Archive for category iPhone Applications

‘This American Life’ Gets an iPhone App

Feb 3

Posted by Tanya Menoni in News, iPhone Applications, iPhone Apps | No Comments

This American Life is one of the most popular public radio shows around, and now fans of the show can bring the show to their iPhone with the This American Life app ($2.99, iTunes link). This American Life is produced by Chicago Public Radio and heard on over 500 radio stations. Editors aim to cover “true stories of everyday people,” and they’ve produced episodes on everything from infants who were switched at birth in 1951 to a humorous look at life aboard a modern aircraft carrier.

The This American Life app provides access to every episode broadcast since 1995, and new episodes are added automatically. Streaming is free, but you’ll have to pay $0.99 per episode to download. The app includes search functionality so you can browse previous episodes by title or contributor. In addition to This American Life episodes, the app also offers behind-the-scenes audio and video, a favorites list and the ability to send episodes via Facebook, Twitter or email. From the app description:

This American Life is mostly true stories of everyday people, but it’s also really hard to describe. Here’s what it’s not: It’s not a news show or a talk show or a call-in show. Instead, it’s stories that are like little movies for radio. There are funny moments and emotional moments and moments where the people in the story say interesting, surprising things about it all. It’s a public radio show for people who don’t necessarily like public radio.

There’s little doubt that This American Life will be a popular iPhone app—it was just released yesterday and it already enjoys a five-star rating from nearly 60 reviewers at the iTunes store.

This American Life is a $2.99 download from the iTunes store.

App Review: MyPhone+ for Facebook

Sep 30

Posted by Ben Eveloff in App Reviews, Facebook, iPhone Applications, iPhone Contacts App | 2 Comments

It can be tedious to set a photo for every contact on your iPhone. MyPhone+ for Facebook ($2.99, iTunes link) can make the process quick and easy for you. The app allows you to sync your iPhone contacts with their corresponding Facebook profile pictures, work info, addresses, and birthdays without overriding the existing profile pictures you have in your iPhone.

The application was easy to set up, and it was great to sync all of my iPhone contacts with their photos on Facebook. I was impressed of how well this application was able to sync together both my iPhone and Facebook contact lists even though I don’t have each person’s full name entered into my iPhone. If the application was unsure of a possible match, you are directed to select the contact that matches, or you can disregard that contact.

Additionally, the application allows you to make outgoing calls, and you have the option to import Facebook friends not already on your iPhone into your contact list. You can also set your favorite contacts within the application and view them in list form.

One big drawback is that the app does not allow you to sync email address or phone numbers from the contacts transferred from Facebook to your phone, you have to do that manually. This is not the fault of the application, as Facebook does not share phone numbers and email address with third-party applications. Rightfully so.

Also, if you want to keep the images and other information up-to-date, you will need to manually re-sync.

Overall, MyPhone+ for FaceBook is a solid application. If you are eager to fill in the information on your iPhone contact list that Facebook can supply, it is as great asset.

MyPhone+ for Facebook is a $2.99 download from the iTunes App Store.

Manage Your Yahoo! Fantasy Sports Team With Y! Fan Pro

Jun 23

Posted by Alan in iPhone Applications, iPhone Apps, iPhone Fantasy Sports Apps, iPhone Sports, iPhone Sports Apps | 1 Comment

*Update 7/6/2009* The name of the app has been changed to MyFantasyPro due to trademark claims from Yahoo!

Want to change the lineup of our Yahoo! Fantasy Baseball team at work but the Yahoo! Fantasy website is blocked? Y! Fan Professional ($3.99, iTunes link) lets you do just that. With Y! Fan, you can manage your Yahoo! Fantasy Baseball, Football, Basketball, and Hockey teams and do things like check your league or team stats, pick up free agents, make trade offers, and change your daily lineup.

Feature list:

Access to NFL Football, MLB Baseball, NHL Hockey and NBA Basketball pools (including Plus editions)
Supports Head-to-Head and Rotisserie style pools
Ability to manage your roster, moving players from active to the bench and vice versa
Ability to view your team’s performance for any day of the year or for last week, last month, the current or previous season
Ability to track your team’s progression up your pool’s standings
Ability to view Head-to-Head match-ups and season schedule
Ability to post and read messages on your pools message board
Access to your team’s player notes
Transaction support for adding/dropping players
Offer and accept trades
Access live scores, news, and league standings, and injury reports for NHL, NBA, MLB, and NFL

Y! Fan Professional is a $3.99 download from the iTunes App Store.

Artist Uses iPhone App to Create Cover for The New Yorker

May 25

Posted by Alan in Art Made With the iPhone, Best iPhone Apps, iPhone Applications, iPhone Apps, iPhone Art Apps | No Comments

The New Yorker June 2009 Cover

The iPhone as an artistic tool just got some real cred. The cover for the June 1, 2009, edition of The New Yorker was created using the Brushes ($4.99, download) iPhone app. The artist, Jorge Colombo, has been experimenting with using the iPhone for art since February 2009. Colombo enjoys the spontaneousness the iPhone’s mobility affords him, telling ABCNews.com “I like to have my studio in my pocket.”

Another Jorge Columbo iSketch

Brushes simulates painting using your finger, offering several realistic brush styles. A zoom feature lets you do detailed work by zooming in using the pinch gesture. An undo feature lets you correct any mistakes.

The app also comes with a “brush stroke recorder” that records each brush stroke and lets you replay your paintings like a movie and export them at high resolutions to your computer using Brushes View, a free Mac OSX application.

Check out the app in action in the video below:

Brushes has been a success for its developer Steve Sprang, who says the app has been downloaded around 40,000 times so far. Sprang is a former Apple employee who is an amateur artist himself and wanted to create something fun but useful for fellow artists.

Brushes has its own Twitter account (name: BrushesApp) and a popular Flickr group with over 2,000 drawings so far where artists can share their creations.

Name: Brushes
Developer: Steve Sprang
Version Reviewed: 1.1
Price: $4.99
iTunes Link: Download

Update: Watch Jorge Columbo paint The New Yorker cover:

Preview of G-Map Update for iPhone 3.0

May 4

Posted by Alan in GPS navigation, Turn-by-turn Directions, iPhone 3.0, iPhone Applications, iPhone Apps, iPhone GPS, iPhone GPS Navigation Apps, iPhone Version 3 | No Comments

The upcoming iPhone 3.0 update will finally bring true turn-by-turn GPS navigation apps to the iPhone. The G-Map apps currently in the App Store offer something close to turn-by-turn, but lack some essential features like voice navigation. The folks behind G-Map are updating the app for iPhone 3.0 bringing voice directions and a few other nifty features. The blog Tap Critic got an early preview, and it looks awesome. It seems there would be little need to buy a third-party GPS navigation unit:

Review: Photogene (Best of iPhone Apps)

Apr 17

Posted by Alan in App Reviews, Best iPhone Apps, iPhone App Reviews, iPhone Applications, iPhone Apps, iPhone Camera, iPhone Photo Editing Apps, iPhone Photos App | 6 Comments

Photogene ($2.99, iTunes link) is a photo editing app that was recently featured in the iPhone commercial called “Student.” Photogene offers basic editing tools like cropping and color correction, and it allows you to perform the functions quickly and hassle free. Overall, it’s a polished app with a well-designed interface that works flawlessly on the iPhone. We found it an indespensable tool for anyone who likes to take photos with the iPhone and send them directly from the phone to friends and family.

What’s so special about Photogene is that it’s an introduction to how a touch interface can sometimes be quicker than its mouse-and-keyboard counterpart. Many of the features of the app, such as crop, work just a little bit more economically with your fingers touching the screen.

And the app is no slouch in its feature set. Mac users might even recognize how similar it is to iPhoto’s editing features. The following is a look Photogene‘s feature set (although the developers promise more features will be added over time).

Crop

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Yahoo! iPhone App Arrives in App Store

Apr 2

Posted by Alan in Free iPhone and iPod Touch Apps, iPhone Applications | No Comments

Yahoo! was founded years ahead of Google, but they’re several months behind in releasing their own Yahoo! iPhone app (free, iTunes link). And the app is a good reflection of Yahoo! these days: cluttered and unfocused. The features:

Featured – here’s where you’ll find the most interesting stories on the web right now

Yahoo! News – for breaking headlines covering the most popular topics

My Interests – organizes your favorite, personal, content

Connect – now it’s a snap to “Stay Connected” with ALL your email, messenger, and social networks, in one place!

More – an easy to use “Everything” directory for all the Yahoo! mobile services

It’s a free download, so check it out and tell us in the comments if you’re more impressed than we were.

MLB.com At Bat 2009: Listen to Every Baseball Game on Your iPhone

Mar 30

Posted by Alan in Baseball, Radio Apps, Satellite Radio, iPhone Applications, iPhone Apps, iPhone Radio, iPhone Sports, iPhone Sports Apps | No Comments

MLB.com At Bat 2009 ($9.99, iTunes link) from Major League Baseball lets you listen to every radio broadcast, home and away, of every MLB game this season on your iPhone or iPod Touch. This is $5 less than the same feature, called Gameday Audio ($15), on the MLB.com website. And with the iPhone app version, you won’t get suckered into the autorenewal charges of the website every year like I do. MLB.com At Bat 2009 is a good tool for anyone on the go who wants to listen to their local radio station’s broadcast of their favorite team.

Watch video highlights in MLB At Bat 2009.

The app also offer real-time scores, real-time play-by-play, and video highlights. It’s basically the best iPhone app for baseball-info junkies. If you don’t want to pay the premium for the radio access, there is also a free version, MLB.com At Bat Lite.

Box Scores on MLB At Bat 2009.

Links:

MLB.com At Bat 2009 ($9.99)
MLB.com At Bat Lite (free)

iTunes DJ Feature Added to iTunes; Works With Remote App

Mar 12

Posted by Alan in Apple iPhone, Music, Playlists, Software Updates, iPhone Applications, iPhone Apps, iPhone WiFi, iTunes, iTunes DJ | 6 Comments

The iTunes 8.1 software update added a feature called iTunes DJ, a special playlist where songs can be added or voted on by anyone with an iPhone and iPod Touch running the Remote app (review) and connected to the local network. The total number of votes then determines the order in which the songs are played.

Apple's Remote app shows the number of votes cast in iTunes DJ.

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Tags: Remote App

Siruis XM Radio Coming to iPhone and iPod Touch

Mar 12

Posted by Alan in Apple iPhone, News, Radio Apps, Satellite Radio, iPhone Applications, iPhone Apps, iPhone Radio | No Comments

Image via Philip Johnson.

Sirius XM Radio Inc put out a press release today stating it will offer its subscription satellite radio service on the iPhone and iPod in spring 2009. The move is being made to combat the company’s poor financial situation by expanding its customer base onto other hardware platforms. Sirius is also in discussions with DirecTV to bundle its services with cable TV packages.

We’ve been testing a number of initiatives to make the Sirius XM content and experience more ubiquitous,” said Jim Meyer, president of operations and sales at New York-based Sirius.

Sirius was recently facing $1 billion in debt coming due in 2009 that it couldn’t repay, but was rescued by investors from Liberty Media Corp, which is DirecTV’s controlling shareholder.

Sirius XM charges a monthly fee of $12.95 per month for its Internet radio service, but prices have not been set yet for the iPhone app.

Link:

AP News Press Release: “Sirius XM Radio planning to stream to iPhone, iPod“