Aug
30

5 Handy Mounts for iPad

So you want to mount your iPad in your car? Maybe you want to watch the movies you have been meaning to catch up with or would like to go through maps on your iPad. No matter what you are planning to do with your iPad in your car, you are going to need a decent mount to keep your iPad safe when you are on the road. Car mounts for iPad are few and far between, but here are 5 that could help you out:

BoxWave Apple iPad Headrest Mount: very helpful if you have a few kids sitting in your backseat and want to entertain them without actually handing over your iPad. It does keep your iPad safe and sound when you are driving.

Padholder iPad Holder: lets you use your iPad hands free (or close to it). At the very least, you can use it to go through your maps while driving. Read the rest of this entry »

Aug
30

iTunes Fake Reviews: Big Issue?

When it comes to picking up new apps, many iPhone and iPad owners rely on the reviews they get to read on iTunes. Not every app developer company offers a free version of its products, leaving consumers with the task of searching for reviews and feedback from other iPhone owners. Unfortunately, not all these reviews and positive recommendations are legitimate. While not every reviewer can be bought, there are people who will sell their souls just to get their hands on new shiny apps (and get a percentage of their sales). Developers understand the power of getting early positive reviews posted on iTunes. Some are willing to let “real users” do the job for them. Others try to buy positive reviews.

Reverb Communications, a California-based PR agency, recently got into hot water with the FTC for posting fake reviews to iTunes. The positive reviews posted looked as if they were from regular consumers. In reality, there were nothing more than paid endorsements. Reverb Communications may have settled its case with the FTC, but there is no question the issue of fake iTunes reviews is pretty widespread.

Reverb and Snitker did not disclose that they were hired to promote the games and that they often received a percentage of the sales. These facts would have been relevant to consumers who were evaluating the endorsement and deciding whether to buy the gaming applications.

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Aug
28

10 Killer iPhone Apps for Consultants

Being a consultant can be very rewarding as long as you don’t underestimate all the work and effort that you need to put forth to become successful at it. Consulting may look straight forward on paper, but it can be a tricky career. Consultants need to manage their clients, projects, and time at the same time. That’s in addition to taking care of their personal lives. Freelancers may have to spend a decent amount of time on the road too. Thankfully, you can use your iPhone to manage your consulting career and get more things done in less time. There are plenty of apps for freelancers in iTunes that can help make you become more productive and organized.

Whether you are an aspiring consultant or an experienced professional looking to become more productive using your iPhone, these 10 consulting apps could help:

TDF Tracker: a powerful iPhone app for freelancers that can keep track of your time, expenses, and mileage. Makes it easy to enter information and keep track of these important aspects of your business.

NAVIGON MobileNavigator North America: as a consultant, you may have to travel to areas that you have never planned to in the past. Thanks to NAVIGON GPS apps, you’ll never be lost while doing it.

QuickVoice2Text Email: a powerful application that gives you the ability to send text messages to others using your voice. Great for taking voice memos.

Smart Plans 4: an all in one application for freelances that lets you keep track of your tasks, manage your projects, plan ahead, and manage your contacts.

iThoughts: a mind-mapping application for iPhone that helps your divide and conquer the most complicated challenges ahead of you. A great tool to organize your thoughts with.

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Aug
27

New iPod Touch, Nano Details

Credit: Macrumors

We are only days away from Apple’s planned event on September 1st. For months, we have known that new iPod Touch models would be getting video-recording capability. The next generation iPod Touch will have a front-facing camera too. Many experts expected Apple to introduce iTV at this event, but the change in date (from Sep 7th to 1st) seems a bit curious at this point. We still expect to hear some news about Apple TV at this event, but fans may have to wait a bit longer to get their hands on these devices.

Apple iPod Touch is not the only device that will be getting an upgrade. The camera and the rumored new shiny design for iPod Touch are nice, but Apple has not forgotten about iPod nano fans. As the above picture indicates, Apple may be going back to square-shaped iPod design after all.

The nano 6G case features an open strip on the rear – perhaps for a camera or built-in clip – as well as what appear to be volume buttons and a larger button on the top side while a Dock Connector and headphone port are along the bottom.

Apple iTunes may get a major overhaul in the near future too. The software has gone though many updates in the past few years. It seems Apple may finally be ready to bring a web-based iTunes to the market. It will be more about a social (and not streaming) experience. Nevertheless, it’s an exciting move by Apple (if the rumors are true). Read the rest of this entry »

Aug
26

Jailbreakers Getting Frustrated with Apple?

Regardless of how one feels about jailbreaking and those behind it, there is no question that iPhone Dev Team has contributed a lot to the iPhone community. The team has been constantly providing hacks for iPhone updates to help those who want to try cydia applications or do other things get around the limitations Apple has put on iPhones. Unfortunately, Apple is hell bent on stopping the practice altogether. It has tried and failed in its legal efforts, but it may add a kill switch to stop jailbroken iPhones from operating the right way. While iPhone Dev Team has not given up on jailbreaking, it does not intend to play the “cat and mouse” game with Apple no more:

it’s a few weeks later, and Apple has closed the jailbreakme.com hole.  They’re shipping devices with FW 4.0.2/3.2.2, impervious to this particular jailbreak.  So now, people will begin to ask: will there be a jailbreak for devices that shipped with 4.0.2/3.2.2, out of the box? No, there won’t be.  FW 4.0.2/3.2.2 was *only* released to fix the jailbreakme hole.  With FW 4.1 still in its beta stages, it makes no sense to escalate the “cat & mouse” with Apple for FW updates that only fix the jailbreak holes.

Unlike what a few other sources have reported, the team has not given up on the practice altogether. The war against Apple has not ended, but the company is making life more difficult for jailbreakers each day.

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