Posted by: RJ Huneke on Mar 19, 2010 | 8 Comments
With the oncoming approach of Apple’s newest technological juggernaut, the iPad, Amazon quickly released the “Kindle for iPhone” App about a year ago. Why?
Well, despite the successes of the digital book reader, the Amazon Kindle, Amazon appears ready to concede the war for the ultimate portable digital reading media device to Apple in the hopes that customers will continue to buy digital books and newspapers through Amazon.com.
The “Kindle for iPhone” application is free in the App Store, and provides exactly what it says: the Kindle’s high quality, high resolution reading abilities, using the iPhone as the tool and means to view the media. The App is very intuitive, and imports much of the functions that iPhone users are used to, like pinching to zoom, tapping to highlight words, tapping on the side or flicking to turn pages.
For Kindle owners that own iPhones as well, the App uses a syncing mechanism to seamlessly switch back and forth between the two devices so that a reader does not lose a page or bookmark when switching between the two devices. The “Kindle for iPhone” immediately locks the user in to their Amazon.com account and the web site’s vast store of digital media are available for previewing or purchasing.
Clearly Apps like the “Classics” application, which Apple allegedly based its new reader for the iPad off of, provide welcome sights for book readers who prefer paper, but will use digital devices in a pinch. The iPad, with the already successful iPhone, looks to force Apple into the head of the digital reading field, and so the expensive and underwhelming Kindle might be going the way of the dinosaur.
With the “Kindle for iPhone” App, Amazon has wisely yielded up its digital device in favor of battling over downloads on Apple products; Amazon has chosen to fight with Apple and the iBookstore for the craze of consumers that might start downloading digital books, like iPhone customers download applications.
IMPULSIVE Review Grade: B+
Posted by: RJ Huneke on Mar 19, 2010 | 8 Comments
Posted by: Kevin Whipps on Mar 19, 2010 | No Comments
When I was a kid, I used to play lightsabers with cardboard tubes all the time. I always played Luke, while my douchebag neighbor Bryan played Darth Vader. I always won of course, but that’s the way it is when I’m Luke. Anyways, this new game from Lucasfilm is going to take the pretend game up a notch. Mobile Entertainment is reporting that the iPhone app will be released soon, and better yet, it uses Bluetooth to sync up two iPhones for the duel. From the article:
Yes, that means people will be able to swing their iPhones at one another with officially-licensed lightsaber sounds, with Bluetooth connectivity.
The app is the follow-up to 2008’s Lightsaber Unleashed, which was itself THQ’s revamped version of an unofficial app called PhoneSaber.
The new Lightsaber Duel app is due out early next month (April). Besides the two-player Bluetooth mode, it will feature 11 new characters from the Star Wars universe, as well as the ability for players to create multiple custom characters.
So let’s see. 11 characters. That’s a pretty wide range, but let’s guess who a few of them are:
- Luke
- Darth Vader
- Obi Won
- Yoda
- Emperor Palpatine
- Darth Maul
- Mace Windu
Well, I think those are gimmes. Not sure about the other 4, but maybe they’ll throw in some references to game-only characters, or someone from the Clone Wars series on Cartoon Network. Either way, this is a big step up from a cardboard tube.
Posted by: Kevin Whipps on Mar 19, 2010 | No Comments
Posted by: Kevin Whipps on Mar 19, 2010 | No Comments
Ever read a patent application? I sure haven’t. But I would if I ever needed to go to sleep in a hurry. Fortunately for us Apple fans, there’s a website that does all of the patent office trolling for us, Patently Apple. This time, they’ve found a patent for a new social networking system for the iPhone, named iGroups. From their article on the subject:
Apple is working on a new communications based social networking application that they’re simply calling “iGroups.” According to the documents published by the USPTO today, Apple’s iGroup will be a new service that will work on your iPhone and likely work with MobileMe. The idea is to allow groups of friends or colleagues attending such events as aconcert, a tradeshow, business meeting, wedding or rally to stay in communication with each other as a group to share information or reactions to live events as they’re occurring. The technology behind the new iGroup social networking applications works with a very sophisticated cryptographic key generation system to ensure security and privacy of your communications. Interestingly, the patent states that if one of the devices in your group happens to be without true positioning technology, it appears that Apple’s MobileMe service will provide some sort of “virtual GPS” capability to that user so that they could be aware of the locations of others in the group.
I’m not so sure how I feel about this concept. For me, social networking is a double-edged sword. Facebook was “the other networking site” behind Friendster and MySpace just a few years ago, and now MySpace has all but disappeared while Facebook has taken over. Starting a social networking site takes a lot of effort, and a lot of support. And if it’s tied to MobileMe, I think it’s destined to fail. How many people other than the Mac faithful are willing to pay $100 a year for e-mail and syncing services? If Facebook starting charging it would be decimated in a week. It’s a risky gamble, and it depends a lot on how it’s setup, so we’ll have to see how it goes. My guess though is that we’ll see iGroups in OS 4.0 this summer.
Posted by: Kevin Whipps on Mar 19, 2010 | No Comments
Posted by: Kevin Whipps on Mar 19, 2010 | No Comments
OK, so maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration. But the fact is, Amazon isn’t too thrilled with the iPad, nor with its iBooks store. The iPad represents a huge threat to its e-book sales, and that’s a hit to the bottom line. Amazon does have an advantage, however. Leverage against the publishers. And guess what? They’re using it. BusinessWeek has a post about the subject, including Amazon’s talks to change pricing.
March 18 (Bloomberg) — Amazon.com Inc., the world’s largest Internet retailer, is in talks to change some prices of Kindle e-books by no later than the April 3 release of Apple Inc.’s iPad, two people with knowledge of the discussions said.
Amazon.com is talking to publishers individually about giving them more control over prices, said the people, who declined to be identified because the negotiations aren’t public. Publishers said they want to be able to set the prices of e-books, with most new titles costing $12.99 to $14.99, compared with $9.99 currently.
So they’re taking the Apple approach. They want to control what they price books at, and that makes sense. I bet those negotiations are pretty civil.
Amazon.com is in talks with publishers about prices and has threatened to stop direct online sales of printed books from some of them unless they make concessions on e-books, the New York Times reported earlier, citing two unidentified industry executives with knowledge of the discussions. The retailer wants them to sign three-year contracts and guarantee that no rival will get lower prices or better terms, the newspaper said.
Oh, that doesn’t sound very nice.
Now granted, Steve Jobs isn’t known for being the nicest guy on the planet, but he’s got the publishers selling books the way he wants it because of his success with movies and music. Now he turns to books and attempts to take on the biggest bookstore out there, a company with 90-percent of e-book sales in 2009, and he’s winning. Maybe Amazon was a pain in the ass to deal with, or maybe they overstepped their bounds in the past. Either way, I see this move by Amazon as pushing away the publishers even more and leading them down the road to the iPad.
Posted by: Kevin Whipps on Mar 19, 2010 | No Comments
Posted by: Kevin Whipps on Mar 18, 2010 | 2 Comments
iWork, Apple’s answer to the Microsoft Office suite, also has an online component. iWork.com is Apple’s version of Google Docs, and it allows iWork users to share files with both Apple and PC users. I’ve never used it personally, but that’s because I don’t collaborate with anybody. And if I do, I just e-mail them a .doc file.
Anyways, Apple sent out an e-mail about the iWork.com public beta yesterday. Here it is in its entirety:
An important service message about the iWork.com public beta.
Dear iWork.com beta member,
We’re pleased to announce the availability of new features and enhancements to iWork.com.
Share documents on websites and social networks. iWork.com allows you to share a document by creating a public link. Use the link to share your document with large groups or on websites and social networks. There’s no need to set a password or send an invitation. Anyone with the public link can view your document but cannot add comments or notes.
Improved Shared Documents page. Download documents shared on iWork.com without leaving the Shared Documents page. You can also track the number of views your publicly shared documents receive.
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.
To take advantage of iWork.com and these new features, make sure you are using the latest version of iWork on your Mac. To update iWork on your Mac, go to the Apple menu, choose Software Update, and install any available updates for iWork. Then, to share a document from Keynote ‘09, Pages ‘09, or Numbers ‘09, choose “Share via iWork.com” from the Share menu.
Thank you for using iWork.com. We hope you enjoy these enhancements to your service. After you’ve had a chance to try them out, we invite you to tell us what you think.
Sincerely,
The iWork.com Team
I tried it out earlier today and it’s pretty neat. The document loads up right on the screen and you can make changes, download it or print it. It’s very Apple-esque, with clean lines and icons, and very similar to MobileMe. Will it make me use it? I dunno for sure, but will you?
Posted by: Kevin Whipps on Mar 18, 2010 | 2 Comments
Posted by: RJ Huneke on Mar 18, 2010 | No Comments
Censorship is *BLEEPed up! Enjoy the power of the iPhone’s very own “Bleep Button!” The App provides a loud and ominous BLEEP at the iPhone user’s command.
Is a friend taking a passionate conversation a little too far? Remind them of the fact, that they have to pay the swear jar, by hitting the “Bleep Button” application to break up the inexplicable cussing.
For the movie buff who loves censorship, and if my sarcasm is lost on you here then I will point out that this is tongue in cheek, the “Bleep Button” App reaffirms power to the uptight conservative individual.
The only downside to this free App from the App Store is that the $.99 premium version gets twenty other sounds to Bleep Out things. Add humor to expletive when pressing the Alarm, Applause, Burp, Buzzer, Kiss, Ka-Ching, Truck Horn, Scream, Fart and Gong sounds to name a few in the App.
The free “Bleep Button” application does include the top 200 movies where the F-word was used the most in the history of cinema! This list is massive and loaded with fun information, like for instance the number four flick, “Casino,” which used the F-word 470 times! The App also gives the F-words per minute, which is 2.37 in this case, and the film length to give perspective at 178 minutes. Genius!
Quentin Tarantino is aptly included twice in the top twenty-five movies using the F-word! “Reservoir Dogs” had an average of 2.71 F-words per minute, at rank twenty-four, and “Pulp Fiction” was not too shabby either, at rank twenty-five, with 1.72 F-words per minute! Watch the classic films and hold up the iPhone to “Bleep Button” the appropriate parts and piss someone off!
IMPULSIVE Review Grade: B+
Posted by: RJ Huneke on Mar 18, 2010 | No Comments
Posted by: Kevin Whipps on Mar 18, 2010 | 1 Comment
“PC load letter? What the f*** is that?”
Ever since my wife had our child back in February, she’s been staying at home taking care of the little guy. OK, technically, she’s been staying at home since she was laid off in October, but that’s neither here nor there. Last week she got a call from her old job. Turns out they need help, and she’s the only one who can do the gig, so they want her to do some freelance work. That’s good news of course – money is always a good thing – and they gave her a copy of their software plus a key to install onto her computer. Plus a deadline – Thursday afternoon.
About a year ago we bought her a 17-inch Dell laptop for her job as a designer. It was originally a Vista machine, but she upgraded to Windows 7 Ultimate fairly recently. Most of her software is Windows only, and although she likes Macs, she’s nowhere near the Apple geek that I am. Today though, she might have taken a step in that direction.
It’s Tuesday night and she starts installing the software on her machine. It doesn’t quite take, so she decides to go to bed and try again in the morning. 6:30 a.m. rolls around and with it, the two of us. She gets cracking on the install again, while I get ready for my day. I shower, eat breakfast, watch a little TV while she’s hunched over the computer, one hand on her forehead, one on the mouse. Once I’m done around 8:15 or so, I meet her in the office and start doing my work. Up and down she goes, alternating between installing the program and taking care of our son until at 11 or so when she turns to me and says, “What am I doing wrong? This just won’t install.” We try troubleshooting, including calling my Dad the software programmer, and decide to try the Mac. I have XP on VMWare on my iMac, so we gave that a shot. It installed, but it still didn’t work right, so now we decided to try the XP emulation mode on Windows 7. Same problem as the iMac, leading us to believe that it was a problem with running that program on an emulator.
Around 2 p.m. she’s even more exasperated. The hand is still on the forehead with the other on the mouse, but now her jaw is almost constantly open and every so often she says “Really? REALLY?” Then she turns to me and says, “Kevin, can you help?”
At this point, I was a little behind in my day as well. I had run a few errands, taken care of Kevin Jr. for a bit, and I needed to catch up myself. So I said what I felt. “Kirsten, I’m sorry but I just don’t know what to do. It’s been a long time since I had to figure out something like this. I just don’t budget ‘fixing computers’ into my work day like I used to, because I don’t have to.”
That epiphany really changed my perspective a bit. I remember spending hours on end trying to get scanners to load, or printers to be found, all trying to work the angles and get XP working correctly. When it did, I felt like the hero who just saved a town of kids from a stampede of cattle. But now I don’t have to deal with those problems very often, so I just don’t worry about it. My day is more about productivity, not about trying to troubleshoot. It’s relieving.
We did finally get the software to work. Turns out there was a newer version available for Windows 7, and the company was able to remote in to her computer and download it for her. That said, it was 4 p.m. before she got started on her work, which was due the next day. I decided that we’d make a fun night of it and have an all-nighter so she’d feel more comfortable with company nearby. We got a lot of Red Bull and she eventually got it done.
When PC people talk to me about how inferior my Mac is in the future, I’m going to tell them about this moment. It may sound cocky and arrogant, but my computer does pretty well on a regular basis and that’s a welcome relief from my PC days.
Posted by: Kevin Whipps on Mar 18, 2010 | 1 Comment
Posted by: Kevin Whipps on Mar 18, 2010 | 2 Comments
Phillips is known for more high-end electronics and gadgets, but it looks like they want to get in on the iPad craze too. They recently put out this webpage with new products for our favorite tablet device that’s not yet released, including the case pictured above. It’s a reversible sleeve in black and red with velcro snaps to keep your iPad all nice and cozy. Then there’s a portable speaker, headphones, a leather case and even a plastic screen protector. Looks like they’re going after the market pretty hard.
I mentioned this the other day, but there are so many cool accessories coming out for the iPad in the next few months that it makes me want one pretty bad. It wasn’t like that for me and the iPhone. No, I decided that I wanted one because of the form factor, the bigger capacity included with the 3G model at the time, and the functionality. This time around, I’m seeing all of the creative things that people are doing with a device that doesn’t yet exist and realizing that maybe this device does have a place in my life. Maybe I wouldn’t carry it around every day, but I could certainly see myself bringing this to business meetings and appointments.
Now what will be really exciting is to see when someone comes up with a case/keyboard combination, or a flexible keyboard that will fit into an iPad case, making it a complete workstation on the go. If you’re a manufacturer and I just gave you a cool idea, feel free to use it. Just make sure to send me a free one once it’s designed. With an iPad.
Posted by: Kevin Whipps on Mar 18, 2010 | 2 Comments
Posted by: Kevin Whipps on Mar 17, 2010 | No Comments
[Image by Jonathan Haeber]
This story has been brewing for quite a bit of time now, but it looks like the green light is on. But before we talk about the current, let’s bring up the past.
The home pictured above was built by Daniel C. Jackling, who founded the Utah Copper Company. He was responsible for changing the process of refining copper, upping production and making a lot of people a lot of money. He built this 17,000 square foot casa back in 1926, and since then it’s seen quite the cast of characters. In ‘56, Jackling died and then the house was sold a few times. Big name celebs and even presidents have come by the house from time to time, but the big name that you probably care about is Steve Jobs, who bought the house in 1984.
To say it was a little bit rough at the time would be an understatement, but he dealt with it for 10 years. Then he rented out the house for a bit, and in 2000, he left it vacant. So the plan was that he wanted to demolish the house and build a newer one in its stead, so he applied for a demolition permit in 2004. He got it, but then a historical group stepped in and begged him to keep the house as is. It went to court, and then it got a bit thicker. Steve has spent four years trying to find someone who could move the existing building, but didn’t have any luck. From an article in SFGate:
Weiner said Jobs presented evidence that it would cost millions of dollars more to renovate the mansion than to build his proposed new home.
She also cited an expert report on the continued deterioration of the building, which has suffered from rot, mold, decay, animal and bird infestations, and human vandalism, and is located 160 feet from a branch of the San Andreas Fault.
Back and forth this all went until today, when it was finally decided that Jobs can apply for a demolition permit again. But as it turns out, there’s a new offer to move the home. Whether or not Steve takes it is his call, but the big question is how much this all costs him. He’s good for the money, that’s for sure, but this could turn into a PR disaster if not handled correctly.
Posted by: Kevin Whipps on Mar 17, 2010 | No Comments
Posted by: Kevin Whipps on Mar 17, 2010 | No Comments
One of the biggest problems with the first version of the PayPal iPhone app was its lack of features. You could check your balance, send money via e-mail, and that was about it. This was incredibly frustrating for a few different reasons, but the biggest was the lack of withdrawing money. Often times I’ll be out and about and get a quick e-mail about money coming in via PayPal. Before the update, I wouldn’t be able to transfer my funds without going onto Mobile Safari and handling it the old fashioned way. To me, it was a waste of an app.
This new one though changes things a lot. First, all the old features are there, so don’t worry about losing what little functionality you already had. But now you can bump phones with another friend to send them money, request money from customers and there are even some cool money tools. For example, there’s “Split Check,” which allows you to plug in the amount of a bill, how many people are there and the amount of the tip, that way everyone puts in the correct amount. Better yet, if one of you wants to put in a certain amount, you can drag around these sliders to change the totals, and it will automatically calculate out the difference for the remaining people. Then there’s “Collect Money” and “Reminders,” with more useful ways to use your account.
For a free app, this latest version really gets it done. Now that it’s fully functional, I expect to be using this app a lot more in the near future.
Posted by: Kevin Whipps on Mar 17, 2010 | No Comments
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