Apps On Sale In The App Store on 01/17/2009

by Sebastien on Jan 18, 2009

This is your daily serving of iPhone and iPod Touch applications on sale. Today, iPhone Download Blog is bringing you the latest apps that are currently on sale in the App Store. Some of them are even free! If you were hesitating about buying any of these apps, now is the right time as most of these deals are for a limited time only.

 

RedSn0w Demo

by Sebastien on Jan 17, 2009

Dev Team member MuscleNerd showed us a demo of RedSn0w running on an iPod Touch 2G earlier today on Qik. The video reveals that RedSn0w is a patch that keeps the iPod Touch from detecting the jailbreak and stopping it from booting. Absolutely brilliant! RedSn0w is still not ready for a public release but as I said before, I am pretty sure it will be released before the end of the month.

 

EDGE: Interactive Puzzle Game

by Guest Author on Jan 17, 2009

Well I have been wanting for a game like this for a while. MobiGame has released their award-winning app EDGE [iTunes Link] for the iPhone and iPod Touch. I was one of the people that though this would not end up well on the iPhone when they saw the trailer.

But boy was I wrong! This game feels natural to the iDevices and you will get used to the controls almost immediately. Be warned; although the game offers a optional accelerometer control; this is not recommended. Touch controls work perfectly and are precise. The game features 26 levels. The game has a moving environment (as seen in the video) which makes the game experience richer. This is a puzzle game; but not the usual kind of game where you just guide the block to the goal. This game has a variety of game plays in which you must ride on moving blocks; hang on to them (called edge time) and more. And if that is not enough; this picture of you riding a robot made of blocks should win you over:

The dev told me that the next update (version 1.1) is coming, it will add :

- new levels
- virtual keypad (optional)
- accelerometer calibration
- new tunes
- global ranking

This app is currently $5.99 [iTunes Link] and definetly worth it. Highly recommended.

 

Apps On Sale In The App Store on 01/16/2009

by Sebastien on Jan 17, 2009

This is your daily serving of iPhone and iPod Touch applications on sale. Today, iPhone Download Blog is bringing you the latest apps that are currently on sale in the App Store. Some of them are even free! If you were hesitating about buying any of these apps, now is the right time as most of these deals are for a limited time only.

 

The RedSn0w Release Is Now Imminent

by Sebastien on Jan 16, 2009

If you have followed this blog and the coverage of RedSn0w, I guess you’ll be interested to learn about an update the Dev Team posted on its blog about RedSn0w.

Here is the news, in the Dev Team’s own words:

Update 2: A picture is worth a 1000 words but a video might be better in this day of Photoshop and fake YouTube videos.  So we’re thinking of doing what we did before Christmas for yellowsn0w — show a demo of the jailbreak on Musclenerd’s Qik account (announced via his twitter account over there on the right hand side).  Since Qik provides a live chatroom right next to the video, we’ll probably be in there too right after the video’s over. Note: anybody posing as any devteam member on that chat right now is faking it.  We won’t be on that chat except for a very specific time that we’ll announce. (We may possibly not even do the chat since it’s so ripe for abuse).

It’s still not been officially said that RedSn0w is a jailbreak for the iPod Touch 2G but such screenshot kinda gives it away… If I had to make a guess on when RedSn0w will be released, I would say “before the end of the month”. But hey, I’m right only 99% of the time…

 

Textropolis App Review

by Guest Author on Jan 16, 2009

Ian Marsh brought us the loved app Scoops [iTunes Link] and now he brings us yet another great application: Textropolis [iTunes Link].

The app is a word game in which you travel around the world though different cities making up words from the letters given (in this case the city’s name). The more words you find; the bigger your population gets and the more cities you unlock.

This app has become one of my favorite apps very quickly. It has a high replay value and never gets old. Whether you like word games like Scrabble or not, this game will win you over. The app contains 30 cities; which you need to fully complete to get 5 stars. Each star is 10% of the total words in THAT city. You can get a hint by shaking your iDevice; but be warned: each hint costs you 1,000 people from your population (score)!

This app is very addictive. It is on sale for $0.99 until January 20th. The developer has submitted an update to Apple pending approval which will contain:

- Improved word definitions
- Softened jackhammer sound
- Holding backspace now clears word
- Slowed hint plane

I think at a dollar this is a steal and definitely worth buying. Can’t wait for version 1.0.!

 

iPhone App Store Downloads Chart

by Sebastien on Jan 16, 2009

As you may have heard, the App Store got over 500,000,000 (yes, that’s 500 millions!) downloads since it was launched last year.

Gizmodo has a pretty funny, yet true, chart breaking down the applications that have been downloaded in the App Store.

 

My iPhone talks to my Xbox 360

by Cody on Jan 16, 2009

Netflix 360

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Well sort of. Between searching for new wallpapers on a daily basis, the alarm clock, Cydia, App Store, remotely controlling my computer, music, movies, and not to mention writing this article, you’d think I’d eventually run out of new uses for my iPhone, right? Wrong! With Flash and Sling mobile on the horizon for the #1 best selling phone of 2008, the iPhone platform is very hot right now and the list of cool and useful apps is hard to keep up with. Well, maybe I can help. At least I know I can help all of you Netflix users out there, even more so, you Xbox 360 users of that crowd.

Netflix is the largest online movie rental site, and you can rent either DVDs that are mailed out to you or stream them live on your PC, Xbox 360, or other Netflix compatible box. The library of titles you can stream instantly is smaller than that of DVDs you can have mailed to you but still very much worth the $8.95 monthly fee. You can only watch 1 at a time, but you can have up to 6 titles queued up and ready to go on your machine. Watch each one as long as you want, with no late fees, you just can not move on to the next movie until you have returned the previous.

Now, I told you that story, to tell you this one. I recently decided to give Netflix a try and knew I had seen iPhone applications in the App Store for the online rental service. There are actually a few of them that fit the description.

I knew I needed an app that would search movies available for my ‘instant queue’ or instant streaming, because for the most part I want to watch the movie right away. As I mentioned before, there are only a certain amount of movies available for instant streaming. Not all Netflix apps did that or made it easy to do. Instant Queue Add for Netflix [iTunes Link] did only that, but still didn’t do it that well. This app only deals with movies available for instant streaming, but the interface is horrible. I could either choose from a list of popular choices, or do a search by name for a movie I wanted to watch. For the longest time I was thinking Netflix’s library for instant streaming movies was ridiculously small, until I stumbled across a “see more like this” button, that unearthed a lot of movies that couldn’t be viewed from the original ‘popular’ list.

Other options are Queuetastic [iTunes Link] by Timothy Schmitz and iPhlix [iTunes Link] by Brent Jensen. Both provide smoother interfaces with instant streaming video search options. iPhlix is a little more expensive at $2.99, rather than $0.99 like the others I tried out, but still worth it to me as I search for movies to rent on my iPhone at a red light on my way home from work. I choose 6 movies of 6 different genres and they are on my Xbox 360 when I get home. Out of those 6, my girlfriend looks at front and back case covers, reads synopsis and reviews, and decides on a movie, that is immediately available to watch on our big screen with complete playback controls. Playback is seamless a majority of the time. I did though, experience internet lag at one point, and a screen popped up that said “Your internet has slowed down, adjusting playback quality so you will not experience any more interruptions.” Took 10 seconds, and I didn’t encounter it again.

I have yet to try out Apple’s rental service, or any other for that matter, but after watching 8 movies in 3 days, the Netflix service has already paid for itself. It does play in full screen across my 65″ DLP, and the quality is quite good (for non HD). If you are a movie buff with an iPhone and the ability to stream video to a TV or computer in your house, the free trial from Netflix and one of the above mentioned iPhone apps will not disappoint. We plan on cancelling our 20$ cable movie package (were planning on anyways to save money), and hopefully this can take the place of those annoying trips to the video store at 11 o’clock at night.

I’m not an employee of nor was I paid by Netflix in any way. Always skeptical of the 1-3 wait periods for DVD delivery, I never thought twice about the service, but when my girlfriend told me about their instant streaming video, my ears perked up. Being able to browse and choose movies from virtually anywhere on my iPhone is also largely convenient, as it surely beats walking aimlessly around a BlockBuster. Even sitting on my couch in our movie room, it proved itself worthy. Additions and changes show up almost instantly, from my iPhone to my Queue screen on my Xbox 360.

It’s funny because tonight when asked by little Brianna, who is just 8 years old and in search of answers, “How does the movie you pick on your phone, end up on our TV?” I had no idea how to respond. It was such a simple question, yet I did not know what to say. How do I play music off my iPhone through the car speakers? How do I play creepy sounds in the basement from upstairs to scare your brother? How do I pay bills, order Chinese food, and race high performance sports cars, all from my phone?

The truth is, I just can, because I own an iPhone. Because Apple re-invented the mobile phone. I know that because I saw the flurry of touch screen phones hit the market, shortly after the iPhone was announced. I know that because the iPhone made the Stylus an unattractive and unnecessary accessory of the past. I know that because Verizon, Blackberry, Google, and Amazon have all announced plans for mobile platform application stores, very similar to the App Store. I know that because, even at a base price of $199.99, the iPhone took over the #1 best selling cell phone of 2008, beating out the Motorola Razor that carriers were practically giving away. I know all of this, and my best answer for her was, “My iPhone talks to my 360.” That’s the best way I could explain it.

With tons of apps being released daily, it really is hard to keep up with the good stuff. If you are like me, and are fairly picky about what ends up on your spring board, check in a few times a week, and I will let you in on those rare apps that might make life a little bit easier, and are worth more than the “Check out what my phone can do” titles, that loose their appeal after a few well timed demonstrations.

P.S: Sebastien was right, the “Oh shit!” “What?!” “I forgot to shave!” gag while whipping out the iPhone with virtual electric razor on it is classic.

 

Apps On Sale In The App Store on 01/15/2009

by Sebastien on Jan 16, 2009

This is your daily serving of iPhone and iPod Touch applications on sale. Today, iPhone Download Blog is bringing you the latest apps that are currently on sale in the App Store. Some of them are even free! If you were hesitating about buying any of these apps, now is the right time as most of these deals are for a limited time only.

 

FreeYourPhone.org Petition To Make Unlocking, Jailbreaking Exempt From DMCA

by Sebastien on Jan 15, 2009

Jailbreakers and unlockers unite! Now is the time to get heard and do something against to make jailbreaking and unlocking legal. Yes, in case you didn’t know, jailbreaking your iPhone is technically illegal. If you’re like me, you’re probably thinking something alon these lines: “fuck that! I paid for this phone so I should be able to do whatever I want with it”. Truth is you legally can’t!

The Electronic Frontier Foundation created FreeYourPhone.org in order to collect signature from people like us to appeal to the Copyright Office:

Hundreds of thousands of cellphone owners have modified their phones to connect to the network or run the software of their choosing, and many more would like to. But the Digital Millennium Copyright Act poses a legal threat to phone users, even though the law was supposed to protect copyright owners and distributors of digital music and movies. This threat of litigation has driven consumers underground, stifling innovation and competition.

Now, you can support EFF’s request that the Copyright Office grant an exemption to the DMCA that will protect phone users.

After submitting your electronic signature,