Know before you go. Get detailed turbulence forecasts for your exact route, now available 5 days in advance.
So the rumors were true this morning: Apple has just pushed iOS 4.0.1 only for iPhone. It includes various bug fixes and improvements, including the signal formula one.
What we didn’t know, though, is that 3.2.1 for iPad was about to be released: the newest update of iOS for iPad brings many fixes, including the Wifi connectivity, video playback and PDF ones.
So you think we’re done reviewing apps to read news on the iPad. No, and we’ve got even more coming. Actually, I think news apps on the tablet are the new “Twitter clients for iPhone”. They’re everywhere. They’re good. Developers can’t stop releasing them.
Today we’re taking a look at a new app for iPad called News Kiosk which - you guess - allows you to read your favorite blogs’ news in an all-new fashion.
As usual, we’ve also got some codes to give away.
We pretty much figured that FaceTime would eventually end up on the iPod relatively soon, but we didn’t think we’d hear millings about the iPad just yet (considering it doesn’t have a front facing camera). Sure the iPad would make the perfect FaceTime device – but this leads us to ponder whether Apple will release an updated model this Fall.
Questions aside, Boy Genius Report does ask a valid question: how the heck can you call an iPod touch or iPad without a phone number? The answer lies in your Apple ID. Using your email address (which I do not like the idea of at all), people will be able to make FaceTime calls to your device. Kind of like how Textie on the iPhone and iPod touch works. Push Notifications will alert you to calls, and Boy Genius Report admits that there’d have to be some minor changes in iOS 4.x to make it happen. Chalk another one up on the rumor mill kids - this one is pretty good.
[via Boy Genius Report]
Another success story in the making, Archetype has managed to garner 160,000 players within a week of launch according to TUAW. Amidst a massive advertising campaign, Archetype has become somewhat of an behemoth in mobile gaming, delivering a “big budget” experience Apple’s mobile devices, directly competing with titles like Nova and ngmoco’s Eliminate.
AppleInsider brings to light a recent Goldman Sachs report that suggests the iPad, like the iPhone, will dominate its corresponding market with a well curated App ecosystem, vibrant developer community, and technological superiority in a number of areas.
Sachs points out that despite having only 3% of the world’s mobile phones in the market, Apple has managed to rake in the most profit (and continues to do so) despite the recent recession which cut competitor’s profits in half. Apple could manage to nearly double the profits of what RIM, Motorola, Nokia, HTC, and Sony Ericson generated, combined by the end of 2011.
Look, we get it that you use your iPad to read articles online. We’ve talked oh-so-many times before about it. You have Reeder, Ashes, Instapaper, Pulse and Blogshelf already installed and placed on your home screen.
Now, you have Digg, too.
The iPad is still waiting for its Tweetie: a Twitter client which will set new standards and raise the bar so high it’ll be difficult for developers to catch up. Twitterrific hasn’t raised the bar: it brought a blow of fresh air in a market that, since Twitter’s acquisition of Loren’s app, is struggling to find its new Messiah. For as much as I love Twitterrific 3.0 (it’s my default client on the iPhone) I can’t say The Iconfactory has reinvented the wheel. The first Tweetie for iPhone did.
Maybe the wheel doesn’t need to be reinvented. Maybe we’ve already explored all the possible ways to lay out a Twitter application and now we’re just waiting for the one developer who implements them best. It’s a subtle difference.
If we take this approach, Osfoora for iPhone and iPad might be the best example to take a look at. It started as a quite blatant Tweetie ripoff, but it slowly evolved overtime in a wisely developed alternative to much more celebrated clients such as the aforementioned Tweetie, Twitterrific but also Echofon, Twitbird and Twittelator. It’s really changed a lot since the last time Cody reviewed the iPhone version here on MacStories.
Even though its terrific evolution, this time I won’t be talking about Osfoora for iPhone. The iPad version, released last month, was updated yesterday with a lot of new features and now it’s seriously claiming the throne of the best Twitter client for iPad. App Store users seem to be on Said Marouf’s side.
Here’s why I agree with them.
Microsoft has been in the tablet business for years. Well, supposedly anyway. I’ve never seen one on the streets, but of the two users who actually used one, they say Microsoft made an okay product. But after events full of promised Windows tablets, the Courier, and some HP Slate thing that’s gone nowhere, Microsoft is left wondering how the hell to advance. It boggles my mind that after ten years of research, they have nothing to show for it but a standard Windows OS slapped onto a sheet of plastic.
Tapbots are well known for making incredible applications: they look incredible, they’re incredibly useful. Pastebot is one of my most used iPhone apps, and the recent Retina Display update made it even better. Convertbot makes converting units fun and simple. Weightbot - I wish I’ll be able to use it someday. Thing is, no one gets custom UIs as right as Mark Jardine does. Period.
There was so much hype about Tapbots’ new projects. This review is not about Tweetbot, and I guess we’ll have to wait for their much-requested Twitter client for a while. The folks over at Tapbots have just released a brand new application for iPhone and iPad, and before you hold your breath for something incredibly complex and game-changing - Calcbot is a “just” a simple calculator.
But it’s the best calculator app I’ve ever had on my iPhone. And iPad. And it’s not sitting on both my home screens.
