iPhone - page 467

Turns out, while the iPhone and iPod Touch are just about the awesomest fart-generating devices ever, the considerable power of Apple’s mobile devices can also be marshaled to more productive uses, such as processing credit card sales.

ProcessAway, a Tustin, CA-based company has submitted to Apple software that will allow busiiness owners to process credit card transactions over any available network connection. The app is designed for use in places such as conventions, street fairs, antique shows, and by business owners performing mobile detailing, on-site consultation or construction, but certainly the list of scenarios is virtually endless where on-the-spot transaction processing could be useful.

ProcessAway software utilizes the Authorize.net gateway (one of the very first Internet payment gateways) with one of the largest customer bases in the card processing industry. “The Authorize.net API fueled development of ProcessAway,” according to spokesman Randy Palermo, allowing “millions of iPhone (and iTouch) users to turn their device into a credit card terminal.”

Authorize.net merchant accounts used with ProcessAway include an option to download transactions into Quickbooks and also a comprehensive Virtual Terminal. This will give business owners the benefit of processing transactions out of the office with ProcessAway as well as in the office through the web-based Virtual Terminal, all with a single account. Even though the Virtual Terminal is available, ProcessAway was designed as a stand-alone comprehensive processing solution that can be used effectively in any environment.

ProcessAway software will be sold through the iTunes AppStore for $19.99. A fully functional free version, called ProcessLite, will also be available, identical to ProcessAway except the charge amount is limited.

The apps were submitted to Apple on January 26 and the developer offers a notification sign-up page should you want to hop on this one as soon as it’s available.

Here are two iPhone home screens. On the left, my iPhone home screen from a few months ago. Everything normal.

On the right, my iPhone home screen from yesterday. And something weird has happened.

An additional line has been added to the status bar at the top, pushing all the app icons closer together. It displays only the characters “O2” – the name of my British network provider. Which is already displayed, of course, in the main part of the status bar. What, as they say, the frak?

Apple’s advertising for the iPhone is changing in interesting ways. When the product was brand new, all of the attention was on the interface, just introducing people to the idea of multitouch. Now, the focus has shifted to what you can do with an iPhone that you either can’t do or is too much harder to do on any other phone. The one above, “Fix,” is all about the little everyday problems the iPhone can solve, like finding a taxi, calculating your tip, or checking how level a shelf is. All of the featured applications (Rocket Taxi, Tipulator and Multilevel) are third-party, and each has a nice UI and a cool hook into signature iPhone 3G features, like GPS or the accelerometer.

Another new ad fits the same pattern, this one entitled “Read,” which goes into the many things you could read on the iPhone, including restaurant reviews (Yelp), an MRI (!) (OsiriX), or, well, a book (Classics). I’ve embedded it after the jump.

It’s a really smart way for Apple to make the App Store its own…killer app. How long until Apple makes the “Fart” commercial?

Via iPhone Savior

Very cool new iPhone app just out called Air Photo that allows printing directly from an iPhone to a printer connected to a computer. Basically, you download a Mac or Windows software program called Air Photo Server, then head to the iTunes store to pick up the Air Photo client, which is $2. Then you can just use WiFi to connect your computer and your iPhone, and away you can go.

For owners of HP InkJets, this technology already exists in a free app called HP iPrint Photo, but this is the chance for people with other kinds of printers to get in on the action. I think the scenario of use for this technology that I like best is treating the iPhone kind of like a Polaroid camera at a party. Walk around taking pictures, then have them start printing from across the room. Just get more of a keepsake feel to the whole process. More organic.

Lifehacker via Gizmodo

Proof once again that it’s the *software* that makes the iPhone camera, QuadCamera is my latest favorite thing from the App Store.

It turns your iPhone into something like a Lomo Action Sampler, only one with much, much more flexibility than the its traditional film-loading counterpart.

This is a page from The Magazine, an ezine-in-an-app that’s now available on the App Store for a dollar.

By itself, it’s not much to write home about in my opinion. The presentation is amateurish and the content not terribly interesting. And there simply isn’t very much of it. Not my kind of magazine at all, frankly.

But what’s more interesting is the concept of a mag-as-an-app.

Is there anything an iPhone app cannot be programmed to do?

CubeCheater is an amazing app for iPhone and iPod Touch that, given the current state of your Rubik’s Cube, will tell you how to solve the puzzle in just a few moves.

You can either input the cube’s state using the color palette and tapping in the colors, or you can just take a picture of each face of the cube and CubeCheater will use advanced computer-vision techniques to recognize the cube for you. (The camera feature is obviously not available on iPod Touch)

The app uses the famed Kociemba algorithm to find a solution quickly. It finds optimal or near-optimal cube solutions in only a few seconds. Even a really mixed-up cube will only take about 20 turns to solve, compared to hundreds of turns for a typical human algorithm.

By getting all Beatles Revolution #9 on it, you can also use CubeCheater to put your cube into pretty-looking patterns. Start with a solved cube, input the pattern you want, and solve it. Play the solution backwards to put your cube into that configuration.

The app’s most recent update adds support for different styles of cubes, such as the Blue-opposite-White cubes sold in Japan. You can also specify your own custom cube configuration if you have a non-standard cube.

I suppose it had to happen.

If you’ve been online since forever, you’ll remember the Hot or Not meme that was briefly that year’s Lolcats, until something more interesting came along.

But Hot or Not has continued to be hot (or not) ever since. And now you can download the Hot or Not app to your iPhone.

Or you could not.

As far as I can make out, these custom-made Japanese iPhone cases are silicone fashioned to look like frosting, turning your device into a frou-frou cake like confection.

Must learn Japanese, however – google translate isn’t cutting it, calling the cases “quite appalling.” Or maybe it’s not a bad translation

Update: kind reader Wonko tells us the word used to describe the cases was “sasumajii”.

Here is the EDICT translation: terrific, fierce, terrible, tremendous, dreadful, awful, amazing, absurd.

So it looks like there’s room for either interpretation…

Via Blog! Nobon

Travelers in economy class flying Singapore Airlines can hook up their own iPods or iPhones to the inflight entertainment system.

Starting in March, A330-300 aircraft with these new hookups will replace older planes flying medium haul routes to Australian and Japanese cities.

The re-designed Economy seats sport adjustable leather headrests and larger monitors.
In addition to iPod and iPhone connectivity (plus a plug if you to power your device) the multi-port panel has a USB port, enabling passengers to listen to their own music, view photos or read PDFs.

United Airlines was the first US carrier to offer a similar service back in June 2008, but it is only available in business and first classes.

Love the idea of being able to catch up on 30 Rock instead of being reduced almost to tears because the only thing left to watch on a long-haul flight was “Legally Blonde 2.”

Via news.com.au

Apple interim CEO Tim Cook spoke plainly during Wednesday’s earnings call about the company’s being “ready to suit up and go against anyone” who might try to gain a competitive advantage in the mobile device arena by “ripping off” the iPhone’s IP.

General consensus holds the Palm Pre poses the best competition for iPhone thus far, with some analysts drawing close connections between Apple and Palm around the Pre’s touch interface.

Mike Abramsky, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets put the question directly to Cook on Wednesday’s call, asking, “the Palm device particularly seems to almost directly emulate the kind of touch interfaces that [Apple] innovated…Is that to what you’re referring with regarding to ripping off IP?”

Cook declined to talk about any specific company and reiterated his and Apple’s position that “competition is good [and] makes us all better.” However, he also drew analysts on the call a clear picture of Apple’s belief that the “magic” of the iPhone has little to do with hardware and everything to do with software.”

“We’ve said since the beginning software is the key ingredient and we believe that we’re still years ahead on software,” Cook said, adding “we approach [this business] fundamentally different than people that are approaching it only from a hardware point of view.

It’s obviously way early in the game, and in the event Palm’s Pre never manages to gain significant acceptance in the marketplace, Apple is likely to keep its attention and resources focused on other things.

Should the Pre come on like gangbusters and should there be a lot of “hey, this thing works just like an iPhone” talk, it’s not too difficult to imagine Apple calling on its competitive advantage in cash and legal muscle to put the squeeze on a company that, not long ago, was being written off by many as headed for the dustbin of history.

This is Trunk, and it’s possibly the most interesting and enticing iPhone app I’ve seen for weeks.

After the binder clip stand, here’s another way to prop up your iPhone that you can make from everyday office supplies, courtesy the enterprising folks at Geeky Gadgets who were looking for an impromptu stand to better watch the presidential inauguration.

Here’s how:

You’ll need four or five pencils, probably five to support an iPhone 3g.

Take two pencils with one rubber band at either end to make the horizontal phone support. Then make a triangle using two more pencils. Add the final pencil as the back support. You can adjust stability and support given by tightening the top rubber band.

One caveat: If you have a slippery desk, try making the stand with pencils that have erasers, putting the eraser end on the desk for added support.

More photos, details on Geeky Gadgets

iPhone app developers are busy, smart people. In addition to keeping us entertained with apps, they also bake.

Organized by Gavin from Antair Games, indie developers were invited to bake cakes and send in the pictures in a contest of skill that took them away from the computer and into the kitchen. Prizes include, surprisingly, apps and some iTunes gift certificates.

There are some pretty sweet cakes, like the “sneezies” one above (thought I’m still a little perplexed over the iFart entry), so head over to 148 apps to vote for your favorite before the January 25 deadline.

Via Macsimum News

Cradle your iPhone in this artisan-carved iPhone stand made to look like a hand.

Made by a Tulsa-based carver, the oak stand holds your iPhone or iPhone 3g in its palm and then slides out vertically when you need it.

Not for everyone — especially with a $95 price tag — it would go nicely with your wood-look iPod case or wooden MacBook Case.

Via Geek Sugar

I was going to save this one for a “WTF iPhone Apps Of The Week” post, but then I thought – No. This is Too Good. This needs a space of its own.

Ladies and gentlemen (but mostly, I suspect, gentlemen): I present iPropose. It is an app designed to help the tongue-tied ask for someone else’s hand in marriage.

I think the official blurb from the App Store says everything:

“Make sure the most important event of your lives happens inside your life’s most important gadget. And with iPropose, that special someone will know you really care. iPropose is 100% guaranteed to result with a “YES” or your money back!”

Stop and think, ladies (because I suspect it will be mostly ladies): do you really want to marry a guy who proposed to you on a phone? Do you?

Right, what have we got this week? First there’s Listen. Maybe the name iShell was already taken. So what does it do? You pick a shell and hold it up to your ear, then “close your eyes, take a deep breath, and relax. You’ll feel the weight of the world lift off your shoulders.”

I have a confession to make: despite my worldly exterior, I am a gigantic comics geek. I have a pull list, I can name everyone who has ever been a member of the Justice League, and I had a letter published in Green Arrow #101.

At this point in my life, I finally have the budget to buy a decent number of comics, but this has actually made things much more complex. After all, now I don’t have time to memorize which new books I want to read. Unless a preview makes a real impression on me, I forget I ever wanted to read it.

Thankfully, as it does for most of life’s problems, the iPhone has an answer. It’s called Comixology, and it’s a beautiful thing. Basically an app version (and companion) of Comixology.com, the program allows you to view lists of all the comics being released in a given week, preview artwork and story pages for many of them, and then “pull” interesting books so your local retailer will have everything cool waiting for you the next time you stop by.

It can also bring in podcasts, news, columns, and reviews. It’s pretty much one-stop nerd shopping.

I haven’t had time to get this synced to my actual comics pull list yet, but I’m planning to soon (my local comics impresario is an adviser to the project), and it’s awesome just as a memory-enhancing tool in the first place.

Plus, it doesn’t make farting noises. That alone sets it apart from the App Store pack.

Apple approved Ustream’s AppStore live video streaming app on iTunes Monday evening, just in time for what is likely to be the most photographed, videoed and broadcast US Presidential Inauguration ever, on Tuesday in Washington, DC.

Get Ustream’s free app on your iPhone, and if you can find yourself an open WiFi connection between 10am and 3pm (EST) Tuesday, you’ll be able to catch live footage of Barack Obama’s inauguration as the 44th president of the US.

Ustream’s TV-in only breakthrough may seem small potatoes to legions of iPhone jailbreakers, who’ll be able to use iPhone’s TV-out capabilities to broadcast Obama’s historic inauguration from their iPhones; it’s also quite something for mainstream iPhone users to now be able to receive live video on their mobile devices.

It figures, then, with up to 5 million people in Washington DC for Tuesday’s pomp and circumstance, a few jailbroken live feeds ought to be accessible to those who know the right people.

Ustream is bringing streaming webcam video to the iPhone, perhaps in time for you to watch the historic inuaguration of President Barack Obama from the nation’s capital next Tuesday, if Tim Cook can make a little rain in Cupertino over the weekend.

Via Gizmodo, via TechCrunch

Proving itself to be The Little Engine That Could of an otherwise dismal economy, Apple’s iTunes AppStore has reached an inventory of over 15,000 applications (some of which do not exist to reproduce the sound of flatulence) and has entertained more than 500 million downloads since its debut six months ago.

It took just 5 weeks for the AppStore to deliver more than 200 million downloads, whereas it took 6 weeks to go from 200 million to 300 million. So, the volume of interest in applications for iPhone and iPod Touch is increasing impressively, although the most recent bump is likely a result of Apple’s mobile gadgets having been popular gifts this past holiday season.

Via Mashable!

From the Get It While It Lasts department: ImageToys: iJiggles is an app whose developers somehow figured out what Apple’s AppStore gatekeepers didn’t like about the iBoobs app they rejected a while back.

Perhaps by marketing the application as image-reality-distortion magic they confused the AppStore police into thinking people would use it for anything but playing Hooray for Boobies!

Via Macenstein

Soccer fans can keep up with Champion’s League games and Italy’s Serie A games on their iPhones thanks to a free web app developed in cooperation with Sky.

Stats, line-ups, photos and play-by-plays (for the moment, in Italian only) are available at https://i.sky.it/

The web app was developed by CEFRIEL, an ICT research hub for three Milan Universities, with a special eye to Apple-friendly design. One example: a list of team members can be rotated horizontally to a soccer field view which shows the positions they play.

A lot of men here in Italy used to walk around with transistor radios on Sundays listening to soccer games. Of late, these have been replaced by videophone services that allow fans ignore wives and friends while having a stroll. Although it would’ve been nice to be able to watch the games live, this lets sports fans keep on top of the score without ruining conversation over Sunday lunch.

Via Alfonso Fuggetta

You’ve got to love Japanese developer Yuki Yasoshima, whose free stopwatch app hit the iTunes AppStore this week. The version of the app on sale in the US store is “English,” but nowhere in the AppStore description is a word of it actually in English, just the same Japanese character information found on Yasoshima’s website, which is also in, yes, Japanese.

Now, that’s confidence in your product!

Fortunately, Big StopWatch is dead intuitive. Not to mention elegant, graphically boss and accurate to the 100th of a second.

If any of our Japanese-savvy readers want to take a shot at Yasoshima’s app description, it’s appended after the jump. Please let us know what we’re missing in comments.

Apple has begun approving the first wave of browser products to compete with Mobile Safari on the iPhone and iPod Touch, signaling the company may not be the great curmudgeon of handheld computing after all.

The apparent shift in Apple’s previous policy of denying AppStore certification to software products that “duplicate the functionality” of its own applications that ship with the devices, a handful of browser apps have begun showing up in recent days on the iTunes store.

Incognito, from developer Dan Park, promises completely anonymous browsing, with all history cleared simply by closing the application.

Edge Browser is a free app that opens up valuable screen real estate, but forces the address and navigation tools into the Settings menu, which doesn’t seem too promising a design feature to me.

WebMate is a 99¢ solution to tabbed browsing on the iPhone, that works by queuing up all the links you click on, then allowing you to view them one by one when you’re ready.