February 2010 Archives

Until now, Bulgarian customers have had to be somewhat creative to get their hands on apps for iPhone and iPod Touch, such as using an address based outside the country. The new App store now allows Bulgarians to register for free, download thousands of games and applications for business, entertainment, productivity, and more, and pay with credit cards issued in their own country.

The launch of the App store in Bulgaria was simultaneous with that of 12 other stores, such as Macedonia, Jordan, Kenya, and Madagascar, taking the total to 90 locations across the globe.

Earlier this week Apple removed 'explicit' iPhone and iPod Touch applications from its App Store. According to one source the spring clean is a result of the soon to be release iPad.

Apps containing adult content wiped from the system included the Daisy Mae's Alien Buffet. The IUGO developer confirmed that the iPhone and iPod Touch game had been removed from the App Store in a post to Twitter. 'RIP Daisy Mae. Too hot for Apple. What a bummer.' Daisy's tight costumer and other more scandalous outfits that can be unlocked through the course of the game are likely reasons for its removal.

Although Apple have confirmed their pledge to rid the App Store explicit content, including obvious pornographic content, new rumours have emerged that an 'explicit' app store may be on the arisen. Rumours have emerged as a result of a new category appearing on the developer's website, offering developers to submit apps to the 'Apps Store: Explicit'. The category does not appear in the App Store but there has been speculation to suggest that this would be a place for explicit applications to go live in the future.

The Crystal Maze featuring Richard O'Brien has arrived on the iPhone and iPod Touch, capturing all the magic the cult game show has to offer.

The Crystal Maze mobile game will allow fans to take up challenges in all four of the original zones featured on TV: Industrial, Aztec, Futuristic, and Medieval, as well as a game from the Crystal Dome.

Players using the iPhone or iPod Touch will be able to play two types of game, The Crystal Maze campaign mode, which takes players through all of the zones to the final Crystal challenge, and the Challenge Mode, which allows players to play over unlocked zones in an attempt to top the Open Feint supported leader board. The game will also include banter from presenter Richard O'Brien and of course the classic theme tune.

Google has updated its Mobile app, allowing iPod Touch users to search by voice command. The upgraded app supports both second and third-generation iPod models, with external microphone access.

Originally launched in 2008, the Google Mobile app only supported voice search on iPhones. Now iPod Touch owners can take full advantage of the search by voice feature, alongside other improvements which have taken place with the app.

The Google Mobile app is available from the App Store and compatible with iPhone and iPod Touch devices running OS 2.0 or later.

A new application from Eurosport allows iPhone and iPod Touch users to watch live sporting events in the palm of their hands. The application will show live simulcasts of its British Eurosport and British Eurosport 2 channels.

Those who download the app will be able to watch French Open tennis, the Tour de France, MotoGP, the World Touring Car Championships and coverage of the current 
Vancouver Winter Olympic Games.

The Eurosport Player is available for free for iPhone and iPod Touch users in the UK and Republic of Ireland, however it will cost £2.39 a month or £23.99 a year to access the content. The player will operate either via 3G or WiFi networks, and can be downloaded from the App store or iTunes

Online DVD rental subscription service LoveFilm has launched a new application for iPhone and iPod Touch.

The LoveFilm application allows members to search and browse through LoveFilm's choice of over 65,000 titles across DVD, Blu-ray and games and add titles to their rental lists. LoveFilm members can view film synopses and cast lists, view over 80 million ratings, manage their rental lists and change priority settings to ensure they get to rent the latest releases.

Users can search by title, actor or director, or browse titles by genre or hot lists, and customise search settings by including or excluding from search results via Search Preferences in the Settings tab.

The projects are concerned with communicating complex procedural training to soldiers using touch screen tablets such as the iPod Touch, as well as the transmission of restricted information in a rapid and secure manner. All of the projects are due for release in early April 2010.

Keith Downes, Director of LINE, supports the use of the iPod Touch as well as Apple's role in the future of the UK defence industry, saying, "LINE has been designing and delivering mobile learning solutions since 1998. The defence sector has been an early adopter of mobile learning technologies and these three projects are excellent examples of how the sector pushes technological boundaries to achieve excellent results from learning interventions."

The developers have used 21st century technology to enhance the traditional 'dot to dot' game, which allows children to tap and draw on the screen of your iPhone or iPod Touch and connect sequential numbers and upper case letters. Joining all the dots together successfully reveals the outline of a shape, along with an illustrated image and sound effects.

As the name suggests, the application comes with over 200 puzzles to keep your children amused and encourage them to learn. Available from the Apple iTunes App Store, Preschool Connect the Dots Game to Learn Numbers and the Alphabet with 200+ Puzzles requires the iPhone 3.0 Software Update or later.

A post on the iPhone Dev Center website has stated that if an application uses location-based information primarily to enable mobile advertisers to deliver targeted ads based on the whereabouts of the user, the app will be returned to the developer by the App Store Review Team for modification before it can be posted to the App Store.

Programmers have been encouraged to enhance their iPhone and iPod Touch applications via the Core Location framework, which enables software to pinpoint users' whereabouts and deliver useful, independent information such as local weather and restaurant recommendations.

Whilst you don't get a view of the computer's screen, this alternative control method can be pretty handy, particularly if your computer is set up as a PVR. Whilst a remote control suffices most of the time, Touch Mouse can be very useful for navigating the file system and closing down annoying dialogue boxes, saving you from having to get up off that comfy sofa.

The application works by relying on a small server software component that you install on your desktop computer. Once you have downloaded the Touch Mouse app onto your iPhone or iPod Touch, the component picks up the connection from your iDevice, and you're good to go.

A analyst, Charlie Wolf, of Needham & Company's thinks Apple will sell two million iPads in 2010 and six million during 2011. Wolf said that recent market analysis indicated that the iPad will sell two million units in 2010, but half the sales will come at the expense of the iPod Touch, since most people see the iPad as a bigger version of the iPod Touch.

Wolf pointed out the fact that the demand for iPod's and iPhone's got a boost only when Apple launched a catalyst for each product. The popularity and demand for Apple's iPod music device picked up when Apple opened the iTunes Music Store 2003. The iPhone saw a meteoric rise in sales kick in after the introduction of the online shop offering iPhone apps.

Considering the hype, Wolf's idea of throwing a dart at a board to number the iPad's likely sales is a bit hit and miss. If he were to have a guess at more than two million he'd get odds off 11/4 at Paddy Power.

The Met Office has announced a new free weather application for iPhone and iPod Touch in partnership with application developer Gorillabox. The Met Office application promises easy access to the latest weather information and warnings wherever you are.

The application includes a 5-day forecast, national severe weather alerts, daily national and regional weather maps, UK rainfall radar and satellite imagery, plus the ability to save and access favourite locations. "Gorillabox has worked closely with the Met Office to develop an application utilising a range of iPhone features and incorporating the Met Office weather alerts that will provide users with the latest and most accurate weather information wherever they are," said Mark Wakefield, founder and COO of Gorillabox.

Available from the Apple iTunes App Store, the Met Office Weather application is free and requires the iPhone 2.2.1 Software Update or later. The Met Office is the UK's National Weather Service, providing 24x7 weather reports, climate and environmental forecasts and severe weather warnings.

Apple has announced via its UK website it will be shipping the 3G version of its iPad in April for the UK. This means the official UK version of the iPad will first land in late March, and barely days later will be followed by the better specified but more expensive 3G iteration.

The device will sit in the middle of their iPod Touch/iPhone and the Macbook. It comes in the form of a tablet which is 0.5in thick, 9.6in x 7.5in, with a 9.7 in LED-backlit display with full multi-touch capability. The resolution is 1024x768 and similar to the iPhone, the touchscreen has fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating. Its similarities with the iPod Touch don't stop there, the iPad has an accelerometer, ambient light sensor, WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR and comes in 16GB, 32GB or 64GB of solid state storage.

It will run most of the apps on available on the iTunes App Store, so your iPod Touch/iPhone apps will work except those that require a camera or a phone. Running applications that were designed for the iPod Touch/iPhone screen, however, will get automatically scaled to allow it to be displayed in full screen. The iPad will be a direct competition to Amazon's Kindle and Barnes & Noble's Nook.