MashMine » iOS

Readability App Final Gets Approval

Ryan Nutley — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 12:30:54 +0000

In February of 2011, Readability got refused from the Apple App Store as there were conflicts of interest regarding Apple's 30% fee that it takes on every in-app purchase. VentureBeat quoted that Readability commented on the situation:

We might as well share how we’re feeling right now: we believe that your new policy smacks of greed. Subscription apps like ours represent a tiny sliver of app sales that represent a tiny sliver of your revenue. You’ve achieved much of your success in hardware sales by cultivating an incredibly impressive app ecosystem. Every iPad or iPhone TV ad puts the apps developed by companies like ours front and center. It was a healthy and mutually beneficial dynamic: apps like ours get exposure and you get to show the world how these apps make your hardware shine. That’s why we’re a bit baffled here.

The conflict surfaced around the fact that Readability were splitting revenue with content writers 70-30 in favor of publishers. Apple were looking for the other 30%, which would effectively render the company useless, the app might as well be free. Readability have created some outstanding software that allows content to be parsed easily via networks simplified greatly to the end user. To add insult to injury, Apple themselves have used Readability's software on the Safari browser. Now though, just over a year later they have finally been approved and their app accepted into the realm of the Apple App Store. Lets see what lies ahead for them.

Over 700,000 Android Devices are Activated Every Day

Ryan Nutley — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 17:00:06 +0000

Did you know, over 700,000 Android devices are activated every day? Last May, it was announced that 400,000 Android devices are activated every day, now (7 months later) that figure has jumped to 700,000. Just one month ago, Google revealed that over 200 million Android devices had been activated in total, narrowing the market gap between Android and iOS even further. iOS currently has 250 million registered devices, but the gap between the two mammoth operating systems is narrowing by the day. The biggest question yet to be answered though is, who will come out on top? Some people have suggested that by mid 2012 Android could be the widest used mobile operating system out there, and they're would probably be right in saying so. Apple have always considered themselves to have superior products, which is true, but unless they lower prices or create budget specked iOS devices, Android will most likely come out as the winner of the mobile OS war. [SOURCE]http://www.theverge.com/2011/12/20/2651140/andy-rubin-over-700000-android-devices-activated-every-day[/SOURCE]

4 Fantastic Augmented Reality Apps

Ryan Nutley — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 18:51:57 +0000

Augmented reality is taking the app world to whole new levels, and with user expectations getting higher and higher for every piece of software, we can definitely expect to see more of it in the future. We may even see it permeate some other areas of technology such as holography. We've put together a few apps for your consideration, mostly available to iPhone only. All of these apps use augmented reality to perform their function. Let us know your favourite and if we've missed any that you think are noteworthy.

Layar

Augmented Reality is quickly moving towards intelligent computing, with developers worldwide working on delivering user guided content, based camera generated real world views and unique data on each user. Layar is an in development browser that tries to integrate reality into your hand held device. Take a magazine for example, with articles, photos and features. Layar's augmented reality capabilities allows it to recognize certain pages and generate video or additional content based on what's being read. Likewise if you were in a restaurant and you wished to see the menu for the following week, Layar would allow you to store the data into your phone. Of course the capabilities of Layar rely heavily on third party developers and engineers, but for the most part, this is a neat little idea for an app, and could well be the future of hand held computing. [RATE]5[/RATE] [embed]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldU9OvCgi8I#![/embed]

AugMeasure

AugMeasure is guaranteed to get your Dad excited. It is one of the best DIY apps around, and uses augmented reality too, which makes it not only a cool app, or a handy app, but a geeky DIY mega app! AugMeasure allows you to measure distances with easy, granted there is a little discrepancy over large distances, but for the most part this app is pretty darn accurate. Integrating with your iPhone's camera, AugMeasure displays distances up to one foot away with relatively accurate precision. Depending on what you're measuring, AugMeasure will adjust its presentation of the measurement taken. Granted its not ideal for an intricate woodwork project, it's still a nifty app to have access to for measuring things up close that are under a foot long. Not an absolutely must have, but definitely one for the toolbox. [RATE]2[/RATE]

Theodolite

Theodolite is not free, and can be got for 99c. Maybe a bit much if you're not interested in finding which axis is bisecting your horizons. However, if you like to get around, travel a little, go camping or just in general like the outdoors, by all means pay the 99c. This app provides a screen overlay that looks like something out of a James Bond movie. Theodolite is pretty much a geeky hunter's ideal app. It displays your current location, co-ordinates, elevation, compasses, the whole nine yards. If you're planning a trip into the wild anytime soon, get this app before you go. Must have for adventurers. [RATE]4[/RATE]

WikiTude

WikiTude should be pre-installed on iPhone. That's what we think anyway. It has become known worldwide as a "World Browser" and can help you find information about nearly anything surrounding you. Using WikiWude could not be more simple. You hold up your smartphone and small icon will appear next to anything of relevance to your settings, ATM's, landmarks, Wikipedia posts and whatever extra you choose. WikiTude is definitely a must have app, it integrates augmented reality perfect with real user requirements, however it tends to work not so well in rural locations... but this is a Wikipedia fault (that's what we're sticking with anyway) [RATE]5[/RATE]

Minecraft to Release on iOS Tomorrow

Ryan Nutley — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 10:56:54 +0000

Minecraft, one of the most popular indie sandbox games around the world is releasing an iOS version tomorrow, making the final transition into mobile following on from a prior release on Android earlier this year. Transferring over to mobile platform, the game has to be scaled down to a certain extent. The game's Survival Mode won't be featured on the iOS version, but players can still connect wirelessly with other players and invite them into worlds. Another neat feature of the game is the ability to choose randomized worlds with 36 different kinds of blocks available to build with. What's more, you can save multiplayer worlds right to your mobile device. Founder and creator of Minecraft, Markus Persson, announced earlier this month that the game has reached above 4 million sold PC platform copies (which is still in Beta testing). The iOS version will be released at $9.99 and will be version compatible with iOS 4.3+, making it compatible with iPhone, iPod touch and iPad devices. An Xbox 360 version of Minecraft is also in production and is set to launch sometime in 2012. [SOURCE]http://venturebeat.com/2011/11/16/minecraft-to-launch-on-ios-devices-tomorrow/[/SOURCE] [SOURCE name="Image Source: "]Gizmodo.com[/SOURCE]

Angry Birds Valued at $1.2 billion and May Go Public

Ryan Nutley — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 20:55:31 +0000

Angry Birds is the best selling mobile game for the smartphone era, with several releases across nearly all mobile platforms. Recently valued at $1.2 billion, Rovio CEO Peter Vesterbacka (creator of Angry Birds) reckons that the company could be worth more stating, "We're happy with our valuation but we think it's probably a bit north of that." Angry Birds was first made famous through its feature game app on the iPhone platform. Users can now download the world renowned app for Android, iOS, Chrome, Playstation, Mac OS, Windows 7 and Google+. After over 12 million downloads were reached through the Apple Store, the Finnish company decided to go ahead and release various versions of Angry Birds, now offering four different titles, Angry Birds, Angry Birds Seasons, Angry Birds Rio and Angry Birds Magic. Additional revenue for the company in recent years has come from merchandising, reaching in the millions every month. According to the the company's website, stuffed toys alone are shipping "a million units a month." As if a stuffed toys weren't enough, Rovio also offer Halloween costumes, movie licenses and clothing. Vesterbacka gloats that, "We are very, very profitable. We're not a publicly traded company yet we can fund our own growth." He also has visions for the company to float, yet he hasn't disclosed a date... "maybe a year from now," he exclaimed in a recent interview. Rovio will be making its public stock offer. We really doubt that the company would fair well with an IPO. The health of the company relies heavily on a single game! Unless Rovio start to roll out more products and diversify their holdings outside of their current assets and IP's, they could risk public launch failure. Perhaps they'll acquire some smaller companies and technologies? Maybe some more IP's? Who know's, but hopefully Vesterbacka will continue doing whatever he's doing, because it seems to be serving them well for the time being.

5 iOS Apps for Web Developers

Ryan Nutley — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 10:28:08 +0000

Designing websites is always fun, but it's not always easy. Web standards are always on the move forward, and whether you're on a development team or working as a freelancer, you are always expected to deliver high quality work to meet not only your clients requirements, but that fits neatly alongside the w3 web standards and more importantly the web surfer standards. A big part of web development now is ability for websites to be available not only on standard desktop browsers but also on mobile user agents such as Android and iOs. We've put together a short list for you to help you with developing websites and applications for iOs (iPhone operating system).

1 - Analytics App

This app featured in both the NY Times and Fortune Magazine, but for good reason. It's quite simply one of the best analytics apps available for iPhone on the market. The app integrates smoothly with your google analytics account and can produce over 55 reports on your websites. We recommend that every developer has this in their toolbox. This app is obviously more of a management tool than a development tool, but we feel it was too important to leave out. The Analytics App is available on the iPhone AppStore for only $5.99, and can be downloaded here.

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2 - PHP Cheat Sheet App

Even the best of us can forget simple syntax, and it would come as no surprise if you were to find out that 80% of programming and development errors arise from a syntax error. The PHP Cheat Sheet App features a full listing of the different elements and functions in PHP that you can reference to in case you forget. What's even better, the app displays examples of how to implement each of the functions and is available completely offline for study and usage on the move. Developer Concentric Sky describes the app as including "functions and descriptions for Date & Time, File Handling, Errors, File System, Filter, FTP, HTTP, Libxml, Mail, Math, MySQL, SimpleXML, String, XML Zip, and many more." To download this app, you click here, or us this QR code. Other apps available from the same developer include:

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3 - What The Font

This app is simply fantastic, and a great design tool. Lets say your flicking through a magazine or website and you see some typography that's perfect for your new website. Just open What The Font app for iPhone and take a picture of the text. The app will soon tell you what the name of the font is in a matter of seconds. The app doesn't require a camera to operate and can work from an iPod, all that's required for the app to function correctly is an image with some typography on it. The What The Font app is excellent for any developer looking for help with typography, but at the end of the day its really just a small cog in the wheel. It's a very helpful app and definitely worth having in the toolkit, but only because its free. Have you ever used the What The Font app? What's your views on it? This app is free to download from the iTunes store, or you can visit the app homepage here.

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4 - Wordpress for iOS

Wordpress for iOS is not just an iPhone app, it also works on iPad. This is ideal for on the fly blogging or content creation. Although this is not a development tool, we still recommend that every developer have it in their toolbox. You can moderate comments, create or edit posts and pages, and add images or videos with ease on both Wordpress.com blogs and self hosted wordpress websites. All that's required is that you are running version 2.9 or above for perfect integration. This app is ideal for developers using Wordpress CMS as their framework for building a website, as it will allow perfect on the move integration and synchronizing. You can visit Wordpress.org to find out other mobile options available to you as a developer, including Android, Blackberry, Nokia, WebOS and Windows 7. You can download the Wordpress iOs App here for free.

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5 - Gusto

Gusto is an iOS app native to the iPad. It was designed to help developers edit on the fly and features many useful features that can be used and abused by developers. One of the best features of Gusto is its custom color syntax highlighting ability which allows for languages like C, C++, C#, CSS, HTML, Java, PHP, Javascript, Python, Ruby, XML and SQL. This app is a must for any web developer with access to an iPad, as it allows multiple site project management with built in FTP / SFTP features, allowing you to download site files, edit them, and reupload them to your server. You can also have multiple tabbed files open, so you can reference multiple function files across your projects. There is a built in solid state function that automatically saves your work and every time you log back in, Gusto has your files waiting for you as you left them. You can visit the Gusto website for more information on the app. Or you can view more on the iTunes App store here. This app costs $9.99 but in our opinion, its worth every penny. You will receive desktop quality software and won't be disappointed.

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If you have any feedback or opinions on this article, why not share them below? If you think we've left out any important apps or you have a recommendation for future lists, why not tell us, or you could register for access to MashMine and become an author yourself.