A number of Cult of Mac readers, and numerous more on Apple’s Discussion boards, have reported a bevy of problems–some large, some small–after upgrading to iOS 4 or the iPhone 4. I don’t plan on boring you with a list of what users were complaining about. Instead, I will give you four troubleshooting tips that generally fix most, but not necessarily all iPhone and iOS problems.
Money makes the world go ’round, right? If that’s the case, then there’s no more essential app than PayPal; and here in the U.S., it’s really the closest thing we have to a virtual wallet — a concept other cultures (like Japan) have enjoyed for years.
Regular visitors to this blog will probably have noticed that we mention Dropbox a lot. I mean, we won’t shut up about it. Why? Because it’s so ridiculously useful.
The way it works is simple: It’s a portal for files from your iPhone to your Dropbox account, a free service that gives you your own 2GB cloud to store files and media, and if you want to, lets you share those files and media.
Popular multi-IM and voice-chat service Fring has just been updated to bring 2-way video calling on iPhone 4 over 3G (Apple’s FaceTime is Wi-Fi only), as well as voice and text chat.
We’ve tested it out; while it has a few minor issues, Fring has freed videochat from Wi-Fi. If you like to videochat on your new iPhone 4, it’s a must-have app.
There’s no shortage of choices available for gabbing with buddies these days, but instant messaging remains a favorite (I’ve actually worked in at least one newsroom where the primary method of communication was IM).
There’s no lack of IM iPhone apps either; but a clean interface, wealth of features, ability to connect with practically every IM service in the galaxy and availability for free makes Meebo the best of these.
So you’ve just bought a shiny new iPhone, and now you’re itching to plaster apps all over that pretty wallpaper. Well, we’ve come up with a few suggestions; in fact, we’ve come up with 23 of them.
Through the rest of this month or so, we’ll be listing apps we think no iPhone user should be without — apps that almost anyone should find useful — which will fortify your iPhone with just over an extra screen’s worth of valuable apps. And since most of these are free — with a few costing no more than three bucks — there’s really no reason not to own all of them. And this series isn’t just for noobs; we’re willing to wager there’ll be at least one app on our list that’ll surprise even the old-schoolers.
So fire up the App Store and prepare your iPhone for incoming apps as we launch the series with our first essential: the Bing app, in the running for the best Microsoft product I’ve ever used.
The honeymoon is officially over. With the release of iPhone 4 over two weeks ago, Apple has been hit by everything except the kitchen sink. From the 3G iPad privacy concerns to the most recent App Store hack, Apple has been in full damage control mode. This makes it the perfect time to add insult to injury. Read my 5 suggestions on how to improve iOS 4 after the break.
Apple has announced via their iOS Developer newsfeed that iOS apps that were developed and compiled for iOS 2.x will no longer be supported. Developers are being advised to re-build their apps in Xcode targeting iOS 3.x or later. Developers that continue to submit or have existing apps compiled against iOS 2.x will face removal of their app from the iTunes App Store.
In the same announcement Apple directed developers to their iOS 4 Readiness Checklist which includes a “wealth of technical resources” to help developers to take advantage of resources in iOS 4. Instructions and information about submitting iOS 4 apps to the App Store are also included.
Apple released iOS 4 as a free update for all iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, and the 2nd and 3rd generation iPod touch devices. iOS is fully compatible with all of these devices with the exception of the iPhone 3G and 2nd generation iPod touch which do not support all of iOS 4’s features. Apple has uncharacteristically offered iPod touch owners a free update, since in the past they had to pay approximately $10 for an OS update.
MobileMe went down for some ‘scheduled maintenance’ last night, and when it came back up it included a whole host of new features. As well as the Mail web application now out of beta, Apple’s list of improvements includes:
In addition to the new features, Apple has updated the login page (above) and introduced a fancy new application switcher (below) that provides a nice new way to navigate between the MobileMe web applications.
Apple have also released a Find My iPhone app that now provides you with quick and easy access to the Find My iPhone service from each one of your iOS devices. All of the web application features are included like sending a message to your device or playing a sound, locking the device and even wiping your data remotely.
Apple has been busy releasing a few of their own iOS applications this week, and as well as Find My iPhone, we’ve also seen iTunes Connect Mobile which gives application developers the ability to monitor their app’s success in the App Store from their iPhone, and the Apple Store application allowing customers to make purchases from their iPhones and schedule reservations at an Apple Retail Store.
