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- Aurora Feint II: The Arena Arrives in the App Store
I’m a huge fan of Aurora Feint: The Beginning for the iPhone and iPod touch. It’s just the right blend of nerdy and casual for a mobile platform, and I could spend either hours or just a few minutes with it, depending on my schedule. And I did spend hours, which either proves that Aurora Feint is based on a solid concept, or that there is a certain type of person who will play any game that allows them to gain levels, regardless of how meaningless new levels actually are.
Given my affinity for the original, you’ll understand how excited I was as I downloaded Aurora Feint II: The Arena last Friday. The sequel to the popular puzzle RPG promised asynchronous online multiplayer play, and enhancements to the existing character and leveling system. How could you go wrong by bringing more awesome to an already awesome game? The answer: you can’t.
There are so many additions its hard to know where to start. Let’s start with basic game play. Even in the Mine, arguably the central component of the Aurora Feint world, there are noticeable improvements. The core play that makes the game so addictive is still there, but now animations are smoother, and you receive better, more visually pleasing tutorial tips throughout. Colors are brighter, and special combo animations are completely revamped. At any time during the game, you can press the arrow at the top of the screen to review your progress, go to the main menu, and return to the world map.
(more…)Переслать - Smartphones and Wi-Fi: Why This Should No Longer Be An Option
I was surprised when I first learned that the Blackberry Storm would not have Wi-Fi. This was especially surprising to me since the other recent new Blackbery, the Bold, does have Wi-Fi.
It seems more and more of the upper-tier smartphones include this feature, and it got me wondering if it should be a feature a potential user should insist on. For me it definitely is.
Keep in mind that if you think Wi-Fi as just a high-speed data pipe, then I believe you're underrating what Wi-Fi can do for your device. Here is why I'd insist on Wi-Fi in what, let's face it, are hand-held computers that happen to make phone calls.
(more…)Переслать - Nimbuzz: Free Multi-Service Messaging/VoIP Client for the iPhone
I have to admit, I paid 15 bucks for Beejive Messenger for the iPhone and haven’t looked back since. That said, I realize that not everyone has the budget or inclination to spend that much money on a mobile messaging app, nor should you have to. Free clients are also available, and the newest addition to the list is Nimbuzz! That’s not me getting really excited, there’s an exclamation mark in the product name. Not that I’m unfazed by Nimbuzz! either. The app supports all major messaging (text and voice) clients, and VoIP protocols as well, including Skype, so that’s promising.
At first, I mistakenly inferred from the app description that it supports only Wi-Fi connections. Not so. For voice chat and VoIP functions, you must have a Wi-Fi connection, probably to comply with carrier-imposed limitations, but for text chat, 3G and EDGE are fine. Like Palringo, Nimbuzz! requires you to sign up for a master account, but the process is relatively painless. You can do it from within the application, and the only information required is your desired username, password, and a valid email address. Nimbuzz! uses the account to store your saved services, so you can sign in to the PC and web versions with a single login and access all your IM networks.
(more…)Переслать - Quicktime Update Brings Intermittent HDCP Fixes
Apple has released another update to Quicktime that should be a small bit of good news to unibody MacBook and MacBook Pro owners. Bringing its version number up to 7.5.7, the new Quicktime removes the HDCP playback restrictions from standard definition movies purchased and rented from iTunes. According to the release notes:
This update is recommended for owners of MacBook, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro with Mini DisplayPort. The update addresses an issue where some standard definition purchases from the iTunes Store do not play on some external displays.
It should be emphasized that this only resolves issues with standard definition versions of purchases. So, if you were having troubles before and are now hoping to watch that download in all its high definition glory, you are still out of luck.
The update is currently only available via Software Update for all Mini DisplayPort equipped systems.
Переслать - Sick of Your Dock's Animated Poof? Change It
Most people know that when you want to remove an app from your dock, you simply need to right click it then drag it to the desktop. The first few times it disappeared in a puff of “smoke” you probably thought it was cool but if you’re over it now, it’s possible to change that “poof” to a twirl, fade, or anything else that strikes your fancy.
First, locate the file that contains the animation. Navigate to
/System/Library/Core Services. Hold down the control key, then clickDockand chooseShow Package Contents. When the Dock window opens, selectContents > Resources.Locate the file called
poof.pngand click to open. Gasp in surprise when you find out that it’s really just a five-frame graphic that can easily be replaced with your own file.Use Photoshop, Seashore, Comic Life, or the image editor of your choice to create a cool new graphic that, like the existing file, measures 640 pixels tall. Then just save the new file and restart your system.
Poof, now you have yourself a new dock animation!
Переслать - Handbrake 0.9.3 Brings New Video Sources
The video encoding and transcoding tool, Handbrake has been updated to 0.9.3. This latest release brings a number of substantial changes to this excellent video utility.
The two most fundamental changes make Handbrake more flexible and also more limited. First flexibility — Handbrake will now accept many different video sources and does far more than just DVDs. The second change is that DVD decrypting has been completely decoupled from Handbrake and you’ll need another app to do perform that step in the conversion process. This version has a number of other improvements for Mac, Apple TV, and iPod users. Read the release notes to get a full list of changes.
Video Cornucopia
Just in time to help us deal with our grief at the passing of Techspansion and its seminal video converter, Visual Hub, Handbrake now has the ability to convert all sorts of different source material to H.264 or MPEG4 video. This potentially allows Handbrake to transcode AVI video from digital cameras and other such files. This new flexibility comes as a benefit of incorporating the libavcodec and libavformat libraries from the FFmpeg project. Unfortunately, the AVI file from a Canon P&S camera I used to test this on resulted in great looking video with a bunch of static in the audio track.
(more…)Переслать - Laptop: The Computer to Have in a Power Blackout
One of the reasons I’m a die-hard laptop aficionado is that I live in a rural area where power blackouts are not uncommon. Late November usually brings at least one with the arrival of the first major winter storm. This year proved no exception, with a major gale roaring in off the Atlantic last Friday evening.
I was prepared, but by the time I went to bed, although the lights had flickered a couple of times, the power was still on, and I was beginning to be a tiny bit optimistic that we would dodge this bullet. No such luck. I woke up around 4 AM, and the wind was screaming. Gusts had been forecast to about 45 MPH, but I would estimate we were getting more like 60 MPH sustained for about half an hour, at which point the lights died. I called the power utility and went back to bed.
(more…)Переслать - Why Make a Good App When You Can Just Pay People to Say You Did?
While annoying, the tactic of offering your app for free for a limited time prior to making people pay for it at least has the nice benefit of allowing a number of customers to actually get the software without paying for it. App Store manipulation hit a new low, recently when someone went a step further: paying people for high review scores.
Yes, in a frightening new low for Apple’s iPhone software distribution system, Wired is reporting that the developer of Santa Live, a Christmas-themed application aimed at children, seems to have been offering $4 in exchange for every 5-star review posted by people who download the $1.99 app. Since the Santa Live folks would be losing money in the deal, the obvious goal is to fix the ratings to encourage unwitting downloaders to fork over real, non-reimbursed cash.
The offer was listed on Amazon’s Mechanical Turk, and has since been taken down. Luckily, a TUAW reader snagged the screenshot above to preserve evidence of the shady move. The Turk listing even describes a sneaky secret code system by which plant reviewers can identify themselves without drawing undue attention, by including an extended, five-period ellipsis (…..) somewhere in their review. Six of the 22 reviews for the app at the time of this writing contain the code.
(more…)Переслать - Examining the Battery/AC Performance Gap on MacBooks and MacBook Pros
Back in the dark ages, when I used to have a Toshiba laptop, I would always remove the battery when running off of AC power, out of what may have been misguided superstition. I was told, and I fervently believed, that doing so would extend the life of my battery considerably by reducing the total number of cycles. When I got a MacBook, I just stopped the curious practice cold turkey. I didn’t have a reason for it at the time, but it looks like I was right to do so, as users are reporting significant drops in performance on Apple notebooks with the battery removed.
This issue is getting a lot of virtual ink around the blogosphere. Most of the scuttlebutt is actually misleading, too. ZDnet blogs, the Apple Gazette, and TrustedReviews all feature articles that reference the problem as affecting new model MacBooks and MacBook Pros, which is true, but only tells half the story. In fact, the issue is not limited to the aluminum and glass model machines. Gearlog, who ran the tests, doesn’t mention any limit to the models affected, and the Apple Support article officially noting and explaining the issue is actually dated from before the release of the new notebooks, so it must reference previous models as well.
(more…)Переслать - 9 iPhone Apps to Keep You Fit
You may have caught our round-up of iPhone apps for your car from a few weeks ago. Well, it's time for another batch, so here's our our list of 9 fitness-related iPhone apps. Once again, each item on the list links to a full review with feature and pricing information. Enjoy!
Nutrition/Weight/Health Information Apps
Restaurant Nutrition
If you eat a lot of fast food, but you're morbidly curious and you want to know what you're putting in your body, then this is the app for you. I like it because it helps me eat reasonably well when I'm on the road.LIVESTRONG.COM Calorie Tracker
You probably recognize the Livestrong name from Lance Armstrong's charitable organization that made yellow bracelets omnipresent. Well, now they've given us an app that keeps track of your daily calorie intake/burn.Weightbot
An adorable robot that keeps track of your weight for you. A great app that's beautifully designed, in addition to being useful, with nice sound effects, graphics, and animations.Переслать - Carbon Copy Cloner Makes Creating Bootable Backups Easy
One of the things I loved about the old Mac OS Classic was that to create a bootable disk, all you had to do was make a folder named System Folder, drag in System and Finder files and an Appearance Folder, then drag your bare-bones System Folder to a disk — hard drive, Zip, floppy, CD-R, etc — and voila! you were in business. Usually one would add a few more items like Control Panels and Extensions folders, Preferences and Fonts folders, but it was a simple, quick and not-too-dirty way to make bootable disks.
Alas, you can’t do that with OS X and its thousands of tiny, usually invisible files, but the next best thing is disk cloning, which is to make a copy of an existing bootable volume on another disk or drive. This is excellent for backups, but has the added advantage of allowing you to create bootable disks without going through the hassle of running an OS X installer program.
There are several software utilities available that can clone drives, but it’s hard to go wrong with Mike Bombich’s Carbon Copy Cloner, which is offered as uncrippled shareware, with donations suggested if you like the software and decide to continue using it once you’ve checked it out.
(more…)Переслать - Shields Up! Twelve Security Holes Fixed by New iPhone/iPod touch Firmware
Weldon did a phenomenal job covering the visible and functional changes in the iPhone/iPod touch 2.2 firmware release. If you are holding off on the update, or just haven’t gotten to it yet, you may want to pencil in some time with iTunes as there are a twelve security fixes in this firmware release, each of which leaves your device and/or data vulnerable to attack.
- CVE-2008-4228 & CVE-2008-4229 & CVE-2008-4230 – Passcode Lock – iPhone provides the ability to make an emergency call when locked. Currently, an emergency call may be placed to any number. A person with physical access to an iPhone may take advantage of this feature to place arbitrary calls which are charged to the iPhone owner. This update addresses the issue by restricting emergency calls to a limited set of phone numbers. Also, a person with physical access to the device had the ability (under certain circumstances) to launch applications without the passcode and if an SMS message arrived while the emergency call screen was visible, the entire SMS message would have been displayed, even if the “Show SMS Preview” preference was set to “OFF”.
- CVE-2008-2327 & CVE-2008-1586 – ImageIO – Viewing a TIFF image that was crafted to take advantage of poorly coded compression libraries could lead to attackers running any code they choose (i.e. arbitrary code execution) on your system or cause system instability/force a reset (Denial of Serivce/DoS)
- CVE-2008-2321 – CoreGraphics – Very similar to the ImageIO problem, this involves attackers using a specially crafted web site to achieve the same results
- CVE-2008-4227 – Networking – Your PPTP VPN connections may not be as strongly encrypted as they should be
- CVE-2008-4211 – Office Viewer – If you view Excel files on your device, you are susceptible to arbitrary code execution or DoS attacks
- CVE-2008-4231 & CVE-2008-4232 & CVE-2008-4233 – Safari – Nasty HTML TABLES (and, when are HTML TABLES not nasty?) and insidious IFRAMEs lead the list of Safari problems, but a particularly tricky bug regarding phone calls you did not deliberately make is now fixed by Apple properly dismissing Safari’s call approval dialogs when an application is being launched via Safari.
- CVE-2008-3644 – WebKit – Even if you were a good web programmer and disabled autocomplete on “sensitive” form fields, Mobile Safari may still have saved that field data in the browser page cache. Individuals with physical access to the device could pretty easily gain access to that information.
Organizations that allow iPhones to be used for business purposes should do their best to ensure all users are upgraded as soon as possible. Individuals should take note of the reduced security posture prior to the 2.2 firmware and make their own risk-based decisions (but upgrading gets you the cool new Street View, so go ahead and upgrade now!).
Переслать - Profile of an iPhone User: Interesting Statistics About Yourself
As a mobile device, the iPhone crosses several different user groups. From business users to media junkies, a wide range of people use the iPhone in a variety of different ways. The App Store is fueling this variation even further on account of the huge array of different applications available.
A few pieces of research have been conducted that give an interesting glimpse into the profile of iPhone users, and the main activities they choose to perform with their device. This post will summarize a few different results and draw some interesting comparisons between the uses of an iPhone compared to other mobile phones.
(more…)Переслать - How the iPhone Should Have Made the Blackberry Storm Launch Easier
There have been a lot of reviews lately regarding the new Blackberry Storm. I summarized a few myself, but things haven’t improved much. While there are some bright spots, the overall tone of the reviews is that the Storm is a disappointment.
Still, as a Blackberry on the Verizon network I suspect it'll do fine regardless. Instead of dwelling on the reviews, I want to disagree with comments I've read that say RIM should be cut some slack because it's a 1.0 product, which makes it the same as the iPhone's initial release.
No, not at all. RIM had it easy.
From the moment it was announced, while Apple faithful may have believed, most outlets spent time mocking the iPhone. Greasy screen! Fingerprints! Car crashes because you can't drive and text at the same time! Won't be able to dial in bright sunlight! And on and on. Most of them were kind of silly, and a few were downright asinine.
People's memories can be short, so let's go back in time and look at what Apple had to overcome with the iPhone.
(more…)Переслать - Using Preview's Enhanced Photo Editing Tools
For basic photo editing, if you’re running OS X 10.5 Leopard you don’t need Photoshop Elements or Pixelmator. Leopard’s Preview graphics viewer application is much more than a viewer; it now incorporates some very handy image correction tools that are not only user-friendly and intuitive to use, but also work really well.
Consequently, if you take digital photos or scan transparencies or prints onto your computer and want to optimize them, you may not need a traditional image editor application at all. Preview can do the job for you.
(more…)Переслать - Boxee is Back On Apple TV 2.3
And there was much rejoicing! I noted in my Apple TV 2.3 article that the latest Apple update broke boxee, but now the official boxee blog explains that they have got it working again. It took a little longer to get the USB Creator updated to work with Apple TV 2.3, but you can find the instructions on the boxee blog to make a patchstick installer that makes the whole process as simple as pulling the cord, plugging in the patchstick that you made, plugging the power back in, waiting, and then rebooting.
Some other things to be aware of…
New remote behavior:
- long “select” switches between now playing and ui
- long “menu” takes you home
- back on login screen takes you out
Known caveat: with the update to 2.3, Apple broke a few things, one being the ability of the app to consistently appear in the foreground. Until this is figured out, if you run boxee, and get a black screen, you need to back out of boxee by clicking menu on the remote, and try launching boxee again.
Apparently Scott and Stephan are working on this last bit to kill the black screen bug dead for good.
I like the new features in Apple TV 2.3, but I missed having access to boxee after I upgraded the other day. I’m was having minor issues with boxee and Hulu. Playback gets just a little bit jittery at times. I’m hoping the upcoming releases will help improve this situation.
Also, as a side note on boxee, the boxee team just released the results of a user survey they conducted to determine which media sources to add to boxee next. You can read all about the results on their blog. Personally, I’d be thrilled if they can deliver half of the sources on their list. Pandora on Apple TV would be amazing.
Переслать - iPhone Remote: Your Mac in Your iPhone
Not to be confused with Apple’s Remote app for iTunes, iPhone Remote is an application for Mac OS X that puts the contents of your Mac within easy reach of your iPhone or iPod touch. With iPhone Remote, your Mac is in your iPhone.
Developed by Telekinesis, the folks behind the ubiquitous Quicksilver, iPhone Remote brings VNC-like funtionalities to the iPhone and iPod touch.
The front-end of iPhone Remote is the web browser. Simply type the IP address provided by the iPhone Remote service running on your Mac into Safari on your device and you will be greeted with a page of icons. You can bookmark this page and add it to the Home Screen.
(more…)Переслать - BDEmailer: This App Doesn't Do What You Think it Does
Engadget, Gizmodo, and 9 to 5 Mac seem to be puzzled about an app called BDEmailer, and why it’s allowed on the App Store. I think this is because they’re giving the app more credit than it’s due.
Engadget says Apple “violates its own policies” because the app’s SMTP feature “duplicates an exact function of Apple’s Mail application on the iPhone and touch.” I disagree. The product’s own demo video states that if “there’s more than two [email addresses] it will send them to Apple’s Mail, the SMT[P] only sends one address at a time.” That’s hardly a duplicate of Mail’s send feature.
Gizmodo says Apple’s app store policies are a “crap shoot.” This may very well be true, but I’m not sure you could prove it by this app. They want to know “just what the hell is going on.” Well, what’s going on is this: BDEmailer is an enhancement to Apple’s Mail, and there are already plenty of those on the app store (e.g., Easy Mail, TouchType).
9 to 5 Mac says the app “goes up against Apple’s own email app,” which is the furthest from the truth because this app relies on Apple’s Mail app.
In addition to SMTP, I believe some confusion stems from the app’s write-up in the app store. It talks so much about what you can do, it can give the impression it’s a Mail replacement. But it does not receive mail, and the limited sending is obviously an issue. Bottom line is that while this Mail enhancer seems more extensive than others — which duplicate some of BDEmailer’s features — it’s still just a Mail add-on, not a replacement.
Finally, none of this is meant to judge the app itself, or its potential usefulness as a Mail helper. This is not a review; I leave it to readers to use the app or read existing app store reviews and make their own determination. I’m simply responding to articles questioning why Apple did not disallow this app from the Store.
Переслать - Customizing Your Mac: Wallpaper Fun
The desktop wallpaper on your Mac is something that you may not pay a great deal of attention to. If so, you might be missing out on a great way to create a personal look and feel for your computer, revel in stunning photography, or even re-create the feeling of being somewhere thousands of miles away from your desk.
In this post on customizing your Mac I’ll be looking at a some sources of beautiful wallpaper, investigating a few of the effects and features pre-built into OS X, and showcasing two pieces of software for revolutionizing your desktop.
(more…)Переслать - Weekly App Store Roundup: Nov. 22, 2008
Another fantabulous week at The Apple Blog draws to a close. In the week that was, we’ve investigated unlocking the iPhone 3G, elucidated upon the joys of Mobile Me and become a little exasperated by the approaching change of weather, as Blackberry’s new Storm arrives (it didn’t really blow us away). Plus, we’ve joined the masses on Twitter too.
In the meantime a torrent of nervous-looking new arrivals joined the App Store, so it’s time for me to line a few of them up and judge which are fit for action and which should be sent home on indefinite leave.
This week I’m looking at Wallpapers by Gelaskins, Star Trigon Lite and EuroTalk.
(more…)Переслать - Fitnio: Fitness Tracking App for the Rest of Us
Overwhelmed by the detail, options, and information available in most run and bike-tracking apps? Then you might find the simplicity of Fitnio, a relative newcomer to the scene, refreshing. Fitnio uses GPS to track your walk, jog, run or bicycling trip and provide you with basic, useful fitness-related information about the workout.
Like other apps of this kind, the GPS-tracking function of the app requires the iPhone 3G in order to produce accurate results. Also like other apps in this category, GPS is not 100% accurate all of the time. When I originally started Fitnio for testing, it found satellites without much trouble, but immediately began calculating my run at speeds of around 30 to 40 km/h (I'm Canadian, so I chose the "Metric" setting, but Imperial is available as well). Since I am not the six-million dollar man, these speeds seemed unlikely. As my location became more accurately pinpointed, speeds dropped to a much more reasonable 10+ km/h.
What I liked about Fitnio, despite the skewed numbers that GPS hiccups resulted in, was how easy it was to use. From the launch screen, which offers you an odometer, calorie counter, and "Start Running" and "Start Riding" buttons, to the run view, which just shows your time in large, easy-to-read numbers, and your distance travelled, your speed, and calories in slightly smaller font. It lacks the depth of other apps, maybe, but it also doesn't intimidate with a laundry list of functions. And it provides a couple of great features: an emergency contact button from the workout view screen, and a cool down timer for safer and healthier workouts.
You can also track your progress online through fitnio.com. The site right now offers only basic listing of your past workouts, but according to the developer, this is only the beginning. Future iterations of the Fitnio page will introduce additional features.
For a free app, Fitnio offers all the functions most people will need in an exercise tracker in a well-designed, easy to use and understand package. It's available now in the App Store.
Переслать - FitView: Achieve a Wide-Angle Outlook on Your Fitness
Sometimes, all you're looking for is a quick, accessible way to review your workout history and progress. If that's what you need, and you don't mind doing a little data entry to get it, FitView might be the iPhone/iPod touch app for you.
FitView allows you to store a wide range of fitness-related information in one, convenient location, right on your iPhone. Initially, I thought it was similar to RunKeeper and other apps that use GPS to track your fitness activities and provide information like speed and calories burned. This is not in fact what FitView is meant to do. Instead, you enter information about aerobic workouts, weight, height, etc. and it keeps a log for you.
When you first open FitView, you set up a profile to tie your logged activities and vital stats to, which are then used to generate user-specific trend charts. FitView supports the creation of multiple user profiles, so you and your significant other can set up accounts on the same device. Once your profile is set up, you can add activities, which involves choosing the activity type and filling out a number of fields with info like distance, heart rate, time, and calories burnt. I should note again that you must provide this information, it is not recorded by the app, and only a few fields are automatically calculated.
The Vital Stats menu allows you to monitor weight, body fat, calories consumed, cholesterol, and more. As with the activities, most of the information required by each of these stats must be gathered manually and then entered into the app. On the bright side, you can create your own custom stats using the "Unspecified" category.
Charts that monitor your logged activities are the only truly automated part of the app, and they do provide a good, visual way to evaluate your progress at a glance. This is definitely not an app I'd recommend to someone just getting started with a fitness regimen, or to more casual users. The sheer amount of data you can track with FitView, however, makes it a very useful application for users with more advanced needs, and people who's health depends on a high level of detail. FitView will cost you $3.99, while FitView Lite, which limits your profiles, activities, and stats, is available free of charge.
Переслать - Keep Track of Your Runs with RunKeeper
It was one of the first, and it continues to be one of the most popular aerobic exercises tracking apps in the App Store. Raizlabs' RunKeeper uses the iPhone 3G's built-in GPS to track your progress during a workout, and provide you with a range of data based on your results. In addition to presenting your results on the iPhone, RunKeeper allows you to map and view your progress at runkeeper.com as well. It's similar, overall, to the Nike+ system, but without the need for additional hardware.
Despite its name, RunKeeper is not just for running. The app allows you to select from a variety of physical activities. In addition to running, you can track hiking, bike riding, walking, or even skiing. All tracking activities require GPS, and as such the developer recommends that RunKeeper be used exclusively with the iPhone 3G, since results on the first generation iPhone or the iPod touch will be inaccurate.
RunKeeper tracks durations, distance, speed, pace, rise, and altitude data, and provides a map that shows your traveled path. I tested it using both running and walking modes. In both cases, initial pick-up of the satellites took a while, and readings were initially confused even after GPS positional data was acquired. Speed readings were way off, and changing directions (ie. turning left at a corner) resulted in an adjustment period during which the information did not accurately reflect reality.
Once a solid lock was established, however, and I'd been outside for a while, information was generally reliable. Inaccuracies might also have been due to my being located downtown in a large city, where skyscrapers often prevent a clear path to sky. Run tracking worked better than walk tracking, perhaps because running was, overall, a much more consistent and uninterrupted activity, conducted at a public park with a relatively clear skyline.
RunKeeper is a useful application if you need to keep track of your exercise info. For me, such detail isn't really necessary, because I run casually just to keep fit and because I enjoy it. People training for marathons or doing other semi-competitive running will probably find the app more useful. Users should also be warned that RunKeeper prevents the iPhone from sleeping, and uses battery at an alarming rate. It's a free download from the App Store, so if you're looking for a Nike+ alternative to use with your iPhone, there's no harm in giving RunKeeper a shot.
Переслать - GymGoal Lite: Trainer App and More for Those Who Need It
When embarking on a fitness regimen, it helps to have a goal. It also might help to have GymGoal Lite, a personal trainer app for the iPhone and iPod touch. GymGoal Lite puts a massive workout encyclopedia in the palm of your hand, allowing you to control and customize every aspect of your gym-based fitness routine.
GymGoal Lite's home screen is divided into Workouts and Exercises. Each section contains subcategories, and both offer you the ability to assign favorites. The bottom of the screen is occupied by the "Tip of the day" field, which provides useful tidbits of information about either keeping fit, or building muscle. From the home screen, you can also access various fitness-related calculators, and an online glossary of workouts housed at GymGoal.com.
In the Workouts section, you can either find a pre-set workout by selecting from a variety of criteria, including type of equipment and difficulty, or you can choose one from your favorites or history. Each workout can be copied so that you can have a basic template to work from when creating your own custom routine. Once a workout is selected, you can view its subsets and select individual exercises from a list to view more info.
Exercises can be found using the useful Body Map, which allows you to pick specific muscles or muscle groups from an anatomical drawing of the human body. It's definitely a nice feature for those who know what they want to work out but don't necessarily know its name. Alternatively, you can search by name, or select from a list of all exercises arranged in alphabetical owner. Unfortunately, you can't add custom exercises to GymGoal Light, but the included library is extensive.
The calculators included in the app are a nice addition to the basic personal trainer functions. GymGoal Light allows you to calculate your maximum single repetition, body mass index (BMI), basal metabolic rate (BMR), body fat percentage, and track your weight history. You'll have to do the measurements yourself, of course, but all the math is taken care of. Your weight history is displayed only as a simple list, and the lack of even a simple graph takes away from the feature.
This app has a lot of nice features for beginner to moderate users. The body map exercise locator is a great help if you're not sure exactly what you're looking for, and the calculators allow you to monitor your fitness in a number of useful ways. At $4.99, it's a little on the pricey side for this category of app, but its unique feature set make it worth the money for users with very specific needs.
Переслать - iFitness: Workout Smarter With Your iPhone
In the words of the immortal Hans & Franz, "We're Going to Pump You Up!" Or at least, iFitness for the iPhone and iPod touch is going to. The personal trainer app has enjoyed a lofty position on the Top Paid charts in the iTunes store, and I wanted to find out why. I'd been disappointed before, so I hoped that iFitness might restore my faith, and get me back in the gym.
From the start, things were looking up with iFitness. The UI, while nothing special, was clean, simple, and dialed-down, which strikes me as appropriate for an application that I'll be using at the gym in between exercises. From the home screen, you can access individual exercises, your custom workout, pre-set routines, and your log from the bottom navigation bar.
On the Exercises screen, you can browse by categories organized according to muscle group. You can also search for an exercise by individual muscle, or browse the list in its entirety alphabetically. One of the key features of iFitness is the ability to add and edit custom exercises to the already extensive list that comes with the app. Clicking on an exercise shows its details on the home screen, initially displaying just an image series showing you what to do. You can press a button at the top to display text instructions, add to your workout, or add to your log.
My Workout displays your custom workout, which you can build by adding exercises from their information screens. You can also add dividers to separate muscle groups or sets. My Workout adds a degree of customizability that makes iFitness a must-have for more advanced users. The only downside is that you can only create one workout, so the list could get unwieldy if you want to keep a variety of custom routines.
The preset routines are good starting points for novice users. Each has an extensive description to tell you just what the workout is meant to do, and a list detailing number of sets and repetitions.
iFitness has definitely found a place as my app of choice for workout management, since the ability to add custom exercises and your own routine is crucial to my fitness habits. At only $1.99, it's a steal for beginners and more advanced users alike.
Переслать - Testosterone for the iPhone: iPump Total Body
Anything that makes going to the gym easier has to be a good thing, right? The iPhone might be just the kick in the gym shorts you need, depending on how you equip it. iPump Total Body aims to provide you with a pocket-size personal trainer, via an iPhone app that allows you to plan and log your workouts.
PumpOne, makers of iPump Total Body, have a clear interest in promoting the iPump brand on the iPhone/iPod touch platform. There are no less than 16 apps bearing the iPump name currently available in the app store. Since iPump Total Body claims to provide a more balanced approach, I thought it the best candidate for review. I couldn't help but wonder whether PumpOne might've spread themselves too thin with so many apps.
Total Body provides 4 levels of pre-set workouts, each intended to be a step up in intensity. An individual workout is basically a rich-media slide show, combining pictures, audio, and video to guide you. I opted for Level 1: Foundation, for my trial, since I was intimated by all the pictures scattered throughout of intimidating hardbodies.
Level 1 is broken down into a four-week cycle, and each workout is meant to be prefaced by a 5-minut cardio warm up of your choosing. The workout features 10 exercises, spread out over a variety of body areas such chest, legs, abs, and back. Individual exercises feature photographs of models demonstrating the workout, along with detailed text instructions. You swipe to move to the next exercise, and at the end you can press "Complete" to log the workout. Rotating the iPhone enables landscape view, in which the photos are displayed, with the text instructions overlaid when you tap the screen.
Truth be told, I was not very impressed by iPump Total Body. The information was useful, yes, but it was presented in a drab way that feels canned and doesn't, in my opinion, take advantage of the unique characteristics of the iPhone/iPod touch platform. I also didn't once find an exercise that had a video demonstration. Finally, it was incredibly annoying that I couldn't customize workouts according to my preference, which is going to be a deal-breaker for more advanced users. At $2.99, you probably want to skip this one unless you really need the reference material.
Переслать - Weightbot: I Wish My Bathroom Scale Was This Cute
Who says watching your weight can't be fun? Weightbot, one of the most popular paid applications currently in the App Store, says it can. I honestly believe that a lot of users were (like me) initially drawn to the app because of the icon's beautiful design, and the attractive UI revealed by the screenshots in the app's info page.
Weightbot is much more than just a pretty face, though. Not that it doesn't have a gorgeous kisser. And fun sound effects. Loading screen, animation, screen transition, and all sounds are very polished and tailored to the overall robotic theme. Even the settings screen is designed to look like a robot's maintenance panel, right down to an ID plaque that identifies your unit as one of the "original" production run units.
I can drool all I want about the app's design, but what about functionality? Again, Weightbot doesn't disappoint, depending on what you were expecting. It admittedly doesn't do much, but what it does do, it does very well. On first launch, you configure the app by entering your height and weight goal and the date you want to reach it by. Once that's set up, any time you launch Weightbot, you can click on the main read-out and enter your weight for the day.
The app will automatically calculate your body mass index (BMI) for each day, although it doesn't provide you with a reference of what constitutes healthy range for your age, sex, and height. Turning the iPhone sideways while on the main screen will display a line-graph charting your progress towards your goal. Weightbot also allows you to use either Metric or Imperial units, lending it some international appeal.
Again, Weightbot doesn't aim to do much. It allows you to set and track your progress towards a weight goal. It doesn't help you decide what that goal should be, nor does it interpret any of the data you provide in terms of health ramifications. Despite not being terribly ambitious, it does what it does extremely well, and with unbeatable style. The polish that went into this app is well worth $1.99 if you want a quick and painless way to track your weight.
Переслать - Count Those Calories With LIVESTRONG.COM
It's been a chart-topper for a little while now, so I decided to check out LIVESTRONG.COM's Calorie Tracker. I have to admit, I was a little put off by the use of all-caps in the app's name, but I suppose it's primarily meant as a promotional tool for "LIVESTRONG.COM", and if aggressive branding is the price you pay for an otherwise free app, it's no big deal.
I was greeted with another minor nuisance when I opened the app for the first time, since I was prompted to sign up for a LIVESTRONG.COM account in order to use the Calorie Tracker. Registration grumbles aside, once signed up I began to see why the app had climbed to such heights in the iTunes rankings. Calorie Tracker does much more than its name implies, and actually combines the functionality of a number of other apps in the same category.
First, the app does indeed track calories. At the "My Plate" or home screen you can see your progress towards you daily calorie total, as established by your height, weight, activity level, and weight loss/gain/maintenance goal, which you enter when you set up your account. The progress bar is calculated based on foods you've eaten and exercise you've done over the course of the day. Foods and exercises logged are displayed underneath the calorie tracker.
The app also provides weight monitoring, charting your progress towards your goal. You can see your graph in the "My Weight" screen, accessible through the bottom nav bar. Each day you can return to the app and enter your current weight, accurate up to one decimal point.
Calorie Tracker provides two more functions as well: nutritional and workout information. For both, you can search for items using LIVESTRONG.COM's online database. From your search results, you can choose an item, review its details, and select the one that most accurately reflect the food you actually ate or exercise you actually performed.
LIVESTRONG.COM's Calorie Tracker app has a lot going for it. It combines the functionality of a lot of other individual applications, provides access to a large database of foods and exercises that is constantly being updated by users, and presents all of this in a package that is pleasing and user friendly. Still, it has its downsides as well. You must register for an account, something I'm really tired of doing for iPhone apps, and the app places annoying calls home to update information far too regularly. Also, if you're not able to connect to any network, you're out of luck, as none of the information is stored locally. While I can see how useful this is for people looking for an all-in-one solution, it will never have a permanent place on my home page because of usability issues.
Переслать - Peer Inside That Burger With Restaurant Nutrition
Have you ever been curious about what's in that burger you're about to bite in to? In general, I'd probably rather not know, but if you're watching your waistline or concerned about the possibility of potentially serious medical problems, Restaurant Nutrition for the iPhone (FREE) could be the app for you. It provides nutritional information for 37 popular American restaurant chains, allowing you to browse a list of menu items from each.
The sheer volume of information stored in this app (which is kept locally, so network connectivity is not required) might seem intimidating, but good organization and accessible design makes it a simple and easy to use program. Upon launch, you're asked to enter a user name, which can optionally be linked to an online account at the Personal Health Record online site. Linking your account can allow you to tie your information to a prescribed diet and health plan. Don't worry if you don't have a thePHRnetwork.com account, you can still use Restaurant Nutrition in standalone mode.
Clicking on any restaurant's name brings up a list of general categories specific to each chain. For example, McDonald's list contains things like "Beverages," "Breakfast," and "Sandwiches," but not "Appetizers," which you can find under "Chili's" and other more sit-down type restaurants. Once in the "Sandwiches" sub-menu, I quickly navigated to the Quarter Pounder with Cheese entry, since that's always been my go-to Mickey Dee's burger. I was actually expecting far worse. The number of "Calories from Fat" was the most terror-inspiring figure.
From this screen, you can adjust the quantity of items to multiply the informational totals. You can also record the mean using two buttons at the bottom of the screen, specifying that you ate this either today or on a past date, and the meals are then recorded in the log attached to your profile. You can access your history from the button in the upper left corner of the home screen or from the bookmark icon on the bottom navigation bar. It's organized by date, and lists the nutritional information for every food item you recorded for that day.
Overall, it's a handy app, especially if you eat a lot while traveling or just love fast (and medium-paced) food. There's multi-user support, and the item database is regularly maintained. You can download updates from within the app through the settings screen. Of course, it only tells half the story, since it only tracks the food you eat at the restaurants listed. If you're concerned about your chain restaurant eating habits, this is good download, especially since it's free, but if you want the total package, Restaurant Nutrition alone won't cut it.
Переслать - Upgrades, Darn Upgrades and Statistics
Hopefully Benjamin Disraeli will posthumously forgive me for the major abuse of his quote (made famous by Mark Twain), but the fine folks over at the Omni Group gave us all a sneak peek into some very interesting data they’ve been allowed by users to collect on various details of the operating system their applications run on.
Even though this is a very rough snapshot of the Apple landscape — OS X users who have at least one installed Omni Group application that has checked for updates and allowed data to be collected — it does provide some fodder for discussion and analysis.
(more…)Переслать - Apple Unleashes A "Perfect Storm" Of Updates
Apple TV 2.3 was not enough. They could not stop at iPhone OS 2.2. Apple had to introduce the perfect storm of updates to impact users of all their systems and devices by unleashing Quicktime H.264 Compatibility Update (now at version 7.5.5) and iTunes 8.0.2 (plus the required download of the new iPhone SDK to match the 2.2 OS release).
While the former only “improves QuickTime compatibility with iChat,” the iTunes update “improves stability and performance” and:
- addresses a quality issue creating MP3s on some computers
- fixes a connectivity issue with the iTunes Store when using some Internet proxies with Mac OS X
- improves accessibility with VoiceOver
The H.264 update will require a restart and I strongly suggest performing all iPhone/iPod Touch updates before upgrading iTunes (always reduce the number of potential things that can go wrong). Both installation packages are available via Software Update and should be available in the download section of Apple’s support site later today. The iTunes installation package is available at the usual download location.
The most impressive part of all these updates is how well the Apple file servers have held up under the load and how much their QA processes have improved. The iPhone update downloaded very quickly and the entire backup/update procedures went very smoothly. iTunes did not clobber my libraries and I had no issues with the Apple TV 2.3 update (yes, I was willing to give up Boxee for a peek at the new “official” features). The SDK download went faster than any other one I have attempted to grab and install, and it successfully compiled and installed one of my in-development apps without incident.
Let’s hope Apple manages to make this the “new normal” for all their updates.
Переслать - 4 Mac Security Apps Compared
The security of your Mac can fall into a few different categories. One such category would be that of preventing data loss (i.e. making regular backups). Apple has helped to make this easy in recent years with the inclusion of Time Machine in OS X. Another category is trying to prevent, or minimize the problem of, theft. This is something more difficult to defend against than a corrupted hard drive, as it’s not just a case of regularly backing data up.
Because the theft of a laptop is a great deal less common than a failed hard drive, it can easily be overlooked by Mac users. Fortunately, there are a number of applications which can step in to help you locate a stolen or missing laptop. This article will provide an overview of several competing applications, comparing them on features and price.
(more…)Переслать - Give Good Food to Your Mac: Software Discounts
The idea of a ‘bundle’ promotion is a common occurrence in the Mac software world. The most widely publicized event centered around great deals on indie Mac software is MacHeist. The general idea is that bundling a package of applications together leads to a great deal for you, the user, and also generates a huge amount of publicity for the featured applications.
A similar promotion has launched this week, with a few notable differences. Give Good Food to Your Mac (organized by Aquafadas) offers a huge range of different applications, with discounts increasing progressively depending upon the number of applications you purchase.
Claudia Zimmer, Aquafadas’ CEO explains:
We are pleased to introduce the Third Edition of ‘Give Good Food to your Mac’. It’s a chance for us to build a community among developers and together, create opportunities that would not be possible alone. Mac users benefit from it as they can discover our software at great prices.
The Discounts Available
While the promotion doesn’t feature the world’s catchiest name, it does give some great discounts. Buying 3 apps saves you 20%, 4 apps saves 30%, and 5 or more knocks a whopping 50% off the normal retail price. As you add applications to your cart, it’s simple to see how much you stand to save, along with how many more applications you need to reach the next level.
(more…)Переслать - iPhone Spelling Mistake Blunder
It’s generally taken for granted that a cutting edge company such as Apple has a well oiled system of editors and copywriters who check software releases for errors before they go live. Unfortunately, it seems that the system has broken down with the latest iPhone software release.
Apple has written the Categories menu on the new Podcast download area of the new app as “Catagories”. The error is even more unfortunate, as the correct spelling of the word can be seen at the bottom of the page.
Macworld humorously referenced back to Scott Forstall, Apple’s vice president of platform experience, who said:
I actually have a photographer’s loupe that I use to make sure every pixel is right. We will argue over literally a single pixel.
I’ve done the math, and in order to miss the word ‘Catagories’, Scott has overlooked eight hundred and six pixels… He needs to have a few strong words with whoever has been delegated the loupe in recent months.
It will be interesting to see what move Apple takes to correct this. Will they treat it as a priority and push out another software release fairly quickly, or will they simply wait until the next iPhone software update is due? Personally, I expect they’ll wait for a future release — updating the software on your iPhone can be a fairly lengthy process for users (especially those with slow internet connections), and they’re unlikely to be too concerned with a minor spelling error.
I’m interested to know — have you ever noticed any spelling mistakes with previous releases (iPhone or otherwise)?
EDIT: Well, it looks like Apple quickly fixed that issue by updating the download package. How unfortunate (for this article).
Переслать - iPhone 2.2 Firmware Released, Google Maps and Podcasts Take Center Stage
Today Apple released the iPhone 2.2 firmware update and it is available to download throught iTunes. Just click on “check for updates” to force iTunes to call home and start downloading the latest update.
While some iPhone pages have not been updated yet, you can download a new iPhone User Guide from Apple.com that outlines how to use these new features. Developers will also find an updated iPhone SDK in the iPhone Dev Center.
Browsing through the menus, it looks like the background push notification service that was promised (~56:35) for September is still missing. But what is there looks nice.
The new Street View in Maps is awesome. I’ve found that feature really useful at times when I want to get an idea of what a building looks like before I head out on the road. The other thing I’m really excited about? The new option to click the Home button to jump to the first Home screen. I have my icons arranged to put the most important items on the first page. I’ll definitely use this option so I can quickly jump back to my main apps instead of swiping, swiping, swiping, etc. to get back to the first page (why doesn’t Apple just let home screens wrap around so swiping to the right of the last page takes you back to the first page?).
(more…)Переслать
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