Category: I-phone

Things are fine in Denmark, but they’re rotten in Greece.

Dr. Dimitrios Papadimitriadis (@papadimi on Twitter) was disturbed by some dark spots on his iMac’s display, so he took it to Systemgraph (AKA System Graph Technologies), Apple’s official warranty support provider in Greece. Systemgraph recommended that the iMac LCD panel be replaced, and that the entire computer receive a good cleaning inside and out.

When Papadimitriadis picked up his iMac a few days later, he was dismayed to find that not only was the LCD panel still defective, but there was evidence of moisture behind the screen. The good doctor took advantage of some verbiage in the Greek Civil Code and demanded a refund or replacement of his iMac, which was still under warranty. Systemgraph refused, saying that he had not purchased the iMac from them. Papadimitriadis says he was following Apple’s warranty repair procedures to the letter.

With no help forthcoming from Systemgraph, Papadimitriadis even went to a consumer ombudsman to begin the lengthy process of gaining some sort of resolution. Becoming a bit frustrated, Papadimitriadis posted a note about his experience on a forum (translation here). He didn’t say anything particularly bad about Systemgraph in the forum, but simply described the situation.

The response from Systemgraph? They sued him for €200,000 (about US$267,000), claiming that he had damaged the company’s reputation. The company is saying that now that this situation has begun showing up on Twitter and Apple websites, there’s “an organised attempt to slander and insult” Systemgraph’s name.

After all of the public relations damage that Systemgraph has done to itself, it might be a lot less expensive to just replace the iMac. There’s a hearing on January 19th for the two parties. Good luck, Dr. Papadimitriadis. And Apple might want to take a look at how warranty work is done in those countries where the company doesn’t provide their own support.

Apple’s Greek support provider sues customer for hurting its feelings originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 03 Jan 2011 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A report circulating over the holiday weekend suggests Verizon is buying up Verizon iPhone-related domain names in anticipation of an impending CDMA iPhone launch. The domain names, iphoneonverizon.com and iphoneforverizon.com, were transferred to Verizon Wireless Trademark Services, LLC, a company that also holds the main Verizonwireless.com domain.

While hopes are high that Apple and Verizon will unveil a new iPhone model in the upcoming months, the purchase of a few domain names is not a reliable indicator of an impending launch. As MacRumors points out, the domain names in question, iphoneonverizon.com and iphoneforverizon.com, were transferred to Verizon Wireless back in 2008, but have sat idle in the intervening years. Rather than a dummy page at Verizon, the domains apparently still point to the original link farms. If Verizon had big plans for these domains, they most likely would not point to a worthless link farm.

In the end, this rumor does little to confirm or deny the existence of an upcoming Verizon iPhone. We do think a Verizon iPhone is possible in the future, but we need more evidence than a few domain names to convince us that its debut is right around the corner. Show us a CDMA model you picked up in a bar and then we can have this conversation again.

Verizon grabbing iPhone domains originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 03 Jan 2011 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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BarMax, the US$1000 iPhone app to help law students pass the bar exam, has made its way to the iPad. The California edition of the popular bar exam prep software is now available on the App Store. BarMax for the iPad is designed to take advantage of the larger screen real estate of the iPad by offering an outline layout of course content, a redesigned multiple choice section and the ability to highlight text, add notes and bookmark pages.

The BarMax app may cost a pricey $999.99, but its 1 GB of data softens the financial blow. Customers receive two months of lecture material, thousands of pages of documentation in electronic format, sample MBE questions, sample essay exams, flash cards and a built-in calendar and task list to help them study. Once a student purchases the app, he or she has lifetime access to the course materials and a direct connection with Harvard-educated lawyers who will field any questions. The primary competitor to BarMax is BARBRI, another bar exam preparatory company that lets customers add a $295 iPhone option to its $3,000-$4,000 traditional paper and computer-based course.

$1,000 bar exam prep BarMax app now available on iPad originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 03 Jan 2011 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple stock (AAPL) has hit a new all time intra-day high by a mile rising 7.25 percent as of about 11 AM. At last look it’s sitting at $329.81 and is happily ringing in the new year on the first day of 2011 trading.

It may be totally coincidental, our old friend Gene Munster, analyst for Piper Jaffray has announced a few predictions for 2011. The first non-surprise is that he (and just about everyone else) believes that the iPhone will come to Verizon, but he thinks it won’t be until the March quarter with a 95 percent probability. I think he’s betting low on that one. He gives a 90 percent probability to iTunes offering a cloud-based service, and an 80 percent probability that cell phone providers will begin subsidizing 3G iPads, since this is presently happening in other countries, so why not here?

Gene also has some predictions that he considers rock-solid, including new laptops coming soon, and a refresh of the Mac Pro in the first half of the year along with new iMacs in the second half of 2011. The iPhone 5 will rear its head this summer (I’d bet the house on that one), and the iPad 2, if that’s what it winds up being called, will flower in the Spring. Another no-brainer will be that new iPods will be out in the Fall, but then again, new iPods are always out in the Fall.

[via The Mac Observer]

Apple stock hits a new intra-day all time high and Gene Munster weighs in originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 03 Jan 2011 11:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It seems like whenever somebody decides to become an iOS developer, the first thing they do is come out with a new Twitter client. Twitter clients were the fart apps of 2010. As a result, most of the time when word of a new Twitter client appears in my inbox, I trash the email without even looking.

Trickle (US$0.99) is refreshingly different. It does just one thing, and it does it very well: it displays the latest tweets of people you’re following in bold white Helvetica letters on a black background. That’s it. You can’t use the app to respond or come up with your own clever tweets; you just read ’em as they come in. Developer Caleb Thorson refers to the app as a “passive Twitter client.”

For consuming tweets, Trickle is awesome. It’s easy to read tweets at a glance, and if you’re busy, that’s a perfect way to keep up with what’s happening without being tempted to blast out your own opinion. Trickle is orientation-blind and looks good in portrait or landscape on iPhone or iPad.

There are two buttons that appear on the Trickle screen that give you an outlet to retweet or favorite a tweet. See something that’s witty, interesting, or useful? Tap the retweet button (r) and get back to business. Read a tweet that is the best thing you’ve seen in years? Tap favorite (f).

Continue reading Trickle: A Twitter client with a refreshing difference

Trickle: A Twitter client with a refreshing difference originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 03 Jan 2011 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Quick — you’re watching House, M.D. with a friend and he suddenly complains of lightheadedness and heart palpitations, then passes out on your couch. Is it a common atrial fibrillation, or is it a third-degree atrioventricular block needing emergency atropine and an electrical pacer?

Soon, assuming you’re either a medical professional skilled in electrocardiography or you play one on TV, you’ll be able to make the differential diagnosis using just an iPhone 4 and the AliveCor iPhonECG.

The iPhonECG is a sleek, low power case that turns the iPhone 4 into a wireless, clinical quality cardiac event recorder. It was invented by Dr. David Albert, a self-described “serial entrepreneur and inventor who happens to be an engineer and a physician with 30 years in cardiology.” Dr. Albert sold his last company, Data Critical, to GE Medical Systems, where he then worked as Chief Scientist of GE Cardiology.

Albert’s goal was to make heart monitoring affordable both for chronic heart patients and third world caregivers. Instead of devices costing tens of thousands, he wanted to make a device anyone could afford.

Continue reading iPhonECG turns your iPhone 4 into an affordable cardiac event monitor

iPhonECG turns your iPhone 4 into an affordable cardiac event monitor originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 03 Jan 2011 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Is there a better way to start a new year than to get an innovative new case for your iPhone 4?

Bioserie recently sent TUAW two of their iPhone 4 cases to review and give away to our readers. As you know, we get a lot of different iPhone and iPad cases to test, so what makes these different? It’s that they’re not made out of petroleum-based plastics like most of the other cases we receive. Instead, the Bioserie cases are made of bioplastics derived from plants.

The company does a very good job of using environmentally friendly materials in their packaging of the cases as well. The cardboard box is made of 100 percent recycled materials printed with soy inks, and the plastic “window” of the box is also made of bioplastic.

The cases we received are rather simple in design, but they do a good job of protecting the back glass and sides of an iPhone 4 while allowing easy access to the ports and buttons. The case snaps onto the iPhone 4 in a flash and can also be removed for cleaning. There is a texture to the Bioserie cases that makes them less slippery than some cases I’ve reviewed.

Continue reading Bioserie bioplastic iPhone 4 cases: Review and giveaway

Bioserie bioplastic iPhone 4 cases: Review and giveaway originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 03 Jan 2011 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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I have to admit that I never played Super Blast, but the sequel has entertained me for a little while now. It’s a straight-up shooter game with a nice, easy control scheme. All you do is tilt your device to aim and shoot, and you can occasionally tap the screen to clear it with a bomb. It’s a tried-and-true premise, and it works well. My one complaint is that it’s hard sometimes to tell how your ship is doing and/or when the enemies are actually taking damage. On bosses with large amounts of health, you usually have to just fall back on watching the numbers, and that’s a little more boring than it could be.

The game’s power-ups are quite fun, and the graphics are excellent, featuring almost whimsical 3D alien models with extremely high resolutions that look excellent on the Retina Display. There are plenty of particle effects to go around, and when you do it just right, cutting through the well-rendered bad guys is really satisfying. Game Center integration helps you keep the fight going as well.

Super Blast 2 is just US$0.99 on the App Store right now, and while it’s somewhat simple, it’s definitely worth a download.

TUAW’s Daily App: Super Blast 2 originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 03 Jan 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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From a tweet by MuscleNerd, it looks like GeoHot may surprise us once again because he has an untethered jailbreak exploit for iOS 4.2.1. Before that GeoHot made a surprise come back and released Limera1n jailbreak for iOS 4.1.

ipodguy79 Tweeted: @sherif_hashim @MuscleNerd @iphone_dev @chpwn keep up with your soap opera and geo will be slapping another reality check on you
MuscleNerd responded: I hear geohot does have an untether actually! Though not for all devices.

In such a painful time of RedSn0w betas, it would sure be nice to have any other untethered jailbreak for iOS 4.2.1. Share your thoughts in the comments section below. [via iphonedownloadblog]

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Thanks to Chad from Shacked we have 10 promo codes forFlickpad to give away. Here is how Chad describes Flickpad:

It makes keeping up with the latest photos your friends and family are posting on Facebook and Flickr really fun and really fast. Flickpad makes extensive use of multi-touch, so make sure to check out the in-app help menu and feel free to experiment with different touches, taps, and pinches. Flickpad was not designed as a general purpose photo management app, ‘organize last’ remember, so please keep that in mind in deciding if Flickpad is for you.

If you would like a promo code leave a comment and we will select the winners on Friday.

John Paczkowski from All Things Digital has cited a report that analysts are forecasting that tablet sales will rise more that 226% to 54 million. The analysts say of those 54 million 67% will be claimed by Apple. This is great news for Apple and the tablet PC but not such great news for desktop PCs.

You can read the entire article here.

We’d like to say a big thank you to this month’s iPhone.AppStorm sponsors, and the great software they create! If you’re interested in advertising, you can order a slot through BuySellAds.

You could also consider a Quick Look submission, an easy way to showcase your app to all our readers.

Billings Touch – Billings’ simple workflow and intuitive interface makes quoting, invoicing, and time tracking effortless.

Cretouch – Dress your device with Creative Touch, a series of delightfully designed iPhone cases and protective covers in a wide range of styles.

Remote Tiger – Mobilize your idea with Remote Tiger. Our mobile architects are industry veterans with extensive knowledge across technologies and industry domains. Tell us where you want to go, and we will tell you how to get there most efficiently.

pTracker, LLC – Powerful, Portable, Personal News Discovery Tools for Mobile Professionals.

Ideas to Apps – A complete step-by-step guide on how to create a killer design and outsource the development at a price you can afford.

FormEntry – Create native form based apps for the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. No coding required.

Haypi kingdom – Haypi Kingdom is a massive multiplayer online iPhone game set in the middle ages. You will be a general managing a kingdom in a strategic game – boosting resource production, adventuring in extensive wild land, reaping legendary treasures, equipping your troops with advanced abilities and battling against other players – with the ultimate goal of becoming the strongest kingdom in the ancient world.

SpeedTask – SpeedTask is a smart To-Do App for your iPhone and iPod touch. It comes with a beautiful interface that is easy to use and which lets you manage your daily tasks in seconds.

iPhone 4 and – The best collection of iPhone 4 cases, full body protection and skin protectors.

You-Wish for iPhone – You-Wish is an application for managing your wish list from your iPhone. You can add and sync your wishes including photos to a wish list online, which you can share with your friends and family.

Abuzz – Track Online Buzz to Protect your Business, Reputation, Brand & Image by Monitoring Social Media Sites through out the Internet.

KitchenPad Timer – KitchenPad Timer is a simple but elegant application that can be used to manage multiple timers for both your stove-top and oven. Includes 4 stove-top timers and 4 oven timers. The convenient timer displays give you all the critical timer info at-a-glance.

Talking Pals-Daisy the Cow – MOOO .. Cows rarely open their mouth but Daisy is a non-stop talking cow that resides in your iPhone. Daisy responds to your voice and gestures; Talk to her and she will repeat whatever you say, poke her on her ears & foot she will be surprised but don’t overdo it or she will become real angry and finally, you can tickle her to make her laugh.

Localscope – Localscope is your social data powered GPS tool. Always know where you are and what’s around you with Localscope! Search & discover places around you with information from multiple geo search engines & social networks: Google, Bing, Foursquare, Twitter, Wikimapia.

Would You Me? – Would You Me? is a FREE social networking app that allows you to meet people, advertise, sell your items and get public opinion and feedback.

I panted, out of breath as I chased the leprechaun through the forest.  He was quick, but I had to be quicker- for if I was, he would lead me to the pot-o’-gold at the end of the rainbow.  And then with a lunge, I caught the little man by the belt and held him down.  His green eyes showed that he knew he’d been beaten as they looked up at me from ‘neath fiery red eyebrows.  Dejected, he reached into his pouch and produced  a small note.  It was then that I realized that his was not the traditional pot-o’-gold, but rather the rainbow itself as a treasure; on the note was written a name- the secret source of the leprechaun’s rainbow.  I read it carefully and it simply said: ColorSchemer Touch.

I let the man go and he was off with a scurry.  I pulled out my iphone and immediately opened the AppStore to “ColorSchemer Touch”.  What a treasure it was!  So many colors, so many choices, and so much to do!  I could find other people’s palettes filled with greens, blues, purples and more!  I could create my own palettes from color wheels, spectrums and even photos.  And this is what I found…

Explore

It’s all about palettes- groups of related colors that help to provide a consistant look-and-feel to your project.  Many visual designers out there are probably already familiar with the many uses for colourlovers.com and their online tools, but if you’re not, then go ahead and check out that link before reading on…

colourlovers.com

As soon as you start up ColorSchemer Touch, you’ll see a screen full of colorful palettes pulled right from the Colourlovers database.  You can quickly scroll down to explore, or use the search bar to find palettes matching a descriptive word such as “winter” or “fire”.

Palettes and Searching

Create

The sheer volume of color schemes available from the Colourlovers community can be overwhelming itself, but don’t stop there!  By tapping the “+” button in the upper right-hand corner, you get ushered into a new section that allows you to create your own custom palettes.  It’s almost like waking up to find that your house has been sucked up by a tornado and landed in the magical (and colorful) land of Oz!  Lucky for us however, the developers have NOT included singing munchkins nor flying monkeys in ColorSchemer.

The first color creation page allows you to build a palette using a “Color Wheel”.  Just tap the space in the color bar at the top to pick a new color or drag an existing color off of the bar to remove it.  There is also a button in the lower left-hand corner that will bring up an RGB panel for custom color value modifications.

Color Wheel

The “LiveSchemes” screen shows a different and somewhat more controllable color wheel.  You can touch the “+” button to add new colors, and manipulate all of the colors in unison, keeping their relative values.

LiveSchemes

The next screen is one of my favorites!  With it, you can either take a new photo, or choose one from your phone’s photo galleries.  You can then take that photo and derive any number of color schemes from it!  A magnifying glass appears as you drag your finger over the image, helping you to pick a color with great accuracy.  I love this!

PhotoSchemer

And finally, the “Spectrum” screen let’s you select your colors from a traditional color spectrum box.  Once again, you just slide around picking the shade and tone that you need.

Spectrum

When your palette is complete, you can save it, giving it a Title, Description and relevant Tags.  When you’re done filling in the information, hit “done” and your colors will be saved in the app and, if you log in with a Colourlovers account, it will be saved to your profile as well.

Save Palette

Interact

The ColorSchemer Touch integration with Colourlovers community allows you to not only share your own palettes with others, but also to view, favorite, and comment on theirs.  The information displayed on each palette’s profile page includes statistics about that palette, the option to share it via email or save it to your camera roll, and my particular favorite- the names and values of each color within the palette.  Tap on the section where the color names are listed, and it changes to their Hex and then RGB values respectively.  This alone makes the app worthwhile for any color-creatives out there!

Interact

Summary

ColorSchemer Touch is an incredible union between the online colourlovers.com resources and community, and the power and convenience of the iPhone.  In the limited time that I’ve had the app, it’s already been not only fun to use, but greatly helpful to me as well.  If you have any use for full palettes, or even just individual colors, this app is the perfect one to get the job done!  It’s easy to use and full of features to suit practically any color need on the go!

In this Quick Look, we’re highlighting Arloy. The developer describes Arloy as a powerful instrument magnificently planned that allows you to see weather information of your current location with your iPhone, in a completely automatic fashion. When your iPhone is connected to the power cable the display will stay on, transforming your phone into a fantastic desk or bedside clock!

The UI boasts a new animation system – never seen on iPhone before

Read on for more information and screenshots!

Screenshots

Arlo

About the App

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

• Brilliant animations
• 3 Themes to choose from to personalize the App (Black, Led and Balloons)
• Quick Share button (to update your status on Facebook or Twitter directly from the App and to enter the contest*)
• Detailed and precise weather information, automatically updated and with a five day forecast
• Connect your iPhone to the power and thanks to Arloy it will turn into a fantastic desktop or bedside clock

Requirements: iOS 4

Price: 0.99

Developer: Command Guru

Vote for a Review

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

Would you like to see Arlo reviewed in-depth on AppStorm?online surveys

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.

How do you interact with your TV? Wouldn’t it be nice to touch it and feel it. Wouldn’t it be nice to pan through the TV listings using only the swipe of a finger. Wouldn’t it be nice to control your TV from the same device that you use to browse the web or check email from. Well with the help of the new Xfinity TV app from Comcast, you can do all that and more.

The Xfinity TV app makes it easy to interact with your Comcast cable boxes (check your box eligibility). Scroll through a listing of available shows and with the push of a button you can wirelessly change the channel from your iPhone or iPad. No more fighting over the remote or wondering where you had it last. Sort, Browse, Watch, and more.

Sort & Browse

Scroll through your TV channel listings to find the show you want

The Xfinity app makes it incredibly easy to find the shows you’re looking for. Connect it with your Comcast account and instantly it will find the connected cable boxes in your house. It will then download a listing of upcoming shows and movies for your area. Swipe up and down, left and right, to find the show you’re looking for at the specific time your looking for. Use the search bar in the app to instantly find when the next episode of your favorite series is playing. You can even see what episode is playing and read a short synopsis of the movie or TV show.

Filter your listing to movies, TV shows, and sports content, making it really easy to find the program you want to watch

Select the “Filter By” option to help find content to watch. Change your selection to only show HD content, only movies, only sports, or only kids shows. It’s never been easier to find content to watch. Once you find the show or movie you want to watch, tap “Watch channel” and it will play on the selected cable box. It’s as simple as that. Take your iPhone or iPad with you into each room and switch boxes with the push of a button. No need for a fancy universal remote.

Record

For select cable boxes that support DVR recording, this app will be a godsend. With Remote DVR scheduling, you can make sure that you never miss an episode again. Just open the app on your iPhone and tap Record. The Record Series option makes it easy to always stay up-to-date on new episodes. Great when you’re stuck in traffic or have to stay late at the office. Start recording and have it waiting for you when you get home.

What’s coming soon

Comcast also has a section of what they call “On Demand” content that you can start watching on your TV at anytime. Comcast has been heavily beefing up their On Demand section, which gives you thousands of movies and TV shows to watch, in order to compete with online services like Hulu and Netflix. With the latest launch of Xfinity.tv, which is a site which lets Comcast members watch On Demand content from their computer, it is clear what their plan for the Xfinity.tv app with be. Comcast will likely bring their large selection of movies and tv shows onto the iPhone and iPad with the ability to watch them directly from your mobile device.

At the moment, selecting On Demand content from the Xfinity app will only let you play the content on your TV, but this could change soon. Video streaming from their iPhone app could position Comcast alongside Hulu Plus and Netflix in offering content for Mobile devices. At the moment however, you can only use your Xfinity.tv app as a remote for On Demand and a digital TV Guide. iPad users will soon be able to watch live TV shows on their iPad in the middle of December, according to Comcast’s support site. Meaning you’ll be able to use your iPad as your own personal television. I would imagine that this will also be when users will be able to stream On Demand content.

Conclusion

Xfinity is definitely a worthwhile app for Comcast Subscribes, despite the lack of on-device video streaming. The controls and scrolling through channels are smooth and responsive, even when in low bandwidth areas. The search feature makes it easy to find upcoming movies and shows. We’ll have to wait a while to see how smooth the live video plays on the iPad and if they also decide to allow it over 3G or not.

Your TV remote is going to be so jealous.