Posts Tagged ‘apps’
Apple Rejects App For Containing "Minimal User Functionality" [Apple]
Posted by: Gadget Boy in Gadget News, Technology on March 2nd, 2010
A million fart app developers must've just started sobbing in hysterical fear as Apple decided to reject an app because it "contains minimal user functionality and will not be appropriate for the App Store."
The app in question, DuckPhone, was developed by Nick Bonatsakis of Atlantia Software and had one simple purpose: To make your phone quack like a duck. For whatever reason, Apple didn't think that was useful enough to an average user and wrote Nick this love letter:
"Dear Atlantia Software LLC,
We've reviewed your application DuckPhone and we have determined that this application contains minimal user functionality and will not be appropriate for the App Store.
If you would like to share it with friends and family, we recommend you review the Ad Hoc method on the Distribution tab of the iPhone Developer Portal for details on distributing this application among a small group of people of your choosing or if you believe that you can add additional user functionality to DuckPhone we encourage you to do so and resubmit it for review.
Sincerely,
iPhone App Review Team"
My guess is that whoever was stuck reviewing DuckPhone really hates Jersey Shore, but the bigger issue remains: Apple's now got yet another completely arbitrary reason to reject an app. [Crunch Gear]
Apple Says No More Titillating Apps, Period [Apple]
Posted by: Gadget Boy in Gadget News, Technology on February 21st, 2010
Recently, Apple removed Wobble—an app that adds real jiggle to photographic boobies—from the App Store. Other removals followed. Now, a developer who talked to Apple has the scoop on the future of iPhone titillation, and it is bleak.
Really bleak. Like no racy photos, no suggestive language, no bathing suits bleak.
This devastating news comes by way of TechCrunch, who has been following this story closely (but not in a weird way). Initially it seemed that Apple's new policy was to ban "overtly sexual content," which was disappointing, but, you know, understandable. Now TC has received word from a developer who has discussed the matter with "multiple App Store reviewers," and things aren't looking too hot. Not even close to hot, in fact.
Said developer was told "there will be no more applications that are for any purpose of excitement or titillation." Huh? I get pretty excited playing Tapulous—are they going to ban that too? Well, if you're thinking that maybe behind the hyperbole things aren't actually so bad, think again. Here's the full shakedown, as recapped by the developer of Wobble, an individual who has been standing in the shower since Apple first turned on the cold water on Thursday night:
1. No images of women in bikinis (Ice skating tights are not OK either)
2. No images of men in bikinis! (I didn't ask about Ice Skating tights for men)
3. No skin (he seriously said this) (I asked if a Burqa was OK, and the Apple guy got angry)
4. No silhouettes that indicate that Wobble can be used for wobbling boobs (yes – I am serious, we have to remove the silhouette in this pic)
5. No sexual connotations or innuendo: boobs, babes, booty, sex – all banned
6. Nothing that can be sexually arousing!! (I doubt many people could get aroused with the pic above but those puritanical guys at Apple must get off on pretty mundane things to find Wobble "overtly sexual!)
7. No apps will be approved that in any way imply sexual content (not sure how Playboy is still in the store, but …)
This can't be life! Of course, the glimmer of hope here is that Apple is still reviewing their policy and taking a hard line while doing so, just to be safe. On the other hand, this could it, the real deal, the Puritanical future of apps on the iPhone. I hope you have a thing for girls in turtlenecks. [TechCrunch]
The Week’s Best iPhone Apps [IPhone Apps]
Posted by: Gadget Boy in Gadget News, Technology on February 20th, 2010
In this week's porn-free app roundup: Expensive instant messaging apps, humbled! Cars, leered at! Zombies, organically defeated! Enigmatic Japanese game developers, being enigmatic! The sun, closely monitored! Malls, fearlessly navigated! And more...
This Week's Apps
If you'd like to view the following gallery as a single page, click here
This Week's App News on Giz
• This Is Why I Want Photoshop 1.0 on My iPhone Right Now
• A Better Way to Passcode Lock Your iPhone (At Your Own Risk)
• You Can Now Download iPhone Apps Up to 20MB Over 3G
• Google Buys iPhone Email Search App reMail and Pulls It From the App Store
• SlingPlayer Mobile 1.2 With 3G Streaming Now Available
• Street Fighter IV on iPhone Brings New Definition to Sore Thumbs
• Apple Removes An Innocent Boob-Jiggling App From the App Store
• Opera Mini On iPhone Is "Fast," Though There's No Pinch To Zoom
• Here's What Final Fantasy For iPhone Will Look Like
This list is in no way definitive. If you've spotted a great app that hit the store this week, give us a heads up or, better yet, your firsthand impressions in the comments. And for even more apps: see our previous weekly roundups here, and check out our Favorite iPhone Apps Directory. Have a great weekend, everybody!
WakeMate Helps You Sleep Smarter With Your iPhone [Sleep]
Posted by: Gadget Boy in Gadget News, Technology on January 2nd, 2010
The WakeMate, a sensor-laden wristband packaged with sleep analysis software, determines the optimal wake-up point in your REM cycle and adjusts your alarm for that moment. It also lets you say you really use your iPhone 24/7.
One of the fundamental reasons we love gadgets is because they help us do things better and smarter while we go about our days. But there are considerably less gadgets that help us go about our nights. Sure, there are some, but by and large the activity of sleeping is one that is untouched by technology and thus unoptimized. Enter WakeMate.
The WakeMate wristband uses Actigraphy to monitor your sleep cycles and pinpoints the precise moment when you should wake up, in a twenty minute window set to your specifications. (Otherwise, my "optimal wake up time" would be sometime around noon, seven days a week.)
But that's only half of it. The WakeMate collects your nightly sleep data and over time develops a detailed analysis of your sleep schedule.
Though I'm not sure I need quantify things with a "sleep score"—Sleep? That's where I'm a viking—it's hard not to get excited about the prospect of sleeping smarter with the help of gadgets like WakeMate. The WakeMate is set to ship by the end of the month and is available for preorder now. [WakeMate Thanks Mikey!]
Morphie iPhone Credit Card Scanner [IPhone]
Posted by: Gadget Boy in Gadget News, Technology on December 31st, 2009
You’d think that smartphones would have made traditional credit cards obsolete by now, but since they haven’t (in the US, at least), Morphie’s iPhone credit card reader may be the next best thing.
Its full details will be shared with us next week at CES, but the system will consist of a hardware scanner and a corresponding app. So while the iPhone’s API restrictions will prevent you from scanning your card directly into Safari for your next web purchase, there are surely some remote pay possibilities in the works similar to what we’ve seen from Square—not to mention, it’ll pave the way for an entire generation of even lazier credit card theft. [Pocket-Lint via SlashGear]
Palm webOS Nearing 1,000 Apps [Palm]
Posted by: Gadget Boy in Gadget News, Technology on December 31st, 2009
In mid-December during an investor conference call, Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein confirmed there were 800 apps available on the Pre and Pixi. Now, they're just a few shy of 1,000 with 946 available for download. [MyPre]
The iPhone Really Deserves Some Better Porn Apps [IPhone Apps]
Posted by: Gadget Boy in Gadget News, Technology on December 30th, 2009
The App Store is oozing with sleaze; sex-themed apps are everywhere. But here's the thing: these "porn" apps are always terrible. Here are some of the worst, and how to fix this, the most important problem in the world.
First, here are a few of the worst, collected by Intern Kyle and myself. It's a list of disappointment, of broken promises, and most importantly, of no nudity.
Of course, you can pick up your iPhone right now and go to a porn site. It's a smartphone. It has the internet. Some sites even have iPhone-optimized video streaming and navigation, because apparently, just like on every other device that's been connected to the internet, people use their smartphone for porn. This is an inevitability.
And Apple has a ratings system in the App Store. It has a 17+ rating, for apps with violent, crude or sexual content—or app that have a browser function, which could be used to access objectionable content. Most of the apps above are 17+, which means that if parents so choose, they can block their iPhone-having children from even being able to download them. It follows that they could do the same for 18+ apps, so why haven't they?
I can understand Apple not wanting to get into the porn business, which, by taking 30% of developers' revenue, I guess they would sort of be doing. But the current setup just doesn't make any sense. You can buy an app with a built-in browser, which can access the most horrible smut on the web, and get a 17+ rating. But if you link said app to one of those sites, and disable general browsing, suddenly it's verboten. Again, I can understand how we ended up here, but the results, as you've seen, are depressing.
It's fair to say that most people just assume there are porn apps, when there really aren't. But there are hundreds of apps that look like porn apps, cost money, and that are, effectively, bait-and-switch scams. Apple can fix this in two ways: they can open the floodgates and just let people have their real porn apps, which would effectively kill these in-between semi-porn apps, or they can revise how the App Store works: by instituting a 24-hour open return policy for paid apps, like the Android Market has, people would simply return these worthless apps, and developers, now unable to trick people into giving them boner money, would stop making them. They would tumble down the rankings and into oblivion.
Anyway, no matter what Apple does, people will continue to look at photos of naked humans on their iPhones. It may make the company squirm, but there's no reason to pretend it's not happening, and to let scammers screw up the App Store more than they already have. So do something, Apple! The fate of the world depends on it, a little!
Gizmodo’s Essential iPhone Apps: The Best of 2009 [IPhone Apps]
Posted by: Gadget Boy in Gadget News, Technology on December 30th, 2009
Each month, the best new iPhone apps-and some older ones-are considered for Gizmodo's Essential iPhone Apps Directory. Who will join? Who will live? Who will die? Here are the best of December, and of the entire year.
For the full directory of Gizmodo's Essential iPhone Apps for 2009, click here. Here are the best of the month, and what we've added to the directory:
December's Best Apps
For a single-page view, click here.
Essential App Directory Inductees
As you can see, it was a hell of a month in the App Store—we're adding a fair few of the month's best to the Essential Directory.
Pastebot, for giving the iPhone the clipboard it deserves, and coming so close to greatness (lack of backgrounding capabilities are the only thing holding it back, and not the dev's fault). $3
N.O.V.A, for finally showing the world how to make a proper FPS on the iPhone. $7.
Mint, because as far as personal finance apps go, things don't get much better than this. With the last few updates, it's become basically perfect. Free.
Dragon Dictation, for getting voice recognition right on the first try, and providing an extremely useful tool for text input. Free.
Gorilla Cam, for offering most of the features of a paid camera app for free.
Ustream, for giving iPhone users live video streaming capabilities they can actually use, and for not neglecting older iPhones. Free.
Bing, for providing decent, well-packaged alternatives to services that Google previously dominated, and even improving on some of them—I'm looking at you, maps. Free.
And that's it! What counts as an essential iPhone app changes all the time, and so should our guide: If we've missed anything huge, or you've got a much better suggestion for a particular type of app, let us know, or say so in the comments. We'll be updating this thing pretty frequently, and a million Gizmodo readers can do a better job at sorting through the app mess than a single Gizmodo editor. Enjoy!
Pedal Brain App Might Do For Cyclists What Nike+ Did For Runners [IPhone Apps]
Posted by: Gadget Boy in Gadget News, Technology on December 27th, 2009
Cycling apps are nothing new to the Apple App Store, but this hardware/software combo called Pedal Brain is the first to provide convenient ANT+ wireless device support.
As a quick primer, ANT+ is a wireless standard used by cyclists to measure and analyze their ride performance using a variety of wireless devices. It's been around for a while, but until Pedal Brain, there was no way to sync it up to an iPhone of iPod touch. Now there is!
Once you plug the Pedal Brain Synapse hardware device into your phone or touch, you'll start to get updates in real-time via the app on screen. When you're all done pedaling for the day, you can sync up with Pedal Brain on the Internet for a more in-depth analysis. There's team support too, which could make the software a boon for coaches.
The device/app will be available this spring, possibly in March, for $130 to $190. Unfortunately, the steep price does not include the additional charge for a subscription. A limited free version will be available at launch, but will crap out on you after a few weeks. [Pedal Brain via TechCrunch]




