Category: I-phone

Too lazy to play a game on your iPhone? Then get a robot to do it for you. A clever inventor from the Netherlands, StijntjheYT, created a small Arduino robot to tap on the screen and play Coin Dozer in his absence. It’s a mindless game that’s perfect for a robot.

[Via BoingBoing]

Robot plays iPhone games originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 12 Jul 2011 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ZooKeeper DX is a game that’s appeared in quite a few forms — it was a big game at the Nintendo DS’ launch back in the day, and has since appeared online in Flash form (though how official that is, I’m not sure). But the game by Japanese developer Kiteretsu has now arrived on the App Store, and it’s emerged as a cute, if not very complicated, match-3 title.

This gameplay should be old hat to you by now: Click the animals to switch them around, and try to match up three of a kind. But where ZooKeeper sticks out is its style — the cute pixelated animals are really fun to look at and play around with, and a power-up that will mark out where your matches are is also well-done.

There are two modes to play through, though they don’t offer much other than just the match goals you have to meet. It’s true — match-3 gameplay has changed quite a bit since this game first appeared (see the Puzzle Quest series for my favorite version of it), and ZooKeeper doesn’t really take advantage of those innovations.

But it’s still fun, and Game Center integration as well as future updates (there’s already been one big one to fix a big technical bug with the screen) are added incentive. The title is available at a launch price of US $1.99, and you can get two bucks out of this one pretty easily, especially if you’re a match-3 fan.

TUAW’s Daily iPhone App: ZooKeeper DX Touch Edition originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 12 Jul 2011 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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According to J.P. Morgan analyst Mark Moskowitz, Apple stock remains a strong buy and has “plenty of gas in the tank” for a continued increase in price, even with recent recent volatility.

In a note to clients early Tuesday, Moskowitz said he expects Apple to beat both his estimates and the Wall Street consensus when it reports its third quarter of fiscal 2011 results next week. He attributed the stock’s recent fluctuations to the change in investor expectations as a result of “iPhone 5 vs. iPhone 4-plus soothsaying and the speculation over iPad 2 shortages.”

According to the analyst, concerns of shortages are “overdone,” as the firm’s research indicates that “most Apple stores are fully sourced.” He also pointed to the recent shift in Apple’s lead times for the iPad 2 from 1-2 weeks to 3-5 days as evidence that the company’s supply woes have improved.

Source: iPad 2 sales rebound expected to show Apple stock still has ‘gas in the tank’

You’ve already seen this in numerous apps.  Images that can be dragged by holding, enlarged, shrunken and rotated with the pinch gesture.  All that being said, if you’re new to programming UIGestureRecognizers this can be a somewhat difficult task.

I’ve found a tutorial demonstrating how to easily include this functionality that is immensely useful for many different kinds of photo apps.

There is also an excellent sample project included.

The tutorial is from Roger Chapman and can be found here:
iOS Image Manipulation with UIGestureRecognizer: scale, move, rotate

Tremendously useful code if you are ever making any sort of photo manipulation app.

[via Alex Curylo]

©2011 iPhone, iOS 4, iPad SDK Development Tutorial and Programming Tips. All Rights Reserved.

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As a user it can be extremely frustrating if you’re using an application and you have to wait an extended period of time while the application updates.

Sadly this was pretty common when the app store was new.  The devices were slower, the networks were slower, and many apps weren’t using multi-threading in places they probably should have.  I remember becoming frustrated many times using an RSS reader, waiting for the article list to update, and then waiting again for the article to display.

Thankfully Apple introduced Grand Central Dispatch (GCD) with iOS 4.0.

Multithreaded programming with GCD can still be intimidating.  I’ve found a great step-by-step guide which breaks things down into a step by step guide explaining things fully every step of the process of downloading data asynchronously and updating in real time.

The tutorial is from Ray Wenderlich And Can Be Found Here:
Multithreading And Grand Central Dispatch On iOS For Beginners Tutorial

An excellent example of a tutorial that makes a complicated subject seem so simple.

©2011 iPhone, iOS 4, iPad SDK Development Tutorial and Programming Tips. All Rights Reserved.

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As iPhones and smartphones with video cameras are more widely adopted, clashes between citizens and police over video recording of police encounters have become increasingly common.

The question of whether it is appropriate, both legally and ethically, to record a police officer on duty remains a topic of debate.

Many cases involve a citizen recording a situation where police are publicly performing their duties, followed by an altercation between the camera-wielding citizen and the police officer who is uncomfortable being recorded.

Recent cases in the United States where citizens have gotten into trouble for recording police include:

1. When a woman in Rochester, New York this June used her iPod to record a traffic stop while standing on her own property, the police officer making the stop arrested her and charged her with obstruction of governmental administration.
2. When a Newark, New Jersey teenager recorded video of police coming to the aid of a man who collapsed on a bus, she was handcuffed by officers and charged with obstruction of justice.
3. When Miami Beach Police surrounded an unarmed reckless driver this June and shot him to death, a citizen who recorded the incident had his cellphone allegedly smashed by police.
4. When a speeding motorcyclist’s helmet camera captured a traffic stop by an undercover police officer brandishing a gun and failing to promptly identify himself, the Maryland State Police Department showed up at the man’s house days later, seizing several laptops and cameras and slapping him with a “wiretapping” charge that could have resulted in a 16 year prison sentence.

Is It Legal to Record Video of Police Encounters?

Most charges against citizens who record police are eventually dropped since there is no law in the United States forbidding the recording of police encounters.

Just as a citizen has no right to privacy in a public setting, neither does a police officer doing their duty in public. As long as you are not interfering with the police, it is generally considered your First Amendment right to record incidents that occur in public.

Nevertheless, because smartphones with cameras are being adopted so rapidly, the technology is outpacing the law and police who seldom used to encounter citizens with video cameras are often taken aback and respond inappropriately.

Citizen as Watchdog: Recording Police is Good for Democracy

While many police are responsible public servants, I believe citizens with smartphones can act as a check on police abuse and misconduct when it occurs.

My first impression of this “citizen watchdog” phenomenon occurred in 2007 when a student at my alma mater was tasered at a question-and-answer session with John Kerry for behaving obnoxiously – albeit harmlessly.

Because an audience member recorded the incident and put it on YouTube, the public was able to see the confrontation, and judge for themselves whether the police acted inappropriately.

The iPhone did not have a video camera at the time, but in a post on the taser incident, I anticipated that an iPhone with a video camera could be a powerful tool for democracy because of its ability to record such incidents.

Is It Okay to Record Police With Your iPhone: Yes or No?

What do you think? Should the right of a citizen to record a police officer in public be preserved, or is it an obstruction of justice to record an officer on duty?

Feel free to share your opinion in the comments.

Do You Have the Right to Record Cellphone Video of Police Encounters? is a post from Apple iPhone Review.

ALK Technologies today released a completely new iPhone Navigation app called CoPilot Live Premium. It’s quite full-featured, yet for this week, the app is offered at the low price of US$9.99.

Here’s a rundown of features. The maps are self-contained, which I think is required for the most reliable performance. Maps can be displayed in either 2D or 3D. A text-to-speech function includes street names and a choice of voices. You can set speed limits to get warnings when you exceed posted limits, and lane indicators help you navigate complicated intersections.

There are nice little touches too, like walking directions, a car finder to show you where you parked, and up to 3 alternate routes to choose from when choosing a destination.

The CoPilot app offers add-ons, like Active traffic at $9.99 a year, and fuel price information at $4.99 a year. The traffic service seems a little pricey, since it costs the same as the whole app on sale, but it is in line with some of the competition. Navigon, for example, offers traffic for $19.99, but it is a lifetime subscription and much less costly in the long run.

Using this heavily revised CoPilot app was a good experience. I found the GUI to be responsive, and the on screen GUI is much better looking that the old CoPilot app. Maps were detailed, the voices were clear, and there was a choice of voices. I preferred British English, which somehow made me feel a bit classier as I drove around my dusty neighborhoods in Southern Arizona.

One thing I didn’t like were the constant warnings when I clicked on some feature that was an in-app purchase I hadn’t bought. I’ve written before that I am increasingly unhappy with apps that need a lot of extra purchases to make them fully functional. At the very least, I’d like to see companies offer a low bundle price if you add everything that is available.

Comparing this app to my favorite Navigon app here’s my verdict: The maps are much improved from the old CoPilot app, and the screen controls are more intuitive. I’d put it on a par with Navigon. Voice quality is about the same on both. Navigon USA offers Google search, while CoPilot offers Bing. Navigon feels a bit more polished, but, at least during the CoPilot sale, Navigon USA is $40.00 more expensive.

CoPilot Live Premium will return to $24.99 when the sale ends in 7 days. That’s still less costly than Navigon, but when you factor in a lifetime traffic subscription and the ability to add 3D terrain maps on Navigon, the comparisons get more complicated. Navigon also offers the Zagat guide as an in-app purchase for $7.99, and warnings for speed cameras at $4.99. There is a competitive product from TomTom at $49.99 as well, plus several others.

Because CoPilot Live Premium is a new app from the ground up, there is no upgrade path or discount offered to owners of the older CoPilot products. CoPilot Live Premium doesn’t replace the older products; instead, it stands alongside them, at least for now. ALK has come a long way with its GPS iPhone product line. If you jump at the sale price, it is a full-featured tool that will satisfy most of your navigation needs. Even at the full retail price, it is a completely competitive product.

You can see some CoPilot screen shots in the gallery, and feel free to let us know your experiences and your thoughts on iPhone navigation apps in general.

CoPilot Live Premium is a very competitive nav program at a low price originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 12 Jul 2011 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The awesome monstrosity you see above is the iDJ Live, a set of two turntables and a control panel that also serves as a dock for your iPad. The device is manufactured and sold by famous DJ supplier Numark, and it features the ones and the twos, a cross fader, and a hookup to any sort of sound system you want. Obviously it’s set up for the iPad, but it works with the iPhone as well.

The device works with the djay app available in the App Store for both devices, and it’s only $100, surprisingly inexpensive for what it offers. We haven’t gotten hands on it yet, but if you’re an aspiring iPad DJ who could use something a little more tactile than the iPad’s touch screen, this might be just the thing.

Roll the wheels of steel with iDJ Live originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 12 Jul 2011 05:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Conventional wisdom says iOS is slowly chipping away at more traditional gaming devices like portable and home consoles, with even Nintendo admitting that Apple’s handhelds are competition. But that role may be a little overstated, according to a new survey. Resolve Market Research found that after buying a tablet like the iPad, the percentage of customers who say they won’t bother buying a portable gaming console or a traditional home console is falling, meaning that more people are thinking about owning a tablet and owning a completely separate device meant just for gaming.

As we’ve heard from elsewhere, laptops are the main target for tablet owners in terms of gaming, with dedicated e-readers also losing out to tablet devices for that function. But portable consoles like the Nintendo 3DS and Sony’s upcoming PS Vita may have more of a life after iPad than previously thought. That doesn’t mean that people aren’t playing games on their tablets — games are still one of the biggest categories in the App Store. Rather, it means that game time on the iPad isn’t necessarily coming out of game time already being used up on traditional devices.

Although this is just one survey, it’ll be interesting to see how free time and gaming attention gets divided up as people settle down into life with the iPad and other tablet devices. Traditional consoles may be more focused than all-purpose tablets, but that doesn’t mean tablet users don’t want to play games or be entertained sometimes.

Survey: iOS not taking much gaming audience from gaming consoles originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 12 Jul 2011 00:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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