iPhone - page 470

French software development company Visuamobile is planning to launch an iPhone app called  ELIZA AI, based on the 1966 artificial intelligence computer program trained to respond to questions like a therapist, that is by asking other questions.

Though the program is dated, Leca says the Eliza iPhone app still had the same effect that surprised creator Joseph Weizenbaum back at MIT in the day — at a certain point people forget  ELIZA is not  a human therapist.

“What seemed really interesting, and I have tested it at the office, is that people are reluctant to show you what they have been discussing with Eliza,” Dominique Leca of  Visuamobile told Cult of Mac. Leca, who handles business development at the Paris-based company,  had the idea for the app. “And, to tell you the truth, Eliza has helped me several times. The fact that she constantly asks you to explain yourself is a great way to analyze what you think.”

Set to be released for free download on the visuamobile store on iTunes March 3, Leca said the Eliza app will likely remain gratis but the company has more sophisticated psyched-up apps in the works, like one based on AI chat robot ALICE, that will probably be fee-based.

Assisted navel-gazing anyone?

Images courtesy visuamobile

Anyone like to start a pool on which big-city police force will be the first to gun down an innocent iPhone user as a result of the hapless victim flaunting his “Bang! Bang!” app in the wrong place, at the wrong time?

With authentic Hollywood sound effects and realistic depictions of firearms “carefully crafted,” all the way down to the “specific look, realistic options, and unique animations” of the real world gun they’re based on, according to the developer, this is not your father’s game of Cops and Robbers.

Two thirds of all mobile web access happens on Apple’s mobile OS, according to February results published by market researchers Net Applications.

iPhone’s closest competitor, Windows Mobile, had just 6.91 percent of the traffic, while Google’s Android and Symbian were both locked in a tie for third at 6.15 percent. Palm and Blackberry bring up the rear at 2.37 and 2.24 percent respectively.

It’s worth noting that Android, which didn’t exist before October, was able to gain the marketshare Symbian took two years to achieve, and that, in the grand scheme of things, Apple’s mobile OS commands just 0.48 percent of all web traffic world wide.

Via Apple Insider

The first thing you see when waking your iPhone is the time, in big, bold, impossible-to-mistake numbers. And yet, a niche that seems to be growing almost as fast as fart apps is that of clocks. A search for clocks in the App Store turns up flip clocks, digital clocks, atomic clocks, analogue clocks even a goldfish clock. So it’s nice to see something a little bit different.

AboutTime (click opens App Store link) displays the approximate time in everyday language – it’s about quarter past four etc. As the developers say it their description ‘how often do you really need to know what the time is to the nearest second’?

At night, the colors change to a much darker palette making it suitable for a bedside clock. But the killer feature may be that when you swipe the screen, the page turns (with a nice animation) to reveal a quote about the nature of time itself from a selection of famous philosophers, authors and more, ranging from Albert Einstein to Britney Spears…

Hit me baby, one more time!

Thanks to DaveH for sending this in!

Image: Nobuyuki Hayashi

The perception of iPhone as a “failure” in Japan is largely the result of what people read in newspapers, according to Nobuyki Hayashi, the Japanese journalist who was cited as a source in the Wired article we posted on late last night, and who put up a lengthy post of his own Friday to clarify the situation.

“The majority of Japanese … haven’t even touched one,” Hayashi wrote, adding, “So as soon as I give lecture, show it to them and let them play with it, they change their mind and become a fan of iPhone.”

Much of the chatter about the issue in the iPhone blogosphere Friday stemmed from Wired writer Brian X. Chen’s headline, which stated unequivocally that Japanese “hate” the iPhone, but as Hayashi points out in his post, Chen relied on quotes from a conversation Hayashi had with writer Lisa Katayama back in late 2007 to make his case.

Obviously, much has changed in the iPhone ecosystem, a well as in the US and Japanese economies since then.

The reality is likely more that the iPhone has been a relative disappointment in Japan. Many believe the device could do much better in Japan if Apple gave SoftBank more control in how they market / advertise the device, and if Apple would enable feature sets dear to the Japanese consumer, such as a built-in TV tuner and the ability to use it as a mobile payment system.

For a detailed look at Hayashi’s position on the iPhone in Japan, see his blog post.

Potentially fake reviews — written by people who didn’t buy or download the app — were recently removed from the app store on iTunes.

When the app store launched in 2008, you could review the app even if you didn’t buy it. As a result there were a lot of static reviews, both good and bad, as companies tried to push their products or topple competitors.

In September, Apple announced a ban on non-customer reviews from the apps, but the old reviews were still visible.

Until a few days ago, when the slate was wiped clean. The move seems to have removed some of the static: SEGA’s Super Monkey Ball review count dropped from 4,197 to 3,710 while Namco’s Pac Man reviews shrunk from 395 to just 122.

Via mac rumors, readwriteweb

CBS just released a free app for the iPhone, bringing everything from episodes of the new 90120 to  McGyvver and CNET reviews to your device.

Many early reviews of the TV.com app are enthusiastic, commutes are much more entertaining when you can watch an episode of CSI: Miami, the season premier of Tudors then customize your own feed.

Some frustrated would-be viewers, however,  complained about videos not loading,scarcity of full episodes and iffy quality.
If you try it, let me know how it works (or doesn’t) for you.

Via Network World

Image: sausurau

Japanese cell phone users are simply ahead of their time, according to a report at Wired, which counts the Apple smartphone’s relatively pedestrian toolset and a strong dose of cultural bias against non-Japanese brands to explain why Apple’s provider partner Softbank is now giving away 8GB iPhones to customers who sign a two year contract in the country where gadgets rule.

For example, while many Japanese are heavily into working and playing with video and photography on their cell phones, the iPhone has virtually no video support and a camera that could be described as eccentric, at best. In addition, many Japanese enjoy TV tuners built into their cell phones, while YouTube and the Ustream app can hardly be said to offer content with mass appeal.

Nokia and Motorola have also famously failed in Japan, so Apple is not without company, but in a country with extremely competitive cellular rate plans, Softbank’s monthly rates are seen as too high in comparison to others’ offerings.

It’s odd to think that in the US and in many parts of the rest of the world, where Apple sold over 10 million iPhones in 2008, the device is seen as a status symbol, even an indicator of too-much coolness, while in Japan, “carrying around an iPhone would make you look pretty lame.”

Photographer Lisa Wiseman , who describes herself as “addicted to Polaroid film,” snapped a series of pics with her iPhone in everyday settings she called “the new Polaroid.”

About them she says,”These images are the evolution of the Polaroid: they were all taken with my iPhone camera. Because the iPhone is becoming a ubiquitous and trendy accessory, on-the-go picture taking is now the norm.

I see people using their iPhones to take spontaneous photos in the same carefree way that cheap Polaroid has been used in the past…Just like Polaroids had a specific size and look, iPhone photos are unmistakable because the technology limits them to a fixed size and resolution.” (NB: we’ve resized them here).

Complete album on her site.

Images (c)Lisa Wiseman

Via Notcot

Pop duo Little Jackie’s single “Liked You Better Before” makes iPhones sound a little like the SUV of the cell phone world:

I liked you better
When you weren’t popular
Trends didn’t matter to you

But now you’re all into the way you look
Your iPhone ringing off the hook

You can listen to it on their site, rest of lyrics here.
Any other recent pop songs with iPhones in the lyrics — and are they all about jerks?

Image used under CC license,  thanks to ryanoelke.

More than one quarter of iPhone users today have two fine options available for implementing cut and paste on their mobile device, with more on the way.

Of course Apple thinks of these users as criminals, but, really, how long can the company deny the rest of its smartphone ecosystem the number three functionality its users believe is still missing?

Via MakeUseOf

A new adjustable bed called the Prodigy claims it can end nocturnal snore wars, thanks to iPhone, iPod touch capabilities.

Prodigy debuted recently at the Las Vegas Furniture Market, though in the only image I was able to find (from the product sheet .pdf) it looks like geriatric central, makers Leggett & Platt say outright  it “is not your grandparent’s adjustable bed.”

Some of the new features aimed at stopping bedroom tiffs:

*One-touch, anti-snore technology allows annoyed awake user to change the position of a snoring partner by seven degrees to open nasal passages, which can alleviate mild to moderate snoring. After thirty minutes, the bed gently returns snoring perpetrator  to the original sleep position.

*A  gentle-wake alarm system that softly massages the sleeper awake. Because Prodigy can work on dual twin mattresses, each sleeper can be awakened individually, perfect for couples who can’t agree on a common wake time or a unified snooze-button strategy.

All this controlled from your iPhone or iPod touch. No word on pricing; makers are taking pre-orders up to May 2009.

Of course, it would mean having to give up on the liberating swift kick or annoyed shove, but perhaps one could get used to it.

Via sleepinformation

If  you’re the type who might forget your keys but not your iPhone, Swiss car design maker Rinspeed is rolling out a concept car for you.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wfv0OJ1oMQ

Another video doing the rounds of the blogs this morning, but little wonder because this is another thing that we – all of us – want.

Everyone knows what a pain it is to re-arrange and keep organized your iPhone apps, especially when you have pages and pages of the things. This neat concept video shows an iTunes-based system for keeping things sorted the way you want them, including the option to lock apps in place, or move several of them (or an entire screenful) at a time.

And when I say “everyone”, I mean it. The Apple team must share these frustrations along with the rest of us. So if Apple’s NOT working on something like this for a future iTunes/iPhone release, then I shall buy a packet of Refreshers for the seventh person who comments on this post.

In the words of a late, great, British Saturday morning kids TV show: THIS IS WHAT WE WANT. This is what I’ve wanted since I first got my grubby little fingers on an iPhone. This is how I used to use my Palm (with a GoType keyboard) to write articles on the road. It worked just fine. I really, really want this; not as a plaything for the jailbroken, but as a built-in, out-of-the-box, totally legitimate feature.

Some people are saying this is faked. They say the guy is either using VNC, with an accomplice doing the typing out of sight, or that the camera was paused after the keyboard typing to allow the text to be entered normally (and it’s fair to say that there is a slight camera shake at about 00:33).

But I don’t care if it’s a fake or not. This is a feature I want on my iPhone. In fact, I’m going to stop writing about it and just call my old friend Tim Cook right now. Me and him, you know. We’re buddies.

(Via TUAW.)

Oh, and in other news: people use Macs.

This post at The Next Web made me stop and think for a moment. I’ve been one of the many people who’ll cheerfully spend a dollar or two on an app that looks enticing and has generally good reviews.

After all, a dollar or two is nothing, right? Less than a cup of coffee, less than a pint of beer in my local pub.

But what’s the cumulative effect? Let’s see now… Open iTunes, click iTunes Store, click on my account ID, enter my password, click “Purchase History”, do some adding up, and the total is:

£68.60, or US$99.70 at the current exchange rate.

One hundred bucks, near as dammit, on iPhone apps. Wow. I had no idea was going to be that much. I was expecting about half that.

It also highlights just what an excellent idea the App Store is, and how well it has been designed. Shopping there is so simple, so instantaneous, and often so cheap per-app, that it almost becomes a thoughtless act. “This app looks cool. I’ll try it.” A dollar here, a few dollars there.

I’m not complaining, I’m just noticing my own App Store spending habits for the first time. This information is available to anyone who goes digging around inside iTunes to see it, but perhaps Apple could make it a little easier to keep track of spending.

How about a small box on the iTunes Store front page, which says “So far this month/year/to date, you have spent $X on iTunes.”?

Something small and unobtrusive; but visible.

Confession time: how much have you spent? And is it more or less than you expected?

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bp2s7nydo6w

Look, it’s Rogue for iPhone, otherwise known as Rogue Touch.

Those of you of a certain age will have fond memories of Rogue, which became very popular in the early 80s. Its co-creator Glenn Wichman has written an entertaining history (sadly, his link to Rogue-related stories he’s been sent is broken) and of course, these days you can play it in a browser window.

Chronosoft’s colorful update is a world away from Rogue’s ASCII origins, and the gameplay is very different because the keyboard controls have been replaced with (somewhat hard to fathom) swipes, touches and gestures. So if you want something more authentic (and you’d rather not pay for your dungeon-exploring), you should try Gandreas Software’s version of the original, which is much more “Roguelike”. It includes a plain ASCII mode and a graphics mode, and lets you enter commands with letter-shaped finger gestures. It’s still very different, but it’s as close to the original as a keyboard-less device is going to get.

And if you still want to play the original game on your computer, you can download it from Sourceforge. See you in the dungeons.

Have you ever tried reading in the car and gotten a headache, or even sick to your stomach? For just 99¢ you can get that feeling anywhere, any time with SkyCoaster 3D on your iPhone or iPod Touch.

SkyCoaster 3D makes effective use of panoramic photography by Gavin Farrell and iPhone’s 3D rendering engine to create a fully customizable rollercoaster experience right on your mobile device. Users can tweak parameters such as height, track length, and acceleration, as well as adjust the ride’s loop-the-loop, corkscrew and downward spiral effects.

The app comes with a built-in techno soundtrack to heighten (or, if you prefer, enhance) its vertiginous effects, or a track from the device’s iPod can be used. The precise map of every ride is randomly generated, so each ride is unique.

Barf bags sold separately.

UPDATE: v1.1 of SkyCoaster 3D released early Friday and v1.1 makes it even easier to induce barfing. The track is more detailed (with links that run perpendicularly to the rails), which gives a greater sensation of speed. Also, you can look around during the ride, and even ride the roller coaster with your back facing forward.

Here’s my latest addicton, taking over where Trism left off. It’s Drop7, and it’s just wonderful.

The rules are very simple: drop the numbered discs into the grid. If the number on the disc matches the number of discs in that column or row, that disc will vanish and you’ll earn points. Hidden discs are revealed by making their neighbours vanish. It sounds simplistic but it soon gets fiendishly challengng, especially as extra rows of hidden discs appear whenever you move up a level.

But the main thing I’ve noticed about Drop7 is the way other people react to it.

Jonathan Zdziarski, creator of the first iPhone forensics toolkit,  has developed a new iPhone app called AMBER alert, aimed at helping find kidnapped children in the US.

These alerts are issued when missing child cases are granted Amber status —  kidnappings of children under age 17 who police believe to be in danger of  bodily harm or death.

Zdziarski’s  iPhone application will provide a real-time feed of recent alerts including victim photos and information, suspect photos and descriptions, vehicle photos and descriptions and a reporting mechanism allowing users to report sightings.

The Amber Alert program was created in 1996 after the kidnapping and killing of nine-year-old Amber Hagerman from Arlington, Texas.

The free app is pending approval by Apple.

Via MacNN

Well. That didn’t take long.

Just Tuesday we reported on the sad news that Apple decided a South Park iPhone app that allowed downloading of episode clips would be “potentially offensive,” and so barred it from distribution in the AppStore.

Here’s a how-to video for all the jailbreaking criminals out there who just can’t live without South Park on the iPhone.

Dude has pretty good taste in music and a very easy-going instructional manner. If you’re willing to flaunt “the law” he shows you how to download South Park episodes to your iPhone and even how to put ’em on your PC.

iPhone developer Jason Cross has the antidote to the nine thousand fart apps available on the AppStore, an ingenious application called iFreshener.

FIGHT BACK against Fart app inanity!

Simply launch iFreshener and touch the screen. Using its non-patent-pending psychosomatic virtual smell nonenzymes, iFreshener will make you and those around you feel like better smells are on the way.

Among the reasons Cross touts for spending 99¢ on his app:

* iFreshener costs less than the average name-brand non-virtual air freshener

* Non-virtual air fresheners eventually run out of air freshening chemicals. iFreshener’s virtual smell nonenzymes never run out (so long as you keep your iPhone/iPod charged).

* iFreshener won’t blind you if accidentally sprayed towards your face.

* Free updates for life are included with iFreshener.

Do you get free lifetime updates with real world non-virtual air fresheners? I think not!

Jakob Nielsen is the one of the world’s leading Web usability experts. What that actually means is that people spend a lot of time criticizing him, as he spends a lot of time criticizing them. That’s especially true because his website, Useit.com, is stripped of flashiness to the point of looking a lot like a HyperCard slide deck circa 1992 — but without any visuals.

Nielsen has finally delivered a new verdict on the mobile web (it’s been about nine years), and, to the surprise of no one, he hates it. Regular phones are “horrible,” smart phones are “bad,” and the iPhone is “impoverished.” He also says some fairly common sense things that are none-the-less often ignored, like, design a website that fits the strengths of the device that will view it.

The only really interesting line comes near the end, when he makes reference to Silicon Valley legend Alan Kay’s proclamation that the Mac was “the first computer worth criticizing.”

“Similarly, the iPhone is the first mobile Internet device worth criticizing. It’s a starting point for mobile online-services access, not an endpoint.

Although devices will get better, the big advances must come from websites. Sites (including intranets) must develop specialized designs that optimize the mobile user experience. Today, few sites have mobile versions, and those that do are usually very poorly designed, without knowledge of the special guidelines for mobile usability.”

Well said. And absolutely true.

Via Cennydd

Anyone who went to elementary school in the 1980s can tell you that the world’s best edutainment game of all time is Oregon Trail for Mac or Apple ][, which plotted the westward journey of pioneer families in search of Pacific prosperity and their inevitable deaths of dysentery in snake bite somewhere in Wyoming.

Thankfully, the chance to relive those days on the go will soon be available to iPhone and iPod touch users in the form of a beautiful remake of the original from Gameloft. No announcement of the release date, but IGN has some screenshots, and it’s clear that the new graphics are quite lovely. And who wouldn’t want to play a fair river-fording minigame? There’s a demo at Gameloft’s site, but it looks like the iPhone graphics will be even nicer. Seriously, if you haven’t picked up an iPhone yet, this alone is the reason to do it.

Via Offworld