Apple reportedly to absorb costs from Japan tragedies

As Japan’s people and industries respond to the recent horrible disasters, routine electrical brownouts are being rolled out to conserve available resources. Manufacturing is being affected as a result, and the tech industry is not immune.

DigiTimes reports that Apple will absorb the extra cost of timely production, ensuring both smooth shipments and profitability for upstream suppliers, at least in the short term.

Sources tell DigiTimes that suppliers like Anisotropic Conductive Films (ACF) and ITO materials will be able to meet targets through May at this point.

Last week Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster noted that the tragedy in Japan hadn’t “meaningfully impacted iPad 2 supply,” suggesting that effects of the earthquake and tsunami would only add one or two weeks to shipping times.

Apple has made it possible for customers to donate to the Red Cross relief efforts in iTunes.

[Via AppleInsider]

Apple reportedly to absorb costs from Japan tragedies originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 31 Mar 2011 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Fuze Meeting delivers multiparty video conferencing to iPad 2

The latest updates to Callwave’s distributed conferencing platform, Fuze Meeting, have added a rather dramatic new feature that’s perfect for iPad 2 owners (not to mention Android ‘Honeycomb’ tablets like the Motorola Xoom and older ‘Froyo’ devices): multi-party video conferencing.

Meeting hosts who subscribe to the company’s Pro plan (US$69 per month for unlimited meetings with up to 100 attendees) get the new face-to-screen capability. Video conferences support up to 10 simultaneous participants on the browser-based client (fewer simultaneous streams on mobile devices), and the quality tops out at 720p HD while adjusting down as needed for bandwidth limitations.

We’ve covered Fuze before, and the core iPad app has kept its full feature set moving forward into the video conferencing realm. You can still share content directly from the iPad app (in fact, it’s gotten easier, now that iOS 4.x multitasking means you don’t have to relaunch the app if you switch into Dropbox to grab files). If you want to launch your camera, it’s one tap to start the video conference, then a second tap to turn your direct view on. Image quality is comparable to FaceTime, although the default video window is much smaller.

You can also use VoIP directly on the iPad to join Fuze conference calls, saving you from juggling phone and pad as you participate in the meeting. You can use the Fuze app’s laser pointer tool to highlight elements within PPT, image/PDF, or video content as the meeting rolls along. Of course, the desktop/browser Fuze client has evolved along with the new features, and it also supports the 10-party video chat feature.

Continue reading Fuze Meeting delivers multiparty video conferencing to iPad 2

Fuze Meeting delivers multiparty video conferencing to iPad 2 originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 31 Mar 2011 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Boxee to add iPad support, more in May

Boxee confirmed on its blog that its next update will add support for the Apple iPad. The streaming content provider will release the Boxee for iPad app that will let you stream content from your Boxee Box to your Apple iPad over a wireless connection. This feature would be ideal for some late night Boxee watching from your bed or some entertainment while you log miles on your treadmill.

Besides iPad support, the browser will be faster and offer new on-screen controls. New languages such as French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Spanish, and Swedish and several bug fixes will also be included in this update. In keeping with its three-month update schedule, the new Boxee Box firmware will arrive in May.

[Via Engadget]

Boxee to add iPad support, more in May originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 31 Mar 2011 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

MS exec says tablet computing may not be ‘persistent’

Microsoft’s view of computing in the post-pc era is quite different than Apple’s. Apple anticipates the tablet will temporarily fill the void between the smartphone and the computer. Eventually, it will replace the computer for many users.

Microsoft, on the other hand, questions the longevity of the tablet market and is slow to embrace this emerging market after its earlier, failed UMPC Origami project. Speaking at a luncheon in Sydney, Australia, Craig Mundie, the chief research and strategy officer at Microsoft, said

“Today you can see tablets and pads and other things that are starting to live in the space in between (a PC and a smartphone). Personally, I don’t know whether that space will be a persistent one or not.”

The future for Microsoft lies in connectivity of devices that does not tie to you a computer sitting on a desk. The computer will be “in the room” and controlled by a wireless controller similar to the Kinect.

This wait-and-see attitude towards the tablet is further evident in Microsoft’s current tablet strategy. The Redmond company pushed HP’s Windows 7-powered slate in 2010, but the device failed to attract customers. Future tablets will be based on Windows 8 and will not debut until 2012 at the earliest.

While Microsoft waits until 2012 to release a tablet competitor, Apple will have sold over 30 million iPads in 2011 alone.

MS exec says tablet computing may not be ‘persistent’ originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 31 Mar 2011 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Popular Science has sold 10,000 iPad magazine subscriptions

When Apple introduced its new subscription terms earlier this year, Popular Science embraced this change and introduced subscription-based billing into its iPad-based magazine. Now that six weeks have elapsed, publisher Bonnier Technology Group is happy to report that Pop Sci now has 10,000 iPad subscribers. Each subscriber pays US$14.99 for one-year of access to the magazine’s digital content.

Gregg Hano, VP-group publisher at the Bonnier Technology Group, says the publisher had no idea what to expect when it launched its magazine subscription and is “very excited” by these early results. Though this 10K figure is small compared to the 1.3 million paid print subscribers, it is a step in the right direction for the publisher.

The biggest drawback to Apple’s subscription model is the lack of subscriber information provided to the publisher. Subscriber information stays within Apple’s iTunes system, and Hano admits the publisher currently has no demographic information on the individuals purchasing its digital magazine. Continued growth may require the publisher to develop an alternative method to find out who is buying and reading its iPad magazine.

Popular Science has sold 10,000 iPad magazine subscriptions originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 31 Mar 2011 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

TUAW’s Daily App: 8-bit Pocket Camera

The iPhone’s camera has only gotten better over the years, with higher resolutions, better ways to deal with low lighting and brighter colors than ever. But here’s an app that passes on all of that technology for a much more retro feel. The 8-bit Pocket Camera app is designed to take pictures the old-fashioned way: as low-res black-and-white 200×200 pixel .tiff files, just like the old Game Boy Camera and other early digital cameras did. Why would you want to take pictures that way? Well, you might not. But it’s more of a nostalgia thing; just as apps like Hipstamatic are great at making iPhone pictures look like old film or old instant cameras, these pictures might take you right back, if you happen to have taken some shots in the right time period.

There’s a real raw quality to these, and I don’t mean .RAW files. These are straight up black-and-white shots, full of digital noise and pixelated lines. They may not look great, but they certainly have a feel to them, and with 8-bit Pocket Camera, you can take these pictures, put any number of old-school effects on them and send them out via Facebook or Twitter. The app’s currently on sale for a launch price of just US$0.99.

TUAW’s Daily App: 8-bit Pocket Camera originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 31 Mar 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Suppliers ramp up to support iPad 2 demand

Component supply ramped up

With queues still forming at 4 AM at some Apple stores, and whole countries selling out completely, demand for the iPad 2 is so high that Apple suppliers are ramping up production of its various components.

AppleInsider reports that Samsung is hiring 300 new engineers for a semiconductor plant in Austin, Texas, and AU Optronics has an order to make flat panel screens (although this has not yet been confirmed). With earlier stories about other suppliers being taken on to make Apple’s A5 processor and touch sensors, it does seem as if Apple is indeed ramping up production. Analyst Charlie Wolf with Needham & Company predicts Apple will make 30 million iPads this year and 40 million in 2012.

Samsung alone will make something like US$7.8 billion worth of components for Apple next year, and others are looking for a share of Apple’s business. With a new iPhone model expected later this year, this doesn’t look like a process that’s going to slow down any time soon.

Suppliers ramp up to support iPad 2 demand originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 31 Mar 2011 04:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

SmithBucklin distributes iPad 2s to employees

SmithBucklin

There was a time when if you saw an Apple product in a corporate environment, you were either hanging out with the company’s designers or actually at Apple HQ itself. So it’s great to see companies not only using Apple gear but using it to incentivize and reward its staff like SmithBucklin, the world’s largest association management and professional services company, is doing.

It’s giving its 600+ employees 32 GB Wi-Fi iPad 2s, plus $50 toward accessories “as a way to reward excellent staff performance, improve productivity and enhance the company’s social media capabilities,” according to the company. “Now that our company is entering a new growth phase, we wanted to do something special for our employees to thank them for staying the course as well as help them continue to embrace social networking,” said SmithBucklin President and CEO Henry S. Givray.

You can apply for a job with SmithBucklin here — note that you’ll be able to upgrade your iPad 2 to 64 GB and Verizon or AT&T 3G service “for a nominal fee.”

[Via BusinessWire]

SmithBucklin distributes iPad 2s to employees originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 31 Mar 2011 02:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Apperian picks up first enterprise iFund payout

The iFund has been pretty influential ever since it was announced a couple of years ago — it’s a pool of money set up by Apple and a few other companies to support and grow companies that are contributing to the iOS ecosystem.

It’s been growing along with Apple’s platform, and now the fund has made its first contribution to an enterprise developer. Apperian is a company that helps enterprises create and deploy their own mobile apps, and it’s picked up $9.5 million in a round of funding that includes money from the iFund.

We’ve covered the use of iPhone and iPad in business quite a bit, and Apperian sits squarely in that wheelhouse, consulting with various companies on how to create and securely distribute their own mobile apps. iFund’s Matt Murphy says that Apperian is riding the wave of mobile devices that are showing up in the corporate workplace, and that “Apperian’s solution is perfectly timed to help enterprises rollout and manage all their applications across their employee base and its wide variety of smart devices.”

Sounds like a solid plan. It’s excellent to see Apple’s platform growing in all kinds of different directions.

Apperian picks up first enterprise iFund payout originally appeared on TUAW on Wed, 30 Mar 2011 23:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Apple Fools: Gameloft’s Pet Pal will let you control your pet via iPhone

Wow, this is incredible! iOS developer Gameloft is releasing a new app called Pet Pal, which uses sound wave technology to actually control your pets via the iPhone! The sound frequencies emitted from the iPhone activate certain centers of a cat or dog’s brain, harmlessly commanding it to bend to your will. We’ve seen some pretty amazing things from the iPhone before, but this truly is magical and revolutionary. Think of the medical applications! This is the future we’re seeing here, people, live in action!

What’s that? Friday is April 1st, you say? Oh right. Never mind then. If you want, you can watch the video, which features some cute pets and a monkey, after the break.

Continue reading Apple Fools: Gameloft’s Pet Pal will let you control your pet via iPhone

Apple Fools: Gameloft’s Pet Pal will let you control your pet via iPhone originally appeared on TUAW on Wed, 30 Mar 2011 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Apple TV Apps Are (Almost) Among Us

@BenHarvell is a freelance writer and former editor of iCreate magazine. He writes for a wide range of international technology magazines and websites including Macworld, MacFormat and MacUser and  just wrote his first song with GarageBand for iPad. Ben once came within touching distance of Steve Jobs at an iPhone press event but resisted the urge to do so. He’s on Twitter and blogs at www.benharvell.com.

When the Apple TV 2 was introduced with iOS at its base we were all looking for Apple to introduce a developer program for its living room box – It never did.

Then some bright spark pulled apart the streaming media hockey puck and discovered some on-board storage. Now it was abundantly clear that apps were destined for the Apple TV – That day never came.

Now Apple has made the iPad 2 available to the nocturnal and those who enjoy standing in lines and with it offers apps on your TV, just not in the way you might have expected.

The billions in the bank prove just how savvy Apple is when it comes to launching new products and the addition of HDMI-Out in the iPad 2 and AirPlay improvements in iOS 4.3 feel to me like market research.

The Apple TV was just a “hobby” for Jobs and co until the Apple TV 2 launched and the company announced it was ready to play hardball. The price point couldn’t be argued but the updated Apple TV still had its detractors; the lack of live television, no customisation, no apps, no storage, only compatible with iTunes content etc etc. It seems those looking for an Apple-made alternative to GoogleTV or a Roku box were let down, as were those looking for it to become a television-oriented iOS platform. Apple, however, never gives everyone the features they want in 1.0 releases, opting instead to dip its toe into the market (usually with astounding success) and then revamp the device later with the features people wanted first time round (notable examples include iPods with video, iPhones with video, iPads with cameras and, of course, the App Store itself!)

Apple isn’t likely to launch an App Store on the Apple TV but it has given developers just enough tools to build demand for a whole new way of thinking about the device without a dollar heading to Apple’s marketing team. You see, a combination of AirPlay and the iPad 2′s HDMI-out makes it irrelevant whether there are apps on the Apple TV itself or not. As Firemint has shown with its HDMI-Out-enabled Real Racing HD 2, the apps can remain on your iOS device where they belong with the TV acting merely as a display. The same applies to AirPlay, the web content you view doesn’t have to be loaded or stored on your Apple TV when it can quite easily stream straight to it.

That’s media streaming and HD-quality apps running straight to your HDTV via AirPlay and HDMI-out. Put your hands together, Apple and somehow find a way to merge these two features! You’ll have the daddy of all entertainment systems that works like a console, works like Roku, works like a DVR and works like an App Store. The Apple TV doesn’t even need an interface anymore, just make it a dumb brick controlled by iOS devices – let them do the work.

So what happens next? We make the apps that make this worthwhile. Make your app look good on a TV screen, sell it this way, scream that it’s updated for iPad 2, call it “compatible with Apple TV” (if you can get away with it). Come up with apps that provide innovative ways for consumers to use their iPad and TV together and not just for games. For now, early adopters will be happy just to work with a long HDMI cable until Apple introduces lag-free, wireless, HD streaming (and that’s a big ask!), it just needs to feel like there’s a sub-category on the App Store for Apple TV-worthy applications.

Only then will Steve Jobs smile wryly, slowly rub his hands together and say “they get it” before pushing a red button and launching the marketing campaign that touts this as Apple’s idea all along.

 

NSConference 2011

Last week I attended NSConference 2011, in Reading, England. NSConf (Twitter tag: #nsconf) has been a yearly event for me since it began in 2009, and this year’s was not only the best so far, but probably the best conference I’ve ever attended, on any topic.

It would be difficult not to enjoy the conference given the stellar line-up of speakers (disclosure: including yours truly), but this year there was really a sense of an event that had found its pace and natural rhythm; NSConf has clearly matured. I’ve been thinking about it for a few days to try and pin down what worked so well.

It was a combination of several factors:

  • The universally high quality of the main presentations. Many of the speakers are old hands at conference/public speaking, but a few were relatively new to it, and held their own admirably. There wasn’t a single dud session, and I learned a huge amount.

  • Ideal session length. Keynotes (each day) were 45 minutes, and all other sessions were 30 minutes, followed by 30-minute breaks (with post-session questions pushed into the breaks). You can say a considerable amount on a topic in 30 minutes, but it’s short enough to require effort and preparation to keep the presentation tight and coherent.

    Equally, having a full half hour between sessions not only allowed time to recharge, but also gave an opportunity to really discuss what we’d just heard. This 30-30 format felt like the perfect rhythm for a technical conference.

  • Single-track. NSConference has one track, with sessions on diverse topics that are nevertheless short enough that no-one gets bored or feels they’re not spending their time optimally. Everyone has the same experience, and everyone can talk about what’s been presented that day. No compromises are necessary.

  • Blitz talks were also excellent, and well-pitched. These were 15 minutes long, and took place during the 30-minute breaks between primary sessions. The topics were even more eclectic here, and gave an excellent chance for those who speak less often to address a smaller audience on a subject of interest to them. The personality of the conference really came across in these talks, and I loved every one I attended.

    On a personal note, I was especially pleased that my long-time friend Neil Inglis presented one of the blitz talks himself (an excellent session on incorporating advertising and affiliate links into your apps, which he absolutely nailed), and I hope he’ll consider doing so again in future.

  • A balance between technical and UX material. This year’s conference really illustrated how UX and design matters have become first-class topics in our industry (particularly on the platforms we work with). We had design/concept/UX-focused talks from Mike Lee, Dave Wiskus, Cathy Shive, Aral Balkan (talk about a blockbuster line-up) and myself, and the audience were every bit as engaged as in the more technical sessions.

  • A full-spectrum, end-to-end approach to software development – not just the technical (or UX) side – with best-in-class presenters. DeVoe on marketing. Hoctor on business. Jalkut on customer support. No-one needs to ask these guys for any credentials.

    Then throw in Dann waxing philosophical on method naming, Addey on VoiceOver (with audience participation), Kusterer on parsing, Lee on cryptographic storage, McCormack on Core Animation, Wheeler on Instruments, Zarra on asset caching and more… these are the all-stars you would wish for on each of these topics, and that’s the calibre of speakers that NSConf attracts.

    It was the fucking developer version of Live Aid.

  • The social aspect of the conference was extremely effective. I’ve already mentioned the session-to-break ratio, but the venue itself (and its comparative isolation) made sure that everyone was together for meals, and critically during the evenings. It’s difficult to overstate how conducive the setup was to meeting colleagues and making friends.

  • The labs. Whilst people were initially unsure what these would entail, the labs worked out extremely well. I ran the Design lab with Mike Lee and Dave Wiskus, and the format was that attendees would book a 20-minute slot, and arrive with something they wanted to talk about – often an design or idea, or even a running app – and some questions or problems. We’d sit down, one on one, and find solutions to those problems.

    People seemed to go away from the labs energised and excited, and often with a new perspective not just on the problems they’d brought but also on the focus of their app itself. It was a very rewarding experience for me, and I’m considering expanding my professional services in that direction too, on the strength of my NSConf experience.

Two of my esteemed colleagues from Tap! magazine, Chris Phin (editor) and Craig Grannell (contributing editor for games) also showed up on the Tuesday night to socialise and share some copies of the magazine, which was a very pleasant surprise. They’re fantastic chaps, and they care every bit as much about the Mac/iOS developer community as I do.

The main value of a technical conference for me isn’t the factual content or even the opportunity to socialise with my peers and learn about their interesting work, but rather the feeling you take away when you leave. NSConference for me has always been an opportunity to recharge my inspiration and excitement for doing what I do, and I’ve never left an event with such a buzz as I felt this year.

NSConference has unarguably hit its stride, and stands as the conference to beat in our industry. Huge congratulations should go to Scotty, Dave, Claire, Matt and everyone else for pulling it off.

I’m certain that next year’s event will sell out even more rapidly than it did this year, and I’ll be doing everything possible to make sure one of the tickets is mine.

How to manually update your WordPress login

To achieve this recipe, login to your PhpMyAdmin, select your WordPress database and click on the “SQL” button to open the SQL query window.

Then, paste the following code in the window textarea. Don’t forget to modify the password and username before executing it. Also, make sure you have a backup of your database before executing any SQL queries.

UPDATE wp_users SET user_login = 'New login' WHERE user_login = 'Admin';

Looking for WordPress hosting? Try WP Web Host. Prices starts at $5/month and you can try it for free!

How to manually update your WordPress login

Quick Look: Drop!

Quick Look posts are paid submissions offering only a brief overview of an app. Vote in the polls below if you think this app is worth an in-depth AppStorm review!

In this Quick Look, we’re highlighting Drop!. The developer describes Drop! as follows: You are trying to set the record for longest fall by a skydiver. Steer clear of obstacles to avoid damaging your parachute, and collect powerups to fall as far as possible. The farther you fall, the larger your score grows!

Read on for more information and screenshots.

Screenshots

screenshot

Drop!

About the App

Here are the top five features you can expect to see in the latest version:

  • 4 unique worlds, each with a day and night variation
  • Unique obstacles in each world
  • Game Center Support: compete with your friends!
  • Local High-Scores
  • Control the skydiver smoothly and accurately using the accelerometer

Requirements: iOS 3.0 or Later
Price: $0.99
Developer: Applause Code

Vote for a Review

Would you like to see us write a full review of Drop!? Have your say in our poll:

Would you like to see Drop! reviewed in-depth on AppStorm?online survey

Quick Look posts are paid submissions offering only a brief overview of an app. Vote in the poll if you think this app is worth an in-depth AppStorm review! If you’re a developer and would like to have your app profiled, you can submit it here.

OffMaps 2: Travel the World Without Internet

When I travel in my home country of Canada I enjoy the convenience of being able to access local maps and point-of-interest information using a 3G connection combined with the stock Maps app and a range of more specialized offerings such as Urbanspoon and Yelp. When travelling outside of my home and native land, 3G service is often available, but is exhorbantly expensive, leaving me to seek out WiFi connections in order to find my bearings and locate local hotspots.

Before my wife and I left on our latest international adventure, which took us to the Netherlands, Kenya and Tanzania, I scoured the App Store for apps that allow access to map and point-of-interest data in the absence of an Internet connection. I stumbled across OffMaps 2 which, at first glance, seemed to fit the bill perfectly. Read on to learn more about this app’s features and for a report on how well it performed on the road.

Your Offline Map Library

When you open up OffMaps 2, you’re greeted with a selection of maps that have already been downloaded to your device. By default, the maps are shown in icon view, with most maps represented by a characteristic photo from the area they cover. When list mode is selected, maps are grouped by country and each entry includes an information button that allows you to view the area covered by the map and download Wikipedia articles, if available. More on Wikipedia later.

OffMaps 2 Main Screen

The main screen of OffMaps 2 allows you to access all of the maps that you've downloaded.

The Map Store

Clicking the Store button in the upper right-hand corner of the main screen reveals OffMaps 2′s integrated map store. You can locate maps either by typing a location into the search box or by browsing through the map catalogue. Maps with a three-star rating contain an extensive point-of-interest database, which includes restaurants, hotels, museums and landmarks. Conversely, those with a one-star rating have a more limited database.

OffMaps 2′s $0.99 purchase price includes 2 free maps. For an additional $0.99 you can purchase a credit for three more maps, and paying $5.99 will get you unlimited access to maps. Maps are stored in a vector formatting, making them relatively small and allowing for high quality display on the iPhone 4′s Retina Display, and updates are provided free of charge. If you travel frequently, it’s probably worth springing for unlimited access, which you can share between your iPhone and iPad. Having spent $70 on GPS software in the past, spending $5.99 for maps and point-of-interest data for thousands of destinations worldwide seems very reasonable.

OffMaps 2 Map Store

The integrated map store contains thousands of international destinations.

OpenStreetMaps: The Wikipedia of Maps

OffMaps 2 gets its map data from OpenStreetMaps (OSM), which is often referred to as the “Wikipedia of Street Maps”. OSM is a collaborative project with the goal of creating a free, editable map of the world. Map data comes from a variety of sources including portable GPS devices, aerial photography and numerous free sources.

The accuracy and depth of the data that is available through OSM varies from place-to-place. Some cities, such as Amsterdam, contain extensive information, including transit routes and street numbers. Data is more limited for developing countries such as Kenya and Tanzania. The database for my home city of Vancouver is fairly rich, with some exceptions. For example, very few streets contain addresses – meaning it’s easy to locate a specific street, but often difficult to pinpoint a specific address.

Finding Your Way

After selecting a map from your library, OffMaps 2 will show your current position using a familiar blue dot, assuming you’re within the area encompassed by the selected map. Click the blue dot and a circular menu of popular point-of-interest categories pops up – a nice touch. Viewing items in these categories on the map is as simple as clicking on their icon. For example, clicking on the knife and fork icon drops pins for restaurants in the area. Using the circular menu you can also bookmark your current location and share your coordinates by e-mail. The e-mail feature is generally only useful if you happen to find a WiFi connection close by, though it could be used to record the location of a favourite restaurant or museum that you came across in your travels.

Clicking the button in the upper right-hand corner allows you to access the Guide, a collection of points-of-interest divided into categories, as well as saved bookmarks and previously downloaded Wikipedia articles. The Guide contains all the categories you would expect and the main categories are further divided into sections – for example, restaurants are grouped based on the type of cuisine. The Streets icon, represented by a sign-post with an arrow, allows you to browse or search through all the streets in the area. Some maps contain an extensive library of specific street addresses, while others will only tell you where the street is located – useful for short streets, but of limited value for longer ones.

As is the case with Maps, OffMaps 2 can make use of the built-in compass to indicate which direction you’re heading. Surprisingly handy when a jet-lagged traveller in a unfamiliar territory.

OffMaps 2 User Interface

An innovative circular menu allows you to locate common point-of-interest categories without leaving the map view.

Wikipedia To Go

For many destinations, OffMaps 2 gives you the option of downloading geotagged Wikipedia articles. For example, I left for Amsterdam with 118 articles and 519 images stored on my iPhone. Having this wealth of information at my fingertips added another dimension to the places we visited. Wikipedia entries can be sorted by either Name or Distance and can even be shown as pins on the map. Additionally, you can search through the list of Wikipedia articles to find the information you’re looking for.

OffMaps 2 Wikipedia Information

Optionally download Wikipedia articles, complete with photos, to take with you on your travels.

Restaurant Recommendations

The most recent version of Offmaps 2 includes toptable restaurant recommendations. The amount of information provided for restaurants can be extensive, including things such as signature dishes, hours of operation and even a complete menu. Currently the database includes thousands of restaurants in the UK, as well as listings for Paris, Dublin, Barcelona and New York City. toptable was recently acquired by OpenTable and I’m hoping this will mean that the database of available restaurants will increase over time.

OffMaps 2 toptable

Restaurant menus and destinations are available across the UK, in NYC and for select cities in Western Europe.

OffMaps 2 On Safari

My wife and I put OffMaps 2 through its paces in several cities in the Netherlands, Kenya and Tanzania. We found the database to be extensive in Amsterdam and OffMaps 2 proved to very useful for finding our hotel and a variety of museums and other attractions we visited while we were in town. While most of our exploration was on foot, the integrated tram maps were handy when the weather turned chilly.

The database was less extensive in Kenya and Tanzania, but OffMaps 2 still served as a useful travel companion in these exotic destinations. We used the app to locate a world-famous elephant orphanage near Nairobi, to get directions to the airport in Arusha and to find a place to eat in Stone Town on the island of Zanzibar. We also found it handy to be able to drop a bookmark when we went out for a stroll to ensure that we’d be able to find our way back to the hotel.

OffMaps 2 On Safari

OffMaps 2 helped us locate an elephant orphanage near Nairobi, Kenya and the airport in Arusha, Tanzania.

Beware of Carrier Charges

You’ll need to take your iPhone out of Airplane Mode in order to use the integrated GPS. Unfortunately this also means that people will be able to call you, which could cause you to rack up significant international roaming charges. Some carriers, including Rogers here in Canada, will charge your account while someone leaves you a voicemail – so you could get dinged even if you don’t answer the call.

I recommend that you check with your carrier before leaving to avoid surprises when you return home. Other strategies include removing your SIM card when you’re travelling (making sure to keep it handy in case you need to make an emergency call) and only turning Airplane Mode off when you’re using the GPS.

What’s Missing?

On the surface, OffMaps 2 looks very much like Maps. It’s important to note that all of OffMaps 2′s data is stored on the device itself whereas Maps has access to a huge amount of data on the Internet, including extensive map data from commercial sources. So, in many ways it’s not a fair comparison.

The quality of the map and point-of-interest data ultimately determines OffMaps 2′s usefulness. As noted earlier, the accuracy and completeness of this database varies from place to place. Before you set off on your travels I recommend that you take a look at the map data for the destinations you’ll be visiting to make sure the breadth of data is in line with what you need. In some cases, OffMaps 2 is more suitable as a complement to a traditional guide book or specialized travel app rather than a replacement.

It would also be handy if OffMaps 2 had some form of navigation – even something similar to the list of directions provided in Maps. I was in touch with OffMaps 2 developer, Felix Lamouroux, and he is currently looking into the possibility of integrating offline routing into a future release of the product. Pedestrian and car routes are also a possibility.

The Bottom Line

I was very grateful to have OffMaps 2 during my travels and it earned a place in my 8 Crucial iPhone Apps for Traveling Without Internet roundup. Even being able to see my position on a map when travelling in a foreign land brought a sense of security.

While the map data is lacking in some areas, it is actively improving as more people contribute to the OpenStreetMap database. The addition of an extensive point-of-interest database and the ability to download Wikipedia articles makes OffMaps 2 well worth the price of admission.