Alex Heath

Path, The Personally “Personal” Social Network

Alex Heath ∙ Updated November 12, 2019

A new social network startup has been getting lots of attention over the past few days. I say "social network" with hesitation. Path is a San Franciso-based startup with some high profile employees from the tech industry. Dave Morin, the former senior platform manager at Facebook, is the company's CEO. Shawn Fanning, the co-founder of Napster, is also heavily involved in the project. Kevin Rose, of Digg fame, is an investor.

Don't let the attractive and mysterious woman in Path's web banner fool you, you won't find her on Path. In fact, you won't find many people at all. Because Path only lets you have 50 friends...

Twitter for iPhone Updated With Push Notifications

Alex Heath ∙ November 17, 2010

The official Twitter app for iPhone and iPad was just updated to support native push notifications for @mentions and direct messages. Push notifications can be enabled in a new pane for your account settings.

Push notifications for the Twitter app (and what was formerly Tweetie) has been a highly desired feature for a very long time. I'm sure we're all glad that Twitter has finally gotten around to implementing a feature that should have been part of the app when it was first released...

5 Awesome iPhone Utility Apps

Alex Heath ∙ Updated November 12, 2019

I love apps that make my life easier. And when they're really useful, I don't mind paying a little for them. The 5 apps I will mention in this list are not jailbreak apps, so everyone can use them.

Each of these apps is either designed to increase your productivity or make some aspect of your technology life better. They all aren't necessarily cheap, but there are free/lite versions of some. These 5 apps are utilities I use on a daily basis, so they're near and dear to my heart...

Researchers Use iPhone to Measure Happiness

Alex Heath ∙ November 15, 2010

Track Your Happiness.org is a recent project from a group of Harvard scientific researchers. The project's goal is to, "investigate what makes life worth living." Specifically, to see how the wandering mind and happiness correlate.

But how could this type of a survey really be effective when you would need the ability to invade the mind of your participant throughout the day for effective results?

Researchers were able to do something that traditional physiology methods have not allowed in the past: to intrude on the lives of their participants in a non-threatening and targeted way. What better means to prick the wandering mind than through what is the usual cause of a wandering mind- the smartphone.

This specific way of data collecting was made possible through (you guessed it) the iPhone...

Mimicking the “Launchpad” With Your iPhone’s Wallpaper

Alex Heath ∙ Updated April 5, 2018

In the recent Steve Jobs keynote, Apple introduced the next major version of Mac OS X. "Lion" boasts many new graphical innovations, and iOS seems to have been sewn into the new interface. One of the most interesting additions to Lion was the "Launchpad."

Launchpad brings the iOS home screen to OS X. In OS X Lion, when you activate your Launchpad, your desktop wallpaper is blurred and given a nice vignette so that you can clearly see your app icons. The effect is very pretty. And, fortunately, it's fairly simple to duplicate this visual effect with your iPhone's locks screen and home screen...

Cleaning Up Your iPhone App Management with MultiCleaner

Alex Heath ∙ Updated March 5, 2018

Do you hate how your iPhone leaves app icons in the multitasking bar even though they aren't running anymore? How about when you have to go through that tedious process to exit an app; click the home button twice, tap and hold an icon in the multitasking bar, wait for it to jiggle, and then click that tiny red delete button to quit.

Luckily, there are other people that feel the same way. MultiCleaner is a jailbreak app that relieves the cumbersomeness of managing your multitasking apps. In fact, the app's tagline is quite simple, "Because iOS 4 multitasking sucks..."

Tutorial: The Easiest Way to Enable HD Video Recording on the iPhone 3GS

Alex Heath ∙ Updated January 24, 2016

We recently linked to a Cydia app that was rumored to enable HD video recording on the iPhone 3GS. Apparently, that app didn't work. There is, however, an easy way to enable HD recording through some file modifications on your iPhone 3GS.

The 3GS has had the ability to shoot in HD since it was released. Apple, for whatever reason, places a software limitation on the 3GS video recording capabilities. The ARM Cortext processor inside the 3GS is more than capable of handling 720p video encoding. I'm going to walk you through the easiest way to enable HD video recording on your 3GS...

Omnio Reveals the “WOWKey” Keyboard With iPhone Integration

Alex Heath ∙ Updated July 24, 2016

Does an iPhone-integrated keyboard for your Mac or PC sound interesting? The Korean tech company, Omnio, thinks so.

The WOWKey device is a desktop keyboard that boasts iPhone integration through a built-in dock. This "made for iPhone" keyboard is the first of its kind, offering extensive integration with iOS. This inventive gadget opens up a world of possibilities...

Saurik’s TED Talk, “Even Software Should Have Screws”

Alex Heath ∙ November 9, 2010

Jay Freeman, better known as saurik, recently gave a TED talk on the philosophy of mobile software. He compared the iPhone's App Store and the jailbreak mentality to how consumers buy and modify cars. He made the case for what he has based his career on: that consumers do not want the software limitations that Apple maintains on iOS.

The first half of saurik's TED talk explains the state of the car industry, and the consumer approach to buying and modifying cars. His comparison is interesting, and it definitely merits his point about Apple's App Store philosophy...

Three Simple, Minimal Wallpapers for Your iPhone

Alex Heath ∙ Updated January 24, 2016

I love non-distracting wallpapers. Both on the iPhone and desktop, I like my wallpaper to not overwhelm my focus every time I look at it. I'm always looking for simple, pretty wallpapers that I can use on all of my devices.

Recently, I stumbled on Hector Simpson's "Redefined Desktop Collection." This free wallpaper pack consists of three different designs for multiple desktop resolutions and the iPhone...

AppSwitch, the Ultimate System Utility for Your iPhone

Alex Heath ∙ Updated April 2, 2018

Apple doesn't like for users to be able to see what's "under the hood." OS X and iOS are very design and aesthetically driven. Apparently, Apple feels that "viewing processes" is an archaic feature. There is no real way in iOS to get a bird's eye view of everything that's running on your phone.

There are, however, some of us out there who would like to know things like which processes are running and the current distribution of system memory. Luckily, App Switch, by XCool Apps, is here to remedy our need for total control...

Capcom Arcade Games on the iPhone Go Freemium

Alex Heath ∙ Updated January 24, 2016

The video game titan Capcom recently released an official iPhone app called "Capcom Arcade." The arcade-styled app lets you play the original versions of some of Capcom's classic games. Street Fighter, Ghouls 'N Ghosts, 1942, and Commando are all available to be played in their entirety on iOS.

"Wow. That's a lot of awesome gameplay in one app. I bet that's expensive." That's what I thought too when I first heard that Capcom was releasing an app with bundled games. The interesting thing is that Capcom Arcade is not an expensive app at all, in fact, it's free...