iphone Archive

Earlier this year I wrote several times about the mistake that I believed Yahoo was making with regards to wanting to get the developers on board with their apps and programs. It seemed (and continues to seem) that Yahoo wants to win over the valley developers when they are so locked to Google and Apple that it is near impossible for the “big win” that Yahoo is seeking. My take is that Yahoo should go after other developer markets and then come back to the Valley with the world’s developers behind them (that is if they would even care about the valley at that point). Yahoo is bringing their OpenHack event to NYC this week and as I mentioned to the team responsible for the event, they should work to own the other major startup centers around the world.

Let’s move forward to October 2009. I see that Palm is making exactly the same mistake that Yahoo has. Palm held an event earlier this week in San Francisco to discuss the state of the hardware, the platform, etc. There were also several major announcements at the event including the ability for users to install applications without using a store and some open source changes. You can read more about the announcements on GigaOM and SFGate.

Palm also provided a free Palm Pre mobile device to everyone that was in the audience. The Pre came with a free month of service so look for a flood of Pre devices on eBay in about 40 days.

The issue for Palm is about winning over developers and getting startups to want to develop on their platform. Just like Yahoo, Palm could work to “own” the developer communities around the world…instead they decide to try to woo the developer’s who would do anything to touch Steve Jobs. The “Apple Magnet” is very tight in the valley but isn’t as strong as you move further away from 94103. My take is that Palm should have announced these features (and all future releases) in different cities. Palm executives could easily attend the local Meet the local mobile developers and startups – get them excited about the Palm Pre and WebOS platform.

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A couple of years ago we reported on the launch of Pac-man for iGoogle. Today we’ve learned that Pac-man is now available for the iPod Touch and the iPhone. I wonder what the gameplay is like seeing as you have to hit tiny buttons on the iPhone screen. The game costs $5.99.

Want to feel old? Read this line from Jonathan Kromrey, general manager for Apple Games for Namco Networks, “With tricks and traps, special items and battles against giant ghost-bosses, this isn’t your parents’ PAC-MAN.” Luckily the “old” version of Pac-Man is also available.

Without looking, can you name the orange ghost?

Pacman is great, but where is that hottie Ms. Pac-man? Useless bit of info: I won a Ms. Pac-man tourney in Atlantic City when I was a wee little kid.

After walking past the Moscone Center where the Apple WWDC is being held, I noticed the sign below outside a coffee shop. It is from Symbian – they are having a “hackathon” in San Francisco this afternoon. They are pushing hard to get iPhone developers to switch to Symbian. It appears if you show up you get a free Nokia phone. In addition, they are offering free food and video games — what more could a developer want?

My very close friend (and CN designer) Mark loves Elvis. He has all the albums, the Atari video games and the videos. Luckily when we speak he doesn’t sing any of Elvis’ songs to me. So it was with great excitement when I received a note about a new iPhone application launching today that is perfect for Mark.

The app is called “Elvis Mobile” and here’s a list of what’s included:

• An “Elvis Sightings” section allows fans to submit their Elvis pictures, taken with their iPhone, directly to www.elvis.com from anywhere in the world and simultaneously update their Facebook pages with the same information.
• An “Image” section will be updated weekly and will feature never-before-seen and rare pictures of the life and times of Elvis Presley.
• A “Video” section will be updated periodically with clips of Elvis and special Elvis events/happenings.
• A “News” section features the latest information on all things Elvis from www.elvis.com.
• A “Livecam” section gives fans a real-time look at Elvis Presley’s Graceland mansion in Memphis, TN.
• A “Podcast” section allows users to listen to The Graceland Beat from Elvis Radio.

I don’t have an iPhone so I can’t enjoy the King as a I travel around the city. It looks like the application is free and even offers a Facebook Connect option so you can share your Elvis Sightings with your Facebook friends. Hmm, I wonder if Elvis is on Twitter?

As I use my iPhone 3G more and more, I notice more and more things that frustrate me about it. Please don’t get me wrong; I am not complaining about the iPhone; I am simply positing ideas as to what I would like to see added. As a Web developer, there are quite a few things I would love to see added to the device. If you know of any iPhone apps available that perform any of these tasks or actions, please let me know.

Let me make this clear, however: I will not be jailbreaking my iPhone. Even if the phone was not owned by the government (which it is), I would still have no interest in jailbreaking it.

Saving E-mail Attachments

Aside from photos (which you can save to your Camera Roll by holding your finger on the picture while viewing the e-mail message), there is no way to save attachments. Ultimately, my ideal situation would be to be able to save a Word, Excel or PDF document attached to an e-mail message, then upload it to my Web server.

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We first reviewed the UpNext web application at the end of 2007. Last week I met with the team and they provided a demo of their new iPhone application which rocks as much as their web application does. In fact, the iPhone app looks even better than the website itself.

Basically UpNext provides an interactive map (currently Manhattan only) that allows you to move around the map as if you were flying through the city. In the iPhone application you can use different finger gestures to see different views of the map. Clicking on a building will show you what’s inside the building – from companies, to shops to eateries.

The application uses the GPS functions on the iPhone to locate you within the map and then you can search for items based on their distance from where you are. You can send your location to Twitter and Facebook if you connect via Facebook connect. The team drew all the subway lines by hand so you can see which subways are close to where you are or where you are searching. My suggestion to the team was to tie in real-time subway alerts so that you can make any necessary changes. This would also make the app more useful on a daily basis.

For many of the locations, UpNext provides ratings, reviews, and descriptions. You can leave comments as well about a location as you travel through the city. You can also add photos to locations.

What would be great is if UpNext pulled in data from SitOrSquat so that you can see where clean toilets are near your location.

The UpNext iPhone app is available for $2.99. Here’s a video the team created about how the application works.

Street parking in NYC is always a pain. In Manhattan, every street has some restriction and there’s also the fun “alternate side of the street parketing”. As a young kid, I remember mom driving around and around our street in Brooklyn trying to find a spot.

PrimoSpot is a NYC startup that hopes to make finding parking a bit more relaxing. PrimoSpot currently covers Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn. The service has mapped out every street and you can check if you can currently park on a specific block. You can view the service on their website or via the iPhone. They have 29,000 on-street locations listed along with 1,455 parking garages and 1,200 bike rack listings.

This is one of the most useful iPhone apps I’ve seen to-date. There are photos of the pricing charts at the parking garages so you can get an idea of cost and pick the lowest price based on location. If I had a car and/or an iPhone, I’d totally download PrimoSpot. I wonder if they could expand to bus/subway locations as well.

The team notes that PrimoSpot will be launching in Boston soon. Check out this video from Random Sarah where she demonstrates the PrimoSpot iPhone app: