Touching Up VII: Time Capsule, AppLock, Hahlo 3, vWallpaper 0.5…
by Eric March on April 30, 2008 at 12:15 pm
When I started this column, I thought it might be a once or twice weekly thing. How’s that for short-sighted? Nevertheless, it’s time once again for everybody’s favourite collection of the best, the worst, and the individually-wrapped-for-freshness bits of news too numerous and not verbose enough to dedicate an entire article to.
It’s a biggun today as we cover textReader, iPhone “inactive” apps, iPhone widgets, more Nike+ features, MPG 1.0.3, Moleskine’s big update, TimeCapsule 0.30b1, iChinese, Hahlo 3: The Legendary Edition preview, AppLock, AppleStore’s new duds, WebIS’ Pocket Informant and Note2self, vWallpaper 0.5, the Croiman Psycho iPhone mod, and a giant iPhone that isn’t.
Stick around. And mind your step, we just cleaned the floors.
学习中文就这款iPhone
So maybe you’re planning an extended stay in Hong Kong, or moving to mainland China. Perhaps you just want a funky tattoo and want to make sure those characters don’t say “trend whore” when you thought you were picking “bad ass.” This app can help. iChinese is intended to be a combination of software and individually downloadable lessons that will teach you to read and write both traditional and simplified Chinese. To aid in the learning process, iChinese features robust searching features that allow you to look up the definition of a character either by drawing the character on the screen, or searching by Pīnyīn (the English spelling of the word). The application itself is free for basic features, but stroke input and dictionary search must be unlocked for a one-time fee of €4.99. You also get the first three lessons free when you install the app. Additional lessons are €0.99 each, which is pretty cheap on its own, but for some additional economy, you can buy 3 lessons and get one free. iChinese is available through Installer on its own repository at http://ichinese.de/repo or by downloading and installing manually from the iChinese website.
(via reader tip. Thanks, Matthias!)
“Inactive” iPhone Apps
Devs combing through the latest Beta 4 release of the iPhone SDK have discovered that it has support for “inactive” applications. I’m sure this might have sparked a glimmer of hope in a few hoping to develop apps that can run in the background, but unfortunately, that’s not what inactive apps are about. Rather, apps can be rendered inactive when something else — a phone call, an SMS message, or somesuch — needs to interrupt your current activities to pop up an overlay window. Inactive apps remain memory-resident, but idle, and will not respond to events. Although this sounds like a bust, it does have some utility: It makes it very simple for developers to allow their app to “pause” as it were to allow incoming system events to interrupt the user, who can then return to their activities from where they left off when the interrupting event has concluded.
(via iPhone Atlas)
WidgetBox and Widgetop Bring Widgets to iPhone and Touch
Well, that’s what they call them, anyway. “Widgets.” I am of the opinion that this is a gross misnomer, considering that these are strictly web apps and don’t run natively from the springboard. (Creating shortcuts doesn’t count.) Nevertheless, that’s what WidgetBox and Widgetop are calling them, and these particular web-widgets are tailored specifically for the iPhone. You’ll get an assortment of wee web apps like the Magic 8-Ball, the Fake Steve Jobs diary, world clock, Flickr slideshow, Digg, and more. You’ll naturally need a net connection over WiFi or EDGE to use them though, but if you’re cool with that, you can check them out by pointing Mobile Safari to http://iphone.widgetbox.com and http://m.widgetop.com – though you will need to register for an account on Widgetop. (If you already have a Widgetop Desktop account, you do not need to register again.)
(via TUAW)
Nike+ Patent Suggests New Features
Fans of the Nike+ kit will find this interesting. A patent recently filed by Nike suggests a bunch of potential new features of their wireless runner’s tool that could spawn new accessories that could be mounted “on or in” articles of clothing. New features could include a heart rate monitor, electrocardiogram (EKG), body temperature, even hydration levels, so fitness nuts could keep a close eye on their vitals while they work through their regimen. Being a patent filing only, there’s no information on what, when, or how much, so we’ll just have to keep our eyes peeled.
(via TUAW)
MPG 1.0.3
For those of you keeping tabs on just how much your Hummer H3 really costs you, you’ll be interested in knowing that the fuel tracker MPG has had an update to 1.0.3. The new version adds Dutch language translation and auto-saving after each entry. You can grab it from the Ste Packaging repo (http://repo.smxy.org/iphone-apps/)
(via Apple iPhone School)
TimeCapsule 0.30b2
The premiere iPhone and Touch backup app TimeCapsule has had a couple of beta updates since we last covered it. The latest beta versions now add MxTube videos (added in b1, fixed in b2), WeDict dictionaries, and Moleskine themes and sounds. It’s available on the Databinge repo (http://repo.databinge.com)
(via Apple iPhone School)
Moleskine 0.37b3
Databinge have been pretty hard at work, particularly on this excellent notes organizer. The latest beta releases add a pantsload of new features: Voice notes recording, cassette theme icons, animated audio and camera buttons, two-finger tap to maximize/minimize browser view, French localization, sorting, tap status bar to toggle rearranging, last note edited is saved if you hit the home key — plus a whole host of changes and fixes. You can get the full list on Databinge’s blog post, and of course grab the latest from their repo (http://repo.databinge.com). Want something a little more visual? Check out their video tutorials for changing icons, toggling full browser mode, sorting, full editing mode, and auto-capitalization. As with all Databinge apps, you can get this one from their own repo (http://repo.databinge.com).
(via Apple iPhone School, Just Another iPhone Blog and Databinge)
The Croiman Psycho iPhone Mod Is Illuminating
I don’t know whether to smile at the ingenuity and dedication this mod required, or cry at an iPhone being dismantled and reassembled with custom parts. Nevertheless, Dutch modder Croiman wanted an iPhone with more bling than just animated background, but without spending thousands on a Goldstriker. What do to? How about a custom chrome back and silver antenna cover, plus an illuminated plexiglass Apple logo? Croiman thought that was a good idea, and aside from a rather cheesy logo engraved into the back, the results were pretty cool. I can’t say I’m digging the chrome — I rather like the matte look of the iPhone as-is — but the Apple logo? That part’s gorgeous. You can check out a video of the mod here, and a whole boatload of pictures of the mod process and finished product on its English feature page.
(iPhoneclub.nl, via Engadget)
AppLock Will Keep Prying Eyes Away From Your Pr0n
DavTeam apps seem to be pretty hit or miss. They’re either pretty good, or completely useless. Fortunately, this one can be filed under “pretty good.” Though the project has only just started, AppLock promises to allow you to lock down any apps of your choosing with a password, ensuring that anything you don’t want other people accessing without your say-so can be protected against intrusion. No word on when we can expect it to see the light of day, but for now, it looks promising.
(via iPod Touch Fans)
Apple Store Employees Get New Titles, Duds, Egos
Apple is retooling their retail outlets — or more specifically, their staff. The uniforms will be a decidedly casual black, and each type of staff member will have their new title emblazoned on the tee. Gone will be the “Mac Genuis,” instead being replaced simply with “Genius,” which ought to do wonders for their humility. Each of the new titles will have their own slogan emblazoned on the back. Specialists will say, “I can talk about this stuff for hours”; Concierge will say, “I know people”; Creative will say, “All gain, no pain”; Genius will say, “Not all heroes will wear capes”; Manager will say, “Our place is your place”; and Back-of-House (those would be the shippers/receivers/stockboys) will say, “Some artists use brushes, I use boxes.” I understand the stores themselves will also be made larger to accommodate their employees’ new egos.
(ifoAppleStore, via TUAW, via Gizmodo)
Eric’s Giant iPhone Isn’t
No, that isn’t me. File this under “Random Flickr Finds.” This picture is the only clue there is to what’s going on within. I’m not entirely sure why this is generating buzz, since it’s obviously someone with a widescreen HP monitor in rotated to portrait mode displaying a large picture of the iPhone’s UI. Or maybe I’m missing the point, ‘cos all I hear when I look at that image is “Hurrrrr.“
(via Gizmodo)
textReader: Reading on the Cheap
Need a text reader that does large documents and is easy to use without all those frills like “slick UI” or “lots of features?” textReader ought to punch your ticket. It is capable of reading eBooks either in plain text format, or PalmReader databases (PDBs). Just to clear up confusion, there are eBooks in PDB format for the Palm readers, but not all PDBs are eBooks. PDB is the “Palm DataBase” format, and can be any form of data, so just make sure any PDBs you want to load up are actually eBooks. textReader has a few basic features, and navigation is about as simple as it gets: Tap the top half of the screen to go back a page, or the bottom half to flip to the next page. Books must be manually added to /var/mobile/Media/textReader via SSH (for 1.1.3/1.1.4 users; no indication if this works for 1.1.2 or below.) You can grab textReader from the BigBoss source (http://thebigboss.org/repo.xml)
(via Just Another iPhone Blog)
vWallpaper 0.5 Update
Those of you having problems with the 0.3 release of vWallpaper will appreciate this release, which fixes the audio issues while vWallpaper is active, including the Bluetooth issue some reported (I’ve tested these myself) vWallpaper will actually suspend itself when in the Music/iPod app or when on Bluetooth, and resume itself when the audio stops. Additionally, the location of your video wallpaper has been moved to a single unified location for all firmware versions located at: /Mobile/Media/Skrew/Videos. Finally, for those looking for more video wallpapers to add, Apple iPhone School have spun off a mini-site dedicated to hosting them. You can find it at http://vwallpapers.com and subscribe to their RSS feed if you’d like to be kept up-to-date on the latest additions. Not enough for you? Try ThemeMyiPhone’s vWallpaper section. vWallpaper is located on the Skrew source (http://i.danstaface.net)
(via Installer and Apple iPhone School)
Hahlo 3: Legendary Edition Preview
Here’s one for you tweetheads: TUAW have given the beta for the iPhone and Touch’s best Twitter app Hahlo 3: The Legendary Edition the once-over, and they’ve got a good review and a bunch of screenshots of the new and improved UI and features for you to pore over. Head over and check it out.
(via TUAW)
WebIS Add Apple Flavoring To Thier Apps
Busy Windows Mobile, Palm and Blackberry switchers — and for that matter current users who’d like to switch but can’t give up their most precious apps — may find that things are about to get a little more familiar on this side of the Smartphone fence. WebIS, purveyors of well-known productivity apps such as FlexMail, FlexWallet, and JournalSync, have indicated that they plan to bring two of their flagship products to the iPhone. The first, Pocket Informant, is an award-winning and feature-rich personal information manager (PIM) that lets you schedule and keep track of appointments, meetings, deadlines, birthdays, and more, all in customizable and easy to navigate views. The second, Note2self (formerly known as VoiceMinder) is a simple voice note recorder, but adds the ability to automatically E-Mail the notes to yourself. WebIS plan to have Note2self ready for release at or around the launch date of the App Store, while Pocket Informant is looking like it will be released sometime in the latter half of Q3. No word on pricing yet.
(via Just Another iPhone Blog)
Hoo-wee, thought I’d never get through that pile. No doubt however that I’ll be back in a few days with yet another all-new installment that is guaranteed to be gluten-free and contain no dairy products.
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Posted in Application Related, Hardware Related, In The Works, Videos, Web Apps
April 30th, 2008 at 7:34 pm
For the “Eric’s Giant iPhone Isn’t” Article the image on the monitor is from Google.
See for yourself: http://www.mercurious.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/flash-on-iphone.png