Archive for the ‘app store’ Category

Posted on July 6, 2010 - by Wayne Sutton

Latitudie a new Google Latitude app for the iPad & iPhone slips through the App Store but it’s not made by Google

As many of you know there’s an unofficial no google apps allowed rule in the iTunes app store. Well, not really but we’re still waiting on the official Google Voice and Gmail native apps to be approved. In the mean time developer Alberto García Hierro has managed to have approved a Google Latitude app called “Latitudie” [iTunes link] .

Google Latitude lets you see your friends on a map on Google Maps for mobile and iGoogle. Use Latitude to plan an impromptu meetup, see that a loved one got home safely, or just stay in touch with friends.

So, how does Latitudie work? It does a few things; one it uses your iPhone 3G and up or iPad GPS to find your location, updates your Google Latitude location and it shows your location account. Latitudie also has a location history view where you can delete past locations. Sounds simple enough right? But wait there’s more, it also runs in the background. Sounds like automatic checking in to me.

Reading the reviews, some have said this app will drain your battery in 30 minutes or less because even if you’re not running iOS4 Latitudie will run in the background and update your location every minute causing massive battery drain. The developer has stated this is a bug in version 1.0 and will be fixed in version 1.1 as soo as Apple approves it or if Apple approves it. Here’s a note from the developer on the upcoming Latitudie 1.1 features:

Latitudie 1.1, adding the following features, has been sent to Apple for review and should be available soon:

- Added support for location updates in the background using high precision
- Added support for periodically updating your location when running on the background, even if you haven’t moved
- Added support for temporarily hiding your location
- Fixed a bug which updated your location too fast

But wait.. should have Apple have approved this app from the start, being that it’s Google Latitude and it doesn’t work like it should have?

Regardless if you’re looking for a Google Latitude app for the iPhone or iPad Latitudie is available. Something Android users have installed by default.

Do you use Google Latitude? If so how? Do you have Latitudie installed?

Posted on June 30, 2010 - by Wayne Sutton

Launch the App Store, Facebook iPhone app has been updated for iOS 4 and it runs in the background

iPhone 4 Facebook users can rejoice. Facebook for the iPhone has been updated for iOS4 and can now run in the background and has higher resolution graphics too.

There are some who thought the Facebook iPhone app wouldn’t be update because of Apple App store nightmare stories and the original Facebook app developer saying no mas. I’m glad the updates are still coming as this is the second Facebook iPhone update we have seen in the last 30 days.

How do you use Facebook on your iPhone?

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Posted on June 24, 2010 - by Penny Ashley-Lawrence

Apple iPhone 4 @ Crabtree Valley Mall. Hello, iPhone. Good-bye, day.

Guest post by: @PennyMoxie

I told the guy who would be buying  my old phone that I would call him when I was out of the Apple store.  ”What time do you think that will be”, he asked.  I wanted to be CONSERVATIVE, so I replied, “about 9:00am.  I’m getting there at 6:45, so i can’t imagine it will take that long.”  I’m a first-class fool.

6:30am   I put my 5-year-old in the car and told her she was going with me to “pick-up my new iPhone” at the mall.  I figured she would get fidgety in the store, but we wouldn’t be there that long.  At one point, while driving to Crabtree Valley Mall in Raleigh, NC, my daughter asked, “Mommy, what is wrong?”  I told her I was anxious and had a lot to do today.  ”I just want to get in, get out, and get you to the pool with your aunt,” I said.  A few minutes later, we pulled into the mall parking lot and I looked at all the cars.  I think I said out loud, “Elin, these cars must be mall employees and the people who walk the mall when it’s too hot outside.  Surely, they can’t all be here for the new iPhone.”  Again, first-class fool.

We park and head in.  I can’t begin to articulate how I felt the first time I got a look at the crowd.  The line.  The masses.  I’ve been at Crabtree Valley Mall on Black Friday and I don’t think I’ve ever seen that many people on one floor.  I’ve been to Disney World and I’ve never seen a line that long.  I took and deep breath, tried to remain cool, and walked around the people with sleeping bags and lawn chairs.  I kept walking.  I walked some more, turned 4 corners, went down a hallway and into the food court.  I saw the end of the line and like a first-class fool, I decided to stand in it.

But then things really started looking up.  I was NOT a fool.  I had reserved my iPhone and I was in the correct line.  Clearly, there were only 200 people in this line.  Whew!  My goal of 9:00am was totally do-able.  Smile on face, cocky swagger kicking in.

8:40 am   After a visit from my husband with Starbucks in one hand and muffin the other, I was feeling pretty refreshed.  My daughter was chill and I spotted two other moms who had brought their kids.  I wasn’t the worst mom on the planet…just 3rd or 4th.  It was going a little slower than I thought, but I knew there were only 150 people in front of me MAX and the line seemed to be moving.

9:30am  I turned the corner and saw the store!  I was in!  Maybe 75 people in front of me.  I was golden.

9:31am  A lovely mall security officer came over and said, “we are going to move this line.  We need to get the food court cleared for lunch.”  There were 400 people behind me at this point, so this made sense.  We were herded like techy-nerd cattle and put into a line down the hallway.  This is when my day was officially over.  I realized the line I was in, which had put me close to the entrance of the store, actually wrapped around the perimeter of the mall.  There were 700 people IN FRONT of me.  Good-bye, day.

10:00am  My 5-year-old was a little antsy, so I called Aunt Bonnie to give her some relief. ” PLEASE come and pick her up and take her to the pool!”

10:30am  Aunt Bonnie arrives and my daughter informs me she would like to stay.  She wants to see what’s behind those glass doors.  No way is she missing out.  This is actually the most compelling part of the day.  The excitement in the mall was energizing.  These 2000 people were all pumped.  We were surrounded by strangers but we all had something in common.  The converstation for the last 3 hours was high def camera, retina screens, mult-tasking and apps.  It was a mall full of people, some who had been since 10pm the night before, some who were just hanging with friends.  But we were wired from the thrill of the hunt because we were all early-adapters.  My daughter had picked up on this energy, and she wasn’t leaving.

11:00am  Did I mention energy?  I introduced my daughter to suicide drills, which she executed beautifully in front of Bath and Body Works.

11:30am  Food!  Apple paid for a truck load of subs.

12:30pm  My iPhone 3GS is dead.  This is the worse possible thing that could have happened.  No more tweeting.  No more facebook.  This day was going downhill fast.

12:30pm – 1:59pm  This was not pretty.  It was still exciting and the energy was great, but I was starting to smell and my neighbors were realizing I skipped my usual hygiene routine this morning (remember, I was going to be home by 9…I would bathe then).  We were all hungry and thirsty.  We weren’t talking as much.  The guys at the Brookstone store were laughing at us.  Actually, everyone  not involved in this insanity were laughing.  They walked by the nerds behind the rope lines and pointed.  ”No way” and “idiots” was overheard many times.  I was starting to agree.

2:00pm  I’m the next in line to enter the store.  I’m feeling good.  The lighted apple icon above me was almost a symbol of success.  The finish line.  At this point, it’s not about the phone, it’s about finishing this marathon.

2:05pm  I’m in the store.  I can’t believe it.  My sister (Aunt Bonnie) is documenting on her iPhone.  The employees were calm, the store was comfortable, the police officers out front didn’t arrest my sister for photographing an Apple store.  But most importantly, I had my new iPhone.  I did not have a shower, and that was the next thing on my list.  I know my line mates were thinking the same thing (about me, not them).

2:45pm  Home.  Synced.  My daughter starving.  My voicemail going nuts.  I don’t care.  I stood in line for 7 hours to get a phone I could have ordered and had shipped to my house by mid-July.  But I’m a first-class fool.  A first-class fool with a sweet iPhone.

Posted on June 19, 2010 - by Wayne Sutton

iPhone apps testing Apple’s iAds ..ads

Earlier today I was thinking about going to the movies and I launched the Showtimes iPhone app. While browsing the movie times I noticed a test Apple iAD at the top. Of course I clicked on the test iAd and it took me a …. you guest it, another Apple test ad.

With iOS4 to be made public on Monday and the pre-release sold out iPhone 4 to launch next Thursday it looks like apps are getting ready for Apple’s iAds. If you’re an app developer it’s a smart move being the potential of how much money you could make by having your app ready for all of those new iPhone 4 users.

What are your thoughts on iAd? Do you think you’ll click on an iAd more than you would a text or regular ad?

PS: I never did make it to the movies.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Posted on June 15, 2010 - by Wayne Sutton

Let the iPhone 4 pre-orders begin!

Earlier tonight the Apple Store went down for maintenance in prep for the iPhone 4 pre-orders to start on June 15. The Apple Store is now back up, and if you want to guarantee an iPhone 4, you can now pre-order or reserve an iPhone 4 for the June 24 launch which will start at 7am.

It looks like there’s a new MacMini in the Apple Store too.

Did/will you pre-order or reserve an iPhone 4 today?

– Post From My iPad

Posted on May 12, 2010 - by Wayne Sutton

Top 8 Twitter iPad applications. Vote for the best Twitter app for the iPad

As we wait for Twitter to release the official Twitter for iPad application the battle for iPad supremacy for Twitter clients rages on. Currently there’s over 20 iPad Twitter related apps in Apple’s iTunes App Store. Here’s the top 8 not in any particular order. Take a look and vote for the best Twitter iPad app via the poll below.

1. Twitterrific

2. TweetDeck

3. Twittelator

4. Tweetings

5. Tweet Flow

6. TweetBrowser

7. Sociable

8. ShinyTweet

Vote for the best Twitter app for the iPad in the poll below.

– Post From My iPad

Location:Glenwood Ave,Raleigh,United States

Posted on May 5, 2010 - by Wayne Sutton

9 location-based iPhone applications you may have never heard of

As you all know location-based applications have taken off since 2010. Some old one such as Brightkite, Loopt and Whrrl continue to grow their user base and evolve while some of the newer location-based application who are barely over a year old such as My Town, Gowalla and Foursquare continue to catch all the headlines from the popular tech blogs. Regardless
location-based applications are hot and just wait until you see more of the augmented reality apps to be released.

A few months ago I did a survey asking readers to vote on their favorite location-based application out of 17 different apps. Since then a few more have launched and some continue to fly under the radar.

Here’s a list of 9 location-based iPhone applications you may have never heard of.

1. Flock

2. GraffitiGeo

3. Nulaz

4. Stalqer

5. Wikitude

6. Friendsaroundme

7. Rally Up

8. CauseWorld

9. GeoLorean

Update from Brett:

10. Pegshot

You may or may not have heard of these 9 location-based applications but if you have, out of the 9 which one is your favorite or the one you use the most?

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Fayetteville Street Mall,Raleigh,United States

Posted on May 4, 2010 - by Wayne Sutton

New G-Whizz iPad app, a better way of multitasking all of your @google apps?

Tonight while looking at the app store to see if there has been a Googlewave app for the iPad released I came across an app called G-Whizz ( http://www.gwhizzapp.com ). G-Whizz doesn’t solve my Googlewave iPad problems but it does solve another one. It prevents auto refreshing a Google sites when opening new windows between other Google sites.

G-Whizz also provides a clean list of all of the Google services to switch between along with the ability to customize quick access icons locations. Besides the multitasking feature G-Whizz is very much like the official Google iPad and it unlike Google’s free app G-Whizz cost $2.99.

About G-Whizz from http://www.gwhizzapp.com
G-Whizz! brings all of your favorite Google mobile websites to one convenient app. After the initial load of each site, you can effortlessly switch between tabs to quickly check your Gmail, read some stories in Reader, or edit your documents in Docs.

Features include:
Support for iPhone AND iPad!

18 of your favorite Google mobile sites (see below)!

For Gmail, a convenient unread badge keeps you informed if you mail arrives while you’re browsing another site.

For Reader, stories load in a pop-up window. After you finish, simply dismiss the window and you’re back to your reading list!

For Reader external links, content can be displayed in a mobile-friendly format or optionally with original formatting.

Email links are detected from within the app and a pop-up window (with appropriate fields filled-out) allows you to send your message without leaving the app!

Tapping links to other Google services will be detected and automatically take you to the appropriate tab!

Ability to use your Google Apps account! Just enable this option and enter your email address in Settings to use Gmail, Calendar and Docs for your domain. For the other Google apps, log in with your favorite gmail.com address and use them simultaneously Google Apps account!

I decided to give G-Whizz a try and here are a few screenshots of the app.

If you’re using G-Whizz or another browser multitasking app for the iPad let me know what you think about it in the comments.

– Post From My iPad

Location:Turtle Point Dr,Raleigh,United States

Posted on April 28, 2010 - by Wayne Sutton

Is this the future of magazine publishing? Web Designer iPad app subscription model & store.

Someone recently told me that magazines are doing well despite the overall print industry going down profit wise. I’m not sure about that but as more touchscreen and mobile devices are being created magazines are launching apps / magazine book stores as a way to be profitable digitally. For example Web Designer magazine has launched a “book store” like app for the iPad.

The app looks very similar to the iBooks app and comes with the current month of the magazine for free. You have the option to buy magazines by the month or a 6 or 12 month subscription.

The app looks great and still have the magazine style to it but is somewhat slow when trying to flip pages. But that could be that I’m still getting used to it.

Do you think this is the future of print monetization? Should other print publications follow this model?

*Disclaimer: this is not a sponsored post.

– Post From My iPad

Location:S McDowell St,Raleigh,United States