Archives for April 2009

SweetMail Discontinued

Available In: Cydia       Price: Free  

SweetMail About a week ago, I did a review of SweetMail…an application that allowed the ability to display unread email on your lock screen. At the time, the app needed a little work. If you were one of the people who kept the app around, you would have noticed that the developer was able to update the app without updating it in Cydia. In doing so, he added a few features that allowed you view the emails on your lock screen and scroll through them. Today, I got the following message on my lockscreen; “Due to cost of servers for SweetMail I can no longer run it as I cannot afford to keep it available. Sorry for this issue. Please uninstall SweetMail from your handset.” [Read more…]

iTicker Widget – Scrolling RSS Feed on Your SpringBoard

Available In: Cydia       Price: Free  

iTicker Widget iTicker Widget is an “updating ticker of sports scores, news headlines, or any other RSS feed that you would like displayed right on your iPhone 3G’s springboard!” Note: I know the developer’s description of the application says “iPhone 3G’s springboard” however, I have tested iTicket Widget on a first gen iPhone and it worked as well.

Once you install iTicker Widget, you can activated/deactivate it via WinterBoard. When you activate it, it will add a text line under your forth row of icons (just above your dock) that will scroll through an RSS feed. You can customize the RSS feed to whatever you would like it to be however, in order to do so, you will need to be comfortable using SSH. If you are comfortable with SSH and would like to customize the application…below are instructions.

The instructions below are actually the developer’s instructions. Usually, I end up writing my own instructions but, the developer’s are perfect so I thought I would just use those!

Instructions:

Once in your iPhone you’ll want to navigate to the following folder: /Library/Themes

Here you will see a folder for iTicker. Open that folder and you will see a file called: Widget.html

Open up this file in notepad or any HTML editor you like such as Dreamweaver. Look for this line of code:

http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/pipe.run?_id=5hrDg6Ir3hGzle_u6icw5g&_render=rss

Replace that URL with the URL of your RSS feed that you want to use. Here is a list of individual sports feeds you can use so only that sport displays.

MLB use: http://www.mpiii.com/scores/mlb.php
NBA use: http://www.mpiii.com/scores/nba.php
NFL use: http://www.mpiii.com/scores/nfl.php
NHL use: http://www.mpiii.com/scores/mlb.php
NCAA use: http://www.mpiii.com/scores/ncaa.php
WNBA use: http://www.mpiii.com/scores/wnba.php

If you want to have multiple feeds show for example MLB and NFL you will need to combine them into one feed. To do that please follow this guide here.

I actually replaced the http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/pipe.run?_id=5hrDg6Ir3hGzle_u6icw5g&_render=rss code with AppleiPhoneSchool’s RSS url (which is http://feeds.feedburner.com/AppleiPhoneSchool) and it scrolled through all our top articles…it displayed the title of each article. It was pretty cool.

I also made one more change to the file and moved the text over so that is started a little close to the left side of my iPhone. If you would also like to adjust your text…see the instructions below.

1. Once in your iPhone you’ll want to navigate to the following folder: /Library/Themes

2, Here you will see a folder for iTicker. Open that folder and you will see a file called: Widget.html

3. Open up this file in notepad or any HTML editor you like such as Dreamweaver. Look for this line of code:

margin-left:59px;

4. Change the 59px to whatever suits your customizations. Note: The smaller the number, the closer the text will start to the left side of your iPhone. (Example…if you change 59 to 39, the text will start closer to the left side of your iPhone.)

For more information about the iTicker Widget…check out the developer’s site. You can get this app via the modmyi source.

ScreenShots

Pangea Software Apps on Sale for $0.99

Available In: App Store       Price: $0.99  

Pangea Software Pangea Software is having a “Spring Cleaning Sale” in which most of their application are only $0.99! Pangea Software is the developer of games like Enigmo, Cro-Mag Rally, Bugdom 2…etc. You will definitely want to check it out.

pangeasoftware

qTweeter – Update Twitter and/or Facebook Status From Any Application

Available In: Cydia       Price: Free Trial then Donation  

qTweeter Last night, just before going to bed, I checked Cydia like I always do. I was surprised to see that Ste Packaging had released an app (it has been a while since I have seen one from them). This instantly made me a little curious about the application so, I decided to check it out. At first I was like, “Yeah, that is just what I need…another Twitter application!” But, after I installed and tested the app…it realized this was like no other Twitter application I had!

qTweeter allows you to update your Twitter and Facebook from any application. How that app works is, once installed, you can slide your finger from your status bar down the page. This brings up a nicely designed little user interface. The first time you launch the app (swipe from the status bar down) you will get a Welcome to qTweeter page. Here you will want to select the Start Using qTweeter option. [Read more…]

Seek ‘n Spell Now Available in the App Store

Available In: App Store       Price: $2.99  

Seek 'n Spell About a month ago, I did a review of an application called Seek ‘n Spell, a real-time GPS-based word building competition. If you recall, I was impressed with the uniqueness of the game and decided to write about it before I even had a copy of it. Well, as of today, it is now available in the App Store. This is most definitly an application that you will want to check out…I personally cant wait to try it out! Below are the description and demo video in case you missed them the first time around.

Seek 'n Spell

[Read more…]

iTunnel 3D Preview

App Store: Coming Soon       Price: ??  

iTunnel 3DOk, so I posted on Twitter last night about a really sweet app that I said may be right up there with my favorite game, Fieldrunners. It’s nothing like it, but it’s fun, addicting, good graphics and even better, it’s customizable. The best way to explain it is to show you a video. So here’s a video from the developer. [Read more…]

Nintaii – “Brain Twisting Puzzle Game”

Available In: App Store       Price: $0.99  

Nintaii If you like games that challenge your thinking skills then you will like Nintaii. In this game you navigate a rectangular block through a maze until you get it to fall in a hole on the other side of the map. You can use you finger to roll the block through the maze or you can also use the accelerometer and tilt your iPhone/iPod Touch. There are 100 levels and obviously they get more challenging as you go along.

They also introduce little tools as the game goes on to either assist you or make the game more challenging…I haven’t decided. The tools in the levels I’ve made it to so far are an arrow that pushes the block in the direction that the arrow is pointing and then they have these sprocket squares that when you land the block on them vertically, it either pushes the corresponding sprocket cubes down flat or puts them back up to where they were before (I kinda messed up on the screenshot on this feature but once you try it out you’ll understand what I mean). [Read more…]

iAnonymize – Hide or Blur Images in Photos

Available In: App Store       Price: $0.99  

iAnonymize iAnonymize is an app that allows you to hide or blur parts of photos that you don’t want other people to see. So if you took a picture of your car and don’t want to broadcast your license plate number or you or one of your friends are soon to be featured on America’s Most Wanted and you would like to conceal their identity…this would be your app.

There are two different types of boxes you can use. The first one is where it pixelizes the area you select and the other is where it just puts a blank box (ranging in shades of grey) over the selected area. You can adjust the level of each via the slider at the top of the screen. You choose the area by touching the screen on the photo and then moving and sizing the box much like zooming and moving in Safari and you toggle between the two box settings with the icon to the left of center at the bottom. You can also zoom and move around the photo by toughing the icon at the bottom in the center. When you save the photo it saves a new file to your camera roll and preserves you original file. [Read more…]

Firmware 3.0 Preview: YouTube

YouTubeA lot of people have been having trouble getting YouTube to work during the Beta process of the iPhone 3.0 firmware. With the 3rd beta, most have claimed it works again. Now that it does, we can show you what’s new so far. First, when seeing the details of a video, the info isn’t displayed right under the video thumbnail any more. You must tap the blue arrow which will bring you to a screen with two options, Info or More Videos. These tabs have a lot more features than before like rating, commenting and flagging videos. You can also see all the other comments on the video which you couldn’t do before. The More Video tab shows you more videos by the same user and the option to subscribe to that users videos. [Read more…]

Defend Your Castle Now Available in the App Store

Available In: App Store       Price: $1.99  

Defend your Castle A week ago, Justin did a pre-release review of the game Defend your Castle. It seems the game is now available in the App Store. It is $1.99 as the developer said it would be. I know a few of you said that you were interested in checking it….and now you can!

PS. I played a level of this game on Justin’s iPhone and he is right…the game will definitly give you a nice forearm work-out!!

Defend your Castke

Laundry Pro – Learn More About Taking Care of Your Laundry

Available In: App Store       Price: $0.99  

Laundry Pro This application review was done by a guest writer. Tom is not a writer on AppleiPhoneSchool.com but, he a friend of Doug’s and is an appliance enthusiast! Below is his review of Laundry Pro.

Laundry Pro is app full of mysterious laundry symbols in which most people don’t even know what they they stand for! In this app, you will find out how to wash your clothes according to the directions on the care tab of your favorite garment. I find it easy to use, just look at your garment tab and tap on the symbol and you will find directions how to wash, dry, and iron. [Read more…]

Firmware 3.0 Battery Percentage in Status Bar, Data Detectors, Safari

AppleWhen I upgraded to the 3.0 firmware I thought that it was pretty kewl that a few features from jailbreaking where still in place. My carrier was still set to “Ahhyeah” and my battery percentage was still in the status bar. This usually happens with any jailbreak followed by a firmware upgrade. I set both features when jailbroke; my carrier logo with MakeItMine and the battery percentage with Supreme Preferences.

This is all kewl but what caught my attention was the battery percentage looked different. I used to be able to tap on my battery and it would switch to numbers, just numbers. Now it’s to the left of the battery and there all the time. It also has a percent sign(%) next to it and when it drops to 20% or lower, the text turns red. I thought maybe this was a developer feature when beta testing firmware but I had never heard of it before and wasn’t hearing anyone else talk about it with current firmware. [Read more…]

Nova – WinterBoard Theme

Nova is a very unique theme…it is clean and well designed. It contains 21 icons, a dock, status bar, badge and wallpaper. The only downfall is that there is no icon for the Maps application. I even took a look at the folder to make sure it wasn’t spelled incorrectly but, nope, no Maps icon. The upside is that the folder does contain a .psd file so that you can create your own icons. So, if you are ssh savvy and photoshop savvy…you could take care of the no Maps icon problem. If you are ssh or photoshop savvy…you might have to wait for an update before getting a Maps icon! Hopefully we see an update soon! [Read more…]

Buzzword Frenzy – Think Catch Phrase

Available In: App Store       Price: $2.99  

Buzzword Frenzy Two of my favorite party games have always been Taboo and Catch Phrase. With the electronic version of Catch Phrase, it was easy to take a portable version of this easy to learn game. Car games were no longer needed as hours of time were suddenly filled. I must admit that during my early thoughts of “I could be an iPhone Apps developer”, I considered making a Catch Phrase type game. Well, the folks behind Buzzword Frenzy beat me to the punch.

Overview
There are three game options available: Hot Potato, Sprint!, and Time Trials. Hot Potato is most similar to Catch Phrase where the last player holding the iPod/iPhone when the buzzer sounds loses. Sprint! mode calls for each team to guess as many words as possible in a certain amount of time, while the Time Trial mode gives each team a specific amount of words, and the fastest time wins. A wide range of categories and several thousand words/phrases are available as well as an option to download additional word lists is available under the Extras menu. Also included are tips and stats links, though these all require an Internet connection. [Read more…]

65 Wallpapers

Available In: Cydia       Price: Free  

65 Wallpapers 65wallpapers17 65 Wallpapers is a pack of, you guessed it, 65 wallpapers! The pack includes space, nature, abstract and cartoon style wallpapers. I found all of the wallpapers to be of nice quality….there are even a few that I am going to use! If you are looking for a new lock screen background, the perfect wallpaper for a specific theme or even just a new wallpaper (I use clear icons so, changing my wallpaper is like having a whole new theme!)…you might want to check these out. Below are screenshots of all 65 wallpapers. Also, when you install this wallpaper pack, the wallpapers are added to your stock Settings application under Wallpapers. Another thing to note is that this is 65 wallpaper so, the file size is pretty large and could take a little longer to install. You can get this wallpaper pack through the Touch-Mania source. [Read more…]