Folks still waiting in line for the iPhone 3GS. The demand seems to be much higher than the pundits predicted.
Still a line for the iPhone 3GS
June 27, 2009
Twitterific 2 for the iPhone
May 8, 2009
There are Twitter clients galore for the iPhone and the first Twitterific client was one of the originals. Over the last few months, we’ve seen other clients that have bypassed Twitterific in functionality and UI. The Twitterific 2 release last night counters the competition with its own slick upgrade.
The timeline UI has improved and highlights some new features. See that sources button? Not only can you choose the public timeline, friends’ timeline, trends, and nearby tweets, but you can access multiple accounts. The client at long last supports multiple accounts. This is a must-have for those of us that tweet for both an organization and ourselves.
To reply to someone, you just highlight the tweet. The new tweet button becomes a reply button. Simple and easy. If you want more functionality, hit the now active star button and you get more options:
The inability to quickly filter for replies and direct messages was a major reason for my switching to Tweetie. This has been resolved with the filter button on the far left of the timeline default screen. Tap it, and you can filter on replies, direct messages, favorites, and so forth. I hope to see this functionality in the Twitterific desktop client soon.
I did notice that the slight lags in scrolling are still present and it’s one area in which Tweetie is still superior. Beyond that, it is a matter of taste between the two clients now that we again have feature parity. As a Mac user, I can appreciate having to make a choice based on my workflow, preference, and UI choices.
iPhone 2.1 firmware released
September 12, 2008
iPhone firmware 2.1 was released this morning. If you are having issues with iTunes 8 seeing your iPhone, power down the phone, connect to the USB cable, and then power it up with iTunes active.
WordPress app for the iPhone
July 22, 2008
I am posting from the WordPress app for the iPhone! Very easy setup, very easy to use, and free. I have used some of the admin plugins but they never worked well. This app allows me to comfortably type and offers a very simple method for me to save drafts in progress – local draft storage is very cool. Adding tags, categories, and publishing are also easily done.
Adding photos is likewise simple. You can take a photo live or from the library – this means no uploading and linking later.
Preview is very slick – you get to see how your post will appear within your blog.
Highly recommended if you have an iPhone and a WordPress blog.
Belkin TuneCast
March 19, 2008
One of the very few annoyances I have about my über-reliant, safe and sporty car is the lack of AUX in for my iPods and iPhone. I am relegated to using FM transmitters which can be touch-and-go in the radio-saturated DC/NoVA/MD metro area. I used the Kensington Digital FM transmitter which mostly positive results. This weekend, though, I picked up the new Belkin TuneCast.
Unlike previous TuneCast products, this version is made for the iPhone. More iMarketing? Nope, the nomenclature actually does indicate a difference. Upon plugging my iPhone into the TuneCast, I did not have to deal with the “This device is not made for the iPhone. Would you like to turn off your phone, rendering the device useless, or deal with the annoying GSM buzz when you have a phone call or SMS incoming?” popup message. (Interestingly, that message does popup when I start the car if I plug in the phone before ignition.)
The big auto-scan button works pretty well. I had bad result in the parking garage at Tysons Corner – but that’s to be expected in a monstrous steel and concrete cavern. Out on the road, finding a good frequency has been relatively smooth. The sound quality is very good – an improvement over even the Kensington, which was much better than most transmitters.
If you have an iPhone and are stuck with FM transmission, I recommend the Belkin TuneCast.
iPhone: Still missing
January 16, 2008
My speculation is that Apple will have an iPhone-specific press event to coincide with the official release of the SDK. I hope that they make some more changes:
- Cut and paste – seriously, still not added?
- Support for the Nike + iPod Sport Kit. Come on – the device has a huge screen to display workout info and wireless access to push to the site. This is just begging for an iPhone-formatted portal.
- MMS – yes, I said it. I thought I could live without MMS. I do just fine not being able to send an MMS, but receiving them is a pain. At the very least, allow me to click on a Web link in the SMS alert of a new MMS.
- Ability to use the iPhone as a portable storage device.
SDK for iPhone
October 17, 2007
Apple’s Hot News page has a post from Steve Jobs regarding the release of a SDK for the iPhone and iPod Touch come February:
Let me just say it: We want native third party applications on the iPhone, and we plan to have an SDK in developers’ hands in February. We are excited about creating a vibrant third party developer community around the iPhone and enabling hundreds of new applications for our users. With our revolutionary multi-touch interface, powerful hardware and advanced software architecture, we believe we have created the best mobile platform ever for developers.
The post touches briefly on the framework around delivery and ensuring the code is solid. There is not enough info to answer any questions but it at least lets us know we shall soon have our 3rd party applications. I can live with Apple ensuring the apps are quality having suffered through some really bad apps on the Palm and Windows Mobile.
Here’s hoping OmniGroup will do some sort of application to sync with OmniFocus!
Delicious LIbrary Two: iPhone eye candy
October 5, 2007
The iPhone delivers the “real Web” to your mobile phone. Sure – but a well-written site designed perfectly for the screen size will always look and feel superior. Take a look at the Delicious Library Two sneak peak site on your iPhone to see a truly well-designed web export feature.
iPhone Web apps – notes, tasks, and lists
October 5, 2007
A lot of these have been covered in other blogs and magazine articles. Here’s my take on a few.
- http://www.tadalist.com/: One of the biggest missing items from the iPhone is a task list. I use OmniGroup’s OmniFocus interface quite a bit, but I don’t like leaving my power-hungry G5 on all the time at home just for this. Tadalist.com is a great alternative for quick task lists (or any list). It is accessible with any web browser and has a great iPhone interface. You can share the lists as well to enable people to edit, add, and complete items. It’s a great way to share, say, a shopping list with your spouse. It’s light and simple, and I have been using this.
- http://backpackit.com/: Another site by 37signals, this one covers notes, calendaring ($5/month subscription required), “writeboards”, reminders, and, yes, lists. Backpack is obviously a little more robust than Tada List. One especially nice feature is the ability to email and SMS reminders and calendar events to your phone. (In case this sounds familiar, it’s because 37 Signals also does the commercial-grade Basecamp). While the feature set is great, I just have not gotten around to using this. Part of it might just be my personal resistance to
- http://calendar.google.com/: Yes, you can track notes and tasks in Google Calendar. Google updated gCal last month to direct iPhone users to a site designed using the standard iPhone Web app UI. Mix that with Spanning Sync, and you’re set. I would use this a lot more, but – grumble, grumble – our Exchange server here at work is…. subpar.
- OmniFocus: As mentioned above, OmniFocus has a great UI for Web access. This is where I track most of my projects. I’d like to see the ability to sync the projects using .Mac or similar service, rather than me having to rsync the files. The other issue is that with the power consumption of a G5. Maybe this is where a hacked TV would come in handy.
Portable script-kiddy hack tool
October 5, 2007
One of my guys pointed me at this news on Metasploit entitled A root shell in my pocket (and maybe yours) (hdm). Interesting notes – I knew about most of them, but was not aware that mDNSResponder (Bonjour) service runs by default. That makes me wonder if Apple intends to at some point offer increased capabilities. A lot of SOHO printers now have Zeroconf, for example.