My Digital Life

iPhone/iPod Touch - Time to update to 2.2.1

Apple has just released a new version of the iPhone/iPod Touch firmware (version 2.2.1) which includes bug fixes to address Safari crashing and issues relating to picture formatting in the camera roll. It does not look like any new functionality was added.

It takes about 25 minutes to download (via broadband) and update.

I have had Safari crash several times and most recently in the UPinPoint Magic Kingdom Mini guide which embeds Safari to retrieve descriptive information from the web. Every time I tried to return to the mini guide from Safari, the application would crash. I can report that after the update to 2.2.1, it works flawlessly.

Windows Mobile - SlingPlayer Mobile updated and it is worth downloading...

Per the Sling Media press release:  

 

"Sling Media, Inc., just released a new version of SlingPlayer Mobile for Windows Mobile. The new version of SlingPlayer Mobile provides support for 15 new Windows Mobile handsets including the Sony Ericsson X1, the Palm Treo Pro and the HTC Touch Diamond and Touch Pro among others.  

   

SlingPlayer Mobile for Windows Mobile  

The following is a list of newly supported Windows Mobile handsets now supported in this SlingPlayer Mobile release. For more information on these and other supported devices, go to http://www.slingmedia.com/go/pocket-pc  

   

o   Sprint Treo 800w  

o   Sony Ericsson X1  

o   Palm Treo Pro  

o   Sprint HTC Touch Diamond  

o   Sprint HTC Touch Pro  

o   Verizon HTC Touch Pro  

o   Verizon Samsung Saga  

o   Verizon Samsung Omnia  

o   AT&T LG Incite  

o   AT&T HTC Fuze  

o   AT&T Samsung Epix  

o   HP iPAQ 910  

o   AT&T Pantech Duo  

o   Sprint Samsung ACE  

o   Verizon XV6900  

   

SlingPlayer Mobile gives consumers their entire home TV experience, including local channels, local sports teams, video on demand, pay per view, etc. Any program that you can watch on your sofa back home, you can now watch via a PC, Mac or Windows Mobile-based device anywhere you can get a standard network connection (3G Cellular or WiFi). In addition, SlingPlayer Mobile users can also control their home digital video recorder (DVR) to watch recorded shows, pause, rewind and fast forward live TV, or even queue new recordings while on the road." 

 

I just tried it on my Verizon Samsung i760 Windows Mobile 6.1 device and I have to say this is the best SlingPlayer Mobile to date. On Verizon's EVDO network the landscape full screen mode the video was excellent with very little pixelation and no lag time. Maybe some day soon we will see the iPhone version... 

iPhone App - Microsoft launches its first iPhone application - Seadragon

In another apparent psychological blow to the Windows Mobile, after licensing Exchange ActiveSync to Apple, Microsoft is now an official App Store vendor. On Friday Apple released a Microsoft Live Labs application called Seadragon which allows you to:

• View thousands of images over the air
• Quickly view massive gigapixel images
• Explore Photosynth collections in 2D, including your own
• Add your own PhotoZoom / Deep Zoom Composer content
• Subscribe to Deep Zoom RSS feeds

This a slick , very smooth application with very little lag time. It puts Google Earth pan and zoom functions to shame and showcases what can be done with an iPhone.

Map of Santo Domingo from the Library of Congress.

No word from Microsoft Live Labs if they plan a Windows Mobile release! Is this another slap in the face to the Windows Mobile team?

iPhone App - Google Mobile App

One the application from Windows Mobile, I miss on the iPhone is Windows Live Search. Last year I wrote an article comparing Windows Live Search and Google Maps Mobile. The key differentiator between the two applications is that Windows Live Search (WLS) is voice enabled. I knew there was little hope of ever seeing WLS on the iPhone, but Google has come to the rescue by duplicating the functionality in Google Mobile App. Now you can search Google by speaking into your iPhone. All you need to do is bring the iPhone to your ear and start speaking.

It's that simple and seems to work well when you enunciate and speak slowly.

I was able to find the Starbucks closest to my location with a directions link that integrates with Google Maps, very nice. I will be rearranging page 1 of my home screen to put Google Mobile App at my fingertip. And best of all its free.

iPhone App - Trapster update with ability to turn off continuous alerts

Trapter just released a new update to its iPhone application which allows you to configure the application to not alert you continuously of police or camera location within the selected radius.

 

I will be tuning "Continuous Audible Alerts" off. It would have been nice to be able to select the number of times you want to be alerted. You might not hear it the first time, so being able to set it to 2 or 3 times would be almost perfect. I have not had a chance to use this update but I hope the map rendering speed has improved...

iPhone App - Evernote update allows local storage of notes

Evernote has just released version 1.4 of their iPhone application (App Store Link). The big news with this release is the addition of a favorite feature which allows you to designate notes as favorites and stores them locally on the iPhone so they can be retrieved without needing to be connected to a network.

By marking your notes as favorites, they are added to the favorites function (at bottom of screen) and stored on the iPhone. I have been waiting for this function and makes Evernote even more useful.

iPhone App - Discover file sharing application

I have been looking at file sharing applications but was a little leery about paying $6.99 for one of the two most popular ones (DataCase and Air Sharing), since moving files to the iPhone only allows you to view them for now. Well a free application called Discover was just released providing basic file sharing capabilities.

It works using your PC's or Mac's browser and has basic password security to inhibit someone from trying to connect to your iPhone. I tried it last night and it works as advertised. It probably does not have all the bells and whistles as the others but for my current view only use it does what I need. I would also not use it on an unencrypted WIFI network, but for free you can't have everything.

iPhone App - AppShopper website and RSS feed provide list of new and updated apps, as well as price changes

iPhone applications are growing by the day and browsing through iTunes for new content is painful. The AppShopper web site aims to help out by providing a list with the software publishers notes for new and updated applications as well as price adjustments.

There are multiple  RSS feeds to help you narrow down what you are interested in:

All Changes
New Apps
New Apps (Free)
New Apps (Paid)
Updates
Price Changes

A search feature is in development.

iPhone App - Illium eWallet 6.1.3 now available in App Store

Ilium Software eWallet 6.1.3 for the iPhone is now available in the App Store. Along with eWallet 6.1.3 for Windows, the combination fixes a problem some users (including myself) were having with the synchronization wanting to continually overwrite the wallet on the iPhone. I had found a workaround by renaming the file. It also fixes an issue with missing keyboard some users reported when trying to log into their wallets.

If you have not upgraded the Windows version, I would do that first, then synchronize, then update the iPhone version.

As I have said before this is a must have application to secure your passwords and confidential information, even if you do not own an iPhone you can just use the Windows version.

Hopefully, Apple will allow the passing of userids and passwords to Safari some day.. so that eWallet on the iPhone can launch and pre-fill log on information for stored websites.

iPhone App - WebIS Note2Self Audio Recorder 2.0 now available

One of the top audio recorders for the iPhone, WebIS' Note2Self has just been upgraded. Apple has just approved Note2Self 2.0 and it is now available in the App Store. This is a free upgrade to current owners.

The update includes:

• WiFi transfer of voice notes via HTTP
• The settings are now part of the application rather than in the General Settings
• You can enter up to three "To" default email addresses to send notes to.
• The ability to re order the list voice notes
• The ability to delete multiple notes like in the mail application
• Improved recorded audio quality

I have been beta testing this version for a couple of weeks and it works quite well.