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- Apple's Bluetooth headset gets price reduction
Filed under: Apple, Deals, iPhone
If you've been looking to get the Apple Bluetooth headset for your iPhone (really, it works on any Bluetooth enabled phone/device/computer) then now is the perfect time to buy. That's because Apple has lowered the price by $30 (US). So you can now pick up a Bluetooth headset for $99 instead of the previous $129.
However, Apple did make some sacrifices to get the price down: they no longer include the Dual Dock that allows you to dock both your iPhone and Bluetooth headset for charging/pairing. This is a huge bummer seeing as the Dual Dock now sells for $49.
Apple does still include the docking travel cable, which allows you to charge your iPhone/headset, however, it is definitely not as nice to look at as the Dual Dock.Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - TUAW Video: Aspen Grove Apple Store on 3G Day
Filed under: Retail, Found Footage, iPhone
Last year, I put together a little 10-minute movie about the iPhone lovefest on June 29, 2007. This year, I did the same in between talking with Erica on the phone, and cleaning all the comments out of my email -- after reading them, of course. All of this was done in line at the Aspen Grove Apple Store in Littleton, Colorado. I know some people were critical of the employees at other Apple Stores, but this team is very professional and courteous, and I thought they did a great job considering the pressure they were under.
This video was literally thrown together in about 30 minutes, so don't expect a potential Academy Award nominee. You've been forewarned!
Direct link to video here.Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - iPhone 3G screens made "warmer"
Filed under: iPhone
The great 320 x 480 screen was among the things that didn't change with the 3G iPhone, or so we thought. Some of the lucky folks who managed to snag a 3G iPhone have noticed that the screen on the new model seems to be slightly yellowish compared to the original iPhone. Now Engadget is reporting that this is intentional. According to an Apple marketer "the screen's color temperature has been purposely altered on the new iPhone to produce warmer, more natural tones, sharper images, and deeper blacks."
Apparently the iPhone engineers decided that the first generation iPhone screen was "colder and less defined" and so made the change. So for those of you out there that have upgraded: what do you think? Is the new screen better?Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - Mac OS X Update for MobileMe 1.1
Filed under: Software Update, Leopard, MobileMe
We all know how rocky the transition from .Mac to MobileMe has been. It now seems to be working for quite a few folks (at least to some degree), and Apple has already pushed out an update for the service. The Mac OS X Update for MobileMe 1.1 is available now through Software Update. Note that if you aren't yet seeing the update, try signing out of .Mac via System Preferences and then back in again -- you should see a dialog asking you if you want to download the update.
As per usual, the notes are sparse, but it is recommended for users of 10.5.4 and "includes general system fixes that enhance your Mac for MobileMe." Let us know if it improves things for you.
[via Macworld]Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - First Looks: AppEngines ebooks
Filed under: iPhone, App Store
No doubt by now you've noticed that many of the "applications" available on the iTunes App Store are various ebooks by AppEngines (iTunes Link). I thought I'd take a look so you can see what you're getting for $0.99. Each of these applications is a single classic (and thus copyright-free) book. For my tests I chose Jane Austen's delightful comedy of manners, Emma (iTunes link).
When you first open one of the AppEngines ebooks you get a nice "leather" cover splash screen with the name of the book. Then you're taken to the first "page." You can advance pages by either swiping (right to left) or merely by tapping the screen. You can go back a page by swiping in the other direction. There are three font sizes which you can choose via the pinch gesture.
At the top there are two buttons: a table of contents button that lists chapter titles and a search button that allows you to search for text. When you search on a term, it is highlighted in yellow throughout the text. Unfortunately, as far as I can tell there does not seem to be an easy way to move to the next instance of the search term. You just have to page through the book until you see the next highlight.
While there are several book reader applications in the App Store for both commercial (i.e DRM-ed) and open-source texts, I think the AppEngines editions are basically worth the modest purchase price for the convenience. Personally, I find it nice to have separate home screen buttons for each book, and the presentation is more than adequate. Be sure to check out the gallery below.
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - First Look: Tap Tap Revenge
Filed under: Gaming, iPod Family, iPhone, App Store
The last time we covered Tap Tap Revenge, the AppStore hadn't yet been released. Now that we've been able to get a hands-on with the app, let's take a new look at TTR by Tapulous. When you first launch this application, you get a fun interface that is very straightforward.
The game play is very simple; just tap along to the beat of the song playing. The red, green and blue colored dots will guide you. There are four difficulty levels: easy, medium, hard, and extreme. Some levels in TTR add in "shakes" that make you shake the iPhone to the left, middle or right to complete the beat (you can turn this feature off in the options). While TTR has the ability to download additional songs, there are currently no new songs available to download (hopefully this will change soon, as you get tired of the same four songs).
In addition to scoring locally, TTR can also interface with an online scoreboard complete with a profile picture. You can also participate in the TTR tournaments for a chance to win a $25 iTunes gift certificate.
Tap Tap Revenge is available for free from the AppStore, so download this amazing application and get your tapping on today!
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - First Look: Super Monkey Ball
Filed under: Gaming, iPod Family, iPhone, App Store
After the WWDC '08 Keynote, everyone wanted this iPhone game -- it received almost as much hype as the iPhone itself. Super Monkey Ball from SEGA definitely has some good qualities, however it does have some bad qualities as well. First off, this game costs $9.99 -- a little steep at first glance, but totally worth it after you notice that it comes with 100+ levels.
The graphics are beautiful, and it definitely pushes the system, but I do have some complaints about the game. First off, the game is extremely hard to control with the tilt-sensors -- perhaps an update with some refined calibration is in order. A bigger complaint about the game: when you have the silent switch flipped on (meaning that the phone shouldn't make ANY noise), the game overrides this and plays the sounds anyway. So, be sure to change the sound settings before you start trying to play this game in a very quiet library or doctor's office. You also cannot pause the game, go to the home screen, and reopen it to start playing again (this might be an SDK issue, rather than a specific SMB problem).
Overall this is a solid game with good performance/graphics. While you won't be able to play this game in the car, it still provides hours of fun sitting extremely still so as not to anger the tilt-sensors. This game is available for $9.99 from the App Store.
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - InsanelyGreat iPhone apps
Filed under: Software, iPhone, App Store
Magnetism Studios, the guys behind Insanely Great Tees, have just launched four iPhone apps, which they are dubbing "Magnet Apps."
Two of the apps are $4.99 and two are $2.99.
Here are the details:
Tile Sudoku ($4.99)
Sudoku is a popular puzzle game choice for iPhone devs, but Tile Sudoku has a neat little twist. Instead of selecting a number from a list, you drag numbered tiles to the correct space on the Sudoku grid. If you make a mistake, you can move the tile to the correct space or back to the tile bar. I haven't used any of the Sudoku iPhone apps yet (I have played some of the web-based versions), but this seems to make a lot of ergonomic sense.
You can buy it from the App Store here.
Mr. Shuffle ($2.99)
It's Mr. Potato Head on the iPhone! Mr. Shuffle lets you create funny faces out of cartoon parts. You can then add speech bubbles or captions to customize the images further. While all that is cool, the most fun part is probably the feature that lets you add elements to pictures you take of your friends from the iPhone camera.
You can buy it from the App Store here.
City Transit ($2.99)
Everytime I visit New York City, I dread having to carry around a transit map guide like a tourist. And even then, you never really know where the closest station is to your location or if there has been some sort of service change. City Transit aims to change all that. For $2.99, you get officially licensed MTA subway maps, a GPS-based station finder to find the nearest station (and it is integrated with Maps so you can get walking directions too) and service advisories from the MTA website, so that you know can quickly out about any line changes.
Magnetism has designed City Transit to have an expandable architecture and in the future you should be able to download maps for buses and commuter rail lines. This really looks like the perfect app for anyone who commutes to NYC.
You can buy it from the App Store here.
File Magnet ($4.99)
File Magnet, which right now will only work in conjunction with Macs running Leopard, is a way to transfer files to and from your Mac from your iPhone or iPod Touch over Wi-Fi and then view them. It supports PDF, DOC, TXT, RTF, RTFD, HTML, PNG, TIF, JPEG. GIF and iPhone compatible movies and audio files. Support for Excel and iWork files is coming soon. So instead of having to e-mail yourself PDF files, you can just load the File Magnet Uploader on your Mac and send it directly to your iPhone.
It does require Wi-Fi to transfer files back and forth, and is not compatible with Windows.
You can buy it from the App Store here.
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