iPhone OS 3.0 breaking video out

Last night I received an email from a friend who was irate. He's been using his iPod touch as a portable video solution with a dock and video out cable. The iPod and the cable got along famously until he updated to iPhone OS 3.0.1 OS 3.0 [sorry, there isn't a 3.0.1 for the iPod touch]. Now, the iPod refuses to recognize it. Same cable, same dock, same iPod.

We looked around and found that he's not alone. There's a thread on Apple's Discussion Boards reporting the same thing. It's affecting both the iPod touch and the iPhone. Apparently 3.0 is specifically designed to reject 3rd party cables, strictly on the premise that they fail the "Made by Apple" test. One poster on the discussion board notes that the original Apple Component AV cable and dock work fine. Sure, you could restore and downgrade, but that seems silly.

Of course, no company has a responsibility to support 3rd party devices, so my friend is out of luck. But we're sympathetic. If you're affected by this issue, all we can say is it's probably time to pony up for a cable from Apple.

Regator [iPhone]

Catching up on the happenings around the blogosphere is a difficult task. Luckily, I happened to stumble upon John Burke's Download Squad piece on the release of Regator [iTunes link].
So, if you'd like to get caught up on the latest news, insights and commentary on Rod Blagojevich around the blogosphere (now that's a tongue twister), Regator could be of assistance.
Regator's user-interface is similar to USA Today's iPhone app [iTunes link]. A horizontal menu displays a number of categories -- such as sports, lifestyle, and entertainment -- that are touch-scrollable. Tapping on a category displays its subcategories. For instance, NBA news would fall under the basketball branch of the sports tree. While a breadcrumb trail displays your viewing hierarchy, the browsing menu disappears as you scroll down; this was my only annoyance with the app, although it's a relatively minor one.
Regator's stand-out feature is what it calls "trends." Like a tag cloud on a blog, in which bigger clouds are usually associated with more hot topics or issues, trends provides a listing of the latest hot topics around the blogosphere.
For instance, a look at sports trends shows Tiger Woods at the top of the list -- which is no surprise given Y.E. Yang's surprising victory over him this past weekend. And Brett Favre's retiring-unretiring-retiring-unretiring-retiring-unretiring puts him near the top of the trends list as well.
Regator is available as a free download at the iTunes app store.

MINI Roadside Assistance can get you and your MINI out of trouble spots

So, say you're driving your MINI to Las Vegas for your buddy's

bachelor party. During the drive, your car overheats; it's 120 degrees

and you forgot were too lazy to check the coolant before you left,

what'd you expect to happen? Well, no need to worry -- roadside

assistance is just a few taps away with MINI Roadside Assistance.

MINI Roadside Assistance is available as a free download. MINI

Cooper not included. More info and a demo video are available at

Wikimedia Foundation creates official iPhone app

The Wikimedia Foundation has just released a free app for accessing the web based encyclopedia right on your iPhone or iPod touch.

Wikipedia Mobile [iTunes link] brings the full boatload of Wikipedia knowledge to a nicely formatted iPhone screen. In my tests, it responded quickly, and without any glitches over Wi-Fi and the 3G network.

The only issues really are that there are already dozens of similar apps available for the iPhone. In fact, if you go to the Wikipedia site in Safari things are nicely optimized for the iPhone screen. Of course the app has a built in history button, but Safari does too.

Some of the other Wikipedia apps I've tried are Wikipanion [iTunes link], which has more features, including changing the font size, and Wikiamo [iTunes link] that allows landscape view, reading of saved material offline, and links to other languages.

I'd like to see the ability to email entries to myself or others, and the Wikipedia Mobile support page just goes to the home page of Wikipedia. That's not too helpful.

One other odd thing. When trying to install the software on a first generation iPod touch, users are reporting it fails with an error message saying a microphone is needed. Huh?

However you access it, Wikipedia is a great resource, and the Wikimedia Foundation says it will be updating the app frequently based on user requests. The current version is 0.1, so I think this app is just getting started.

FinalPrice shopping app released

For those of you who still frequent brick and mortar stores, Jimmi Rehman has released the new FinalPrice 1.0 shopping app for the iPhone/iPod Touch at 99 cents. It requires 3.0 software to run.

This app is a useful one-trick-pony. If you find a sale, the idea is to have your iPhone figure out how much something will cost after the item is discounted and after adding your local tax.

The calculations are solid but I had some trouble with the interface. Tapping the info button didn't work well at first. I had to tap it a number of times using various amounts of pressure for it to be recognized. The other buttons are not as unresponsive, but it still takes a number of taps for any of them to be recognized.

The info screen tells you to enter the original price and then tap the check mark to the right. When you do, the full amount gets displayed on the top green window. Next, enter the sales tax and click the check box to the left. After a few tries, when the click was accepted, a picker with discount percentages in five percent increments is displayed and you can choose the discount percent. Lastly, click on the 'What's the Final Price' button and your calculated price is displayed in the top window.

This is a very useful app and for those who like to peruse shopping malls, which doesn't include me, I can see a good deal of value here. Along with the Amazon app, (previously reviewed) you'll be carrying a nice toolbox to check prices and find out if you are getting a deal or not.

I just wish the buttons were more responsive.

What apps do you take shopping? As an iPhone newbie I would like to know, and I'm sure so would many of our readers looking for another way to simplify their shopping trips.

Pocket Universe ups the astronomy app ante

When the fireworks stop and the smoke clears, it would be a great weekend to look at our beautiful summer skies. Pocket Universe [App Store] is a US$2.99 app that has been updated to make star finding easier for those that have a new iPhone 3GS.

The app uses the position sensors and the compass to orient your phone to match the real sky. As you turn or tilt the phone, the sky map changes to give you a very accurate picture of where you are pointing, with lots of labels and links to more information. This is one of the first examples of an augmented reality app to hit the platform since the introduction of the 3GS.

If you have an older iPhone or iPod touch running OS 3.0, you can tilt the phone to match where the real sky is, but you'll have to manually set the direction you're facing.

This changes everything for the novice astronomer. I tried the feature and it worked really well, even though I was near a large metal building. As I turned my phone the display of the sky changed very rapidly to keep up with my movement.

Other nice features from the last version are intact. You can tap the 'locate' button to find any object that is above the horizon. Select it and it centers on the map. Tap a pop-up for more info and you get a quick summary of the object. In the new version of the app a further tap gets you a Wikipedia entry.

You also get a list of meteor showers, lunar phases and a very nice 'tonight's sky' feature that tells you right away what's up and worth seeing.

Some things I'd like to see improved: The app could support finger-pointing to an object to identify it in addition to going to the locate menu, and the Virtual Sky feature is buried in an options menu. I'd like to see an onscreen button to turn it on and off.

The 3GS features are similar to a Celestron product called the Sky Scout that is a dedicated astronomical instrument. The Sky Scout has a lot more information, and audio tours of the skies, but it costs $200.00. If you're really serious about the stars and planets I'd give it a look.

Meanwhile, another favorite astronomy app, Distant Suns [App Store] has been updated recently, and is now on sale for US$3.99. It has added features to the wonderful tour guides and now includes more information about the objects displayed, including travel time at light speed to the planets. It also includes some breathtaking images from the Hubble Space Telescope.

This is the International Year of Astronomy, so it's a great time to get outdoors and look up. It's fun to do, and the iPhone apps really make it a more compelling and educational experience.

iPod touch, nano might get cameras

Ah, the loose lips on those 3rd party case manufacturers. This time we're seeing what looks like an iPod case with a hole cut out for... yes, a camera. Macrumors has a few juicy shots of both nano and touch-sized iPod cases with said holes. These match up with sketches reported by iLounge back in May and rumored by HardMac before then.

Personally I think it's brilliant and logical to add a camera to the nano and I doubt a touch with video would scuttle many iPhone sales. More importantly, the touch is likely to get the same "upgrade" treatment the 3GS did: oleophobic screen and speed boost. Adding a camera just turns the touch into what people wanted anyway: pretty much an all-in-one device.

Get Astraware Solitaire and some free fireworks

Solitaire features a dozen different games, including the classics Klondike, Free Cell, Canfield, and Pyramid. As with most of Astraware's games, the 12 solitaire games are nicely animated, easy to play, and hard to master. The game is currently on sale for just US$0.99, so grab it before it goes up to the normal price of US$4.99.

I personally love playing solitaire as a way to pass time on planes and while waiting for meetings to start. After installing Astraware Solitaire on my iPhone 3GS, I erased four other solitaire games that just didn't match up to the quality and variety of play. The new Trophy Deck feature will keep you playing for weeks, trying to collect all of the cards by achieving goals.

Since it's Independence Day here in the U.S., you might also want to download Handmark's free fireworks app, featuring patriotic backdrops, festive fireworks, and music.

Sirius XM app soars even without Howard Stern

Sirius XM it released June 18th has become the top free download in the Music Category on iTunes.

It has been grabbed more than 1 million times either by Sirius XM subscribers or people who did not have Sirius hardware and simply wanted to pay the US$13.00 a month fee for access to the 120 plus channels available.

"Reaching more than 1 million downloads so quickly is a strong testament to our world-class programming and SIRIUS XM's instant brand recognition," said Scott Greenstein, President and Chief Content Officer of SIRIUS XM Radio. "Our goal is to give people access to the best audio entertainment wherever they go with what we think is the best music and audio entertainment application available on the App Store."

The numbers are impressive but the subscribers still can't listen to Howard Stern who is one of the big draws to the satellite broadcaster. Sirius really hasn't had any substantive comment about omitting Stern, but the issue appears to be Stern himself, who wants more money to be offered on cellular devices. On his daily show in June he said "It was a rights thing, a contractual rights thing, It was a rights issue and a whole entanglement thing. So, we're not on it. Maybe one day we will be."

Although the app is a very popular download, it has very negative reviews at the App Store. As of this morning more than 38,000 reviewers gave it one star, more than twice all the other ratings combined.

Manage your iPhone's clipboard with Snippets

The cut, copy, and paste features (finally) included in version 3.0 of the iPhone OS greatly improve the productivity of the iDevices. However, there is room for improvement. Enter Erich Bratton with his clipboard manager app, Snippets, available now in the iTunes App Store [iTunes link].

Snippets offers a way to organize bits of text that can be accessed quickly to paste into emails, text messages, notes, and other places. The clips can be categorized into a number of pre-determined or user-created folders as well. To help get new users comfortable, the app comes with a variety of canned responses and other text pieces, some of which are hysterical.

The real power of Snippets lies in the ability to paste or create text in the app for later use. Think of it as boilerplates for your iPhone. If you find yourself writing similar things over and over, simply create an entry in Snippets. When you need to write that same text next time, visit the Snippets app first, view the desired text block (which automatically copies it to the clipboard), and then paste it into whatever app you'd like. It really couldn't be much simpler.

The canned responses included with Snippets are worth its price of $.99 alone, in this blogger's opinion. But even if you are wittier than I and appreciate original pieces of text, Snippets is a great app with a very easy-to-use interface that I plan to use again and again. In fact, I might just start using it to write some generic paragraphs that I can use in every review. What a time-saver!

WWDC Demo: Ow My Balls!

Yeah, so did you see Idiocracy? While I'm convinced it's merely a documentary sent to us from a future Mike Judge, warning us of the dangers of Brawndo and poor math education, one of the takeaway phrases from the movie has made its way into an iPhone app. Yes, Martha, you can say "balls" on the App Store. While tasteful slideshow apps like Minipops are rejected without so much as a "get bent," somehow Ow My Balls! became the first app on the store to use "balls" in this sense. Apple: always on the cutting edge.

Anyway, I wound up trying Ow My Balls! (iTunes link) on the plane back from San Francisco, and guess what? It really is strangely addictive. Not like Fieldrunners-grade addiction, mind you, but it's a low level thing that makes you play for a much longer time than you'd ever think you'd be playing. Is it worth $.99? Yeah, if you're into this sort of thing.

The game mechanic is simple: kick the guy off a ledge (in the aforementioned nether regions), tap him to "fart" and make him stay in the air longer. You have small goals like hitting every target and getting maximum rackage by hitting more stuff on the way down. That's really about it, but as I said, it's more fun than you'd imagine. My only problem: I can't find the very last object to run into. Ow, my finger!

European nav app first out of the gate for iPhone

It looks like our European friends will get first crack at an advanced turn-by-turn navigation app for the iPhone/iPod touch. MobileNavigator Europe [App Store] requires the 3.0 software, and looks to be fully featured:

• 2D and 3D map displays
• Can be used in portrait and landscape format
• Branded UI features such as Reality View Pro, Lane Assistant Pro & "real signpost display"
• Speed Assistant with adjustable audio-visual warning
• Direct access and navigation to contacts saved in the iPhone's address book
• The latest NAVTEQ maps, 2M+ European POIs (points of interest)
  
• Navigation is automatically resumed after an incoming phone call
• Quick access to user-defined POIs in the area and along the route
• Take Me Home function with a single click

This software is the first of several apps coming for the iPhone. The TomTom app that will work in the U.S. has been demoed and coming soon. Garmin, one of the premier GPS manufacturers is going the other way, and will release their own phone with navigation built in, but the project has been troubled and much delayed. Telenav has pre-announced its iPhone offering and suggested that customers keep an eye on the company's Twitter feed.

The Navigon app is US $94.99 (!) this month only, then the price goes up (!!!). The Navigon website doesn't yet show a list of the supported countries, but it's displayed in iTunes and is quite extensive (Albania to Vatican City with Estonia, Macedonia, San Marino & Slovenia + more in between). The app supports ten different languages and will automatically switch based on the selected language for the iPhone itself. The download weighs in at 1.65 GB.

This quick release of high quality navigation software should set mouths watering for a release over here, but I'm a bit troubled by the pricing, as you can buy a pretty fully featured low-end navigator for only a few more dollars.

Update: Our readers have also mentioned Gokivo, with a continuing US$9.95 a month subscription, and Sygic, which provides turn by turn navigation in Austrailia and New Zealand.

Inside iPhone 3.0: Enhanced controls for podcast & audiobook playback

It's on the master list of 3.0 features, but we've been sent enough tips and suggestions about it to conclude that the advanced podcast/audiobook controls came as a pleasant surprise for lots of iPhone and iPod touch owners who upgraded.
In the 3.0 version, from the playback display for a podcast, tapping the screen brings up a set of expert controls: a button to email a link to the podcast's page on iTunes; a 30-second "What's that, now?" instant rewind button; and a playback speed control to give you 1/2 speed, normal or 2x "FedEx mode" playback.
The scrubber bar itself has been given a charge, even though it doesn't look any different until you tap it; it displays the relative playback position within the episode being played. Dragging horizontally gives you high-speed scrubbing (previously known as "just plain old scrubbing"), but if you keep your finger on the screen and drag down, your scrub rate lowers step by step through half-speed, quarter-speed and 'fine scrubbing.' This detail control makes it a lot easier to cue up a particular spot in a long show or book chapter.
I've started to enjoy listening to some of my longer subscriptions in 2x mode, especially when I have a fixed amount of time to listen to the podcast but I still want to cover as much of it as I can. Even shorter news-centric podcasts can sometimes benefit from a speed boost. If any of you try out the 2x mode on an audiobook, do let us know how it works for you.
Surprisingly, I find myself using the 'email this' button quite a lot, especially to let friends and family know about some of my favorite shows. I imagine they'll be getting tired of that pretty soon.

3.0 is here, but where's the free security update for iPod touch 2.x?

TUAW reader Jim Carroll is worried: "It is crunch time for your site," he warned ominously in an email yesterday.
Jim is worried that security updates made available via the iPhone OS 3.0 updates last week will only be available to iPod touch users through the obligatory $10 upgrade. "Please use your power as an Apple site to raise the issue." Please, Jim. We're blushing.
"As a long time computer user I am unaware of a similar incident where a company would charge for security updates," he writes. Companies charge money for updates all the time -- operating systems and anti-virus software take time and energy to make, and companies want to get their investment back. Apple has been kind with free updates to Safari, but only because they gain revenue from it via the Search bar.
Apple has always charged iPod touch users for major updates, of course, but security updates have most often come free. 1.0.1, 1.1.2, 1.1.3, 1.1.5, 2.1, and 2.2 all included security fixes, but were free to iPod touch users. (The latter two cases were free for those who bought the 2.0 update.)
1.1.5 is an interesting case. It was released a few days after the 2.0 update, and included security updates that were wrapped into the 2.0 update.
My advice? Have patience. This coming week or next, I have confidence we'll see an update for 2.x (2.2.2 perhaps?) that leaves out the new features, but includes the same security updates found in 3.0 at about $9.95 less.
We're also beginning to hear whispers of a 3.0.1 update for the device to help resolve WiFi issues in the new release; a German iPod user reports being told by an AppleCare representative that an update is expected shortly. Take that with the appropriately sized grain of salt.

Walt Disney World Notescast [ iPhone ]

To start with: I am a Disney fan -- to be precise, it's a lot like the way Jack Nicholson is a Laker fan -- so on my very nearly annual expeditions to a Disney park, I don't really need the map. I have memorized shortcuts and low-traffic restrooms, how to get all the good stuff done in one day, and loads more random bits (look closely in the Hall Of Presidents; molds for their faces are used on other animatronics around the park), mostly because carrying them around in my head was the easiest way to carry them.

Then I got my iPhone (my first smartphone) and was able to put data on my phone (which I always carry with me). Enter the Walt Disney World Notescast. This $0.99 app is a handy planning/informational tool that can guide your entire Walt Disney World trip, from vacation packages to tips on annual events and park history. I tested the iPhone version of this app, but TimeStream Software also sells a $1.99 version for notes-capable classic iPods and nanos. It doesn't rely on a data connection and you can carry all this info with you easily.

When you first launch the application, you get a list of options to choose from. I liked the variety of options, but I wish I could customize or at least re-order it so I could get at a few of the options more quickly. There is a bookmark system available, but I ended up bookmarking a lot of things so that list went non-functional pretty quickly. And while I understand not having a ton of information on one page, I had a hard time figuring out why there were breaks between, for example, "Tours of EPCOT I" and "Tours of EPCOT II". I love the list of phone numbers, especially since I can tap the number to make the call. In the now cutthroat world of Disney Dining, having that number handy -- as well as the ticket line and even the camping and Magical Express numbers, not usually easy to find on the WDW site -- is a huge convenience.

I liked the What's New section; it goes back years, and since I'm not at Walt Disney World that often, it's nice to see what's new since my last visit, even if that was quite awhile ago.

I have to admit, my favorite portion of this application is the Hidden Mickey Tours for each of the parks. I wish it were more vague in spots (some are very explicit, some less so), and I also like that is laid out "in order" as you walk through the park. I also have to admit I'd love more of this kind of information, not just for Mickeys but some of the other cool stuff to look for while I'm walking around.

Some minuses here: No maps. I understand not having the latest on what rides are closed or open, especially without relying on a data connection, but it'd be nice to have some idea where things are, particularly for people who aren't me (first time or very infrequent travelers) so the map would be one less thing to carry in a pocket that inevitably gets drenched on Splash Mountain. I have seen Disneyland apps that do this, so an image for each park doesn't seem unreasonable. I'd also like to see menus; I took these guides to Disney World and it was really nice to know what my options were before I sat down. Adding a spot for user-added info like where we parked (with a photo option), maybe my room number, or a checklist of people I promised souvenirs to, would be handy. Those would be useful lists, even if it's just a free-form text area where I can enter them myself.

All in all, I'd suggest this for people who are new to Walt Disney World, or haven't been in a long time. I liked how easy it was to use, and I adored the Hidden Mickey tours. This is definitely a useful application if you are off to Orlando anytime soon. If you're a superfan like me, you may also want to check out the $0.99 WDW Secrets edition, with more behind-the-scenes detail on attractions and park history.

Swine flu? There's an app for that

The folks at IntuApps have responded to the Swine Flu pandemic in the way that only a developer could: By building an app!

The forthcoming Swine Flu Tracker for iPhone and iPod touch (it's pending App Store approval as of this writing) will do 3 things. First, it will display the current threat level as determined by the World Health Organization. Secondly, it drops pins onto Google maps to represent confirmed or suspected cases.

Finally, it tracks and reports on Swine Flu news from around the world. If you're traveling or simply concerned about this problem, it sounds like you might find Swine Flu Tracker useful. Of course, we haven't played with it yet, so the app's actual performance remains to be seen.

We can only hope that Apple's notoriously long review process won't keep Swine Flu Tracker out of our hands for too long, as we want to live to see it.

Amazon has acquired Stanza

Last month Amazon released the free Kindle application for the iPhone in the US [App Store link], shortly after the Kindle 2 hit the market. If you haven't used it yet, it works quite well. Users can buy books (but not subscriptions) from the Kindle Store via Mobile Safari for reading on their iPhones, although the purchasing process is easier from a desktop browser. Unlike the Kindle, the iPhone app is able to display color images, but it lacks text-to-speech as well as a direct connection to the Kindle Store. Whispersync, which synchronizes ebooks between the iPhone app and Kindle, works as advertised.

A few weeks ago, we posted a comparison of ebook readers featuring, among others, the iPhone app Stanza [App Store link]. As Steve mentioned, Stanza works with nearly every ebook format, even Project Gutenberg etexts. I only used Stanza briefly to check it out and I can say that the UI was very nice. Additionally, the folks who created Stanza have an existing relationship with ebook seller Fictionwise. In fact, Fictionwise created an ebook store just for Stanza users.

This week, we've learned that Amazon has acquired the company behind Stanza. We can only assume that aspects of Stanza will make it into a future release of Kindle for the iPhone.

iTunes Connect now lets developers see crash reports

Apple has offered developers a glimpse as crash reporting since the iPhone 2.0 firmware was released, however, it was a kludge to get users to email you the crash reports from their ~/Library/Logs/CrashReporter/MobileDevice directory. Apple has a solution that will make this a lot easier.

Enter iTunes Connect, where Apple recently added the ability for developers to view crash reports from users. iTunes connect is where developers can manage applications they have on the App Store, check their sales, and get promotional codes for their apps. When you log into iTunes Connect you will be presented with the following information regarding crash logs:

Crash logs for applications are now available. To view them, go the Manage Your Applications Module below, click to view the desired application's details, then click View Crash Report.

When you navigate to Manage Your Applications > your app details > View Crash Report, you will be presented with a few items that could help you debug apps. Namely, developers can view most frequent crashes, timeouts, and memory usage right from iTunes Connect. You can find out more about crash logs on the iPhone by going to Apple's Developer tech note.

SlingPlayer for iPhone: A ray of hope?

Could it actually be coming? A search at the iTunes App store for Sling Media brings up the name of the company, but no application attached to the name. That's a pretty healthy sign that the SlingMobile app for the iPhone and iPod touch is 'in the system', although I wouldn't call it proof positive the app has been or is about to be accepted.

It's been more than a month since the application was submitted to Apple for evaluation, and it has been a month of ups and downs. AT&T seemed to re-write its terms of service to eliminate Sling products on the network, but then AT&T relented. Then there was a rumor that the Sling app had been rejected, but that turned out to be an apparent hoax.

The last we heard, the folks at Sling Media say everything is just peachy, and be patient. The fresh listing of the company at the App Store is a good, but not definitive sign. Hopefully, it is not another chimera, and we'll all be streaming our media to our iPhones and iPod touches soon.

Citrix Receiver [ iPhone ]

Citrix, the folks who provide a popular way to run applications on remote servers using a thin client, have announced the immediate availability of Citrix Receiver for iPhone (click opens iTunes). We saw the Citrix guys running around the show floor at Macworld Expo this year, surreptitiously demoing an early build of this app to anyone who walked within range.

Receiver is a free app that enables iPhone and iPod touch users to run any Windows application as a service on their device. Connecting to a Citrix XenApp environment, iPhone fans can securely work with apps from Oracle, SAP, McKesson, Cerner, and other vendors. The only information sent over the wireless connection consists of screen taps and gestures, keyboard input, and screen updates, so it is simple to keep data secure.

Receiver for iPhone uses Citrix HDX to deliver high-definition content to the device so that Flash and Silverlight content can be viewed as well. Flash on an iPhone -- now there's an idea!

In enterprises such as hospitals that depend heavily on Citrix already, Receiver is going to be "well received." This should help Apple's iPhone sales efforts in the enterprise market really take off.