Archive for the ‘Web Apps’ category

Google updates Finance web app, adds Google Voice calls to Gmail

August 25th, 2010

Google has a nifty update ready for users of their Finance web app, and while it won’t work on iOS (of course), we’re sure many in the US will appreciate the new Google Voice integration with Gmail as well. Here’s the low down on Google Finance Mobile:

We heard your feedback and are please to announce we’ve launched the new Android/iPhone edition of Google Finance for mobile! The markets don’t stop when you leave your desk, so we’re bringing the markets to you. Our new design gives you a unified experience across desktop and Android or iPhone phones, offering nearly all the same features and functionality on both. You can easily access the new site when you do a Google search for stock tickers or company names on your mobile device, or when you tap the “Finance” tab on the Google mobile homepage.

For more on the new Google Voice in Gmail, we refer you to the video… after the break.

[Google Finance, Gmail, via Android Central]

Google updates Finance web app, adds Google Voice calls to Gmail is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

No comments »

Posted in Google, News, Web Apps, gmail, google finance, google voice, ipad, iphone, ipod touch

Google stacks Gmail for iPad

August 19th, 2010

Google continues to rapidly reincarnate their iPad Gmail web app, this time introducing Apple Mail-style stacks into the mix. Back when the iPad optimized version of Gmail was launched, Google emphasized their new code base would allow for just this kind of fast feature development, and now hot on the heels of the new compose screen, stacks will allow for easier grouping and organizing of mail. They also gave Google’s team a chance to play with CSS transitions to try and get closer in look and feel to native apps.

Our question is — how many of you are using Gmail via the web browser on iPad rather than via GoogleSync or IMAP in the native mail app? Are the extra features like labels and star worth the lack of notification and native performance?

[Google, Mobile Blog thanks trevor!]

Google stacks Gmail for iPad is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

No comments »

Posted in Google, News, Web Apps, gmail, ipad

OpenAppMkt provides “App Store” for HTML5 apps

July 31st, 2010

OpenAppMkt aims to be an App Store for HTML5 web apps. Apple considers HTML5 web apps to be the second major iOS platform, and the unregulated one where you can find everything from Google Voice to porn. OpenAppMkt lists them, features them, and includes ratings. Well, except for porn; they don’t include that. Google’s Voice web app currently has 4 stars though.

HTML5 apps can apps initially open in Safari but with a tap of the + button and a Add to Home Screen, they can cache locally and work, more or less, like native apps. They don’t perform quite as well and can’t do quite as much — yet — but they work surprisingly well for an ever increasing ranges of things.

Unlike Apple’s web app gallery, there’s even an iPhone version of OpenAppMkt you can add to your home screen. If you give it a try, let us know what you think.

[OpenAppMkt via Daring Fireball]

OpenAppMkt provides “App Store” for HTML5 apps is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

No comments »

Posted in Apps, News, Web Apps, html5, ipad, iphone, ipod touch, openappmkt

MobileMe Calendar Beta upgrades being offered via iCal

July 21st, 2010

I just launched iCal (by accident!) and was greeted with the dialog box above, asking if I’d like to upgrade to the new MobileMe Calendar beta. Um. Okay. I went through the upgrade, which launched Safari and had me log into my MobileMe account, only to get a server error and a request to try again. Second time was the charm, though, and all my events were updated and I now have the shiny new — clearly iPad-inspired — MobileMe Calendar Beta at my beck and call.

For the MobileMe Mail Beta, I requested an invitation and received an email confirmation, so this was different. Anyone else getting “invited” into the MobileMe calendar beta this way?

Update: I received an email notification for the beta a few minutes later with instructions to log into MobileMe on the web to begin the upgrade procedure. I guess iCal was just a second upgrade vector. Still, a nice surprise.

More screenshots after the break.

MobileMe Calendar Beta upgrades being offered via iCal is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

No comments »

Posted in MobileMe, News, Web Apps, mobileme calendar, mobileme calendar beta

YouTube significantly updates mobile site for iPhone

July 8th, 2010

New YouTube Mobile site

Google’s YouTube has deployed a significant update to their mobile site, m.youtube.com. As is typical with Google’s web apps, it works well and looks even better. Here’s their hit list:

It’s really fast. The user interface incorporates larger, more touch-friendly elements, making it easier to access videos on the go. It incorporates the features and functionality you’ve come to expect from the .com site, like search query suggestions, the options to create playlists, the ability to designate “favorite,” “like” or “unlike” videos directly from your device. As we make improvements to Youtube.com, you’ll see them quickly follow on our mobile site, unlike native apps which are not updated as frequently.

Sure, iPhone has a built-in YouTube app but it gets its updates only a few times a year when iOS gets updated. Theoretically, m.youtube.com will get updates any time YouTube feels like it, hopefully as fast as the main YouTube site. And hey, who doesn’t like options?

Video after the break.

YouTube significantly updates mobile site for iPhone is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

No comments »

Posted in Google, News, Web Apps, YouTube, ipad, iphone, ipod touch, youtube mobile

New MobileMe calendar web app goes into beta

July 7th, 2010

Apple is launching a new version of the online MobileMe calendar web app, and much like they did with the new version of online mail, the design influence of the iPad app is unmistakable. Want in on the beta? Here’s what you have to do:

To sign up, go to me.com/calendar and click “Request an invitation.” You will receive an email notification when you have been added to the beta (we will add members in the order of their request over the coming weeks).

New features include:

The aforementioned new, iPad-like UI.
Shared calendars (for family and friends).
Published calendars (for groups and teams).
Event invitations with RSVPs (yes!).
Based on CalDAV standard.

It’s good to go on iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, and Mac, with Outlook support for the PC coming soon.

So, how does it sound? Enough of an upgrade? Anything major still missing? Anyone get in on the beta yet?

Full feature descriptions after the break.

[MobileMe News]

Beautiful new web application
The Calendar beta includes a new web application at me.com with great-looking calendar views. You’ll find redesigned day, week, and month views, as well as a new list view to make scanning your events easier. Your calendars will also load faster, thanks to improved performance. The new web application works best with Safari 5, Firefox 3.6, and Internet Explorer 8.

Share calendars with family and friends
You can easily share your calendars with one or more MobileMe members to keep everyone on the same page. For example, create a shared calendar called “Kids” for school and weekend activities. You can allow the person you’re sharing a calendar with to edit events, and set up email notifications to tell you when they make a change.

Publish a calendar for a group or team
The Calendar beta lets you share a read-only public calendar that can be viewed by anyone, perfect for publishing an events calendar such as a soccer team schedule. After setting it up you can send the team members a link to view the calendar on their iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, or PC.

Event invitations with RSVPs
Inviting any guest to an event is easy from the MobileMe Calendar beta. Just add their email address to the event (they don’t have to be a MobileMe member) and your guests will get an invitation email they can respond to directly by clicking a link. Your event then automatically updates, making it easy to track RSVPs right in your calendar.

Works on iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Mac
The MobileMe Calendar beta uses the CalDAV standard so you can view and edit your calendars using the built-in calendar applications on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Mac. Please note that support for PCs with Microsoft Outlook is coming soon.

New MobileMe calendar web app goes into beta is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

No comments »

Posted in Mac, MobileMe, PC, Web Apps, beta, calendar, ipad, iphone, ipod touch

Google serves up better Google Docs support for iPhone and iPad

June 29th, 2010

It seems Google has slipped in some improvement for Google Docs document viewing via iPhone and iPad (and Android). For quite a while, the only documents that really played nice (at least for me), were spreadsheets. You can now go to docs.google.com on your Android or iOS device and view formats such as .xls, .pdf, .ppt, .doc, and .docx. I didn’t see anything about .pptx though, I guess we’ll have to wait and see on that one. If they’re supporting .docx, not supporting the newer Powerpoint format doesn’t really make sense to me.

The only glitch I seemed to find is that Word documents aren’t that pretty. Some of my old accounting Word attachments were formatted pretty bad. I checked them on the computer and it wasn’t the actual document. That may be something that needs a tweak on Google’s end.

Here’s a quick tip for iPhone users as well. What I actually do is open the Google Mobile App and click Google Docs, it’ll automatically route you to the docs.google.com page in Safari. So you can go that route as well.

Hit the jump for some screens!

[Google Mobile Blog via Android Central]

Google serves up better Google Docs support for iPhone and iPad is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

No comments »

Posted in App Store Apps, Apple, Apps, Mobile, Web Apps, android, excel, google docs, iphone, spreadsheets, support

MobileMe web apps back online with updated mail UI, app switcher

June 18th, 2010

As was widely expected, Apple’s MobileMe web apps — me.com — are back online after their scheduled maintenance, and sporting an updated look and some new features.

The new Mail has come out of beta and now everyone can enjoy server-side rules, which is terrific if way overdue. In the not-so-terrific pile, previously you could instantly switch between apps using a conventional menu bar. Now you have to figure out that clicking the cloud icon top left will bring up and icon bar which you can then click to switch tasks. Less discoverability and efficiency in one update? Not very Apple.

(They’ve standardized on the iPhone app icons to represent Me.com tasks, however, which is good. And they look great.)

Are you trying to new Me.com? What do you think?

UPDATE: Apple’s MobileMe email announcement, after the break.

Service Update: New MobileMe Mail, Find My iPhone, and more.

Today we’re making available to all MobileMe members an all-new Mail web application, a Find My iPhone app, and a new way to navigate between applications at me.com. Read on for details.

All-new Mail at me.com

MobileMe Mail on the web (now out of beta) has been completely redesigned with powerful new features such as widescreen view for reading email with less scrolling, rules to keep your email organized everywhere, and faster performance. For more details on these and other new Mail features, please read this news post.

Find My iPhone app and more

You can now download the free Find My iPhone app, enabling you to locate a misplaced device directly from iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch while on the go. After installing it from the App Store, just launch the app and sign in to quickly locate your devices on a map and access the other Find My iPhone features — Display a Message or Play a Sound, Remote Lock, and Remote Wipe.*

The Find My iPhone web application on me.com has also been updated with a full-screen map view. Clicking your missing device on the map lets you access all the Find My iPhone actions to help you recover your device and protect the information on it.

Learn more about improvements to Find My iPhone here.

New way to get around me.com

We’ve also given me.com a new look and a new way to navigate between applications. Simply click the cloud icon in the upper left of the page, and choose from Mail, Contacts, Calendar, Gallery, iDisk, and Find My iPhone. To access account information, help, or to sign out, just click your name on the top right.

We recommend accessing me.com with Safari 5, Firefox 3.6 or later, or Internet Explorer 8. If you have questions about this update, please read this FAQ.

We hope you enjoy these improvements to MobileMe. Thank you for being a MobileMe member.

Sincerely,

The MobileMe Team

*Find My iPhone and Remote Wipe are not available in all countries.

MobileMe web apps back online with updated mail UI, app switcher is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

No comments »

Posted in MobileMe, News, Web Apps, ipad, iphone, ipod touch, me.com

MobileMe web apps down tonight, updated tomorrow, Find my iPhone app?

June 17th, 2010

Apple is taking MobileMe’s web apps down for maintenance from 10pm to 12am PST tonight. MacRumors has heard this may just be to tweak the interface and add new functionality that:

will see the rolling out of several new enhancements, including an official launch of the redesigned Mail interface for MobileMe that has been available in beta form for the past month. Included in this rollout will be push functionality for the Web-based Mail client, providing real-time updating as messages arrive.

Apple is also reportedly removing the MobileMe “toolbar” for the various Web applications offered by the service, replacing the toolbar with a single “application switcher” icon that will allow users to switch between Web applications.

They’ve also heard a dedicated, universal iPhone and IPad app for Find My iPhone is on its way as well. That would be a first, since Apple hasn’t so far updated any of their existing iPhone apps for iPad.

I guess we’ll see come tomorrow.

[MobileMe System Status, MacRumors]

MobileMe web apps down tonight, updated tomorrow, Find my iPhone app? is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

No comments »

Posted in MobileMe, News, Rumors, Web Apps, downtime, ipad, iphone, ipod touch, update

1Password on Safari 5 extensions, designing for iPad, and iPhone 4 – TiPb at WWDC 2010

June 12th, 2010

During WWDC 2010 I had a chance to sit down with the team from Agile Web Solutions — Roustem, Dave, Jamie, Dan, and Chad — to talk not only about their newly launched 1Password for iPad, but about the big news of the show including official browser extension support from Apple in Safari 5, and of course iPhone 4 and iOS 4.

Apple called Agile about their new Safari 5 extensions before they debuted in hopes of having a demo ready for the show. Dave found the preview was polished and well documented and it took them only a few days to put something together. That sounds like good news not only for developers but for Safari users as well.

Agile also said making the iPad version was a chance to start from scratch and figure out how users were going to interact with the larger, wider display, and with the ability to do things like scrolling independently with each thumb.

While I used 1Password on Mac long before the iPhone debuted, Roustem pointed out they now have a whole new user base introduced to their product via the iPhone and iPad and with no Mac-based preconceptions. While the iPhone and iPad versions [iTunes link] are great for Mac or Windows users as an extension, Agile is also working to help iPhone and iPad-only users get more out of it as well.

As for iPhone 4 — they want it. (Even if Dan has to re-render his artwork at higher resolution to support it). Chad’s also looking forward to iOS 4 multitasking and like the way it runs select API rather than full apps in the background.

(Though I suspect they were just humoring me when I asked for Game Center integration so I could see where my 63 character pseudo-random passwords place on the leaderboard compared to Leanna’s!)

You can find out more about 1Password for Mac, PC, iPhone, and iPad, and the newly acquired Knox, via Agile’s web site, below. Video after the break.

[Agile Web Solutions]

YouTube link

1Password on Safari 5 extensions, designing for iPad, and iPhone 4 – TiPb at WWDC 2010 is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

No comments »

Posted in 1password, App Store Apps, Apps, Development, Safari 5, Web Apps, agile web solutions, browser extensions, ios 4, ipad, ipad apps, iphone, iphone 4.0, iphone apps, passwords

Apple.com showcases HTML5

June 4th, 2010

Apple.com HTML5 Showcase

Whether or not you agree with Apple going all-in on HTML5, they’re certainly putting their clout where their mouth is, launching a new showcase on Apple.com, complete with some terrific demos and a link to developer.apple.com for those who want to roll their own interactive, standards based solutions.

Every new Apple mobile device and every new Mac — along with the latest version of Apple’s Safari web browser — supports web standards including HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript. These web standards are open, reliable, highly secure, and efficient. They allow web designers and developers to create advanced graphics, typography, animations, and transitions. Standards aren’t add-ons to the web. They are the web. And you can start using them today.

Interestingly, Apple’s previous iPad ready HTML5 site listing, and Steve Jobs’ Thoughts on Flash article are both featured at the bottom of the page.

If there was any remaining, lingering doubt, HTML5 and Safari are Apple’s open app platform and they’re going all in. How far are we from a future where HTML5 and web apps are legitimate peers to native apps in terms of delivering the functionality and features users need?

UPDATE: 9to5Mac points out you can get these to open in other HTML5 browsers like Chrome or Firefox by going to the developer.apple.com page. Weird.

[Apple.com]

Apple.com showcases HTML5 is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

No comments »

Posted in Apple iPhone, News, Web Apps, apple.com, html5, ipad, ipod touch, showcase

Quick Review: Dashboard for iPad (Jailbreak)

May 6th, 2010

Dashboard for iPad is a Jailbreak app that will appeal to anyone who likes having widgets — like that little tiger puzzle — on their desktop computer.

Since Apple won’t allow widget apps on the official App Store, it’s Jailbreak only. You can get it free through Cydia and is a decent tweak for being in it’s beginning stages. As of now, you’re stuck with whatever default widgets are at the bottom. Actually, a user in our comments section brought to my attention you CAN install new widgets through SSH. If you plan to SSH, as always, approach with caution. Not recommended for beginning jailbreakers! I’d assume we will see some start popping up in Cydia and Rock soon. Video after the jump!

YouTube link

Quick Review: Dashboard for iPad (Jailbreak) is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

No comments »

Posted in App Reviews, Apps, Jailbreak Apps, TiPb Apps, Web Apps, ipad, jailbreak, review

Facebook video goes iPhone and iPad compatible with H.264

April 27th, 2010

Speaking of Facebook, it looks like they’ve joined the growing list of sites that are now providing ~~HTML5~~ video for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad compatible playback. UPDATE: As noted in the comments, Facebook isn’t using HTML5, they’re pushing the video straight to the iPhone and iPad’s native H.264-compatible QuickTime player.

That list of compatible sites now includes YouTube and Vimeo, TED, Brightcove-powered sites such as New York Times and Time Magazine, CBS.com (in trial form),

Good news for us and for Apple, not great news for Adobe on the video front, as yet another reason for needing Flash bites the dust.

And boy does Hulu look like last-mover these days…

[MacStories via Redmond Pie]

Facebook video goes iPhone and iPad compatible with H.264 is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

No comments »

Posted in News, Video, Web Apps, facebook, flash, html5, ipad, iphone, ipod touch

WebKit2 with speed and crash-proofing — Apple’s other big announcement

April 9th, 2010

Well, technically not Apple the entity, but an employee of Apple named Anders Carlsson announced WebKit 2 yesterday and for geeks it could easily have been a Jobsian “One more thing…”

This is a heads-up that we will shortly start landing patches for a new WebKit framework that we at Apple have been working on for a while. We currently call this new framework “WebKit2″.

WebKit2 is designed from the ground up to support a split process model, where the web content (JavaScript, HTML, layout, etc) lives in a separate process. This model is similar to what Google Chrome offers, with the major difference being that we have built the process split model directly into the framework, allowing other clients to use it.

They’re also offering non-blocking API which Clint Ecker at Ars Technica

should result in much more responsive applications which hook into WebKit2. Theoretically, while the renderer is rendering something, the main application loop can move on to doing something else as requested by a user.

WebKit is the open-source browser rendering engine that originated as KHTML/Konquerer on Linux but was taken under Apple’s wing and became the core of Safari on both the desktop and the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. (Google also uses it for Chrome, Android, and Chrome OS, Palm for the webOS browser, and RIM is developing a WebKit browser for BlackBerry).

What this means for iPhone and iPad users, of course, is that we’ll eventually get faster versions of Safari that when one page crashes just drops us back into another page rather than taking the whole browser down with it. Put that together with the other advances in HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript (including frameworks) Apple has been pushing out, and the future of the web for developers and users gets really interesting.

WebKit2 with speed and crash-proofing — Apple’s other big announcement is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

No comments »

Posted in News, Safari, Web Apps, webkit, webkit2

Apple uses AdLib JavaScript framework to make richer web apps for iPad

April 8th, 2010

Done21.com has discovered something interesting in the online iPad user-guide: a new JavaScript framework they’ve dubbed AdLib (after its filename) that allows for very native app look and feel in the decidedly web-based app.

AppleInsider notes that it appears to be related to the PastryKit framework used for the iPhone user-guide (which stands to reason), and the TuneKit framework used for iTunes LP and iTunes Extra. And that the name may tie-in to the iAd rumors, and to internal efforts on Apple’s part to raise the bar of web apps and diminish the need for plugins like Flash and Java.

Could we find out more at Apple’s iPhone 4.0 event tomorrow? We certainly hope so. As much as some decry the closed nature of the App Store, developing for Safari is wide open and a new class of better, faster, stronger web apps is ultimately good for everyone.

Video after the break!

YouTube link

Apple uses AdLib JavaScript framework to make richer web apps for iPad is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

No comments »

Posted in Development, News, Web Apps, adkit, iad, iphone 4.0, javascript, javascript frameworks

Gmail web app goes iPad optimized!

April 2nd, 2010

Google continues to lead the pack when it comes to web apps, so we’re not surprised to see them announce an experimental Gmail site up and optimized in time for the iPad release.

We’re releasing an experimental user interface for the iPad built on the Gmail for mobile HTML5 web app that we launched last year for the iPhone and Android devices. Those devices have large screens compared to other phones, and tablets like the iPad give us even more room to innovate. To take advantage of the iPad’s large display, we’ve created a two-pane view with your list of conversations on the left and messages to the right.

Some other Google web apps will present iPad-optimized versions, while a few will retain their desktop look. Google fired up their iPhone 3.2 SDK for iPad simulator, checked things out, and decided what worked best.

When you get your iPad give it a shot and let us know how they did!

[Google via MacRumors]

Gmail web app goes iPad optimized! is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

No comments »

Posted in Apps, Google, News, Web Apps, gmail, ipad, ipad apps, ipad webapps

Gmail web app goes iPad optimized!

April 2nd, 2010

Google continues to lead the pack when it comes to web apps, so we’re not surprised to see them announce an experimental Gmail site up and optimized in time for the iPad release.

We’re releasing an experimental user interface for the iPad built on the Gmail for mobile HTML5 web app that we launched last year for the iPhone and Android devices. Those devices have large screens compared to other phones, and tablets like the iPad give us even more room to innovate. To take advantage of the iPad’s large display, we’ve created a two-pane view with your list of conversations on the left and messages to the right.

When you get your iPad give it a shot and let us know how they did!

[Google via MacRumors]

Gmail web app goes iPad optimized! is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

No comments »

Posted in Apps, Google, News, Web Apps, gmail, ipad, ipad apps, ipad webapps

Gmail web app goes iPad optimized!

April 2nd, 2010

Google continues to lead the pack when it comes to web apps, so we’re not surprised to see them announce an experimental Gmail site up and optimized in time for the iPad release.

We’re releasing an experimental user interface for the iPad built on the Gmail for mobile HTML5 web app that we launched last year for the iPhone and Android devices. Those devices have large screens compared to other phones, and tablets like the iPad give us even more room to innovate. To take advantage of the iPad’s large display, we’ve created a two-pane view with your list of conversations on the left and messages to the right.

When you get your iPad give it a shot and let us know how they did!

[Google via MacRumors]

Gmail web app goes iPad optimized! is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

No comments »

Posted in Apps, Google, News, Web Apps, gmail, ipad, ipad apps, ipad webapps

Netflix, ABC, CBS, and maybe even Hulu coming to iPad!

April 1st, 2010

In that stream of 700 iPad apps revealed last night, Engadget noticed a few gems including Netflix and ABC, and with CBS doing the HTML5-video thing and Hulu once again being rumored, could content consumption nirvana finally be near?

Netflix is said to be a free app that will be ready by the April 3 iPad launch. You’ll be able to browse and manage your queue and stream movies and TV shows right to your iPad. No word on weather its Wi-Fi-only or 3G as well, and no word on whether an iPhone and iPod touch version is coming (ahem!)

ABC’s player is also said to be free but Wi-Fi bound. You’ll still get your Lost and Grey’s Anatomy fix direct from the network, however. Whether it will make into the iPad App Store by launch day is unknown, as is their monetization method (i.e. will there be commercials?)

CBS, according to the Wall Street Journal, is sticking with their web-based strategy of streaming HTML5 video through Mobile Safari and not making a dedicated app. Hey, maybe that at least will give iPhone and iPod touch owners equal access?

Hulu, which carries the last two remaining networks, NBC and FOX is still unclear but the New York Times once again gets our hopes up. It’s not all rosy, however, as the network nuts behind the scenes reportedly aren’t happy with revenue and want something like subscriptions bolted one. They better get their act together and quickly or their old world thinking will condemn the bright boys and girls at Hulu to last place in the brave new mobile media world…

Netflix, ABC, CBS, and maybe even Hulu coming to iPad! is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

No comments »

Posted in App Store Apps, Apps, Hulu, News, Web Apps, abc, cbs, fox, html5, ipad, ipad apps, movies, nbc, netflix, streaming video, tv, webapps

How do you use social networks like Facebook and Twitter on your iPhone?

March 29th, 2010

The iPhone and Facebook and Twitter go together like chocolate and peanut butter but just like there are a lot of tasty desert combinations, there’s a lot of ways to keep up with your social networks on the go:

The web. Hey, it’s where most social networks started and because the iPhone has the excellent Mobile Safari web browser, you can just point it towards facebook.com, twitter.com (or any other social-network.com) and get your status on. Both Facebook and Twitter provide iPhone-optimized versions of their websites as well, though you can tap-through to the full sites.
App Store apps like the official Facebook app [Free - iTunes link] or any of the excellent 3rd party Twitter apps. The Facebook app really came into its own with version 3.0. Version 3.1 added the much-requested push notifications, though it brought with it numerous, aggravating bugs… Twitter clients on the other hand are many and varied, from the write-centric Birdhouse [$1.99 - iTunes link] to the read-centric Reportage [$1.99 - iTunes link], with the uber-popular Tweetie [$2.99 - iTunes link] and Twitterrific [Free or $4.99 - iTunes link], and push-centric TwitBit [Free or $2.99 - iTunes link] and many others making us the envy of the platform space.

And with either of those options there’s still several things you can do with them:

Share your status. Telling your friends who you’re with, what you’re watching, where you’re going, why you’re ticked off, and how it’s all some other friend’s fault is probably the oldest, most common use of social networks. There are even apps like qStatus [$0.99 - iTunes link] that specialize in updating them.
Share your photos. Flickr uploads, Twitter pics, Facebook galleries — people like to show other people their family, funny, even freaky photos and social networks make it easy. Sure you can email a photo to a few people, but you can post it to as many friends as you have
Share your gaming. “I just walked 3 meters and fell to my grisly death in…” is all over our social status’ thanks to games that offer built-in auto-Tweet and auto-Facebook options. Whether it’s for your crops, your castle, your drag-race, your FPS, or any other of a dozen games in a dozen genres, they can instantly let al your friends hear you brag (or complain!)
Combine your logins. Facebook Connect and Twitter’s login services let you use your existing social network ID at a variety of other sites, either add-on services/apps to Facebook or Twitter, or other social networks. Hey, some people don’t want to have to remember multiple user names and passwords, you know?

We’d love Facebook to fix the 3.1 trunk, we’d love Twitter to add an official push-API, and we’d love Apple to let us multitask them all, but the iPhone remains a premiere platform for social networking and we’ve only just scratched the surface. Web or App, and what for? Tell us — how you use your iPhone to keep up with your social networks? (And if you don’t use social networks at all, let us know why not!)

How do you use social networks like Facebook and Twitter on your iPhone? is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

No comments »

Posted in App Store Apps, TiPb Asks, Web Apps, facebook, flickr, ipad, iphone, ipod touch, social networks, twitter

How Do You Stream Music on Your iPhone?

March 22nd, 2010

Outside storing music in the iPhone’s built in iPod app, there are a variety of ways to simply stream the audio you want to listen to:

Streaming internet radio/subscription apps are the obvious place to start. Slacker [iTunes link], Pandora [iTunes link], Pocket Tunes [iTunes link], Spotify [iTunes link]… the list goes on an on. Some are limited to the US (or just slightly beyond the US) or Europe, but those who have them in their area often swear by them. Some of these also provide local storage so you can keep some of the songs on your device for those occasions when a Wi-Fi or 3G isn’t available.
Musical games, spearheaded by Tap Tap Revenge [iTunes link] and Rock Band [iTunes link] have shown that users are just as willing — sometimes even more willing — to buy songs for sport as they are for simple enjoyment. With in-app purchases, some of these games have even become music stores unto themselves.
Musical apps, where an artist or group wants to create something more than just a song file or even iTunes LP, have also become fairly common on the App Store. These can range significantly in content and presentation, but they can and do bring the music.
Storage apps, like MobileMe iDisk, Box.net, DropBox, etc. can give you access to the music you keep on the cloud. Just like they can view your documents and other files, they can typically play any supported audio format you’ve loaded them up with.
Mobile Safari, the iPhone and iPod touch (and soon, iPad) web browser can play any music format Apple supports. Just tap on a link and the Quicktime player pops up, buffers, and plays your audio. This includes audio you’ve stored on your own web-enabled server setups. And it’s one of the few apps that’s allowed to keep playing in the background — when it doesn’t run out of RAM or lose connection or otherwise glitch-out.
iTunes app, while it will only give you 30 seconds of music for sampling, will stream full-length podcasts if you tap on the title instead of the download button. If you prefer talking and creative commons to the latest premium hits, it’s a surprisingly useful option. And it will play in the background just like Safari (and potentially fail, just like Safari).

We’re all hoping iPhone 4.0 addresses that pesky “no streaming internet music while using other apps” multitasking miss we’ve suffered through lo these last 3 years, but in the meantime — what are you using to stream your music on your iPhone? Any tips and or tricks you can share?

How Do You Stream Music on Your iPhone? is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

No comments »

Posted in App Store Apps, Music, TiPb Asks, Web Apps, streaming music

Apple Updates iWork.com with Better Interface for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad

March 17th, 2010

MacRumors reports on an email being sent to users of Apple’s iWork.com document sharing site that outlines a few updates to the service, including one for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad:

Refined user interface. A redesigned Sign In and Shared Documents page for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch makes it easy to access your documents while on the go. The new interface and improved scrolling help you find your shared documents faster. Visit www.iwork.com from your iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch to view your shared documents.

iWork.com has been in beta since it was introduced at Macworld 2009 and it’s still unclear exactly how much effort Apple is putting into it compared to say iWork touch recently unveiled for the iPad, and whether or not Apple will ever release full-on Web App versions of Pages, Numbers, and Keynote to compete with Google Docs and Microsoft’s new Office 2010 Online.

If you use iWork.com, let us know what you think of the changes.

Apple Updates iWork.com with Better Interface for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

No comments »

Posted in News, Web Apps, ipad, iphone, ipod touch, iwork.com

Confusing: Developers Who Complain Apple’s iPhone is Closed AND Think HTML5 is the Future

March 15th, 2010

TechCrunch links to noted developer Tim Bray who’s taking a position as “Developer Advocate” at Google for Android but who announces it while taking a swipe at Apple’s iPhone and the closed nature of the App Store:

The iPhone vision of the mobile Internet’s future omits controversy, sex, and freedom, but includes strict limits on who can know what and who can say what. It’s a sterile Disney-fied walled garden surrounded by sharp-toothed lawyers. The people who create the apps serve at the landlord’s pleasure and fear his anger.

Which is completely and utterly wrong, of course. That’s Apple’s vision of the mobile, curated App Store which they intend to be a family friendly, corporately liable software repository. Apple’s vision of the mobile internet is Mobile Safari and its WebKit rendering engine and other technological underpinnings, most of which are open source and heavily supported by Apple.

You can, now, today, get porn on the iPhone via Mobile Safari. You can get Google Voice. You can pretty much get anything and everything without any interference from or need for approval by Apple. It’s the definition of the Winer-ian vendor-less platform Bray quotes. Never mind:

I’m going to have to get savvier about HTML5-based applications, because a lot of smart people think the future’s there, that the “native app” notion will soon seem quaint.

And HTML5 (which allows web-based apps to behave more like native apps) is something Apple has been pushing very hard as well (from promotion at Apple’s Developer Tech Talk World Tour to WebKit.org itself). And again, now, today, you can code and run some of the best, most robust HTML5 applications for mobile to run well on iPhone Safari — and other WebKit-based mobile browsers.

We’ve said many times Safari is Apple’s open app store, and Apple even includes it beside Mac and iPhone on developer.apple.com. That’s what confuses us about comments like Bray’s and TechCrunch’s mention of former Facebook for iPhone developer Joe Hewitt (who has since said the iPad is “everything he’s wished for”).

It’s awesome for Bray and Google and Android and developers, and we congratulate and wish all of them well on his new position. But it’s important to point out that while Apple’s App Store might be “closed”, Mobile Safari is wide open; if you’re a web developer it’s delivering as well or better than anyone else on the promise of of that platform today.

Confusing: Developers Who Complain Apple’s iPhone is Closed AND Think HTML5 is the Future is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

No comments »

Posted in App Store Apps, Apps, Development, Google, News, Web, Web Apps, android, app store, open platforms, tim bray

Find My iPhone Now Working on iPhone Safari, iTunes Preview Categories Now Working on Web

February 19th, 2010

Apple has changed MobileMe’s me.com site, previously inaccessible from iPhone or iPod touch Safari, to not only allow access to Find My iPhone, but to offer help in setting up accounts and getting additional apps. iTunes Preview, meanwhile, has duplicated even more of the media and app browsing experience on the web by adding support for categories.

First up, when you used to go to http://www.me.com on your iPhone, you used to see an intercept page telling you to set up the services on your iPhone and that was it. Now the new page (above) has a link to setting up those services, a direct link to Find my iPhone, and links for getting Apple’s free Gallery and iDisk App Store apps.

Obviously, Find My iPhone from an iPhone or iPod touch (or iPad, as we presume that’s what Apple is setting all this up for) is the Big News here. The link itself is a bit clunky still and the Find My iPhone page hasn’t been optimized for the iPhone, but having it available online and mobile is huge.

Next, TUAW shows how Apple has once again expanded iTunes Preview — the web browser-based front for the iTunes store — adding full on category pages to the previous app and music rollout. Another piece in the rumored iTunes.com cloud-based puzzle?

Let us know what you think of these changes!

[Thanks Jason for the tip!]

Find My iPhone Now Working on iPhone Safari, iTunes Preview Categories Now Working on Web is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

No comments »

Posted in MobileMe, News, Web Apps, find my iphone, iTunes, iTunes Preview, ipad, iphone, ipod touch, itunes.com, me.com

Adobe Says 7 Million iPhone OS Users Tried to Download Flash — Would Hulu App Fix That?

February 10th, 2010

flash9-iphone-400x212

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that, according to Adobe 7 million iPhone and iPod touch users attempted to download Flash in December, well over the 3 million who tried back in June. We wonder how many of those were for Hulu, and whether rumors of a Hulu app for iPad would change them significantly?

Engadget feels that both Apple and Adobe’s competition (competing smartphone platforms that will soon include Flash 10.1, and competing video and rich-content delivery systems from HTML5 to Silverlight which now streams H.264 to the iPhone) are the only ones who will benefit.

We figure technology might as well, as Flash is forced to make less resource intensive, more security and privacy-friendly plugins and Apple and others are forced to make and push alternatives.

Case in point, Hulu. Techcrunch and 9to5mac hear a a Hulu app might still be in progress and set to launch in March in time for the iPad. Their videos are already H.264 so no conversion is required, but they make money off their advertising, which is entirely Flash-based now, and would need to either be replaced with HTML5 for a web app, or Cocoa touch for a native App Store app.

Either way, we’re still waiting..

Adobe Says 7 Million iPhone OS Users Tried to Download Flash — Would Hulu App Fix That? is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

No comments »

Posted in App Store Apps, Development, Hulu, News, Rumors, Web Apps, adobe, flash, ipad, iphone

« Older Entries