iPhone Atlas

Boston to launch complaint-filing iPhone app

Caroline McCarthy — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 07:29:00 PDT

The city of Boston is set to launch an official iPhone application for residents to file complaints about "neighborhood nuisances--nasty potholes, graffiti-stained walls, blown street lights," according to The Boston Globe.

Called Citizen Connect, the app will let Bostonians send pictures and tips right to City Hall.

The app was built with the help of a New Hampshire mobile development firm called Connected Bits.

Citizen Connect has been submitted to Apple but hasn't made it into the iTunes App Store just yet. When it does, it will be free.

The Boston Globe said that Citizen Connect is the first app of its kind, but other cities have also been turning to new technology to make the minutiae of municipal government run more smoothly. New York's 311 nonemergency hotline for residents now has a presence on Skype and Twitter. New York also now accepts photo and video submissions for 911 and 311.

Beware, Citizen Connect: complaints about this 'Aqua Hunger Teen Force' ad campaign turned into a huge mess for Boston two years ago.

(Credit: Boing Boing)

But the iPhone app has a few advantages. Per the Globe: "The application, which will be free to download from Apple, will allow residents to use the Global Positioning System function on their iPhones to pinpoint the precise location of the problem for City Hall. After submitting a complaint, users will get a tracking number, so they can pester city officials if the problem persists." Ooh! Pestering city officials sounds like fun!

That said, the idea of a complaint-filing iPhone app for Boston is particularly hilarious: the most famous instance of Boston municipal complaints in recent history happened when people started calling in concerns about suspicious-looking devices that turned out to be an ad campaign for the cartoon flick "Aqua Teen Hunger Force." This fact, however, did not come to light until the city had already shut down all traffic on the Charles River.

Or, as one blogger has pointed out already, the system could easily get flooded with photos accompanied by captions like "Please send a cop over to make these Yankees fans leave this bar."

Originally posted at Crave

Kolonists: Like 'Settlers of Catan' for iPhone

Rick Broida — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 07:18:00 PDT

Kolonists looks and plays a lot like the boardgame classic 'Settlers of Catan.'

Good news for fans of the board game Settlers of Catan: There's an app for that. Specifically, the new iPhone game Kolonists offers decidedly Settlers-like gameplay.

In other words, it's a strategy game of empire-building for 3 to 4 players. (If you've never heard of Settlers, check out the Wired story, Monopoly Killer: Perfect German board game redefines genre.)

Like Settlers, Kolonists unfolds on an island, which here fills in for Roman Empire-era Rome. Your goal is to rise to power by developing and capturing territories, which involves resource-gathering, trading, bribery, and some inevitable plundering.

Unlike Settlers, Kolonists plays without dice. That reduces the "chance" aspects of the gameplay while increasing the strategic elements--and makes the game go quite a bit faster.

Settlers die-hards may object to that change, but it's a safe bet that if you like the board game, you'll like Kolonists. And if you're new to both, you'll find the latter thoroughly engaging. After the initial learning curve, it's easy to play and endlessly entertaining. Love the grandiose soundtrack, too.

Unfortunately, version 1.0 has a few significant issues, most notably the lack of a save-game feature: If you exit for any reason, you can't resume.

Making matters worse, Kolonists is fairly crash-prone. Imagine the aggravation of investing, say, 20 minutes in a game when poof, it unceremoniously quits on you--and you can't even return to where you left off.

According to the developer, Kolonists 1.1 is already under review in the App Store, bringing with it an auto-save feature, crash fixes, faster AI, and various new gameplay options.

It can't get here soon enough. With those tweaks and fixes, Kolonists will undoubtedly rank as one of the best strategy games ever to appear on the iPhone and iPod Touch. Grab it now, while it's still at the "introductory" price of $1.99.

iPhone 3GS jailbreak, 'purplera1n,' hits Web

Leslie Katz — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 10:54:00 PDT

Just as America gears up to celebrate Independence Day comes news that iPhone 3GS owners are getting some freedom of their own.

This is the site for purplera1n, which enables the installation of third-party software not approved for Apple's App Store.

George Hotz, who you may recall as the teenage hacker who originally unlocked the iPhone, has let loose a jailbreaking app for the iPhone 3GS code-named purplera1n. It enables the installation of third-party software not approved for Apple's App Store.

For now, purplera1n is Windows-only (but not Windows 7) and requires the latest iTunes installed, as well as an iPhone 3GS with the 3.0 firmware. In a Friday blog post titled "I make it ra1n," Hotz says a Mac version is "coming shortly."

Hotz notes that he normally doesn't make tools for the general public and would rather wait for the iPhone dev team to do that.

"But guys, what's up with waiting until 3.1? That isn't how the game is played," he chides on his blog. "We release, Apple fixes, we find new holes. It isn't worth waiting because you might have the 'last' hole in the iPhone. What last hole...this isn't golf. I'll find a new one next week.

John Biggs over at CrunchGear is among those who have already given purplera1n a go and declares the jailbreaking process "amazingly simple."

Why do we get the sense jailbreaking is going to be part of a whole lot of Fourth of July agendas? But take note: Hotz does caution that purplera1n is in beta and suggests backing up your data before running the app.

Originally posted at Crave

iPhone heat issue much ado about nothing

Jim Dalrymple — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:26:00 PDT

OK, folks, it's time to step back, take a deep breath, and relax.

(Credit: Apple, Inc.)

There has been a lot of talk today about Apple supposedly admitting it has heat issues with the new iPhone 3GS. The simple fact is that is not true.

What Apple did do is update a previously published tech note advising customers of the safe operating temperatures of the iPhone. Now, why would Apple do this? Because it does it every time it releases a device like the iPhone 3GS. It's standard procedure for the company to continually update tech notes for all its products.

If you're not familiar with them, tech notes are a way for companies to offer advice, best practices, workarounds, and other tidbits of information for their customers. They are not a way to advise customers of disastrous heat issues that they may have with a device.

For whatever reason, some people picked up the tech note today and wrote that Apple had admitted to an overheating issue. Here's what the tech note actually says.

Apple recommends that you don't:

Leave the device in a car on a hot day.

Leave it in direct sunlight for extended amounts of time.

Use certain applications in hot conditions or direct sunlight for long periods of time, such as GPS tracking in a car on a sunny day or listening to music while in direct sunlight.

I hardly see that as an admission that there are heat issues. Best practices for operating the iPhone, sure.

I've been through several incidents over my 15 years of covering Apple where warnings were issued about products. Whether it was a notebook battery or a power cord, we usually learned of the problem from Apple, and they were always quick to respond and to offer replacements.

It is true that Apple has been quiet about this so far. If I had to guess, I'd say it's because they have not been able to replicate the heat issues some users are reporting.

You will know when Apple acknowledges a serious problem like this. It won't come in the form of a tech note. It will come directly from a company representative.

Originally posted at News - Apple

Apple fixing iPhone SMS security hole

Elinor Mills — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:03:00 PDT

Apple expects to have a fix later this month for a vulnerability in the iPhone that could allow an attacker to gain control of the device remotely via SMS, a security researcher said on Thursday.

An attacker could exploit a weakness in the way iPhones handle SMS (short message service) messages to do things like use GPS to track the phone's location, turn on the microphone for eavesdropping, or take control of the device and add it to a botnet, Charlie Miller, co-author of The Mac Hacker's Handbook and principal security analyst at Independent Security Evaluators, said in a presentation at the SyScan conference in Singapore. The presentation was covered by IDG News Service.

Miller said that under an agreement with Apple, he was barred from providing too much detail on the vulnerability. He plans to give a more detailed presentation on the hole at the Black Hat conference in Las Vegas at the end of the month.

Despite the SMS hole, which "could be a critical vulnerability," the iPhone is more secure than OS X on computers, Miller said. That is because the iPhone doesn't support Adobe Flash and Java, only runs software digitally signed by Apple, includes hardware protection for data stored in memory, and runs applications in a sandbox, he said.

Apple representatives did not immediately respond to an e-mail request for comment.

Originally posted at News - Security

MobileMe updates support for iPhone and OS 3.0

David Martin — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:19:00 PDT

(Credit: Apple, Inc.)

Apple has updated a support document that details MobileMe enhancements for an iPhone running iPhone OS 3.0. The updates include the following features.

Mail
On an iPhone or iPod Touch, a user can search all messages including those stored on the MobileMe "cloud" (server). You can search in the From, To, and Subject fields.

Gallery

iPhone 3GS users can publish videos to a Gallery album.
If no Gallery albums exist, an album is automatically created when publishing a photo or video from the iPhone.

Push Contacts and Push Calendar

There's an option to merge existing contacts and calendars on first sync from iPhone/iPod Touch.
Deleting a MobileMe account or turning off contact and calendar sync on iPhone/iPod Touch allows users to keep a copy of the data on the device.
iPhone contacts that sync with MobileMe maintain ringtone associations.

Details regarding Find My iPhone and Remote Wipe are included; we've covered both topics previously.

Apple has a complete list of MobileMe service updates since August 2008 .

Apple updates heat advisory for iPhone 3GS

David Martin — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:11:00 PDT

Last week, Apple revised a support document about iPhone temperature to include the iPhone 3GS. The June 25 document cautions iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS users to operate their handsets within acceptable temperatures. It makes the following recommendations:

Recommended operating temperatures
Operate iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS in a place where the temperature is between zero and 35 degrees Celsius (32 to 95 degrees Fahrenheit). Low or high-temperature conditions might temporarily shorten battery life or cause the device to temporarily stop working properly.

Recommended storage temperatures
Store iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS in a place where the temperature is between -20 and 45 degrees Celsius (-4 to 113 degrees Fahrenheit). Don't leave the device in your car, because temperatures in parked cars can exceed this range.

Symptoms of overheating

iPhone will no longer charge

iPhone display will dim

Weaker cell signal

iPhone temperature warning screen appears (see below)

iPhone temperature warning screen pops up if the phone is overheating.

(Credit: Apple, Inc.)

According to reader reports we've received, the iPhone's internal and ambient temperatures can spike when it's performing multiple functions simultaneously. Specific instances include using the iPhone while it's charging, using Wi-Fi during phone calls, and accessing data services during phone calls. Yet, we've also heard the iPhone can get warm during very long phone calls and during normal charging. Reports of discoloration on white iPhone 3GS models have been blamed on overheating.

Tips for keeping your iPhone cool

Some external cases--especially those that were designed before the iPhone was released and were not properly tested--can prevent heat from dissipating properly. Be especially wary of silicone covers, as they tend to act as insulators.
Power down various internal circuitry by putting the device in Airplane mode. Go to the Settings menu and slide Airplane Mode to On.
Don't leave the iPhone in a car on a hot day or in direct sunlight for extended amounts of time.
Use of certain applications like mapping and gaming for extended periods might lead to the iPhone overheating. Limit the length of these activities if possible.

Meanwhile, the iPhone user manual states:

"You cannot use iPhone while the temperature warning screen is displayed except to make an emergency call. If none of the above measures succeeds in lowering the internal temperature, iPhone automatically goes into a deep sleep mode until it cools. You cannot make an emergency call when iPhone is in this mode. Move iPhone to a cooler location and wait a few minutes before trying to use iPhone again."

A Fox News video covering the iPhone overheating issue can be viewed on Comcast's Web site. According to that video, your iPhone will shut down if the temperature inside the iPhone reaches 113 degrees.

While it is clear that overheating can happen, in all fairness, this is true of just about any electronic device. What's more, talking on a cell phone for a long period has caused other handsets to heat up, too. Is your iPhone 3GS overheating? Has the case shown any discoloring? Let us know in the comments.

Consumer Reports: iPhone bests Pre, BlackBerry

Jim Dalrymple — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 08:30:27 PDT

Apple's recently released iPhone 3GS pulled out a victory in Consumer Reports' latest smartphone showdown.

(Credit: Apple)

In handing the iPhone the top spot in this year's smartphone list, Consumer Reports on Wednesday praised the iPhone 3GS for its "superior display, reinforced by top-notch multimedia, navigation, Web browsing, and battery life." However, the iPhone didn't win in all of the categories.

Consumer Reports gave high marks to the Palm Pre and BlackBerry for their messaging functionality. The organization also praised the Pre as a "superior multitasker" for its "deck-of-cards handling of multiple applications."

In light of the changing features and needs of the smartphone category, Consumer Reports changed some of the criteria for this year's showdown. The changes helped some older phones--like the iPhone 3G--move up in the rankings, while other phones--like the Samsung Blackjack II and BlackBerry Pearl Flip--dropped due to the changes.

Changes include putting more emphasis on things like the display, navigation, multimedia, and messaging, while putting less of an emphasis on features such as talk time and voice quality.

It's unclear how the iPhone 3GS would have rated, had MMS messaging been available from AT&T at the time of the tests. AT&T said functionality would be available sometime this summer.

The full report is available to Consumer Reports subscribers.

Originally posted at News - Apple

JumiMouse turns your iPhone into a touch pad

Rick Broida — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 07:50:00 PDT

You've probably heard of Mobile Air Mouse, the clever app that turns your iPhone into, well, an air mouse. (It's currently on sale for $1.99, by the way.)

JumiMouse is a bit different: It turns your iPhone (or iPod Touch) into an oversize touch pad, complete with left and right mouse buttons, tap-and-drag support, and so on.

The free JumiMouse app turns your iPhone into a roomy touch pad controller.

Why would you want such a thing? For starters, JumiMouse could take the place of a laptop touch pad that's worn and no longer working properly.

It could also solve the common problem of accidentally grazing the laptop touch pad with your thumb, causing the cursor to jump and your document to get messed up. Just deactivate the touch pad and use JumiMouse instead.

Finally, JumiMouse is an ideal replacement for netbook touch pads, which are notoriously tiny. The iPhone screen is ginormous in comparison.

JumiMouse communicates with your PC via local or ad-hoc Wi-Fi. To use the app, you must first install the free Jumi Controller utility. It's currently compatible with Windows XP and Vista (32-bit). I tried it with Windows 7: no go.

(Mac users should check out SnatchTest, a similar utility that duplicates the Mac touch pad. It's free.)

On a Vista system, JumiMouse was a snap to set up. My iPhone immediately detected the server, and a tap later I was controlling the cursor from my screen. Everything worked perfectly, and I detected no lag between my finger movements and the cursor.

At first I was disappointed by the lack of options for things like pointer speed and size. But it turns out that Windows recognizes JumiMouse as hardware, so all you do is hop into the Control Panel and tweak the standard Mouse settings to your liking.

This is a fabulous little app for anyone looking to control a PC--for any reason--with an iPhone or iPod Touch. Amazingly, JumiMouse is free.

Apple rejects Commodore 64 emulator app

David Martin — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 18:59:00 PDT

(Credit: Wikipedia)

Apple rejected a fully licensed emulator of the venerable Commodore 64 (C64) based on the SDK rules that specifically prohibit interpreted or executable code. Manomio's application, also called C64 (c64iphone.com), allowed users to play classic C64 games, run applications and use Commodore BASIC.

"The rejection letter simply stated a violation of section 3.2.2 of the iPhone Developer's Agreement," said Manomio. According to developers we know, section 3.2.2 reads as follows. "An Application may not itself install or launch other executable code by any means, including without limitation through the use of a plug-in architecture, calling other frameworks, other APIs or otherwise. No interpreted code may be downloaded and used in an Application except for code that is interpreted and run by Apple's Published APIs and built-in interpreter(s)."

The rejection is odd considering that there are some apps in the iTunes App Store that emulate programmable calculators. Also, one app called Frotz (iTunes link) is a Z-machine interpreter.

The rejection makes even less sense when you consider that two games, Gold Axe (iTunes link) and Sonic (iTunes link), are apps that emulate old game console ROMs, which is exactly what the emulator is doing for old C64 games.

(Credit: Manomio)

Manomio has to do the following before Apple will accept the C64 emulator .

Remove access to BASIC--instead of booting up, the emulator just shows a blank screen and is not interactive until you run a game. Prior to this, you could actually interact with the BASIC interpreter.
Remove the RESET button from the virtual keyboard
Renamed the "C64 Shop" to "More Games"

Yet, Manomio disputes the last point. "It was never officially confirmed from Apple this[C64 Shop] was an issue, but many comments thought this was our own store for selling games," the developer told us. "It now clearly shows that it will link to additional C64 titles in the App Store."

It appears as if Apple is concerned that Manomio was trying to circumvent iTunes App Store sales, something that Apple usually doesn't take to kindly to. Granted, we think that it was a poor choice for Manomio to use the word Shop in the app, particularly if you consider all the other crazy reasons for app rejections. We'll never know for sure, but that word alone may sum up the reason for Apple's rejection. Indeed, we think that it's a good theory considering the aforementioned apps that already support interpreted or executable code.

Hopefully, Apple will accept the C64 app with the above changes so we can enjoy some of our favorite C64 games again. We'd also like to see the return of Commodore BASIC at some point so we can try out some of our favorite POKE and PEEK commands.

A YouTube video demonstrating the C64 emulator is shown below:

Personally, I'd like to see some if my old BASIC and machine language C64 programs will run under the emulator on my iPhone. The C64 was the first computer that I ever wrote about (for Compute! magazine) and I developed C64 games and applications. The computer even turned a hobby into a career spanning decades which is partially chronicled in my Switcher's Manifesto.

Commodore International released the Commodore 64 (WikiPedia) in 1982. Originally priced at $595, sales eventually totaled 30 million units, making it the best-selling single personal computer model of all time. The 8-bit home computer featured advanced video and audio hardware as well as a whopping 64K of RAM and a zippy (for its time) 1.02 Mhz CPU.

Are you are former Commodore 64 user who is interested in reliving the past by coding in Commodore BASIC, spending long hours typing a program in from your favorite magazine or running a favorite retro game? Let us know in the comments.

Follow David Martin on Twitter.