Website Redesign – Asap

Hi,

I need a a programmer to redesign my website . I need something similar to : http://snipurl.com/17l7w1 or http://snipurl.com/17l9ou its for my survey compagny.

The new website need to be SEO frendly because it curently rank on the first page google and yahoo for many keywords.

I also dont have a logo please help me with that.

What I have:
– index
– FAQ
– Legal mention
– Terms of Use
– Testimonial
– Proof of earning
– membre login
– Forget password
– User can create a new ID (after paiement)

You will need to add to the new site:
– Mcafee code
-The virtual spoke person
– Live support icon

I realy need a website that look very professional.

Joomla Hero

Looking for someone to do some joomla work for us when needed. The work will include creating menus, articles (from our word files), editing css and some template edits. Not new templates.

This is not what I am looking for right now.

I need someone now that can take the JA Puurity II template and make a small change to the left side of the template.

I would like to try out this as a first prokect, what would it take for you to take the JA Purity II template and make just the left column look similar to this one.

http://gallagherlawgroup.net/index.php

Not the entire site, just the left column. And remember it is the JA Puurity II template not the JA Puurity template.

Multiple Tasks Need Finished For Joomla Virtuemart Store

Hi, I’m currently looking for some one to do multiple tasks for my Joomla 1.5.20 and VirtueMart 1.1.5 website. I will add a list of tasks I need done below please ask any questions you may have.

Change shipping charges for canada to be calculated by province. I’m currently only able to add a price for the country not provinces (states).

Check in to and fix if possable the error where the admin pass is asked for when loged in to the frontend as a shopper and select account info. This only happens when I have the admin directory password protected but do not want to remove the admin directory pass protection if possable.

Fix the bottom menu placment, remove bottom menu background and make the font bold.

Move todays date that is displayed in the top right corner of my website to the left more.

Move the email button on the product page a little bit to the left to stop the right side from being cut off.

Fix placment of the product price on the product page.

Remove the underlining of links placed in the product discription.

Add the additonal info from the payment types to the order email. All ready added to the order overview/previous orders page. I will need the data added for the payment type selected at the time of checkout just like the order overview/previous orders page dose.

I will attach some pictures of the problems. Please ask any questions you may have about the tasks that need to be done thank you very much.

Ppv Web Cam Script

Thank You For Reading This!!!

First things, first. I have a template/design, what I am looking for is a webcam ppv script that can be implemented inside my webcam theme. Send me a message if you want to see a sample of this theme. The webcam script has to be Pay-Per-View. And, I will need the theme to be changed around just a little not a lot . The following is what I am asking for.

Admin Panel:
Can Set percentage of how much models make after admin takes cut
View Members
View Models
View Payments
View Online Private Cams
Change Model’s Pay-per-minute cost
Payout
Change Payout Structure (Paypal, epass, and some others that you may know)
Able to add money to a members account for free
Delete members and models

Models Panel:
Models Login they go to their admin panel where they can log on to webcam
View Members
Models can do private shows.
Models can chat with members, and free guest in free chat
Chat With Members that are not in their room
Change Pay-per-minute cost
View all tips( day, weeks, months, years)
Add Pictures(Up to 20pics)
Add Videos(Up to 20videos)
Will be able to write a bio(Will be easy to use)
Check the money they have made for that day
Check their payouts

Members Panel:
Add money to their accounts(paypal, credit card/debit, epass, and anyother you know about)
Will be able to view Model’s Videos
Members will get $5.00 Free on first sign up(tracked by IP)
Members can tip models, from 0.50cent and up

Script Features:
Webcam view must be good, no lags
Tracked by IP’s(So people can not join twice)
Can view models for free in the free area
Registration cost (Members Signing Up Must Add Money On Sign Up, will be their chose how much they want to add, minimal is $10.00 )
Admin takes 40% of what models make
Models take 60% of what they make
Payouts is issued every week towards models (Paypal, or a payment processor that will allow adult content)
Free Guest can not watch videos, if they click on a video it will take them to sign up page
Free Guest can not take modes private if they click go private it will take them to sign up page
Free Guest can not tip (Sign Up Page)
Free Guest can chat with models is Free Live Chat
Free Guest text will be black
Member’s text will be red
Model’s text will be blue
Admin text will be a dark green
Models can boot/ban IP’s from her room(expect for admins)
Sign up free for models
An e-mail will be sent to me when a model signs up
Models must be approved by admins first
Models must send a photocopy of legal ID to admin for verification
Will be able to upload ID picture on sign up and it will be sent to Admin email

Template/Theme Design Changes:
Top Right Link Tabs: Register For Free, Vote Our Models, Become A Model
Main Link Tabs: Online Models, All Models, Search, My Account, Members Login, Model Login
Very Top Link Tabs: None
Footer: Same links as Top Right and Main links
Models Online and All Models Home Page: Under every model’s thumb nail picture there will be their name, the amount for every minute in private chat and online/offiline status
Members sign up: When members are signing up they will get taken to the payment processor of their chose, after they verify age, username, password, real name, country, state, and zip code.

Please there is more stuff I need added, and taken out of this template/theme but it isn’t a lot so please contact me. I am setting this bid low, simple because there isn’t that much to be done with it. I DO NOT need this project done fast at all, but I do need it done, and done well. Would love to pay $200 dollars for this project to get done, anytime before October 31, 2010. Please I DO NOT need this project done in 7 days.

If you have any demos of your work in the past, please send it as well.

10 Simple Tips to Secure Your Email Account


It’s tough to get people to pay attention and be serious about their online identity. An Email account is the first and primary component of your online identity and yet it’s the one that is left unguarded the most. Email accounts may be virtual but once hacked, the consequences and damages are very real.

The problem with a hacked email account is the domino effect. All registrations, purchases, renewals, transactions, password reminders etc. are sent to your email inbox. So once the first domino falls, the entire setup falls apart in one fell swoop. After the jump, we’ve rounded up a few tips that can help you secure your email accounts of popular webmail services.

Use a Strong Password

Strong Password

Strong Password

Yes, I know this is what every other tech blogger says every single time. But that has never made people any wiser. Even hackers feel insulted when they come across passwords like “sweetlove123”, “pass@123” and the like. Google is the best when it comes to putting real effort into securing your email account proactively. You can use special characters, numbers, upper and lower case alphabets of almost any length. My Gmail password is between 60 to 80 characters long and my general rule of thumb is to have a password that only the NSA can hack.

Use a reliable Secondary Email Address

Absolutely no Hotmail accounts for secondary fallback email account people. They still have their stone age era email account expiry plan after certain number days of non usage. So if the secondary email address is Hotmail and is expired, anyone create it back again to receive password reset information. And since webmail providers have this peculiar habit of giving all kinds of hints to remind you of the email address where the password recovery link has been sent, use an uncommon, custom domain or corporate email address that is hard to guess and hack into.

Setup SMS Alerts

SMS Alerts

SMS Alerts

Go to your account settings and add your mobile number to receive SMS alerts. Once that’s set up, Google will send you the password reset code whenever somebody tries to reset your password. Alternatively, if you are a smartphone user, you can rely on these SMS alerts and disable password recovery via email altogether. Email accounts are always vulnerable to a hacker from a remote place but your mobile phone is not. Yahoo provides the same feature free too. Hotmail has a similar feature but is not supported in a lot of countries.

Be sensible with your security question

Ok. There’s absolutely no point in having the security question, “My favorite doggy”, and posting pics of you and your poodle with images titled “Rolling with Rosy” on Facebook and Twitter. A lot of personal information is available online, thanks to social networks. On being the weakest links in the email security chain, security questions rank ahead of weak passwords. It’s nice to be an open book but select a question from those stapled pages and blacked out lines.

Check Filters and Forwarding Addresses

In the event of a hack and after reclaiming the account, go through the existing filters to check if there are some sneaky filters set up that forward all your credit card, login info, bank account and other sensitive correspondence to an email address that is not yours. Go to the forwarding page and see that all your incoming mails are not forwarded to the hacker either. This helps you avoid getting hacked in the future too.

Avoid Public WiFi

Happy to have discovered an unsecured WiFi hotspot? Or mooching your neighbour’s spilt WiFi? Enjoying the free WiFi of the coffee shop round the corner? Good for you and so is for the hacker sitting nearby to sniff the packets right out of thin air. Avoid using public WiFi for accessing email or transacting online with a credit card. Casual browsing and YouTube watching (without logging in) are Ok. Accessing emails is a big no, no.

Do not share your login information

Another obvious fact. But at times, it’s necessary for small businesses and online entrepreneurs to share login information with colleagues. For example, accessing Google AdSense, Analytics or Microsoft Live services etc. The ideal solution is to create a dedicated account for accessing these services instead of linking everything to your personal email id and sharing it.

Login regularly

Even if a hacker gets hold of the answer to your security question, they cannot use it immediately to reset the password and break into your Gmail account. Password reset with security question is possible only after 24 hours of your account being inactive after receiving the password reset instructions. So for once, checking your mail regularly is a good thing. Also, it will help reset the Hotmail account’s expiry date. Unfortunately Hotmail and Yahoo do not have this useful restriction in place.

Special Features

Gmail

Enable HTTPS by default from your account settings. This helps from the password getting sniffed when transmitted over public WiFi hot spots. If you are a Google Apps user, enable pre release features to avail the upcoming two factor authentication system before it launches.

Hotmail

Use the Windows Live Essentials package and verify the computer you are using as reliable. “Trusted PC” is a unique new proof that lets you link your Hotmail account with one or more of your personal computers. Then, if you ever need to regain control of your account by resetting your password, you simply have to use the trusted computer and Hotmail will know you are the legitimate owner. It’s a great feature for those who are really paranoid about email security.

Yahoo

Sign In Seal

Sign In Seal

Make use of the sign in seal option to verify the computer. Sign in seal is basically an image or color that Yahoo displays for each of your computers adding another layer of security to the login process.

Avoid Webmail

Still not sure about the safety and security of your email account online? It is totally understandable and I suggest you to take it off the Internet. I mean, partially. Get hold of an ISP and get a POP or IMAP account set up for your email address forgoing the webmail set up. Then use desktop email clients like Outlook or Thunderbird to pull your mails. It will make you feel dated, but is reliable and works effectively too.

Did we miss an important tip or got a better suggestion? Share it with the rest of community in the comments section.

Quick Look: MyAjax Editor


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 MyAjax Editor. Here’s how the developer has described the app. MyAjax Editor, is a powerful Ajax MySQL Table Editor. It’s main feature is it’s fast Web 2.0 Ajax interface that allows you to update and maintain your data quickly and easily. It replicates the functionality of an Excel spreadsheet, allowing you to click from cell to cell to make changes. The Ajax search quickly narrows down the data that you are looking to view or make changes to.

Read on for more information and screenshots!

Screenshots

MyAjax Editor

MyAjax Editor

MyAjax Editor

MyAjax Editor

About the App

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

  • Fast inline MySQL data editing via Ajax
  • Quick Ajax Search
  • Ajax Sort, and Paginated results
  • Delete a row
  • Insert new rows

Price: $25
Requirements: web browser, PHP, MySQL
URL: MyAjax Editor
Developer: sevenscript.net

Vote for a Review

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

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.

Share Family Memories with eFamily


Let’s face it: most of our lives now revolve in some way or other around the internet. Social networks are the new big thing and with people so keep to shift their lives onto the web, it’s no wonder that sites like Facebook have reached the global audience that they have today. However, there’s always ever-increasing issues regarding privacy and the somewhat ambiguous identities that people can create using these websites.

eFamily allows families to connect through the web and have their own private social network for sharing memories, photos and more. In the article, I’ll show you how to get your own social network for your family using eFamily.

Overview

eFamily is an app that allows families to create their own social network dedicated to just the members of that family. It allows not only for stories to be added, there is also the ability to upload and store photos, videos and even virtual representations of family trees.

Overview

Overview

Creating the Network

It’s quite a straightforward process to get your family network up and running on eFamily. Simply visit the main page of the website and you’ll be presented with a form from which you can name your network. I’m going to call mine “The AppStorm Family Site” but don’t worry, you can change this later.

Naming Your Site

Naming Your Site

Once you’ve entered this, you’ll be taken to another form where you’ll be asked to enter some contact details for yourself. If you only want to try out the app, that’s fine, and they’ll even issue you a temporary email address so that you don’t have to worry about receiving emails from them. If you have chosen an email address, however, you will need to verify it by clicking the link in the email sent to take advantage of all the features. You’ll be then asked to choose a plan, but we’re going to be opting for the free ad-supported one. Once this is complete, you’re done and will be taken to the dashboard for your network.

Registration

Registration

Adding Relatives

The next thing you’ll need is family members. After all, it’s pretty pointless having a social network for your family if you’re the only person on there. eFamily allows users to import relatives from their email contact lists and supports almost 300 major worldwide email providers. Once you’ve authenticated your email account, you’ll be displayed a list of all your contacts and you can then choose those you wish to import.

Importing Family Members

Importing Family Members

eFamily also provides the option of importing contacts using the GEDCOM file format, a type of data file that consists of an encoded family tree. As this file is usually used by some genealogy software, this is an easy way to import your already-existing family tree.

If you don’t have a pre-existing family tree imported, you can still create a family tree within eFamily. In the “People” section of the app, you’ll be presented with a dynamic family tree which you can add relatives for. It’s a simple process to grasp and you can add relatives even if you don’t have them imported into your eFamily network. Simply find the position in the tree you’d like to place them, enter some details and then they’ll be added.

Family Tree Editor

Family Tree Editor

If you’d like to link this with an existing user in your network, you can simple choose the “Link members” button and then once you’ve found the person you’d like to link, drag and drop them onto the corresponding entry in the tree.

Linking Members

Linking Members

Profile

Now that you’ve got your social network and your family in one place, you can start focusing on your own profile. Your profile is a fairly brief representation of yourself and on the profile page, you will find a portrait that you can update with a photograph of yourself and you are also able to add a home and work address, where other members of your family will be able to find you. Some of the other content that references yourself can also be found here, including clips, events and stories. This is basically a general hub from where other members of your family can find information and content that focuses around you.

Profiles

Profiles

To edit the profile, find the link in the top menu to go to your profile and when you have done this you will find a link in the sidebar allowing you to “Update” it. You will be then taken to the information editor where you will be able to enter information such as your name, nicknames, gender and birthday. You can also change your portrait photo from here as well as more general account information such as your password.

Profile Editing

Profile Editing

Adding Content

One of the best things you’ll be able to add to your network is content. eFamily allows its users to add various types of content, such as photos, videos and stories. These are great for when you would like to share memories within your family network, for all members of the family to access.

To add photos and videos, find the corresponding tab in the navigation menu and then you will be taken to the manager. Since there’s nothing already there, it will be empty. You’ll be able to create albums to better organize the contents and then either upload individual files, or use the batch uploader to add several at once. Once you’ve added media, you will then be able to set a location for them and other details like specifying the people in the content, in relation to your family people. If you do add a location, you’ll be then allowed to view a map of all clips.

Editing Clips

Editing Clips

Final Thoughts

Simply put, I think that eFamily is a great idea. It’s one that’s been perfectly executed to provide a great way for families to share memories privately and through a social network. Though the interface could be improved, the app does not hold back on features – allowing for a really great experience for the users. I’ve never really come across anything like this before and even so, it is definitely one of those apps that I would continue to use and encourage others to do so too.

Quick Look: VentureSocially


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 venturesocially.com. Here’s how the developer has described venturesocially.com. The concept of the site is to enable founders reach investors.

A founder joins the site and created their pitch and uploads their video. Their pitch can contain information on many aspects of the venture such as the product, marketing, profit and loss, etc.

Read on for more information and screenshots!

Screenshots

venturesocially.com

venturesocially.com

venturesocially.com

venturesocially.com

About the App

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

  • Create online video elevator pitches
  • Publish to the whole world or just a few select people
  • Add your contacts to share
  • Allow investors to bid on ventures
  • Add fellow founders to the venture

Price: Free
Requirements: web browser
URL: http://www.venturesocially.com
Developer: Diarmuid

Vote for a Review

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

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.

25 Tips for Killer Facebook Marketing


Getting your brand a Facebook page is like getting a shop at the prime location of the newest mall in town. Footfalls come in automatically without making much of an effort. People of all age groups, ethnicities, income groups, etc are on Facebook. So are their friends, family and acquaintances.

The chances of your marketing campaign going viral and gaining a word of mouth momentum are immense with this mammoth audience. At the same time, even a small slip will derail the campaign and people notice that too. So what are the right ways and key steps that make a marketing campaign on Facebook a success?

Get a Facebook Vanity URL

Just like a domain name, vanity URLs and usernames are very important in protecting the identity of your brand. People will remember www.facebook.com/brand rather than e854ca07d80ae3817. If somebody else is sitting on your brand identity, ask them nicely or  contact Facebook if you have a copyright. If nothing works, go for a cool suffix or prefix with the brand name.

Complete your Profile

Complete Your Profile

Complete Your Profile

Leave nothing out. Add as many details as possible about your brand on the Facebook profile page. After all, your customers can get to know that you are for real and professional and not a scam artist. Do not forget to link your other social media profiles. A clear and crisp description of what exactly your business does is important too.

Design a Custom Facebook Page

Custom Design

Custom Design

Facebook offers a lot of tools to customize the business page of your brand. There are also additional third party tools available to help you spice up your Facebook page without having to do any coding. Done carefully, your Facebook page could be as good looking as a custom webpage design. Check out our coverage on creating Facebook page in three simple steps, available third party apps and what other brands have did with their Facebook page.

Join Related Groups

No, do not join your direct competitor’s Facebook page and start a flame war. Join the special interest group of your industry, professional associations, charities of interest etc. and be visible. Engage in meaningful conversation and do not be a chatter box.

Buy Facebook Advertisements

Facebook Advertisement

Facebook Advertisement

Promote your brand with targeted Facebook advertisements. Write a great copy, create a cool banner, link to a landing page and wait for the traffic to come in. Facebook is so huge, your webpage traffic will surge so be prepared to meet the server load. For the same reason, but only Cost per Click (CPC) ads instead of paying based on impressions.

Offer Exclusive Facebook Discounts

Lot of brands offer exclusive discounts and freebies to members of the Facebook fanpage. This helps in getting a ton of new users. To retain the existing fans, keep a long term discount running ensuring brand loyalty and positive word of mouth.

Reward Referrals

Social networks and Facebook in particular are the hotbeds of referrals. Make it easy and compelling for your fans to recommend your brand to their friends. Offer kickbacks, discounts or gifts when there is a successful referral. You can really benefit from the network of your fans without having to embark on a costly marketing campaign.

Run Promotions

Promotions

Promotions

Bundle products and run promotions at steep discounts. Offer discounts when a bunch of people but together in true Groupon style. A valid reason like reaching 1000 customers or founding day or Black Friday will yield better results.

Giveaway Your Product

Sponsor giveaways at regular intervals and place your brand at the center of attraction. Giveaways spread like a wildfire and you will benefit from word of mouth and positive attention.

Conduct Trivia and Quizzes

Post a weekly quiz about your newest products or a trivia to find the email address of the brand’s CEO. Make sure your fans get to know something about your brand with this exercise. Mix and match the questions with pop culture stuff to make it more interesting.

Host Contests

Contests

Contests

Host contests and reward the winners. Rewards could be a combination of your products and popular third party products, say iTunes or Amazon gift cards. Even people who are initially not interested in your brand will jump in at the opportunity to win an iTunes card. That’s lot of opportunities at your doorstep.

Engage Your Fans

Talk to your fans and talk back. When someone asks a question or expresses concern, address it at the earliest. Point them to the appropriate help resource at the knowledge base or to the right person to talk from the support team.

Add Fresh Content

Just like a blog, your Facebook page needs to have fresh content too. There is no point in setting up a great Facebook page and letting it gather dust. Link diligently to content posted in your corporate blog. Summarize press releases instead of dumping them in their entirety and liven up product updates with a great copy with a fresh voice.

Keep the Conversation Going

Ask for feedback or post a question of interest to your fans and keep the conversation going. The longer the conversations, more engaged your fans will be. Conversations help foster the sense of being a community and that will do wonders to your brand.

Organize Group Chats

Group Chat

Virtual meetups with audio and video chat apps are great way to connect with your community. Members from the product or development teams can interact in a friendly and informal manner. If you have got a brand ambassador with atleast some star power make them participate in the chats too.

Share Interesting Content

Your news feed does not always have to be all business and no fun. Share interesting developments in your domain, latest breaking news (relevant or otherwise), occasional funny videos that are not NSFW and so on. The idea is not be serious all the time and balance is necessary to ensure that the content is not junk and slapstick.

Have an Online Helpline

Ensure that you have atleast one person from your support team online at Facebook for helping users. Be it may potential customers or existing ones, it is a great way to show that you care about your customers. Round the clock efforts may be overkill but do clearly mention the timings of support availability prominently.

Avoid Clutter

Tabs

Tabs

Move content from multiple sources to their respective tabs avoiding clutter and confusion in the news feed. Unclogging the news feed avoids noise and makes people stay on the page longer and know more about your brand. Make use of the tabs features to differentiate between things. For example, you can have dedicated tabs for your Twitter stream, trivia, contests, promotions etc.

Post User Experiences

First hand accounts by existing customers is a great way to market your brand. Ask users to come forward with their stories as to how your brand helped improve things for them. Reach out to your repeat customers and those who do not have the time to write and post the transcript of the conversation. The key here is openness and try not to edit or chop the user experiences submitted.

Decide on the Privacy Settings

Privacy Settings

Privacy Settings

You can either set your Facebook page fans only or for all the world to see. This is purely dependent on what your business is and how openly you want to interact with your customers. For example, if you are offering a discount only to your fans, you will have to lock your page down till the user becomes a fan. There is a risk of losing users but be sure to let those who are visiting the landing page what benefits are awaiting them once they join as your fan.

Listen to Your Customers

Before  a product launch or update, conduct a poll among your fans to rate their top feature expectations. Since those are the people who will be buying & using the products, there is no harm in listening to them. You might not be able to incorporate all of their ideas, but ensure to incorporate atleast some of them and inform them regarding the same. Tell them why some features did not make it and if they will show up in the future product map.

Invite People to Join You

Importing Contacts

Importing Contacts

Shift through your address books and contact lists of email accounts to create a consolidated mailing list. Send them a neatly designed and brilliantly written email with link to your Facebook page. You can also try importing the list directly and expand the network. Remember, being part of the social is gathering a crowd and with crowd comes more potential customers.

Be Mysterious

Before announcing anything major, tease your audience with bits and pieces of details to evince interest. Reveal the USPs one by one at regular intervals. A fitting launch will then complete the circle and there is a possibility of getting good street cred if you do this right.

Integrate a Shopping Cart

Shopping Cart

Shopping Cart

There are a number of ways to integrate a shopping cart to your Facebook page. Once the Facebook page visitors are convinced that your brand is good enough, a shopping cart could seal the deal right away. Do not make the customers go through a lot of hoops to complete the transaction as it will kill impulse purchases.

Don’t Boss Around

People are unique and so are their characters. Some of your fans may be a bit more aggressive or foul mouthed or mischievous than the rest of the flock. Just because they are your fans you do not get to boss them around and tell them to shut it. Politeness goes a long way and if somebody says something offensive or shares something NSFW, do not ban them right away. Tell them nicely not to engage in acts like that as it tarnishes both his/her image as well as the brand’s. Give them fair amount of warning before kicking them out.

Got your brand a Facebook page and have some interesting tips on marketing via Facebook to share? We would love to hear your thoughts in the comments section.

The End of AT&T’s iPhone Exclusivity


The iPhone was introduced on January 9, 2007 to an AT&T (Cingular) only client base. Many early adopters dropped their old carriers without a second thought because their thirst for this obvious game-changer was so great.

The rest of the would-be iPhone owners declared that they would simply wait for the phone to end up on their carrier. Just about every “insider” theory and rumor at the time pointed with near certainty towards a 2-year AT&T exclusivity agreement. After these two years, they told us, the iPhone will immediately hit Verizon followed by every other major carrier.

January 9, 2009: The planet continued to spin and the iPhone continued to be tied to a single US carrier. January 9, 2010, three years after the release of the iPhone, still no sign of the end of AT&T’s reign. Despite the fact that countless experts have been absolutely certain on countless occasions that the iPhone would open up to other carriers, the projected dates all come and go without a word from Apple.

Why No Verizon?

At the time, many were baffled as to why Verizon wasn’t picked to be the sole carrier of the iPhone. It turns out they were. According to several sources, Apple offered the iPhone to Verizon first and the carrier made the incredibly solid business decision to pass on it due to a dispute over how much control Apple would have in the relationship.

Can you hear me now? No Verizon, we can’t.

Verizon on Good Behavior

How’d that decision work out for Verizon? In a recent statement, Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg said of the iPhone, “We would love to carry it when we get there, but we have to earn it.”

A few years ago they were faced with the opportunity of being the sole carrier and now they’re making statements about trying to make themselves good enough to earn the good will of Apple!

I’m sure given the opportunity they would do it all again, sans the profound ignorance of how much of a hit the phone would be with consumers worldwide.

Verizon iPhone 2011! Right?

June 29, 2010. Bloomberg headline reads “Verizon Wireless Said to Start Offering iPhone in January.” It seemed we had finally reached the end of the iPhone monopoly. After this article there was no shortage of “me too” blogs and websites that had suddenly produced undeniable evidence of a January Verizon release.

screenshot

It’s really going to happen this time… or not.

The most telling sign of this supposed future were numerous reports from secret sources all claiming that manufacturers were indeed ordering parts for and building a CDMA version of Apple’s iPhone 4 (AT&T uses GSM).

However, the recent statement from Verizon’s CEO (above) regarding earning the iPhone seems to leave Verizon customers, yet again, with their hopes dashed. Seidenberg went on to say that Verizon’s new 4G network (slotted for completion around 2013) would hopefully be a significant factor in making Apple “get with the program” and bring the iPhone to their carrier. Not exactly the kind of statement you would expect from someone who had just landed a deal to release the iPhone in a matter of months.

Now, given Apple’s love of secrecy, Seidenberg could be pulling the wool over our eyes in preparation for Apple to blow us away with a now unexpected announcement come next year, but in the words of PCMag writer Chloe Albanesius, “Don’t Hold Your Breath.”

There is Another…

We can’t know for certain at this point that Verizon is out of the game for January, but let’s assume they are. Further, let’s make an even larger assumption that the rumors regarding a CDMA iPhone are true. Where does that leave us?

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This is the one, I’m sure of it.

The Internet’s favorite guess is currently Sprint, the next logical conclusion if we’re limited to CMDA carriers. Who knows? Sprint’s CEO certainly hasn’t been making any statements to the contrary lately (which could be good or bad).

Square One

Unfortunately, despite any sources that you read claiming any degree of certainty, we pretty much don’t know squat about when AT&T’s exclusivity will end. All we have at the moment are conflicting and mutually “certain” opinions and rumors: the same thing we’ve had since day one.

January 9, 2011 is on the horizon. As some AT&T customers purchase their fourth iPhone the rest of the US market is wondering if four will be their lucky number. Four years after the iPhone’s initial release AT&T’s supposed two year exclusivity agreement lives on, but for how long?

It’s interesting to note that AT&T chief executive Randall Stephenson is busy trying to convince investors that they’ll be just fine after the exclusive agreement with Apple ends. Verizon may not be be concerned with January, but perhaps AT&T is…

What Do You Think?

Are the Internet rumors the same bull we’ve been hearing for four years? Will January come and go without an announcement? Or will 2011 bring the first falling pebble in the avalanche of new carriers that will sell the iPhone?

Leave a comment below and let us know what you think! Also be sure to tell us whether or not you’ll hold out for another carrier or just give in and make the switch to the one carrier we all know will have the iPhone in 2011: AT&T.

TeuxDeux Comes to the iPhone


How many task management applications does the world need? It seems like every day another “amazing” new GTD solution launches that seeks to outdo the others by piling on new features and introducing an ever-increasing amount of complexity.

Tags, projects, contexts, contributors, reminders, flagging, groups; what ever happened to the good old to do list? You know, something simple that acts as a memory aid without itself becoming a major task to keep up with. Recently, the TeuxDeux web application debuted and reminded us of the power of simplicity. Today we’ll take a look at its iPhone counterpart to see if the “less is more” strategy works in the realm of iOS.

Meet TeuxDeux

In case you’ve never seen it, TeuxDeux is a free online task manager that is one of those rare products that actually pulls off the promise of both beauty and effectiveness through simplicity.

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TeuxDeux Web App

The interface isn’t your typical GTD single column list of items or even a calendar screen but rather a fluid five-column list that shows the current and upcoming days of the week. Each day has a date header, input box and a simple list of lines.

The layout is very typography driven and is completely void of superfluous design. As you would guess, typing into the field at the top of a column allows you to add an item to that day.

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Entering an Item

After entering an item, you can click and drag it to rearrange its order in the list and/or send it to a different day. Clicking on an item crosses it off the list, after which you can hit the little “x” to delete the item from your list.

To edit an item, simply drag it back to the text box at the top. This feels a little odd at first (why not a double click?) but you quickly get used to it. The arrows at the left and right allow you to move forward and backward in days and the calendar icon will let you pick a specific day to jump to.

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Date Picker

Under the day columns there is a list for your “Someday” items that don’t necessarily need to be tied to a specific date. Since you can manually rearrange your items, I like to create little headers in my Someday category to separate the content.

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Someday

TeuxDeux for iPhone

After getting hooked on the web-based TeuxDeux app, I couldn’t wait to try the iPhone app. You can tell right away that the minimalist spirit of the design has been faithfully reproduced for the mobile version.

To get started, simply login to your TeuxDeux account and all your items from the web interface will automatically be imported. As you use the app, hit the “Sync” button at the top right to make sure take effect across both the web and iPhone version.

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TeuxDeux iPhone

Instead of seeing five days at once the iPhone version utilizes the full screen space for a single day. Despite this difference, it really feels like you’ve just zoomed in on a column from the web app and does an excellent job of maintaining the experience.

To switch days, tap on the arrows at the top or swipe left and right anywhere on the screen (double tap the header to go to today). Just as with the web version, you can enter tasks via the entry field at the top and complete them by tapping on the name.

Along the bottom there is a nice linear date feature that you don’t see in the web version. Drag this area left and right to scroll through the days and tap on a date to make it the active screen.

To rearrange the items, tap and hold until you can freely drag it around. You can also move an item to another day by dragging it to the appropriate date at the bottom.

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Hold and drag to move an item

Editing tasks mirrors the functionality seen online, just drag the item to the field at the top, correct it, then hit enter to put it back in the list.

Someday

Tapping or dragging an item to the bar at the bottom will bring you to the Someday section. Here again we see the single column view but all of your columns are kept exactly like you’ve arranged them online so any faux categories you’ve setup are retained.

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Someday iPhone screens

The Someday view works just like the Today view. Swipe left and right to change columns or tap a box at the bottom to jump to a specific column (dragging and editing tasks works the same here).

Multiple Accounts

The one advantage the iPhone app has over the web version is the ability to login to multiple accounts and quickly switch between them. This allows you to easily manage multiple lists for different purposes.

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Multiple Accounts

TeuxDeux or Not TeuxDeux?

I’m a big fan of productivity apps and love Producteev, Things, and The Hit List for their robust feature sets and great interfaces. I’m always comparing new solutions to these three apps and usually won’t even consider one that falls short of their functionality.

For this reason, TeuxDeux took me completely by surprise. The first time I saw the web app I chalked it up as an application with a neat design, but too simple for me to really get into. However, about a month ago I decided to actually give it a shot by turning it into a Fluid app and throwing it in my Mac’s dock.

I can’t believe how much I love the simplified workflow. I still use Producteev for major project management and collaborative projects but for tracking my simple every day list of things to do, I’ve come to realize that simpler is without a doubt better. The five column, web interface has changed my world and helps me focus on getting through one week at a time while giving me the flexibility to plan ahead when I need to.

Though I hate losing the five-up view in the iPhone version, I realize that there just isn’t room for it and think the developers did an excellent job of molding the experience to a smaller screen. It’s definitely a near-perfect implementation of TeuxDeux in a mobile environment. Most iPhone todo apps are a web of complicated menus and can really suck up time while entering tasks. TeuxDeux is pretty much menu-free; just enter the task and go.

I do have a few issues with the iPhone app but they are fairly minor. First, I think the app takes too long to initiate a move. I thought the move feature was broken until I got up enough patience to just hold my finger in one spot long enough for something to happen. Further, the linear date picker looks much cooler than the web version’s calendar but is much less functional. It can take forever to swipe enough to get to an event that’s a few months in the future. I’d also like to see a horizontal view implemented upon rotating your device, perhaps even with two columns.

Finally, the scrolling and swiping are fairly rigid and lack that famous iPhone smoothness in all areas but the date line. I agree that all apps shouldn’t feel the need to mimic this behavior but this is one app I really miss it in and can’t help but think it would feel more polished with these effects. You could argue that the minimalist nature of the design would clash with the idea of smooth animations but then why include them in the date scroller?

As I said, these are very minor complaints and don’t at all affect my recommendation that you try TeuxDeux out immediately, both on the web and iOS.

Conclusion

To sum up, TeuxDeux is a breath of fresh air in a world filled with cluttered and clunky todo list applications. The web and iPhone versions are seamlessly integrated, the former of which is completely free while the latter will only set you back a couple of bucks (no lame monthly fees).

I review a lot of apps, many of which I never pick up again even if I gave them a high score. This is definitely not the case with TeuxDeux, which has become an integral part of my daily workflow.

Leave a comment below and let us know what you think of the web service, the iPhone app and the integration of the two. For any fans looking for more, according to a few recent tweets, TeuxDeux will soon have both a desktop AIR client and an Android app!

Quick Look: PRO RSS FeedReader for iPad


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 PRO RSS FeedReader. Developer description: “PRO RSS FeedReader as Getting your Feeds via PRO RSS FeedReader for iPad is easy.
Via the internal search system you can add a Feed from Google search, Twitter, any website with RSS Feeds and manually. PRO RSS FeedReader can be used online and offline. Don’t worry about a lost WIFI connection, your Feeds are still on your iPad. You can choose your favorite Feed and PRO RSS FeedReader will instantly update your Feeds.”

Read on for more information and screenshots!

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PRO RSS FeedReader for iPad

About the App

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

  • Adding feeds is easy.
  • Feeds are stored on a local database to view feeds offline.
  • An internal browser will cover browsing to the internet.
  • Organizing feeds is simple and fast by folders and subfolders.
  • Keep working during Feeds update.

Requirements: iOS 3.2

Price: $2.99

Developer: HRC DIGITAL B.V.

Vote for a Review

Would you like to see us write a full review of PRO RSS FeedReader? Have your say in our poll:

Would you like to see PRO RSS FeedReader for iPad 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.

15 iPhone Apps to Make You Laugh


The App Store now has over 200,000 apps. Lured by the gold rush, developers have been churning out apps at a rate of over 1000 apps a week. Pretty much anything you can think of has been turned it to an app.

Today I’m going to be taking a look at some of the best options for making you laugh on your iPhone. Funny stories, jokes, videos, links, and images. This has proved to be one of the most lucrative categories developers, leading to an abundance of cruft. Today I’ll be slicing through the fat of the app store in search of the best iPhone humor apps.

The Onion

The classic parody newspaper with your wherever you go. Full of satire, sarcasm, and wit. The Onion keeps no one’s feelings in mind. Providing sarcastic headlines, full length articles, and humorous spins on current world events. This is a must have app.

Price: Free

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The Onion

The Colbert Report’s The World

Stephen Colbert has garnered fame for his show, The Daily Show. Part comedian, part political satirist, and part writer. In this app, we get to carry around Colbert’s takes on hundreds of different words, from “flight list” to “faith” and beyond.

Price: $1.99

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The Colbert Report’s The World

FML

If you’re someone who enjoys laughing at other people’s pain, this is the app for you. Here’s how it works. When someone has a day worthy of exclaiming “#$%& my life”, they post it to the site. Now, you open up the app on your iphone and scroll through all the latest rants in a twitter stream like fashion. The app is implemented very well.

Price: Free

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FML

Aging Booth

This is a cool one. With Aging Booth, you sit down and feed the app a picture of yourself. In return, Aging Booth spits out a fresh copy. Only on this image, you’re older. Much older. You can share it with our friends on Facebook and Twitter.

Price: Free

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Aging Booth

18,0000 Cool Jokes

When I first saw the title, I thought it was just another spam app. But upon further inspection, I realized that this software has a lot of thought put in to it. You can filter jokes by topics and rating. There are options to censor dirty jokes and long, short, and medium jokes. This is definitely one the best joke apps on the iPhone.

Price: $0.99

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18,0000 Cool Jokes

Texts From Last Night

This app is very similar to FML. It aggregates humorous drunken text message blurbs sent in by its followers. It lets you filter by rating: best weekly, best ever, and best from last night. This app and the website were designed by the geniuses over at “MetaLab”:http://www.metalabdesign.com/. Its a beauty.

Price: $0.99

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Texts From Last Night

Mouth Off

Mouth Off is an app that takes the mic’s input, and animates the lips on the screen to match it. Basically, a mouth appears on screen and lip syncs with your voice. You can Dogs, cats, vampires, and monster’s mouthes. Works on iPod touch and iPhone.

Price: $1.99

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Mouth Off

Talking Carl

Talking Carl is a little red monster that lives on your iPhone screen. He takes what he hears, and repeats it. His mouth moves, and his expression changes. This is great to entertain your children and get some peace and quiet. Here’s something to try out. Rev up to talking carls, and put them next to each other. Say something and let the madness ensue.

Price: $0.99

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Talking Carl

Cyanide and Happiness

Cyanide and Happiness is an extremely popular web comic. This is a complete replacement for the website. You get access to the comic, the short video clips, and the complete archives all from within the app.

Price: $0.99

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Cyanide and Happiness

Break

Break.com is an aggregator of funny videos and pictures. The app is a fully featured client. Letting you peruse and view the Break catalogue, as well as upload your own images and videos from the iPhone camera roll.

Price: Free

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Break

Stachetastic

Stachtastic lets you overall over forty different mustaches and beards over images on your iPhone. The editor comes with basic features, resizing and rotating. You can upload your creation to Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace.

Price: $0.99

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Stachetastic

Demoralizer

Demoralizer lets you create your own demoralizing pictures and stay up with the Internet’s memes. Choose a snapshot from your camera roll, and pick a slogan, “Failure”, “Stupidity”. Like most apps nowadays, you can upload to Facebook, Twitter, and the like when you’re finished.

Price: $1.99

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Demoralizer

iBeer

This is a classic. One of the first apps to hit it big. Your screen fills up to look like beer. Tilting your phone like a cup causes the liquid to pour out. This is as novelty as apps on the iPhone get. iBeer has expanded past its name, now including juice, milk, cola, and more.

Price: $0.99

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iBeer

iFart

A huge success. Choose your style and hit the big button. Listen as your gas releasing noise is played. You can buy extra sound packs, record your own styles, and send a flatulence to a friend. Personally, I find this app revolting and crass, but it will definitely cause a few laughs with the right crowd.

Price: $0.99

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iFart

Voices

Voices is a slick voice recorder and transformer. You choose from eighteen voice distortion styles. You can share your voices on social networks and email.

Price: $1.99

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Voices

What Apps Make You Laugh?

The 15 apps above represent some of the funniest apps we’ve come across. What are your favorites?

Leave a comment below with the name of your favorite hilarious iPhone app!

The Future of FaceTime


Ever since I saw a Dick Tracy comic for the first time as a kid I’ve been enamored by the idea of face to face conversations that defy the barrier of distance. Dick’s watch was an amazing feat in communication that allowed him to see and converse with his trusty sidekick from anywhere (for you fans out there, it started as a radio watch but eventually was upgraded to a two-way TV watch).

Other reputable sources such as the Jetson’s spurred on my childhood notion that in the future phone conversations would not be confined to mere audio.

The Birth of Video Conferencing

Skype didn’t invent video conferencing, but it did bring it to the masses. Suddenly grandparents, young children and everyone in between started to show interest in this crazy video calling technology.

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I wasn’t joking, Grandmas love this stuff

Apple’s iChat video chats followed and between the two the future of communication seemed closely within our grasp. However, since this technology is stuck on our computers, it hasn’t quite reached the point where most people find themselves using it daily, weekly or even monthly.

Instead we have one of those interesting quandaries that marketers love to study where someone presents an impressively improved product and yet the majority of people still cling to the old way of doing things (sorry Ralph but you were wrong on that one). Video conferencing from home to home is free over your Internet connection, provides a much richer experience than a phone conversation and is by default a hands-free event.

Nevertheless, most people don’t have a computer in their living room, dining room or other places you typically answer the phone. Most people don’t want to stay “signed on” to Skype or iChat 24/7. Most people don’t even know when, if ever, it’s appropriate to ask someone to join them in a video chat.

So is that it? Do we admit defeat? Have we reached a communication plateau with cell phones, Facebook and email that won’t easily be changed in the next decade?

A New Hope

With the advent of FaceTime, Apple has renewed the vision of every day video-driven communications. They’ve taken a huge step in solving the key problem: ubiquity. Rather than tethering video conferencing to your desk or laptop, iOS puts it in your pocket so it’s always with you.

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FaceTime, now on the iPod Touch

The awesome combination of front and rear facing cameras makes FaceTime even more flexible than traditional video conferencing as it’s easy to show the other person either your smiling face or whatever you happen to be looking at.

FaceTime is currently on the iPhone and iPod Touch and, as we predicted recently, will surely be coming to both the iPad and your Mac within the next year. I think Mac integration is a really natural step and would be quite surprised if Apple doesn’t see the potential there.

Plays Well With Others

Apple claims that FaceTime will be an open industry standard. Hopefully what this means is that in a few years, most smart phone manufacturers will be able to jump on the FaceTime bandwagon and easily add cross-phone compatible video conferencing to their devices.

This is another huge step towards ubiquity. Currently only new iPhone and iPod Touch owners can make FaceTime calls, leaving several iOS fans without a buddy to chat with. With FaceTime on other handsets the number of users will increase exponentially so that almost everyone will know at least a few people that have FaceTime compatible devices.

Major Hurdles

Despite the exciting outlook for the future of face to face communication, there are plenty of roadblocks to this video calling future, the first of which is the final step towards ubiquity (I promise that’s the last time I’ll use that word).

Currently FaceTime only works over Wifi (or 3G via Jailbreak). This is understandable as AT&T simply isn’t ready for the kind of boost in data transfer that would result from thousands of video calls being made every minute. Until this barrier is overcome, it will be far easier to stick to good old voice calls simply because you can make them from anywhere while you can only make FaceTime calls at home or in a place generous enough to offer free Wifi.

Perhaps the biggest hurdle is simply cultural. For most people not engaging in daily business-related video chats, it’s a little bit of an awkward experience. It’s a strange and new medium and we’re unsure as to the proper etiquette. Do we look the other person in the eyes on our screen or stare into the camera? Should I video call for casual conversations or only important topics that merit face to face interaction? When is it acceptable to video chat in public? Will the other person be annoyed if I ask to video chat with them?

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This is bound to get awkward.

Because of unspoken and perhaps even sub-conscious questions like these, video chatting is likely to remain a novelty for many people for years to come. In fact, the recent trend in communication has been more towards basic and impersonal rather than richer and more intimate. Where we used to make calls for quick questions or statements to a friend, most of us now fire off a text message. People are busy and will likely always show a preference for quick and easy over awkward and formal.

What Do You Think?

What say you? Will FaceTime remain a nerd-only affair, loved by Apple nerds and ignored by the rest of the world? Will simpler forms of communication like text messaging triumph over formal face-to-face interactions? Will the iPod Nano ever get FaceTime so I can have a real Dick Tracy watch?

Let us know your thoughts on all this in the comments below!