As a member of the geek community, I tend to get asked a lot of tech questions. As soon as people see the screen on my iPhone, the first question I get is “Wow! How did you do that?” I have non-standard icons, an awesome unlock screen, and the ability to answer texts without unlocking the phone. Should you jailbreak? What is jailbreaking? Let’s look at the advantages and disadvantages of each. Read more »
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Jailbreak,
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Apple has aired two new iPhone ads: “Share” and “Travel.” The two commercials are in the familiar “There’s an app for that” format, featuring iPhone apps for file sharing and navigation. Videos and our take after the break! Read more »
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Advertising,
App Store,
Apple,
Mac,
Marketing,
iPhone,
iPod Touch,
iTunes
Eight months ago, I speculated that Apple would release a Mac version of its ever-popular App Store before 2009. The main benefit of having such a store is that it would provide a unified place for Mac users to browse and purchase Mac applications. The success of the App Store for the iPhone/iPod Touch has proven that this concept has great value potential. When do we think this store will launch and what, if any, barriers will need to be overcome? Read more »
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App Store,
Apple,
Mac,
iPhone
Hello Captain! Have a seat and welcome to command! Flight Control was developed by Firemint, which is also the company that brings you Real Racing. This fun and addictive game will only put you back 99 cents, but let me tell you why it is worth every penny. If you’ve ever wished for a simple yet entertaining game which you can spend hours playing and not get bored, then this is the app for you.
To start, you are air traffic control and the goal is to land each aircraft on its designated landing strip. There are three different types of aircraft: passenger plane, helicopter, and small-cabin/crop plane. For greater emphasis, each type of aircraft has its own specific landing strip. To land a plane, you just tap the craft with your finger, then draw a path for it to land. Sounds easy, right? Not so fast: as time goes on, more and more aircraft will need to be landed at one time, so it’s important to be as efficient and as quick as possible about the paths you draw and what aircraft you land first. All aircraft have different sizes, speeds, shapes, and turning agilities. Strategy becomes important with an increased amount of planes on the map. 
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iPod Touch
Emergency Radio was developed by EdgeRift, Inc. and it lets you listen to over a thousand live fire, police, EMS, and other emergency frequencies. Think of it as a police scanner on your phone, only one that costs 99 cents. Using Edge, 3G, or WiFi, Emergency Radio connects to third-party online streams that broadcast over emergency frequencies. It is very easy to use and may just help you out in a tight situation. I tested Emergency Radio on OS 3.0 and it works flawlessly. Coming in at a convenient 830KB, the app is very lightweight and will install very quickly.
Design
The interface is very simple to use and neat to look at. It gives you three tabs on the bottom; the first, called All, gives you a list of all available stations. The tab includes a search bar, enabling you can find your station faster. The second tab, called Nearby, uses your iPhone’s GPS to find the stations closest to you. I found this really useful since it allowed me to get to my local stations much faster. The third and final tab is Favorites, which is, well, your favorites page. Here you can quickly get to the stations you’ve marked as your favorite, giving you the fastest access to what you’ve deemed the most important EMS content. The coolest aspect of Emergency Radio is the interface that appears while you’re listening to a station. You get the neat background noise of a radio to give you the feel of a scanner. There is also a list that contains all the codes emergency personnel use, along with their meaning. This way, you can know exactly what the emergency personnel is talking about over the air waves. Read more »
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iPhone App Review
