Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Keep Up With Your Favorite Showtime Network Series With The Official iPhone App


The official Showtime app allows you to keep up with the latest info, get exclusive content, and receive upcoming episode notification for your favorite Showtime Network original series and sports shows.

Showtime, the iPhone app, has actually been around for over a year now. However, I felt the need to make a reminder for those who’ve never heard of it or for any of those millions of new iDevice owners out there looking for some useful apps. Whether you’re a fan of Californication, Dexter, Weeds, or even a sports nut that watches Inside The NFL or Inside NASCAR regularly, this is the app to keep you apprised of new episodes and content.

The app is updated as new shows premiere, but it currently offers content for:
• Californication
• Dexter
• La La Land
• Lock ‘N Load
• Nurse Jackie
• Penn & Teller
• Secret Diary of a Call Girl
• The Big C, The Green Room
• The L Word
• The Real L Word
• The Tudors
• Tracey Ullman’s State of the Union
• The United States of Tara
• Weeds

• Fight Camp 360ยบ
• Inside NASCAR
• Inside the NFL
• ShoBox: The Next Generation
• Showtime Championship Boxing
• Strikeforce
• Strikeforce Challengers

• Plus a number of featured films

So what sort of features do fans get to enjoy? Foremost, choose which shows you want to get notifications for. This way you will never miss another episode. For those just too excited, or to help out friends and family not fortunate enough to have iDevices and be able to keep up, share information for a specific episode or movie via a tweet or post to your Facebook wall.

Series content offers an About section, where you can read a brief synopsis of the show, start or stop alerts (notifications), and see upcoming airtimes. The Episodes section provides a guide to all previously aired episodes with brief summaries, related videos, and any upcoming airtimes or availability from on-demand. There’s a videos section for access to any related videos and sometimes even full previous episodes. If the show has a dedicated Twitter feed or iTunes content available, you’ll be able to quickly find it under the Extras tab. Sports shows offer up the About, Videos, and Extras portions. However, Inside NASCAR lacks related videos.

The official Showtime app by Showtime Networks is available for free in the App Store, though, Showtime premium cable channels are not free.

Those of you who are big Dexter/Weeds fans, like myself, will likely find this app to be indispensable, especially since the season 6 premiere of Weeds is tonight and the season 5 premiere of Dexter is on September 26th. For those curious enough, check out the series premiere of The Big C following the new episode of Weeds tonight as well.

Monday, August 2, 2010

Hackers Release Browser-Based iPhone 4 Jailbreak


The unlocked iPhone 4 is now technically legal and technically possible.
Just days after the U.S. Copyright Office ruled that bypassing a manufacturer's protection mechanisms to allow "handsets to execute software applications" no longer violates federal copyright law, the iPhone Dev Team on Sunday released a jailbreak for the iPhone 4 at JailbreakMe.com.

Unlike previous jailbreaks, which required the device to be connected to a computer to run the update, the latest jailbreak is accomplished completely via mobile Safari loaded on the device. The browser-based software bypass reportedly works on all iOS devices, including iPhones, iPads, and iPods running iOS 4 and iOS 4.01, but it will reportedly not work on devices running the iOS 4.1 beta.

Also, some users report the jailbreak disrupts FaceTime and MMS functionality on the device.

However, as of this writing, demand for the jailbreak is apparently so strong that the site's servers can't keep up, and many visitors report difficulty in getting through.

Jailbreaking allows devices to run apps not approved by the company producing the operating system--such as Apple, the main target of such bypasses. Jailbreaking also allows devices to run on nonauthorized networks.

While the U.S. Copyright Office has declared the software legal, Apple discourages users from loading the bypass, reminding them that doing so will void their device's warranty. "As we've said before, the vast majority of customers do not jailbreak their iPhones as this can violate the warranty and can cause the iPhone to become unstable and not work reliably," Apple said in a statement earlier this week.

Monday, July 26, 2010

Dragon Dictation 2.0 Now Live


Nuance Dragon Dictation 2.0 is now live in the App Store, and it leaves no reason for people to complain about the keyboard buttons being too small.

The free app now has “a fun-yet-convenient pop-up toolbar with app icons that allow people to speak a status update and send it directly to Facebook or Twitter, or speak any text and send it directly to the text messaging client or clipboard – all without leaving the Dragon Dictation app client.”

Also included in the app is a save feature that prevents you from losing your data when you get a phone call, iOS4 compatibility, and multilingual support (so far just US and UK English, with German coming this month).

“Millions of people have downloaded Dragon Dictation for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch, and this latest version is a direct result of the features our user community has voiced would make the ‘must-have’ app even better,” said Michael Thompson, senior vice president and general manager, Nuance Mobile. “And with support for more languages, we’re answering the call from our Dragon fans around the world.”

Monday, July 19, 2010

Extend Your PC’s Desktop With MaxiVista for iPad


If you liked our coverage of Air Display but it left yourself cursing your lack of a Mac, fear not. MaxiVista has arrived for iPad and will transform your device into an external display for your PC.

For $9.99, MaxiVista can wirelessly add an additional screen to your setup by connecting to your PC via the app and is compatible with XP, Vista and Windows 7. And this is no fly-by-night developer either. MaxiVista has existed in the Windows world since 2003 and now brings its experience to iPad users, with a Mac version also on the cards for the cross-platform iPad owners out there.

Offering a frame rate that comes close, via wireless, to the same quality found with traditional wired displays, MaxiVista looks to be great solution for Windows users who work with multiple windows, palettes or apps.



Read more: http://www.148apps.com/news/extend-pcs-desktop-maxivista-ipad/#ixzz0uABeyCBV

Monday, July 12, 2010

Never Lose Your iPhone: iHound’s Tracking App More Dogged Than Ever


Forget Apple’s expensive Find My iPhone program. iHound is the way to go.

iHound is an iPhone / iPod Touch / iPad tracking app that incorporates many of the iOS’s unique features. Now, with an update for iOS 4, it’s better than ever, and I’d argue that it’s the best iPhone tracking service out there. Here’s how it works. You go to ihoundsoftware.com, make an account, and then download the free app. The service is free for a month; after that, you can purchase a longer term at $10.99/yr. Compare that to MobileMe’s $99/yr requirement for Find My iPhone. Yikes!

Once launched, iHound functions in the background, transmitting your device’s location every 10 minutes. You can opt for always-on tracking, too, as long as you don’t mind the battery drain. Now, if you lose your iPhone, you log on at the iHound website. From there, you can view your device’s current location and / or send a push notification to your device (“Hi there, I’ve lost my iPhone–please call 555-555-5555!”). Better yet, you can force your device to emit a loud, wailing siren noise. That’s sure to catch someone’s attention. And if someone turns your phone off, iHound will launch and transmit its location once the phone is turned back on.

What makes this even sweeter is that with iHound, you can have as many devices as you want on the same plan for no additional cost. (Take that, AT&T…your FamilyMap plan just got crushed.)

I’ve just installed iHound on my second-generation iPod Touch, and I was quite impressed. Not only did iHound pinpoint my location, but the push-notification and siren options work extremely well. It’s true that with an iPod’s dependence on WiFi, iHound isn’t foolproof, but at least I won’t lose my iPod in my own house any more. Furthermore, for iPhone and 3G-enabled iPad owners, this is a no-brainer. iHound is a fantastic, affordable, and highly functional tracking system, and with iOS 4’s background capabilities it’s finally a complete app. Forget MobileMe and Find My iPhone; get iHound!

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

iPhone 4 LED Flashlight Apps Begin To Light Up The App Store


As we reported a week ago, developers have noticed and taken advantage of the LED flash feature on the iPhone 4 to create updated flashlight apps. At the time of that post, these apps had just begun the App Store approval process, and we were unsure if they would even make it through due to the use of an undocumented API. Apparently Apple’s reviewers didn’t have a problem with it since today some of those apps officially became available to purchase and download.

A number of flashlight apps are new creations but certainly some of the originals have or will be updated to utilize the LED feature alongside the screen illumination function. Most of them released today cost $.99 but there are a couple free choices. The primary features are use of the screen or LED flash, instant on when launching the app, and an on and off switch. Remember, many of these apps require an iPhone 4.

Our original scoop mentioned iLit by Mr. Burns and Dazzling Flashlight 4g by Cramzy. iLit hasn’t quite made it through the approval process apparently, but here are a handful of others released today:

• LED-Torch
• LED Torch with Morse Code
• LED-FlashLight
• 4 Light
• iFlash4
• L.E.D Flashlight
• LED Torch Flashlight

We do plan to perform a bit more in depth research and perhaps a more detailed overview of a few of these apps in the future. Initial tests result in about 10-12% battery depletion for 30 minutes of LED use. Be sure to stay tuned for further coverage on this and other exciting apps.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

iMovie app made to run on iPhone 3GS


That was fast. After less than a week of iPhone 4 availability, hackers have found a way to get Apple's iMovie application running on an iPhone 3GS.

Apple's iMovie app, which costs $4.99, is officially available only to iPhone 4 owners. But hackers tipped off tech blog Redmond Pie that they were able to get the app running on the iPhone 3GS. The process, according to tipster David Romhan Torres, starts with users jailbreaking an iPhone 3GS running iOS 4. From there, they need to modify a few items in the app's files to get it running.

Exactly why Apple has decided to not support the iPhone 3GS with iMovie is unknown. Some have speculated that the iPhone 3GS' 256MB of RAM, compared to the iPhone 4's 512MB of RAM, could have contributed to the decision. Either way, those who have a desire to run iMovie on the iPhone 3GS might be able to pull it off with just a few tweaks.