App Store

NES Games Sneak Back Into the App Store

Guest Author ∙ Updated January 24, 2016

We've been here before. It seems as if a variety of Nintendo NES games have sneaked their way back into the App Store. 8 bit Gamepack and 8 bit Gamepack LITE are direct off-shoots of Ice Climber and Wild Gunman, both exclusive Nintendo titles. A more popular game called Duck Hunt needs no explanation of its thievery.

The legality of this will probably send the entertaining games into oblivion, but if you get the chance go and get them as I was able to get Duck Hunt. Nintendo games have came and quickly left in the past. However a closer look at Duck Hunt shows that the game has been in the store since June 18th of this year. If these apps are pulled, it once again shows Apple's shortsightedness in allowing illegal applications into the App Store. Then again the store's director has been busy lately.

iPhone App Store Director Makes Fart Apps

Guest Author ∙ Updated January 24, 2016

This is a nice little find. The folks over at Wired report that the man in charge of regulating what gets into the iPhone App Store actually makes his own line of Fart apps. I'm not blowing wind here. Phillip Shoemaker has a few apps that we know of that include Animal Farts, iWiz (which is actually a urine simulator), and a refrigerator magnet app called Medical Poetry.

His company titled Gray Noodle doesn't make the apps for the love of undesired bodily sounds either. The apps cost between $1-$2 and his highest rated entry holds a 3 1/2 star mark. Seems that Shoemaker has pulled all reference to his prestigious selection off his social media sites after learning his secret was out. Embarrassed much?

Does this piss anyone off (pun intended)? Should the head of the App Store even be allowed to include his own entries? Surely his own applications don't get put under the same amount of scrutiny that those submitted by the rest of the developers. Perhaps I'm wrong but I think Phil should stop being so anal, and get back to his respected position at Apple. Thoughts?

eBay Launches Half.com iPhone App for Students

Guest Author ∙ Updated January 24, 2016

It's that time of year again. The leaves are changing, minds are gathering, and the students are trying to plan out how to save as much money as possible for their weekend tirades. If your hoping to cut some of your costs in the textbook department perhaps eBay can help. The online auction site has launched an entry into the App Store from a company they bought 10 years ago to help you cut your rising costs this fall. Half.com is the name of both that company as well as the free application.

TechCrunch tell us this is the first eBay application to offer it's newest feature, barcode scanning which it bought from RedLaser not too long ago. Just a swipe of your iPhone should give you access to great deals on textbooks, DVD's, & games.

The best part is all items are discounted, sometimes in excess to 50% hence the name Half.com. With over 700,000 sellers and access to share through Facebook & Twitter, chances are you'll find someone to help you find that ancient edition classic literature text.

What do you think students and parents? Does this look appealing enough to partake in or will you just break down and buy from your bookstore, or stay with Amazon? Let us know in the education center known as the comment box.

Grooveshark Gets Yanked From the App Store

Guest Author ∙ August 16, 2010

Well that didn't last long, did it? Just this week iDB reported that popular streaming agent Grooveshark had been added to the App Store for download. It was noted that the potential of the rights of music being violated existed, and it seems that very issue is the reason behind the short lived app.

Mac Life has the direct quote from the companies official blog, which states:

Earlier this afternoon, Apple sent us a letter notifying us that, due to a complaint they received from Universal Music Group UK, Grooveshark for iPhone has been, strangely, pulled from the App Store.

This comes as an absolute surprise to us, and we are not sleeping until we figure out exactly how to fix this—and get Grooveshark for iPhone back in the App Store. Above all, our biggest concern is damaging the service we provide to all of you guys—our loyal (awesome) users.

I have beaten this horse nearly to a corpse, however I feel another jab is in order. How the hell does Apple (again) validate an application without fully knowing if it is even legal? Did the responsible party just think that because Grooveshark's website runs without consequence, that all the necessary permission slips had been signed? If I were Universal, I would be drafting a threatening letter to not just Grooveshark, but to Apple alike. Maybe that happened, and maybe it didn't.

For those of us who managed to get the app downloaded promptly, Grooveshark tells us we should be able to continue to use it without incident. How come? Not that I'm complaining, but it would seem that if anything legit was violated then Apple should pull the plug, which is something they have the ability to do. Right?

Anyway, I think while the sort the legality of this out, they should figure out how they plan on charging $3 once the 30-day trial is up, without even providing background capabilities. Let's hope it doesn't take another year. Until then, enjoy Pandora!

Get your Groove (Shark) on With Your iPhone

Guest Author ∙ Updated January 24, 2016

If you feel like it has been months and months since the Beta iPhone app for popular on-demand music streaming giant Grooveshark was released, you are correct. However your patience has been well worth the wait. The application has officially hit the market and is available for free in the App Store, sort of.

Upon downloading the handy jukebox, you will be instantly granted a 30-day trial of the service. Once your month is up, the cost is only $3 a month, or $30 a year if you want to pony up 12 months off the bat. Honestly, that's a great deal, especially if you compare it to similar services like MOG, or Rhapsody. The best part is you don't even have to offer up a credit card to start jamming.

Just like web-based version, Grooveshark's content is posted by the users themselves, thus the ability to find obscurities among the classics is usually painless. The ability to add search results to existing playlists, combined with a "genius" type predictor, works well when constructing the perfect variety.

Inevitably someone is going to compare the pennies a day price to the likes of free music streaming via Pandora, and ask why they should switch. I have a hard time believing anyone who has used both Grooveshark and Pandora would ask. Nevertheless, the ability to outright search for specific song titles and have them played on demand, is in itself worth the small stipend. Don't believe me? Go use your free trial and get back to me.

Bump App Shares Your Data With Random People

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated January 24, 2016

I just got an email from Gurps, an iDB reader who tells me his story about Bump, an application that lets you share images, contacts, and more simply by bumping 2 iPhones into each other. Here is part of Gurps' story:

Basically, I was sitting in my room, introducing my sister (a new iPhone user) on the Bump application. I proceeded to send her some photos. Occasionally it didn't work since it said only one of us had bumped, but we did have some success. Then, we bumped phones again and a message popped on my screen saying, "Connect with Junaid's iPhone", obviously not my sisters name, but I clicked yes anyway. I ended up receiving a picture message from someone totally random, that I've never met in my life.

After looking into it, Gurps found out he was receiving pictures from a guy who was about 15 miles away from him.

Now this is not a big deal as Gurps was just sending and receiving pictures. But imagine if he had been using Bump to send money via the Paypal application. The bug could have lead to something much worse than receiving pictures from randoms.

That's something that should be brought to Bump's developers attention.

Have you ever had such problem with Bump?

App Store Adds List of Apps to Impress Your Friends With

Guest Author ∙ Updated January 24, 2016

Have you been to the App Store lately? Over the summer, Apple has been creating sub groups of applications under the featured section, highlighting apps and placing them into specific genres. It is a good way of showcasing apps that are too good to jut be among the other 300,000. The latest category? Apps to Impress Your Friends With.

There is an obvious prerequisite of all those included in this unique category. Of all those making the cut, nearly all of them boast higher than a 3 star rating. They are also among the most complex of programs, especially on a phone.

So what are some of these impressive pieces of desirability? A few from each category: Shazam, Siri Assistant, and Red Laser are useful utilities mentioned. Real Racing, Madden 2011 and Touchgrind are of the sporting games. iMovie, Pano, and Hipstamatic are of the few camera enabled apps to make this seemingly prestigious list. There is another trend here. All of these apps, (and the others listed), work really well on iOS.

If Apple was to create a list of apps to convince someone to buy an iPhone, this would be that list. So while these apps may impress your friends of your phone's ability, I think inspiring them to open their own wallets is what Apple has in mind. So head over to the App Store, and tell us how you would change this list.

Hey Apple, Lighten Up on Camera+ [Rant]

Guest Author ∙ August 13, 2010

It's Friday, and (as usual), I feel like ranting before the weekend. On Wednesday we reported that Camera+ had "snuck" in a feature in its application, allowing the user to shutter using the volume buttons. This ability has been atop of the request list of many iPhone owners, in regards to Apple's native camera app. As we predicted, Apple put the kibosh on the useful addition, less than a day after it was made public by various outlets. Apparently Apple took offense to the developers at Taptaptap for actually listening to what the consumer has to say.

More often than not I usually side with the way Apple handles its business. Some have even *gasp*, called me a fanboy of sorts. I'm cool with that. What I'm not cool with is the disregard of public opinion about not only a harmless feature, but a very useful one added to a magnificent application.

Camera+ is no fly-by night app. In fact, it recently reported earnings of over $500,000.00, after Apple's 30% cut, in 60 days! Not a bad chunk of change for 2 months worth of exposure. I'm not suggesting Apple should change its policy because an app is making lots of money, as much I'm asking them what the big friggin deal is? It seems that those in charge got their panties in a bunch because Camera+ had previously tried to include the feature legitimately, but were denied because it was claimed the feature "was too confusing". Thanks for identifying (and in turn, insulting) our level of intelligence, Apple.

I understand that there has to be guidelines and enforcement surrounding the entries into the App Store I can even understand hidden circumvention that undermine policies, such as Handylight (which allowed users to tether for free), needing to be dealt with. Camera+'s "easter egg" wasn't included in the app itself. Those wishing to implement the volume button shuttering had to type an address in their Safari URL, and could also remove the ability doing the same. It was optional, until Apple decided to play enforcer.

There have to be rules, and I get that. But just because a rule exists doesn't mean it isn't a silly rule. Camera+ only "broke" policy because Apple told them their feature wasn't easily enough understood. Ironically enough, its Safari-based addition was easy enough to understand by enough people for Apple to kick the app out of the store.

So lighten up, Apple. Camera+ is and was one of the better applications out there. It enhanced the brilliant ability of both the iPhone 4's camera, and Retina Display. Go hassle some of the developers who promise to "find your friend's phone", or the fortune tellers. In fact, stop the hassling of non-abrasive implementations, and then there won't be these silly rules to break in the first place. Otherwise, be prepared to lose millions to Cydia, who I imagine would welcome such revenue. Just sayin'...

Linux Director Spouts Off About the AppStore (and Everything Else)

Guest Author ∙ August 12, 2010

In a recent interview with Wired, Jim Zemlin, the Executive Director for Linux (yes that Linux), gave his opinion on the present and future state of the App Store. Why anyone would ever look towards Linux to give you a mobile business opinion is beyond me. However, Zemlin had a few points I'll highlight for you.

Zemlin says that Apple's status with the App Store is "totally within reach". Then states that the top 10 pages are "the only ones that matter". Already it was hard to take him seriously with this sort of rhetoric. If the App Store is so reachable, let's have the competitor. As far as the top ten page being all the store has to offer, I won't insult your intelligence by even offering up a defense to this lunacy.

When asked how the App Store model will change, the exec claims that developers aren't going to pay 30% forever. Instead he claims that an "App Warehouse" will be used, servicing carrier stores. Of course he follows by saying that this will cost the dev 15-20%, and the warehouse will (conveniently) run Linux. Yes, I'm serious, he really thinks this.

Wired sort of set him straight throughout the exchange, noting that businesses want to be on the iPhone, etc. The word of mouth, and easy accessibility that is integrated into having your service or product in the App Store, is priceless. Even the Linux boss himself noted how well Apple has implemented a savvy UI into its selections.

There is much more in this piece than I cared to cover, mostly because it's not iPhone (or even Apple) related. I will say that it seems a bit presumptuous to think that the App Store can or will be overtaken as easily as it is to say such. Fact is, most people who don't even own a smart phone can tell you something about Apple's App Store, or the iPhone for that matter. And Linux? Many of those same people would probably have to Google it. Whattaya think?

Pandora Update Includes Retina Display for iPhone

Guest Author ∙ August 11, 2010

For those of you who are like myself in the regard of not checking the App Store daily, the streaming sensation Pandora has updated its iPhone app.

The largest feature implemented is the support for Retina Display. It does look nice.

What's New In This Version:

uses high resolution graphics for iPhone 4 yields control of external volume buttons when backgrounded and paused improves detection and notification of device audio failures fixes several crashes improves album art loading other minor bug fixes and improvements

I thought my usage of Pandora would greatly increase with the background capabilities, but I was mistaken. Perhaps it's the lack of 3G in my area, which makes it's functionality nearly unusable. Nevertheless, the update makes it look cleaner on my home-screen.

How often do you use Pandora?

The iPad Gets the Genius Treatment

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated January 24, 2016

Apple just brought the Genius feature to the iPad. Similar to the way it works on iTunes or on your iPhone, turning Genius on will generate a list of applications you might be interested in.

Additionally, Apple added an "iPad Upgrades" section. This is basically versions of apps you have on your iPhone that are now compatible with the iPad.

[9 to 5 Mac]

Apple Introduces “Try Before You Buy” Section in the App Store

Sébastien Page ∙ August 6, 2010

Apple recently introduced a new category in the App Store called "Try Before You Buy". This category brings together the free or "lite" versions of popular iPhone applications. If this is a move to put an end to app piracy, then it's a big fail!

As a point of comparison, the Android Market let's you use the full version of an app for 24 hours. If you don't like the app, you just get your money back. I don't understand why Apple doesn't implement such a policy in the Apple Store.

Personally, I want to try the full app, not a watered down version of it. While Apple made a step in the right direction, I think it's still not enough.

What do you think?