Mobile Apple Me

Section: Software + Apps, Miscellaneous, Third-Party, iPod + iTunes, iPod touch, iPod Accessories, Cases, iPhone, iPhone, iPhone SDK & Apps, Mac + Computers, Software, Features

Black Friday is over, and if you did things properly, you stayed at home and did all of your shopping online. If not, and you’re trying to waste time at work by finding the deals you missed amongst the masses Friday, we’ve got a handy roundup of Apple related Cyber Monday specials right here. The Mac, iPhone and iPod are covered, including deals that have carried over from Friday.

Macintosh

• To celebrate the festive season, Disk Doctors has announced a never before 30% Discount on their Mac Recovery products. Starting with Thanksgiving, this limited period offer runs through the Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Green Tuesday, November 26th 2009 through December 2nd 2009. Enter Coupon Code: DISK-XRI5 during checkout to save 30% on any product, including Mac Recovery and Mac Photo Recovery.
• Encouraging Mac users to get a grip on their 2009 finances and a jump on 2010, IGG Software today announced a Instant Rebate on iBank, its flagship personal finance software. The company’s new “Why Wait For 2010?” rebate offer is good through December 31, 2009, exclusively for purchases made at IGG’s online store. The new, streamlined Instant Rebate is available to all new purchasers of iBank.
• Until Monday, November 30th, Nisus is offering Nisus Writer Express, their affordable, easy to use word processor, for the low price of $39 (regular price $45) for the full version, $26 (regular price $30) for the upgrade. They are also offering Nisus Writer Pro, their powerful word processor, for only $69 for the full version (regular price $79) and $39 for the upgrade (regular price $45). CD versions of Pro are available for an additional $10 plus shipping. They will also be selling the Nisus Writer Pro printed manual for $20 plus shipping. No coupons needed, just go to their store and purchase.
• You’ve got recipes of all kinds—some belonging to your great-grandmother and some from your favorite online source—each one personal, each one special. Now you can take them all and easily create a cookbook for yourself or for family and friends. Using the Cookbook Builder in MacGourmet Deluxe, you can create a full-color cover, index pages, full-color divider pages and text pages. To help make your cookbook even more special, Mariner is offering a 30% discount; until November 30th, you can buy MacGourmet Deluxe for 34.95.
• Daniel Schwill has announced a Black Friday Special for Tables, the easy way to spreadsheets on Mac OS X. Purchasers can receive 40% off by using the coupon code “thanks09” when they purchase a Tables license from November 27 till November 30. Tables enables you to organise and present data very simply. Create visually attractive invoices, lists or reports and even add some photos, PDF documents and charts to present your data with great visual impact.

iPhone / iPod apps

• To celebrate the imminent arrival of Low Grav Racer 2, Cobra Mobile is dropping the price of all its iPhone and iPod Touch Games to 59p/99c for the next week. If you haven’t already enjoyed the originality and addictiveness of a Cobra game, then now’s the time to buy and try. Cobra’s amazing games include Low Grav Racer, iBomber, Fore by Cobra, Numba, Dam Buster, Zombie Chav Hunt, Dots and Mouse About. This very special time limited offer starts26th November.
• Dramatic Applications today announced they are offering Pilates for Pregnancy iPhone Apps for 50% off from Tuesday November 24th through Cyber Monday, November 30th. This not only gives modified Pilates exercises for every trimester of your pregnancy but it is also a complete pregnancy planner. It includes checklists for a healthy pregnancy, notes pages with questions to help you keep track of everything going on during this exciting time as well as a pregnancy photo album.
• Freeverse has dropped the prices of two of their all-time favorite iPhone and iPod Touch games, SlotZ Racer and Burning Monkey Casino, to 99¢ for the next week. SlotZ Racer is the ultimate slot car racing game for the hobby enthusiast and racing game fan alike. Players race against the computer or friends on fun and challenging courses. Burning Monkey Casino features seven classic Casino games in one stylish, exciting app. Taking advantage of the iPhone and iPod Touch’s unique capabilities, players can swipe the Money Wheel, scratch off the lottery ticket, or tilt their device to win big at Pachinko.

iPhone / iPod Accessories

• Incipio’s Black Friday / Cyber Monday Extravaganza starts Nov. 27th 12:00am to Nov. 30th, 11:59pm. $5 off select iPhone 3G/3GS cases. $10 off MacBook Air orion case. Deals cannot be combined with any other offer. Free domestic USPS shipping. They’re also offering 30% off all Star Wars and Paul Frank products, plus free shipping. Use coupon code pfsw001.
• Proporta would like to give you a helping hand on Cyber Monday. If you didn’t manage to get all your shopping finished Friday, they are offering another 20% discount on Monday. To receive this discount, simply enter the promotion code MONDAY20 in the box on the cart page when you order.
• Not a deal, but a giveaway. All orders placed at speckproducts.com through November 30th will be entered to win hand-picked Holiday Prize Packages! Five winners a day will be mailed some incredible stocking stuffers, with prizes worth over $100 each. Speck will send out one each of five PrizePacks each day, including an Apple iPod nano 8GB (with a PixelSkin Case), a two Zip and SkinPro Cases, various laptop bags and packs, five hand-picked Speck iPhone 3G cases, and more. Place your order at www.speckproducts.com and be entered to win daily.

Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Section: iPhone, iPhone Accessories, iPhone, Reviews

Provides: Shock absorption and screen protection
Developer: Otterbox
Compatibility: iPhone 3G or 3GS
Price: $29.95 - $34.95

First impressions are everything, and the OtterBox Commuter series of iPhone cases certainly know how to make an entrance! Nothing is more frustrating than the mad hacking, clawing, and cursing required to get into modern blister-packaged consumer goods. The OtterBox cases, packaged in their smooth interlocked clamshells that pop open without scissors, utility knives, or prayer, are a delight to use right from the start. Careful attention to detail, quality construction, and several other thoughtful features make both cases continually satisfying to use. Depending upon your needs, either the Commuter or Commuter TL cases are standout choices among the bevy of soft silicone iPhone cases.

Commuter TL

The “TL” in the name of this case undoubtedly has a real meaning, but I prefer to think it stands for Totally Love (It)—which is how I feel about this case.  As a long-time user of a Marware CEO case, which is actually more of a sleeve, I am skeptical of most silicone cases for many reasons. First and foremost, they lack structural rigidity along the sides of the iPhone’s touch screen, because the large unbroken surface area of the screen prevents them from having any stabilizing support.  iPod cases of yesterday could include horizontal bands across the face of the iPod, usually between the clickwheel and screen; the iPhone’s screen prevents such support, meaning that silicone cases are all floppy and wiggly along the edges of the screen.  The Commuter TL gets around this problem with an ingenious waffled texture running along the inside edges.  This texture adds not only enough support to prevent the case from being too loose around the edges, but it also adds a measure of shock absorption and some extra comfort when holding the edges of the phone.  Combined with a rigid polycarbonate spine running along the back and wrapping around the top and bottom of the phone, this is a soft silicone case that manages to stand up on its own—overcoming the biggest challenge for all soft cases on the iPhone/iPod Touch form factor.

Other outstanding features of the Commuter TL include:

• Window Seat: The Apple logo is covered by a clear window in the polycarbonate spine, which is also nicely indented to provide a fingerhold when talking on the phone.

• A mild speaker boost: The polycarbonate spine also includes two tunnels for the bottom speaker and microphone. These act as passive amplifiers, giving you a small but noticeable boost in speaker volume (set your iPhone on a table top to further boost the sound).

Commuter

The Commuter case lacks the TL backronym for Totally Love It, but this is still a great case.  What prevents it from being my number once choice is the same issue that plagues other soft silicone cases; the bevel around the screen just is not wide enough for the edges to stand up on their own.

The Commuter does shine as a chameleon, with its interchangeable polycarbonate shell allowing for quick color swaps. The review unit included three options: subtle black-on-black, chic white-on-black, or modern toxic-green-on-black (by far my favorite). The additional surface area of the Commuter’s spine, which wraps around both sides of the phone, provided a nice holding position for the phone. Silicone can be a bit sweaty after being held for a while, so the side grips of the Commuter case were a welcome addition. They mitigate the looseness along the edges somewhat, but not quite enough for my taste.

Shared Features

Both cases share many great features, including:

• Screen Cover: A rigid, self-adhesive plastic film and included tool for applying.  Though the screen protectors lack the oleophobic properties of the iPhone’s screen, and tend to collect oily fingerprints, you feel better wiping them off on a shirt/pantleg.  Assuming, that is, you forgot the included screen wipe.
• Silicone Port Protectors: Both cases do an incredible job of covering the headphone and dock ports when not in use, but provide easy access.  It is even possible to dock the iPhone without removing the case, provided you have just the bare dock showing (no model-specific trays installed).  The ridges covering the volume and lock buttons also made these much easier to use (I’ve always found the volume buttons challenging to use due to their thinness).
• Plenty of Backbone: Both cases come with a polycarbonate shell that snaps over the silicone, providing some much-needed slipperiness.  It is very easy to slide the phone into or out of a pocket/purse.  Without the spine, the silicone causes too much friction for the phone to slide.
• Crowd-pleasing Colors: The Commuter cases come in a dazzling selection of color-on-color choices, while the Commuter TL comes in a variety of solid colors with a frosted polycarbonate spine to snap over.

In the end

I can see a definite need for an always-on case, as opposed to the sleeve style I currently use.  During a recent trip to NYC, it was quite challenging to hold onto a subway pole, hold a map, and try to use both hands to slide my iPhone out of the sleeve so I could figure out where to get off the subway.  The two-handed juggling routine led to several near drops, and since the iPhone was usually half out of the sleeve, it was completely unprotected.

For more rugged environments, like the NYC subway, hiking trips, or whenever small children are around, the Commuter TL is my new case of choice.  For around town, where the iPhone has to fit into a car holder to function as GPS, or sits on a desk most of the day, a sleeve provides sufficient protection.  Divide, conquer, and in all situations, stylishly protect!

Full Story » | Written by Aaron Kraus for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Section: iPod + iTunes, iPod touch, iPhone, iPhone, iPhone SDK & Apps, Originals

The Appulous website, which allows you to download previously paid-for apps to install on your iPod Touch or iPhone for free, is having some issues with a little bit too much traffic.

If you’re not familiar with the process of obtaining paid-apps at no cost, a site called Appulous allows you to download a .ipa pre-cracked by someone who legitimately purchased it, and then install it on your iDevice for free. Almost any app—from $0.99 flying chicken apps to $99.00 GPS applications—are available. Apple’s tried to prevent users from jailbreaking their iDevices by releasing updates which break the crack, but users aren’t forced to update, and new cracks are usually available shortly after the update is released. But how many jailbroken devices are there? Cydia founder, Jay Freeman, estimates that around 4 million of 40 million iPods and iPhones are jailbroken. How many have used Appulous? According to an admin at the site, “200,000 people using the site normally.”

However Appulous recently created “Troll Bridge” because most people were just leeching off the site and not uploading apps, and because they couldn’t keep up with the traffic they were getting. “The bridge will be removed “Soon,” but for now, questions to which only people who worked on Appulous would know the answer are blocking general access. The questions are things that even pro iPhone and iPod Users won’t be able to figure out, and according to Kyek, the writer of Appulous, that was the goal.

Sample questions include:

• I made a job listing on rent-a-coder for someone to make an Appulous knockoff for my site. Kyek accepted the job under another name and pwned me. But we’re cool now. Who am I?
• I have two Hackulous accounts: My main one, and one I made just for fun. Which is the latter?

Now that you know what’s going on, do you think App sales have gone up? Appulous claims they let users “try before buy,” something that Apple’s App Store doesn’t allow, and they do encourage you to pay for the app after you’ve tried it. So, people who are following that concept aren’t probably buying applications until the troll bridge is removed. But then again, how many people are actually just trying them, and then buying? I’m assuming not very many.

Full Story » | Written by Nicholas Montgomery for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Section: iPod + iTunes, iPod touch, iPhone, iPhone, iPhone SDK & Apps

iFart is an application that allows you to choose a fart noise and it’ll play it on your iPod or iPhone. Simple as that. The iFart app is also referred to as the most famous, being featured on TV nationally and international, as well as a slew of other news sites. If you think iFart is only that, it has a bunch of neat features, like a timer so you don’t have to be near you victim. In recent iFart news, a “Food Fart Pack” was released with in-app purchases. The Pack contains disgusting sounds like, “Brocoli Bomber,” “After Dinner Mint,” and “Taco No Bueno.” The pack is available for $0.99 as an in-app purchase.

“I tested dozens of different foods to find those that would pass iFart quality control. This Food Fart Pack is the result of endless hours of testing.” ~  Stinky McPooter, iFart spokesman and official sound creator.

Something else Pro iFart users might not know about is the “Record-a-Fart” function. Perfect for those custom ones that iFart failed to provide. The only flaw is you’re only allowed to keep one at a time. Maybe we’ll be seeing an in-app purchase for the ability to hold more?

If you don’t think this is news or is a joke, let’s say this; the developer of iFart made over $40,000 last December in two days.

Read Full Story » | Written by Nicholas Montgomery for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »