News tagged ‘AppStore’

iSMEStorage is the first application for iPhone with cloud storage virtualization service that allows users to manage more than 10 different storage clouds from their device in 1 Cloud file. Clouds include Google Docs, FTP-as-a-cloud, Email-as-a-cloud, Gmail-as-a-cloud, Miscrosoft SkyDrive and LiveMesh, Apple Mobile Me and Amazon S3 and other.

SMEStorage CEO says:

"We are very happy to add the iPhone to the list of clients that users can use to get access to their files from our platform... It is the first [application] to virtualize storage clouds and make them available from one Cloud File System, and it is the first App of any kind in the App Store that enables access to Microsoft SkyDrive files."

iSMEStorage v1.01 is available here in the Productivity Category from the AppStore only for 0.99$.

Today we will take a look at an interesting accessory - external microphone for iPods and iPhones. As for the iPod everything it is quite simple - in order to record something you need an external mic. iPhone has it's own internal microphone. However the quality of the recording would be better with external one.

We performed a simple test: recorded the iTunes radio using Voice Memo application on the iPhone. First we used internal microphone and later we attached the external one. The quality of the external is slightly better. It is more sensible and the level of noise is lower which is good. Here are the sample recordings (m4a format): Internal, External.

This external microphone is compatible with:
- iPhone 3G/3GS
- iPod Touch 2G/3G (you need to download and install some recording application from AppStore)
- iPod Nano 4G/5G (with pre-installed software)
- iPod Classic 120G (with pre-installed software)

You can buy one for $3.12 at BudgetGadgets. They have free shipping worldwide. Use the coupon name VM5OFF5 during checkout, it will give you additional 5% discount.

More photos:

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TomTom is discounting their navigation apps. For example, US and US+Canada are down to $50 and $70 respectively, Western Europe is $90. They've done this before, so it's not unprecedented. However $10 discount is a good deal if you're looking for an iPhone Navigation.

Here is a link to AppStore.

This is good news for for those who use Cydia, an alternative to Apple's AppStore for jailbreaked iPhones and iPod Touches. Saurik has uploaded a new version of APT that has an optimized cache generator and greatly improves Cydia performance:

"I also uploaded a new version of APT I've been working on: it has an optimized cache generator and more error tolerant repository parsing."

When launching Cydia the next time you will find updates for some APT packages (up to 3 depending on what you have installed). Perform the install and enjoy the speed improvements!

As we wrote before, Apple started to delete apps with sexual-content in App Store two days ago. That was explained by changing their moderating guidelines. Yesterday Apple representatives commented on this situation:

“Whenever we receive customer complaints about objectionable content we review them. If we find these apps contain inappropriate material we remove them and request the developer make any necessary changes in order to be distributed by Apple.”

But since the Frasier Spears filed the radar bugs in order to filter the inappropriate content at his school and blogged about it, the problem seems to be solved. Obviously, it will be better for Apple to implement soft porn filters that prohibit access to apps with dubious content rather than change their policy.

Apple announced that it has added App Store support for 13 new countries:

You can now distribute your apps to more customers with the addition of App Store support in Armenia, Botswana, Bulgaria, Jordan, Kenya, Macedonia, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritius, Niger, Senegal, Tunisia, and Uganda. Log in to iTunes Connect to view and update the countries where your applications are available.

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From now on sausages are not the only substitutes for human fingers; Electrorack presented an interesting rack enclosure for Xserves; Shake allows you to listen music without earphones; U-Socket solves a problem of USB-rechargable devices.

As you remember few days ago we wrote about sausages as the best substitutes of human fingers for iPhones. Well now it is not. Two companies at once presented their capacitive capable gloves that allow you to use iPhone even when it's cold. iTouch Gloves offered high end leather gloves (start with  $99.95, on the left side) and Telefingers offered thinner, less stylish and cheaper solution (for only $15, on the right side).

That really looks like oversized Mac Pro, but indeed this is a rack enclosure for Xserves and RAID configuration presented by Electrorack. The latter also offers a variety of other server racking solutions.

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Apple decided to increase the limit of MB downloaded from the AppStore over 3G or cellular network. Previously applications could be bought if their size was less than or equal to 10 MB. Apps over this limit were available only through Wi-Fi. Many game and app creators deliberately whittle their software down to less than 10MB to make them more accessible to iPhone users.

This limit now has been doubled. Although it might not seem like a big difference for developers it is certainly a plus to both developers and end users.

It looks like Apple has started banning iPhone hackers from the iTunes App Store.

A few day ago Sherif Hashim, the iPhone developer and hacker, tweeted that he had found an exploit in the latest iPhone OS 3.1.3, which could enable the unlock on 05.12.01 baseband for iPhone 3GS and iPhone 3G. Yesterday he has been banned by Apple for the so called "security reasons". It seems that Apple is quite angry! Here is what Sherif gets when he tries to access App Store from his iPhone:

Sherif Hashim’s Tweets:

"Your Apple ID was banned for security reasons", that's what i get when i try to go to the app store, they must be really angry ))))

and guess what my apple ID was, "sherif_hashim@yahoo.com", what a fool was me not to notice )), can't help laughing, they are babies ))

Another iPhone hacker named iH8sn0w, the developer of Sn0wbreeze (PwnageTool alternative for Windows), tweeted saying he was also banned by Apple right after he released an exploit known as XEMN:

@sherif_hashim lol, they did that to my ih8sn0wyday[@t]googmail.com too. (right after I posted XEMN)…

For now Apple isn’t banning Jailbreakers - they’re banning people who actively work to find exploits in the iPhone software to create Jailbreaks for the rest of us.

Apple is about to reach another great result: the 10 billion songs sold through iTunes. They set up a new page with a counter similar to the one for the first billion downloads in AppStore. Apple also created a contest with a prize of a $10,000 iTunes gift card.

According to the official contest rules, participants may make up to 25 entries per day either by purchasing/downloading songs from the iTunes Store or by filling out an entry form on Apple's web site.

The prize will be awarded for the entry (either through a song download or through the non-purchase online entry) sent immediately following the download of the 9,999,999,999th song. The potential winner will be determined by the order of the entries received. In the event that more than one entrant would be a winner based on the simultaneous timing of entries, one entrant will be randomly selected from those entrants as the winner. Each entrant's chances of winning are dependent upon the number of eligible entries received.

Apple has periodically offered similar contests in the past, such as its One Billion Song contest in 2006 and a One Billion App contest last year.

WordPress for iPhone has been updated to v2.2. The major addition is the ability to reply, edit, and highlight comments.

Manage your WordPress blog from your iPhone or iPod touch. With WordPress for iPhone, you can moderate comments and create or edit posts and pages. All you need is a WordPress.com blog or a self-hosted blog running WordPress 2.7 or higher.

What's New In Version 2.2:

• Reply to comments
• Edit comments
• Highlighting for new items in the comment list

You can download WordPress from the AppStore for free (link).

It is known, that iPad has a restrictive DRM shackles, which makes Apple the only available supplier of software for this device. So if you buy an iPad, you will have to download software only from the Apple’s AppStore. Yes, there is a big possibility of jailbreaking the gadget within the first 48 hours after its shipping since it’s based on the already jailbroken OS iPhone, but still this is not the best way of downloading applications for most of the people.

There are people, who disagree with a DRM-based strategy of software distribution. Some of them created an Anti-DRM group named Defective by Design. They told us they created an online petition that has been signed for 8,800 times since its inception 4 days ago. DbD has already sent off their first 5,000 signatures in the form of a giant postcard, which is in the photo above.

DbD’s operations manager John Sullivan says their main target is to get Apple to remove DRM and DRM enforcement from all its media and software. This is especially valuable for the iPad designed to be widely used by non-technical people who might not be aware of DRM.

- What Apple is doing with software is quite different. This is a scary step … as Apple move towards this model in the future,

said Sullivan.

Just over a week ago, Apple published a table that showed the percentage of the number of applications that were approved and therefore also those that were rejected during the review. These numbers are a bit higher now: 98 to 97% for new applications and 99 to 97% for the updates.

There are more than 140,000 applications in Apple AppStore, so a change of 2 percentage points is certainly not as small as it may seem. The number of rejected apps might increase even more in the future. The most important concern for developers right now is the obligation to add metadata to their applications.

We have spoken several times about Flash CS5 that will allow to transform the Adobe Flash applications in real native iPhone apps ready to be distributed through the AppStore. This video shows a quick overview of everything that Flash developers will be able to:

The are many possibilities. The only limitation is the skill of the developer. You can create games using the accelerometer, a multitouch applications, apps with video, pictures or even Twitter. We are looking forward to Flash CS5 release.

Debra Shinder from TechRepublic posted an article about 10 reasons why she won’t buy an iPad. As time passes by her thoughts provoke more and more passionate discussions on this topic. So here are these 10 reasons:

1. There is no physical keyboard (or you need to buy an Apple Bluetooth Keyboard).
2. One size doesn’t fit all (it doesn’t fill the gap between mobiles and netbooks as 9.7” inches is an exact screen size of netbook, and you cannot put it into your pocket).
3. It runs iPhone OS (so there is no multi-tasking).
4. There’s not enough storage (and you cannot expand it via USB-flashdrives).
5. There’s no HDMI output or camera (if you can watch video, why you can’t make videoconferences with your friends?).
6. There are no USB ports (and you would not be able to connect your own web-cam, for example).
7. There is no flash memory slot.
8. The price is not right (it just seems to be illogical to pay 200$ for additional 48 GB )
9. It is locked in. All apps are in AppStore, and good ones cost money.
10. It is all about network (why should people change their internet provider to AT&T just because of purchasing some new device?).

While Debra compares fully-equipped 829$ iPad with a powerful and though compact laptop, it seems like she’s looking for an ability to make use of all its capacities. On the other hand, TUAW critics and Apple fans say that iPad is designed to be an enhanced ebook-reader that makes it easy to handle everyday operations like checking e-mails or surfing the web.

What do you think?