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By Rene Ritchie, Saturday, Jul 24, 2010 | Just a quick update on some freshly released iOS 4 goodness today. As you know, Ally has been watching the App Store for iOS4 compatible updates and if you guys find anything especially awesome, feel free to leave it in a comment or send it to her in an e-mail (ally (dot) kazmucha (at) tipb (dot) com) and if we think it’s awesome too, we’ll include it in our next roundup! If you’re a 1Password desktop (Mac or Windows) user with a Dropbox account, 1Password Pro’s latest version is nothing short of a revelation. Just open it up, log into your Dropbox account, and all your passwords and secure data are automagically synced to your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch over the air (OTA). This is the big one. This is what all Todo, Notes, and every other app that should be everywhere needs to do, with every major online storage option. It’s the future. Oh, and it looks great on Retina Display and works great with iOS 4 fast app switching as well too. (And yeah, there’s even an Android version now for those who dual-wield). Sure, iOS 4 still lacks universal voice integration but luckily… wait for it… there are apps for that. Dragon Dictation is one of the big guns and it’s just updated to include Facebook and Twitter support, send text to the clipboard and paste into SMS. It’ll also be coming to the UK soon. (They’ve figured out brogue, apparently). App Advice‘s BargainBin lets you set a price for an app (including free) and then alerts you when the app drops to that price. So, for example, if you know holidays usually beget sales and there’s a game that’s been just a bit too expensive for your tastes, you set it up in BargainBin and if it drops to your sweet spot, you’ll know about it and you can go get it. (And if you’re cheeky enough to have set BargainBin itself to free, here’s you’re alert — it’ll cost you nothing for a limited time). Read More

iTunes links tend to be cumbersome. When you hit one, it generally opens a new window which offers you to open iTunes (if it doesn’t do so automatically), and if iTunes wasn’t on, it might slow down your system. All-in-all, it’s not perfect. Apple also realized it and their solution, which they started rolling out a couple months ago, is “iTunes preview”. The concept is that whenever you hit an iTunes link, you’re getting a preview page of the content you’re trying to access. The service was limited to Music until now, but Apple just extended it to apps. See it by yourself by following this link. This is an interesting evolution. The theory that, in the long-run, iTunes might be moving to your browser has been floating around for a while now and it goes well in hand with the idea of a cloud-based music library for everyone. I’m not yet convinced Apple would do such a thing. The iPad is shipping with three different stores which makes me think that Apple really enjoys having its own little ecosystems. But who knows? Web browsers are the future. Read More

Free app Bargain Bin makes it a snap to find other free apps. When it comes to freebies, the iTunes App Store offers an embarrassment of riches. I'm routinely surprised, and delighted, by some of the superb apps you can get without spending a cent. Ah, but how do you find them? Sure, iTunes lists the "top free apps" for various categories, but those lists rarely show new items. Also, what about those apps that are only temporarily free? I've rounded up four free and easy ways to find, monitor, and fetch free apps. Now you have all the tools you need to find free apps--both on your PC and on your device. Do you have your own sources for free apps? If so, talk 'em up in the comments! While you're at it, let's hear about any good freebies you've discovered recently. Me, I'm still loving on Gorillacam. Read More

23 Dec 2009 alle 22:21 Qualche giorno fa, Apple aveva rimosso dall’AppStore. Successivamente si è scoperto che il motivo dietro questa scelta riguardava la funzione di votazione delle applicazioni, che poteva confondere gli utenti con la votazione ufficiale di iTunes. Adesso l’applicazione è tornata in AppStore con un nuovo aggiornamento. E’ praticamente identica alla versione precedente, recensita qui, con la sola rimozione di questa funzione di rating. Ricordiamo che BargainBin è un’ottima applicazione che permette di restare informati su tutti gli sconti in AppStore, e di ricevere notifiche push in tempo reale secondo vari filtri. Trovate tutte le informazioni in questa recensione. Grazie Fast per la segnalazione in Push Read More

The App Store is loaded with apps, but sadly there’s no proper way to find good ones. Well we here at AppAdvice are here to help. Just leave a comment letting us know what apps you would like to see reviewed in Septemeber. It’s completely up to you, since you have the final say. Plus a breakdown of the top selling apps for the first week of September. Is there an app that you have been waiting to buy, but just not quite sure? Is there an app that your waiting for a price drop using Bargain Bin, well maybe its worth it at the current price, just ask. Ultimately you can finally know whether apps you’re considering are worth it. Now we are not promising that we will review all the apps mentioned, but ones that are worthy will definitely get taken into consideration. Please see all the reviews we’ve written to make sure your request hasn’t already been covered. The most popular Paid Apps currently in the first week of September: Six of the Top Ten selling apps are games which is no surprise. Headed by Bryan Mitchell’s puzzler Geared. The new virtual stick survival shooter Alive 4 Ever has taken the App Store by storm vaulting up to the third spot. The classic Frogger’s recent sale puts it at number five. Sheep Launcher Plus!, Cooking Dash, and The Game of Life are 7, 8, and 9 providing a simple casual game, time management, and a classic board game. From the makers of a game (Tap Tap Revolution) comes the very slick and useful Convert. Camera Genuis is the newest of many camera apps to make it to the Top Ten. Family Guy’s recent update and price drop moves it back up to the top paid apps. Rounding out the Top Ten iFitness providing a huge catalog of exercises, and who couldn’t use that? Join us every month to let your voice be heard. What apps should we review in September? Read More

In a perfect world, every iPhone app would be free, fun, and washed in unicorn tears -- but alas, that's not the case (and just as well for the app developers trying to make money on the store). With more than 65,000 applications available, it's hard to tell what's worth the money and what isn't. In addition, developers are constantly updating their apps, changing prices, adding features and so on. BargainBin [iTunes Link] is here to help (and it's free). The free application constantly watches over the App Store and lets you know when items go on sale. In the latest update of the app, you can now even receive push notifications whenever a price drop or sale occurs. In addition, you can view screenshots and descriptions of the apps right within BargainBin. Users can set up a "watch list" that will inform them of changes to specific apps they're looking for or you can broaden your scope and have BargainBin keep you informed on changes to your favorite type of apps instead. Sporting a nice custom interface, many customizable settings and filters as well as push notifications, BargainBin is a great addition for those looking to score great apps for low prices. Here's a few shots of BargainBin in action: Read More

Bad things happen. Despite all your user testing, sometimes an iPhone app release hits the wild with unexpected results. I recently heard about one application upgrade that passed Apple review, but that crashed when run on handsets that had a previously installed version of the app. Another app experienced data corruption when incoming phone calls interrupted file write operations. So you're a developer, and this happens to you. What do you do? Developer Emanuele Vulcano issued some recommendations in a recent iPhoneSDK e-mail group post: Absolutely devastated by this error, Mahmoud and his colleagues immediately worked on a bug fix. "We updated the code in about 15 minutes to fix this critical bug. But now it was back to the submission process." This was an update that affected critical application performance. So after submitting his BargainBin bug fix on August 6th in the afternoon, he sent an e-mail to the escalation team. And he got results. Apple's iPhone Developer Program expedited the review, making a one-time exception to their normal process. By the evening of August 7th, the update went live in the App Store -- less than 30 hours later, rather than the 7-14 days for a normal upgrade review. As Mahmoud writes, "Kudos to Apple. This [should make] a nice change from the 'how broken [is] the App Store approval process' articles." TUAW agrees. Way to go, Apple. Want to read more about the story? Pop over to this write-up over at Mahmoud's company blog. Read More

In a time where all you can read about it is how broken the App Store approval process is and why “tech celebrity” types are “ditching” the iPhone, this article serves as proof that Apple is listening and fixing issues.  This is our first hand account and kudos to Apple. It was reported less than 2 weeks ago that Apple had given developers new tools to help them with the timeliness of their App Store submissions.  First, developers were given an average queue time in which they could expect a response about their submission, and more importantly, Apple provided a new email address that developers could contact with urgent requests.  We were skeptical about if it would actually work, or if it was just a PR move to respond to Craig Hockenberry’s “Twitpocalypse” comments. We can confirm first-hand that the new system works. It doesn’t just work for large developers like Craig Hockenberry either, it works for the little guys too. Our BargainBin app was updated to 3.0 last week.  The 3.0 update made BargainBin the only app to monitor App Store price changes and provide push notifications to each user when the apps they care about went on sale.  We were so preoccupied with making sure the push notifications and user watch list worked properly, that we overlooked a critical bug.  How critical?  Well, every time BargainBin was launched to any screen other than the “Watch List,” the user was presented a screen that said “no items” rather than the relevant price changes. We were devastated.  The update we worked so long and hard on now made the app so annoying that it was not useable.  We updated the code in about 15 minutes to fix this critical bug.  But now it was back to the submission process.  Our last update (from 2.1 to 3.0) took 3 weeks to be approved.  We knew our app could not handle 3 weeks with the new bug.  We remembered the new tools.  We looked at our  queue time and it showed about 14 days.  We decided to give the email a shot, but we figured it would not pay dividends and were just waiting to lose all our users.  Here is the email we sent the new address provided by Apple: Hello we just submitted our update to our application BargainBin. BargainBin version 3.0 went live yesterday and users found a very big Read More

You are going to love this application! It allows you to create a custom list of apps and get push notifications of price changes. So, if you have an app you’ve always wanted but would only pay $0.99 for it, just search for the app, add it to the list, and set the price. If the prices ever changes to your price, the app will send you an push notification. This also works for when apps become free. AWESOME! Now that’s not all. This app lets you browse apps via category and sort them by recent price changes (bargin), popularity or free. For example, I went into the photography category and found all the sweet apps and added them to my list for when they become free. Now whenever they become free I’ll get a push notification. Other sweet features included app screenshots, descriptions, & a direct link to App Store. Read More

By Will on August 10th, 2009 In the third edition of Monday Morning App HQ, I discuss some released and upcoming retro games, Gameloft, and games requiring 3.0 sofware. Also included are another Pocket God mini-rant and two apps of the week. Random musings of the App Store. Retro Invasion Retro games are appearing in the App Store in droves! Pac-Man Remix, Q*Bert Deluxe, and of course, the incredible Space Invaders Infinity Gene. All of these are updated in some way from the classic games. Q*Bert has updated graphics, Pac-Man Remix has updated graphics (though they are still not too hot on the iPhone) along with power-ups that sometimes feel gimmicky, and Space Invaders is a complete re-imagining of the classic game. Of these, the only game that really captivates me is SIIG. In my opinion, retro games are retro for a reason – frankly, they’re boring and outdated. However, the concepts are still good, and if they’re updated for modern gamers, they can turn out like SIIG. To go with these retro games, there are plenty more on the way: Snood, a classic match-3 shooting game, TAITO’s Bust-a-Move, and most importantly, Pac-Man Championship Edition. Pac-Man CE, for XBLA, is, along with SIIG, one of the best re-imaginings of a retro game I have ever played and, if the controls are changed from Remix, should translate fantastically for the iPhone. Pac-Man CE, a great re-imagining of the classic game Gameloft coming on strong (maybe) Along with NFL 2010, Gameloft has an upcoming FPS, Sandstorm, and a GTA knockoff, Gang$tar in the works. These games are particularly of note because it seems as if Gameloft is attempting to directly compete with other developers. NFL 2010 was notably released before EA’s upcoming Madden 2010, and at a lower expected price point – $7.99 compared to $9.99. Sandstorm seems to be in line for direct competition with ngmoco’s upcoming FPS (as yet unnamed). Gang$tar looks to have a huge advantage on current App Store GTA-a-likes with a fully roam-able 3D world. If I was a betting man (ok, I am a betting man), though, I would count on the other two games losing out. If there’s two things Gameloft games have in common, with the notable exception of Castle of Magic, it’s lackluster, on-screen controls, and uninspired gameplay. Gameloft seems to put all of the genre “requirements” in their games, without doing anything truly Read More