Filed under: iPod Family, Software, iPhone, App Store
iPhone App News Roundup: July 8, 2008
- Deepak Mantena of Tapeshow told us about Chores, his GTD app for iPhone (see screenshots above). It will be in the App Store, with a Mac companion app coming in August. He'll also have Wordy (for helping you improve your vocabulary), Gratuity (easy tip calculator), and Fright (a good way to scare your friends) in the App Store Friday.
- Another ebook reader app for iPhone has been announced; Lexcycle Stanza will be in the App Store on Friday for free. Stanza uses Project Gutenberg eTexts so you can have a library of classics at your fingertips.
- Developer Pascal Bourque let us know that he's submitted DutchTab to the App Store. You can use this app to split restaurant bills fairly between a group of co-workers or friends. His site isn't up yet, but will be soon at http://www.dutchtab.com.
- 3Monk3ys has three iPhone apps that available on Friday. DoubleDrop (a puzzle game) will be available for $2.99. Attitude is an simulation of an airplane's Attitude Indicator (ADI), and is priced at $2.99 as well. Finally, iSoroban is a Japanese abacus simulator priced at $1.99
- Noah WItherspoon mentioned that his game Tris will be available soon after the App Store launch. Details are on his dev blog at http://twofingerplay.blogspot.com/.
- Are you a pilot? Felix Khazin is releasing AirWX, an iPhone app for grabbing METARs, maps, and more. AirWX uses CoreLocation and pulls up nav charts from skyvector.com.
- Kayakers are going to need a waterproof case for their iPhones! Wayne David Daley has RiverGuide coming out soon. Can you say real-time river flow info?
- Thomas Aylesworth of Bayou Games let us know about Morocco, his Othello game for iPhone.
- Edovia will be selling Steps, pedometer software for iPhone, starting Friday for $1.99. Their Linguo translator software will retail for $2.99 and features 17 languages.
- If you need to lose a few pounds, All of Zero has iScale coming out soon. You can keep track of what you eat, find the nutrional value of various foods, and more.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Russell Gordon said 8:38PM on 7-08-2008
Any word on an app that will sync with Outlook's To Do list?
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Phippster said 8:43PM on 7-08-2008
Is it just me or are a lot of these applications just Web sites. I mean river levels have been available for ages on the Web. I have convenient bookmark folder with all my local rivers. Why are so many people making native apps for something that's just a bookmark away. Sounds like a Web app to me.
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dagamer34 said 9:16PM on 7-08-2008
Safari crashes a LOT. I mean.. a LOT. Native apps ftw.
len said 9:32PM on 7-08-2008
Yo Phippster ol' buddy -
Because you can charge at the App Store. Nuf said.
JKT said 9:42PM on 7-08-2008
What if you are out of range of the internet? There are plenty of locales in the western U.S. that are remote enough that the web is unreachable? What if you're out of the U.S. and don't want to incur astronomical roaming charges? I want native apps for those reasons, plus the fact that once I buy an app it's reliable; there's no website to go down or go out of business or get changed in ways I may not prefer.
Bob S. said 11:42PM on 7-08-2008
dagamer34: You're absolutely right! Apps that crash FTW!
iPhoneLove said 9:40PM on 7-08-2008
Nice wrap up but this is just the tip of the iceberg. Does anyone know how apps will be prioritized for display, ranked, rated, etc? It seems like it will be overwhelming, and since previewing (like on iTunes) isn't an option, it seems like it'll be cumbersome to sort out which apps are really useful.
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Steve said 1:28PM on 7-09-2008
Then why have almost any of the apps that Apple was changing almost $20.00 for when they first came out. Weather, Maps, and Email can all be accomplished via a web browser. The native apps are just much easier to use on the device.
JKT said 9:45PM on 7-08-2008
I hope there is some type of word processing or at least note-taking or journaling software. It need not synch directly with Office, though that'd be handy. But I want the very basic ability to jot notes or a log, and then get that data off later. In a pinch I guess I could write into e-mail, but that's not really what e-mail is for.
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vtor67 said 9:50PM on 7-08-2008
tuaw, don't assume app store opens on friday... more evidence points to tomorrow, with the launch of mobile me. people have heard of mobile me launching tomorrow night. on the mobile me FAQ page at http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1932
says after the 10th question, "You will need to update to software version 2.0 or later to enable push mail, push contacts, push calendar, and push bookmarks. This software update will be available when MobileMe launches."
while this means the firmware could be released tomorrow, the app store might not open until later.
PS. i didn't find this... a user at macrumors forums found this and i give him all credit.
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JR said 10:06PM on 7-08-2008
Like music, the App Store will have a rating system. You'll most likely have to refer to the "highest" rated apps + the odd reviews you find of apps on the web to make informed decisions for the commercial apps.
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thezonie said 11:38PM on 7-08-2008
I seriously cannot wait to use a push-enabled, MobileMe synched GTD solution. I currently use iGTD on my Mac (which I love) although I don't think it's going to have an iPhone equivalent. OmniFocus is one I can think of ... Anyone know of any others?
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Pierre Bernard said 7:53AM on 7-09-2008
Houdah Sofware - makers of HoudahGeo and HoudahSpot - will have 3 iPhone / iPod Touch applications available on Friday: ACTSudoku (intutive Sudoku with board generator) , ACTGratuity (compute restaurant tip according to service quality) and ACTCurrency (fast universal currency converter).
http://www.houdah.com/iPhone
Best,
Pierre Bernard
Houdah Software s.à r.l.
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Lee said 8:42AM on 7-09-2008
So far nothing overly impressive to be honest. That said i guess the big boys wouldn't be posting here for the exposure.
Also i just don't get these bill splitting apps as i find a napkin and a pen works fine or even the "normal" calculator :)
I do hope there are more impressive things hitting the store for launch or this could be a bit of a let down.
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sajjad said 10:38AM on 7-09-2008
Technological advancement is for all so you got to give up thinking like what if you were out of range and so on, Think broadly many can get the benefit.
Moneysurf
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Robert said 10:46AM on 7-09-2008
Native Apps are just much easier to use...none of the websites that display riverflow information are easy to navigate espcially with all the zooming and things I need to do to get the information. The screenshots on the website are pretty cool.
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sajjad said 10:43AM on 7-09-2008
Technological advancement benefits everybody so if not you today some one else get benefited.
http://moneysurf.angelfire.com
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William said 10:53AM on 7-09-2008
I agree...its worth a few cents from the app store to have a native app. The screenshots on the RiverGuide site look like it will make it much easier to get the infomation I want quickly and easily. Alot of sites just aren't that user friendly when dealing with a small screen interface.
I'm looking forward to seeing what apps are available on Friday.
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James said 11:10AM on 7-09-2008
Here is another way to look at it:
"Why are so many people making native apps for something that's just a bookmark away."
Ease of use would be one big reason. With this line of thought why have a mail app on the iPhone I can just bookmark my webmail account. Or a maps app, or a weather app... You could just bookmark googlemaps..and weather dot com..and so on and so on. The native apps are usually just much simplier to use and have an interface that is designed specifically for the device.
Just my $..02
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mike said 11:18AM on 7-09-2008
ok im going to say it. i see these $1 -$5 apps but really, come on people, why upgrade when i already have 75% of these apps for free?
jailbraking FTW
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