Apps

App Review: Hurricane Tracking for the iPhone

By Chris Vitek, Saturday, Aug 15, 2009 a 11:27 am

(Hurricane for iPhone Forum Review by cjvitek For more Forum Reviews, see the TiPb iPhone App Store Forum Review Index!)

Hurricane [$3.99 - iTunes link] is a hurricane tracking app for the iPhone and iPod touch.

Back when I lived in Florida, hurricanes were a yearly concern. Now that I am in Texas, they don’t play such a prominent role but they are still something to think about. Hurricane is an app designed to try to take away some of that concern.

I have actually had this app for well over 4 months, but I wanted to wait till the middle of hurricane season so I could see it in action. And let me say, the app generally performs very well. The app starts off with a screen where you can select Atlantic or Pacific hurricanes, and then gives you a list of the active storms as well as completed storms. When you click on a storm, you can look at the radar loop, projected path, tracking map, satellite images, and bulletins. All of this allows you to try to keep on top of these potentially devastating storms.

Apps for Less Extra: ConvertBot, Doom Resurrection, Wolfenstein 3D Classic,

By Rene Ritchie, Friday, Aug 14, 2009 a 2:12 pm

Apps for Less is Jeremy's turf, but we just got a few extra, time-sensitive tips we wanted to share with you for the weekend, so please bear with my less than Bad Ash fill-in attempt.

First up is ConvertBot [iTunes link], which is now totally FREE for a limited time.

Microsoft Offering iPhone Developers "Buckets of Money" to go Zune?

By Rene Ritchie, Friday, Aug 14, 2009 a 6:40 am

Has Microsoft been approaching successful iPhone developers, offering "a bucket of money" for them to port their popular apps over to the new Zune HD platform? That's what Daring Fireball is hearing:

I got an email from the developer of an iPhone Twitter client. He was contacted by Microsoft a few months ago, with an offer to port his app to the Zune in exchange for “a bucket of money”. He turned them down, but assumes, as I do, that Microsoft reached out to the developers of multiple popular iPhone apps.

Smart move by Microsoft, since they're trying to compete directly with the iPod touch and apps are a huge part of the iPod touch's appeal.

Quick WebApp: YouTube Optimizes for iPhone

By Rene Ritchie, Thursday, Aug 13, 2009 a 12:30 pm

Looks like YouTube is following parent-company Google's increasingly awesome mobile optimization initiative, announcing an iPhone-friendly version of the dominant media site. According to their official blog:

Apple VP Phil Schiller Emails Steven Frank, No E-Book Rejection Policy, Working to Improve App Store

By Rene Ritchie, Tuesday, Aug 11, 2009 a 7:41 pm

Mac developer and Panic luminary Steven Frank's public break-up with the iPhone over Apple's capricious App Store policy was one of the few so grounded in rationale and reason we couldn't discount it, and neither could Apple's Senior VP of Marketing, Phil Schiller.

While Schiller previously responded to Daring Fireball's John Gruber over concerns about the Ninjawords app, Schiller's response to Steve Frank was different in kind, if similar in sentiment:

iPhone Ninjary: How Get More Than 11 Home Screens in iPhone 3.0

By Rene Ritchie, Tuesday, Aug 11, 2009 a 12:31 pm

Daynah from PHP-Princess.net just couldn't abide the meager 11 pages and paltry 180 apps provided by iPhone 3.0, so she went about forcing Apple's SpringBoard home screen manager to give her more. How did she do it?

Quick App: PushMail for iPhone, Gmail, Hotmail, etc. Push Notification Relay

By Rene Ritchie, Tuesday, Aug 11, 2009 a 7:37 am

PushMail [$4.99 - iTunes link] takes a different approach to working around the lack of push notifications for Gmail, Hotmail, and other email services on the iPhone. When you set up PushMail, you're prompted to create an account on their servers ([username]@dopushmail.com). You then forward email from Gmail, Hotmail, etc. to that PushMail account (using whatever filters or rules you like), and when PushMail gets the forward, it sends a push notification to your iPhone, alerting you that your Gmail, Hotmail, etc. account has email.

SlingPlayer Mobile iPhone App Update Submitted to Apple

By Jeremy, Tuesday, Aug 11, 2009 a 7:30 am

The much-discussed SlingPlayer Mobile for iPhone application is once again back in the news again. The Boy Genius is reporting Sling Media has submitted a fairly significant SlingPlayer update to Apple. Version 1.1 will Include the following:

Quick App: BargainBin App Store Price Watcher with Push Notification

By Rene Ritchie, Monday, Aug 10, 2009 a 1:49 pm

BargainBin [Free - iTunes link] keeps an eye on App Store apps and lets you know about sales and price drops. So, if there's an app out there you're waiting to try, but are watching your budget, this might be a way to keep track of any discounts coming your way. With push notification, you'll also know quickly when to pounce on the right deal.

If you give it a try, let us know how it works for you!

Deposit Checks Via iPhone Photos

By Jeremy, Monday, Aug 10, 2009 a 11:04 am

So you'd like to have the convienence of depositing your hard earned work check straight from your iPhone into your bank, no matter where you are? Well, there will soon be an app for that - USAA - a very small bank/insurance company is in the process of updating their current app.