Consumer 10.0: Web service can help cut monthly cell phone bills
Dissatisfied wireless customers got their due last week. After years of complaints about early-termination fees, the Federal Communications Commission finally showed signs of a serious inquiry into the charges. And the shortcomings of AT&T Wireless’ network, familiar to disgruntled iPhone users, drew wide attention for an ironic reason: Apple’s decision to stick with AT&T when it launches its eagerly awaited iPad mobile computer this spring. But today’s column isn’t about dissatisfied wireless customers. It’s about the vast majority of the nation’s 276 million wireless subscribers who are at least modestly happy with a technology that has changed so many aspects of their day-to-day lives
For the many that surely missed it, on Wednesday Apple quietly announced a new member of the iPhone OS family, the iPad. And, while it runs existing iPhone applications just fine in a pixel-for-pixel or 2x-scaled mode, the device with its 9.7-inch screen has much more to offer in the way of screen real estate (over 5x the pixel count of the iPhone) and both CPU and GPU power. The iPad proposition gives iPhone developers much to ponder in the way of just how best to support it
Voice Mark — If you and your iPhone 3G or 3GS get around a lot, you may find it’s sometimes hard to remember your impressions about each place you’ve visited. GeoGraffiti’s Voice Mark provides you with the ability create audio geotags of each location that interests you as well as listen to the audio geotags created by other users of this app. For example, if you visit Joe’s Pub & Grille in El Dorito City, Michigan, and you think it’s a place other people might want to visit, you can create an audio message describing your visit there and share it through Twitter and other popular social net sites. If you’re traveling and want to know a bit about some of the local sights, you can listen to the Voice Marks left by other app users
In the spirit of the Game Show Network (GSN) hit show Catch-21 , now in its third season, Catch-21 for iPhone and iPod Touch is blackjack mayhem in a race against the clock for high scores. Unlike the television game show, Catch-21 for iPhone leaves out cumbersome trivia questions and opponents and pits players against the clock to make as many 21s as possible. And best of all, it’s free.
ItalyGuides: Vatican Museum Tour Shows You Places You Might Not Otherwise See
If you’re planning to take a trip to Rome, Italy, the Vatican will undoubtedly be on your itinerary. When you go, take along ItalyGuides: Vatican Museum Tour , from ComPart Multimedia . It’s a pocket tour guide that will help you navigate through the Vatican’s many museums and treasures with the least amount of wear on your shoes and lower back.
The iPhone’s accelerometer has made possible many great aviation and racing games. It works again in Defendroid , a fun jet vs. aliens aerial combat game that has some fun, albeit simple, gameplay. The scenario is familiar: you take charge of a fighter jet that must blast aliens
Google launches Popular Images for Android and iPhone
Only few hours after announcing that it has integrated click to call phone numbers into mobile ads , Google has also launched Popular Images – a new feature for Android and iPhone . Accessible via Google’s homepage (from Google Image Search), Popular Images gives Android and iPhone users quick access to popular and interesting images on the Web. There are several categories of popular images, including Music, Movies, Sports, Cars & Bikes, and Cartoons.
1st February: Mobile Monday opens 2010 in a new home!
:: 6.30pm for 7pm start, Mon 1st February 2010 :: Note: New Venue is Level 1, The City Hotel ( www.cityhotel.com.au ) :: Entry on King Street corner Kent Street. We’ve survived the GFC! It’s 2010! We survived the noughties and more importantly the GFC. Though we may bear the battle scars of 2009, it’s onwards and upwards for the mobile industry. We’ve got Apple launching iPad, the iPhone apps saving lives, Google launching their new phone and Mobile phones replacing stand alone sat-navs.
Google integrates click to call phone numbers in mobile ads
Google has just made it simpler for users and advertisers to find each other via mobile ads, as it launched a new feature that includes clickable phone numbers in ads seen on Android , iPhone , WebOS and other phones with full internet browsers. Advertisers can now integrate a click to call local phone number into their mobile ads – when users see the ads, if they want to directly call the business they’re interested in, all they have to do is click on the listed phone number(s)
iPhone TIPS: Your 1st iPhone App For just $99 [CouponCode inside]
[UPDATE 28 Jan 2010] Use the coupon code offer below. This is not a joke and you can do it too. I created an iPhone app last Sunday in 10 minutes, submitted it in 5 minutes and paid just a couple of bucks. Just 4 days later it arrived in the App Store all around the world. isn’t that great?
iCelebrate ~ Valentine’s Day Wants to Win Your Heart With Music
Who doesn’t love a good love song, smooth jazz, or a little R&B? OK, probably plenty of people – especially as Valentine’s Day approaches and those with contempt for the hopelessly romantic and barrage of candy hearts and chocolate flowers that celebrate them are reminded of the pending day in every store. The App Store to is filled with reminders of the pending love fest, and iCelebrate ~ Valentine’s Day will help you celebrate or, as the case may be, rue the day alongside a quart of chocolate chip ice cream. Much like Conduits Technologies, Inc.’s iCelebrate ~ Christmas, which I’m sad to say I missed, iCelebrate ~ Valentine’s Day is a holiday countdown with streaming music and animated backgrounds. You can choose to stream specific genres, including love songs, smooth jazz, easy listening, and R&B or stream them all
iPad TIPS: Full Video Apple Special Event 2010 – Steve Jobs iPad
Apple has put a full video of yesterdays special event introducing the iPad, Apple’s new creation of the Tablet device. Watch Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveil the revolutionary new iPad in this full video
Ten iPhone apps that will work really well on iPad
iPhone and iPod touch apps will work on the iPad without needing to be rebuilt for the new format, Steve Jobs told us yesterday. You will be able to sync your iPad directly with your iPhone or Pod and get…
I kept thinking about how to approach this post. Anyone who reads the blog for more than a few days knows of my love for Apple. So perhaps expectations were too high to possibly make today’s Apple iPad announcement worth the wait. That said, I do have some reservations about the iPad, and here they are: Multi-tasking – iPad wants to bridge the gap between your phone and your laptop. For some users, they would love the iPad to replace the laptop all together.
WAPI-capable iPhone in the making for China Unicom
China Unicom officially launched Apple’s iPhone in October 2009 , but without Wi-Fi, as some government regulations don’t allow this feature to be included into the handset. A solution would be for the iPhone to have WAPI (China’s own Wi-Fi technology), and it looks like WAPI-capable iPhones are currently being developed by Foxconn – which manufactures many products for Apple (probably the new iPad , too). According to PCPOP , the WAPI iPhone is codenamed N90, and there’s another new codename – N88 – for Apple’s fourth generation iPhone that should be released around the world later this year. Reportedly, China Unicom sold about 200,000 iPhones until now.
Drivers Ed Lite Iphone App Review Drivers Ed Lite (Free) REVIEW Drive Under The Influence of Drivers Ed Lite The idea behind Drivers Ed Lite is to offer users DMV practice tests. You can answer sample questions from several categories including accidents, hazard awareness, roadway rules and traffic signs.
John Gruber’s iPad Interview With the CBC via Nora Young
John Gruber from DaringFireball.net always has insightful analysis of Apple movements and is known on the net as an authoritative figure in the “Apple-space”. His blog is one of the most popular technology blogs on the internet (his linking to the CBC Spark Blog caused them to exceed their bandwidth and get suspended!)
Brush Up On Olympic History With Historic Olympic Medal Table
If you have a friend that keeps track of Olympic statistics, or maybe that’s you, the Historic Olympic Medal app will give you all the information you need! Historic Olympic Medal Table by Henri Hansen With the Vancouver 2010 Olympics coming up soon, this is a great app to refresh your Olympic history! Historic Olympic Medal Table gives users easy access to all of the medals won from all of the previous Olympic Winter Games. The app is great for those who love keeping track of stats and gives users the ability to quickly pull up historic records and make current comparisons. To give you an idea of the scope of the app, users have access to the more than 2000 medals (with times or points) attributed all the way back to the Olympic Winter Games of 1924! The app then includes each Winter Games from 1924 until the recent 2006 games. The app does a fantastic job of layout and allows users easy access to medals, events, athletes, and brief facts about the various hosting cities. Medal archives can be browsed by editions of Olympic Games or by winning nations with a list of sports categories and medals.
Citi Mobile iPhone app updated with new functionality for credit card customers
Citibank, which is nowadays best known as one of the biggest “users” of TARP money, is out with an updated iPhone application. The main idea is to provide Citi credit card customers with the ability to “manage their spending more wisely.” In that sense, users can check account balances and available credit with just a tap of the screen. Additionally, the application also provides details on recent transactions, as well as the date on which the next payment is due – very handy. And that’s about it
Greystripe unveils results of its 99-cent guaranteed iPhone app download program
Some time ago we talked about Greystripe’s unique proposal to offer free iPhone app developers guaranteed download for 99 cents per download . Now we have some campaign results to share. The program was offered to the first 200 developers who signed up and included such brands as Kraft, Chorus and PlayMesh. All campaigns reached their download targets, and the big winner is PlayMesh’s iFarm, which has received a 56% conversion rate on clicks and has been downloaded more than 60,000 times. Unsurprisingly, this helped push iFarm to the number one spot in AppStore’s free app rankings