Applications

I don’t know about you all, but I completely detest the fact Apple got rid of the “All iPhone Apps” link within iTunes. I did happen to stumble upon a very great site that will not only ease my frustration, but yours as well.

Meet AppShopper.com. This new site tracks updates, price changes, and all other apps that are entered in the App Store.

The main page gives you an instant view of all updated apps, beginning with the newest or most recent.

The site also breaks it down a bit further and allows you to search categories such as: New, Prices, New Free Apps, and New Games.

One thing missing - the option to search for an app. I’m not quite sure how this was missed, but at least the main functions of the site are there.

This site is quite useful and I hit myself over the head for not thinking about this myself!

As we wait longer and longer for Push Notification that was promised for September, people are starting to grow more impatient. For those of you who have jailbroken iPhone, you no longer have to wait. There is a hack that enables background processes just for you.

Apple doesn’t allow background processes because that drains battery life, but a lot of applications would work so much better with thaat option. Fortunately, the hacking community has created a temporary solution that could be a great reason to jailbreak my iPhone… Nah, I’ll keep waiting.

The hack, appropriately named ”Backgrounder," is available for jailbroken iPhone through Cydia. Running the software, you can go to the app you want to keep open and hold down the home button until a prompt pops up. Then, if you let go and exit the app, it will continue to run in the background while you do other things.

As Apple has mentioned, this is probably deadly on the battery, not to mention, may run a little slower, but at least you have background processes! Best of all, the hack supposedly works both on jailbreak apps and apps downloaded from… more...

Thre’s no flash on the iPhone and this means no way to watch the newest Strong Bad email, no way to play Desktop Tower Defense and a ruling that says Apple can’t play this ad in England (the whole internet means flash to the regulators of those sorts of things).

What’s the problem? Turns out that one of the first apps rejected by Steve was Flash. A full version was too slow on the iPhone and the lite version was too garbagey for Steve’s taste. That may be changing. Yesterday Adobe confirmed that the company was churning out a player for the iPhone. Are you excited yet? Finally flash on the iPhone!

Well, hold on. Here’s a story from June saying flash was on the way, here’s one from February saying ”Flash on iPhone is just around the corner”

So believe it when you actually see it.… more...

Simplify Media

Rating:
MMMMM - Matters!

I love a variety of music and of course, my 4000 song collection can’t fit on my iPhone. Neither can my friend’s library, however, Simplify Media takes you and your friend’s song collections wherever you go without taking up more than 1MB of space.

Simplify Media is an application that lets you listen to your music collection anywhere you want. In addition to being able to listen to your own music, you can also invite up to 30 friends to be on your buddy list and stream their music as well.

I am not quite sure why I hadn’t heard of Simplify Media before because apparently they are pretty popular and have been doing this for a while. It wasn’t until they made the app for the iPhone that I found out about their services, and I couldn’t be more happy.

Simplify Media is a very straight-forward and simple application, hence its name - SIMPLify. The first step is to run the Simplify Media application on your desktop. This acts as the gateway… more...

FileMagnet

Rating:
MMMM

Unfortunately, there was never an original way to store and browse through files on your iPhone. That is until the App store came along. There are now quite a few ways to store documents and browse through those files and take them on the go. Essentially, a rather fancy jump drive. One useful app is called FileMagnet.

Simply put, FileMagnet is an application which allows you to store miscellaneous files on your iPhone. FileMagnet requires a WiFi connection to wirelessly transfer files to and from your phone. Additionally, to access the files, you have to have the FileMagnet desktop app that is required, which is a free download.

For those of you who are Windows users, you’ll have to try another App (AirSharing) because this app requires Mac. Once you have a Mac, open FileMagnet on both your Mac and iPhone, then drag your files over. Once everything is copied over WiFi, you’re free to close both apps. There doesn’t seem to be a limit as to what you can put on your iPhone like some apps.

You say you’re a business man? You’ve got meetings and collaboration and some more meetings and all that other businessy stuff going on? You’re so businessy, in fact, the iPhone won’t cut it for you? Get ready to adjust that tie, rebutton your button down collar and rehike your black socks because Lotus Notes is available for the iPhone. For free.

That’s right business person you don’t have to haul out that rolodex while talking on your rippled RAZR while gazing longingly at that cool hip iPhone user over there. Just wishing you could be so care free as to have a phone without buttons for calling or typing. A bright screen to watch youtube videos and a ripped copy of Wall Street to relive the good old days are mere iPhone purchase (and subsequent activation) away. And you owe it all to Lotus Notes on the iPhone. Pretty sweet, eh?

On the even better news front: If you’re a Linux of Windows user you can get Lotus Notes Symphony for free. Check right here. If you’re a Mac person, well no luck.

Actually,… more...

There are plenty of online options for all your spreadsheet needs when you’re using the iPhone. But what if you don’t want to use an online spreadsheet. What if you want to use a spread app on the iPhone? So far, you’ve been out of luck according to Softtalk because they’ve introduced what they say is the first spreadsheet for the iPhone. The program is cheap., $7.99 sports over fifty functions (if there is no arctan, that’s a deal killer) and you can save the spreadsheets of Excel friendly formats. Link for more info. Link to buy from iTunes.

Midomi
Rating:
MMMM 1/2 - Matters

Have you ever heard that song on the radio and just needed to know what it was? Have you ever remembered the melody of a song and made yourself look stupid when you tried to sing it to a friend who has no earthly idea what you are humming or singing?

Meet Midomi. Midomi is a popular service that, like its competitor Shazam, is used to identify a song via your iPhone microphone. What sets this app apart is its ability to not only tell you what song is playing, but also the song you sing or hum into it. Using what Midomi calls “grabbing,” you can choose whether to sing/hum, say, type, or grab the actual song. The same case goes with the grabbing of the music off of a sound source. The typing a song function into a search box is awesome also, giving you acurate results.

The longer you record a song, or the larger amount of text that you input, the more accurate the app is with selecting the song. I… more...

Spore Origins
Rating:
MMMMM - Matters!

I have been waiting on Spore Origins for the PC for quite some time. When it finally arrived, I was unimpressed; however, the iPhone version of the game is wonderful.

Spore Origins was the most highly anticipated iPhone game since the announcement in March of this year. Spore Origins is a beautiful, fun, and I found myself not wanting to put my iPhone down at all. I even turned my phone to Airport mode to not have any distractions. Spore Origins is a high quality game that sets itself apart from the 900+ games in the App Store. How?

First of all, it is the most beautiful game I have played for the iPhone to date. Graphics are amazing. I almost thought I was playing the game on my desktop computer. Spore does not stop here. Audio is top notch as well. The graphical and audible effects as you get attacked or when you eat a smaller organism are very intense. I caught myself yelling and jumping, looking around to see if anyone saw or… more...

I know what you’re thinking, Chris Howard at out sister site Apple MAtters is bitching because Apple won’t some Apps on the iPhone. That is the easy conclusion from the title but wrong, wrong, wrong! Chris is more than a little upset because if you have to restore your iPhone you lose all the data that goes with the apps. Maddening indeed. From the article:

Hey, developers, how do you feel about that? How do you feel knowing I don’t want to use your apps because I don’t want to risk losing my data? I’m sorry, I know it’s not nice but I lost too much information I’d spent a lot of time keying in, not to mention time on games boosting my high scores.

Read the whole article (and get a little scared): No Backup, Why App Developers Should Boycott the iPhone