If you read the reviews for an app on the App Store before you buy it, you’ve probably been frustrated by the reviews posted by people who don’t even own the app. iPhone developers have also expressed frustration with this process, since poor reviews can lead to lower sales for their app. Well, no more! Apple has finally set up requirements to review apps - if you try to review an app that you have not purchased, you’ll see this message pop up in iTunes:
It’s unknown whether Apple will go back and remove the existing reviews from those who did not purchase or download the app in question (which could be quite a daunting task), but at least we now know that reviews from this point on will most likely be based on actual experience with the app.
First and foremost, iPhone 2.1 firmware will be out on Friday, September 12. Steve said it's a big update that includes many bug fixes, addressing dropping calls, crashing apps, long-backups, and battery life. And it's free to all owners! I am quite excited for this update, and have my fingers crossed that it will work as promised and that the issues many users, including me, have been experiencing are addressed.
Kevin Rose was spot on with iTunes 8, including the new grid-like view and Genius functionality. HD TV shows has also come to the iTunes store, though they are only viewable on your computer or through your Apple TV - there goes putting HD shows on my iPhone to output to our home entertainment center! Shoot!
iPods continue to kick ass in marketshare with 73.4%, with "Other" players a distant second at 15.4%. The iPod Classic is now offered in one size only - 120GB at the same price as the previous 80GB model, $249. The new iPod Nano is indeed like the leaked pictures that have been circulating on the internet - tall and skinny with a curved front and back. It features a new UI and has an accelerometer like the iPod Touch and iPhone, allowing you to turn it sideways to switch automatically to cover mode view. And the new Genius functionality works right on the Nano without needing to be connected to iTunes, and shaking the Nano puts it in Shuffle mode.
A nice accessory upgrade is a pair of headphones that have functionality similar to that of the iPhone's - a control button that allows you to double-click to get to the next song, and a microphone that will work with the built-in voice recording function. And it has volume controls! I sure hope those will work on the iPhone too.
Pangea Software is offering a limited time back to school offer on the best-selling iPhone game Enigmo . Enigmo was voted "Best iPhone Game" at Apple's WWDC 08' and has also drawn rave reviews from our readers. Enigmo is billed as a 3D puzzle game where you direct animated streams of flowing liquid so that the droplets get to their destination.
Apple confirmed today that a security flaw in the current iPhone software will be fixed in an upcoming software update scheduled to be released in September.
“The minor iPhone security issue which surfaced this week is fixed in a software update which will be released in September,” Apple representative, Jennifer Bowcock, said in an email to Macworld .
It's hard to believe, but we are just over a week away from the start of the NFL season. For some, it marks the start of fantasy football, where armchair quarterbacks flex their statistical muscle via virtual football teams. My draft happens to be on Tuesday where I'll match wits with 11 other football junkies. Most fantasy GM's will scour the Internet looking for an edge and most will enter their draft rooms with the vaulted cheat sheet. Can the iPhone help you win your league? There are two apps which are available in the App Store that aim to help you win your draft.
Draft Central allows to to sort through available players by name or by UltimateFFB's ranking system. You can even set up teams and monitor your competition's draft strategy. All of these are great tools, but one has to wonder if you can manage all of this during draft day on nothing more than the iPhone. Having set up a custom FileMaker database for drafting purposes, I can tell you from experience that it's difficult enough using a desktop application. This might also be the occasion where good ole pen and paper trumps the iPhone
While I love the iPhone’s accelerometer and how current apps and games take advantage of it, Super Monkey Ball is just plain hard. Hand me a controller with a D-pad or joystick and I could make short work of it, but tilting the iPhone like a madwoman isn’t working all that well for me. Enter iControlPad - they’ve been working on a gamepad for the iPhone for a little while now, but it looks like they are closer to a working model that would be sold for around $30. Sound good? Yeah, I thought so.
TouchArcade has anonymously received pictures of another iPhone gamepad that could also be in the works and they’ve posted these images. There’s no other information on this second possible gamepad, so its validity is uncertain, to say the least. It’s reasonable to think that there’s more than one company out there looking to capitalize on the iPhone as a gaming device, so the idea isn’t that far-fetched.
While we’re on this topic of gaming on the iPhone, I have to admit that I don’t play games all that often on my iPhone. As I did before the advent of the 2.0 firmware and the App Store, my iPhone is primarily my phone, personal information manager, portable email and web-surfing device, and iPod, and games are something I do only when I need to kill time while waiting in line or when I’m too antsy to focus on anything else. So, if any gamepads are released in the $30 range, that might be too steep for a casual iPhone gamer like me. But what about you? How much would you be willing to pay for a gamepad for your iPhone? Tell us in the Comments section!
Remember Open Clip’s Copy & Paste framework I mentioned the other day? Well, it’s already broken. Yep, you read that right. Broken. The beta version of the iPhone’s next firmware (2.1b4) was released to developers around the same time that Open Clip’s framework was getting talked up on the internets, and it turns out that the “community space” that Open Clip was relying on to be the holding place for copied information to be accessed between applications will be closed off. According to an update posted on Open Clip’s website , copy and paste within a single application using Open Clip’s framework will still be possible in 2.1, but copy and paste will no longer work between different applications.
Open Clip’s developer, Zac White, does not think that this was an intentional move by Apple, but just normal tightening-up on their part of the firmware that was probably in the works for a while. We can still hope that Apple will eventually implement copy and paste between applications in the future - it has been mentioned that this is on their radar, but just not very high on the priority list. Or that a developer will again find a way to make this work that will “stick” despite future firmware updates. I don’t know about you, but I am dying for a way to copy and paste the log-in information for that terrible viewmymessage.com site that AT&T so kindly sends vis SMS to remind me of the fact that I can’t view MMS messages on my iPhone when my friends forget that I can’t get those kinds of messages. Who’s with me?
The gents over iLounge have reviewed every personal finance app for the iPhone and offered up their opinions on which apps will help you manage your money. While there appears to be no clear cut winner, Balance , Pennies , and SplashMoney have all made it to their list of recommendations. Bankarama didn't fare so well, garnering an F, which apparently doesn't stand for fantastic. "It’s grossly overpriced for what it offers, so much so that we find it impossible to recommend on any basis." Ouch.
Finding the perfect house can be quite a chore, but there are a host of sites that can make finding that house a little easier. Trulia is one of those sites and now they've released an application for the iPhone. Trulia offers 80% of the listings you'd find on MLS (Multiple Listing Service), making it the biggest listing site with an iPhone application.
There are hundreds of free applications in the iPhone App Store. They range in capabilities from one trick ponies to in-depth apps that one would expect to find in the paid category. So what are the best free apps? What are members of EIC finding the most useful or simply entertaining at the price of free? In this new iPhone App economy, many free apps turn paid, so we'd advise our readers to download these free iPhone apps before they become paid. In no particular order, below are a few of our recommendations for free apps that you should add to your iPhone.
Tris : Tetris is a great game and even better when it's free. Tris is the free alternative to the paid Tetris app. The latter will set you back $9.99.
AIM : IM on the iPhone, that's all you need to know. Mobile AIM offers a host of features, supports .mac addresses and allows you to chat on your iPhone.
Simplify Media : Stream your music directly to your iPhone. If you cannot fit your entire music collection on your iPhone, this app fixes all of that. It's free for now, but the company has said this app will eventually find it's way to the paid category. Get it fast, while it's free!
Remote : This app is made by Apple and allows you to use your iPhone as a remote control for your iTunes. Next time you have a party, no need to rush to the computer to change the track when iTunes selects Milli Vanilli from your music collection. Remote allows full control of your iTune, works great and it's free.
SportsTap : The perfect companion for any sports fan. SportsTap is rated highly among our readers and on iTunes. You can access scores and stats from a host of leagues including the MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL, Nascar and more. Faster than ESPN via Safari, take a look at SportsTap if you are a sports fan.
There are plenty of other great free apps, so explore the iPhone App Store, see what our members are saying in our iPhone App Store forum or check out the latest reviews . Think there is an app worthy of a future "Best of the Free Apps" list? Let us know in the comments.
The gents over iLounge have
Finding the perfect house can be quite a chore, but there are a host of sites that can make finding that house a little easier. Trulia is one of those sites and now they've released an application for the iPhone. Trulia offers 80% of the listings you'd find on MLS (Multiple Listing Service), making it the biggest listing site with an iPhone application. 
