit enormously if Apple were to steal the following five key ideas from Microsoft.