Posts Tagged ‘app store’

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 24, 2010 - by Wayne Sutton

iPhone 4 Launch Day at Crabtree Valley Mall (Raleigh)

Guest post by: carleemallard

Although the mall apparently had been open all night for people to start lining up at the Apple store’s front doors, I arrived at Crabtree bright and early at 5:00am, thinking that the mall wouldn’t open until 5:30am. To my surprise, we found two separate lines forming, one for those with iPhones reserved and another for those without a reservation. There were only about 50 people in the reservation line by the time we arrived at 5am, but unfortunately we found ourselves behind at least 150 others without reservations.

As early as it was, people were generally in good spirits and playing nice. Some were still sleeping from the overnight camp while others took the time to catch up on their laptops or iPads even though the reception and WiFi service was pretty slow. One person even brought his guitar and played it in the beach chair he brought. Everyone slowly started making friends with their neighbors in line knowing that they may be in it for the long haul.

Around 6:15am a few Apple employees brought out 10 dozen or so Dunkin Donuts to feed the early morning crowd. A good sign of things to come!

Anticipation grew as 7:00am neared. A few minutes before 7am, employees took down the black curtain that prevented us from getting a sneak peak into the preparation for all the madness that was about to ensue and the crowd cheered for the first time.

Immediately after the curtain fell (at 7:00am on the dot), 20 or so Apple employees came rushing out of the service door, running, screaming, and high-fiving everyone in line. We were all surprised, but it seemed like a great way to get the started!

Minutes later the doors finally opened at Apple and they started letting in about 10 people from the reservation line for every 1 person in the regular line. Needless to say, the reservation line moved pretty quickly for the first few hours while us in the regular line sat in the same place (only moving perhaps a foot an hour) for those first few hours.

But around 11am we at the middle/back of the non-reservation line started heering loud mysterious cheers from the front of our line. Ended up they were just cheering every time someone from our line got to enter the Apple store, approximately every 10-15 minutes. It was pretty motivating, to say the least. After being there for 6+ hours I think Apple realized they needed to keep us customers still in line motivated as well. They started going down the line handing out packs of pretzels and Ritz crackers, bottles of water, and then all sorts of candy just as if it were Halloween.

Not only that, but just around lunch time, Subway staff came around passing out mini ham & turkey subs! Lunch? Really? Amazing. Then more candy. Then more water. Followed by Lindt chocolate passing out those little chocolates to anyone who wanted some. In the late afternoon Bare Essentials even passed out free makeup samples to all the girls. This line wasn’t actually half bad, huh?

The line was moving about 5 minutes per person in line. I calculated I wouldn’t get into the store until 4:00pm at the earliest, but I stayed optimistic that perhaps it would start moving more quickly. By 3:00 I could start feeling the finish line as there were only 40-50 people ahead of me to go. We stayed energized by our new friends that we had just gotten to know over the past 10 hours. It was as if we’d known these people for months. We were never bored, but still eager to get through the line and back to our lives.

But then something amazing happened. A young man approached us in line asking how long we’d been waiting here in line (this was typical as all the regular mall-goers had been asking all day what we were

waiting in line for). When we told him since 5am, he told us that he worked over at Best Buy mobile and had a reservation for one of the 16GB iPhones cancel and he was offering it to me. Pure luck? An act of God? Either way, I left my place in line and followed “God” to his Best Buy mobile store and promptly paid for, activated, accessorized, and left the store with my new iPhone 4 in hand.

Upon leaving the mall I walked past my new friends who were still waiting in line and showed off my new gear.

They probably waited in line for another hour. Sorry Apple, you treated me really really well for those 11 hours, but in the end Best Buy mobile man saved the day!

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 June 14, 2010 - by Wayne Sutton

Screenshots: Google Earth 3.0 for the iPad now available.

One of the iPhone applications I was ready to see upgraded for the iPad is now ready for download, Google Earth [iTunes link]. Gone are the days of pixelated 2x double size maps with the upgraded version of Google Earth and the app looks great. Now I can zoom in anywhere in the world in full iPad resolution. Here are a few screenshots of the app.

Google Earth Features:

• Navigate the world with a swipe of your finger
• Swipe with two fingers to adjust your view to see mountainous terrain
• Show the Panoramio layer and browse the millions of geo-located photos from around the world
• View geo-located Wikipedia articles
• Use the Location feature to fly to your current location
• Search for cities, places, and business around the globe with Google Local Search

What’s New in Version 3.0.0
• Native support for iPad, including full resolution imagery and an iPad-specific look and feel
• Road layer added for iPad and iPhone 3GS

If you’re a Google Earth fan let me know your thoughts about the app. Any features missing or you thought Google should have added in the upgraded app?
– Post From My iPad

Location:Turtle Point Dr,Raleigh,United States

Posted on May 7, 2010 - by Wayne Sutton

Save time & plan a conference call with 2 new iPhone apps from @Phonebooth Labs by Bandwidth.com

Phonebooth which has been label as the “Alternative to Google Voice for Small Businesses.” has released two iPhone apps to save businesses and individuals time and money. One is called Holdr [iTunes link] and the other is called Conference Starter [iTunes link].


How Holdr works:

Holdr beta waits on hold for you, so that you can get on with your life. If you are calling a number where you expect to be put on-hold (like an airline or the IRS), just fire-up Holdr, dial the number and press *7 when they put you on-hold. Holdr will call you back when they pick-up.

How Conference Starter works:

With Conference Starter you can start-up a conference call on the fly on your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch. Simply select the moderator and the contacts you want to conference, and hit Start Conference. Your first 250+ minutes of conferencing are included in the $4.99 purchase price (you can purchase more minutes for 2 cents per minute, per person right from the app).

I see value in Bandwidth.com releasing both Holdr and Conference Starter apps adding to the list of their products as Bandwidth.com continues to be a complete communication provider service. I have installed both iPhone apps and see myself using Conference Starter often while I’m traveling and having conversations with various team members.

Also see the Gigam Review: Bandwidth.com’s New iPhone Apps Are Big Time Savers

More about Phonebooth:

“Phonebooth Free beta is the cloud phone system that is perfect for small businesses, freelancers and independent professionals. And when you’re all grown up, flip the switch to Phonebooth OnDemand, a full-featured office phone system with support for HD desk and conference phones”

*Disclaimer: Bandwidth.com/Phonebooth is a client.

Have you tried Holdr or Conference Starter iPhone applications? If so let me know about your experience in the comments.