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- Commodore 64 Emulator Comes, Goes On the iPhone
Maybe some of you were lucky enough to snatch up this gem while it was available ever so briefly. I’m talking about the Commodore 64 emulator for the iPhone platform that’s been in development by Manomio for many months now.
According to 9 to 5 Mac, it made a short-lived appearance after finally being approved by Apple, the product of much back and forth by the two companies. The app was finally approved after Manomio removed a BASIC interpreter that violated the terms of the SDK. Or appeared to remove it, anyway.
The BASIC interpreter actually remained in place, one user found. The iPhone Blog describes the easter egg-type glitch required to make bring it up:
If you're dying to get your BASIC on, however, reader Stooovie let us know you can still access it by enabling "always show full keyboard," starting a game, paging over to the EXTRA keyboard, and then tapping RESET.
Clearly, Apple reviewers weren’t aware that of this fun little secret when they gave the emulator a pass. We end users should figure out some way to talk in code about this stuff so that we can share and enjoy it without alerting the authorities.
Manomio is maintaining that it wasn’t trying to sneak anything past Apple’s review process. Or at least, it didn’t intend anyone to be able to access it, end users included. The developer claims it left in the BASIC interpreter in the hopes that Apple would later relax its policies, at which point it could be activated remotely:
Unfortunately Apple this night pulled the C64 App from the App Store. We had agreed with Apple to remove basic from the application, but as we believed it would be possible to convince Apple to let it in later on, we left it in the app to be activated remotely by us when we had "go" from Apple.
Due to the extreme publicity the app has received over the weekend and the fact that several users found a way to enable the basic back, Apple decided to remove the app from App Store until we have solved the issue.
This is very frustrating as we had no intention of tricking basic into the app and the fix was done in a few minutes the moment we found out – a new version has been submitted to Apple, and we can only hope Apple will appreciate our efforts to apply the changes they need in order to put it back on.
Whether or not it’s true, that excuse is unlikely to prompt Apple to let the app back in the store any time soon. Oh well, guess it’s time to shelve those dreams of playing Altered Beast on my phone once again.
Переслать - Official Flickr App Arrives on iPhone and iPod touch
Around the time I first got my iPhone 3G, I used to use Exposure (now called Darkslide) for Flickr browsing, and I was well satisfied, until it became rather buggy with later versions. Not sure what the state of that app is, but I’m glad to see Yahoo finally step forward and release an official iPhone solution for the photo sharing site.
The Flickr app is available now in the App Store for the lovely price of free, and allows you to upload your own photos or videos to the site for publication. On first use, you have to enter your credentials if you want to upload or view your contacts, but Flickr takes you to Safari and then immediately back to the app afterward, resulting in a painless process.
I didn’t even bother doing that for probably my first five minutes using the app, though, because I was too busy just watching the home screen. By default, Flickr for iPhone shows a Ken Burns-style slide show of random photos from the site’s entire public archive. It’s a simple trick, but for some reason on the iPhone’s screen it looks so good it’s absolutely mesmerizing.
When you do log in, which you must do if you want to use any of the app’s features besides Search, the slide show on launch features only photos from your own and your contacts’ photostreams. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, especially if you have lots of contacts who are active Flickr users, but I would like to see a settings option in future versions that lets you pull from the general pool. It may not even be intended as a feature, but it’s the most visually pleasing thing the app has to offer.
Generally speaking, Flickr for the iPhone does a good job of looking good. It shows you when its loading using the familiar logo animation it shares with the regular site, and the UI is well and smartly designed. My only complaint is that in comparison to other apps like Darkslide, it actually does very little.
Like many non-photographers I know, I don’t actually use the site for uploading my own content, and I have very few contacts. What I do like to do on Flickr is just browse aimlessly, because while I may not take many photos, I appreciate a good one when I see it. Darkslide (the version I used to use, anyway) provides great features for browsing photos outside of your contact pool. This Flickr app does not, short of searching for keywords.
If you’re a Flickr user who takes a lot of mobile shots with your iPhone, then this app is for you. If you’re a casual appreciator like myself, you may want to look elsewhere for your Flickr fix, at least for the time being.
Переслать - Android Still Can't Touch the iPhone
My iPhone 3GS is amazing. It is fully integrated into my life. With its various apps I’m constantly on top of Twitter, Tumblr, Flickr, and RSS feeds. It would definitely be a challenge to switch. However, I’m also a gadget geek who always wants to switch to the latest and greatest. In my opinion that’s Android right now.
While bored and curious, I walked over to my local Palo Alto T-Mobile store to try out the myTouch 3G (a.k.a. HTC Magic and Google Ion). I have also been recently motivated by the compelling concept of porting my number to Google Voice, and letting that service control the phone aspect of the cell phone. While the phone appears sleek and definitely includes a vast improvement in hardware quality over the first major Android phone, the G1, I still don’t think it compares to the iPhone (specifically the 3GS).
Scrolling
The one problem I encounter on all touch screen smartphones is that scrolling just doesn’t feel right. Apple nailed this on the first try with the iPhone. With three years to catch up, other phones do not offer a natural scrolling experience. It’s either sluggish or it takes more pressing effort than it should to initiate the scroll. The myTouch definitely has this problem and for me that is a deal-breaker.
Multi-touch
Three words. Pinch to zoom.
The iPhone has it. The myTouch doesn’t. Being forced to use (+) and (-) magnifying glass icons to zoom in and out on a website is an enormous step back from Safari on the iPhone. Perhaps someday with a software update multi-touch will appear, but for now that is a deal-breaker.
Context
There are too many menus. Yes, two is one too many. Pressing a hard “Menu” button brings up an app specific menu from the bottom of the screen. Dragging the top of the screen down reveals an entirely different phone-specific menu. I suppose over time I could adjust to additional hard buttons and a poorly discoverable pull-down. As a first-time user, however, I constantly felt confused and lost.
The truth is Android is still not ready for the masses. Bloggers and tech reviewers may rejoice each time a new Android-supported phone is announced or released, but to me it still feels unintuitive and geeky. Yes, there exists a geek who thinks Android is too geeky. Maybe the HTC Hero will be ready with additional horsepower, multi-touch, and an easier to learn interface.
Переслать - Rumored iPod touch With Camera Delayed
Conventional rumor wisdom strongly suggested a new iPod touch with a camera would be unveiled at the Apple Event tomorrow, but multiple sources are now suggesting unspecified issues with the camera may at least delay availability.
AppleInsider is citing “a person with a strong track record in predicting Apple’s upcoming product launches,” who says Apple has “experienced technical problems (bad parts) with the cameras modules.” This source is now uncertain as to whether the new iPod touch expected tomorrow will be on sale in September.
Hardmac.com seconds that innuendo with its own “reliable source.” That source also suggests production issues associated with the new camera. While there are no specific details, “the problem has been spotted in the first dozen of thousands units produced. Those units have been put aside.”
Bad parts would seem the most likely problem, if there is an issue, at this point. The new iPod touch likely began ramping up production earlier this summer, so design and manufacturing issues would had to have been sorted out. Also, the new iPod touch certainly follows the design of the iPhone, so it’s not as if the camera itself is a new concept for Apple engineers.
Even if production of the iPod touch is delayed, an October release will still be in plenty of time for the Christmas season. However, an October release would give the Zune HD the jump on sales. The media player competitor from Microsoft will go on sale Sept. 15, and — barring price cuts by Apple — will be significantly cheaper than the iPod touch, as little as $71 for the 16GB model. Should there be a delay in iPod touch availability, expect Microsoft to attempt to capitalize on that, not that its efforts will matter. The dominance of the iPod touch as the high-end media player of choice isn’t likely to be challenged by the instant gratification of purchasing a Zune HD next week.
Переслать - TheAppleBlog's Live Coverage of the 9/9/09 Apple Event
Tomorrow morning at 10AM PDT Apple will be holding its 9/9/09 Press Event. TheAppleBlog will be there providing you minute-by-minute updates on everything announced.
You can get your live coverage fix via two methods tomorrow.
TheAppleBlog Live — This is the fastest way to get updates and the most interactive. In addition to our own updates (with text and photos), you can send in a comment/thought/observation and if we feel it’s relevant, we’ll post it for the thousands of others reading the updates. Our coverage will start around an hour to an hour and a half before the event begins.
TheAppleBlog Twitter — We’ll be tweeting updates here, so be sure to follow @theappleblog.
Переслать - China Imposes Strict New Regulations on Online Music Search & Sales
It has been a little over one year since the iTunes Store was blocked in China for the heinous crime of selling the album "Songs for Tibet." Now The Wall Street Journal reports that the Chinese government, which hasn't banned or blocked anything in awhile so are clearly about due, has introduced strict, new rules governing how online music services make foreign songs available to the masses.
To clarify, home-grown Chinese songs aren't the issue. It's just those nasty foreign tunes with their subversive, poisonous propaganda that are the problem. Any online service that provides the ability to search for or buy foreign music is affected by the new rules.
Online music sites as well as search engines that provide links to songs will be required to obtain prior approval from the Chinese government for songs recorded outside the country, according to the WSJ. This includes big players like Google, Baidu and Yahoo's Chinese presence, Alibaba. And it most certainly will affect Apple's iTunes service, as well.
In a statement from China's Ministry of Culture, the new measures are designed to:
…weed out bad content, a large amount of unapproved imported music and copyright violations, as well as to establish more supervision and regulation over the market.
Seeking permission and approval is easy. All that's required is a copy of the lyrics and evidence of the copyright owner's permission to sell and distribute the songs online. For every single song. Easy. Not a supremely unnecessary pain drain on resources at all.
Even the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) — normally the first to jump up and down with glee at the implementation of efforts to observe artists and record label's copyrights — aren't entirely convinced this is the best way to move forward. Neil Turkewitz, RIAA's executive vice president, International, had this to say:
We understand that China has particular sensitivities about the distribution of content, but introducing new controls on the legitimate delivery of music will do little to address these sensitivities. At present, an estimated 99 percent of the online music accessed by Chinese users is infringing. Hopefully these new regulations will be applied to all services that provide access to music, and not only to the few legitimate services that are providing legal materials.
Turkewitz added, "China should apply and implement these regulations in a careful manner, so that they target copyright violators and don’t become a burden to legitimate providers."
All this talk of copyright ownership and market regulation is, on the surface, noble and decent and worth applauding. But it's also a stark reminder that, for big corporations like Apple, Google and Yahoo to continue to do business in that country, they must acquiesce to rules and regulations that, in the West, would be considered completely unacceptable infringements on our rights to freedom of self-expression and commerce.
Certainly, Apple, Google and the rest will do what it takes to continue doing business in China — the market (and the potential revenue it makes possible) is simply too huge to ignore.
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