This week at 148Apps, we took your New Year’s resolutions seriously and started our “Health and Fitness” month. Editor Rob LeFebvre writes, “We’ve already taken a look at some apps that help us all acheive our goals, and we plan to continue that trend for the entire month, with personal stories from our crack writing team, continued reviews, and focused features like our Favorite Four.”
Our apps-for-kids site, GiggleApps, offered a review of Odd Spotting. Reviewer Amy Solomon says, “Odd Spotting, developed by Micromicon Media Limit, is an “odd one out” game with 144 levels, the goal of each being to spot the object that is different from all the others in the group. As I began to explore how Odd Spotting works, I couldn’t help but to remember the lyrics from a classic Sesame Street song, “One of these things is not like the others, one of these things just doesn’t belong.”
iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Released: 2011-09-21 :: Category: Games
Finally, on 148Apps.biz, writer Jeff Hughes commented on Apple’s recent (and quiet) changes to app categorization on the App Store, saying “Just like Google, when iTunes makes the slightest change to their App Store search algorithm, it has an impact on how many people see your app. The recent changes to the category ordering have also impacted sales for many app vendors for better or worse. Some developers have been helped because their app is now in a category that is displayed higher on the mobile screen…Other developers may be adversely impacted due to the decrease in exposure for their app because their category now appears further down the list.”
And that, my friends, completes our rundown of happenings across the 148Apps network for the week of January 9-13. Keep track of all the latest news, reviews and contests by following us on Twitter or Liking us on Facebook. See you in a week!
Apple first launched the iPhone in 2007. In addition to giving users the future of smartphones, they gave them a new way to view their music in the form of cover flow. Being able to swipe through a visual representation on one’s music was a novel experience that is curiously left out of the iPad’s music app. Imre Katai’s app Album Flow is one of several apps hoping to correct this and it is be available for free for today only.
Album Flow adds several new features to a Cover Flow-style experience. These features include information like a play counter and the last time a song was played, a full screen song list, and the ability to easily create new playlists. Users can also personalize the app’s look with various color options, the ability to import background images as well round or square off album art for easier viewing.
Album Flow usually costs $2.99. However, in celebration of the launch of iTunes Match, it is available on the App Store for free today.
This week at 148Apps, we celebrated the release of iOS 5 in style, providing guidance on setting up the now-iCloud-friendly device in a home with multiple computers, multiple iPhones and multiple iTunes accounts. 148Apps founder Jeff Scott writes, “If you have multiple iTunes accounts, you can sign in and out of the different accounts without issue from the Store settings. That is unless you turn on automatic downloads. New to iOS 5 are automatic downloads for the iTunes Store for Apps, Books, and Music. If this device only uses the one account, it’s safe to turn on any of these that you wish. But, turning this on will lock this device to this iTunes account for 90 days. So if multiple accounts are used, do not turn on automatic downloads.”
Read all of this need-to-know info on 148Apps.com.
Meanwhile, on sister site GiggleApps, Amy Solomon reviewed an app sure to help your child become more adept with the alphabet, while also cultivating them into kiddie foodies. Solomon says that ABC Food is, “the latest and possibly greatest app from Peapod Labs’s series of ABC apps focused on both letter recognition as well as teaching about a specific topic, be it animals, music, modes of transportation or sports and includes the use of beautifully detailed photographs, videos from Youtube and sometimes fun facts as well. ABC Food includes a new feature to this series as this app contains fun interactions for each food highlighted within this application.”
Read the full review with a quick click over to GiggleApps.
+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
Released: 2011-09-02 :: Category: Education
Data was the name of the game on 148Apps.biz. Rob LeFebvre writes that, “App search company Xylogic has released 220 app download reports from 29 different countries in order to provide partners with a huge amount of data to be used in decision making process across app publishers, developers and the like. The data is sortable across countries and mobile app platforms, including iOS, Android, and Windows Phone.”
Read what all of this data could mean for you on 148Apps.biz.
That’s the long and short of it for this week. Keep watching our Twitter and Facebook feeds for lots of news, updates and contests. See you next week, crimefighters!
If there is one thing that Apple has been known for since the launch of the iPod, it’s connecting the audience with their music. After all, this entire tech revolution from Apple hinged around the success of a certain media player, if we’re not mistaken. So, as can be imagined, music quality has been a key feature of all iOS based devices since day one.
The problem is that Apple’s specific suite of software has grown somewhat stale in the actual media player department, lacking many of the features that can be found in other devices. Fortunately SRS Labs saw this glaring discrepancy and stepped in with the release of their new playback tool, MyTunes.
Aside from the obvious feature of being able to play music, here are some things of note:
WOW HD – The heart of audio enhancement. Easily switch between tunings for all kinds of listening devices that includes headphones, speakers, car audio, and the internal device speakers.
Normalize – Never have to adjust the volume again. This tech puts all of your music to the same level when you play it.
EQ – Gain access to a 3-band and a 10 band EQ. For simplicity you can just choose a preset and we’ll take care of the rest.
Driving Mode – Interface optimized for using the media player quickly.
DJ Transitions – Let the player DJ to you and change from one track to the next just like they do in dance clubs.
Player – Have full access to an enhanced player that offers streamlined search, scan, and play controls.
Custom album art – If a song is missing album art we’ll provide art based on the genre.
The idea of a three and ten band mixer alone is enough to get many onboard, so be sure to give the app a look. There is a free preview available now, with a fully functional version of the tool unlockable for $4.99. Ears deserve to be pampered, and this is certainly a step in the right direction.
I’m amazed that no one’s used the name Fanhattan before as it’s an excellent name for a celebrity/movie orientated website or app. This app does exactly what would be expected of it. It enables users to find movies and TV shows from old to new across various video streaming and rental services.
Supporting many different services such as Vudu, iTunes, Hulu Plus, Netflix, Blockbuster, Amazon Video on Demand and the ABC Player, this should be a definitive app for all US based entertainment fans. If the show or movie isn’t currently available to stream, Fanhattan will even state where it can be bought for shipping at a later date.
Search options means that not only is it easy to track down something particular but it’s easy to browse for new suggestions too. Content is grouped into genres like Newest, Top Rated, Critic’s Picks as well as Award Winners such as Emmys or Oscars. That’s not forgetting regular genres like action or fantasy.
Combining everything in such a way is a neat idea that no doubt iPad owners will be keen to try out.
It’s out now and it’s free to download. Don’t forget that the services it links to may incur further charges such as Netflix and acquiring items on iTunes. Fortunately, Fanhattan lists pricing in a detailed manner.
It’s not everyday that we write about hardware on 148Apps. So when we do, you know it’s about something awesome.
Today, Sonos, one our favorite iOS friendly audio hardware makers have released a new, smaller device, the Play3. It’s the little brother to the fantastic S5, now called the Play5 that we reviewed last year. This smaller version has 3 speakers instead of the 5 found in the Play5. It still maintains the features of the Play5 in that it connects with your home network to stream music from iTunes and a huge variety of online services like Spotify, Rdio, Pandora, etc.
I had a chance to test out the new Play3 for a few minutes earlier this week. And I’m impressed. It does a great job, in a smaller package, of still sounding great. You can use this in addition to a Play5, on it’s own, or create a stereo pair between two like devices. The Play5 is a great machine that I’ve grown to love. The Play3 will be a great first device for new Sonos users considering it’s retail price of $299. It will also make a good second device to extend your Sonos range into another room.
We hope to be able to bring you a full review of the Play3 in the next couple weeks.
The first person to download the 10 billionth application, or submit the first free entry after the 9,999,999,999th download (more on that in a second), will win a $10,000 gift card to the iTunes store. We’ll consider that victory marginally better than the free balloons you get when you’re the millionth shopper at your local market.
It’s absolutely absurd to consider that in the span of only two and a half years (the App Store launched on July 10, 2008) there are more application downloads in a single marketplace than there are people on Earth. Nearly double the amount, in fact. That is, if you consider being shy by two billion a small margin of difference.
Those interested can head to the contest’s page on Apple.com. There you’ll see a scrolling ticker representing how close the world is to seeing that 10 billionth download. Is the ticker an accurate representation of the actual apps downloaded? Probably not. One would assume that Apple took the time to figure out how many apps are downloaded in a given span of time and then applied that rule to the ticker itself. But why is that important?
It’s only important if you plan on using the no purchase necessary form of entry. For those that don’t want to download the 10 billionth app or, alternatively, even for those that don’t have an iOS device, you can simply enter using this form within the contest page. You can do so 25 times a day. Obviously, it’s not fair to let non-purchasing folk walk away with the prize by just entering a bunch of times. So, the factor that contributes to the entrants eligibility is the timing of said entry.
The gift card will go to either the person that downloads the 10 billionth app or the person that uses the entry form immediately after the 9,999,999,999th download, whichever comes first.
Get ready for the mandatory update message next time you turn on iTunes as Apple has released version 10.1 into the wild. This isn’t your garden-variety new version though, as iTunes 10.1 introduces support for iOS 4.2 and some of its sexy new features.
Perhaps the most exciting aspect of iTunes 10.1 is the fact that it includes AirPlay support, which is kind of a big deal. Now users will be able to download and start a movie or TV show in iTunes on and then push it over to their Apple TV via AirPlay. Of course this is contingent upon actually having Apple TV, but for those that do it’s a great way to watch your video content without messy cables or extra time hooking stuff up.
AirPlay support landing in iTunes also pushes web-based video content one step closer towards killing traditional cable and satellite television models. As popular shows and movies appear online with generally lower prices than standard cable and satellite packages more and more folks are thinking about “cutting the cable” and moving to purely web-based consumption. What’s held them back until now has been the issue of trickier tech for non-savvy folks, but when you can start a show on your computer or iOS device and then instantly send it to your TV that takes out a lot of the fear. Granted, there are still some other issues to work out such as the amount of content available and general questions about reliability, but you have to walk before you can run.
iTunes 10.1 is available now and will likely show up next time you boot up iTunes or your computer does a sweep for new Apple-related software. If you absolutely can’t wait any longer you can also head over to the iTunes page and download it from there. Also take heart that this likely means iOS 4.2 should be just about ready for launch, but then we’ve been holding our breath so long we’re about to turn blue.
iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Posted September 2nd, 2010 by Bonnie Eisenman Our Rating: :: IPOD CHALLENGER
My Artists is a visually stunning iPod.app replacement. If only it had playlists support, I'd switch in a heartbeat! As is, it's still a very strong contender.
Apple regularly schedules a September event to unveil new iPods and other odds and ends in time for the holiday buying season. I think we can assume this year will be more of the same. What will we see and what won’t we see? I’m going to try to put some odds to the various rumors and possible announcements. Note that these are all just my opinion as a guy that watches what Apple does with a rather critical and overly obsessive eye.
New iPod Touch – odds: even money
It’s almost guaranteed we’ll see a new iPod Touch introduced. This, like the iPhone announcement in June, has become a regular event. The question is what are the features we’ll see? I’m hoping we will, as in past years, see feature plurality with the current generation iPhone. So we’ll hopefully see the Retina Display (odds: 2-1), front facing camera with Facetime capability (odds: 3-1), rear camera (odds: 5-1). I’m also wondering if we’ll see the storage capacity increased beyond 64GB (odds: 4-1). And will we see other iPod lines retired like the iPod Classic, perhaps (odds: 8-1)?
iOS 4.1 Officially Announced – odds: even
This is also a given. iOS 4.1 has been in beta for 9+ weeks now and it’s been over 3 weeks since the last beta release. Betas usually come out every 2 weeks. So I think we can guess that it’s done and ready to release. We can expect the release either next week on 9/1 or very shortly after. What features will it have? A fix for the proximity sensor (odds: even) and a Game Center release (odds: 3-1) are the best bets. There’s the possibility that the length of time since the last beta was due to Apple adding in a mystery feature or two (odds: 5-1), or maybe it has to do with….
iOS 4.1 on the iPad – odds: 8-1
While I can’t wait to get iOS 4 on the iPad, it won’t be for a couple more months. I’m hoping that we’ll at least get some details on iOS 4 for the iPad (odds: 4-1), but I won’t hold my breath for that. Features I’m hoping for include support for running iPhone 4 resolution apps (odds: 4-1) and dashboard / icon layout update that takes better advantage of the screen size (odds: 30-1).
Updated Apple TV / iTV – odds: 5-1
This is the big new announcement most are expecting and an update to the Apple TV has been a long time coming. But I think Apple still sees it as too small of a market. I could be way off base here, but I think it’s too early for this rumored update. Apple has had so many leak problems that we tend to know just about every detail of a new device before it’s launched. We haven’t seen anything about a new Apple TV other than a few persistent rumors. While this would be the perfect time to launch it, just before the holidays, I just think it’s too early. But, in case it will be announced, the rumored features are a $99 price tag (odds: 10-1), and iOS based system (odds: 3-2), and App Store support of some kind (odds: 3-2).
Not having iOS 4.0 on the iPad is a total drag for a number of reasons, one being that you can’t listen to your iTunes music unless the app has built in music access. ComicBookPad 1.0 works around the limitations of iOS 3.x and lets you use the app as well as iTunes simultaneously, something that can’t been done on many other book readers in the app store. “There are quite a few comic book readers for iOS,” commented the founder Radi Danchev. “But none have both full iPad optimization, and iTunes plus reader capability.”
As well as the nice iTunes functionality, ComicBookPad 1.0 is also designed to be “glitch-free, with no choppy images, sluggishness, or lags.” When the desired comic book is launched, ComicBookPad loads all of the pages into the cache, enabling you to flip through the pages at an speed desired. The best part of all is that the animations are done right, moving to the next page without any strange animation jerks when you go for a page turn.
Book navigation has also been a challenge on many comic book readers, but ComicBookPad has seemingly fixed this with a large navigation bar in the bottom that is as handy as it looks.
Like all comic book readers, ComicBookPad 1.0 supports all the major comic book formats (.cbr, .cbz, .rar, and .zip), has a quick zoom feature, and a bookmark system.
With iOS 4.x coming soon to the iPad, the whole music aspect of the app will soon be a non-issue, but ComicBookPad still looks like a solid app if you are looking for an iPad comic book reader.
Apple’s new iAd mobile advertising platform looks to be gearing up for its launch on July 1st with test ads and spaces for iAds appearing in apps on the App Store.
iAd offers a way for developers to make money from free applications by including advertising spaces within their apps that are then filled by Apple’s new service. iAd looks to deliver more engaging advertising by comparison the traditional mobile ads that Steve Jobs seems particularly averse to.
iLounge points to a selection of applications from Avantar that are currently showing spaces for iAd adverts and, at one point, included “iAd integration” in release notes before changing the information to “minor bug fixes”. Whether or not Apple had a hand in this change is unclear although the big space within the app interfaces reading “Test Advertisement” next to the Apple logo would be a dead giveaway if they were going for some secrecy.
Apple already knows more than most about the pain of losing an iPhone and as a result has launched a new app to help you find yours should it go missing.
Unfortunately, you will need to be a subscriber to Apple’s MobileMe service in order to use the application which immediately rules it out to most who are unlikely to want to pay $99 a year for the privilege. A sixty-day trial is available here.
If you happen to be a subscriber it’s worth turning the Find My iPhone service on, however, as this app could help you track down your iPhone or iPad by locating it on a map or sending a message and alarm to the device with your contact details so a kindly stranger can return it. In the worst-case scenario you can also lock or wipe your device to secure your data (and those blackmail-friendly photos).
While the app could be useful, it’s not essential. The Find My iPhone service can be accessed via the web and, therefore, if you have a web connection to download the app, you might as well simply browse to the site instead. On the other hand, with Find My iPhone installed on all of your devices, it may come in handy if you simply mislay your iPhone or iPad somewhere in your home, office or at a friend’s house.
We’re still a week away from the official launch of iPads in select countries outside the US but it seems that international iPad App Stores are beginning to switch on already. It is likely that Apple is adding iPad downloads to international App Stores so that all potential issues are ironed out in time for the launch of the iPad in these countries. App Stores in countries like the UK, Germany and Canada don’t currently have the iPad and iPhone buttons on the App Store front page like in the US, so users can’t yet split browsing between the two devices. App Store search results are split into iPad and iPhone categories, however. International users with US-bought iPads have, until now, been unable to access their local App Stores via the device but today should have full access despite some noted teething trouble on some stores.
A lot of excitement was generated by a new App Store submission a while back that promised the ability to sync your iPhone with your computer using Wi-Fi, doing away with the need for a physical connection via USB.
Greg Hughes’ aptly named Wi-Fi Sync app has now been rejected by Apple for security reasons as well as that fact that it encroaches on “what they can and cannot allow” on the App Store, according to the developer who explained the rejection to Engadget.
With new file sharing features available for the iPad, another reason for Apple to reject this application could be that it’s planning a similar feature in future versions of iTunes.
Greg notes that the app will be available on the unofficial Cydia app store for iPhone users who have jailbroken their device, however interested iPad users may have to wait a little longer. Writing on his homepage, Greg says that the app isn’t officially supported on the iPad, but he is “working on this”.
The team at ALK Technologies has launched its GPS navigation app, CoPilot Live HD, for the iPad on the App Store. The app has been designed specifically for the iPad 3G’s GPS receiver and large screen to provide turn-by-turn, voice-guided navigation.
With recent news of iPad’s being fitted into car dashboards, this is particularly exciting news for those shopping for a new SatNav device for their vehicle.
Street maps are stored on the device and the app can display both 2D and 3D map views with turn instructions for the driver. The app automatically switches between portrait and landscape view and provides iPod controls from within the application, another bonus for those planning to dashboard-mount their new Apple tablet or connect it to their in-car sound system.
CoPilot Live HD offers a feature for users to plan trips offline and preview routes to find the most efficient journey before setting out.
“CoPilot Live HD provides an absolutely sensational GPS navigation and planning experience on iPad 3G,” said Michael Kornhauser, Managing Director at ALK Technologies. “Developing for iPad was a natural step following the tremendous popularity of our CoPilot Live iPhone app. It’s a really fantastic platform for navigation that allows us to fully exploit the many years of expertise we have gained from supporting tablet computers with our CoPilot Live Laptop products.”
CoPilot Live HD is priced at $29.99 for unlimited use with free quarterly map updates through 2010.
The next time you hear of a cool app and jump straight on to the App Store to get it, make sure you know exactly what you’re looking for and check where it’s coming from.
That’s the advice of Marco Arment, developer of Instapaper for iPhone and iPad.
Writing on his personal blog, Marco notes the staggering number of applications playing on the name of successful apps or using similar keywords in order to con unwitting App Store customers into buying them.
Popular bird-launching game, Angry Birds, is one such successful application plagued by a host of pretenders that are found when searching the App Store for its title. Of the top ten search results, only four apps appear legitimate with the actual Angry Birds game and its Lite version making up two of these. Six of the top ten search results are made up of cheat apps and walkthroughs.
ESCAPP’s Angry Birds Cheats, for example, appears in the top five searches and uses a lookalike icon. At $0.99 (the same price as the full Angry Birds app) the application’s description reads “Wonderful and addictive cheats. Accept No Imitations”.
That should be no imitations other than the imitation of affiliation with an actual application and/or developer.
We’ve not downloaded Angry Birds Cheats, but with 432 one star reviews out of 487 and reviews entitled “Absolute Rubbish!!” and “Waste of time money and effort” we’re willing to gamble our reputation on this being a pretty poor app. Add to this that the developer, ESCAPP, doesn’t have a working website but a GoDaddy holding page instead, and the fraud is complete.
InTekOne, LLC is another app publisher working in a similar way but this time using a modified version of the Angry Birds icon for its Angry Birds Walkthrough app. Once again, its site does not appear when clicked in iTunes and it’s left up to the poor developer, who was presumably commissioned to create the app, to shoulder the blame.
Chillingo, the publisher of Angry Birds, is equally unhappy with these apps: “We are going to send a formal copyright infringement request to Apple about these apps soon,” said Joe Wee, Director of Chillingo.
Chillingo prefers to reward loyal gamers with hints and tips at no cost by providing walkthrough trailers on its Developers’ YouTube channels. That way, they get free, valid information directly from the source. Angry Birds’ developer Rovio provides official suggestions for Angry Birds here
So what can you do to avoid inadvertently downloading fake apps or “squatters” who use successful apps as a marketing tool? Unfortunately, not a lot. Of course, you’re free to contact Apple and let them know your thoughts and Marco Arment also lists ways developers can protect their intellectual property from such apps on his site here.
For the average consumer, however, it appears that vigilance is your only weapon. Find out the name of the developer, check their website and, most importantly, read the app’s reviews for consumer feedback before buying.
Neither ESCAPP nor InTekOne, LLC have responded to our contact regarding their applications at time of writing.
If you haven’t gone ahead and jailbroken your iPhone already, you’re no doubt as excited as us at the prospect of iPhone OS 4.0. So many of the features we’ve long been craving to have on our phones will be at our fingertips, hopefully some time this June.
Whether you’re looking to prevent the RSI-inducing homescreen swiping that occurs when you install more than 50 or so apps or you simply want to change your background image, iPhone OS 4.0 will have the answer.
Music fans will love the ability to run apps like Pandora in the background while browsing the web or checking emails, and non-iPad owners will relish getting hold of their first iBooks for iPhone.
But we know all of the cool new features in the next OS already, don’t we? Apparently not. Sources who have their hands on the latest developer builds of the next iPhone operating system are providing snippets of information on some more great tweaks that weren’t even mentioned during Apple’s “Sneak Peak” back in early April.
New Settings/Controls
In iPhone OS 4.0 a swipe to the left of the first homescreen (which takes you to Spotlight in OS 3.0) brings up a new interface with some new buttons. iPod controls, much like those you see when double clicking the home button in OS 3.0, sit in the center with a quick iPod app launcher button to their right. On the left is the best new feature yet and previously only a plaything of the iPad owner – orientation lock. At last, browsing the web in bed is no longer something you have to do sitting up or lying at an angle only familiar to contortionists. 9to5Mac, who posted images of these new features, suggest that this could be part of a wider plan to introduce “mini-widgets” in the final build of iPhone OS 4.0
File Sharing and more
Meanwhile, over at The Boy Genius Report, even more cool tidbits are surfacing. First is the ability to drag manually add files to your iPhone via iTunes. Simply plug in your phone and access the File Sharing section under the Apps tab in iTunes to drag files to and from your computer and on to your device. Closing running applications (as part of the multitasking feature) has become easier too. In much the same way you currently delete apps from your iPhone, simply holding on an open app’s icon will produce small close buttons for you to click on and shut down the app.
This is about as much that’s out there at the moment but remember, Steve Jobs promised over 100 new user features when showing off OS 4.0, so expect many more neat tricks and enhancements in the coming weeks.
After Apple acquired music streaming service Lala Media at the end of 2009, many believed it would be bringing this cloud-based technology to its iTunes service very soon. While Lala will shut down on May 31st it appears that it may still be a while before a streaming version of the iTunes Store for both desktop computers as well as iPhones and iPads will be launched.
Lala offers a catalog of over 7 million songs that stream directly to users over the internet. In order for listeners to listen to a specific song at any time and as many times as they wish they are required to pay a $.10 fee. Songs are also available to download at prices similar to the iTunes Music Store. Apple acquired the company in December 2009 for an undisclosed fee thought to be around $17 million.
However, after initial excitement at the Lala Media shutdown announcement, it appears not to denote an imminent launch of Apple’s own streaming product.
Apple is said to be talking to record labels regarding a streaming service but these discussions have been pegged as “preliminary at best” according Peter Kafka writing for MediaMemo at All Things D.
The success of streaming music and video applications like Spotify and Pandora for the iPhone and the new ABC Player for iPad have added weight to the rumours that Apple will begin to deliver music and movies in the same way via iTunes but it appears this move could still be a way off.
Apple is well aware of the demand for streaming music services after showing Pandora’s application streaming music while making use of the new multitasking feature found in the upcoming iPhone OS 4.0.
One of the key factors in such a service is the method in which payment would be made by consumers. While Apple has strong ties with the major record labels it took a long time to thrash out a mutually beneficial deal. Changing the landscape for music delivery may introduce further issues. Streaming music a user already owns on iTunes is one possible outcome however a subscription model may also be made available which would tie in to an iPhone and iPad application.
With Apple’s World Wide Developer Conference only a month away, those hoping for an announcement on the topic will likely be disappointed, with many sources claiming the launch of a streaming iTunes service won’t happen before the third quarter of this year.
Last year we brought you news that Best Buy had a great, but short sale on iTunes gift cards. These sale cards are a great way to get all of your app purchase on the app store at a discount. As a matter of fact, it’s the only way to get a discount on the App Store. These iTunes gift card sales come few and far between. But for those of you in the US, there’s a new sale you can take advantage of.
Now through April 2nd, Costco has $60 iTunes Gift Card packages on sale for $48.99, a nearly 20% savings. There is not tax on the cards at Costco — at least not here in California, your local laws may vary. Also, Apple may or may not charge tax on the purchase, again depending on where you live.
There was an sign on the display at Costco that said limit 2 per member, but I bought 6 and got the full discount on each. Again, your local rules may vary.
With the iPad quickly approaching, this is a great way to add virtual money to your iTunes account to be ready to get all those new iPad apps. This also works for those of you without a credit card — just use cash at Costco to get the cards.
If you head to Costco to get this deal, what was it like at your local Costco? Were they out of stock? Did they limit you to 2? Let us know in the comments.
MoodAgent mixes up your listening experience by generating playlists based on your mood. Though it could still use some refinement, it's a great, simple app with a sleek interface. Oh, and it's free...so there's reason not to try it!
Just under a week after Apple’s media event, iPhone OS 3.1.3 is now available for both iPhone and iPod touch. The update comes after Apple released iPhone OS 3.2, which is iPad exclusive, to developers in its ADC network. As expected by many, this new update includes no new features however it does come packed with a few security fixes.
Including:
- Improves accuracy of reported battery level on iPhone 3GS
- Resolves issue where third-party apps would not launch in some instances
- Fixes a bug that may cause an app to crash when using the Japanese Kana keyboard
The update is compatible with all iPhone and iPod touch models, and is available for download from iTunes right now.
You may remember a few months back now that Apple unveiled a new system in which it used a web-based interface to show song information for an individual iTunes URL, before you were physically transferred to the actual iTunes store itself. The move came in sync with the iTunes store re-design which saw the store become more streamlined overall, with a cleaner, crisper interface. Until now, these new web-based ‘Preview‘ pages have lay dormant, offering no real purpose other than to provide necessary links to albums and individual tracks on the iTunes store.
Today, Apple has reportedly enabled studio 30 second previews of all tracks in it’s current iTunes catalog to work in-browser. Mac Rumors are reporting via GigaOM that these previews are encoded in 44.1 KHz AAC format at 300+ kbps, and playback is issued via QuickTime.
The move falls in line with Apple’s recent acquisition of the online music streaming service Lala, which could see Apple move it’s entire current catalog online, possibly offering all-you-can-eat subscription based plans in the future.
On November 28th 2008 Apple hit a landmark for their iPhone App Store. They reached 10,000 approved applications for their device. Less then a year later, Apple has hit another landmark in approving their 100,000th app. This number is mind boggling when you think about the amount of development man hours that have gone into it.
Recently I’ve read some other saddening numbers in that some developers are seeing piracy rates of upwards of 90% on their applications. I firmly believe that Apple’s recent move to allow developers to sell in game purchases in their free apps is a direct response to the massive pirating we see going on. If developers, publishers, startups and the like are going to make money consistently on the device in a complete sea of pirates and the race to $0.99 they are going to do start thinking and doing things completely differently. A lot of people are starting to expect a lot of game for almost no money. The problem is very few companies can exist by merely selling their app for such a low price, but then you’ll almost never get noticed if you price yourself higher. It is definitely a catch 22 for many devs. What I see happening in this space is that the devs who take the model of giving their game away for free and then convincing me to go farther by spending $0.99 or $1.99 will more likely succeed. The other approach is to lock people out of the game based on a timed events similar to how iMob does it. There may even be a 3rd or 4th solution to this problem that has yet to emerge.
This flood of apps will not stop, and some analysts are saying that we’ll see 250,000 applications by this time next year and that number may even be low if we look at the growth pattern over the last year and half. Crazy as it sounds, I think this is just the tip of the iceberg that will be the app store. Everyone will be developing stuff for the iPhone. At some point, Apple will be changing it’s slogan to “There are 100 apps for that” as extreme over saturation hits in all areas. Even Adobe is releasing a Flash game converter that allows you to make your Flash game into an app and with that every Flash game will get converted in no time.
In all of these months since the app store launched, I’ve been hesitant to be negative of Apple and the app store approval process. Developers have responded passionately and repeatedly with stories of rejected apps and even apps removed from the app store for various reasons. Sometimes they were right, the rejection didn’t make sense. But many times, they were wrong, the app should have been rejected due to obvious reasons.
But today, it seems as though Apple has gone from being just mysterious in it’s approval process to outright complacent. With the removal of apps that use the Google Voice APIs to allow you to access their services, Apple has crossed a line into scary overlord territory. It almost seems as though roles in the 1984 commercial have been reversed.
So yes, these apps may duplicate some of the functions of the iPhone. But as many argue, they don’t, as the features they supply aren’t available on the iPhone. They no more duplicate functions than any of hundreds of apps that provide weather information, calendar interfaces, embedded browsers, contact management, sms services, heck, even the dozens of voice recorders already released now duplicate a default application in OS 3.0.
My big question is, what made this happen now? Is AT&T behind this rejection? If so, this adds to a list of innovative apps they have neutered. For example, SlingPlayer, an application that AT&T even publicizes for Blackberry was restricted to only working over Wifi for the iPhone. Ridiculous… that basically strips 90% of it’s functionality. And if they are behind the rejection of Google Voice related apps, an application that’s already available on Blackberries as well, on their network even, I have to wonder what’s going on? What are they thinking? What are they afraid of?
I can’t believe it’s really their network. They have been adding new customers regularly. Not just this quarter, but for the past 2 years. They’ve had time to upgrade their network as needed for all these new iPhone customers.
Further, why would Apple be in such a stranglehold from AT&T? Why would Apple allow AT&T to stifle innovation in this platform and restrict such applications? It’s boggling why AT&T treats iPhones and their users with such a lack of respect even though we pay more for the same service than other customers.
So, to get to my point, what all this adds up to is that the iPhone is still the best mobile platform to develop for, by far. We all know that. But the platform that freed developers in so many ways is being increasingly perceived as a hostile environment. There are too many unknowns for some developers to put the time and expense into developing the next big, innovative app for the platform when they have no way of even verifying that they can ever release their app.
People are starting companies, risking their livelihoods and their futures on the iPhone and the iTunes App Store. It’s just bad developer (not to mention public) relations to operate such a veiled process like this knowing that so many people depend on it for their livelihood. Not to mention that it will eventually end up in court and could cost Apple a bundle.
So, Mr. Jobs, I ask this of you. You have the power to fix all of these problems. Please do so and we can all be a big happy family again.
First, take the developer agreement and re-write it. At its core, the problem is that Apple has only published rules to developers that basically say, we’ll approve what we want to, here are a few very non-specific guidelines to follow.
Get your product managers in there and tell them to re-write it so that it is written for the benefit of the developers not Apple’s legal department. No blanket statements, be specific with details about what is and is not allowed. Leave nothing out. Then, open it up for discussion with your devoted developers to get their feedback. And then, stick to it. No exceptions like you made for AT&T (going around the in-app purchasing with their GPS app), or Google (use of undocumented APIs for the proximity sensor). We’ll all be happier if we are all on a well explained and level playing field.
Second, slap AT&T, tell them that they have no control over the app store. Apple, you have created a revolution with this platform and it’s bigger than AT&T. But, if they are restricting innovation it can never come close to it’s full potential.
And Steve, can I call you Steve? That brings up a bigger topic related to AT&T. Can you please do something about the AT&T exclusivity in the USA? They treat the iPhone like it’s a cheap Nokia feature phone, not like the best phone ever seen by man. They treat it like a nuisance and it’s users like second-class citizens. We aren’t treated as we should be treated, as their only hope for a future and the only reason they are still in business. AT&T are acting like narrow-minded, slow to upgrade, innovation stifling knuckleheads. So, please, use your powers, the ones that you so deftly used a few years to get your way with AT&T, to either get them to clean up their act, or move on to Verizon like everyone thinks is going to happen.
Respectfully yours,
Jeff Scott
Publisher / Founder
148Apps
Over the weekend, Trent Reznor, front-man for Nine Inch Nails, received quite a bit of bad news from the App Store. It seems that the update to their app, nin: access, was denied.
The app is currently in the App Store, available for free, having already passed through the approval process once. The changes in this update? Well, they’d fix some of the bugs that have left many users giving the app a poor rating due to unexpected issues.
So what exactly was Apple’s reason for denying the update?
“Applications must not contain any obscene, pornographic, offensive or defamatory content or materials of any kind (text, graphics, images, photographs, etc.), or other content or materials that in Apple’s reasonable judgement may be found objectionable by iPhone or iPod touch users.”
In under 9 months the app store has grown from 0 to over 30,000 apps. To break that down a little, here are some stats from our old 10,000 Apps page — the image isn’t up to date, but the stats are updated every few minutes:
Number of apps (some currently inactive): 30,005
Number of games / entertainment apps: 10,126 (33.7% of total)
Number of apps submitted in September, 2008: 2,944 (98/day)
Number of apps submitted in February, 2009: 5,872 (209/day)
Number of free apps / games in the store: 7,086
Total cost to buy every app ever submitted to the app store: $81,444.81 ($2.71 average/app)
The app store will be 1 year old on 7/11/2009 — if things continue on this growth curve, we should hit 50,000 apps by then. That feat, for a new platform and distribution model, would be amazing.
Note: Philip Elmer-DeWitt Apple 2.0 blog on Fortune.com has some more info and some interesting analysis. He believes the tide of new apps has slowed. February, 2009 was the largest month ever, and it’s still early in March — we’ll have to see how the month finishes out before we’d agree with that theory.
:: ENCOURAGING
Finally, on 148Apps.biz, writer Jeff Hughes commented on Apple’s recent (and quiet) changes to app categorization on the App Store, saying “Just like Google, when iTunes makes the slightest change to their App Store search algorithm, it has an impact on how many people see your app. The recent changes to the category ordering have also impacted sales for many app vendors for better or worse. Some developers have been helped because their app is now in a category that is displayed higher on the mobile screen…Other developers may be adversely impacted due to the decrease in exposure for their app because their category now appears further down the list.”
Apple first launched the iPhone in 2007. In addition to giving users the future of smartphones, they gave them a new way to view their music in the form of cover flow. Being able to swipe through a visual representation on one’s music was a novel experience that is curiously left out of the iPad’s music app. Imre Katai’s app Album Flow is one of several apps hoping to correct this and it is be available for free for today only.
This week at 
Aside from the obvious feature of being able to play music, here are some things of note:
Supporting many different services such as Vudu, iTunes, Hulu Plus, Netflix, Blockbuster, Amazon Video on Demand and the ABC Player, this should be a definitive app for all US based entertainment fans. If the show or movie isn’t currently available to stream, Fanhattan will even state where it can be bought for shipping at a later date. 
It’s not everyday that we write about hardware on 148Apps. So when we do, you know it’s about something awesome.
Not having iOS 4.0 on the iPad is a total drag for a number of reasons, one being that you can’t listen to your iTunes music unless the app has built in music access. ComicBookPad 1.0 works around the limitations of iOS 3.x and lets you use the app as well as iTunes simultaneously, something that can’t been done on many other book readers in the app store. “There are quite a few comic book readers for iOS,” commented the founder Radi Danchev. “But none have both full iPad optimization, and iTunes plus reader capability.” 
Apple’s new iAd mobile advertising platform looks to be gearing up for its launch on July 1st with test ads and spaces for iAds appearing in apps on the App Store. 
Apple already knows more than most about the pain of 
We’re still a week away from the official 
A lot of excitement was generated by a new App Store submission a while back that promised the ability to sync your iPhone with your computer using Wi-Fi, doing away with the need for a physical connection via USB. 
The team at ALK Technologies has launched its GPS navigation app, CoPilot Live HD, for the iPad on the App Store. The app has been designed specifically for the iPad 3G’s GPS receiver and large screen to provide turn-by-turn, voice-guided navigation. 
The next time you hear of a cool app and jump straight on to the App Store to get it, make sure you know exactly what you’re looking for and check where it’s coming from. 
Last year we brought you news that Best Buy had a great, but short sale on iTunes gift cards. These sale cards are a great way to get all of your app purchase on the app store at a discount. As a matter of fact, it’s the only way to get a discount on the App Store. These iTunes gift card sales come few and far between. But for those of you in the US, there’s a new sale you can take advantage of.
Recently I’ve read some other saddening numbers in that some developers are seeing 
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