iPhone Life Vol1 No3 2009 by iPhone Repair Services

Summer 2009 Vol. 1, No. 3

PAGE PAGE

New iPhone

3GS! P PAGE

Regular Departments Meet our writers iMail (Letters to the Editor) iNews (Recent iPhone and iPod touch news) Advertisers in the SpotLight Advertisers Index iView (Publisher’s Message) Exciting future: "Smart" accessories for the iPhone.

iPhone & iPod touch 10 12

WoW! Apple's New iPhone 3G S The “fastest, most powerful iPhone yet” runs the iPhone oS 3.0 and features video recording, voice control, up to 32 GB of storage, and a lot more!

Tips 17

Tips & Tricks

Five Ways to Enhance Battery Life

Change playback speed; Keep Contacts list manageable; Save drafts of common messages; Saving trip directions; more

Upgrade your oS; Turn stuff off; Avoid these things; Top it off when you get the chance; Final thoughts

OS 3.0

sing iTunes to Put Photos on Your iPhone Using

iTunes: Your Personal Music Library

Syncing photos between your iPhone and your desktop computer.

Ripping CDs; Syncing content; organizing music into playlists; more.

Software 32

Get Healthy; Stay Healthy

Reading eBooks on the iPhone

Where to Find Free eBooks

Why I Love My Kindle

Google Reader, the Undisputed RSS Champ

The iPhone in the Humanities & Arts

Best Reference Apps Money Can Buy

iPhone oS 3.0 The latest version of Apple’s mobile oS includes improved search, Bluetooth support, Cut & Paste, enhanced Calendar, Contacts, and Safari, and a new Voice Memo app.

iPhone apps help you find fresh food, quit smoking, and more.

A review of 7 eBook reader solutions.

online sources of free eBooks.

A brief look at Amazon’s new Kindle 2.

Although Google Reader is the champ, there are other RSS solutions available.

Inexpensive apps available for language studies, philosophy, the arts, and more.

A quick look at 8 of the best reference apps available.

Combat Action for Your iPhone or touch!

Great Games to Entertain a Five-Year old

Winning and Losing Virtual Fortunes

Reviews of Brothers in Arms, Hellfire, and Armageddon Squadron.

The right game can entertain your child and develop his or her mind.

Reviews of Texas Hold ‘Em, Virtual Pool, and Imagine Poker Touch.

Battle of the Stands! P PAGE

iPhone

Games!

6 8 9 89 95 96

iTunes

New N ew

i P h o n e L i f e Summer 2009 Vol.1, No.3

www.storemags.com & www.fantamag.com

Top earphones arphones P PAGE

Accessories 54

CTIA 2009: Quality, Not Quantity A ffewer number of vendors displayed quality accessories and apps at CTIA ’09.

Which Earphones Are Right for You?

Battle of the Stands

Reviews of high-end and consumer earphones.

Xtand vs. Podium

Work 74

iPhone 3.0 for IT

Processing Credit Card Transactions on Your iPhone

10 Apps to Make Business Better

A “Must” for the 21st Century Soldier

Web 61

Great Internet-Based Apps A look at Amazon’s new Kindle app, Skype for iPhone, Facebook, Google Earth, and more.

People 64

Backpacking Through Africa

Still Hot for the iPhone!

Making BuyMeAniPhone.com Work

Cellular networks were widespread, but data service was harder to find.

Many, but not all celebrities love the iPhone.

How a founder and senior editor use their iPhones to maintain their Web site.

Busy Web Project Manager Creates Time for Home Life

iPhone in

Africa P PAGE

What does the new release mean for the Enterprise?

Apps are available, but be sure to check out security and operating costs.

These apps can empower your mobile work force.

New apps are turning the iPod touch into a must-have military accessory.

Creating Apps 80

iPhone for the Developers

The Idea Comes First!

How to Profit from Your App Idea

Facebook Expands Its iPhone Presence

The Rise of iBranding

iPhone Developer Books

Flow—the iPhone Experience that Sells

What do the 1,000 new APIs mean for future apps?

original ideas are more likely to succeed in the App Store.

Determine if your idea is good and find a developer to help you create your app.

Facebook Connect enables the creation of apps that access Facebook info.

Using the App Store for product promotion.

Brief reviews of 7 of the best developer books available.

Apps that in involve the user are successful; the key is the experience of “Flow.”

P PAGE

Top 10 76 Business Apps 1 , N o .3 i Phone Li f e S um m e r 2009 Vol. 1,

From The Editor Rich Hall Executive Editor/Publisher

Hal Goldstein • hal@iphonelife.com

Editor/Publications Director

Richard Hall • rich@iphonelife.com

Enterprise Editor

Nathan Clevenger • nclevenger@iphonelife.com

iPhone 3G S and OS 3.0 The big news for this summer is the release of Apple’s updated mobile OS and its new iPhone. In this issue, we take a first look at the new iPhone 3G S. Resting in your hand, it looks pretty much like the 3G, but in this case, looks are deceiving. The 3G S sports a faster processor, better battery life, a 3 megapixel camera, enhanced 3D graphics, and a variety of other improvements. Best of all, Apple claims it’s twice as fast as the 3G. By the time you read this, it should be available from Apple, AT&T, and other vendors. Check it out. We also review the new iPhone OS 3.0 and software suite. Apple added some nice features to the iPhone and iPod touch, including Cut & Paste capability, enhanced A2DP Bluetooth that supports stereo headsets, an upgrade of SMS to full Multi Media Services, improved search feature, landscape keyboard in Mail and other apps, and additional enhancements to Calendar, Contacts, iPod, and Safari. Apple also added a new native app to the application suite. Voice Memo lets you capture and edit short audio recordings and e-mail or SMS them to a friend. The 3.0 upgrade is available through iTunes, free for iPhone users, and $9.95 for the iPod touch. App Store sales continue to be strong, and Apple continues to pump advertising dollars into promoting the App Store. We look at some of the best apps available in this issue, including eBook readers, Google Reader and other RSS solutions, reference apps, a variety of games, and apps being used in the arts & humanities. We also report on apps and accessories we saw at the CTIA wireless show, take a look at some of the top earphones, and review two iPhone/iPod touch stands. Have you ever thought of visiting Africa? If you do, take your iPhone along. According to the author of “Backpacking through Africa,” data service is more readily available than you think, and the iPhone lets you stay connected with the rest of the world. Finally, Enterprise Editor Nathan Clevenger discusses the iPhone OS 3.0 and what its enhancements mean for developers (new, more profitable apps) and IT departments (easier deployment and management of iPhones in the enterprise; greater security). He also takes a look at the top 10 business apps currently available. There’s much more in the enterprise section of the magazine, which has now been split into two sections: At Work and Creating Apps. Of course, there’s much more in this issue, including five pages of tips, advice on how to extend your battery life, a how-to and using iTunes to sync photos, a review of some of the best Web apps, and more. The big news may be the new iPhone and OS 3.0, but there is more under heaven and earth than phones and operating systems. Keep reading!

i P h o n e L i f e Summer 2009 Vol.1, No.3

Online Editor

Jim Karpen • jim_karpen@iphonelife.com

Contributing Editors & Writers

See page 6

New Products Editor

Noah Ouellette • noah@iphonelife.com

Copy Editor

Wayne Kneeskern • wayne@iphonelife.com

Art Director

Al Constantineau • albert@thaddeus.com

Cover Design

George Foster • george@fostercovers.com

Customer Service

Michelle Talley • michelle@iphonelife.com Marge Enright • marge@iphonelife.com

Executive Advisor

Rita Goldstein

Customer Service; Subscriptions

To change address or clear up any problem with your subscription, contact our subscription department info@iphonelife.com

We welcome tips, articles, and reviews

For article and Tips guidelines: www.iphonelife.com/writersguidelines To publicize your product: www.iphonelife.com/getpublicity Printer Quebecor World Midland, 1700 James Savage Rd Midland, Michigan 48640 USA 800-448-4288 Newsstand Distribution Curtis Circulation Company 760 River Road, New Milford, New Jersey 07646 USA 201-634-7400 Newsstand Coordinator Carl Kopf & Associates 203-944-9466 Reprints The Reprint Outsource, Betsy White w.betsy@verizon.net 717-394-7350 mailing list rental Worldata, Jay Schwedelson jay@worldata.com 800-331-8102 x176 www.worldata.com Advertise Marge Enright • marge@iphonelife.com 641-472-9962 cell 641-233-1015 Fax: 641-472-8409 iPhone Life (ISSN 1528-5456) is published by Thaddeus Computing Inc. at 110 North Court Street, Fairfield, IA 52556, USA. Periodicals postage paid at Fairfield, Iowa, Midland, MI and at additional mailing offices. Subscription rates payable in U.S. dollars, checks drawn on a U.S. bank, or by credit card—one year: $17.97, two years: $24.97. Postage: United States free; Canada and Mexico add $5 per year; outside North America, add $12 per year. Published quarterly. Please allow four to six weeks for receipt of first issue. Executive, Editorial, Circulation, Advertising, Marketing Offices: 110 North Court Street, Fairfield, IA 52556. Telephone: 641-472-6330, Fax: 641-472-1879. © Copyright 2009, Thaddeus Computing Inc, all rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written permission. Reasonable efforts are made to provide accurate and useful information, but the reader must make his or her own investigations and decisions; the Publisher and Editorial Staff cannot assume any responsibility or liability for the use of information contained herein. POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to iPhone Life , Thaddeus Computing Inc, 110 North Court Street, Fairfield, IA 52556.

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Meet our writers.... At iPhone Life, we believe that the experts are every-day realworld users of the iPhone and iPod touch. Consequently, most of our articles are written by our world-wide "staff" of end-

Contributing Writers

user professionals. If you would like to contribute a profile or article, see iPhoneLife.com/share or e-mail Hal Goldstein, hal@iphonelife.com.

Kevin Sitek

Douglas S. Goldring

E Editor-In-Chief, Just Another Mobile Monday justanothermobilemonday.com Article page 35

Nate Adcock

Martin Hash, Esq.

Systems test and integration engineer natescrap.blogspot.com, iPhoneLife.com natestera@mail.com Article page 47

John Sorflaten, Ph.D.

mar martin@hash.com Article page 64

UUser Experience Designer john@userexperienceworks.com Article page 72, 88

Patrick Jordan

Anthony Bacon

Freelance writer and business consultant anthonybacon@me.com Page 84

IT CConsultant Founder, JustAnotherIphoneBlog.com jordanpw@gmail.com Article page 40

Todd Bernhard

TTom Moccia

iPhone app designer, writer 100sounds.com, iPhoneLife.com todd@toddbernhard.com Article page 81

S Senior Editor and Web Reviewer BuyMeAniPhone.com tommoccia@buymeaniphone.com Article page 69

John Painter

Omar Correa

D Director of Community Integration Services Ph.D. candidate at Franklin Pierce University paintervecsey@roadrunner.com. Article page 42

Web and Graphic Designer Editor-In-Chief of BuyMeAniPhone.com OmarCorrea@BuyMeAniPhone.com Articles pages 56, 59, 69

Timothy Prentiss

Special Editor for "At Work" and "Creating Apps" sections

Developer of Web-based courseware stayhomecollege.com tim@stayhomecollege.com Article page 32, 52

Nathan Clevenger

Mobility Solutions Consultant, ITR Group iPhoneLife.com nclevenger@iphonelife.com Article page 74, 76, 80

Mike Riley

AAdvanced computing professional mikeriley.com mike@mikeriley.com Article page 44

Heather Dale

E Editor, Web site for women geeksugar.com hdale@sugarinc.com Article page 68

Interactive Art Director for OgilvyInteractive iphonelife.com/kevin.sitek kevin@sitekstudios.com Article page 82

Paul Stokstad

W marketer Web iphonelife.com/paul.stokstad paul@stokstad.com Article page 50

Robert Strojan

F Founder, Blackout Labs blackoutlabs.blogspot.com robert.strojan@gmail.com Article page 83

Brian TTracy D Director of Technology Solutions at ITR Group Inc. briant@itrgroupinc.com Article page 78

Mike VVallez

P President of crazymikesapps.com mike@crazymikesapps.com Article page 29

Christian Zambrano

Project Manager of the JACI Group Article page 72

Dave Selmon

Interware.net slemon@interware.net Article page 75

John Kennedy

Mobile DDevice Developer craicdesign.com john_kenn@mac.com Article page 86

Bryan Schmiedeler

Programmer of enterprise database systems bryanschmiedeler@me.com Article page 12

iPhone Life Staff Hal Goldstein

P Publisher, Executive Editor iPhoneLife.com hal@iphonelife.com Article page 96

Rich Hall

Managing EEditor iPhoneLife.com rich@iphonelife.com Articles pages 10, 17, 22

i P h o n e L i f e Summer 2009 Vol.1, No.3

Jim Karpen Ph.D.

O Online editor & columnist iPhoneLife.com jim_karpen@iphonelife.com Articles pages 27, 61

Noah Ouellette

N Products Editor New iPhoneLife.com noah@iphonelife.com Article page 54

If it’s on your computer, it’s on your iPhone

Make your iPhone an extension of all your computers. LogMeIn Ignition provides one-click remote control for PCs and Macs from your iPhone or iPod touch. • Use a program that’s on your remote computer • View a photo located on your home desktop • Help a friend troubleshoot his or her computer All from the palm of your hand, from wherever you are.

Find out more:

iPhoneLife.LogMeIn.com

iMail

Letters to the editor and publisher of iPhone Life magazine. Unless otherwise indicated, all responses are from Rich Hall, Managing Editor of iPhone Life (rich@iphonelife.com).

Making the iPhone better

iPod touch 2G article

I read with interest your article on page 21 of the second issue of iPhone Life. I loved your point about making it easier to organize apps in the Home screen pages. I would also like to see Apple include a built-in zoom feature on the iPhone’s camera. Kathe Oster

I enjoyed your article on the iPod touch 2G which appeared on page 12 of the second issue of iPhone Life magazine. Based on your article, we purchased one for our daughter and would like to purchase the game pictured on the first page of the article. However, we are not able to locate it at the iTunes app store. Can you tell us the name of the game? Phil Damin

Kathe: The zoom option would be a good one, but it would likely require new hardware. The camera on the original iPhone and the 3G is of low resolution and has no optical zoom capability. A software fix could create zoom capability, but it would lower the image resolution. Fortunately, Apple is releasing a new version of the iPhone (the iPhone 3G S) that has and improved 3 megapixel camera and video recording capabilities (see page 10). If you’re willing to upgrade, that might be the way to go. Todd Bernhard

Need an FM Transmitter to listen to iPhone through my car stereo I read your article on audio books on page 30 of the second issue of iPhone Life. You mention listening to audio books while driving using an FM transmitter, but don’t identify the brand. I also listen to audio books and podcasts while driving and am interesting in purchasing an FM transmitter. Kevin Bals Kevin: I purchased an older model of the Griffin iTrip Auto Universal a while back and used it without any problems. More recently, Griffin sent me their latest model for free (for review purposes). It’s called iTrip Auto SmartScan, and I used it last

week on a 12-hour drive (six hours each way); it worked great. You press the button and its new “SmartScan” feature finds an FM frequency that’s not being used. It’s a great improvement over the older model. It’s also nice because it uses the audio jack for power, but also has a USB port for powering your iPhone or any other mobile device. (You supply the USB cable.) You can find more info about it on Griffin’s Web site (griffintechnology.com/ category/fmtransmitters). Todd Bernhard

i P h o n e L i f e Summer 2009 Vol.1, No.3

Phil: I got the image of the touch from Apple’s PR people; it came with that screen. The name of the game is Cro-Mag Rally, and it’s available on the App Store for $0.99. I hope your daughter enjoys it.

3 ways to improve the iTunes App Store! I have three suggestions that would make selecting apps and using the App Store a lot easier: Every app that costs more than $0.99 should have a free demo version available. You should be able to drag apps into a favorites list in the App Store. Apple should place all new apps in a section of their own for the first two weeks. Lee England

Correction: Landscape keyboard for Mail in OS 3.0, not 2.0 The article on page 20 of the second issue mentioned that the iPhone 2.0 oS allowed the keyboard to switch to the more spacious horizontal mode in Mail, when the iPhone or iPod touch is rotated. This was incorrect; the feature was added to Mail in the 3.0 version of the oS. �

Please e-mail news relating to the iPhone or iPod touch to newseditor@iphonelife.com.

iNews

New iPhone; OS 3.0; other announcements from iPhone on the Verizon network? According to a number of reports, Apple and Verizon are in talks Apple’s World Wide Developer Conference >> New iPhone: Page 10 >> iPhone OS 3.0: Page 12, 74, 80 >> iView column: Page 96

iTunes update released in advance of iPhone OS 3.0 Apple has released version 8.2 of iTunes in advance of the release of the iPhone oS 3.0 update for the iPhone and iPod touch. The new version provides support for iPhone and iPod touch devices running the iPhone 3.0 software update. Version 8.2 also includes bug fixes and improvements to security.

iPhone and Apps show strong sales in Apple's second quarter Apple’s Q2 sales figures seem to indicate that the state of the economy isn’t hurting its business. Apple sold almost 3.8 million iPhones last quarter, up 123 percent over the same period last year, and iPod sales were up 3 percent. At the end of Q2, Apple had sold over 21 million iPhones worldwide, and the device is now available in 81 countries.

Apple gearing up to develop its own chips According to numerous reports, Apple has been hiring experts in semiconductor design and development to create its own line of processors for use in cell phones. Speculation is that Apple is doing this so it can develop more powerful and feature-rich chips ahead of its competitors. Apparently, security is also an issue; Apple does not want its tech strategies leaked by external chip developers.

AT&T to offer less expensive service plans and iPhones? According to a report in Business Week, AT&T is considering offering lower-priced data plans to iPhone users. Details were sketchy, but the possibilities mentioned included a less expensive plan that offered limited data access. The article also speculates that Apple may market a prepaid iPhone. The thinking is that lower-priced plans and iPhones might attract consumers with tighter budgets and increase the number of AT&T subscribers.

AT&T preparing launch of network upgrade In preparation for the launch of new and faster iPhones, AT&T plans to begin deploying its “High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) 7.2” upgrade this year. According to AT&T, the upgrade will deliver peak speeds that are twice as fast as the company’s current 3G network. The deployment will continue through 2011. The company also announced that it will begin trials of its LTE (Long Term Evolution) technology in 2011. That technology has the potential of delivering wireless data speeds of up to 20 Mbps.

about releasing a version of the iPhone that would be compatible with Verizon’s network. However, because of exclusivity agreements with AT&T and Verizon’s timeline for the rollout of its 4G wireless network, the earliest this would happen is 2010.

Morgan Stanley upgrades Apple’s rating Investment bank Morgan Stanley has upgraded its rating of Apple based on the success of its iPhone and iPod business and the bank’s belief that demand for the iPhone has been underestimated. Further, the bank believes that Apple is emerging as the leader in the competition for dominance over the mobile Internet.

Inaugural iPhone Games Summit to be held in September The inaugural iPhone Games Summit will be held on September 15-16 at the 2009 Game Developer’s Conference (GDC) in Austin, Texas. It will bring together top game developers from around the world to share ideas, best practices, and discuss the future of this revolutionary platform. A full two-day program will highlight the best of iPhone development, with an entire first day discussing the business, marketing, and key design tenets behind successful iPhone game development. The second day will provide overviews and deep dives into technical aspects of developing on the iPhone, from app optimization and touch interface lessons through iPhone oS 3.0 features, objective-C tips, and much more. For more info and to register, visit the GDC Web site (gdcaustin.com).

Disruption of GPS as satellites age? According to a report by the Government Accounting office, the Air Force is having difficulty staying on schedule and within its budget for building and launching replacement satellites for the U.S. Global Positioning System. According to a GAo report published on May 7, 2009 (gao.gov/products/GAo-09-670T), “It is uncertain whether the Air Force will be able to acquire new satellites in time to maintain current GPS service without interruption. If not, some military operations and some civilian users could be adversely affected” as older satellites fail.

Charging batteries with vibrations? According to a post on ravica.com, researchers have discovered a way to generate electrical current that uses your heart beat and other movements that create low-frequency vibrations. The vibrations are converted into electricity using zinc oxide nanowires, which generate current when subjected to mechanical stress. The nanowires can be grown on a variety of surfaces, including fabrics. This would make it possible, for example, to make clothing that would be able to power mobile electronic devices like the iPhone. The article described initial research only—it could be a while before you see any practical applications. �

i Phone Li f e S um m e r 2009 Vol. 1, N o .3

iPhones

Apple’s Apple’ WOW!

he “fastest, most powerful iPhone yet” runs the iPhone OS 3.0 and featur The

by Rich Hall

pple introduced its new iPhone on June 8th, and is promoting the 3G S as the “fastest, most powerful iPhone yet.” While it’s true that most new devices are faster and more powerful than their predecessors, the new iPhone does have a faster processor that renders Web pages quicker and launches apps up to twice as fast. In addition, the new device is packed with other hardware and software enhancements that make it a far more powerful and “smart” phone.

Power under the hood The 3G S looks very much like the 3G—the changes are under the hood. The new iPhone includes a number of new hardware features, including: Faster processor: Apple wasn’t giving out specs, but as mentioned above, the new processor will as much as double the performance of Safari and other apps. Better battery life: In addition, the new processor is more efficient and requires less power. Apple claims that the new iPhone will give you more talk time (12 hours of 2G, 5 hours of 3G), up to 9 hours of Wi-Fi connectivity, 10 hours of video playback, and 30 hours of audio/music playback. Three megapixel camera: The new camera is capable of capturing still images and short videos. (And now, you can also edit the videos.) The camera has auto-focus, auto-

i P h o n e L i f e Summer 2009 Vol.1, No.3

exposure, and better low-light sensitivity. The camera is also capable of capturing close-up images, which will allow for the creation of apps that can capture and translate the information on barcodes.

Updated 3D graphics: Improves the visual experience of games and other apps. Access to faster data service: The 3G S has the electronics necessary to access the faster 7.2 Mbps HSDPA 3G data services that AT&T is rolling out in the U.S. Digital compass: The 3G S has an additional sensor that allows the new Compass app to indicate the direction you’re facing. The feature also gives Maps the same capabilities. This feature, coupled with the iPhone’s GPS capabilities, will lead to the development of turn-by-turn mapping apps. Voice control: The ability to control iTunes functions and make phone calls with voice commands.

Apple's Great New

"Getting Started" Option! 8 GB iPhone 3G (previous model) $

99 with AT&T contract

iPhones

New iPhone 3G S

res video recording, voice control, up to 32 GB of storage, and a lot more. Hardware-based data encryption: The ability to encrypt all internal data.

iPhone 3G and the original iPhone can upgrade their devices to oS 3.0, they won’t be able to access these features.

Nike + receiver: Allows the 3G S to receive and analyze data transmitted from a Nike + iPod sensor (sold separately) located in Nike + running shoes.

In addition to the 3G S-only software features, the new oS includes enhancements iPhone users will appreciate:

Accessibility features for the visually or hearing impaired: These features include white-on-black display capability to improve contrast, mono audio for those with hearing loss in one ear, the Voiceover screen reader that “speaks” what appears on the 3G S display, and a new “zoom” feature that magnifies the entire screen.

• Enhanced SMS now includes full Multi Media Services to send and receive photos, contacts, and audio files

Enhanced gaming platform The expanded graphics capabilities and CPU performance of the 3G S will allow the iPhone to become an even bigger player in the gaming world. Many high-quality games have already been released for the iPhone and iPod touch; and given that the best iPhone games sell for around $10 while high-quality titles for the PSP and other dedicated gaming platforms can cost upwards of $60, Apple certainly has the price advantage. The power and graphics enhancements to the 3G S certainly make it a more appealing option for the casual or dedicated gamer, especially if they need a mobile phone anyway. From a gaming perspective, the only real problem with the iPhone/iPod touch lineup is the lack of a directional pad (D-pad) for control. Hopefully, with oS 3.0’s enhanced Bluetooth capabilities, some enterprising developer will come out with a Bluetoothenabled game controller for the iPhone.

Software enhancements The iPhone 3G S incorporates the new iPhone oS 3.0 and software suite. We review that more thoroughly starting on page 12, but some of the features are worth mentioning here. First of all, some of the new software features found in iPhone oS 3.0 are supported by the new hardware found in the 3G S and were mentioned previously. These include hardware/ electronic support for voice control, video capture, hardware encryption, faster data service, electronic compass, and some of the accessibility features. This means that, while owners of the

• Cut, Copy, & Paste text and photos between apps

• Voice Memo app lets you record and edit short voice recordings • Enhanced A2DP Bluetooth lets you use wireless stereo headsets and other Bluetooth accessories • New Spotlight app provides enhanced search capabilities • Keyboard can now be used in landscape viewing mode in Mail, Notes, Stocks, Contacts, and Messages • Enhanced format support for Calendar and Contacts • Minor enhancements to Safari, iPod, and iTunes The oS 3.0 software is available as a free software update via iTunes 8.2 or later for all iPhone customers. A 3.0 software update is available for iPod touch customers for $9.95.

A big step forward There are still some things missing from the iPhone oS (see page 15), and it would be nice if Apple made an iPhone with a replaceable battery. But all things considered, the iPhone 3G S and oS 3.0 are big steps forward in the evolution of the iPhone. They will certainly help Apple maintain its dominance over the smartphone market. The iPhone 3G S is available in the U.S. through both Apple and AT&T’s retail stores, as well as Best Buy and Wal-Mart. Available in both black and white, the 16 GB model sells for $199 and the 32 GB model for $299. (This purchase price requires a new two-year contract with AT&T.) The 3G S is also available in Canada, France, Italy, the U.K., and Spain. It will become available in other countries throughout the summer and early fall. As of June 8, the price of the 8 GB iPhone 3G in the U.S. was reduced to $99 (with AT&T contract). Rumors abound, but as of this writing, it appears there is no hardware upgrade path for current iPhone users. �

i Phone Li f e S um m e r 2009 Vol. 1, N o .3

iPhones

Welcome to Welcome

Phone iPhone

OS3.0

Apple introduces the 3rd version of its revolutionary mobile OS at WWDC. >> Upgrades will be free to iPhone users and $9.95 for iPod touch owners. by Bryan Schmiedeler

n June 8 Apple revealed the third version of the iPhone OS, an immense update to the iPhone interface. It’s easier to list what appears not to have changed—Weather and Calculator— than what has changed. Apple stated that there were over 100 new user features and 1,000 new developer APIs (see page 80) in the new OS, which was released June 17. 12

i P h o n e L i f e Summer 2009 Vol.1, No.3

iPhones Also introduced was the third version of the iPhone, dubbed the iPhone 3G S, with the S standing for speed (see review, page 10). According to Apple, the third generation hardware’s new processor makes it up to two times faster launching applications and rendering Web pages. Download speeds are also increased with support for the faster 7.2 Mbps 3G standard, which AT&T has been furiously rolling out in anticipation of the new Apple hardware. New 3D graphics support in hardware along with better gaming APIs (see page 80) should mean faster and more sophisticated games. In addition, the battery life increases 15 to 20 percent. he new model, available in both black and white (and alThe most identical to its 3G predecessor), is available in 16 GB and 32 GB models ($199 and $299 respectively), with the current generation iPhone 3G falling to $99. These prices are for subscribers new to AT&T. Initial availability will be limited to the U.S., Canada, France, Italy, the U.K., and Spain, with roll out to other countries every two weeks.

ser features in iPhone OS 3.0 User ut, Copy, & Paste Cut, of the more than 100 new features Apple claims for the new oS,, none was more anticipated than the system-wide ability to cut, copy, and paste text. Users have been clamoring for this feaure since before the first iPhone was released. There were very ture good technical reasons why Apple waited for the third release of the iPhone oS to include it. Apple wanted to get something as fundamental as this right, and by the looks of things, they hieved their goal. achieved The Cut, Copy, & Paste feature in Notes. Cut, Copy, & Paste is a very intuitive feature. For example, doubletap on text to automatically highlight the selection, and then adjust the amount of text you want to cut or copy by moving the grab points surrounding it. Next, select Cut or Copy from the pop-up bubble that appears above the selection. Navigate to where you want to paste the text and double-tap on the screen again. Finally, select Paste from the pop-up bubble and the copied text is inserted. Cut, Copy & Paste works a bit differently with photos. Touch the copy button at the bottom of the photo gallery and then tap on the photos you want to copy. Switch to Mail, open a new message, and double-tap where you want the photos to be inserted. Apple also added familiar oS X features like Select All and Undo, but with an iPhone twist—shake the iPhone to undo any form of copy and paste.

apps will require only minor modifications to add this functionality. Shake the iPhone after pasting to get the Undo Paste pop-up bubble.

SMS to MMS The SMS application has been renamed “Messages” and has been upgraded to a full MMS (Multi Media Services) app. MMS is a standard feature on today’s smartphones, and aside from the aforementioned Cut, Copy, & Paste, it’s the most anticipated new feature on the iPhone. MMS will allow users of the iPhone 3G to send and receive photos, contacts, audio files, and Google Map locations with the Messages app. Individual messages can now be deleted and forwarded, and Messages even allows files to be received and sent. Messages can be sent in the background, meaning you can start typing a second message while sending the first. Photos can be taken and sent directly from within the Messages app itself. MMS support in the U.S. is delayed until late summer according to AT&T officials. The cell phone carrier probably wants to complete system upgrades before unleashing a feature that will significantly increase network traffic. AT&T has also not released pricing for MMS. The new Photo/Video switch button in the Camera app lets you shoot video as well as photos.

Video recording The iPhone 3G S’s upgraded 3 megapixel camera sports built-in auto-focus, auto exposure, and auto white balance. You can also tap to focus, which changes the white balance. The new camera also supports video recording (30 frames per second). The lens is on the back of the iPhone so you can use the touch screen display to see the photo or video you are taking. To record video, toggle Camera’s new Photo/Video switch to Video and tap the camera button. To trim video, tap the screen to display the trim controls while viewing the video, then drag either end of the frame to permanently delete your cuts. Videos can be shared via MMS, e-mail, Mobile Me, or YouTube. Trimming video in the Camera app is easy and intuitive.

Cut, Copy, & Paste works within and across all Apple applications (including Web content in Safari). Apple says that third-party

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iPhones Voice Control The new Voice Control gives the iPhone a feature most other cell phones have had for years. To use Voice Control, press and hold the Home button or press the center button on your earphones. After a short tone, speak a command. The iPhone will repeat your command back to you and then execute it.

Bluetooth improvements (including A2DP) The new oS upgrades the iPhone 3G’s Bluetooth to support A2DP (Advanced Audio Distribution Profile) for stereo Bluetooth headsets, wireless accessory control, and peer-to-peer connections over Bluetooth. These three improvements have huge implications for users. For example, music lovers can now pair their iPhone with third-party (A2DP-compatible) Bluetooth headsets that allow wireless voice calls and stereo audio. iPhones will be able to communicate directly with each other and with other Bluetooth-enabled devices. Even better, the new oS allows these features to be “unlocked” in second generation iPod touch models. Expect an explosion of third-party Bluetooth accessories.

Improved search (Spotlight) Search is another feature that was missing from the original iPhone. Contacts were searchable with the release of iPhone 2.0, and this update brings some of the power of Mac oS X’s Spotlight technology to the iPhone. Spotlight technology gives the Mac user one place to search for anything on his or her computer. Its power comes from Spotlight plug-ins, which are application-specific components that write meta data about files to the Spotlight index anytime a file it “owns” is created or gets updated. Spotlight displaying dynamic search results. You access iPhone 3.0’s global Spotlight by swiping the Home screen to the left. As with the Mac version of Spotlight, results begin to appear as soon as you start to type in your search request. Tap on one of the listed results and you will be taken to that application or data. Mail, Contacts, and some other apps have their own Spotlight interface, and third-party applications can add spotlight functionality. Spotlight will be useful for finding some things, but its functionality on the iPhone falls far short of its capabilities on the Mac. For example, while Mail can search on the From, To, and Subject fields, it cannot search the body of the message itself. And while it can find the names of Contact and Calendar events, it cannot find other data associated with the item.

Landscape and keyboard support Apple added landscape mode and keyboard support to key applications, including Mail, Notes, Stocks, Contacts, and Mes-

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sages. Tilt your iPhone sideways and you will be able to write an e-mail message or a note using the wider landscape keyboard. Mail now does landscape mode.

Calendar and Contacts The Calendar app adds support for two new formats: CalDAV and .ics. CalDAV is an extension of the WebDAV protocol and uses the iCalendar format for data. CalDAV is Apple’s answer for shared family calendars. What’s significant for users is that the iPhone will now support calendars from Yahoo!, Google, oracle, and others without requiring syncing them via a computer first. The new CalDAV support along with the addition of Microsoft Exchange calendar support in iPhone oS 2.0 potentially makes the iPhone Calendar app a fully synchronized calendar app. The .ics format is used to subscribe to more global calendars like sports schedules, national holidays, TV shows, etc. (users of the Mac’s iCal application should be very familiar with .ics calendars). oddly, you subscribe to calendars in the Settings application, not in the Calendar application. Exchange users also get a boost as Calendar in iPhone 3.0 allows users to create meeting invitations, select invitees, and send invitations from within the Calendar app itself. This feature is sure to further iPhone penetration into the enterprise. Contacts now supports the open LDAP (lightweight directory access protocol) standard. Apple still supports its own opensource CardDAV, but LDAP support is crucial for the enterprise— using LDAP, a company can push (and keep synchronized) its internal directory, which may contain thousands of individual contact entries.

Notifications via a Push server Apple underestimated the demand Push Notifications would put on AT&T’s network, and so the company went back to the drawing board to develop a more robust solution (for more details, see page 80). The result for end users is that closed applications can still send notifications to the users. For example, an instant messaging app could alert you to an incoming message.

iPod (Music/Video) improvements The iPod application gets some minor enhancements. As mentioned previously, you can now search your iTunes library for a particular audio file or video. The ability to skip to a particular place by moving along a song’s timeline—“Scrubbing”—has been vastly improved by adding “hi-speed,” “half-speed,” and “quarter-speed” rates. The previous single speed scrubbing bar was too often imprecise. Podcasts and audiobooks now show more details (time remaining, etc.) and have a “go back 30 second” icon. Borrowing a feature from the iPod Nano, shaking the iPhone now shuffles songs in the iPod app.

iPhones Safari The iPhone’s Web browser has better support for Internet standards, including HTML 5, and purportedly renders JavaScript three times faster. The new oS supports HTTP-based streaming of audio and video, which selects the correct bit rate depending on your connection speed. Autofill and anti-phishing capabilities make the jump from the Mac to the iPhone. Safari also includes two small but welcome usability improvements. After you close all open windows, the next time you open Safari, it opens a blank page. In addition, when you press on a link it now gives you three options: open, open in New Page, and Copy.

Tethering iPhone oS 3.0 supports tethering, which allows a Mac or PC to share a cell phone’s Internet access. While this feature exists in the iPhone 3.0 software and is supported by some carriers, AT&T is not currently one of them. Apple’s Web page states that “Tethering is not currently offered in the U.S. and some other countries. See your carrier for availability.” AT&T later indicated that they plan to offer tethering but didn’t have anything to announce during the event. Tethering could cost as much as $30 extra a month, which would be in line with plans for other phones.

New: Voice Memo The new oS also includes Voice Memo. Press the red button on the bottom left to begin a new recording using the built-in microphone or a mic attached to the iPhone. Press the button on the bottom right to list previously recorded voice memos. The iPhone’s new Voice Memo application. To trim a recording, select it from the list and click the “Trim Memo” button. Drag the handles on the blue progress bar to reset the beginning or end of your memo. Press play to confirm your edit and then click the “Trim Voice Memo” button. Voice Memos can be attached to e-mails or SMS messages. They can also be synced with iTunes, where they are added to a new “Voice Memos” playlist. Trimming in the new Voice Memo App.

New: Compass Also new is the Compass app (iPhone 3G S only). Before using it you must calibrate the iPhone by waving it in a figure eight. The application indicates which direction you are facing, along with the geographical coordinates of your current location. User preference controls allow

you to use magnetic north or true north. By itself, Compass is not that useful an application, but it gives Maps the much needed ability to show which way you are facing—no more guessing which way to turn because you don’t know which way you are going.

Nike+ iPod The new iPhone 3G S includes built-in support for Nike+ iPod (a compatible Nike shoe and Nike+ iPod sensor are required).

Purchase and rental of movies from iTunes The iPhone allows the purchase and rental of movies, TV shows, music videos, and audiobooks directly from the iPhone version of iTunes. Users can also create a new iTunes account directly from their iPhone.

Parental Controls Parents can limit the purchase of iPhone App Store software by content rating in addition to ratings limitations on movies and TV shows.

Mobile Me features Apple’s $99 per-year Mobile Me just got more useful for iPhone users with the addition of several iPhone-specific features. “Find my Phone” allows Mobile Me users to pinpoint the location of an iPhone on a map. The most important (and overlooked) addition is the extension of iDisk support to the iPhone. Apple will supply a free iDisk application in the App store (no timeframe given). Mobile Me iPhone users can browse and share content from their iDisk all from their iPhone.

Still room for improvement There are some other minor enhancements to the new oS, but the preceding list is indeed impressive. However, there were some interesting omissions from the upcoming release.

A better SpringBoard The iPhone desperately needs a better way to organize its applications. As it is now, SpringBoard allows for up to 11 Home screen pages, which can store icons for nearly 160 apps. However, it can be very difficult to find the app you’re looking for, and equally difficult to organize the app icons in a way that makes sense to you. Spotlight will make it a little easier to find an application, but it’s not the best solution available. The new features found in 3.0 oS and the new developer APIs available with it will lead to more compelling apps, and the number available on the App Store will continue to grow. Users will likely fill up those 11 pages quickly, and become frustrated with thumbing through Home screen pages, looking for that hot new app they installed. Apple needs to rethink the basic organizational structure of the iPhone.

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iPhones Mail, Finder, to-do’s The most surprising omission is the lack of improvements to Mail. It still has no unified inbox, no spam filter support, no improved mass-handling of messages, no additional options for replying, no message flags, no ability to create mail subfolders on the iPhone—the list of missing features goes on and on. Given that Mail is one of the most used apps on the iPhone, Apple’s neglect is puzzling. Apple provides no way for users to directly access the files on their iPhone. This is in line with Apple’s current philosophy to have applications, not users, manage files. Just as users of Mac applications like iPhoto and iTunes never have to worry about file management directly, neither do users of the new iPhone application Voice Memo. Clearly, Apple’s goal is that the iPhone will never need a Finder-like application. Finally, although you can now sync notes (via iTunes), you still can’t sync to-do’s. And Call Logs, a feature important to business users, seems to be missing in action.

Java and Flash Apple still wants no part of Java or Flash on the iPhone. When asked about Flash on the iPhone at this spring’s preview release, Phil Schiller simply said “No comment.” John Gruber (daringfireball.net/2008/02/flash_iphone_calculus) succinctly summarized the reason behind Apple’s reluctance to see Flash come to the iPhone: Apple doesn’t control Flash, Adobe does. A similar argument applies to Java. Apple does not want any other runtime on the iPhone, especially ones as resource-intensive as Flash and Java.

3G. This has changed with the introduction of the iPhone 3G S; some features of the new iPhone oS 3.0 are only supported on the new hardware, including: • Support for Voice Control • Support for new features in Camera • Support for video capture •Hardware encryption of all internal data •Support for faster 7.2 Mbps HSDPA 3G data service • Electronic compass support •Accessibility features This was inevitable. Apple gets high marks for adding so many new features to old hardware, but Apple can’t add OS features to older iPhones that don’t have the necessary hardware. The weakest link in Apple’s expanding iPhone universe seems to be its dependence in the U.S. on AT&T. The realization that AT&T does not (yet) support tethering or MMS brought boos from the WWDC crowd. Ironically, this may give Apple leverage with AT&T in future negotiations over carrier exclusivity. Early indications are that Apple has taken significant steps to make this summer’s rollout far smoother than last year’s near disaster. The June 1st release of iTunes 8.2 (required for iPhone oS 3.0) points to a staggered release of software and hardware this summer. This will minimize the chances of problems on the scale seen last summer. With 100 new features, 1,000 new APIs, new hardware, and a revamped App store, a smooth rollout is still a challenge, but it’s one Apple seems prepared to meet. �

Hits and misses (and AT&T) Previous to the launch of the iPhone 3G S, Apple did little to physically differentiate its iPhone lineup other than case color and the amount of memory. In addition, all software works on both models, albeit download speeds were faster on the iPhone

Discover Great Products In this age of the Internet, many of us still enjoy the physicality of a magazine. A magazine is easier on the eyes, and can be read anywhere at your leisure. Magazine readers find important, in-depth, and well-written information all in one place. Our advertisers make iPhone Life possible and affordable. They believe in their products and want you to know about them. We invite you to check them out, and see if they fit your needs or interests.

Hal Goldstein, Publisher

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Bryan Schmiedeler has been a programmer for 13 years, working with enterprise database systems on the iSeries using RPG, writing client and Web-based applications using Lotus Notes, and specializing in iSeries/Lotus integration issues. He uses an iMac and iPhone at home in Olathe, KS. He can be reached at bryanschmiedeler.com or bryanschmiedeler@me.com.

Tips & Tricks

Hidden features that make the iPhone and iPod touch more powerful by Rich Hall

he iPhone and iPod touch are very easy to use and the basics are well covered in the user manuals that came with the devices. If you’ve misplaced yours, you can download a PDF version of the manual from Apple’s support Web page (apple.com/support). You’ll master the basics pretty quickly. once you do, you’ll begin to discover that the iPhone and iPod touch have some powerful but less obvious features that can make using the device easier. This article contains tips that will let you access some of that hidden power.

Audiobooks Change the audiobook playback speed You can listen to audiobooks on the iPhone or iPod touch using the built-in audio/music player. You can purchase these books directly from the App Store or Audiobooks.com, and sync them to your device using iTunes. one cool trick is to adjust the playback speed faster or slower to suite your tastes. To do this on the iPhone, go to the Home screen and tap on Settings >iPod >Audiobook Speed. on the iPod touch, go to Settings >Music >Audiobook Speed. Then select Slower, Faster, or Normal.

Calling How to forward phone calls The ability to forward a phone call can come in handy if you’re in a meeting or on vacation and want an associate to handle your calls. It could also come in handy if you’re traveling to an area

Index of Tips Audiobooks .................................................................................... Calling ............................................................................................... Contacts ........................................................................................... Keyboard ......................................................................................... Mail .................................................................................................... Maps .................................................................................................. Music/Video .................................................................................... Other Stuff ...................................................................................... Web/Safari ....................................................................................... Special: Extending Battery Life ................................................ Special: iTunes ...............................................................................

17 17 18 18 19 19 20 20 21 22 27

with no cellular coverage, and want your calls forwarded to your hotel. Here’s how you do it on the iPhone: From the Home screen, go to Settings >Phone >Call Forwarding. Then, turn on Call Forwarding and tap on Forwarding To. Finally, enter the number you want your calls forwarded to. WARNING: To set up call forwarding, your iPhone must be in range of your cellular network. So if you’re going to an area without cellular coverage, set it up beforehand.

Enter a pause in a phone number Some business phone systems require that you pause between numbers. For example, there may need to be a pause between the main number and the extension to give the phone system time to “pick up.” To insert a pause while entering or editing a phone number in Contacts, place the cursor where you want to insert the pause, tap on the lower left button (+ * #), and hit the pause button that appears next to it. Repeat the process to insert another pause. The pauses appear as commas in the displayed number. You can enter pauses between elements of a phone number.

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Tips & Tricks

Contacts Use Contacts as a simple lists database Contacts is designed to store individual names, phone numbers, addresses, etc. But it can be used as a simple list database to store other information. For example, if you travel a lot on business, you can keep a list of the things you need to pack in Contacts. Simply create a new Contact called TravelList and place the list of items you need to pack in the notes field of the new contact. other potential lists you might keep in Contacts are… • Things to winterize in September—change oil and antifreeze, close storm windows, order firewood, etc. • Things to “summerize” in April • Things to collect for tax preparation • Steps involved in a particular task you do on a semi-regular basis You can use the Notes field in a Contacts item to store simple lists. of course, you can keep simple lists in Notes, but Contacts may be a better place to store the ones you want to keep around for a while. In addition, one of the limitations of Notes is that you cannot sync it with your Mac or PC. You can sync Contacts, including any lists and other information you’ve placed in a contact Notes field. Finally, there are a number of inexpensive third-party apps designed specifically to help you create and manage lists. Go to the App Store and check out A Check List, To-Do List, Shopping List, and more. If it is important for you, be sure to check if list or database app can sync to a PC or Mac. Unfortunately, none of these can be sync’d with a PC or Mac.

Keep Contacts list manageable and useful The Contacts list lets you access phone numbers and other important info quickly, but it can get very long, very fast. When that happens, it becomes hard to use. Here are some suggestions: • Don’t enter info on every person you meet. For example, I collect a lot of business cards at trade shows, and keep them in an old-fashioned card file, alphabetized by company name. I do not enter a person’s phone number into Contacts until I start communicating with them on a regular basis or until I’m sure I want them in my Contacts list. • Keep your most important contacts in your Favorites list, but keep that list manageably short. (open Contacts, tap on an individual listing, and then tap on “Add to Favorites.) Don’t be afraid to make someone a temporary Favorite, for the duration of the project you’re working on, or until you make the sale. Then remove them from Favorites but keep them in Contacts. • If a person is important enough to make it to your Contacts list, make sure their listing is complete. Include name, address, all phone numbers and e-mail addresses, etc. You can use the Notes field for additional info. • When convenient, enter contact info on your desktop computer and then sync it to your iPhone. It’s faster and a lot easier that way.

Keyboard Entering “.com” in an e-mail Safari’s keyboard has a “.com” button at the bottom, making it quick and easy to enter the tail end of a Web address. Hold the “.com” button down, and a pop-up appears, making it easy to enter .net, .edu, .org, etc. There’s a similar feature on the keyboard associated with Mail, but it’s not as obvious. If you’re composing an e-mail to a friend or associate—something like: “John: Check out iPhoneLife.com”—when you get to the end of “iPhoneLife” press and hold down on the period key. A pop-up will appear, allowing you to select .com or other common Web address suffixes.

Activate multiple keyboards You can have more than one keyboard layout active on your device at any time. So, for example, an international executive who did business in the U.K. and Russia could keep an English and Russian (Cyrillic) keyboard active and switch between them when composing notes and e-mail messages. To activate different keyboards, go to Settings >General >Keyboards >International Keyboards and turn on the keyboards you want. To switch between keyboards in any app that accepts text input, tap on the world globe icon to the left of the space bar to toggle through the keyboards you have activated.

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Tips & Tricks

Mail Save drafts of common e-mail messages If you’re working on an e-mail message, but decide you want to finish it at a later time, you can save it as a draft. With the message open, hit Cancel >Save and it will be saved to your Draft folder. When you want to send it, tap on it in the drafts folder, finish it, and hit Send.

Keep templates of common responses If you use your iPhone for business, you may have to respond to the same question or request over and over again. In that case, you will want to keep a copy or template of each response so you don’t have to keep writing it out. Unfortunately, you can’t use the draft procedure described above to keep copies of common responses. Every time you open, finish, and send a draft, it disappears from the Draft folder. However, there are a couple of workarounds: The first and easiest solution is to create one or more template messages and e-mail them to yourself. Then, move them into a special folder named “Responses” or something like that. Every time you need to send that response, go to the Responses folder, open the desired template message, hit the Reply/Forward button, and select Forward. Modify/personalize the message as needed, add the correct e-mail address, and hit Send. With iPhone 3.0, you can keep common responses in Notes and copy-and-paste from Notes to a new message.

Final note: At the bottom of the Bookmarks screen there are two additional tabs. Recents lets you access recent trips you’ve made using Maps. Contacts lets you select individuals in your contacts database as your Start and End points. (You must have addresses listed for the contacts for this to work.)

Display traffic conditions in Maps Maps gives you turn-by-turn directions to your destination and displays a map of the route that you can zoom in on for greater detail. You can also have the map display driving conditions in certain areas. To turn on this feature, set up your trip and go to the map view. Tap on the page-turn icon in the lower right corner and tap on the button labeled “Show Traffic.” (If traffic condition info is not available, the button is grayed out and labeled “Traffic Unavailable In This Area.”) The map is now displayed with the roads highlighted in green, yellow, or red to indicate the driving conditions. • Green means you should be able to travel at more than 50 miles per hour • Yellow: 25–50 miles per hour • Red: less than 25 miles per hour

Zooming in and out on e-mail messages You can use the same pinching gestures and double-taps used in Safari to zoom in and out on email messages.

You can get a list of turn-by-turn directions by tapping on the turn-page icon in the lower right corner of the screen and selecting the List option.

Use pinching gestures and double-taps to zoom in/out on messages.

Maps Saving trip directions You can’t save a specific trip in the Maps application, but you can bookmark starting and ending points, and select them to recreate the trip. Tap on the Maps search button and enter the starting or ending address. A push pin will appear on the map, with a label indicating the address you entered. Tap on the arrow to the right of the label and select “Add to Bookmarks” at the bottom of the page. (You should immediately bookmark your home and work addresses, since most trips will originate or end at one of these two locations.)

Regular map view (above left); activate traffic condition display (above); map view with traffic conditions displayed in green, yellow, and red (left).

once you’ve bookmarked the two locations, you can get directions between the two locations by tapping on the Directions button at the bottom of the screen. (If it’s not there, hit Search first and it will appear.) Then, go to the Start field, tap on the open book icon to the right, and select one of the bookmarked locations. Do the same for the End field. Tap on the Route button to display a map of your trip.

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Tips & Tricks

Music/Video No sound on iPhone or iPod touch? Note that the iPod touch 2G has built-in speakers, but the first generation Touch does not. You must use the earphones that came with the device. If you can’t hear any sound coming from your device, check out the obvious things first: • Make sure the volume isn’t turned down all the way. • Unplug and reconnect the headset to make sure the connector is pushed in all the way. • Check to see if the music is paused; if so, unpause it. If you are using the iPhone’s headset, press the mic button to resume playback. or go to the iPod screen, tap Now Playing, and tap on the play button. • Check to see if a volume limit is set too low. On the iPhone go to Settings >iPod >Volume Limit; on the iPod touch go to Settings >Music > Volume Limit. • Make sure you have the latest version of iTunes installed on your computer (apple.com/itunes). • If you are using the optional dock’s line out port, make sure your external speakers or stereo are turned on and working properly. • If all else fails, reboot. Press and hold down the Sleep/Wake button on the top edge of the device and the Home button until the Apple logo appears on the screen. Then release both buttons and wait until the Home screen appears.

Set timer to stop playing music It’s easy to fall asleep while listening to music or watching a video late at night. If you find yourself doing this a lot, you can set a sleep timer that will stop playing music or video, and close any other open app after a specific period of time. Here’s how you do it: 1.) open the Clock app from the Home screen. 2.) Select Timer at the bottom of the screen. 3.) Flick the “hours” and “mins” wheels to set the time until shut down. 4.) Tap the button labeled “When Timer Ends,” 20

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select the “Sleep iPod” option, and tap on the “Set” button. 5.) Hit the “Start” button when you want to start the timer.

Other Stuff Wi-Fi in Airplane Mode In the last issue, we published a news item about airlines introducing in-flight Wi-Fi. The iPhone 2.0 software and later versions allow you to use Wi-Fi while in Airplane Mode. To do this, enable Airplane Mode first and then switch on Wi-Fi.

Apple’s Online Help site for the iPhone and iPod touch Need some help with your iPhone or iPod touch? The full user manuals in PDF format can be downloaded from Apple’s Web site (apple.com/ support). Apple also has online help sites for both devices, formatted for the smaller screens. You can access them by pointing Safari at the following Web addresses: • iPhone: help.apple.com/iphone • iPod touch: help.apple.com/ipodtouch

Erase data after 10 failed passcodes You can set a passcode on your iPhone or iPod touch to keep your data secure. To do this, go to Settings >General >Passcode Lock and enter a four-number passcode. (Please make it a little more challenging than “1234.”) If security is very important to you, you may want to set the “Erase Data” option. When set, this option wipes your storage memory clean after 10 consecutive failed attempts to enter the passcode. To activate this, go Activate Passcode’s “Erase Data” option to wipe your storage memory after 10 to the Set Passcode failed attempts to enter your passcode. screen as described above. After you have entered a passcode and confirmed it, a second screen labeled “Passcode Lock” appears. Slide the “Erase Data” button to the on position.

Tips & Tricks Free up memory to improve performance

Use Yahoo! as your search engine

There are two types of memory on the iPhone and iPod touch: Storage memory and RAM. If you download a lot of music and videos and install a lot of third-party apps, you can run low of storage memory, especially on the 8 GB devices. one of the things you can do is to delete third-party apps, music, and videos when you are no longer using them.

Safari’s default search engine is Google. To search the Web, tap the search field (on the right side of the title bar), type in a word or phrase that describes what you’re looking for, then tap the

Both devices have 128 MB of RAM, which is used to run the oS and applications. Some users have complained of slowdowns and other problems associated with not enough RAM. Fortunately, the iPhone and iPod touch will warn you if you are low on memory. If you receive one of these warnings asking you to do something, do it immediately—don’t put it iStat (left) and Memory Status (right) let you monitor system off. Also, if you’re finished memory use and shut down items to make more memory available. with an app, close it down completely. With the app displayed, press AND HoLD DoWN the Home key. This will close it down and take you to the Home screen. Finally, you might consider investing in a third-party app that will help you manage the memory on your device. A number are available on the App Store, including iStat ($1.99), Free Memory ($0.99), and Memory Status ($0.99).

App Updates and Upgrades Periodically, developers will “update” their software to fix minor problems and add features. If you’ve already purchased an application, updates for it are free. Developers will also release software “upgrades,” which are considered new applications that may have to be purchased by existing users. Whenever you access the App Store, it checks to see if updates are available for the apps you have installed and displays the number of updates available in a red circle superimposed over the corner of the App Store icon. If an update is available, the update screen will appear in App Store. Tap on “Updates” at the bottom of the screen to see a list of the available updates. Tap on the individual application to get more info about the update. Tap on the “Update” button to update that app. If more than one update is available, you can tap on “Update all applications.”

Web/Safari Block pop-ups in Safari If you’ve browsed the Web, you know how annoying pop-ups can be. Fortunately, modern Web browsers, including Safari, allow you to block pop-ups. From the Home screen go to Settings >Safari and turn on the button next to Block Pop-ups. This screen also allows you to turn on/off JavaScript and PlugIns, change your search engine, choose to accept or decline cookies, clear your browsing history, and delete any cookies that have been downloaded to your device.

Google button in the bottom right corner of the screen. To set Safari to search using Yahoo!, go to the Home screen and select Settings >Safari >Search Engine, and then choose Yahoo!.

Organize “mobile” Web sites into special folder As the number of iPhone and other smartphone users increases, more and more Web sites are offering “mobile” versions of their Web pages. Because these pages have a simpler design and fewer graphics, they require less bandwidth to download. It’s true that Safari can display almost any Web page, but it will download these mobile pages more quickly and you’ll have to do less zooming and scrolling to access the information. Save Web sites optimized for the iPhone in a special “MobileSites” bookmark folder. Web sites can “sense” what type of device is connecting to them and may automatically redirect iPhone’s Safari browser to the mobile version of the site. If it doesn’t, there may be a link to the mobile site on the home page of the regular site. When you discover a mobile site you like, save it in a special bookmark folder in Safari. That way, it’s easier to access sites designed for your device. To create a special folder, open Safari, tap on the Bookmark icon at the bottom of the page, hit the Edit button at the bottom of the Bookmark page, and then hit the New Folder button. Name the folder “MobileSites” or something like that. �

i Phone Li f e S um m e r 2009 Vol. 1, N o .3

Tips & Tricks

Five Ways to Enhance Battery Life by Rich Hall

he iPhone and iPod touch come with built-in, rechargeable, lithium-ion batteries. Battery capacities are measured in “milliamp hours” (mAh). Say that you have a portable CD player that is powered by a 1,000 mAh battery. This player draws 100 milliamps when playing a CD. You divide the battery’s capacity (1,000) by the number of milliamps it draws while playing (100) and you get the number of hours the fully-charged battery will last. In this case, 10 hours.

to your computer, start iTunes and then select your device in the Source List. iTunes will check which version of the oS your device is running. If a newer version is available, it will give you the opportunity to upgrade your device. You may also click on “Check for Updates” in the Summary Panel to see if there’s a new version of the software available. If there is, click on “Update” to install it on your device.

2. Turn off everything you don’t need

The amount of power required by the iPhone and iPod touch is not as constant as a CD player. For example, watching a video requires more battery power than listening to music. The battery capacity is fixed, but the amount of time the battery lasts varies depending on which device and function you are using. Here are Apple’s battery life estimates based on a fully-charged battery.

Anyone who pays their own electric bill understands this one. As mentioned above, various functions on the iPhone or iPod touch drain power from the battery. If you are not using a specific function, make sure it’s turned off. The power savings may be minor for each individual function, but they add up quickly.

Apple’s battery life estimates

Turn off the screen when you’re not using it

iPhone 3G

iPhone

iPod touch 2G

1150 mAh

1400 mAh

Playing music

24 hrs

36 hrs

22 hrs

Playing video

7 hrs

6 hrs

5 hrs

Talk time

10 hrs (GSM), 5 hrs (3G)

8 hrs

n.a.

Standby

300 hrs

250 hrs

n.a.

Internet / cellular 5 hrs (3G)

n.a.

Internet / Wi-Fi

6 hrs

n.a.

6 hrs

900 mAh

iPod touch

Battery capacity

900 mAh

(“n.a.” indicates that the item does not apply or Apple did not provide an estimate. Data from the new 3G S was not available.)

Manufacturer’s estimates about battery life tend to be best-case scenarios. Many users have posted comments on blogs and Web sites complaining that these estimates are, shall we say, excessively optimistic, especially for the iPhone. Below are some tips based on feedback from some of our contributing writers and other sources. Special thanks go to Mohamed Azeemi, Todd Bernhard, Richard Brown, Joel Evans, Steve Green, Patrick Jordan, Tim Prentiss, Mike Riley, and Werner Ruotsalainen for their input on this article. These tips will help you get more life out of your battery.

1. Upgrade your OS Always make sure your iPhone and iPod touch have the latest software release. As Apple’s software engineers find new ways of optimizing battery performance, they incorporate them into the latest version of the oS. You can use iTunes to update your device to the latest software. Connect your iPhone or iPod touch

i P h o n e L i f e Summer 2009 Vol.1, No.3

The iPhone and iPod touch automatically power down the screen after one minute. (Apple calls this the “Autolock” feature; by default it’s set to one minute, but you can increase it or disable it.) When you’re finished using your device, don’t wait for it to automatically power down. Press the on/off button to turn it off manually. This will save a little power each time you use your device; it adds up.

Turn off Wi-Fi & Bluetooth Both the iPhone and iPod touch have Wi-Fi capability, allowing you to connect to hotspots for faster Web browsing. When turned on, the built-in Wi-Fi transceiver draws power from the battery, even if you are not connected to a Web site or browsing the Web. This is not as much of a problem with versions 2.0 and later of the oS. In fact, some—but not all— users claim that disabling Wi-Fi doesn’t save very much power in devices running later versions of the oS. However, to be safe, turn off Wi-Fi when you are not using it. The iPhone’s Bluetooth capability lets you connect to a wireless headset for hands-free phone calls. It also drains power from the battery. Keep it turned off when not in use. Turn off Wi-Fi or Bluetooth from the Settings screen.

Tips & Tricks

• To turn off Wi-Fi on the iPhone and iPod touch, go to Home >Settings, tap on Wi-Fi at the top of the screen, and tap the on/ off button. • To turn off Bluetooth on the iPhone, go to Home >Settings >General >Bluetooth and tap the on/off button.

battery faster. To improve battery life, you can turn Push off and set your device to “Fetch” e-mail and other data every 15 minutes, 30 minutes, hourly, or manually. Turn Push off and enable Fetch to conserve power.

Turn off 3G The iPhone’s 3G capability is great for browsing the Web and downloading from iTunes or the App Store, but it also uses more battery power. If you are not doing either of these, try turning 3G off to conserve power. This may also improve your phone reception. You can turn 3G back on when needed. • To turn off 3G, go to Home >Settings >General >Network and tap the on/off button associated with “Enable 3G.” Turn off 3G to conserve battery power.

Turn off all wireless using Airplane mode Airplane mode disables the wireless features of iPhone to avoid possible interference with aircraft operation and other electrical equipment. When airplane mode is on, a small icon in the shape of an airplane appears in the status bar at the top of the screen. To turn Airplane mode on (and disable wireless) tap on Settings and select “Airplane mode on.”

Turn off Location Services Location Services allows applications such as Maps and Camera to gather and use data indicating your location. You can conserve battery life by turning Location Services off when you’re not using it. Turn off Location Services to conserve power. • To turn off Location Services, go to Settings >General >Location Services and tap the on/off button. If Maps, Camera, or another app tries to access Location Services when it is turned off, you will be prompted to turn it back on.

Turn off Push e-mail; use Fetch instead Push e-mail accounts like MobileMe, Microsoft Exchange, and Yahoo! Mail automatically deliver new information to your iPhone or iPod touch when it appears on your mail server. However, when Push is enabled, it uses a little more power and drains your

• To turn off Push e-mail, go to Home >Settings, select “Fetch New Data,” and move the Push button to “off.” Then set your Fetch time. The more time between fetches, the less power you’ll use.

3. Things to avoid If you can avoid doing the following, you can improve the life of your battery:

Avoid using a cellular connection to browse the Web; use Wi-Fi when it’s available Browsing the Web using a 3G or EDGE connection uses more battery power than via a Wi-Fi connection. When Wi-Fi is available—at work, home, a coffee shop, etc.—turn it on and use it to browse the Web. Note that when Wi-Fi is on and a Wi-Fi access point is available, the iPhone will automatically access the Web using it. If Wi-Fi is off, it will attempt to use a 3G connection if one is available and 3G is turned on. If Wi-Fi and 3G are turned off, the iPhone will default to an EDG connection.

Avoid CPU-intensive activities We know! The ability to play interesting games and watch videos are a couple reasons why you bought the iPhone in the first place. However, videos and certain graphics-intensive games require a lot of CPU power, which places a larger drain on the battery. When you can, avoid these activities to extend the life of your battery. This advice probably makes more sense in certain situations. For example, say that it’s getting towards the end of the day, your iPhone is getting low on power, and you need it to make and receive calls. You might want to forgo playing an arcade racing game or watching a video until you can recharge it.

Avoid auto-checking many e-mail accounts You can check multiple e-mail accounts with your iPhone or iPod touch, but the more accounts your device checks, the more power it uses. To save power, check fewer e-mail accounts from your device. For example, you might handle most of your personal e-mails on one account and business-related e-mail on another. During the day, you may only need to check the business mail, so you could turn off the personal account.

i Phone Li f e S um m e r 2009 Vol. 1, N o .3

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Tips & Tricks Turn off Mail accounts to save power. • To turn off an account, go to Settings >Mail, Contacts, Calendars. Tap on the account you want to turn off, and then tap the on/off button associated with that account. You can also delete the account entirely from this screen.

Avoid purchasing apps and songs from your iPhone Second generation versions of the iPhone and iPod touch have built-in functions that let you purchase and download music and apps without having to sync with your desktop computer. (These are available on first-generation devices with the 2.0 oS upgrade.) However, you need to utilize a Wi-Fi or 3G data connection to complete these downloads, and those connections use up battery power. To save battery life, avoid purchasing apps and songs from your iPhone. Whenever possible, purchase and download them using your desktop computer. Then connect and sync your device with iTunes to download the song or app.

Avoid leaving your device connected to a computer that’s turned off If you connect your iPhone or iPod touch to a computer to sync or charge it, disconnect it when you’re finished. Do not leave it connected to a computer that has been turned off or is in sleep/ standby mode. This may drain the battery.

Avoid moving around multiple screens This one will only save you a little power, but it makes using the iPhone a lot easier. The general principle is to get where you need to go quickly, do what you have to do, and let your iPhone go back into sleep mode. For example: • Place the launch icons for your most-used apps in the first (main) Home screen. That way, you won’t have to spend time flipping through alternate Home screens to find the app you need.

of the day, even if you haven’t used it very much that day. • When you sit down at your computer, connect the iPhone or iPod touch to the computer via the USB cable. • Buy a spare cable— have one at your home computer and one at your work computer (available through Apple.com). •When you’re in your car, use a cigarette lighter adapter to power and charge your device (available through Apple.com). •If you’re away from a wall socket, desktop computer, or vehicle for any length of time, consider getting an external battery to provide extra power for your device. (See “overcoming Those Battery Life Blues” on page 58 of iPhone Life, Vol.1, No.2.)

5. Final thoughts Here are some final thoughts on how to deal with battery problems.

Poor cellular reception may drain battery Cell phones periodically “ping” (send a signal to) the closest cell towers to make sure a connection is available. If you are in an area of weak coverage, your iPhone will immediately start pinging every time you lose your connection. All this activity can drain your battery faster. If you’re in an area with poor 3G coverage, you might turn 3G off and rely on the more ubiquitous 2G connection for your phone calls.

Unauthorized apps running in the background may drain battery faster The iPhone is designed to run one app at a time, but some unauthorized apps will remain running in the background when you open another app. These programs are not available on the iTunes App Store and can only be installed if you “jailbreak” the iPhone or iPod touch, a process that unlocks the device and allows the installation of unauthorized programs. If you have one of these unauthorized programs running in the background, it can drain your battery faster. If you notice this happening, uninstall the unauthorized program or shut it down completely by powering down and restarting the iPhone or iPod touch.

• Place your four most-used apps in the app bar at the bottom of the screen. That way, they’re always available no matter what Home screen you’re in.

Don’t need to use your iPhone or iPod touch for a while? Power down completely!

• Place your most dialed phone numbers in your Favorites list, especially if you have a large Contacts list.

If you are going to a concert or planning a weekend getaway and don’t want to receive calls during that time, power down your iPhone completely. This shuts off the phone circuits and draws less power than standby.

4. Top off the battery whenever you get a chance This is probably the single most important thing you can do to avoid receiving the dreaded “low power” warning. Whenever you can, connect your iPhone or iPod touch to a power source to recharge the battery: • Always connect your device to its power source at the end

• To power down your iPhone or iPod touch, press and hold the Sleep/Wake button on the top edge of the device for a few seconds until the red slider appears on the screen. Then drag the slider. When the iPhone is off, incoming calls go straight to voicemail.

i Phone Li f e S um m e r 2009 Vol. 1, N o .3

Tips & Tricks Monitor battery status with these apps

Replacing a bad battery

There are some inexpensive battery utilities available on the App Store for both the iPhone and iPod touch. Check out:

Apple rates the batteries on the iPhone and iPod touch as good for about 400 charge cycles. Specifically, the batteries will retain 80% of their capacity after 400 charge cycles. Most users will not have come close to that yet, but when they do—when they notice that their batteries are no longer holding a reasonable charge—they can have their battery replaced by Apple. The oneyear warranty covers the cost of replacing a defective battery on either device. After that, the cost of replacing the battery on either device is $79 plus $6.95 for shipping and handling. For more info, visit Apple’s Battery Replacement Web page (apple. com/batteries/replacements.html).

• BatteryLog ($2.99): Displays your battery usage as a graph and helps you see which activities are using the most power. • Free Memory ($0.99): Lets you free up system RAM memory and has a percent battery level meter. • Lantern with Battery Level ($0.99): Displays a bright light on your screen, allowing you to use your iPhone or iPod touch as a flashlight. It also displays the battery level as a percent.

Maintain the “health” of your battery In order to maintain the general “health” of the battery, some experts recommend that you go through at least one complete charging cycle every month. That means that you fully charge the battery, reboot the device, and then run it down completely, past the low battery message. This process is also supposed to recalibrate the internal circuitry that measures the level of the battery. If you suspect that you are getting false battery level readings, try the procedure described above. You can also try resetting your device. Hold down the sleep/wake button and the Home button until the Apple logo appears. This will automatically reset and restart your device.

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Apple’s advice on improving battery life Apple has posted advice for improving your battery life online. Check out the following Web pages. iPhone battery tips: apple.com/batteries/iphone.html iPod touch battery tips: apple.com/batteries/ipods.html �

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i P h o n e L i f e Summer 2009 Vol.1, No.3

2/20/09 2:06:50 PM

iTunes

Using iTunes to Put Photos on Your iPhone by Jim Karpen

o you had a wonderful vacation, took a lot of photos with your digital camera, and now you want to show them to friends and family. one convenient way to do this is to transfer the photos to your iPhone or iPod touch. Then, whenever the situation arises, you can pull out your device and use the Photo application to display them.

In the Photos tab menu, you can select iPhoto or identify a folder on your computer as the source of your photos. Note that if you identify a folder on your computer, it can have subfolders containing the photos.

In this article I’ll explain how to use iTunes to copy photos to your iPhone or iPod touch. In addition, I’ll show you how to transfer photos taken with your iPhone to your desktop computer, and describe how to use any photo as the background for your startup screen.

Syncing digital photos to your iPhone By now you must be familiar with using iTunes to sync music, videos, podcasts, ringtones, and more on your device. The photos that you want to put on your iPhone need to be either in iPhoto, a free application that comes with all Macs, or in a specific folder on your computer. Assuming that you’ve already transferred the digital photos from a camera or other source to your computer, here’s how you transfer photos from your computer to your iPhone or iPod touch. 1.) Connect your device to your computer, go to your device screen in iTunes, and select the Photos tab. Note that when you select “Sync photos from” you’ll get a scary warning message that says, “Are you sure you want to sync photos? All existing photos and albums on the iPhone will be replaced with photos and albums from the current photo library.” Don’t worry! Syncing does not delete any photos you’ve taken using your iPhone’s camera. These are stored in the Camera Roll folder and this is left untouched. The message means that, with the exception of the Camera Roll folder, every time you sync photos, iTunes replaces all the photos on the device with the photos/folders you selected when you checked the “Sync photos from” box (described below). This warning is relevant because one may assume, as I did, that you can sync one folder, then go to another folder and sync that—thinking that the photos in both folders will be on the device. However, the second folder you sync replaces the first one. It is possible to sync multiple folders, but you have to select them before you sync, and they have to be subfolders within the folder you designated as a source.

You can select photo folders you want to sync with your iPhone or iPod touch. 2.) Click on the check box labeled “Sync photos from” and select whether you want to sync “All photos” or “Selected folders”/”Selected Albums.” Then select particular albums or subfolders. 3.) once you’ve made your selection, click on the Sync button in the bottom right corner of the iTunes screen. If your photos are in separate albums or subfolders on your computer, iTunes will retain that structure and put the photos into separate albums on your iPhone. If you’re on a PC and you use Adobe Photoshop Album 2.0 or later or Adobe Photoshop Elements 3.0 or later, you can sync from those programs in a fashion similar to syncing photos from iPhoto on a Mac.

Viewing photos on your iPhone To view your photos, open the Photos app, select the desired Album, and tap on the thumbnail of the photo you want to see. It will open in full-screen view. once you’re in full-screen view, you can swipe your finger across the screen to move from one photo to the next. If a photo is wider than it is tall, you can tilt your iPhone to view it in horizontal orientation. You can also use Safari’s thumb-and-finger-spreading gesture to zoom in on the

i Phone Li f e S um m e r 2009 Vol. 1, N o .3

iTunes

Main screen of Photos app with different albums listed (left); thumbnail view of an album (middle); full-screen view of an individual image in the folder (right).

photo, and its pinching gesture to zoom back out. As with Safari, you can double-tap a particular spot on a photo to zoom in and out on it. Finally, you can view the photos as a slide show by tapping the right-facing triangle at the bottom of the screen in either the thumbnail or full-screen view.

Selecting a photo to use as wallpaper once you have images on your iPhone, whether taken by the iPhone or synced to your device, you can select any image to be the background (a.k.a. “wallpaper”) of the startup screen. once you have the desired image displayed in full-screen view in Photos, tap once on the photo to bring up the navigation menu at the bottom of the screen (or on the right side of the screen if you’re in landscape mode). Then, tap on the leftmost icon to bring up a second menu that gives you four options: Use As Wallpaper, Email Photo, Assign to Contact, or Cancel. Select the first option and the image will appear as the background for your startup screen.

Importing photos taken from your iPhone to your computer Importing photos to your desktop or laptop computer from your iPhone is pretty simple. Mac users should run iPhoto and then connect your iPhone to your Mac. iPhoto will automatically sense that you’ve connected your phone and will open a window on your Mac showing the photos on your phone and asking if you want to import them. You can choose to import all of them or only selected photos. After it imports the photos, it asks if you want to keep the originals on your iPhone or delete them. You can also import photos to a Mac using the Image Capture application that comes with Macs. Under Preferences, select General. Under Camera, select Image Capture in the option that says, “When a camera is connected, open.” Then close the dialog box. This will make Image Capture the default application when

i P h o n e L i f e Summer 2009 Vol.1, No.3

you connect your iPhone or iPod touch to download photos from it. Windows users can use the Scanner and Camera Wizard to import photos. Connect your iPhone to your PC, go to the Windows Start menu, and select Programs >Accessories >Scanner and Camera Wizard. (If your iPhone is not connected, it will not open.) In the opening screen, select the Apple You can select any image in your Photos library iPhone icon as the device to to use as wallpaper on your device. use and click oK. In the resulting welcome screen, click Next and import the photos. It also gives an option to move the photos manually using a File Explorer-like interface. Like iPhoto, the Scanner and Camera Wizard will give you the option of deleting the photos from your iPhone once you’ve imported them. over time, the number of photos stored on your iPhone will build up. If you’re unsure which ones you want to keep, you might sync them all to your computer and then delete them from your iPhone to save space. At your leisure, on your PC or Mac, you can look them over, select the best ones, and sync them back to your iPhone for your viewing pleasure. � Jim Karpen Ph.D. is on faculty at Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa. He has been interested in the revolutionary consequences of computer technology ever since writing his Ph.D. dissertation–a study of the “digitized word” that anticipated the Internet revolution. He has been writing regularly about the Internet since 1994. His Web site, www.jimkarpen.com, contains selected Internet columns written monthly for the Iowa Source magazine. jim_karpen@iphonelife.com.

iTunes

iTunes...

Your Personal Music Library M

y original intention was to use my iPhone for business purposes, but since getting it I’ve purchased 1,752 songs, movies, and music videos from iTunes, Apple’s online music store. You can access the store via the iTunes app on your iPhone or iPod touch, or via the iTunes application for your PC or Mac, which you can download for free from Apple. The iTunes application is the only way you can access the store.

by Michael Vallez

once installed, the iTunes application lets you download and manage media content you purchase from the store. It also lets you import content from other sources and includes a music

player so you can listen to the content. The iTunes store itself houses a massive collection of music, videos, movies, television shows, and podcasts.

If you haven’t already done this, install the iTunes app on your PC or Mac. open your Web browser, go to Apple’s iTunes download page (apple.com/itunes/download), click on the “Download Now” link, and follow the onscreen instructions. After iTunes has been installed, you’ll be asked to establish an iTunes Store account. You will need a major credit card and valid e-mail address to open an account.

Rip your CDs to your iTunes library Before you start purchasing music from iTunes, you might want to take advantage of the music you already have on CDs. To rip these to your iTunes library, follow these steps: 1.) Insert an audio CD into your computer’s internal CD or DVD drive. 2.) When the list of songs appears in the iTunes window, deselect any songs you don’t want to import. 3.) To add the selected songs to your library, click the Import CD button at the bottom of the iTunes window. (To cancel importing, click the small X next to the progress bar at the top.) 4.) When the songs are finished importing, click the Eject symbol to the right of the CD. By default, the music you rip from a CD is translated using AAC encoding, the default audio format for the iPhone and iPod touch. You can change this to MP3 or WMA encoding by clicking on the iTunes Edit menu and selecting the Preferences option. Then click on the “Import Settings” button in the middle of the screen. The iTunes Preferences page (Fig. 1) lets you customize the playback of music, sharing of content, device synchronization, parental controls, and more.

Fig. 1: The iTunes Preferences screen lets you customize import, playback, and other features. (PC version shown here; Mac version similar.) i Phone Li f e S um m e r 2009 Vol. 1, N o .3

iTunes

All iTunes music is now DRM free originally, the iTunes store sold two kinds of music tracks. Most songs were priced at $0.99, were recorded at a bit rate of 128 kilobits per second (kbps), and were protected by digital rights management (DRM). For $0.30 more per item, you could purchase a single song without DRM, recorded at 256 kbps. DRM placed limits on how a consumer could use the music track. A song recorded at 256 kbps has higher audio quality but is almost twice the file size of a 128 kbps song. Earlier this year, Apple dropped the lower bit rate/DRM protected option. Now, all music tracks sold in the iTunes Store are DRM free and by default download at 256 kbps. This means that music you purchase from the iTunes Store will take up more space on your iPod touch or iPhone. However, since there are no longer any DRM restrictions, you can copy this music to other devices. The truth is that you may not be able to notice the difference between a song recorded at 128 kbps and one recorded at 256 kbps. If you want to conserve file storage space, you can download your iTunes tracks at 128 kbps. To do this, go to the Edit menu, select Preferences, and click on the “Import Settings” button (see Fig. 2). Leave “Import Using” set to “AAC Encoder” and Select “High Quality (128 kbps)” from the Setting drop-down menu. I would also make sure the box labeled “Use error correction…” is checked, especially if you experience problems with the audio quality of the CDs you rip. From this point on, any music you download from iTunes will be imported at the 128 kbps rate.

Fig. 2: Select the quality of the music you download using the Import Settings screen (Mac version).

iTunes acts as your all-inclusive library for your music, podcasts, videos, music videos, movies, and television shows. The next step is to move some or all of that content to your iPhone or iPod touch. You do this via syncing.

Syncing content to your iPhone Syncing your iPod touch and iPhone is the only way to get media onto your devices. You can do this manually or set iTunes to auto sync every time you connect your device. During sync, iTunes will identify any media purchased in iTunes that needs to be added to your library or iPhone. Additionally, if you purchased any media using the iTunes app on your iPhone or iPod touch, this content will be transferred into your iTunes library.

Fig. 3: The iTunes Summary tab displays vital info about your device. 30

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once your device is connected to your computer, you will see the following tabs: Summary, Info, Ringtones, Music, Photos, Podcasts, Videos, and Applications (depending on device). The Summary tab (Fig. 3) is the most important tab because it displays vital information about your iPhone or iPod touch. The information tab is also important and has choices for MobileMe, Calendar, Contacts, etc. Music is probably the tab you will use the most next to Applications. Under the Music tab, you can select what music you want to sync onto your iPhone from your iTunes library. The Ringtones, Photos, Podcasts, and Videos tabs are self explanatory—you manage these media types under those tabs.

iTunes

Organize music into playlists Playlists are one of the most important and most frequent tools you will use in your iTunes library. A playlist is a group of chosen songs or music videos placed under a heading that you have the ability to select or deselect on your iPhone during synchronization. You can create a playlist for an album, an artist, a genre, a time period (like the 80’s), etc. one tip: The name you give your playlist should tell you what type of music is in it.

Creating and naming playlists To create a new playlist, open iTunes, click on the File menu in the upper left corner of the screen, and select “New Playlist” from the menu (Fig. 4). The new “untitled playlist” will appear on the left side of the screen, under the Playlists heading; give it a name.

Populating playlists once you’ve created and named your playlist, you need to populate it with songs and/or videos. The easiest way to do this is to drag and drop it from one folder to another. Simply open your main music or movie library, right-click on the desired song or video, and drag it into the playlist. A second, more time consuming way to do this is to right-click on the desired song or video, select “Add to playlist” from the pop-up menu, and select the desired playlist.

Fig. 4: Create a new playlist from the iTunes File menu (Mac version).

View settings Since we’re visual creatures, the view setting is important. To access your options, click on the View menu in the top left corner of iTunes. The first three options in this menu are “as List” (a simple text list of music), “as Grid” (a grid of album covers and titles), and “as Cover Flow” (a combination of grid and list views). The other important choice in the View menu is the “View options” selection, which can only be accessed when you are in the “as List” view. View options allows you to specify the information you want displayed about each song. Use this option if you want to display more detailed information about your songs. Michael F. Vallez is a retired police officer who has been working in the Federal Background Investigations field for the last seven years. He is the owner and president of crazymikesapps. com, a Web site dedicated to honest iPhone app reviews. You can contact him at mike@ crazymikesapps.com.

iTunes DJ and Genius These two options are included with more recent versions of iTunes and show up under the Playlists heading on the left side of the screen. When selected, iTunes DJ takes you to a song it considers a good match to the music genre you are currently listening to. iTunes Genius takes this a step further. Simply select any song from your

library and press the Genius button; Genius creates a playlist populated with songs selected from your music library that Genius “feels” will go well with the song you originally selected. Note that you have to activate Genius before you can use it.

iTunes Store; final tips You access the iTunes Store by clicking on its link in the left column of the iTunes app. There are a number of different menus in the store, but finding what you want is pretty easy. If you know the name of the song, album, or artist, you can use the Power Search option in the right column to find it. once you’ve found the song or album, click on the “Buy Album” or “Buy Song” link to purchase it. once you confirm this, it will begin to download into your iTunes library and appear in the left column. If you ever become totally confused, click on Help at the top of the screen. The Help menu has a number of options and should be able to answer most of your questions. You can also go to Google. com and do a search on your question. Be as specific as you can with either option. � i Phone Li f e S um m e r 2009 Vol. 1, N o .3

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Get Healthy, Stay He These iPhone apps help you find fresh food and quit smoking.

by Timothy Prentiss

n the last issue, I wrote about losing weight with the iPhone by using apps such as Edibles Food Journal and Restaurants (“Lose Weight with the iPhone,” page 64, Vol. 1, No. 2). Losing weight is great, but it’s not the be all and end all—getting healthy should be your real goal. For example, your food decisions shouldn’t all be about calories and carbohydrates; you should be concerned about the quality of the food you eat. Note also that healthy people exercise regularly and tend to have a higher muscle-to-fat ratio. Muscle is heavier than fat, and as you build more of it, you might not lose as much per week. Finally, there are things more detrimental to your health than fatty foods, not the least of which is smoking. You have to go beyond calorie counting and wrap your mind around the idea of living healthier.

Fueling your body Living healthier not only involves doing more exercise, it means eating better (we’ll call this “fueling your body”). A double cheeseburger might look tempting for lunch, and it may only cost me a dollar, but it consumes 25 percent of my daily allotment of calories, fat, and fiber. In addition, the contents of that burger—the bun, meat patty, tomatoes, cheese, etc.—may have spent days or weeks in a refrigerated truck. The point is that fast food provides me with questionable nutrition—it’s poor quality fuel for my body. In an attempt to incorporate fresher foods into my diet, I’ve become a “localvore” whenever possible. That means I attempt to eat fresh foods grown in my area when I can find them. How do you find out what’s fresh in your area? If you’re an iPhone user, you can go to the iTunes App Store and search for “What’s Fresh” ($1.99; mSimplicity.com). This app uses the iPhone’s GPS capabilities to determine your location and lets you know what fruits and vegetables are currently in season in your area. Each week, before shopping (preferably at a local farmer’s market for locally-grown food), use What’s Fresh to check out what’s available in your area. Then, pull out your cookbooks and find a recipe or two that fit the bill. If your cook-

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What’s Fresh (left) helps you find fresh food grown in your area. The TinyKitchen Cooking App (right) lets you find recipes for the fresh food you find. books are a little behind the times, you may want to download a recipe app from iTunes. one such app is the TinyKitchen Cooking App ($3.99; tiny-kitchen.blogspot.com). It not only allows you to search through 70,000 recipes (from recipesource. com), you can add your own as well. TinyKitchen also lets you select a recipe, specify the number of servings you want, and then display a shopping list of the items you need for it. You can carry this list with you on your iPhone, or email it to yourself before you go shopping and print it out on a piece of paper.

Quit smoking! By now, everyone should know that smoking has all sorts of negative effects on your health. However, those who have smoked all their lives often have trouble quitting. I checked out an iPhone app called GottaKickit ($8.99, free “Lite” version also available; gottakickit.com). GKi lets you set the number of cigarettes you’re allowing yourself to smoke, and then the app tells you when you can take that smoke break. The interval is gradually increased, and eventually you are on your way to becoming smoke-free. You indicate that you’re having that cigarette by flicking the flame on a virtual lighter, and then the app tells you when your next

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ealthy!

smoke is due. I can’t really put this app to the test because I’m a pipe smoker and make one bowl of pipe tobacco last around three days. But I’d like to challenge our readers who smoke to give the free version of this app a try and let us know if it works for you. The enhanced version may be worth it ma to free yourself from this addiction. �

GottaKickit helps you quit smoking by keeping track of your daily cigarette intake. Timothy Prentiss creates Web-based training that uses text, animation, and narration for a multimedia learning experience. In his spare time, Tim enjoys playing golf, guitar, and playing in the garden. Visit his Web site at stayhomecollege.com or e-mail him at tim@stayhomecollege.com.

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eBooks on the iPhone Why I will never buy another hardback book again. by Douglas S. Goldring

ardback, paperback, new, used, it doesn’t matter to me— I’ve always loved books. I’m the kind of guy who reads a book while waiting in a long line at the Department of Motor Vehicles, and then gets annoyed at the interruption when they finally call my name. I love reading, but have recently encountered a couple obstacles to my passion.

The first relates to my long commute to and from work, which provides me with an excellent chunk of time to read. Unfortunately, hardcover books are heavy and cumbersome, and lugging one around every day was beginning to annoy me. The second relates to my family, which continues to grow. As it does, I’m losing bookshelf space, and more and more of my books are ending up in boxes in the basement. To help remedy the situation, I started looking into eBooks. of course, they immediately eliminate the bookshelf problem; you can store them on your computer or a mobile eBook reader like Amazon’s Kindle 2 (see sidebar, page 38). I’m a fan of the Kindle, but have discovered that it’s not always the right device for me because of its size. While that nice screen is great for reading (not to mention the even larger screen on the recently announced Kindle DX), it is not always the most portable device around. Sometimes I just want something I can stick in my pocket and go. Fortunately, I’ve discovered a number of eBook solutions available for the iPhone and iPod touch, all of which are available on the iTunes App Store. I’ve divided these apps into two categories: • Expandable readers allow you control which books you purchase and what you put in the reader’s library. • Closed readers are sold as single, unalterable units with either a single book or a collection of books pre-installed.

 Expandable readers Most expandable readers are associated with a specific online store or eBook source. Unfortunately, because of Digital Rights Management, this means that the eBooks you buy from these

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Software sources are tied to that specific app—you can’t view them with another reader. Hopefully, we’ll see some changes in this paradigm before too long.

eReader Reader free, price of eBooks varies; ereader.com This is the most readily available of the expandable eBook readers, offering versions of the app for virtually every mobile platform out there. Since your library is maintained online, you can move books between platforms. For example, you can read an eReader book on an iPhone, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile smartphone, and more. However, you cannot synchronize your progress between platforms as you can with Kindle’s Whispersync.

Kindle (for iPhone) Reader free, price of eBooks varies; amazon.com Releasing the iPhone Kindle app is probably the smartest move Amazon has made since introducing the Kindle. While the Kindle app is pretty bare bones, it does offer a few significant features that make it worth a closer look. First of all, it’s tied to Amazon.com, and all of the 200,000+ books available for the Kindle can be read with the iPhone Kindle app. In addition, the prices of Kindle eBooks are very competitive, with most bestsellers costing $9.99 or less.

The eReader app for iPhone and iPod touch offers a tremendous number of features that reflect years of experience making eBook readers. For example, the table of contents displays a pie chart next to each title, showing you how much you have left to read in that book. The app also includes an auto-scroll feature that eliminates the need to tap the screen to move to the next page.

The Kindle App for iPhone uses Whispersync technology to sync your progress between the iPhone and Kindle 2.

The popular eReader system is available on virtually any mobile platform. It features a daytime (left) or night viewing option (right). The developers of eReader understand that reading a book is an intensely personal experience and have provided a variety of settings and customization options that let you control small details. For example, you can control the font (including size and color), theme (including night theme), orientation, and plenty of other settings. The most important part of any eBook reader app is the book itself. No matter how many features it has, if you can’t find the book you want, the app will gather dust. Fortunately for eReader, it is associated with Fictionwise.com, an online bookstore stocked with a large number of current and older books in a wide variety of categories. Unfortunately, Fictionwise tends to charge more for their eBooks than other online sources. New releases generally cost up to $15. I should note that Barnes & Noble bought Fictionwise and eReader in March. It will be interesting to see if they do anything to expand the availability of eBooks and lower their price.

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The Kindle app does not have all the features that the Kindle 2 reader does. For example, the iPhone app can only view content purchased from the Amazon eBook store. The Kindle 2 can display those books and content in some other formats. Also, the iPhone app uses the Kindle 2’s Whispersync feature to sync the content between your Kindle 2 and the iPhone Kindle app. This means you can read a couple chapters of a book on the Kindle 2, switch to your iPhone, and continue reading the book from where you left off. In addition to all this, the app displays full color thumbnails and cover art. It’s worth a closer look, especially if you also have a Kindle 2.

Stanza Reader free, price of eBooks varries; lexcycle.com The last entry in this section is Stanza, which is the most feature-rich expandable eBook reader available for the iPhone, and while it may not sync with the Kindle 2, it does just about everything else. To start, the main library gives you full-color thumbnails of each of your books. This helps replicate the feeling of actually browsing through a bookstore. To make it even better, when you turn your iPhone sideways, you get your library in coverflow view, just like in iTunes. Like eReader, Stanza is highly customizable. It offers numerous settings that help provide the best possible reading experience. Unique to Stanza is a feature which allows you to slide your finger up or down on the screen to adjust the brightness. Better still, if you are reading in the car, you can activate night viewing mode to avoid distracting the driver.

Software Mac application and can transfer virtually any document directly to the iPhone app. overall, it’s a fantastic app that provides an excellent reading experience. Stanza’s parent company, Lexcycle (lexcycle.com) was also recently purchased by Amazon.com. Add this to the recent purchase of eReader by Barnes & Noble, and you should find an extremely exciting future for eBooks coming soon.

 Closed readers

Stanza offers a wide array of built-in eBook catalogs, including hundreds of free books. Stanza’s best feature, however, is its bookstore access. While it does not connect with Amazon’s library, it does connect with 15 other eBook stores on the Internet, providing you with access to well over 100,000 eBooks. Stanza connects with Project Gutenberg (with over 25,000 free eBooks), Fictionwise, newspapers and magazines, and quite a few selections from Feedbooks. You can download books over the air or through a PC/

Where to find free eBooks one of the great things about a lot of the expandable eBook readers featured in the main article is that you can find content all over the Internet. It may take a little bit of trial and error to find the right titles with the right formats to open in each reader, but here are five online sources for eBooks to get you started. • The Gutenberg Project (gutenberg.org): This is the largest selection of free books online. Virtually every public domain book can be found via the Gutenberg Project, in several different formats. • Manybooks (manybooks.net): A really interesting site which features thousands of lesser-known titles. Perfect for the bibliophile who thinks they have seen it all. Every book here is featured in over a dozen different formats, so they are likely to be compatible with any eBook reader you choose. • PlanetPDF (planetpdf.com/free_pdf_ebooks.asp): As the name suggests, this site features books which have been produced in the .pdf format. Many eBook readers are able to display .pdf files, so they should be compatible with many readers. • Feedbooks (feedbooks.com): Not only can you download a full library of free books for all platforms, this one also allows you to share your own content and even create a customized newspaper from RSS feeds and widgets. • Amazon (amazon.com): The traditional Kindle bookstore features over 200,000 books, including thousands of free books which can be downloaded to the Kindle App on your iPhone.

In addition to the expandable eBook reader systems mentioned above, there are numerous standalone readers available in the App Store. I call these “closed readers” since the book and its reader is downloaded as a complete package. Many of these books are classics that can be downloaded and read for free with Stanza or eReader. However, for as little as $0.99, you get a welldesigned package and avoid the hassle of having to download and unlock the eBook separately. Unfortunately, each book is a discrete app, which means you cannot easily build a library this way. There are dozens of closed reader eBook publishers, but a few stand out.

BeamItDown eBooks Price varies: Free to $1.99 each; beamitdown.com BeamItDown eBooks is probably the most unique closed reading system. Instead of breaking text into pages, BeamItDown uses its “iFlow” technology to display the content as a continuous stream of text scrolling up your screen. You can sit back and watch as the text passes right before your eyes. (eReader offers this functionality as well.) BeamItDown utilizes the unique iFlow technology to display the material without interference from cumbersome page changes or screen swipes. BeamItDown features numerous stand-alone collections, and many of its titles include dozens of books in them, including their Edgar Allen Poe Collection, Sherlock Holmes Collection, and 400 Fairy Tales. There’s even one called 100+ Books (which now includes well over 130 books).

Readdle eBooks Price varies: Free to $4.99; readdle.com In addition to the well-known document viewer, Readdle Docs, Readdle also publishes a number of eBook collections, including Shakespeare, Fairy Tales, Horror Books, Love Stories, and others. I tested their system out with Shakespeare and was quite impressed. It included popular plays (Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet), lesser known works (Cymbeline, Sir Thomas More, and

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Why I love my Kindle Earlier this year, I dropped over $350 to purchase Amazon’s new Kindle 2. The biggest attraction the Kindle 2 offered was the E-ink display, which simulates the appearance of ordinary ink on paper on the Kindle’s screen. This technology does not use backlighting, which eliminates the glow and flicker that accompanies most computer screens. It’s also a lot easier on your eyes. The other great thing about the screen is that it’s larger than those found on most mobile devices. While the iPhone screen is clear and bright, it’s still a little small for reading documents, especially longer ones such as an eBook. The Kindle 2 screen is not quite as large as a standard paperback page, but it comes pretty close to it. And while I would love to see an eBook reader with a standard 8.5 x 11-inch display, the Kindle 2 E-ink display worked just fine.

Readdle’s Shakespeare app is not only extremely thorough, but also completely free. Two Noble Kinsmen), poems, sonnets, and more. But while I was impressed with the content, I was less pleased by the presentation. Like BeamItDown, there are no pages to turn. But, unfortunately, there is no automatic scrolling, either. You have to constantly flick and drag your finger to advance the text, and that proved frustrating.

Classics $0.99; classicsapp.com Classics does not offer content that you can’t find elsewhere, but it does offer an incredibly unique interface that helps replicate the experience of reading a hardcover book.

The Classics Collection completes the reading experience with outstanding graphics and animation. Rather than displaying a list of books, the main interface is a digital bookshelf with cover images for each of the books in the library. Tap on an image to open the book and start reading it. Even the page turns are animated. Unfortunately, like a hardcover book, there is not much else you can do. Underneath the slick graphics and animation, this is really a no-frills reading experience.

I was also attracted to the Kindle 2’s battery life. The E-ink display does not consume as much power as a backlit display. once I turned off the Whispersync feature, I found the battery lasted for well over a week or more on a single charge—I never got that kind of life from the iPhone. I also like the Kindle 2’s two gigabytes of onboard memory (compared with 512 MB on the original Kindle). It allows the Kindle 2 to hold well over 1,500 books (a veritable library). This may not seem to compare favorably with an iPhone with 16 GB of memory, but you have music, video, photos, apps, and other data occupying a lot of that space. Add all of this to the fact that only the Kindle 2 is backed by the entire Amazon store, which features over 200,000 titles (and growing every day) with many of them coming in at $9.99 or less. Most of the eBook stores on the iPhone simply cannot compete with that. Fictionwise features a number of books that are closer to $15, while Iceberg Reader is even higher. The Kindle 2 is simply the only option I considered that allowed me to instantly download almost any book I considered, including new releases. Since I purchased the Kindle 2 in February, Amazon released the Kindle App for iPhone, which I discussed in the main article. Sure, it is true that the Kindle App gives you the same access to the Amazon Kindle library, but the Kindle App is not the most robust eBook reader available. It is a shame that none of the better readers are able to access this content as well (though it should be interesting to see how Stanza and eReader evolve since they were purchased by Amazon and Barnes & Noble, respectively). In the meantime, this is exactly the functionality which the Kindle 2 offers: a fullfeatured eBook reader, along with access to the complete Amazon library. To date, nothing on the iPhone has been able to offer this combination. In the end, the biggest advantage I found to using the Kindle 2 was that it just feels like you are reading a book. Most people I know who have shied away from eBooks do so because they prefer the feel of a regular book. I also love the feel of cracking open the spine for the first time, or the scent of an old, worn book. I found that if you add one of the many covers available for the Kindle 2, it almost feels like you’re reading a book. Finally, for me at least, reading an eBook on the iPhone almost feels like I’m playing a game; reading a book on the Kindle 2 feels like… I’m reading a book!

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opers of Iceberg Reader) have partnered with Random House, Hachette, Penguin Putnam, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and Simon & Schuster, and are able to offer a uniquely contemporary selection of books. While many of the books cost as little as $5, some—such as Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell—cost as much as $20. The Iceberg Reader features advanced settings, including adjustable fonts, page flip animation, search, and notate. And its “this book” feature lets you flip to a specific page, displays additional information about the book, and more.

Iceberg is the only closed reading system to feature new releases as well as classic books. Unfortunately, the prices for some titles are high.

Iceberg Reader eBooks Price varies: $7-$20; scrollmotion.com Most closed reading systems offer classic books that are no longer subject to copyright and other restrictions. The exception to this is the Iceberg Reader system. Scrollmotion (the devel-

I was impressed by the variety and functionality of the eBook readers available for the iPhone and iPod touch. Each of these is well worth a closer look. Keep watching my blog space here at iPhone Life (iphonelife.com/blogs/doug-goldring) for a more complete look at every application featured in this article. � In addition to his contributions to iPhone Life, Doug is the editor-in-chief of Just Another Mobile Monday (justanothermobile monday.com) and an Editor at Gear Diary (geardiary.com). At his day job, Doug is an attorney for the Department of Justice, and father of three.

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Google Reader, the Undisputed RSS Champ by Patrick Jordan

espite the fact that Web apps are viewed by some as the ugly stepchild of the iPhone, my most-used app is Google Reader. It’s like Marvelous Marvin Hagler—the fantastic, undisputed middleweight boxing champion back in the 1980s—because it’s so much better than its rivals. Part of the reason it’s such a great app is that Google has regularly and lovingly tweaked it, adding niceties that make it easier to use and features that bring it ever closer to the capabilities of its desktop counterpart. Even though Google Reader is a Web app, it consistently feels zippier to work with than native RSS reader apps. Google reader is especially quick with its display of article summaries and full articles provided by RSS feeds, and when navigating between different feed folders. Google Reader’s All Items feed view (left); Reader makes it easy to add a note as you share a feed item (right). Google Reader has a number of other standout features. For example, it refreshes just the relevant section of a page when you star an item or expand out from an item’s title to its summary view. This helps speed things up. Also, it’s easy to access other Google Web apps (Gmail, Google Docs, Calendar, etc.) from Google Reader via the slender bar at the top of the screen. I also like the placement of the Refresh, Feeds, and Mark All As Read buttons at the top and the Feeds and Mark These Items As Read buttons at the bottom; it makes it easy to access these features. Finally, there is very little that you can do with a full desktop browser that you can’t do on the iPhone. All in all, Google Reader is a superb iPhone application. It’s easy to access Gmail, Google Docs, and other Google Web apps via the slender bar at the top of the screen. Google Reader and other RSS reader apps are my primary (and many days my only) source of news about the world and the topics I find most interesting, including technology, mobile tech, and the iPhone platform. Increasingly, I spend the lion’s share of my time on the iPhone, whether it be catching up with feeds at night during TV commercial breaks, before nodding off

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to sleep, or as part of a slow wake-up routine first thing in the morning. In doing so, I’ve learned a lot about the many RSS options available for the iPhone.

Other RSS solutions for the iPhone Despite my love for Google Reader, I’m interested in other RSS options and have tried out many native RSS apps. Since Google Reader is my primary RSS solution, lack of support for Google Reader is a deal-breaker for me. By support I mean full two-way Google Reader sync, not just one-time import. Some users will be satisfied with a standalone RSS app—one that is used only on the iPhone and does not synchronize with an online RSS service. For me, Google Reader support is vital. I need to be able to star items on the iPhone and know they’ll show up as starred when I check things on my desktop browser. (Starring an item places it in your “Starred Items” feed, which marks an item I want to come back and read later on.) I also need to be certain that when I “share” an item, it will appear in all the services that “pull” directly from my Shared Items page (Friendfeed for example). With all this in mind, here’s a brief rundown of a few native iPhone RSS apps that I’ve looked at. All of these are available in the iTunes App Store.

Byline $4.99; phantomfish.com Byline was the very first native RSS app I tried on the iPhone. It is among the most stable of all iPhone RSS apps— it very rarely crashes or freezes up—and it usually does what it promises it will do. It offers full two-way sync with Google Reader, allowing you to star and share items, e-mail items, and create and share notes. It also has landscape mode, an inline

RSS—Web and Native apps “RSS” (Really Simple Syndication) is a family of Web feed formats used to publish content for frequently updated blogs, news sites, and more. RSS allows content providers to automatically publish information in a standardized format, and allows readers to use RSS aggregator (a.k.a. RSS Reader) applications to subscribe to and download timely updates to their favorite Web sites and blogs. RSS is one of the best ways to deal with the information overload we face every day on the Web. Instead of visiting hundreds of sites each day, you can receive updates from those sites via RSS, scan the titles quickly, and read the ones that interest you by clicking on them. “Native apps” are programs built into the iPhone or installed on it from the iTunes App Store. “Web apps” are applications hosted on a Web site and accessed via Safari or another Web browser.

Software browser to view full posts, and an offline reading capability. Byline’s Folders View screen. I’ve used Byline off and on over many months, but never frequently. I’ve never considered it a replacement for Google Reader because of its very plain-looking UI and lack of any special features that might make common tasks easier. Finally, it’s a bit slow when opening articles—not terribly so, but enough to notice.

BoltReader $1.99; boltreader.lazytech.info BoltReader also has a plain UI with muted colors and a grayscale look in various places. Its sync routine is divided into two parts: feeds and images. The syncing process is fairly slow, but you can view folders that are already updated while syncing is in progress. BoltReader’s Folders view screen. BoltReader has a clumsy way of handling the Mark All As Read command when browsing feeds. You have to tap an options button, tap a button to mark all the items as read, select oK to a confirmation dialog, wait up to 10 seconds for a confirmation message, and tap oK again. Mark All As Read is easily the most-used command on an RSS reader—this is a bit much. There are a few other irksome things about BoltReader. First, it doesn’t remember your place when you exit and re-launch the app. For example, if you have to answer a call and then go back to the app, you end up at the default folders view. You have to go find the article you were reading and the spot where you left off. It also displays feed folders that have no new or unread items in them. This creates unnecessary clutter in your feeds listing and there is no configuration option to change this. Finally, I found that BoltReader crashed or froze up on me relatively often, and frequently during a sync operation.

Doppler $0.99; dopplerradio.net/iphone Doppler is the most solid performer of all the native RSS apps I’ve tried. It has almost never crashed or hung up during operation. It includes a fairly attractive browser that presents individual feed items well. It also has a good range of action buttons for use with feed items, located along the bottom of the screen. These allow you to share or e-mail the item, open it in Safari, share it with a note, star it, or mark it as unread.

Doppler offers a good range of settings and options. For example, you can choose to only show unread posts, not display images, and show feeds in “river of news” mode. This mode presents all feed items in one stream instead of organizing them into separate folders, which requires you to browse each folder separately. Doppler’s only real weaknesses are common to other native RSS apps; syncing is slower and overall performance is less snappy than on the Google Reader app.

Feeds $2.99; prime31.com (developer Web site does not mention program) Feeds has the most attractive interface of any of the native readers. There are options to change its default theme colors, but I’m quite happy with how it comes. Its inline browser is fast-loading and easy on the eyes. The app is fairly solid, crashing rarely, and offers you standard choices of actions you can take on a feed item (star, share, etc.). My favorite feature is that it lets you save an item to Instapaper, an excellent offline reading program for the iPhone. I also like the fact that all but one feed action item can be accessed from one of the large buttons at the bottom of the screen. I also appreciate the ability to turn off confirmations when marking all items as read (a huge plus for browsing feeds quickly) and the ability to add tags to feed items. Feeds’ in-line browser, displaying an individual article. Even though I like parts of this app, Feeds can still be improved. For example, it only displays “syncing all items” during synchronization—it needs to display a progress bar. Also, like BoltReader, it displays feed folders that contain no new or unread items—it needs to have an option that lets you turn this off. Finally, it is sometimes inaccurate. For example, it often shows a feed as having a handful of unread items when really there are none—in some cases even when the feed’s last update was months ago.

Sticking with Google Reader of the native RSS reader apps I tested, Feeds and Doppler show enough promise to keep around for a while. I hope their developers add new features and find ways to improve their performance in future versions of the programs. Until they do, I’m sticking with Google Reader. �

Patrick Jordan is an IT Consultant to SMBs in Austin, Texas. He is a husband, father to one lovely daughter, iPhone and general mobile tech geek, sports nut, and founder of the Just Another iPhone Blog site (justanotheriphoneblog.com).

An individual feed item, displayed in Doppler’s in-line browser.

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The iPhone in the Humanities and Arts by John L. Painter, MS Philosophy – The Essential Collection introduces you to the great philosophers.

What is required is not a lot of words, but effectual ones. Seneca (4BC – 65AD)

hroughout the ages, human beings have used a variety of tools and techniques to communicate and express their ideas about the human condition, and the most effective communication has always had its roots in simplicity. Enter the iPhone, an incredibly simple and easy-to-use device that is improving our lives in a variety of ways, including our access to the arts and humanities. Much of this progress is the result of a rapidly expanding number of applications that allow iPhone and iPod touch users to not only access material, but to create it. With this in mind, I’d like to introduce a few apps that embody the potential of the iPhone to support and advance the digital revolution in the arts and humanities.

The Essential Collection ($1.99) introduce the student or amateur to the thinking of great philosophers, from John Locke to my current favorite and somewhat confounding writer, Friedrich Nietzsche. I see his “the will to power” as an important concept to help us through these troubled economic times. The Essential Collection comes bundled with the iFlow reader, which works well enough. I think it would be even better if it had text-to-speech capability.

Language studies

Creating and sharing art

A variety of language translators and phrase books are available on the App Store, but Human Japanese ($9.99) offers a more thorough study of the language. It patiently walks the learner through the vocabulary, provides language exercises, and has an essential introduction to Japanese language and culture.

Excellent examples of what the iPhone is capable of are found in the impressionistic works of artist Jorge Colombo. He created his New York City-inspired cityscapes (guardian.co.uk/ theguardian/2009/mar/16/art-iphone-shortcuts) using his iPhone and an app called Brushes ($4.99). This app provides you with a set of digital painting tools and requires some skill to use effectively. Fortunately, apps like ArtCamera ($0.99) make it easier to create this type of digital painting based on a photo you’ve taken or an image you’ve imported. ArtCamera lets you apply one of 33 different filters to a photo, allowing you to mimic the style of great masters, turn color photos into black & white, create oldstyle photos, and more. A free “LITE” version of the program offers 14 filters and more limited choices for size formatting of the final work.

Human Japanese is a powerful language study program with a beautiful interface. Human Japanese not only has a beautiful interface, it’s a powerful language study program—as powerful as more expensive and less mobile desktop/laptop solutions. It shows how the iPhone is becoming more than a communication device—it’s evolving into a very capable and intelligent machine. Finally, it’s very handy to have a program like Human Japanese on your iPhone—it makes it easy to take advantage of spare moments and down time during the day to learn the language.

Plato, Locke, and Nietzsche Language study is not the only area where the iPhone is likely having an influence on the humanities. Apps like Philosophy –

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Brushes (left) and ArtCamera (middle & right) let you create art on your iPhone or iPod touch.

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What makes these apps so important in the arts is their ability to let you pause wherever you are, experience the moment for what it is, and then create an image that captures that feeling.

drawings you see are silly, but others are quite profound. The overall experience is of a collaborative, living art, exemplifying the American philosopher John Dewey’s belief that every person is capable of “living an artful life” of social interactions.

Digital scholarship and the future of the humanities In its 2006 report “our Cultural Commonwealth,” the American Council of Learned Societies found that “digital scholarship is the inevitable future of the humanities and social sciences, and digital literacy is a matter of national competitiveness and a mission that needs to be embraced.” The iPhone is certainly a part of that inevitable future. Its success is based not only on its simplicity of form and function, but its integration with human behavior.

iWallflower lets you create simple art and share it with the world. I’m also mixing art, language, and a lived philosophy with iWallflower, a free app that lets you share your drawings, doodles, etc. with iPhone users around the world. After it’s installed, launch the app and drawings from iPhone users around the world start scrolling past you. Tap on the crayon icon at the bottom of the screen to create and submit your own art. Sometimes the

All in all, it’s a very effectual tool for communicating and expressing our ideas. � John Painter lives in the state of Maine with his wife Kati, son Kelen, and mini-Schnauzer Spaulding. John is the director of community integration services for a community mental health center, and a doctoral candidate at Franklin Pierce University, with research interests in education, the humanities, and technology. He can be reached by e-mail at paintervecsey@roadrunner.com.

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Best Reference Apps Money Can Buy by Mike Riley

vast body of reference material is freely available online and can be accessed via Safari on the iPhone or iPod touch. Unfortunately, a lot of this material is optimized for desktop computers and is poorly suited to the iPhone’s smaller display and simplified user interface. Fortunately, reference applications are popular, currently accounting for over 1,300 of the programs listed in the Apps Store. Some of these require an Internet connection, but many are standalone apps that are installed with the data you need. Among these titles you’ll find traditional dictionaries, religious references, language translators, medical references, formula lists, food and drink databases, and much more. This article reviews, in no particular order, a few of the reference titles I found most impressive. All are available for the iPhone or iPod touch running verson 2.0 or later of the oS.

Oxford Deluxe—ODE & OTE with audio $59.99; Enfour.com Enfour delivers the largest dictionary/thesaurus combo available for the iPhone. It includes the complete and unabridged text for the second edition of the Oxford Dictionary of English and the Oxford Thesaurus of English. Like the printed edition, this version contains usage examples and word origins. Unlike the print edition, words can be searched for immediate look up and bookmarked for quick retrieval. In addition, a running history of the words you look up is automatically saved for quick access in the future. The app also includes 44,000 pre-recorded sound files. Everything is self-contained and no Internet connection is required. Using this reference will not only expand your vocabulary, it will give you a greater understanding and appreciation of how words relate to one another.

AA+ Geometry Study Cards $0.99; Exambusters.com ExamBusters has been around for some time, offering study cards for a variety of subjects, in printed or electronic formats for Windows PCs. They have ported 25 of their popular CD-RoMbased products to the iPhone, including AA+ Geometry Study Cards shown here. The Study Card templates are nearly the same for each subject matter, and the interface is very easy to use. I did get annoyed after a while by the slow flipping of the cards.

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Still, these collections of inexpensive electronic flashcards are great as tutorials or a quick course refresher. It’s great to have the Study Cards apps on a portable device—they’re in your pocket when you need them! Each app in udy Cards series is self-contained. the Study

HippoDict Chinese English Dictionary $14.99; Hippodict.com HippoDict is an English/Chinese dictionary that lets you explore the Chinese language and the beauty of its symbols. My daughter and I spent an enjoyable evening together looking up various words and marveling at the characters that created the words. HippoDict includes a vast reference of symbols and a clean, attractive user interface. The Pinyin reference helps with the pronunciation, but even the slightest inflection can dramatically alter the meaning of a word. The program could be improved by including audio clips to help with pronunciation. This program is self-contained, but offers one-touch Web integration that allows you to quickly access some of the best online Chinese/English resources.

Periodic Table and Chemistry Calculator $0.99; Twssworldwide.com A lot of facts, figures, and formulas are associated with chemistry, and even experts have to access a reference book now and then. This app not only gives you nearly instantaneous access to all the pertinent details about any element, it also lets you doublecheck manual calculations with its builtin calculator. The full Periodic Table is displayed in landscape view, as shown above. Unfortunately, selecting the correct element from this screen can be a little trying because the squares that represent

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them are tiny. Fortunately, elements can also be searched for by name, symbol, and atomic number. once you find the desired element, the program displays details about the element. This is a self-contained program requiring no Internet connection.

Quotationary $1.99; Someknow.com Since I discovered Quotationary, I’ve retired my copy of The Great Quotations by George Seldes. Whether you want to provoke thought, entertain, or inspire, Quotationary is a great resource. It allows you to quickly search for quotations by the author’s name, the subject discussed, or a specific phrase. You can also use the Trivia option to display random quotations. I did notice a few grammatical errors in the quotations. Also, I would have preferred that it included the date of the quotation. otherwise, Quotationary is a useful portable reference program. The developer informed me that the next version of the program will “read” the quotation back to you. It should be available by the time you read this review. Quotationary is a self-contained program that does not require an Internet connection.

CraigsHarvest $2.99; Another-roadside-attraction.com I was never a frequent user of Craigslist until this application came along. CraigsHarvest makes navigating and finding Craigslist postings a snap. It allows you to quickly locate and save preferred searches, and it has an excellent query filter that gives you very specific results. I am still not a big fan of the Craigslist.com Web site because of its minimalist design and unintentional word clutter. But CraigsHarvest makes it much easier to search, which I now do almost every day. CraigsHarvest requires an Internet connection to do the search.

the iPhone. PMP-iPrep can also use the iPhone 3G’s GPS to locate the closest Prometric Testing Center in your area. It also includes a timer that can be set to count down the number of days before the big test. The developer plans on releasing more certified exam prep references. This is a self-contained app.

iSpeak Spanish $1.99; Future-apps.net Years ago, when I got my first PDA, I imagined a day when I could speak to any person on the planet using a personal language translator. Future Apps, Inc. has nearly fulfilled that dream with its series of iSpeak language translation references, including iSpeak Spanish shown here. The user still has to peck away on the onscreen keyboard to enter the word or phrase, but iSpeak will display the translation and “speak” it accurately. Translations work in either direction (English to Spanish or Spanish to English). The output is very accurate. This is a self-contained app.

Scratching the surface In this article I briefly reviewed what I thought were some of the most impressive reference titles currently available. However, there are plenty of other notable reference titles in the App Store, including Robert Chin’s Wikipanion Plus and Paragon’s MerriamWebster’s Collegiate Dictionary. As mentioned, there are over 1,300 reference titles for the iPhone and iPod touch. This article barely scratches the surface of the solutions available to you on the iTunes App Store. � Mike Riley is an advanced computing professional specializing in emerging technologies and new development trends. He can be contacted at mike@mikeriley.com and followed on Twitter @mriley.

PMP-iPrep $3.99; Pm-iprep.com This application is the first in a series from Atrium Strategies designed to prepare a person for the Project Management Institute’s Project Management Professional (PMP) or Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM) exams. The program contains 150 electronic flashcards that can be clicked through or advanced by shaking

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COmbAT ACTiOn for your iPhone or Touch! by Nate Adcock

have played my share of video games, starting with the original Pong. I remember when Space Invaders was housed inside a cabinet that was bigger than I was. over the years, video games have not only become faster and more realistic, but the hardware that they run on can be held in your hand! I now mostly play mobile games and have a growing number of titles installed on my iPod touch. I especially love first-person shooters (FPS) and 3-D action games (usually involving combat of some type). I am amazed how handheld hardware has evolved in order to run the latest modern games. However, porting games to the iPhone has its challenges.

The iPhone's Unique Gaming Hardware Games designed for a PC are controlled by using a full keyboard, a joystick game controller, etc. There’s only one control button on the iPhone/touch, and its only function is to take you to the Home screen. However, the built-in accelerometer does allow you to tilt the device to control game action. It’s a mobile milestone that may signal the eventual end of hardware buttons and direction pads. The “no buttons” concept is very clean in terms of design, but it has some drawbacks.

picked I the following titles because they are all combat-oriented shooters (my favorite), and they do a pretty good job of making use of the iPhone’s control features and unique configuration. In all of these games, the action is great, the graphics are mostly good, and the gameplay is challenging. In one case, the action and graphics are amazing. If you like shooting things and blowing stuff up, and if zooming over an enemy target with a load of bombs is your idea of fun, you might want to give these titles a try. They sure beat Pong.

Brothers in Arms: Hour of Heroes $5.99 Gameloft.com

Hour of Heroes begins with an awesome preview sequence of the game. When the scenes first rolled, I thought I was watching a movie. The game itself is not quite as vivid as the promo, but it’s close. The animated actions and effects are smooth, and the shading is quite realistic. From plumes of smoke to an enemy being shot, the game graphics are simply amazing—the highest quality I have seen thus far on the iPhone or Touch. In addition, the sound is very realistic. You can hear your squad buddies and German Army units shouting amidst the crack of small arms fire

Games developed for, or ported over to the iPhone must make intelligent use of the accelerometer and other iPhone features. Poor control options can turn a great game into a disaster. For example, some games require you to pan or turn quickly around a corner to find an enemy, which can be a challenge to do on a device with no buttons or control pad (or via a touchy accelerometer). Soft buttons are often used instead, but provide no tactile feedback HOur Of HerOeS: Street-to-street fighting in Tunisia (left), and a deadly vehicle chase in France (right). and eat up valuable screen space, resulting in pressing a button offand the rumble of armor and artillery. center, or worse, the wrong button (when positioned too close together). Navigating through fast action sequences on a 3-D The game has the usual minor proximity issues that apply shooter can be especially frustrating due to these problems—a to this genre: Your guy is standing next to a building or large moment’s hesitation and you might end up dead meat. object, for instance, and when you turn his field of view, you

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Software Hellfire runs smoothly on the iPhone and the graphics are sharp, but the control options were better with traditional buttons. The control of the helicopter is managed via the accelerometer: tilt the iPhone/touch left, right, forward, or back to move in that direction. You can adjust the sensitivity of the game tilt; I found that higher sensitivity is better for rotate through the advanced gameplay, when you have to maneuver a lot. No wall or object, commatter what settings I used, I still found it difficult to keep pletely obscuring the chopper from moving forward, unless I practically tilted the screen. There is Hellfire: Strafing an enemy compound to free prisoners the game up to where I could barely see it. I looked for a also a problem in the (left), and dodging an incoming missile (right). tilt calibration capability, which similar games I have played game that manifests include, but found none. This allows you to set the relative by your character getstarting angle of the unit. It can be very dicey landing accurately ting stuck in certain spots. This happens especially when you’re because of the touchiness and viewing angle (i.e. when you need close to multiple barriers or objects that you must go around, to land on a small ship to drop off rescued prisoners). I crashed and will hang up a game level until you get unstuck. You can fix it by moving back and forth in various directions until you find the at least a couple of times at the end of a mission because I was exact direction that the game logic thinks is a totally clear path low on life and smacked the side of the ship. (provided you don’t get shot dead first). Moving, running, and shooting is difficult at first, but practice and familiarization will help over time. The game has plenty of control options. At times, the on-screen buttons were not responsive enough for the challenges of the gameplay. BIA takes advantage of the accelerometer which allows you to tilt to move laterally. It’s very effective for sweeping fire across a line of enemies, but it’s often too sensitive. For example, say your shooter is crouching behind a barrier for cover. A minor accidental tilt of the iPhone will cause him to stand up and start sliding right or left. This makes him an easy (and dead) target. overall, BIA is a fast-paced game with amazing graphics, features, and immersive gameplay, but I found it a challenge to control—kind of like patting your head and rubbing your belly at the same time. You move by sliding a thumb, look around by swiping, and shoot by pressing a soft button (there are configurable variations of this). It’s not easy to do all of this simultaneously and also pay attention to on-screen prompts, even when you set the game to average difficulty. It sure is fun to try, though.

Hellfire $4.99; Astraware.com

Hellfire takes you back to the cold war era, when the U.S.A. and U.S.S.R. were locked in an escalating race for military supremacy. The original Hellfire game for the Windows Mobile platform came out around 2004, and was dubbed Hellfire: Apache vs. Hind. The title is misleading—it makes it sound like an air-to-air combat game between two helicopters. It’s listed in the category of strategy games by the vendor, but most of the game involves direct combat between a helicopter you control and “bogies” controlled by the computer. (You choose to pilot either the Apache or Hind.) The original game was nicely executed and fun to play, and so is the newer version.

The iPhone version of this game adds the ability to raise and lower the altitude during flight (or they have at least added it since the original version). This is useful in some terrain or around target areas—it lets you sneak in below the terrain and do some recon before committing to your attack run. The scenery is well drawn, and the sky looks like photographs of real cloud decks. The game logic is not super sophisticated, but a good mix of mission types and challenges will keep you engaged through

Top Gun $1.99; paramount.com Top Gun, a new aerial combat shooter based on the hit movie was recently released by Paramount Digital Entertainment. While fans of the movie might appreciate the somewhat campy between-level briefing scenes, mobile gamers will certainly enjoy the nicely rendered graphics and control.

TTop Gun is more of an arcade game than a true simulator. The game is easy enough for a complete gaming novice to master quickly. The action is pretty lively, if more arcade-like than a true simulator type game. The game has a tilt calibration feature, and control of the aircraft works well. But you’re not really flying as much as simply dodging stuff while terrain moves past you. Top Gun has great background music, some of which comes from the movie. This title has all the eye-candy without the learning curve of more advanced shooters. It’s addictive and fun.

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the levels. The controls are also pretty easy to master, but the weapons selector and the firing stud could use a little more separation.

Armageddon Squadron $2.99; polarbit.com

I saw some decent reviews for this one in the App Store, and the price was low, so I figured I’d check it out. Armageddon Squadron is a decent game overall, and I warmed to it more with time. It offers a lot of play options and scenarios that are engaging. For example, gameplay is not restricted to a front aerial view. Some of the missions require you to switch to a top-down bomber view so that you can accurately place bombs on targets below. The plane’s steering is touchy, but this can be adjusted very effectively. The flight simulation graphics are decent and the dog fight sequences are the game’s best moments. The game also wins points for creating challenging scenarios—like try-

ArMAgeddOn SquAdrOn: Bogie at 12 o’clock (left), and bombing a supply factory (above). ing to bomb a moving train before it arrives at a distant depot. Some of Armageddon’s game physics could use some improvement. For example, you can’t really bounce an airplane off of a mountain in real life (most of the time, anyway). The controls are well-spaced and firing and bombing is easy to control in this game. Because of the price and the good points of the game I’ve mentioned above, I recommend it. �

A feW gAMe SeleCtiOn tipS Although I seem to be observing a positive trend in the overall quality of iPhone games, I haven’t been all that impressed with many of the titles I’ve tried. A big part of the problem may be the iPhone/touch itself. For example, I’ve found that the touch screen is sometimes not fully responsive to taps, which can be disastrous in the middle of game action. Neither device has a physical keyboard or navigation buttons, which as I previously pointed out, provide your senses with tactile feedback to help ground your fingers (no tapping a little off-center, etc.). To help you avoid similar frustrations, I offer these tips:

• Take App Store reviews with a grain of salt App Store user ratings can be a mixed bag of bias as well as honest feedback. obvious gushing over an app should be taken with a grain of salt.

• Check out game reviews on blogs and Web sites There are a ton of great blogs dedicated to reviewing games and other apps. Check out our Best Sites Web page (iphonelife.com/bestsites) for a list of some of the best.

Nate Adcock is a systems test and integration engineer with experience managing and administering a wide variety of network environments. He is a former military weather forecaster and has worked extensively with handheld computing devices for several years. In addition to working on his own hobbyist blog (natescrap. blogspot.com), he is also a regular contributor to both our Smartphone & iPhone Life blogs. You can contact Nate at natestera@gmail.com.

• Visit YouTube If you’re interested in a specific title, do a YouTube search on it. Many vendors and users are now posting videos of iPhone games in action.

• If you can, try a game before you buy it. Many developers offer “Lite” versions of their games for free. Check them out first. (Unfortunately, none of the titles reviewed in this article do.)

• Not satisfied? Contact the developer Sometimes, you have to buy an app and try it out before you know if you will like it. If you find that it was not what you expected, try e-mailing the developer—not Apple! Most vendors I have worked with will at least give you credit for the price of the game and allow you to use it to purchase another one.

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GReAT GAMeS to Entertain a 5-Year Old

by Paul Stokstad

can’t remember when the negotiations with our five yearold began, but they’ve been going on for a while now. They involve an ongoing discussion of what he’s allowed to play and how much time he can spend with our iPhone. I remember a quieter, simpler time when he was satisfied with looking over my shoulder while I played Koi Pond. But he’s older now, and sometimes talking with him is like trying to carry on a conversation while rafting down a roaring mountain stream. In the past few months, we’ve watched our son play a lot of games on the iPhone, and have come to some general conclusions about the suitability of different games for a boy his age. • Some games are initially intriguing to him—opening screens, etc.—but his level of physical coordination isn’t enough to play the game. Games in this category include Monkey Ball, Crazy Penguin, Labyrinth, and UpThere. • He can get a good start on some games, but they quickly become too difficult for him. Games like this include Topple, Ancient Frog, Trace, Jelly Car, and Maze Finger. • There are some “mental games” that he will dabble with if you sit with him. These include Word Magic and Chicktionary. • One-time joke games, including Kitty Kannon, Finger Sprint, Pocket Guitar, Light Saber, and SonicLighter are oK. He’ll toy with these for a few minutes, but then it’s on to more intriguing stuff. • He can handle some games that are oriented towards older players, but these are simply not active enough to intrigue him. Example: Zen Bound.

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Some of my son’s favorite games are (clockwise, from top left) Pocket God, Bounce, Edge, LightBike, and Archibald’s Adventures. • There are some games that he likes initially, but just doesn’t stick with, for reasons we can’t determine. These include Snowboard and Space Deadbeef. • Finally, there are what we call “gold mine games”—ones that he will play for hours (if we let him). These include Archibald’s Adventures, LightBike, Bounce, and Pocket God.

Developing mind and body We are gratified when our son likes games that help develop his mental abilities and mind-body coordination. Right now, his favorite game is Archibald’s Adventures, which requires all kinds of problem solving strategies. Now and then he comes to ask for help in getting through a difficult level, but he’s able to go quite a long way on his own. Sometimes we “brain it out” together and sometimes he just bails out on a level and moves on to another one. It’s intriguing to watch how much this game has captured my son’s attention. My son surprises me sometimes. He’ll persist with games like Jelly Car, which I think are too daunting for his age. He’ll also abandon games that he’s favored for a while, like Moto Chaser and more recently, Edge. I’m not sure whether he’s completely lost interest in these games or some shiny new game has captured his attention for a while. Right now, he’s bouncing between LightBike, Archibald’s

Software Adventures, and Digital Chocolate’s 3D Brick Breaker Revolution. old-timers will recognize the last one as a turbocharged version of Breakout, but with classier graphics. Word Magic helps our son develop spelling skills and reading comprehension. As I mentioned earlier, we’re gratified to see him playing games that help him develop mental abilities. A new find, Word Magic, is just what he needs right now for reading and spelling comprehension. We need to sit with him with this one or he loses interest quickly.

The iPhone—better than TV Games are fun, but there are other important activities in my son’s life—like eating, going to school, and bedtime. Separating my son from the iPhone can sometimes be a delicate thing. The

intense focus required by a game like Archibald’s Adventures makes a mid-level device snatch by mommy or daddy problematic—it’s one sure way to produce a grumpy son. Where possible I try to let my son finish a level on Archibald’s Adventures, or, if we are in a hurry, suggest that he play a game with a shorter task timeframe, like Pocket God. of course, outside play and other activities are also important. our challenge is to integrate this new toy into the mix of media experiences that include Mario Cart on the Wii, streamed Netflix movies, and SpongeBob on the Cartoon Channel. In addition, we have to balance all this with some necessary physical activity, including gymnastics, tennis lessons, bicycle riding, and the still popular backyard tree climbing. The truth is that we’d rather see our son playing an iPhone game than watching TV. Games engage the mind more and help improve mind-body coordination. In addition, it gives the parents time to finish some adult projects. � Paul Stokstad (stokstad.com) does Web marketing stuff when he is not playing tennis or dreaming of his first novel. See also his iPhone/iPod kid games blog (iphonelife.com/paul.stokstad).

Show your iPhone product to the world! Advertising in iPhone Life is easy, affordable, and effective Contact me today and we'll discuss your options! Marge Enright Advertising Specialist Direct: 1-641-472-9962 Mobile: 1-641-233-1015 marge@iphonelife.com

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Winning and Losing Virtual Fortunes on the iPhone by Timothy Prentiss

ven with the bad economy, I’ve made over $300,000 since the beginning of the year! Unfortunately, these are virtual dollars, not real ones. I’ve amassed this fortune playing Texas Hold ‘Em ($4.99) and Virtual Pool ($1.99) on my Apple iPhone.

the ball you’re aiming it at, and you have to develop a “feel” for how hard or soft you have to hit it. You don’t win at your local pool hall by simply flicking your thumb over your phone—you have to figure out how to wield that cue stick!

Texas Hold ‘em Texas Hold ‘Em is Apple’s version of the popular poker variant. It includes near-lifelike videos of each player’s tics and tells as they decide whether to call, raise, or fold. Unfortunately, after playing with the same dozen or so characters, I still have no consistent feeling for who’s bluffing. Virtual Pool’s graphics and gameplay are better than the look of the players’ bio boxes.

Darla (left) and Bubba (middle) are some of the characters you’ll meet in Apple’s Texas Hold ‘Em. The table view (right) shows the status of all the players. Try not to let your emotions—positive or negative—control you. For example, I don’t seem to try as hard when I’m playing “Darla,” the sexy cowgirl. It’s kind of fun watching her shimmy with joy when she wins a hand (even if it’s my money). Also, I’ve developed a deep dislike for “Bubba” and will bet on questionable cards in the hopes of crushing him and watching him do his loser ritual—he smells his armpits every time he loses. He smirks when he wins, and unfortunately, he gets the better of me too often.

After you finish a game, Curly the pool hustler congratulates you and holds up a roll of bills to tempt you to the next level. The game includes six different pool halls and 121 opponents. The further you go, the more skilled the challengers and the more difficult the games. Eventually, you’ll meet the masters and lose your bankroll. At that point, you might have to rely on the kindness of strangers and borrow money from “an anonymous donor” to get into the next game. You can also delete yourself from the game, create a new persona, and start all over again. Eventually, you get a feel for the different pool halls and the skill level of opponents, and make your game choices accordingly. For example, I built up a bundle of winnings, but lost them to a quiet lady who calls herself Slow Roll. Her game is all about cue control—she pulls off amazing shots into surprising pockets, with the cue ball ending up perfectly positioned for the next ball in line. After losing to her, I dropped down to some easier tables where I could beat the likes of The Hammer and Chimpie in $5,000-15,000 matches. I’m building up my pile of winnings so that I can take on Slow Roll again. I just hope she makes a miscalculation on one of those bank shots.

The key to winning these multi-player games (with yourself as the only real person) is to know when to make your move. Unfortunately, if your timing’s off, you have to be prepared to go home with your virtual tail tucked between your legs.

Your playing style may change as you gain experience and play in the more challenging pool halls. For example, I began my career by hitting the cue ball as hard as I could every time, hoping for good things to happen. Now, my technique is a little smoother, and I’m winning matches more consistently.

Virtual Pool

Virtual Pool is impressive in its realism. Everything from the reflections on the shiny billiard balls to the clack of the balls when they hit each other rings true to life. I hope future upgrades include the ability to replay your most recent shot. Replays of short portions of the last shot are sometimes played when the phone is slightly bumped, so it seems possible. Reliving that

Virtual Pool is a great 3D pool simulation that’s available for a variety of platforms, now including the iPhone/iPod touch. Although it’s pretty easy to get started, you still have to get used to the look of the table. The cue ball always appears slightly larger than

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fabulous winning shot—or trying to figure out how in the world your opponent beat you like that—would add to the undeniable fun of this game.

Imagine Poker Touch I also played with Imagine Poker Touch, a crazy game that lets you play Texas Hold ‘Em with Lincoln, Napoleon, Mona Lisa, Little Red Riding Hood, and other historical or fictional characters. You compete as one of the initially-unlocked characters, with a stake of $200. When you beat the players at one table, which isn’t always that easy, you move on to another.

The constantly-panning camera, which swings quickly from one player to the next, can be dizzying, and the table talk isn’t worth listening to. (Napoleon sounds a bit like Inspector Clouseau.) one frustration for me is that I couldn’t build up a bankroll playing Imagine Poker. You only win money if you conquer all the players at a table, which seems fair enough. But even if you’ve won at two venues and lose at the third (Dracula’s castle), you’re totally broke and have to start all over again. I haven’t had the patience to see how much you can win. All things considered, I prefer the tables at Apple’s Texas Hold ‘Em, where I win money around 25 percent of the time. My quarter-million in virtual winnings doesn’t come close to the $20 million I’ve “won” at Tiger Woods Golf on my PC, but it makes the train ride to work pass just a bit more quickly. � Timothy Prentiss creates Web-based training that uses text, animation, and narration for a multimedia learning experience. In his spare time, Tim enjoys playing golf, guitar, and playing in the garden. You can visit his Web site at stayhomecollege.com or e-mail Tim at tim@ stayhomecollege.com.

Imagine Poker Touch gives players a chance to compete as Napoleon (left) and other historical or fictional characters. Playing Texas Hold ‘Em in overhead table viewing mode (right) speeds up play—you don’t have to wait for the animation of each player thinking and playing their cards. Then you can switch to the regular viewing mode when you’re in the final three, to see if you can catch any of the characters’ tells.

Combining the addictive and easy-to-learn gameplay of a tower defense game with story, RPG elements, and immersive game world, Defender Chronicles delivers a brand new gaming experience like nothing you have played before! “A breath of Fresh Air!”

- TouchMyApps

“Perfect blend of gameplay and experience” - AppGamer

www.defenderchronicles.com

Accessories

CTIA 2009 Quality, Not Quantity

CTIA 2009 had fewer vendors on the show floor, but plenty of quality accessories and apps were on display.

by Noah Ouellette

your cellular reception and deliver better voice and data coverage for iPhone users on the road. It comes with everything you need to set it up.

f the CTIA 2009 wireless show had an underlying theme, it would be “Quality, Not Quantity.” Let me explain… In 2008, the show was much larger and more glamorous, with runway models showing off the latest cell phones and exciting press-only events. Last year, the show floor was packed with vendors. This year, with the economy in turmoil, it seemed that the only developers there were the ones who were willing to shell out a part of their diminished marketing budget to promote quality products they really believed in! Case maker otterBox and iPhone engraver Coveroo were there, along with other vendors who were showing off quality accessories for the iPhone and iPod touch. In addition, a number of iPhone app developers were at the show. Most significant among the apps I saw were photo-sharing solutions that make it easier and more enjoyable to share precious images with family and friends.

invisibleSHIELD Front only: $14.95, Back only: $18.95; Full body: $24.95; zagg.com This clear and durable film protects your iPhone 3G from unsightly scratches. It was originally developed for the military and was used to protect

Coveroo

devices. You can select the artwork from the Coveroo site or send them your own custom design. They use a high-quality laser engraving process to reproduce the image—in black & white or color—on a replacement for the back cover of your device. The image won’t fade, peel, or rub off. You can choose images from your favorite movie, band, TV show, sports team, and more.

Standard image: $39.95 to $54.95; High-color image: $44.95 to $59.95; coveroo.com

iBooster

Coveroo adds personalized artwork or text to the back of your iPhone, iPod touch, and a wide variety of other mobile

iBooster is an in-vehicle, plug-andplay amplifier kit designed to improve

> Accessories

$279.95; wilsonelectronics.com

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high-speed helicopter blades from flying debris. The precision pre-cut film applies directly to your iPhone 3G, helping to keep the case and display in pristine condition.

ProClip Adjustable Holder $79.99; proclipusa.com The ProClip Adjustable Holder allows you to mount your iPhone conveniently on your vehicle’s dashboard within easy reach. The mount includes a pass-through connector that allows you to at-

Accessories tach any compatible cable to the iPhone. Using this connector and the appropriate cable, you can enable the following functionality: audio output, playlist control (forward, backward, play, pause, etc.), charging, USB data sync, composite video, and accessory power output.

“friends” list of people whose pictures you like. New features are added frequently—check it out!

> Apps

Phanfare is another photo-sharing Web site that lets you store your photos and videos online, and access them wherever you are. Their Photon app lets you take photos with your iPhone and upload them wirelessly to your Phanfare account. You can create albums, add captions, write album descriptions, and share your photos and videos with friends and family.

SnapMyLife Free; snapmylife.com The SnapMyLife app for the iPhone lets you take pictures and share them with family or friends via the SnapMyLife photo site. You can share your day in photos, keep up with friends or family, or check out someone’s life on the other side of the world. Post a photo, comment on pictures, or make a

Phanfare Photon Free or premium for $54.95 per year; phanfare.com

Shortcovers Free app (price for individual eBooks, etc. varies); shortcovers.com

This app lets you access the Shortcovers Web site and build your own digital library by choosing from thousands of bestselling books, chapters, news and magazine articles, short stories, blog posts, and more.

More functional; more fun! With the economy in turmoil, iPhone developers are focusing their attention and resources on the products they really believe in. These accessories and apps will help make your Apple device more functional and more enjoyable to use. Have some fun customizing your iPhone or iPod touch—I certainly do! � Noah Ouellette writes and blogs about new and exciting products for the iPhone and iPod touch. His other responsibilities at iPhone Life include Digital Design and Website Administration at iPhoneLife. com. noah@iphonelife.com

arphon Earphon Accessories

Which

re Right for You? AAre

pple may have a great track record when it comes to earning design awards for their products, but the s that are included with every iPhone are not the most innovative. My experience is that they don’t fit very well and the sound quality is mediocre. Because of this, one of the first accessories that you should buy for your iPhone is a pair of earphones. Fortunately, many excellent alternatives are available from third-party vendors. Like the earphones that shipped with the iPhone, they include the built-in microphone and one-push button to control your music. This review evaluates six products using the following criteria:

Sound Quality: Probably the most important factor when selecting earphones. Comfort/Fit: A close second to sound quality; if the earphones don’t fit comfortably in your ear, you won’t want to use them.

by Omar Correa

Included Extras: Does the product ship with spare/replacement ear tips, adapters, and a carrying case? Not all companies provide these extras. Price: What price range are you comfortable with? Note that higher price does not always mean better quality. In addition to these criteria, I’ve divided the products into two categories: high-end & consumer-based. High-end earphones tend to be more expensive and are marketed to music professionals and audiophiles. Consumer-based earphones are less expensive and are

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nes

eted to the general consumer. Both high-end and consumermarketed mark based earphones can have excellent audio quality.

High-end earphones Shure SE420

Accessories

rice: The SE420 is priced at $399, making it the most Price: xpensive set of earphones in this review. The optional Music expensive Phone Adapter cable (MPA-3C) with mic and one-push button costs an additional $50.

Etymotic hf2 Etymotic.com Sound Quality: These high-fidelity, noise-isolating earphones produce excellent sound. Although there isn’t as much thump in the Bass, the crystal clear highs and mids more than make up for it. Comfort/Fit: The hf2s had the most comfortable fit out of all the high-end earphones. They don’t have much bulk to them and the flanged tips fit snugly inside your ear, isolating the audio from the sounds of the outside world. Included Extras: z Soft storage pouch z Filter changing tool with extra filters z Triple flange ear tips (large & medium) z Foam ear tips (2 shapes) Price: The Etymotic hf2s are priced at $180. They are available in black and ruby red and can be purchased on the vendor’s Web site (Etymotic.com).

Shure.com

Ultimate Ears SuperFi 5vi

Sound Quality: Produced by what Shure calls “Dual TruAcoustic MicroSpeakers,” the sound quality on these isolating earphones is outstanding. The SE420 has a dedicated tweeter and woofer to produce solid mids, great highs, and good bass. It’s no wonder that Shure is one of the leaders in professional audio products for musicians.

UltimateEars.com

Comfort/Fit: The SE420s are the only pair in the bunch that you have to wear with the wire hanging over your ear, which may be uncomfortable for some. The main body of the earphone is rather large, but they come with three different styles of earphone tips for the right fit. Included Extras: z one 3-foot extension cable. (The earphones themselves have a 1.5-foot cable attached to them, so you can attach this 3-foot cable to the end of it to give you a 4.5-foot cable. You can also purchase an additional Music Phone Adapter cable, which includes a built-in mic and control button.) z Airline audio output adaptor z Volume control adaptor z 1/4” plug adaptor z Flex ear tips (small, medium, & large) z Foam ear tips (small, medium, & large) z Triple flange tips (one universal pair) z Zipper carrying case (can carry most of these extras)

Sound Quality: Ultimate Ears is another company that specializes in earphones for music professionals, and their SuperFi 5vi produces crisp and clean mids and highs, and just enough bass to make hip hop music enjoyable to listen to. Comfort/Fit: These earphones are customizable, allowing you to wear them with the wire down for casual use or over the ear for active use. The earphones come with silicon tips in 3 different sizes. In addition, they ship with two Comply foam tips, which help create a comfortable, noise isolating experience. Included Extras: z Silicon tips (small, medium, & large) z 2 Comply foam tips z Hard plastic carrying case z Cleaning tool Price: SuperFi 5vi is priced at $190 and is available in a liquid silver color only. It can be purchased directly from the vendor’s Web site (UltimateEars.com).

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Consumer-based earphones V-Moda Vibe II V-Moda.com Sound Quality: Even though it’s small in size, the Vibe II has good sound quality and very solid bass. It features what V-Moda calls BLISS (Bass Level Isolating Soft Silicone) noise isolation, which reduces outside noise and enables deep bass. These earphones produced very full audio and the overall listening experience was good. Comfort/Fit: Vibe II comes with four different sized tips, which makes it easy for the listener to find the right fit. The actual body of the earphone is lightweight and small, allowing it to tuck snuggly and comfortably into your ear. Vibe II ships with “sport earhooks,” which are supposed to allow you to use the earphones during exercise and other activities. I didn’t find these earhooks very comfortable or useful. Included Extras: z 4 pairs of black silicon tips (extra small, small, medium, & large) z 4 pairs of white silicon tips (extra small, small, medium, & large) z Sport earhooks z Leather carrying pouch z V-Moda VIP card for special offers and events Price: At $120, the Vibe II is the most expensive consumerbased product reviewed in this article. They can be purchased directly from the vendor’s Web site (V-Moda.com) and are available in two styles: Nero or Chrome Rouge. They’re handcrafted from stainless steel alloy with durable fabric cables. They look like a piece of fashionable jewelry.

Zagg Z.Buds Zagg.com Sound Quality: The Z.Buds produce rich sound and have adequate bass. I had to use the triple flange tips to experience good quality sound; the other tips didn’t isolate the sound very well. Comfort/Fit: These earphones are a little longer than the others in this article and it was difficult to fit them snugly in my ear canal. They worked well when outfitted with the triple flanged tips, but the other tips did not stay in my ear very well. Included Extras: z Fabric carrying bag z Triple flanged tips (one pair) z White silicone tips (small, medium, & large) z Hard cone shaped foam tips (medium, & large)

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Price: The Z.Buds are available in black, red, yellow, and pink colors and are priced at $80. They can be purchased on the vendor’s Web site (Zagg.com). The Z.Buds were the most innovative earphones of the bunch. They utilize a unique system of multiple sliders for better cord management and also have a fabric cord similar to the Vibe II, which reduces tangling. They also feature in-line volume control, which was missing from the other earphones in this article. (In-line volume control can be added to the Shure SE420 via the optional Music Phone Adapter cable—see review on previous page.)

Radius Atomic Bass RadiusEarphones.com Sound Quality: This product definitely lives up to its name— it has the deepest and clearest bass of all the consumer-based earphones reviewed. The mids were strong and the highs adequate. Comfort/Fit: Atomic Bass were the most comfortable earphones I reviewed, including the high-end contenders. They can be inserted into the ear from many possible angles, and the bulbous sound chamber responsible for the quality bass also allows for a snug fit in your ear canal. Included Extras: z Silicon tips (small, medium, & large) Price: The Atomic Bass earphones are available in black, pink, red, and silver aluminum and are priced at $50. They can be purchased directly from the vendor’s Web site (RadiusEarphones.com). Even though they don’t include a lot of extras, their unique style and comfortable fit make them one of my favorite earphones. �

Download FRee iPhone Life App from the App Store

iPhone/iPod touch, 24/7

iPhonelife.com

Accessories

by Omar Correa

BATTle of the STANDS Xtand vs. Podium A A

t first glance, the Just-Mobile Xtand and the Pivotal Podium seem like similar products. Both have an attractive, modern look to them and both serve the same purpose— to hold your iPhone securely, allowing you to view and access the screen while you’re sitting at a table or desk. However, there are some subtle and significant differences between these two contenders. Let’s go 12 rounds with them and discuss these differences blow by blow.

Round 1: Packaging Most people say they don’t care about the packaging of a product, but marketing research indicates otherwise. This is especially true of Apple fans, some of whom have been known to save the packaging for every Mac they’ve ever owned. The Xtand takes this first round with its attractive iPhone-styled black box. The Podium comes in a plastic blister pack with a hologram graphic on the front; for $68 I expected something a little nicer.

>> Winner: Xtand

Round 2: Stability Xtand: 4 oz. Podium: 16 oz. These products are designed to be used on a table, and a little extra weight increases their stability. The Podium wins this round; it

feels more sturdy and stable than its light-weight counterpart.

>> Winner: Podium

Round 3: Surface grip The majority of people will be using these stands on their desk, and some of those desks will have a glass top or a nice finish to them, so it’s important to know which of these stands is least likely to scratch up the surface. Both have rubber pads on the bottom to prevent this. However, the Xtand has two thin pads (which were crooked on my unit), whereas the Podium has a larger nonmarring pad that encircles the entire bottom of the base.

Winner: Podium

Round 4: Adjustability You can adjust the Xtand and slide the cradle that holds the iPhone up or down about an inch, but that’s all. The Podium, on the other hand, lets you swivel your iPhone in almost any direction. If your needs are simple and you don’t need the adjustment flexibility, the Xtand will probably suffice. But if you plan on using a stand in different locations and need to fine-tune the viewing angle, the Podium is the clear winner.

>> Winner: Podium

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Just-Mobile Xtand >> xtand.net Pivotal Podium >> podiumrevolution.com

Round 9: Rotation

Round 5: Cradle Each of these products has a base that rests on the desk and a cradle that holds your iPhone. The Xtand’s cradle has four simple rubber corner pieces that hold the iPhone in place. The Podium has three soft snap-over molded fingers which grip onto your iPhone securely without scratching the chrome-beveled edge. Both cradles do the trick, but I feel safer putting my phone in the Podium.

>> Winner: Podium

Round 6: Material and appearance The Xtand is crafted from solid, light-weight, brushed aluminum, which matches most of Apple’s newest line-up of Macs. The Podium comes in two options, both of which have cradles made of durable ABS polymer. The “Platinum” version has a base made of solid steel with a polished nickel chrome finish; the “Pearl” version is made of solid steel but coated to give it the appearance of pearl. Too much personal preference is involved in judging this round, so I’m awarding a tie.

>> Winner: Tie

Round 7: Adaptability The Xtand ships with two sets of cradle tips—one set for the first generation iPhone and one for the iPhone 3G. All you have to do is swap these rubber tips and you can use the Xtand with either device. The Podium is less adaptable—the Pearl version is only available for the iPhone 3G, while the Platinum version is available in two models: one for the original iPhone and one for the 3G.

It’s relatively easy to rotate your iPhone from portrait to landscape viewing mode (and back again) on both of these stands. (Don’t over-tighten the thumb screw holding the Xtand cradle—you might have a tough time loosening it.)

>> Winner: Tie

Round 10: Size Toe to toe, these two stands are almost the exact same size. The base on the Podium is a little wider and thicker but not by much.

>> Winner: Tie

Round 11: Durability The chrome nickel-plated base on the Podium looks really sharp, but I suspect that after some time, it would start to show some wear and tear, similar to the chromeplated back of the iPod touch or iPod Classic. The brushed aluminum finish on the Xtand is probably more durable and less likely to scratch up. Time will tell, but I’m giving this round to the Xtand.

>> Winner: Xtand

Round 12: Price

>> Winner: Xtand

Price is probably one of the biggest factors in your purchasing decision. The Xtand is available from many online retailers for around $40; the Podium is sold exclusively on Pivotal’s Web site for $68. For many consumers in the current economy, it wouldn’t matter if the Podium won every other round of this match up; they’re probably going to go with the less expensive Xtand.

Round 8: Cable management

>> Winner: Xtand

Since your stand doubles as a dock, you’ll most likely want to sync and/ or charge your iPhone from time to time. Both stands come with iMaclike bases with cut-outs that let you pass your sync cable through.

And the overall winner is…

>> Winner: Tie

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The final score: The Podium wins four rounds, the Xtand wins four rounds, and they tie four rounds. What I haven’t attempted to do is weigh the importance of each round. For example, price (round 12) may be far more important to you than size (round 10). Go back through the rounds, check the ones that are most important to you, and pick your personal winner. Both of these contenders are impressive. �

Web

Great Internet-Based Apps Amazon’s new Kindle app, Skype for iPhone, and more. by Jim Karpen

y favorite iPhone apps continue to be those that let me conveniently access Internet content or take advantage of Internet-related services. Fortunately, most of the major players on the Internet are releasing iPhone apps, including Amazon’s Kindle, Skype, the Pandora music service, Facebook, and Google Earth. Best of all, they’re free. This column will give you a quick look at some of the best of these apps.

Kindle for the iPhone lets you read eBooks purchased on Amazon’s Kindle eBook store.

Amazon’s Kindle app for iPhone one of the big surprises of the past couple years has been the popularity of Amazon’s Kindle eBook reader. Serious readers love it, but at around $350 it’s a bit pricey. So I was thrilled when in early March Amazon released a free iPhone app that lets you

read any of the 240,000 titles you purchase from the Kindle eBook store. Quickly, Kindle for iPhone received hundreds of reviews, with most of them giving it four or five stars. one of the best features is Whispersync, which “remembers” where you left off reading and takes you back to that spot, even if you open the Kindle eBook on another device. You can also enlarge the text and add bookmarks, and unlike the Kindle itself, which is limited to displaying grayscale, the iPhone app will display color. If the eBook you purchase was created with color text, graphs, or images, these will appear in color on your iPhone. There are some important features we would like to see added to the app. Unlike the Kindle, which allows you to shop for books directly from the device, iPhone users cannot shop from within the app—they must use their Web browser. Also missing from the app is the ability to search. In addition, you can only use the app to read books; although newspapers and magazines are available for the Kindle, they cannot be read with the iPhone app. Finally, one sore point for many readers is that the app does not have a landscape viewing mode. Hopefully, many of these shortcomings will be addressed in the next version of the app.

The process of getting books on your iPhone is nearly as seamless as getting content from the iTunes store. You simply go to the Kindle store on Amazon via your Web browser, purchase a book or click the button requesting a free sample, and then the book or sample automatically downloads to your iPhone via your phone’s data connection. (You may need to tap the refresh button in the Kindle app to have the title appear.) Amazon recommends that you order your books or sample chapters via your Mac or PC, but it is possible to order them via Safari on your iPhone. Current bestsellers are typically priced at $10, which is a good discount over the hardcover version.

1.5 million free eBooks from Google Speaking of books, the 1.5 million public domain books available on Google Book Search are now also available for the iPhone. Simply point your Safari at books.google. com/m and tap More. That’s a lot of books, but being in the public domain means that they were published decades ago. The reference works and nonfiction are not up to date, which may render them useless. But if you like the timeless works of Arthur Conan Doyle and Mark Twain, or the works of the great phi-

Classic novels such as Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson are available for free on Google in special mobile editions. losophers of the past, you can now have them in the palm of your hand for free.

Skype Skype is the most popular application available for making free computer-to-computer phone calls. It also offers very low-cost calling plans that let you make calls from your computer to landlines and mobile phones. It also has great instant messaging and file-transfer features. Skype was released for the iPhone and iPod touch in late March. Unfortunately, Apple limits Skype and other Voice over IP apps to Wi-Fi connections—you can’t use it with a cellular data connection. Still, if you’re close to a Wi-Fi hotspot, you can use Skype’s iPhone app instead of your voice minutes. And if you have an iPod touch, you’re

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Web use it to chat, view photos, monitor your friends’ status updates, and upload photos to your Facebook account.

Google earth

Skype on the iPhone lets you place calls and IM over a Wi-Fi connection. now able to make calls. Skype takes advantage of the iPhone’s ability to use filters to sort contacts. You can chat and take a photo from within Skype to use as an avatar image. During Skype calls, you can mute the call, put it on hold, or put it on the speakerphone.

Google Earth is the second title on the list of all-time top 20 free apps. Like the desktop version, this app uses satellite and aerial imagery to let you explore the Earth. It also offers information about particular locations, including panoramic pictures and Wikipedia articles, giving you an idea of what those locations look like and offering more info about them.

Facebook As I’m writing this, Apple is hosting a countdown to the 1 billionth download from the App Store. In honor of the occasion, they have posted a list of the all-time top 20 paid apps and free apps. At the top of the free apps list is Facebook, which was released early on in July of 2008 and currently has thousands of enthusiastic reviews. You can

tion and skips to the next. (You’re limited to six “skips” per hour.) Clicking thumbs up lets Pandora know that you like this type of song and allows Pandora to further refine your selection profile to better suit your tastes. Pandora works best over Wi-Fi, but you can adjust the quality so that it works well on a 3G or EDGE cellular data connection. (I find it works remarkably well over EDGE.)

Create your own Internet radio station with Pandora Radio.

Pandora Radio

Google Earth uses satellite and aerial imagery to let you explore the Earth.

Chat, view photos, monitor your friends’ status updates, and more with Facebook.

one neat feature unique to the iPhone and iPod touch is that you can use the iPhone/Touch accelerometer to move around. And to zoom out and in, you use the same sort of pinching and fingerspreading gestures that you use in Safari.

Earlier this year the app also added a “Places” layer that is similar to the one on the desktop version of the program, but specifically tailored to the iPhone’s screen. When you go to a location, Places are marked by an icon. Tapping on the icon brings up a details page that includes articles, photos, and videos, all of which you can view without leaving the application. You can also use the Location feature to simulate the experience of zooming over the surface of the earth to your current location. Also included is Google’s Local Search, which lets you search for cities, places, and businesses.

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This iPhone app makes it easy to access the hugely popular Pandora Internet radio site. once installed, open the app and create a Pandora account. (If you’ve already created an account on your desktop computer, you can log into it via your iPhone.) Then, simply tell Pandora your favorite song, recording artist, or composer. Pandora scans its database for similar music, based on a wide variety of attributes identified by the Music Genome Project (pandora.com/corporate/ mgp). It uses this information to create a personalized “station” based on your favorite song. This station streams similar music to you. Pandora Radio was released in July of last year and is in third place in the all-time top 20 list of free apps. As each song plays, you have the option of clicking a thumbs up or thumbs down icon. Clicking thumbs down immediately ends that selec-

The Weather Channel app gives you forecasts, weather alerts, in-motion radar maps, and more.

The Weather Channel This one is also on the top 20 list of free apps. The Weather Channel is rich with features, including location-based conditions and forecasts, in-motion radar maps, traffic cams (for selected areas), weather alerts, video forecasts, and the ability to customize the features and store your favorite locations.

AccuWeather.com Released earlier this year, AccuWeather also has a solid range of features. It automatically determines your location and offers an array of weather forecasts and other information. Features include animated radar and satellite info, 5-day local forecasts, hour-byhour forecasts, weather videos, health weather indices

Web and a thesaurus with 80,000 synonyms. No Internet connection is required for the dictionary and thesaurus content, all of which is installed on your iPhone or iPod touch. However, all that content occupies a big chunk of memory. After I installed it on my iPhone, my free memory was reduced by about 240 MB. The app includes audio pronunciations, similarly spelled words, and AccuWeather gives you an array of weather forecasts and other info. (air quality, a flu index, etc.), graphs that show the probability of severe weather over the next eight hours, and weather alarms.

Dictionary.com is an app that puts the complete contents of a dictionary on your iPhone so you can look up spellings, definitions, synonyms, and more.

Dictionary.com This one is a dictionary app with spelling and definitions for more than 275,000 words

Word of the Day. Note that you do need to be connected to the Internet to use these last three features. As this article shows, some of the best apps available have a strong Internet component to them. It’s great to see the strong support major Internet Web sites and services are providing to iPhone and iPod touch users. �

Jim Karpen Ph.D. is on faculty at Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa. He has been interested in the revolutionary consequences of computer technology ever since writing his Ph.D. dissertation–a study of the “digitized word” that anticipated the Internet revolution. He has been writing regularly about the Internet since 1994. His Web site, www.jimkarpen.com, contains selected Internet columns written monthly for the Iowa Source magazine. jim_karpen@iphonelife.com.

i Phone Li f e S um m e r 2009 Vol. 1, N o .3

People

backpacking through

africa

Cellular networks were widespread in northwest Africa, but data service was harder to find. by Martin Hash

S M A RT P H O N E magazineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s iPho ne Life Vol. 1, No. 3

People

We’re Empty Nesters, and with the economy We’re caving in and nothing else to do, my wife Gwynne and I decided to backpack through Africa. We couldn’t take much with us, but I did have room for my laptop and

iPhone.

I needed them to feed a serious Internet habit I had developed, but when I checked into data connections via satellite uplinks I was shocked—$3,000 per 100 megabytes seemed a little steep. I used a bandwidth measurement tool to see what kind of usage I’d need, and found that 100 megabytes was good for about one day’s worth of serious browsing. A satellite connection was out—I wondered if 3G was available anywhere in Africa. You’ll want to install a measurement conversion utility on your iPhone before beginning your travels. Fortunately, a number of these are available on the iTunes App Store. I use iConvert to convert to and from metric. I also enjoy converting to and from the hundreds of units of measurement that I’ve never heard of before. Do you know how many “Imperial Yards” are in a mile? I do.

Flying into Africa

A mud mosque in Djenne, Mali

The first leg of our trip took us to Gatwick Airport in Great Britain. Both 3G and Wi-Fi were available there, but the local Wi-Fi is expensive. Next, we flew to British Gibraltar and caught a ferry from a nearby Spanish port across the straits to Morocco. 3G was available on Gibraltar and in the Spanish port, but there was no service during the ferry ride across the straits. Although part of Africa, Morocco seems much more like a Middle Eastern country with its mosques, morning prayers, and other trappings of Islamic culture.

Me Tarzan, you Jane! Be sure to bring iConvert or another conversion utility with you when you travel.

It seems that I can hardly have a conversation without pulling out my iPhone to fact-check someone’s trivia. We were riding on a bus in Morocco and struck up a conversation with a movie buff who mentioned that there was a nude scene in one of the early Tarzan movies. Since we had a 3G connection, I quickly Googled “Tarzan Jane nude” and a YouTube link popped up. Right there

S MARTP HO NE m a ga zine ’s i Phone Li f e Vol. 1, N o .3

People on the bus we watched the three minute underwater swimming sequence that was eventually cut from the 1934 Tarzan and His Mate. (Maureen o’Sullivan played Jane in that movie, but olympic swimmer Josephine McKim doubled for her in the swimming sequence.) A deleted underwater sequence from Tarzan and His Mate can be viewed using the YouTube app.

Next door to Mauritania and extending below it is Mali, which also has cell coverage but no data service. Fortunately, there were plenty of Internet cafés. Mali is the first African country that met some of my preconceptions about the continent. It’s all bustle, with thousands of people riding

We stopped in the parking lot of a shopping mall in Rabat, the capital of Morocco. I noticed the adjacent 3G tower and was online in a flash. I Googled a question from a fellow traveler (What year was the UN Secretary General killed in a suspicious plane crash? Answer: 1961). I read my e-mails (family feud in progress back home; I called home to smooth things over and sent a couple of followup e-mails). I needed a map of Mali’s capital city of Bamako (our next stop). Finally, for obvious reasons, I looked up the Berber word for “toilet” (“yup”). A note about Maps on the iPhone: It’s a kick to use this app in a foreign city or country, especially Africa, but I found that the Find Location function only worked well if a 3G data connection was available. If you connected to a Wi-Fi hotspot, you didn’t always get accurate results. I presume that this is because many of the Wi-Fi providers are using pirated IP addresses.

Brother, can you spare a charge? We spent two nights in a motel in Casablanca and recharged all of our mobile devices. All other nights were spent at one campground or another, in a tent or under the stars. our primary consideration for the campgrounds was whether or not it had electrical outlets. Many of the backpackers we met had iPods, and it was not uncommon to simply plug your device into the closest charger, no matter who it belonged to. I’d also charge my iPhone from the USB port of my laptop. We had technical difficulties in the Western Sahara and I was offline for three days. There was coverage in the area (I could see the cell towers), and a couple of service providers were listed on the iPhone’s Carriers screen. one of these providers clearly indicated that it provided 3G data capability, but every time I tried to connect, I’d get a “restricted service” message. After going without service for a few days, I contacted AT&T through a local Internet café. They told me to reboot the iPhone and that fixed the problem.

Cell phone coverage good; data service not so much our next destination was Mauritania, a poor, bleak, windswept country with excellent cell phone coverage but no data service. I heard there were Internet cafés, but we never found one. There’s hardly any food there, either, so you might want to skip it if you visit Africa.

We spent most of our nights at campgrounds with other travelers, sharing electrical outlets and power converters. bicycles, crazy traffic, and beautifully dressed women carrying enormous packages on their heads. We also visited Timbuktu, which is located in central Mali along the Niger River. We spent three days in a large, roughhewed wooden canoe traveling up the river to the city. It was strange to see grass huts along the river, sporting beat-up TV antennas tied to crooked poles. We stopped a couple of times, and I got a closer look at how they powered their appliances. one hut has a bank of solar panels charging an old car battery, which in turn powered the TV. Everything was connected with a hodgepodge of cables and adapters. A cute young girl from one of the huts sold us some freshly caught fish. She took a picture of me with her cell phone; I smiled! Then I took a picture of her with my iPhone; she smiled! All in all, cell phone coverage in Africa is pretty good. With the exception of some mountain passes, the only place I experienced poor coverage is in the Dogon Valley in Mali. Fortunately, the valley’s majestic beauty and the fantasy-like nature of the villages and people occupy your attention. We hiked 40 kilometers through the valley, up and down secretive passages. Still, it was a pleasure to break out the iPhone again when we got out of the valley. Below Mali is the small nation of Burkina Faso, supposedly one of the poorest nations on earth. It also had a cellular phone

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People network, but no data service. We were encouraged by our visit to its capital, ouagadougou. We saw plenty of commerce, beautiful landscapplent ing, and an active people filled with ing optimism. There was free Wi-Fi at the campground where w we stayed.

Ghana’s dark history our next stop was Ghana, a country formally known as the “Gold Coast” by European colonists. Starting with the Portuguese in 1530, vast riches

Ghana has excellent cell phone coverage that includes data service but no 3G. There’s a service provider war going on in Ghana: MTN, tiGo, Zain, and Vodaphone are climbing all over each other to attract new subscribers. When I’m traveling, Maps is one of my most-used iPhone apps. Unfortunately, it only displayed major roads and highways in Ghana, and the satellite view was too low-res to be useful. I did use it to check out local businesses in every city along the breathtaking coastline. Some of the business names were, shall we say, unusual. For example, I saw God’s Glory Refrigeration and Air Conditioning, Jesus Love Latex Foam, and Virgin Children Jr. High. My personal favorite—a business I’ll probably never patronize—was The Wicked Must Die Taxi Service.

Beware of phone charges If you travel in Africa, beware of per-minute phone charges and roaming fees—they can be astronomical! You can reduce the U.S. carrier (AT&T) portion of your bill significantly by adding the “travel services” option for less than $10 per month. You should also get a megabytes-per-month plan that works for you. (Tip: It’s better to buy too much bandwidth than not enough; the perkilobyte fees for bandwidth above your plan’s limit will kill you.) Also, it’s best that you continue the travel services option for at least one month after you get back home to pick up any delayed billings. �

Dr. Martin D. Hash, Esq. and his wife Gwynne, a nurse, have traveled every continent, but have discovered that the iPhone raises their enjoyment to a whole new level. They can be contacted at martin@hash.com. A Mask Dance in a Dogon village.

were extracted from the country in the over We saw primitive huts with TV 400 years it was occuantennas; a young girl took my pied by one European picture with her cell phone, and nation or another. one of the main I took hers with my iPhone. sources of this wealth was the slave trade. Captured natives from all over Africa were marched to the peninsular forts of Elmina and Cape Coast, and packed into dark stone cells for months at a time. Those who survived the cells were herded through “The Gate of No Return” and packed like sardines into transport ships—the beginning of their New World diaspora. over 12 million men, women, and children were sold into slavery, with 10 percent of that number going to the United States. We visited a slave dungeon in Ghana. our guide crowded 50 of us into a cramped cell, locked the door, and turned out the lights. It was educational for a lily-white guy like me—and very creepy. A pilgrimage to the Gold Coast and those slave castles is probably a must for African Americans interested in their heritage.

S MARTP HO NE m a ga zine ’s i Phone Li f e Vol. 1, N o .3

People

Still Hot for the iPhone! Many, but not all celebrities love the iPhone; favorite free apps; more. by Heather Dale

insel town may be all about Twitter these days, but the iPhone and celebrity users are still hot. Actress Katherine Heigl isn’t shy about using her iPhone for both business and pleasure, and manages to keep it fashionably protected by swapping between hip green and chic powder blue cases. Foxy Megan Fox is another early adopter who rarely hides her phone away in a purse and always has it adorned in a colorful case.

Ashton Kutcher may be the current pitch man for Nikon, but he’s often spotted at restaurants, events, and awards shows capturing the moment with his sleek black iPhone 3G. There is one celebrity you won’t see with an iPhone. In an interview with Vogue, the ambitious philanthropist Melinda Gates (i.e., Mrs. Bill Gates) talked about two popular Apple products. She said: “There are very few things that are on the banned list in our household. But iPods and iPhones are two things we don’t get for our kids.” Gates goes on to admit that the iPhone does have a tendency to grab her attention: “Every now and then I look at my friends and say, ‘ooh, I wouldn’t mind having that iPhone.’” I’m sure if Melinda took a walk on the wild Apple side, she wouldn’t have any regrets… That is, until her husband found out about her new sexy tech toy.

Five of my favorite free apps: All five of these are currently available in the iTunes App Store.

Taxi Magic Category_Travel ridecharge.com Never get caught trying to hail a cab in the rain again! Taxi Magic offers one-click taxi booking in over 25 major cities across the U.S. It will even give you live updates on where your cab is and its estimated time of arrival.

my workouts. All you have to do is enter the foods you’re eating and your physical activity and Lose It will tell you if you are within your daily caloric budget. Yet another great reason to use an iPhone!

Have2P Category_Utilities yellowpages.com When you gotta go, you gotta go, right? And when you gotta go, you gotta know where the nearest restroom is. Have2P uses the iPhone’s GPS locator to find and display the locations of the nearest restrooms in your area. It also lets you know if it’s a public or customer-only restroom, if it offers changing tables, and how clean it is (thumbs up or down). Have2P displays the restroom locations on a pretty map with your current location clearly marked, making it easy to find a restroom.

Remote Category_Entertainment apple.com Apple’s Remote app turns your iPhone into a universal controller for iTunes on your computer. With this app, which works through your home’s Wi-Fi network, you can control your tunes from anywhere in the house. Use it to shuffle, skip, play, edit, and pause songs in your iTunes library. It also works nicely with the Apple TV digital media receiver.

Handy iPhone gear I came across this accessory and was instantly sold on it.

Griffin’s Clarifi Case

ATM Hunter

$31; griffintechnology.com

Category_Finance mastercard.com

The Clarifi case features a built-in closeup lens cover that improves the iPhone’s camera resolution. Not only does it make your pictures look clearer, it also enhances colors. Clarifi allows you to take print-worthy photos or images suitable for Facebook profiles! The case itself is durable and nice looking. �

ATM Hunter helps you find where your bank’s ATMs are hiding. Enter your location or what you want to do (make a deposit, withdraw cash, etc.) and this app will whip up a list of the nearest ATMs that can fulfill your banking needs. It’s especially useful where you’re in an unfamiliar part of the city.

Lose It Category_Healthcare & Fitness fitnow.com I turn to the Lose It app to help me monitor my diet and track 68

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Heather Dale is the editor of geeksugar.com, a blog-style Web site for women which discusses topics related to technology — from the hottest new gadgets to tips and useful Web sites. When she’s not testing out new cell phone apps or playing Mario Kart on her Wii, you’ll find Heather enjoying the outdoors in sunny San Francisco. hdale@sugarinc.com. enjo

People

Making BuyMeAniPhone.com Work How the founder and senior editor use their iPhones to maintain their award-winning iPhone site. by Tom Moccia and Omar Correa Tom Moccia: It not only seems like just yesterday that the original iPhone was released; it feels as if it’s been around forever. I’m not really sure how to explain the iPhone phenomenon, but I love the tight-knit community that has grown up around it. omar Correa and I run BuyMeAniPhone.com, a site devoted to news, reviews, tips, and tricks, and dedicated to the iPhone and the people who love it. Since we both have families and full-time careers, we have to make the most of the time we do have to dedicate to our Web site. In this article, omar and I explain how the iPhone has been an invaluable tool in the creation and production of BuyMeAniPhone.com. Omar Correa: I have been a huge fan of the iPhone since Apple released the first version of the device. Shortly thereafter I was looking for reviews of iPhone accessories, but wasn’t satisfied with what I was finding. Most reviews were brief and not very useful—nothing more than a photo and a couple of paragraphs of text. I’ve always been a big fan of CNET.com and their video reviews, so I thought: Why not create a site devoted to video reviews of iPhone-related products? Two years later, BuyMeAniPhone. com is going strong and attracting more and more visitors daily. NetNewsWire helps me stay up to date on all the latest iPhone news from other Web sites. I suppose it’s no surprise that the most useful tool I’ve found for managing the site is my iPhone. It has many apps and many functions that help me keep the site current and stay in contact with all my editors. For example, I use the RSS feed reader NetNewsWire to keep up to date on all the latest iPhone news i Phone Li f e S um m e r 2009 Vol. 1, N o .3

People from other sites. If I come across a great story or juicy rumor, I can e-mail my editors from within the app and send them a link to the actual story so that one of them can create a post on it. I also use the Google Mobile app in conjunction with our Google Docs to make certain documents accessible by our editors. For example, we have our “review product” spreadsheet saved as a Google doc so that our editors can use Google Mobile to see what accessories or apps they need to review and what the review deadlines are. I also use SMS, e-mail, instant messaging, and other iPhone functions to stay connected with Tom and the other editors, but I’ll let Tom go into those details below.

Staying in touch over nine time zones Tom: Because omar lives in Texas and I’m in California, it’s vital that we communicate regularly about site-related topics. In addition, we have to stay in touch with our four other Writer/Editors: Ryan Walton in South Carolina, Danny Smallman in South Yorkshire, U.K., Marcin Banaszek in Warsaw, Poland, and Emil Aquino in Washington Township, New Jersey. That’s a big geographical spread, covering nine time zones. We find that e-mail, SMS, and instant messaging are key tools that help to keep everyone in the loop. Frankly, without my iPhone I would never have become Senior Editor on BuyMeAniPhone (BMAi). After I became an iPhone owner in late July of 2008, I stumbled across BMAi and stopped back every few days to read some posts and watch some review videos. Sometime around the middle of october last year I read that one of the site’s writers was leaving. I e-mailed omar from my iPhone and asked if he was looking for a replacement. I submitted a writing sample and omar gave me a shot.

Making the most of Macworld

Using the iPhone in our personal lives Tom: Like almost everyone else, I use the iPhone for personal e-mail, text messages to friends and family, looking up odds and ends on the Internet, and relieving stress by playing my favorite games for a few minutes throughout the day. One of my favorite apps is DirecTv, a Digital Video Recorder (DVR) scheduler that is essential for people like me—fans of East Coast sports teams who are living on the West Coast. DirectTv lets me look up game schedules and program my home DVR from my iPhone. The DirecTv DVR Recording App lets me remotely record my beloved Yankees while Arcade bowling relieves some stress during a busy day.

Some people like to read before bed, but I like to play any game from Skyworks. My personal favorite is Arcade Bowling designed by David Crane. To give our relatives back East a realtime look at what we’re up to, we take photos of family outings and immediately e-mail the images to them—all from the iPhone. How cool would it be if iChat was available for the iPhone and Apple implemented video capability on the device? Then we could let them experience a live feed from our trip to the zoo! Until it becomes available, we have to download digital photos and videos we capture with the iPhone and video cameras, and upload them through our computer to MobileMe. We also sync them to the iPhone, so we can share them with others when we’re on the go. Omar: When I’m in the car or at work and want to listen to music, I turn on my Pandora Radio app and start streaming music through my FM transmitter in my vehicle or on a speaker system in my office. I love to customize my Pandora personal stations with music that I want to listen to.

The first time I realized that my iPhone was going to be essential in conducting BMAi business was when I attended Macworld last January. I had hundreds of manufactures to talk to and only two days to do it in, but the first thing I had to do was get there! Fortunately, Macworld was held at the Moscone Center in San Francisco and I only live about 2 hours away. Bay Area traffic is horrible, so I decided to use the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) to get there. I used an app called iBart to check out schedules, rates, and BART routes into San Francisco. iBart provides Route, Rate, and Schedule information for Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART). After I got off BART, I needed to find my way to the Moscone Center. Fortunately, I had upgraded my iPhone to version 2.2 of the oS, which added walking and public transportation directions to the

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I use Pandora (left) in the car or at the office to stream my favorite music. My kids love to play with Memory Mania (right) and Koi Pond (middle) on my iPhone.

The iPhone is also a great distracter for my two- and three-year old daughters. They love playing with Koi Pond, an app that lets them run their finger across the surface of a pond, watch the water ripple, and watch the koi dart away. Their latest favorite app is MemoryMania, a card matching game that’s lots of fun. They also love taking pictures and swiping through the Photo albums. Of course I can’t forget to mention the best feature of the iPhone for distracting two kids—video playback. Nothing can draw a silence in the back seat like Elmo and Sesame Street. I’m starting to realize that I may be raising two tech-savvy kids that will be hard to keep up with once they’re older.

People Google Maps app. I pulled up Maps and used the iPhone’s GPS capabilities to find the most direct walking route. The iPhone GPS Application helps you get to where you are going whether it be by car, public transportation, or on foot. Macworld inside the Moscone Center is enough to make your head spin. over 500 exhibitors are spread out in two different buildings: the North Hall and the South Hall. Like other trade shows, they give you little booklets with exhibitor information and a map showing you where the various exhibitors and meetings are located. The printed material suffices, but it’s sometimes hard to use, and it’s easy to get lost among the other brochures and product info stuffed in your bag/carrying case. Fortunately, Macworld offers a free iPhone app that simplifies all this. It’s called iMacworld, and it lets you locate an exhibitor on an interactive map. You can search by North or South Hall, category, product name, or exhibitor. It also includes session schedules and will display messages from IDG, the organizers of Macworld, about what is going on, when it’s happening, and any schedule/exhibitor changes. Also built into the application is a reference section that gives you exhibitors’ phone numbers, addresses, booth numbers, and Web sites. (When you tap the Web site, it will open in Safari.) This app made my time at Macworld much more productive than it would have been.

Interestingly, Twitter has become an invaluable tool for us. It helps us let site viewers know when new reviews and important news have been posted to the site. We also use it to publicize giveaways and guest appearances on our Live Video Webcast. Twitter (search:BuyMeAniPhone) also gives us more personal contact with developers and viewers of our Web site. This, in turn, helps us keep our fingers on the iPhone pulse, which makes it easier to spot hot products and trends that are becoming more relevant. Finally, we find that our interaction with people on this more personal level is much more satisfying than simply posting information on the Web site. Twitter helps us keep in touch with our readers on a more personal level. Although the existing iPhone camera could be improved, it meets our needs as it is. The entire BMAi staff finds it helpful to take pictures of new products we discover when we’re out and about. We e-mail them to each other so we can share our opinions on the merits of the product and whether we think a review of it would be interesting to our readers. Also, the camera makes it very easy to share ideas on how to set up production areas in order to achieve the best quality video possible. Maintaining a good social network is very important, not only in the tech industry but in any profession. The more people that you help, the more will help you! I urge everyone to join a Relationship Networking site such as LinkedIn, especially in these tough economic times. People move from one company to another more frequently than ever, and these sites make it very easy to keep in touch with personal and professional contacts. The nice thing about most of these sites is they have an iPhone app so you can access them from almost anywhere. The iPhone has become an invaluable tool in my life. It helps keep me organized at home, work, and BMAi. It reminds me about birthdays, anniversaries, and other important dates. It makes it easy to stay in touch with friends and family and let them know what we’re doing. In short, I absolutely love my iPhone and use it more than any other communication device that I have ever owned. I’m excited to see where it will take us in the future. �

Macworld eliminates paper maps and puts exhibitor information, including links to their Web site, in the palm of your hand.

Conducting BMAi business There are many other ways that my iPhone helps us conduct BMAi business. In addition to coordinating our editors’ work, we use the iPhone’s e-mail, SMS, and instant messaging capabilities to communicate with manufacturers and product vendors. These messaging capabilities make it easier to arrange for review samples, get our questions answered, and keep the vendor informed about the progress of the review and when it will be posted.

Tom Moccia is a Senior Editor and Reviewer for BuyMeAniPhone.com and a native of Stamford, CT now residing in Stockton, CA. He has been a fan of the Apple product line since he purchased his first iPod in 2003 and converted to a Macbook in July 2008 just after he purchased his iPhone 3G. Feel free to e-mail Tom at tommoccia@ buymeaniphone.com with any questions or comments. Omar Correa is a Web/graphic designer for Airrosti Rehab Centers in San Antonio, Texas. He is also the founder and Editor-In-Chief of BuyMeAniPhone.com, a Web site that features iPhone news and video reviews. He has been using Apple products since the creation of the G4. When he’s not testing a new iPhone app or an accessory, he’s playing with his 3 and 2 year-old daughters and anxiously awaiting the arrival of his third (and final) daughter. You can e-mail Omar at omarcorrea@buymeaniphone.com

i Phone Li f e S um m e r 2009 Vol. 1, N o .3

People

Busy Web Product Manager Creates Time for Home Life by John Sorflaten (Author’s note: This article is based on a conversation I had with Christian Zambrano, Project Manager of the JACI Group, Inc.) Christian Zambrano’s work is never done! He works for a company that has a Midwest office and programming staff in India. Because of time differences, he gets urgent questions sent to him at all hours of the day. His iPhone lets him take the office with him. He can be anywhere and check his two work-related accounts and one personal email account. Palringo lets you access a variety of IM services. Christian also uses Palringo because it lets him access all the popular IM messaging services used by his India contract programmers. It covers Google Talk, Yahoo!, Microsoft Messenger, Windows Live, AoL’s AIM, and the lesser known Gadu Gadu, ICQ, and Jabber. Sometimes Christian skips the iPhone typing challenge and sends a voice message via IM. Christian uses Skype when he needs to talk to someone. Christian uses Skype whenever possible for local or international calls. If he has to call a landline or cell phone number, he uses his lowcost Skypeout account. He also likes Skype’s open chat feature because he can encourage his India contacts to answer the phone by typing a specific question as he calls. He uses IM more with his family and Skype with his India team. Skype supports his India phone calls to anyone at anytime. Recently, he got a call at 3:30 a.m. Instead of getting up and going online, he stayed in bed, handled the problem using Skype, and went back to sleep 10 minutes later.

Automated music selection Christian admits to being an automation nut—he uses Last. fm on his iPhone to listen to Internet radio. He likes the way it keeps track of the type of music you request and selects new

i P h o n e L i f e Summer 2009 Vol.1, No.3

but similar music for you to listen to. Last.fm keeps track of your music preferences and plays new, similar music for you. Christian also uses Wikipanion to answer questions and look up the meaning of words and expressions. The interface is customized for the iPhone, displaying larger, more readable text. And the buttons along the bottom of the screen make it easy to navigate through the app and access follow-up readings. Most recently, Christian looked up “Scrum development” to read about this more recent approach to managing software development. Wikipanion’s settings let you change the font size to enhance readability.

The long arm of the administrator Christian must periodically check on the progress of a number of work projects. He uses iPhone’s Safari Web browser to make sure his company’s Web sites are working properly. He also uses TouchTerm to log onto remote machines across his network and to update them and administer programs running on them. TouchTerm is an SSH terminal app that lets you administer programs on remote machines. Christian also uses a graphical terminal server app called Mocha VNC to access his Web site servers. It lets him connect to machines on his network as well as access files, programs, and other resources. He particularly appreciates Mocha VNC’s speed, even when it’s accessing machines on the other side of the world.

People

Mocha VNC is a graphical terminal server app for the iPhone.

iBanking Christian also uses an app called Mint to avoid trips to the bank. Mint lets him check his checking, savings, and credit card accounts. He can also use it to check his investments, but with the economy the way it is, he avoids that as much as possible. Here’s a stock photo of Mint.

It’s true that he does have to put up with occasional interruptions at home. But he can still spend quality time with his wife, and use any leftover spare time to balance his checkbook, catch up on the news, and chat with friends—all from his iPhone. � John Sorflaten, Ph.D, is a 20-year User Experience Designer who brings Fortune 500 user interaction consulting skills to small and medium-sized business. You can contact John at john@userexperienceworks.com.

Christian Zambrano is Project Manager of the JACI Group, Inc. JACI (acronym for “Just Another Crazy Idea”) is responsible for several new Web sites, including yourfreelegalforms.com, rateadrug.com, and peopleclaim.com.)

Mint lets you do your banking from the iPhone.

Time at home with Mrs. Zambrano one of the main reasons Christian likes the iPhone is because it lets him spend more time with his wife. Given his business responsibilities, if he didn’t have an iPhone, he’d be at the office 10-14 hours a day.

Download FRee iPhone Life App from the App Store

iPhone/iPod touch, 24/7

iPhonelife.com i Phone Li f e S um m e r 2009 Vol. 1, N o .3

iPhone at Work

iPhone OS 3.0 for IT What does the new release mean for the enterprise? by Nathan Clevenger

hen Apple launched the iPhone 3G and oS 2.0, it brought many enterprise-significant improvements to the platform, including Exchange ActiveSync support and the ability to remotely wipe devices. The enterprise-related enhancements associated with oS 3.0 and the iPhone 3G S are not as numerous. But they are nonetheless extremely significant when it comes to iPhone adoption and support within the enterprise.

Over-the-air profiles Configuration profiles can now be deployed over the air from a Web server, simplifying deployment and enabling self-service provisioning. And because the profiles are a standards-based XML, enterprises can build their own custom mechanisms to facilitate the authentication and creation of configuration profiles for the provisioning of iPhone oS 3.0 devices.

Profile encryption Configuration profiles for oS 3.0 can now be encrypted, making their contents—including VPN, Wi-Fi, and other settings—secure from prying eyes. Additionally, the backups of the iPhone created in iTunes can now be encrypted.

Policy enforcement With oS 3.0, Policies can be enforced and required, preventing users from disabling controls. Additionally, the new Parental Controls can also be enforced. These include restrictions on Safari, YouTube, iTunes, the App Store, and Camera. IT organizations may find this extremely valuable.

Wi-Fi auto log-in The iPhone now has the ability to detect captive networks (i.e., Wi-Fi access points that require additional authentication) and automatically log into them using saved usernames and passwords in the device keychain. This significantly improves the experience of connecting to corporate or commercial Wi-Fi hotspots.

lDAP and CalDAV The iPhone now supports the LDAP and CalDAV protocols, and the ability to configure these oTA.

Certificate-based authentication Certificates can now be used to authenticate Exchange, VPNs, and Wi-Fi, and certificates can be provisioned oTA using Simple Certificate Enrollment Protocol. This dramatically improves the process of configuring a specific user’s device. By providing these new tools it is now possible to create very simple selfservice enrollment and configuration processes for users.

VPN on demand Rather than forcing the users to specifically connect and discon-

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nect the VPN in order to run certain applications, oS 3.0 can detect certain pre-configured domains that require VPN connectivity and automatically connect to the VPN in the background without any user involvement. This is a huge step forward in increasing the usability of VPN-based applications.

Password policies and auto-wipe While oS 2.0 provided basic password enforcement policies through Exchange ActiveSync, iPhone oS 3.0 takes that to the next level with additional password policies, including complexity requirements and limits to the number of failed password attempts. The iPhone oS 3.0 even allows for automatic wiping of device data after a certain number of failed logins. This goes a long way to meeting the security needs of many IT departments.

Hardware data encryption When Apple built hardware encryption into the iPhone 3G S, they were providing a way to overcome probably the single most common roadblock to iPhone adoption within the enterprise—the lack of encrypted storage. organizations faced many regulatory and compliance requirements, including SoX to HIPAA or PCI, and having data encryption was simply a must-have for them. The lack of it forced IT to prevent users from connecting their iPhones to the enterprise data systems.

The long road ahead Forrester Research recently made a 180-degree turn and acknowledged that the iPhone is actually quite enterprise-friendly. They stated that iPhones make mobile collaboration easier and ultimately can save organizations money because employees prefer them and require less hand-holding. In addition, osterman Research reported that while only 20 percent of mid-to-large corporations supported the iPhone in 2008, 44 percent said they would support the iPhone in 2009. Add to that the enterpriserelated enhancements found in oS 3.0 and the iPhone 3G S, and it’s almost certain that the adoption of the iPhone by the enterprise will continue to grow. Third-party security and management tools from vendors like Trust Digital also help enterprises feel more comfortable about adopting and deploying iPhones. But even with them, the platform has a ways to go before it can compete with the more mature enterprise platforms from RIM and Microsoft. The ball is in Apple’s court! � Nathan Clevenger is the Enterprise Editor for iPhone Life magazine, and also runs the Mobility Practice at ITR Group, a consulting firm specializing in iPhone application development. Nathan strongly believes in the technology not for the sake of technology, but rather to improve capability and efficiency. An avid evangelist of mobile computing, he is dedicated to raising awareness of the potential for this technology in business today. You can reach Nathan at: nclevenger@iphonelife.com.

iPhone at Work

Process credit card transactions on your iPhone by Dave Slemon

he majority of the titles in the App Store are for consumers, but an increasing number are designed to help businesses, and at least a half dozen firms are offering apps that turn the iPhone into a fully functional mobile credit card terminal (mobileterminalapps.com). These solutions are attractive to any business that needs to process a payment via credit card at the moment of sale, regardless of location. This would include plumbers and electricians making house calls, taxis dropping off clients, moving vans, florists and other home deliveries… the list goes on. Banks suggest that small businesses currently using the telephone to make their transactions would be wise to switch to a mobile credit card system like this. These iPhone-based systems are easy to use. The merchant launches the app, keys in the purchase price/service fee and the consumer’s credit card information, the transaction is processed in real-time, and the merchant receives the oK. A transaction receipt is then e-mailed directly to the customer. Unfortunately, the merchant cannot print out the receipt on the spot. Currently missing from all of these apps is the ability to connect with portable printers, swipe devices, chip readers, and other accessories. The problem lies with the iPhone’s oS 2.x, but it’s a good guess that the next round of upgrades (oS 3.x) will remedy this situation for some, if not all, of these accessories.

Buyer beware The majority of the iPhone credit card terminal apps transmit sensitive cardholder data back to a host server without storing the data locally on the device. The host server in turn is connected to a merchant acquirer. It is critical that the credit card terminal app you’re interested in using is on the Visa/MasterCard list of PADSS validated payment applications (pcisecuritystandards.org/ security_standards/vpa). This list identifies the apps that comply with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCIDSS), a worldwide information security standard assembled by the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council (PCI-SSC). This standard was created to help organizations that process card payments and to prevent credit card fraud through increased controls surrounding data and its exposure to compromise. The PA-DSS standard is required for all payment applications that store, process, or transmit cardholder data as part of authorization or settlement. All iPhone credit card apps transmit cardholder data to a host processing server which in turn forwards the transaction to Visa/MasterCard for authorization. The result of the transaction is then returned to the iPhone app as a decline or approval. It is essential that the iPhone app and the processing services are compliant.

Operating costs Conventional PoS terminals can rent for more than $50 a month and often require a dedicated phone line. If printers and Wi-Fi are factored into the equation, the cost increases to more than

$100 a month. An iPhone-based solution is less expensive and has greater capabilities and a vastly greater operating range over 3G (and soon 4G) networks. The banks and credit card companies are notorious for their complex fee structures. The more companies involved with servicing your transaction, the more fees associated with it. Here are some suggested questions you need to ask of both the iPhone vendor and your merchant acquirer before you sign up: • What will the average merchant discount rate (MDR) be for my transactions? (Expect about 2%-3%) • What is the flat rate per transaction? (Expect about $0.16$0.25) What monthly fees are there? (Expect $0-$25) • What is the early termination fee if I decide to cancel my account within the first few years? (Expect $0-$300) •What are the monthly inactivity fees? (Expect about $25) • What one-time costs are there? (Expect $0-$50) Call the iPhone vendor and ask all of these questions. This exercise will also give you a feel for the company’s commitment to customer service.

You need a virtual terminal Working on the go with your iPhone is one thing, but from time to time you will be near a Mac or a PC. An ideal companion for your iPhone mobile credit card app is a Web-based virtual terminal. If you can access Google on your computer, you have all you need to run a virtual terminal. The iPhone and the virtual terminal must be synchronized, however. This will enable you, after a day’s deliveries, to print out all of your transactions, or to make some MoTos (mail-order telephone orders) using your computer. Not all iPhone credit card apps are created equal. Shop carefully! Is the host which accepts your transactions PCI-DSS compliant? Is the iPhone app itself PA-DSS compliant? Is there an ability to use your Mac and/or PC as a companion product alongside your iPhone? Do you understand all of the fees? Who will you call for help? In addition, iPhone credit card terminal consumers should ensure that their financial institutions are comfortable with the particular iPhone app they are considering. Contact your Visa/ MasterCard payment processor before you purchase the solution to make sure it’s satisfactory with them. These apps represent the next step in the evolution of the virtual office. once the business world becomes aware of this new iPhone functionality, these apps will be as common a business feature as is your e-mail. � Dave Slemon runs a business in Toronto called, Interware.Net, which specializes in creating online registration solutions for companies wishing to do ecommerce over the Web. Dave graduated from Carleton University in Electrical Engineering in 1982. He also holds a degree in Chemistry from McMaster University. dave.slemon@me.com

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iPhone at Work

10 Apps to Make by Nathan Clevenger

ith nearly 40,000 apps and over a billion downloads in less than a year, Apple has changed the mobile software game. While there are certainly not as many business apps as there are games or entertainment apps, the business category is slowly but surely gaining steam with the introduction of apps from many major players in the enterprise software market.

In this review, I list 10 of the top apps currently available that help make business better. As users begin to take advantage of these tools, and businesses see the return-on-investment potential of empowering the mobile worker with line-of-business functionality, this segment will only continue to grow.

Nomina

infrastructure to remotely access any Windows application or document from your iPhone. Whether you need to edit a document, approve expenses, or even join a webinar, you can do it all from your iPhone with Citrix Receiver. of course, you’re limited by the iPhone’s screen size, which means you’ll have to do a lot of zooming and scrolling with some applications. And since the applications are located remotely, you’ll need a 3G connection or Wi-Fi for reasonable performance. Your organization will also need to have a XenApp solution in place for this app to work—a large investment for many organizations.

$14.99; outspring.com

LogMeIn Ignition

Whether you’re starting a company or just launching a new Web site, this handy little app can help you make sure the name you’ve chosen isn’t taken. Nomina lets you do domain and trademark searches on the fly. It’s the perfect way to make sure your flash of genius is unique.

$29.99; secure.logmein.com

Evernote Free; evernote.com History tells us that brilliant ideas are sometimes written on a napkin or the back of an envelope. Evernote lets you capture ideas as they happen, sync them to the cloud, and access them from anywhere. With the app installed, you can use your iPhone to create text notes or voice memos, or capture photos and sync them to the Web. You can also access notes and documents stored on your PC or Mac, whether you created them on your iPhone or not.

Citrix Receiver Free; web.citrix.com/go/iphone This powerful app uses your organization’s Citrix XenApp

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If you don’t have a XenApp infrastructure, you can’t use the Citrix Receiver described above. Fortunately, you can access many of the same capabilities with LogMeIn’s remote desktop access solution. You’ll need to install the LogMeIn software on your home or work PC and LogMeIn Ignition on your iPhone. once that’s done, you’ll ou’ll be able to connect to your PC from your iPhone, wherever you are, and access your documents or applications. You need a constant wireless connection for this solution (the faster the better), and you may have to do a lot of scrolling and zooming, but the cost is much less than the Citrix solution.

Oracle Business Indicators Free; oracle.com F oracle first released Business Indicators to allow iPhone users to access business performance data. They quickly followed up with BusiT ness Approvals for Managers, Mobile Sales Assistant, Business Approvals ffor Sales Managers, and Mobile Sales Forecast. This suite of oracle mobile F apps takes advantage of the iPhone’s potential to mobilize information workers by letting them access linew of-business data wherever they are.

iPhone at Work

Business Better RoamBi - Visualizer

Harvest Time Tracker

Free; roambi.com

Free; yfactorial.com

If your organization doesn’t have oracle, but you still want a powerful business intelligence platform, check out RoamBi. The solution consists of a Web-based publisher service that walks you through the process of extracting data from Excel spreadsheets and publishing them in one of four basic templates (pie chart, card list, grid list, and catalog). The Visualizer app allows you to view your reports and charts. The interface is gorgeous and the potential is limited only by how it is used.

Harvest is a leading online solution for time tracking, expense logging, client invoicing, and revenue/ accounts receivable tracking. This app lets you use your iPhone to track your billable hours wherever you are.

Salesforce Mobile Free; salesforce.com/mobile A trailblazer for hosted enterprise applications, Salesforce.com is also the hands-down leader when it comes to mobilizing business functionality. With Salesforce Mobile installed on W your iPhone, you are able to access y customer, lead, and opportunity incustomer fformation, as well as log calls, create and update activities, and schedule meetings. Salesforce has also created a very extensible framework that lets organizations create custom objects and workflows to extend their business processes to the iPhone with minimal investment.

Credit Card Terminal $49.99; innerfence.com This application (and others like it: see page 75) turns your iPhone into a mobile credit card terminal that allows you to accept payment from customers wherever you might be. As long as you have your iPhone with you, you won’t miss a sale.

WebEx Meeting Center Free; webex.com/iphone WebEx has become synonymous with online meetings and Web conferencing, and this iPhone W app truly takes the WebEx experience to the next level. At first glance, you might not realize how practical it is, but once you get into a situation where yyou need it, you’ll see how valuable it is to be able to log into your meeting from wherever you are—whether you’re walking through an airport or y standing in line at Starbucks. The app st lets you view the presentation as well as simultaneously participate in the vvoice conference call.

An app for every occasion? While the number of titles available in the App Store has grown considerably, we’re not quite at the point where there’s an app for every task we might want to do. But there’s no doubt that the current collection of business apps will continue to expand rapidly. The competition among app developers will be great for business! � Nathan Clevenger is the Enterprise Editor for iPhone Life magazine, and also runs the Mobility Practice at ITR Group, a consulting firm specializing in iPhone application development. Nathan strongly believes in the technology not for the sake of technology, but rather to improve capability and efficiency. An avid evangelist of mobile computing, he is dedicated to raising awareness of the potential for this technology in business today. You can reach Nathan at: nclevenger@iphonelife.com.

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iPhone at Work

A “Must” for the 21st Century Soldier New apps are turning the iPod touch into a must-have accessory for the modern war fighter. by Brian Tracy

ince the C-Ration was introduced in 1938, U.S. field rations have included an “accessory pack” that contained a can opener, salt tablets, chewing gum, a pack of cigarettes, and other “necessary” items. The smokes were removed from the packs in 1975 for good reason, but the military still provides soldiers with certain necessary accessories when they go into battle.

cameras on drones and have teleconferences with intelligence agents halfway across the globe. Finally, Army researchers are developing applications to turn the iPod touch into a remote control for a bomb-disposal robot. The app uses the built-in accelerometer to steer the robot by tilting the touch.

The Department of Defense may be looking into adding a new accessory to its “necessary” list—the iPod touch. This device provides the ultimate “mobile professional” with network access, digital camera capabilities, GPS, and video playback. In addition, more capabilities can be added to the device via the iTunes App Store.

Rugged, easy to use, and inexpensive to deploy The iPod touch may be ideal for modern combat because it’s rugged, easy to use with one hand, and requires minimal training since many soldiers are already familiar with the device from their civilian life. Retailing for under $230, the iPod touch represents a break from the traditional approach to military procurement. The Department of Defense does not have to underwrite the millions or billions of dollars usually associated with the development, testing, and troubleshooting of a new military tool—Apple has already done that! Instead, and with the help of the iPhone SDK and Apple Development Tools, the U.S. military can focus on developing mission-specific apps for a proven platform. The military is rapidly developing a number of new applications, including one that uses face-recognition software to aid in counter-insurgency, and another that lets soldiers take pictures of their locations and situations and share this information with other soldiers in the area. It’s also developing tools to help soldiers communicate with locals when they are unable to do so otherwise. For example, a platoon that needs help from locals can show them a podcast of a local leader requesting that help. These are just a couple of solutions that will help make a soldier’s job easier and safer.

Military apps in development Various branches of the U.S. military have already embarked on development programs for the platform. The Marine Corps is currently funding the development of an application that would allow soldiers to upload photographs and written reports about a detained suspect to a biometric database. The app could match photos taken by the soldiers with existing faces in the database, making it easier to track suspects after they’re released. The Department of Defense is also funding development of software that enables soldiers to display aerial video captured by

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The BulletFlight ballistics calculator running on an iPod touch (left); The touch in a rugged case running the app, attached to an M110 sniper rifle. Finally, private developers are also getting into the act as well. Snipers in Iraq and Afghanistan now use a “ballistics calculator” called BulletFlight, developed by the Florida firm Knight’s Armament and available from the App Store. In Sudan, American military observers are using apps to learn the appropriate etiquette for interacting with tribal leaders. A new program called Vcommunicator is now being issued to soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. It produces spoken and written translations of Arabic, Kurdish, and two Afghan languages. It also shows animated graphics of accompanying gestures and body language, and displays pictures of garments, weapons, and other objects. Procurement officials are making a tremendous push to develop and field useful militarily apps for Apple devices, according to Ernie Bright, operations manager of Vcom3D, the Florida firm that developed the software. Arabic Cultural Tips (shown here) is a supplement to Vcommunicator, a “Language and Culture Mission Aid” app designed for and used by soldiers of the U.S. Armed Forces in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Sudan. As more and more military applications for the iPod touch become available, the Apple device may become a standard part of a soldier’s gear. If that happens, it will probably be a popular addition, helping the soldier in combat, and providing him or her with music, video, games, and a connection to the Internet when they’re off duty. � Brian Tracy has been a part of senior IT leadership for 10 years and is currently the Director of Technology Solutions at ITR Group Inc. Brian has deep experience in delivering technology based solutions for the retail environment. briant@itrgroupinc.com

Creating Apps

iPhone OS 3.0 for Developers What do the 1,000 new APIs mean for future apps? by Nathan Clevenger

ess than a year after the iPhone oS 2.0 made it possible for developers to write native apps for the iPhone, Apple has released a major new upgrade of the iPhone oS and software suite. iPhone oS 3.0 provides developers with a significant collection of enhancements to the iPhone SDK that enable many new capabilities and even new categories of applications. In addition, they allow the creation of completely new business and economic models for generating revenue with iPhone apps.

Push notifications

Hardware accessory integration By opening the hardware interface to app developers, there are three new categories of products that can be created: standalone apps that talk to accessories, accessories that require apps for user interaction, and combination hardware/software solutions where the value is from the combination of app and accessory. Examples include alarm clocks without any buttons (where all the settings are configured from an iPhone or iPod touch in an app) to a treadmill that integrates your playlist with your workout all while monitoring your heart rate.

Apple’s long-awaited push notification service has finally arrived. All the apps on the phone now use a single shared connection to Apple’s push service, which developers can connect to and use to push messages to the device. A notification can consist of a red badge on the app’s icon, sound playback, and/or a text message. This opens up the possibility of implementing applications in everything from instant messaging and notification services to real-time news and business intelligence alerting. And to alleviate concerns that many had about being overwhelmed by too many messages, users will have the option of turning on/off notifications (sounds, alerts, or badges) on an app-by-app basis.

This capability will be extremely appealing to the enterprise, allowing for the creation of barcode scanners and magnetic strip readers that can scan products, capture credit card information, and send the data to the iPhone or iPod touch. (With a truly usable mobile Point-of-Sale terminal like this, maybe Apple will finally replace the Windows-powered handhelds used in the Apple Stores with Apple devices.) Unfortunately, even though this does support both wired and wireless accessories using Bluetooth, it isn’t compatible with every Bluetooth device because Apple requires that each accessory be certified by them.

In-app purchases

embedded Maps

From a purely economic standpoint, the in-app feature could change the entire landscape of iPhone app creation. Rather than relying on the initial purchase price only—which for most apps has been a rush to the rock-bottom price of $0.99—developers can now create apps that incorporate alternative business models, including subscriptions and incremental purchases from within an app. Many current apps have attempted to do this by requiring a subscription to an external service, but the enhancements made to the 3.0 oS will dramatically simplify the user experience of subscribing and paying for that subscription.

Previously, if a third-party app wanted to take advantage of the Maps and Routing functionality, it had to close down in order to launch the Maps app. Unfortunately, this created a poor user experience in many cases. With oS 3.0, developers can now improve app usability by embedding the mapping and routing functionality directly into the application. (Because of content licensing requirements, developers will have to provide their own mapping data for navigation and routing.) Add to that the new magnetic compass in the iPhone 3G S, and developers now have the tools they need to create some incredible location-based apps.

Additionally, 3.0 enables the creation of apps that can be shipped with certain features or content disabled; only by agreeing to pay extra can that functionality be used. Think of a game that you play for a while, get hooked on, and then run out of lives. Then a message appears in the nick of time, offering you a better gun/ car/airplane. How many users could resist paying a small fee—on complete impulse—to keep going? The sky’s the limit here, and I’m sure many fortunes will be created as ongoing in-app revenue surpasses the revenue coming from initial app sales.

listening to developers

Peer-to-peer connectivity Multiplayer games and data sharing with other nearby iPhone/ iPod touch devices are now possible with the new peer-to-peer capabilities and APIs. The connectivity uses the Bonjour protocol for the identification of other devices over Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. It actually makes it quite easy for developers to write apps that locate and communicate with nearby devices. 80

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In addition to all of these enhancements, the iPhone oS 3.0 has hundreds of smaller, but still significant improvements. And while some asked-for enhancements were missing—like the ability to run apps in the background and access “sandboxed” data—it is obvious that Apple is listening to the market and to feedback from the developer community. The original iPhone SDK has surpassed one million downloads, and the App Store continues to grow dramatically with over 50,000 apps currently listed—the momentum within the ecosystem shows no signs of slowing. As long as Apple continues implementing what the developers need to create killer apps and profitable business models, Apple’s competitors will struggle to challenge the iPhone’s dominance in the mobile software marketplace. �

Creating Apps

The Idea Comes First! Original ideas are more likely to succeed in the App Store by Todd Bernhard

alt Disney liked to remind everyone that it all started with a mouse. He wasn’t talking about a peripheral that controls your computer, and he wasn’t really talking about a furry little rodent. He was talking about an idea. There is a temptation among iPhone developers to try to create an app based on a bestselling title in the App Store. There are a few problems with this approach. First, dozens, if not hundreds of other developers are doing the exact same thing. Second, it can take several months to create the app and then have it approved by Apple. By the time it finally makes it to the App Store, the original bestseller may have lost favor among users, and any hopes of riding its coattails are gone. Finally, the developers of the original bestseller are probably not resting on their laurels. Most likely, they’re funneling a significant portion of their earnings from the original into enhanced versions of their app. A better approach is to create an app based on an original and compelling idea.

Build a better mousetrap Your app doesn’t have to be 100% original to be successful. For example, if there are one or more apps of a certain type, and these apps have significant deficiencies, you might develop an app that addresses them. I used this approach with my own app, 100sounds. In the early days of the App Store, there were a number of “soundboard” apps available. Each of these apps played 10-20 different sound effects (bells, whistles, duck quacking, explosions, etc.). The problem was that 10-20 sound effects aren’t very many. You get bored with them quickly, and if you want more you have to buy another app. Then, you have to switch between apps to access the different sounds. Sound effects were something I’d been interested in for a while, and I already owned 10,000+ royalty free sounds. I decided to build an app with hundreds of sounds, so I decided to call it 100sounds. I quickly reserved a Web address for the app (100sounds. com) and started work on it. To summarize the “better mousetrap” approach: Find an app or a number of similar apps that interest you. Then identify the deficiencies and missing elements in these apps. Finally, develop an app that addresses the deficiencies and outshines the competition.

Write what you know My advice to app developers is similar to what successful authors tell aspiring writers: “Write what you know.” Think about your hobbies, education, family life, and work experience. Identify the knowledge or interests you have that others might share. Are you a road warrior, a soccer mom, a political junkie, a black belt, or a movie fan? once word got out about the success of my own app (see sidebar) people would ask me for advice about apps they might develop. Typically, after a few minutes of discussion, I was able to make some suggestions. • For the dad who coached football, I suggested an app that recommends plays for different situations, complete with animated diagrams and even videos. • For the avid Eagle Scout, I suggested a “being prepared” guide for scouts that could include graphics that show you how to tie knots, help you identify plants and snakes, etc. • For a dentist, I suggested a guide to brushing and flossing, including videos and a countdown timer with music to encourage you to do a thorough brushing. These were simple ideas, but they were meaningful for the person I was talking to. of course, these particular ideas may not become bestselling apps—but they can be financially successful. If only 0.1% of the 30 million iPhone and iPod touch owners buy your one dollar app, that’s still $30,000.

Find a programmer In the examples given above, the coach, Eagle Scout, and dentist weren’t iPhone programmers. Fortunately, there are thousands of iPhone developers out that, and some of them are looking for good app ideas to develop. There are a number of online resources that can help you find a programmer, but the one I recommend is eLance.com. Post a description of your project on the site and programmers will bid on it. You’ll have to give enough information about the project so that prospective developers can give you an accurate quote. But don’t post too many details initially—someone else might take your idea and run with it. once you are in communications with a prospective developer you can have them sign an NDA and give them more details about the app. � Todd Bernhard’s first app, 100sounds, is available at the iTunes store or at www.100sounds.com. Mr. Bernhard has written for a number of our publications and has owned a variety of mobile devices. Today, an iPhone is almost always attached to his hip. You can contact Todd at todd@toddbernhard.com.

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Creating Apps

How to Profit from Your iPhone App Idea by Kevin Sitek

o you’ve come up with an idea for the next big iPhone app, but you’ve never written a line of code in your life. Not to worry! There are app developers out there looking for good ideas and willing to partner with you.

You contact the app development company, discuss your idea with them in general terms, and see if they’re willing to partner with you. If they like your idea and think it is worth their time and money, they’ll negotiate a deal with you where they’ll develop and market the app, and you’ll receive a percentage of each app sold. Your percentage depends upon how much you put into the project; it could vary anywhere between 5 and 25 percent. (Remember that Apple takes a 30 percent cut off the top for any app sold through the App Store.) However, if you have a great idea, you can still make thousands while someone else takes all the risk.

How do I know if my idea is good enough? When you’re pretty sure you’ve got a great idea, discuss it with a developer. Most will let you know right off the bat if they think it has potential. one developer, MEDL Mobile (medlmobile.com), offers a free iPhone app that will let you vet your idea and see how it rates in terms of value, fun, and profitability. Unfortunately, nine times out of ten, someone has already created an app based on your idea. But don’t let this discourage you. Take a look at existing apps and ask yourself how your idea can lead to a better one. What is missing from the existing app? How can you improve upon it in terms of functionality and value? Make sure you carefully read reviews of the existing app. Focus on comments about the app’s weaknesses and improvements that are needed.

Don’t get greedy Remember that it’s easier to come up with a great idea than it is to create a great app. It takes a lot of time, energy, and programming/design expertise to create one. And even after it’s been accepted by the App Store, success isn’t guaranteed. You have to market the app so that potential customers know that it exists. The costs associated with the creation and marketing of a successful iPhone app can be significant, and you will have to share the profits with the developer. The price of your app needs to be competitive with the marketplace. You can sell games for $3-$10, simple utilities and apps for $1-$3, and specialty apps for more. Your partner probably has more experience with pricing than you do, so trust their advice on this. You can also look inside the App Store to find developers to partner with you. The developer is listed with each app in the store, and a link to their Web site is provided. Look for the apps you love; the ones that were well executed. Then click on the

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developer’s link and look for a contact e-mail address. Send them a brief message, asking them if they are looking for app ideas and are willing to partner with you.

Protecting your idea Practically speaking, you don’t have to worry about the developer stealing your idea because it would be extremely bad for their business. one letter sent by you to the right blogger or columnist and the company would be dealing with a PR disaster of epic proportions. That said, it is reasonable to take some precautions: • Be extra cautious with overseas developers. There are some bad apples that will take your idea and refuse to compensate you for it. I would only go with one that I was referred to personally. • Research any developer before working with them. Is their Web site well organized and reputable? What do others say about it? Do a Google search on them and see what comes up. • Ask them if they have done this sort of partnership before and ask for references. • Keep printouts of all e-mail and documents. • Ask them to explain how they will market the app. • Find out what kind of percentage you can expect and how long it takes them to send you your share of the profits. • Ask to have your name listed on the credits screen. • Get everything in writing and in an e-mail. • Seek legal advice before signing any contracts.

App demand is growing The odds are that your app will not become the next top sell on the App Store, but don’t let the odds (or skeptics) stop you. Apple just surpassed the one billion mark for App Store downloads, so there’s plenty of demand out there. Even if an app based on your idea is downloaded only 50,000 times, you could still make $5,000 to $10,000 on it (and possibly even more). To date, over 37 million iPhones and iPod touches have been purchased throughout the world, and that number will only increase with time. Apps are red hot right now, and the demand for original, inventive, and fun apps will continue to grow, even in these tough economic times. So get off your butt and come up with a great idea for the next must have iPhone app! � Kevin Sitek has been an Apple enthusiast for over 26 years. He is a former Marine and works in Manhattan as an Interactive Art Director for OgilvyInteractive. In his spare time he concepts and designs apps for his own company Site K Studios, Inc. If you have any questions or comments please feel free to e-mail Kevin (kevin@sitekstudios.com) or visit his iPhone Life blog (iphonelife.com/kevin.sitek).

Creating Apps

Facebook Expands Its iPhone Presence How will Facebook Connect affect the end user and the developer? by Robert Strojan

ow many login IDs and passwords do you have? How often do you register for a new Internet or iPhone app service by filling out registration forms with your name, e-mail, address, etc.? Earlier this year, Facebook released the Facebook Connect platform to developers. When incorporated into an app, it would allow you to use your Facebook account to log into a growing list of participating Web sites and services. In addition, Facebook Connect would allow iPhone users to bring their Facebook information to iPhone apps and share app information with friends. This means that, as developers begin rolling out apps with the Facebook Connect platform built in, you can easily challenge your Facebook friends to duels, see who’s the smartest, or post high scores on your Facebook feed, often without even lifting a finger.

What to expect Several developers have been quick to release apps that utilize the new platform, and that number is growing because of the way Facebook Connect is changing gaming. Who Has the Biggest Brain (playfish.com) allows users to log in using their Facebook Profile, post high scores and trophies to their Facebook feed, and track who’s the smartest amongst all their Facebook friends who also have the game. This social element of the game is arguably its best quality; it adds a competitive and addictive element to an app that might otherwise be seen as just another brain game. Users can expect to see more games that are based entirely on social networks. For example, Zynga (zynga.com) recently released its popular Facebook app Mafia Wars to the iPhone. In this game, you and your Facebook friends build your own crime family, do “jobs,” and fight other crime families in an effort to become top dog. The more friends who join you, the more powerful you become. You can expect to start seeing apps that go beyond posting to your Facebook feed and playing with your friends. Developers can use Facebook Connect to create apps that ask you for permission to upload photos, update users’ statuses, create events, RSVP to events, upload videos, create notes, and share links. They can even create apps that send you an SMS or respond to your SMS. This creates the potential for some great utility and productivity apps, as well as more creative games and entertainment apps.

ment in a particular game, that information is broadcast to all of his or her friends. Seeing that post, some friends will download the game and post achievements of their own, creating free word-of-mouth advertising that grows exponentially. It’s great for the developer! In addition, developers have access to information about their existing users and can create ads that are better targeted towards potential ones. This can mean more profits for the developers and more interesting advertisements for the users. But what about this access to user information? What exactly will developers find out about their Facebook Connect users?

Is Big Brother watching? Facebook has had its fair share of privacy concerns, especially over the unannounced policy changes in February. The reaction to these changes prompted Facebook to implement a new voting system for approval of all its new policies. No need to worry too much about Facebook Connect—your information is as safe as you make it. By default, applications you add through Facebook Connect can see almost all the info on your profile including photos, interests, and work history. But what may be surprising is that apps you add can see all of your friends’ information, too, even if they don’t have the app. This means that even if you’ve never used Facebook Connect or don’t have an iPhone, apps could be accessing your information through your friends and you won’t even know it. All of these settings can be changed via Facebook’s Privacy Settings—show as much or as little info as you want. You can even opt out of Facebook Connect entirely if you want.

The future of Facebook Connect What does the future hold for Facebook Connect? If Facebook were to partner with Apple, users could expect some really radical changes. The iPhone could use Facebook information as their login or AT&T signup information, effectively tethering your identity to your iPhone. This would eliminate the need to log into anything and allow you to bring your identity with you anywhere on the Web or in your apps. � Robert Strojan is the lead developer and founder of Blackout Labs; the iPhone app development company behind the popular music apps Hip Hop Producer and i808 Drum Machine. robert.strojan@gmail.com

Developer benefits Apps incorporating Facebook Connect provide developers with a number of advantages. If a user posts a high score or achieve-

i Phone Li f e S um m e r 2009 Vol. 1, N o .3

Creating Apps

Rise of the

iBrand

by Anthony Bacon

Using the App Store for product promotion.

t was Sunday—game day. Beer and pretzels would soon be placed on the table, and five of us would gather to cheer on our team, scream about bad calls, and trade insults among friends. But in advance of being exposed to the obligatory car commercials that are a part of every game, I pulled out my iPhone and took a 360-degree look at Ford’s new Flex crossover, customized the paint job on a BMW Z4 Roadster, and had some fun with the Audi A4 Driving Challenge. More engaging than any commercial I’ve ever watched.

Jumping on the “iBrandwagon” The three apps mentioned above are examples of a new marketing trend called “iBranding.” In the past year, the move to extend brand recognition through the use of iPhone/iPod touch apps has been swift and defining. From rock stars to retail marketing, everyone’s jumping on the iBrandwagon. Why this move to the App Store as a means of brand extension? The numbers speak for themselves. Apple recently announced its best second quarter earnings ever. There are now over 35,000 titles in the App Store, and downloads have surpassed the one billion mark. In addition, iPhone sales are up 123% over last year, and the iPhone is now available in 81 countries. Apple has now sold approximately 21 million iPhones, and the App Store has the potential of reaching 37 million users when you include the iPod touch platform. Based on those numbers, it makes perfect sense that movie studios, sports franchises, and celebrities are using the iPhone and iPod Touch as part of their branding strategies. In fact, it’s quickly becoming an expected part of any marketing strategy, especially with the generation Y and Z demographic. “When a friend posted a note on my Facebook page that a new Star Trek movie was coming out, I went right to the App Store,” said Taylor Ferris, a Gen Z’er. “There was a Star Trek comic book app that was as a tie-in to the movie, and I downloaded it and told all my friends. Now they’ve got it, too!”

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Interactive is the new proactive Television commercials, magazine ads, and other forms of traditional branding are static. They highlight the brand and tell you where to click, call, or go to buy it. iBranding lets you do all of these things and more from within the branded application. For example, an iBranded app lets you download a sample, purchase a new song, preview paint options on a car, find the closest store, and more. Here’s a look at just a few ways iPhone/iPod touch apps are being used to extend brand awareness. All but one of these apps are free; all are available now from the iTunes App Store. Pink’s Funhouse is well-designed Artist App. PINK: Billboard magazine named Pink’s Funhouse one of the top five Artist Apps in 2009. Pink reaches her fan base through a robust application, where fans can preview songs and music videos, watch interviews, receive news alerts, and stay connected to everything “Pink.” FoRD MoToR CoMPANY: Ford took a unique approach to extending their brand by combining a functional image editing app with information about their Flex crossover vehicle. The app, FLEX Photo Lab, allows users to enhance photos on their iPhones/ iPod Touch. They can also learn more about the Flex vehicle, with 360 degree views of the Flex provided, along with a Ford dealer locator. KRAFT FooDS: Kraft’s iFood Assistant is a cooking app that works in concert with Kraft’s companion Web site to offer recipes, cooking videos, shopping lists, and more. And, as you can guess, Kraft products are included in the ingredient lists provided. WALT DISNEY WoRD: The Walt Disney World Guide has extended their brand by creating an app that incorporates over 200 screens of information on all 118 Walt Disney World attractions. The app includes over 150 photos and in-depth description of locations, rides, ticket prices, and tips for planning a vacation. (This app costs .99 cents.) SoNY PICTURES: Sony Pictures brings their movie brand into the hands of consumers with their self-titled application. Users can view movie previews in HD, get show locations and

Creating Apps

(Left to Right): Walt Disney World Guide, Krapft's iFood Asistant, Sony Pictures, iStandford

times, and buy tickets for movies. In addition, they can access previews of Sony games. STANFoRD UNIVERSITY: Stanford University created iStanford to help it succeed in the highly-competitive highereducation market. The app includes the Stanford directory and the ability to search the campus map. You can also find and bookmark courses, and get scores, schedules, and news about all of the university’s varsity teams. AUDI: Audi extends their brand with two apps: Audi A4 Driving Challenge and Truth in 24. The former is a performance driving game that uses the iPhone/iPod Touch motion-sensing accelerometers to test a user’s skill in a series of driving challenges. The latter was released in combination with a Le Mans documentary. It’s a racing game where users compete against the clock. Currently, having an iPhone app is a way to differentiate your brand from your competitors, but that may change. For a while now, a company or brand has needed a Web site if it wanted to be taken seriously. If the popularity of the iPhone continues to grow, we may see a day, in the not too distant future, when having an iPhone app as part of a brand strategy will be standard practice. Will that be a good thing? You bet your app! � Anthony Bacon is a freelance writer and business consultant who works with a wide range of technology firms. He may be reached at anthonybacon@me.com.

Traditional media is dead. Long live traditional media! While many are focusing their branding efforts away from traditional media and towards iPhone/iPod Touch apps, traditional media is being used to drive downloads of those very same apps. “There are two avenues to awareness,” said Scott Rasmussen, Creative Director of iBrand Central (ibrandcentral. com), a site that specializes in blending traditional media with social media to bring attention to iPhone/iPod Touch applications. “on the one hand, you’ve got the grass-roots, word-ofmouth approach that begins in the halls of Facebook, Twitter, and countless blogs. And on the other, you’ve got traditional media that, if utilized properly, can be very potent.” To clarify this, Scott mentioned an iPhone medical application that helps consumers decide which action to take based on specific symptoms. “People who download the application may then go to their Facebook page and enter a blurb about it. Their friends will read the blurb and some of them will try the app and mention it on their Facebook pages, and it grows from there. And that creates the bottomup component.” Scott continued, “At the same time an ad or a press release appears in a national publication, over a million people learn of the application. out of those, tens of thousands download the app and blog, Facebook, or Tweet about it. The bottom-up and top-down strategy is a powerful approach.”

i Phone Li f e S um m e r 2009 Vol. 1, N o .3

Creating Apps

iPhone Development Books Want to write the next killer app for the iPhone? Build a library of the best reference books available! by John Kennedy

ack when the iPhone SDK was still a gleam in Mr. Job’s eye, the bookstore’s shelves were devoid of programming books for the iPhone. Now, you need a wheelbarrow to carry all of them home. The increase in the number of books is great news for developers—learning a new platform can be more than a little daunting. But it also means that you have to spend time finding the books that are right for you. If you are considering developing for the iPhone, here are three subjects you need to know about: • The Objective-C programming language • The Cocoa Touch framework and the iPhone SDK • The Xcode development tools I’ve managed to look through most of the books available on the first two subjects, and provide brief reviews of my favorites in this article. I do not include reviews of the Xcode-related titles, but there are a growing number of books available on this subject, and all of them seem to be pretty good. (Note that the iPhone and iPod touch are practically identical from the programmer’s point of view. References for iPhone development apply equally well to the iPod touch.)

Programming in Objective-C 2.0 (2nd Edition) Price: $44.99 Author: Stephen G. Kochan; Publisher: Addison Wesley; ISBN-13: 978-0-321-56615-7

Developing applications for the iPhone requires that you learn a new programming language: objective-C. You might think of it as a cross between C and Smalltalk—it looks quite weird in places and has plenty of [ and ] symbols. If you are used to C# or Java, you’ll begin to pick it up once you get over the new syntax. once you do, you’ll be referring to this book time and time again. More than any other on the market, this book focuses on the fundamentals of the language and what you need to know to write efficient, syntactically correct code. Be sure you pick up the Second Edition of the book because the objective-C language was updated in the Leopard timescale to include important new features. The Second Edition also includes a brief but useful iPhone development introduction. Make this one of the first books you add to your library.

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Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X (Third Edition) Price: $49.99 Author: Aaron Hillegass; Publisher: Addison-Wesley; ISBN-13: 978-0-321-50361-9

This book has been the de facto standard reference for Mac programmers for years. It’s not the easiest book to follow in places, but if you stick with it, you’ll have a thorough grounding in Mac and Cocoa development—exactly what you’ll need when you start out writing iPhone applications. Although this book predates iPhone development, it’s an excellent supplement to an iPhone-specific book.

Beginning iPhone Development: Exploring the iPhone SDK Price: $39.99 Authors: Dave Mark and Jeff LaMarche; Publisher: aPress; ISBN-13: 978-1-4302-1626-1

This book is one of my favorites, not because it’s the most detailed reference, but because it’s easy to follow and introduces you to the key programming concepts you’ll need to write iPhone apps. The style is relaxed and non-academic. It’s an excellent “teach yourself” book and great if you don’t know where to start. I was disappointed that it didn’t touch Core Animation—a key component in iPhone graphics—but it makes up for that weakness with a hugely sensible chapter on localization. A companion volume covering more advanced topics is promised, and I’ll be first in line to get a copy.

iPhone in Action - Introduction to Web and SDK Development Price: $39.99 Authors: Christopher Allen and Shannon Appelcline; Publisher: Manning; ISBN: 978-1933988863

This one actually covers two topics: writing native applications and developing Web apps for the iPhone. There’s a lot more to making Web pages look good on the iPhone than you might think. You have to worry about special viewport settings, web-

Creating Apps kit settings, control using gestures and the touch interface, the iUI and jQuery libraries, and more. Some of this stuff can be hard to track down, but this book makes it easier—it’s a really useful reference. This book also includes a good introduction to objective-C and a guide to writing iPhone applications. It’s really a comprehensive piece of work. If you can only afford one book, this would be a good one to get. But I do not consider it a beginner’s guide—you’ll need to have some programming experience to get the most out of it.

iPhone SDK Development Price: $48.95 (including eBook), $24.00 (eBook only) Authors: Bill Dudney, Marcel Molina, Chris Adamson; Publisher: Pragmatic Programmers; ISBN: 978-1-93435-625-8

I really like the publishing model used by Pragmatic Programmers. Before the physical book is published, you can buy a beta release eBook version, submit feedback and ask for clarification, and get regular updates as the book is finalized. If you are a little wary of iPhone development, this book is the gentle introduction you’ve been waiting for. It walks you through the confusing topics of View Controllers and Core Animation, and finishes with a look at using Xcode’s performance tuning tools. When you’re finished, you’ll know enough to write some great applications. This book was still in beta when I reviewed it.

The iPhone Developer’s Cookbook Price: $31.99 Author: Erica Sadun; Publisher: Addison-Wesley; ISBN: 978-0321555458

There comes a time after a programmer has learned all of the basics when he or she runs into some fiddly little thing they need to do that requires more advanced knowledge. The iPhone Developer’s Cookbook was designed for these situations. It’s stuffed with tasty programming morsels that are just downright useful, and doesn’t attempt to explain everything with pages of sample code. once you have read the other books listed here and have a few applications under your belt, treat yourself to this one.

When books aren’t enough Have you ever found yourself in a situation where, no matter how many times you read something, you just don’t understand it? I’ve had that experience with several iPhone programming concepts and was at my wits end until I discovered Pragmatic Programmer’s Screencast series. I really can’t recommend Bill Dudney’s “Writing Your First iPhone Application” series highly enough. You can watch “Getting Started with Xcode and Interface Builder” for free, and then view the five addotopma; episodes in the series for $5 each. If you prefer to learn by watching and listening rather than reading, visit the Screencast page of the Pragmatic Bookshelf Web site (pragprog.com/screencasts). � John Kennedy has been developing for mobile devices for over a decade. He’s currently writing astronomy applications and games for the iPhone under the name “Craic Design” (craicdesign.com) and is living mostly in Dublin, Ireland. john_kenn@mac.com

Core Animation for Mac OS X and the iPhone Price: $43.75 (including eBook), $34.95 (paper book only), $22.00 (eBook only) Author: Bill Dudney; Publisher: Pragmatic Programmers; ISBN: 978-1-93435-610-4

This is the second Pragmatic Programmer’s book in this round-up, but this one is out of beta and available in print format. It focuses on Core Animation, which along with Leopard and the iPhone is a new way of drawing and managing images. I particularly like how it demonstrates 3D graphics by creating a neat version of the Mac’s Front Row interface. Although the concepts covered in the book are equally applicable to both the Mac and iPhone, there is a section dedicated to developing for the iPhone. Think of this book as dessert after you’ve gotten a grip on Cocoa and objective-C.

i Phone Li f e S um m e r 2009 Vol. 1, N o .3

Creating Apps

“Flow”—the iPhone Experience that Sells by John Sorflaten

or every top download in the App Store, you’ll find a number of similar apps that aren’t doing as well. What is it that separates the high roller apps from the also-rans?

You’ve probably heard of sports figures talk about their peak experiences as “being in the zone.” Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi refers to the experience as “flow”—the “holistic sensation that people feel when they act with total involvement.” In the state of flow, people “become absorbed in their activity.” They experience these subjective benefits: • “narrowing the focus of activity” • “filtering out irrelevant perceptions and thoughts” • “loss of self-consciousness” • “responsiveness to clear goals” • “a sense of control over the environment”

Amazing Amazon I experience flow when I use the Amazon Mobile app to shop for books. First of all, it’s very easy to do a search. All I have to do is put in a topic, the author’s name, or a portion of the title. The app quickly gives me a list of possibilities with the best matches at the top.

Figs. 1 & 2: Left: How fast can I spot the “Prime” logo? Right: How fast can I spot the cheapest used book of the title I want?

Then, I scan the list of possibilities, reviewing and evaluating titles and authors. This is where I filter out the irrelevant. I also check out the new and used pricing for the titles I’m interested in, looking for the all-important Amazon discount. Sometimes I’ll find the same book listed more than once, with different prices. I’ve saved up to $50 on the price of a book by doing this. Finally, since I’m a nut for fast delivery, I signed up for 2-day Prime service. Therefore, I always look for the “Prime” logo next to a book title. I’ll sometimes balance out the extra cost for fast delivery by purchasing a used version of the book I’m interested in. All this gives me a sense of physical and financial control.

i P h o n e L i f e Summer 2009 Vol.1, No.3

The “flow” of games Games typically score higher on measures related to flow than other apps. When you play a good game, you tend to get absorbed in it, your focus narrows, you lose awareness of yourself and your surroundings, you respond to clear goals, and (as your skill with the game improves) you have a sense of control over the game environment. Research by Pinch Media tends to support the advantage games have over other apps. The study shows that games get about 10 minutes of use on the first day, gradually decreasing to about 7 minutes per day 60 days later. Utilities, lifestyle, sports, and entertainment apps get about 4 minutes of use the first day, but this remains relatively constant over the next 60 days. So, why do games get more time? Because of the “flow” experience.

The balance of challenge and skill Research on flow tells us that we not only need to encounter challenges, but we also need the skills necessary to overcome them. If a task is too easy, we don’t get to conquer anything, and we get bored (think of Tic-Tac-Toe). In addition, we might not trust the results. For example, what if Amazon just showed you the best deal without giving you the experience of shopping? Would you feel comfortable clicking the “Buy” button without examining other choices? If the challenge is too difficult, then we experience frustration, not flow. If a game is incredibly difficult to master, we may not stick with it for very long.

Feel the flow! Like Amazon.com, the iTunes App Store can produce the experience of flow. It makes one-stop app shopping a manageable challenge, allowing you to spend your time viewing and comparing apps instead of searching for them. The App Store is online window shopping at its best—you can feel the flow. When you are evaluating a new app, see how well it pulls you out of the daily grind and lets you focus on the activity at hand. Are its goals clear and does it give you a sense of control? These are important questions for consumers and app developers alike. You have to feel the flow! � John Sorflaten, Ph.D has been a user experience designer for 20 years. He’s a Certified Professional Ergonomist who consulted and taught Web interaction design for the last 10 years to thousands of professionals world-wide. If you have some experiences with your iPhone app that made you feel “flow,” send him a note at john@userexperienceworks.com.

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i P h o n e L i f e Summer 2009 Vol.1, No.3

i Phone Li f e S um m e r 2009 Vol. 1, N o .3

i P h o n e L i f e Summer 2009 Vol.1, No.3

i Phone Li f e S um m e r 2009 Vol. 1, N o .3

i P h o n e L i f e Summer 2009 Vol.1, No.3

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i Phone Li f e S um m e r 2009 Vol. 1, N o .3

iView Publisher Hal Goldstein hal@thaddeus.com, with his wife Rita Goldstein. Hal and Rita co-founded iPhone Life's publishing company, Thaddeus Computing, 24 years ago

Inspired by the Apple Keynote

igh-powered app developers, who paid $1,295 to attend Apple’s 2009 Worldwide Developer Conference, waited hours in line outside San Francisco’s Moscone Hall before being let in to hear the keynote address. The “I am a PC” and “I am a Mac” guys gave the initial welcome on the giant video screen. Said the PC: “A week with some innovation, but not too much, please. Maybe you could float a few ideas my way?” After a few minutes of the PC’s bumbling, the Mac guy in his cool, unaffected style, simply said, “What PC is trying to say is, ‘have a great conference’.” John Hodgman and Justin Long, the PC and Mac guys, welcomed attendees to the keynote address.

Thus began a presentation announcing the latest MacBook Pro, the upcoming Snow Leopard Mac operating system, the new iPhone 3G S, and iPhone OS 3.0 software.

Apple vs. Microsoft keynotes I’ve been to keynote addresses at both Apple and Microsoft developer conferences, and in both cases the presenters and the audience are enthusiastic. At the Microsoft events, developer tools are championed. At WWDC ‘09, instead of promoting the latest programming features, Apple unveiled the new MacBook Pro and the iPhone 3G S. Thanks to the Internet, Apple is obviously speaking to a much wider audience. I asked several developers which programming tools were better. The majority felt that it was easier to implement new features with Microsoft’s tools, but that Apple’s tools were superior for creating a strong user experience.

I want one! We started our publishing company in 1985 and have produced a number of magazines supporting users of Microsoft OS-based laptops, PDAs, and Smartphones. Accordingly, I’ve always used Windows PCs over the years and never used a Mac. Based on the keynote, I now plan to purchase the slim and environmentally friendly MacBook Pro with its gorgeous screen, long battery life, and (for the first time) SD card slot. The fact that it comes with the full-featured and user-friendly Leopard software and now sells for a lower price Apple’s new MacBook Pro broke down any final resistance I had.

Smart accessories In this issue we focus mostly on the features found in OS 3.0 and the new iPhone. However, what really intrigues me are the new accessories we’ll start seeing soon. The iPhone OS 3.0 will

i P h o n e L i f e Summer 2009 Vol.1, No.3

make it possible to create new accessories that work in conjunction with software apps to add new and impressive capabilities to the iPhone and iPod touch. We were shown several examples of the new “smart” accessories at the keynote. Unfortunately, as sometimes happens, the accessory demos did not work on stage. The problems caused some awkward and funny moments, but the presentations gave us a vision of possibilities.

Teaching science Wayne Grant of Pasco attempted to show us how the iPhone can be used to teach science to K-12 kids. He tried to demonstrate a sensor/app combo that was supposed to graphically display the increasing pressure of an inflating balloon. When the demo didn’t work, he pointed to himself and announced that “the rapid increase in pressure is right here.”

Guitar and software company partner Guitar company Line 6 and software developer Planet Waves demoed MIDI Mobilizer. Line 6’s digital modeling technology is built into its Variax guitars, giving them the ability to produce the sound of an acoustic or electric guitar, banjo, sitar, and more (a total of 25 different instruments). The MIDI Mobilizer app lets a musician connect his or her iPhone or iPod touch to a Variax guitar and amp. Once connected, the musician can use the app to tune guitar strings, load tones, remember settings for a song, and choose different amp effects. So, for example, an electric six string guitar can be turned into an acoustic 12-string, or the tuning of the guitar strings can be changed without even touching the guitar.

TomTom GPS Peter-Frans Pauwels of TomTom discussed how iPhone 3.0 features allow the new TomTom app to deliver turn-by-turn navigation on the iPhone and give it the ability to plan the best route for the time of day. While driving, the TomTom app shows your route on screen and gives you with voice prompts for turns. What impressed me most was the optional TomTom Car Kit accessory—a cradle that attaches to the window via suction cups and provides enhanced GPS reception, hands-free calling, and charging. In addition, you can flip the iPhone/ cradle into landscape position and play iTunes music through the speaker in the TomTom app and Car Kit. cradle. We really look forward to providing you with more information about these great new apps and accessories in future issues of iPhone Life. �