“Made, Is Making, or Will Make?”
David Barnard on the sales fluctuations in the App Store, and how hard is it to gauge future success/sales on same.
Apple sues HTC for infringing 20 iPhone patents
Engadget has the documentation. I’d like to add my voice to the chorus of people decrying the use of “user interface” patents. This kind of thing can be pretty vile. For example, one of the patents is for:
“Unlocking A Device By Performing Gestures On An Unlock Image,”
Which is absurd.
Plants vs. Zombies for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad
One of my favorite games of 2009, released for one of my favorite devices for the slim price of $2.99. Worth every penny.
“A conversation I have every month or so”
and me. It really shouldn’t have to be said, here in 2010, but shit. Restaurants: Have your hours, at least, in a plain HTML document. I don’t even need your menu.
David Crane’s “2600 Magic” iPhone Application
Describing the technical workings of the Atari 2600, it is not an emulator, or even really a “how to,” but more like a… Documentary App. I love this kind of thing.
It is Volume One in what will become a series, and if you don’t buy this you are an asshole.
Toronto-based iPhone Developers endloop Are Hiring A Junior Developer
Friends of Extra Future and all-around good guys. I’d take the job myself if I had the Obj-C skills.
There Is A Palm Pre App That Reboots Your Phone At Set Intervals
To combat those RAM-sucking, memory-leaking, background apps everybody wants the iPhone to support so badly.
Gordon, A Flash Runtime Written in JavaScript
The demos are pretty impressive, for what it is. Works on iPhone.
Arcade Solitaire: TriTowers from endloop
My friends at endloop have released a new solitaire game for your iPhone and iPod Touch. It is $0.99 for the next 48 hours, and worth every penny.
There is no WebKit on Mobile
Peter-Paul Koch tests 19 different versions of WebKit/KHTML and creates a table comparing their successes and failures. His verdict: You’re going to have to test in multiple WebKit-based browsers for awhile, yet.
Hitchcock
A mobile storyboarding application for iPhone. Looks great, and is a prime example of a wide category of iPhone applications: Stuff I want but will never have any practical use for.
iPhone Dictionary, Censored by Apple
Apple’s latest incredible move: Censoring a fucking dictionary. Apple’s conduct re: the App Store has long since passed the yardstick of “stupid” and into “utterly inept.”
If they cannot be trusted to stick to the rules set forth by human society, then fuck ‘em. NOBODY censors dictionaries. Not Wal-Mart, not Borders, nobody. Censoring reference material is not just stupid, it is dangerously stupid.
Apple Pulls Google Voice Application From The App Store
This is super not cool, Apple. How is GV Mobile (the App’s name) not okay, but Skype is?
The Secret of Monkey Island: SE released for iPhone
Didn’t know this was coming, seems a bit overpriced at $7.99, and 350mb of space seems, likewise, excessive. I’m also not entirely sure how the pointing mechanics will work, as a lot of the targets in Monkey Island are quite small. This works great for a mouse-based pointing system, but when your pointer is a human finger that Apple says should take up a minimum of a 40×40 pixel square… maybe not so much.
Apple confirms death of iPhone worker in China
I was going to post this with the title “Tortured iPhone Worker Commits Suicide”, but then I realized I don’t work for TechCrunch. That seems to be what happened, though:
According to various Chinese media reports, the worker at Chinese manufacturer Foxconn committed suicide last week after a fourth-generation iPhone prototype for which he was responsible went missing.
Word is that the worker was then tortured by Foxconn security, which led him to snap and take a leap off the building. If this is true, Apple needs to step up and tell Foxconn to fuck off.
Update: Fake Steve says it’s fucked over there, and we all knew that already. He’s basically right.
iHeartRate by Endloop
My friend Ken Seto’s iPhone/iPod Touch app, recently updated to version 1.1. It’s one of the best-looking and friendliest health-related iPhone apps I’ve seen.
E-Book Reader Eucalyptus Now Available on The App Store
Apple has made it right with developer James Montgomerie:
Earlier today I received a phone call from an Apple representative. He was very complimentary about Eucalyptus. We talked about the confusion surrounding its App Store rejections, which I am happy to say is now fully resolved. He invited me to re-build and submit a version of Eucalyptus with no filters for immediate approval, and that full version is now available on the iPhone App Store.
This hasn’t “fixed” any of the serious issues around the approval process, and it took them way too long to do the right thing, but I’m glad for James. Eucalyptus is an application that was obviously crafted with much care. Previously.
Apple Screws The Pooch Again, Rejects E-book Reader “Eucalyptus”
It is hard to believe that they’re still getting away with this. Their reason? You can download naughty books on it, like the Kama Sutra. Nobody tell Apple that you can view the same book in Safari for free on Project Gutenberg, or show them the weird porn you can find on Google, because they’ll have to reject their own browser.
Assholes.
Email ‘N Walk
It uses the iPhone camera to show you what is front of you while you walk and tap out an email. This will sell one-million copies.