September « 2009 « iphone blog

September 30, 2009

So Why Did Apple Buy a Mapping Company?

Filed under: gigaom — Tags: a-board-meeting, api, computerworld-, gigaom, google, google-apple, google-maps, highest-profile, iphone, microsoft, placebase, purchase-closed, smart — @ 11:57 pm

Apple purchased digital mapmaker Placebase in July for an undisclosed sum, according to Seth Weintraub at Computerworld. Placebase, which we wrote about last year, is a Google Maps competitor that focuses on adding layers of public and private data to existing maps with an easy-to-use API. One use for the product, called PolicyMap, layers various types of data — like home sales, crime, or employment — over maps to help visualize data geographically. It’s big business, and the company was profitable without VC funding. So, why did Apple buy Placebase?

There are many reasons. For starters, it is becoming obvious that maps and geo-location are becoming crucial components of any modern operating system. Nokia was the first one to realize this and snapped up companies such as gate5 and Navteq.

Secondly, the acquisition allows Apple to decrease its reliance on former BFF Google. Apple could use Placebase’s technology to replace the Google Maps functionality in the iPhone and iPod Touch (and the new tablet, perhaps?) with its an in-house mapping solution. The ongoing legal fight between Apple, Google and the FCC over rejected apps on the iPhone App Store is well-known, as is Google CEO Eric Schmidt’s departure from Apple’s board in August.

Weintraub claims the Placebase purchase closed in July, which is a curious timeline. Did Schmidt know of Apple’s plans to purchase the company, or was this an instance of him “sitting out” of a board meeting, because it was a place where Apple and Google were possibly competing?

Apple and Google are competing on more and more fronts, and Apple may be looking to cut as many ties with Google as possible, in a seemingly belated attempt at keeping the fox out of the henhouse. The highest profile tie at the moment? The Google search-box currently in the top of every Safari user’s browser window — a search-box that likely sends a decently substantial amount of referral funds from Google to Apple. Given Microsoft’s need to expand its search share, it wouldn’t be inconceivable that Apple replaces Google with Bing. As long there is enough “cashback” for Apple!

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So Why Did Apple Buy a Mapping Company?

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Apple Buys Their Very Own Maps Company (See Ya, Google Maps) [Apple]

Filed under: gizmodo — Tags: apple, awesomeness, even-if-google, google, iphone, mapping-powers, mapping-service, maps, navigation, placebase, pushpin, tablet — @ 10:40 pm

The Apple/Google divorce continues to come into focus: Apple quietly bought Placebase, a mapping service company, back in July. Apple doesn’t buy companies it’s not going to use. Meaning, Apple’s getting into making their own maps. Peace out, Google.

Seth at ComputerWorld, who put this together, points to a post on GigaOm last year detailing the awesomeness of PlaceBase vs. Google Maps—mainly, customization and tons of ways to layer multiple kinds of data sets onto maps, with an API that makes it easy to layer on those data sets.

So maybe Apple wants these kind of intensive, custom geolocation mapping powers for the iPhone (and other stuff), or maybe Apple just wants to roll its own maps, so it’s not depending on Google for the tiles. Which would actually go along with the same kind of independent streak we’ve seen in other areas from Apple, like designing custom chips for the iPhone (and maybe the Tablet) using its PA Semi acquisition, instead of using the same chips anybody can buy.

If Apple’s got a new Maps app coming that’s totally un-Googley, does that mean we can finally get a real Latitude app, since it won’t confuse us anymore? Even if Google’s tiles stick around in the iPhone Maps app for a while, Apple’s definitely doing something with their new toy. [CW]

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Apple Buys Their Very Own Maps Company (See Ya, Google Maps) [Apple]

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App Review: Bunny Breeder by Jeffrey Yim

Filed under: AppChatter — Tags: a-few-seconds-, a-hidden-twist, a-new-bunny, application, bunny-breeder1, game, hole, home, instructions, jeffrey, then-out-comes, title — @ 9:50 pm

It’s not often I find an app as easy to pick up and play as Bunny Breeder. Though the title made me think it was a tycoon, I soon discovered otherwise. The object of the game is to try to guide these fluffy bunnies back to their home. Sounds easy? It is at first. As I tapped play, I was faced with a bird’s eye view of a pen of sorts, containing the rabbits. Now, being as enthusiastic as I am, I went ahead and tried to work out the controls myself. As I soon realized, I should have paid more attention to the “how to play” button on the menu screen, the layout of which is quite stylish. Anyway, as I flipped through the slide show of instructions, I realized – “Wow, this game has a lot of potential.”

It is very well thought out, and, I discovered, does bear a reference to the title. For, once all of the bunnies are back in the hole, it’s game over! So how do you get more bunnies? That’s right, you breed them. Dragging to bunnies towards each other will bring up some love hearts for a few seconds, and then out comes a new bunny! If they mate again, however, you get a different colored bunny. This goes on a couple more times, until you get the golden bunny! Different colored bunnies are worth more points if you get them safely back to the hole. Still sounds pretty easy? It is, until the foxes start coming. These nasty creatures will snatch your precious bunnies, costing you points. How to avoid them? Simple. At the beginning of the game, you have two rabbits… and a cow. As hinted in the instructions screen, foxes can’t run under these fatties, so be sure to drag them in the way of the fox to save your bunnies!

All in all, I would give this application a 3-4 stars for cute graphics, a nicely thought out objective with a hidden twist, and for keeping in the $0.99 price range. As in every review though, I must include some bad points. At first, I couldn’t make sense of the objective, but that was swiftly taken care of by the how to play menu. A cow? Sorry, but I think foxes could definitely run under that! Lastly, the app crashed on my first play, but after restarting my iPod Touch, I haven’t had an error since; so if you do buy this, make sure to restart your device after installation.

$0.99

iTunes App Store

Luke (ALPH4BR4V0) is a new contributor here at AppChatter who replied to our Help Wanted post from a couple of weeks ago.

No related posts.

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App Review: Bunny Breeder by Jeffrey Yim

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‘Flipside’ Might Just Blow Your Mind

Filed under: toucharcade — Tags: a-brand-new, a-friend-with, a-match-meter, board, into-the-action, lack, local-or-global, mechanic, playing-on-the, same, wins-the-round — @ 8:47 pm

From the makers of Dizzy Bee and Bed Bugs comes Flipside [$2.99], a remarkably fun and original matching game.

Flipside presents you with a board of two-sided tiles. Each tile has a shape on each side (star, heart, diamond, circle, and X). Your goal is to match 3 or more tiles of the same shape.

It all seems pretty straight-forward until you realize you get penalized if you match tiles on the back-side of the tiles. Even more mind-blowing is that in versus mode, your opponent is playing on the back-side of your board, and you are each trying to get matches on your respective sides.

Flipside offers 4 different game modes including Survival, Puzzle, Vs. Com and Peer-to-Peer. Survival offers 20 levels of progressively faster paced gameplay where you try to prevent the screen from overflowing by matching as fast as you can. In this mode, back-side matches result in a shower of penalty tiles that brings the board closer to filling. Survival mode starts quite slow but starts ramping up around level 8. Fortunately, the game allows you to start at any previously unlocked level, so you can get straight away into the action again. Meanwhile, Puzzle mode offers a familiar challenge of trying to clear all the blocks from pre-set boards by strategically flipping the correct pieces to create front-side matches.

The game, however, really shines in Vs. mode. The game offers 5 different AI opponents at 5 different difficulties that can be played in a set of rounds. Each player is given a match meter which grows as you make more matches. The first player to fill their meter, wins the round.

Remember, you are playing on the same board of tiles, just on different sides, so every move affects the other player. If you are fortunate enough to have a friend with an iPhone, you can play against them head to head over Bluetooth.

The main deficiency in the game is the lack of any high score mechanism or even what one might consider a more traditional “endless” mode. The game progress is primarily determined by the progressively harder unlockable levels and there appears to be no high score records, either local or global. As well, the game does not save state when you quit so you'll lose progress if you do.

For a brand new puzzle game, the mechanic works remarkably well. Aside from the silhouettes of the back-side shapes, each tile is also conveniently color coded to also reflect the back-side shape. I found that it took very little time to become comfortable with scanning the titles.

Flipside is a fresh new matching concept that has been incredibly well executed, however, the lack of high score record keeping and non-traditional level progression may be an issue for some.

App Store Link: Flipside, $2.99

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‘Flipside’ Might Just Blow Your Mind

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Documents To Go Updated to 2.0 – Includes Excel Editor

Filed under: 148apps — Tags: a-certain-way-, a-function-and, ability, article, desktop, documents, excel, exchange, have-it-process, microsoft, microsoft-word, spreadsheet, time — admin @ 8:27 pm

Documents To Go 2.0 was released today and includes the promised Excel file editor. While we haven’t taken a deep look at it, we’ve tested creating and editing Excel documents and so far are really impressed with the number of features and how quickly it works.

The Excel spreadsheet editor on Documents to Go 2.0 includes the ability to create and edit Microsoft Excel files. This joins the already excellent Word file editor in Documents To Go. The Excel editor works quickly and seems to be fairly full featured. One huge standard feature of Excel files are the functions — the ability to enter a function and have it process other numbers in the spreadsheet in a certain way. Figuring sums, percentages, etc. A huge list of functions are included with the editor and populating the variables in the function is easily done by clicking cells as you would on the desktop. The editor also includes support for multiple pages in each spreadsheet.

Dataviz have increased the price for Documents to Go, which they have said all along they would do with the 2.0 update release. The regular version is now $9.99 (up from $6.99). We don’t know yet what the Microsoft Exchange price increase will be as it hasn’t been updated at the time of this article.

Documents To Go® (Microsoft Word editing & Desktop sync)

Category: Productivity
Released: 2009-05-25
Price: $6.99

After the jump, take a look at some more screen shots of the new Excel file editor.

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Documents To Go Updated to 2.0 – Includes Excel Editor

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Quick App: Stickam Live Video for iPhone

Filed under: tipb — Tags: also-supports, both-portrait, content-right, flash, flash-bound, iphone, magic-behind, scenes, stickam, stickam-live, video, watch-featured — @ 8:09 pm

Stickam Live Video [Free - iTunes link] brings the popular live streaming website’s content right to your iPhone or iPod touch… and it even works over 3G!

No doubt they’re using some magic behind the scenes to transform the Flash-bound web content into racy H.264 for the iPhone, similar to how other video platforms have adapted. With it, you can watch featured shows and popular live shows, and view, search, and chat with live friends and users. It also supports both portrait and landscape mode.

If you’re a Stickam fan and you try it out, let us know what you think!

Quick App: Stickam Live Video for iPhone

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iFukkin iPhone App Maybe Is Not What It Seems [IPhone Apps]

Filed under: gizmodo — Tags: certainly-the-cheapest, encourages-you, img-alt, iphone, japanese, japanese-whatever-, left-image340, store — @ 7:30 pm

Japanese teen? Got it. Cheerleader uniform? Hmmm-hmmm. Video camera? Sure enough. Push ups? Yes. You know exactly where this is going.

Yes, it’s an application in which a Japanese cheerleader encourages you to do sit-ups. Why the name, then? Apparently, fukkin means abs in Japanese. Whatever. For $1, it’s certainly the cheapest fukkin exercise you are going to find.[iTunes Appe Store via Krapps]

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iFukkin iPhone App Maybe Is Not What It Seems [IPhone Apps]

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Blu-ray Improvements on the Horizon: Faster Loads, iPhone Connectivity and IMDB [Blu-Ray]

Filed under: gizmodo — Tags: a-button-and, a-remote-device, bd players, check-it-out, digital copy, even-eliminated, gizmodo, img-alt, left-image500, lookup, more-incentive, most-promising, store, wolverine — @ 6:30 pm

What does Fox have in mind for improving the experience of Blu-rays? Actually…some really great ideas, according to SlashFilm.

The most immediate (and maybe most promising) is Live Lookup. It’ll be on the Wolverine disc (you know, the same one that has the PSPgo digital copy).

Live Lookup allows you to hit a button and be linked to IMDB. Actors can be sorted by scene, allowing you to search for bikini shots of cute, female b-listers later. Check it out in the lead photo.

Load times should be diminished or even eliminated, but at a cost. Fox plans to load BD menus while you watch previews. So things may not actually get faster, but you may have more incentive to sit through all that extra promotional material that shouldn’t be on a BD in the first place.

Finally, we may even control a BD player through a remote device, like an iPhone. Not only could you search for content without popping a guide up onscreen, but the BD player could stream additional content to this second, personal screen.

These are all great ideas, but hopefully more studios than just Fox will adopt them. Read more of what Fox had to say on the matter over at: [SlashFilm]

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Blu-ray Improvements on the Horizon: Faster Loads, iPhone Connectivity and IMDB [Blu-Ray]

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iPhone: "Just works" (70% of the time)

Filed under: zdnet — Tags: a-much-gloomier, a-stat-dump, apple, employee, have-it-looked, iphone, kosher-on-their, manoj, nyc, picture — @ 5:49 pm

Posted by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes @ 4:49 pm

Categories: Apple

Tags: Apple iPhone, AT&T Corp., Apple Genius Bar Employee, Smart Phones, Consumer Electronics, Personal Technology, Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

An Apple Genius Bar employee has told a New York City-area iPhone owner that iPhone users in the region experience an average of 30% dropped calls. So there you have it, the iPhone “just works” … 70% of the time.

The story really does defy belief:

Giz reader Manoj took his iPhone to the Genius Bar to have it looked at because it was dropping calls left and right, and AT&T swore stuff was totally kosher on their end, so he thought something was wrong with his phone. After doing a stat dump, the Genius showed Manoj that his iPhone had actually dropped 22 percent of calls.

The jawdropper: The Genius told Manoj that’s actually excellent compared to most people in the New York area, where a 30 percent dropped call rate is the average.

I’m not sure what’s worse here, being told that a 22% dropped call rate is fine, or finding out that the average dropped call rate is 30%? Either way, the numbers paint a gloomy picture for Apple and AT&T, and a much gloomier picture for people paying large amounts of hard-earned cash for what amounts to an appalling level of service.

Is the dropped call rate in NYC really this bad for the iPhone and AT&T, or is this just Genius Bar nonsense talk?

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iPhone: "Just works" (70% of the time)

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