Learn how to use, hack and mod the Apple iPhone, iPad & iPod touch
If you have recently bought a new iPad I have some “must have” apps you should start out with. Of course, some apps you may wonder why they are so “must have” and argue that you don’t need them. Ok, you just might not. This is my list and there may be more that you would suggest (please do so in the comments). This is the first 5 and I will post more in chunks of 5 in the future. For what it’s worth, here’s my list: [Read more...]
Recently, someone figured out that if they changed just one little number in the code for the iPhone Facebook app, the iPad app would be revealed when installed on the iPad. You needed to be jailbroken so you could access the Facebook app files to change the code that marks the app for the iPhone or iPad. The app was a little buggy but the layout was pretty good. Nothing to blow your mind but better than the tiny little iPhone app. UPDATE: There is a hack in Cydia called FaceForward that re-enables the hack and doesn’t require the step by step hacks below! [Read more...]
The best thing about this app is that it shows the current weather on the app’s icon as a badge and there’s no need to jailbreak. There are other apps like WeatherIcon that hack your Weather icon to show the current temperature instead of a constant sunny and 73. The app has other basic weather features that honestly don’t impress me that much. None of the maps are full screen on the iPad and they reload each time you tap on them, which isn’t fast. It would be nice if it cached the one’s already downloaded. Also, the maps show no state boundaries so it’s hard to tell where everything is at. You can also tweet or Facebook the current or forecasted weather. The apps is worth downloading for getting the current temp on your homescreen but not worth the extra $0.99 for the maps. This app is universal meaning it will install on all iOS devices. [Read more...]
For some strange reason, Apple decided to leave out the Calculator app on the iPad. Thankfully, there is a free one in the App Store that works great. It’s simply called “Calculator for iPad”. It looks and works just like the iPhone app. When you rotate it to landscape you get a scientific calculator. There is a bit of an annoying ad at the bottom that moves around but if you are wanting pure functionality, this app works. Nice icon too that looks just like the iPhone app but the equals sign is replaced with the letters “HD”. I paid for the upgrade that lets you remove the ads and has 7 different themes. The developer has other apps including Weather+, Fahrenheit & Celsius. [Read more...]
TinyWorld is a simple little app. You just opened it, aim and tap one button and you have a picture of a tiny little world. It works best if the top of the area you are taking a picture of is a consistant color. To line up the picture you can try a few things. Tipping your iPhone left or right will help to make the center more of a circle. Aiming up or down more will make the sky of your tiny world bigger or smaller. It also works great with Instagram because the final image is 1000×1000 pixels which is a square. I uploaded a few of my pictures to Flickr and couldn’t find a group there so I created my own at flickr.com/groups/tinyworld Here’s what it looks like when you have the app open: [Read more...]
Opera has released a version of it’s alternate web browser for the iPad. It was originally a big drama to get another browser on Apple’s iOS next to Safari but Apple eventually allowed it. Opera has been available on the iPhone for a while but now works on the iPad too. The app is pretty good over all and has some great features. Opera loads webpages on their servers and then compresses the data to load faster on your device. It’s great when you have a slow connection or you want to save bandwidth on your iPhone or iPad data plan. It also has a password storing system and multiple tab support. [Read more...]
Our family loves Angry Birds so we were excited to see a new version called Angry Birds Rio. Apparently we’re not the only one who likes the new version because it’s currently the #1 selling app in the App Store as I write this article. Instead of crashing birds into pigs who’ve stole your eggs, now you’re trying to crash into cages of birds to help release them. There’s also different levels with monkeys in trees and a big bad guy bird you have to knock out of the sky. There is a catch to this game. All the levels have not been released yet. Only section 1 and 2 are ready and the rest will be released throughout the year. [Read more...]
Normally this app is $4.99, but today (03-16-11) it’s on sale for just $0.99. It currently has 181 effects and filters and has some tools like rotate and crop. You can also combine effects for even more vacations. Some of the better known effects include Sepia, TiltShift, Posterize, Blur and the list goes on and on. I also like the many options you have in sharing your photos. Not only can you save it to your iPad but you can share it via Flickr, Tumblr, Facebook, Twitter or email. Check out the screenshots and video below and make sure to grab it quick before the sale ends. [Read more...]
I love the feature on Boston.com‘s website called “The Big Picture“. They gather the best photography from current events and display them full screen. The problem with this website on the iPad 1 is there is not enough memory to load all the big pictures. Most picture only show a border where the picture should be with a little blue square. So, with this app, you can swipe through a slideshow of all the pictures including their descriptions. There’s also a button in the top right that allows you to view it in Safari; share via Mail, Facebook or Twitter; or you can save the photo to your photo app. One feature I would like to see is the ability to pinch and zoom on the pictures. I find myself trying to do it often but it still doesn’t work. There is also a nice counter in the bottom right to tell you what picture number you are on and how many are left. [Read more...]
I’ve been looking for an app like this that works with both Twitter and Facebook but Trickle or works with Twitter. What I was looking for was a full screen app that did a slideshow of Twitter and Facebook status updates. It would be even sweeter if it supported something like Flickr too and would show full screen pics when twitpics or Facebook photos show up. Ok, so enough dreaming, all I could find was this app. It’s actually quite nice and simple with a few decent settings to customize things. [Read more...]
Just a quick update: Gowalla has released update 3.0.1 which has fixed the crashing problem on devices running WinterBoard, a jailbreak app that lets you customize the look of your iPhone. Of course it doesn’t say that in the despcription but I tested it and it’s working now. I’m on an iPhone 4, jailbroken running WinterBoard. The update also includes speed, efficiency, text and design improvements.
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Gowalla 3.0 now integrates Facebook Places, Twitter, Foursquare & Tumblr. It also has smarter check ins, predicting where you’re located based on your history. I think Foursquare already has that feature using a favorites feature. Another feature to help speed up checkins lets you start typing your message while you’re being located. This helps a lot in towns like mine where AT&T is VERY late to the game in 3G. Our EDGE is SLOW!!!! < --Rant
Now, I can't see how this app works yet because it's crashing as soon as I open it. This happened before with a previous release and I'm pretty sure it's because my iPhone is jailbroken. I've tried rebooting, reinstalling and doing as some have suggested, removing and re-adding my login info under the settings app. Still not working. [Read more...]
SlingPlayer Mobile, an application that allows the ability to connect and stream to your device from your Slingbox, is now available for the iPad. The iPad version of the application is $29.99 (which is the same as the iPhone version) and is available for download in the App Store. Check out the full app description and screenshots below.
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The official Google Voice application has hit the App Store (again). The app, created by Google, allows you to;
• Access your Google Voice account right from your iPhone.
• Receive push notifications for new text or voicemail messages.
• Send free text messages to U.S. numbers and make international calls at cheap rates.
• Listen to your voicemail, read transcripts and manage your Google Voice inbox.
• Display your Google Voice number as caller ID when making calls.
• Call contacts from your iPhone Address Book or enter new numbers on the dialpad.
[Read more...]
The Washington Post recently released their free app for the iPad. They also released a demo video promoting the app. I finally got a chance to check it out and all I have to say is… that is seriously a lot of iPads! If you haven’t seen the video, you can check it out below. [Read more...]
