AppChatter Podcast Ep. 3 Released, Now in iTunes!

AppChatter has released our third episode of the podcast! In this episode Erik, Lou and Jeff discuss the removal of the sex apps from the iTunes App Store, Slingplayer goes 3G and Jeff (a former Apple employee) joins the podcast. The podcast is also now available from iTunes for easy download from your i-gadget.

AppChatter Podcast Play Now!

Subscribe in iTunes!
Direct Download Links:
Episode 3
Episode 2
Episode 1

AppChatter Podcast Episode 2 (Released 2/15)

This week on the AppChatter Podcast - Episode 2: Google gives us Buzz, Shape Services gives us 80% off of IM+, and PopCap Games is about to give us Plants vs. Zombies! Also, Erik reviews Riddim Ribbon (featuring the Black Eyed Peas) and Rhythm Racer, and Lou reviews Gorilla Mobile and the NBC Olympics app.

AppChatter Podcast Play Now!

Subscribe in iTunes!
Direct Download Links:
Episode 3
Episode 2
Episode 1

AppChatter Podcast Official Launch - Episode 1 Released

We here at AppChatter.com have been tossing around the whole podcast idea since the inception of AppChatter one year ago. Late last year we were approached by Erik from the Random Chatter Podcast Network asking whether AppChatter.com was interested in partnering with their team of podcasters to produce a show targeting apps and news for the iPhone/iPod platform. Since we were already interested in doing this ourselves we jumped on the opportunity to team up with them given their excellent track record and producing top quality podcasts.

This is our official launch of the AppChatter podcast, despite that there was a pilot that was released a few months ago. In this episode hosts Erik and Lou discuss the AppChatter.com relationship with Random Chatter and go on to discuss Spore Creatures by EA, Gorilla Bob by Chillingo, Google Voice web app, the new iPad announced by Apple last week, and much more.

AppChatter Podcast Play Now!

Subscribe in iTunes!
Direct Download Links:
Episode 3
Episode 2
Episode 1

We will be making the podcast available on iTunes in the very near future, look for it there! Available now!

Apple Introduces The iPad, Available in 60 Days

Apple’s Steve Jobs introduced the world to their latest creation during their “Latest Creation” event in California. “We call it the iPad,” said Steve Jobs. The iPad, is essentially a huge iPod Touch since it runs the iPhone OS and runs apps from the App Store. It is also the first device to use Apple’s own CPU for processing.

The iPad, which is meant to fit between the iPhone/iPod and the Macbook product lines, bridges the gap and provides consumers with one more mobile choice for Internet in the Apple mobile products lineup. Referred to as “magical” many times by Jobs during his keynote, the iPad is getting mixed reviews by many critiques - ourselves included.

The iPad, Apple’s latest creation, has several things going for it however, unfortunately it also has a few strikes against it. If you look at it for what it really is, it’s just an iPod Touch with a 9.7″ screen. However, that 9.7″ screen is said to be beautiful and will definitely enhance your online experience significantly. Since the iPad is based on the same OS as the iPhone/iPod it’s easy to land at that conclusion. Since the iPad is based on the iPhone OS, it will immediately have access to the 140,000 applications in the iTunes App Store.

Along with the iPad Jobs introduced iBooks - a direct competitor to Amazon’s Kindle.  The introduction of iBooks means that Apple is officially entering into the ebook business.  Much like iTunes or the App Store, iBooks will allow users to purchase and download ebooks directly to their iPad.  Apple even announced partnerships with about five major book publishers and ebooks are said to cost $12.99 or $14.99 each.  Whether the iPad will make a good ebook reader still remains to be seen, but if Apple does this part right it will revolutionize the publishing industry.  iBooks is said to bring a near-real experience to the reader as they read and turn pages.

The iPad does have a few pretty big let-downs.  For those that have not been following, the iPad is said to not support multi-tasking.  So no, you will not be able to listen to Pandora while doing your email or browsing the web.  Like the iPod Touch, only one application will run at any given time, with the exception of the iPod music function, email retrievals and notifications.  The lack of multi-tasking confuses many in the blog world, ourselves included.  For a device that competes head to head with netbooks and is a product bridge between the iPod and a Macbook, some are saying that the lack of multi-tasking in inexcusable.  Who knows, maybe one day they will add it.

The iPad also lacks Flash capabilities, just like the iPod and iPhone.  Once again, for a device that’s intending to give you the full internet experience on a larger screen, the lack of Flash seems to fly in the face of that vision.  Another complain the we have is that there is no onboard SD card slot and no USB host (no USB ports for that matter).  The omission of these is, in our eyes, rather laughable and will definitely turn many buyers away.  However, to combat this, Apple will offer a “camera connection kit” that will convert the 30 pin dock connector to either and SD card reader or a USB host - for cameras only.  So now you will need to unplug your charging cable, or the optional hardware keyboard in order to plug in you SD card reader or camera to pull pics in from.  Ouch.

Despite what we believe to be major drawback the device does have it’s appeal and there’s not doubt in our mind that with a $499.99 starting price these things will be flying off the shelves.  That’s right, starting price is $499.99 for the 16GB version, $599.99 for the 32GB version and $699.99 for the 64GB version.  Add $130 to each of those to add in 3G capability (AT&T) then $14.99 per month for 250mb of data or $29.99 per month for unlimited.  Not bad for 3G data pricing indeed.

Google Releases Voice Web App for iPhone, Bypasses Apple

If you were watching last summer, Apple denied Google’s own Voice app to the iTunes App Store and subsequently removed all other Voice related apps as well. It created quite a controversy in the app world and many blogs were reporting on it. Well, Google decided to side-step the entire app approval process and release a web app for Safari on the iPhone. No Apple approval process to get in the way either. Just point your browser to http://m.google.com/voice and you’re done. You can even add a home page icon to your device (touch the + button).

As a Google Voice user I am still hopeful for a proper Voice app. However, since it’s been several months and there’s still nothing, not even a word of a possible approval for such an app, my hope is fading. This is especially the case now that Google has release a web app.

Apple: App Downloads Top 3 Billion

It seems like only yesterday when we were reporting that 2 billion apps had been downloaded and now we’re already at 3. Apple announced that worldwide app downloads for their popular iPhone and iPod Touch has surpassed 3 billion. “Three billion applications downloaded in less than 18 months—this is like nothing we’ve ever seen before,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. See the full release below, or here.

Apple’s App Store Downloads Top Three Billion

CUPERTINO, California—January 5, 2010—Apple® today announced that more than three billion apps have been downloaded from its revolutionary App Store by iPhone® and iPod touch® users worldwide.

“Three billion applications downloaded in less than 18 months—this is like nothing we’ve ever seen before,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “The revolutionary App Store offers iPhone and iPod touch users an experience unlike anything else available on other mobile devices, and we see no signs of the competition catching up anytime soon.”

iPhone and iPod touch customers in 77 countries worldwide can choose from an incredible range of apps in 20 categories, including games, business, news, sports, health, reference and travel.

Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Today, Apple continues to lead the industry in innovation with its award-winning computers, OS X operating system and iLife and professional applications. Apple is also spearheading the digital media revolution with its iPod portable music and video players and iTunes online store, and has entered the mobile phone market with its revolutionary iPhone.

Preparing for a new iPhone or iPod Touch

Christmas is just a few days away and without a doubt, i-gadgets will be popular gifts under the tree this year. So, what can you do in advance if you are expecting a certain Apple product? Well, we’ve come up with a few pointers below:

• If you are not yet using it, install Apple iTunes.  While there are other ways to get music, movies and apps on your new i-gadget, iTunes is the only Apple approved way.  We’ve found that using other third party tools to manage your i-device can be difficult simply because it is not supported by Apple.
• Once iTunes is installed, import your music and movie collections.  Easy enough: File -> Add to Library.  Or just drag and drop your media onto iTunes.
• Now that you have iTunes installed you must convert all of your unsupported media files to a format supported by your new i-device.  What? Unsupported media files?  Yes.  If you are new to Apple products, then prepare yourself for many hours of media conversion, especially if you are coming from a Microsoft device. iPods and iPhones do not support Microsoft’s Windows Media formats (WMA/WMV), nor does it support many other open source formats (like ogg). So if you have a lot of music in these unsupported formats, it’s time to start converting.  Here’s the audio formats supported by the current iPhone: AAC, Protected AAC, MP3, MP3 VBR, Audible (formats 2, 3, and 4), Apple Lossless, AIFF, and WAV.  For video supported formats, see here.  I’ll followup with another post on how to convert your media since it is beyond the scope of this post.
• Planning to install apps onto that new i-device? Or purchase music or movies from iTunes? You’ll need an iTunes account for that.  Now that you have iTunes installed, click on the iTunes Store on the left, then click on the Sign In button on the top right.  Click create new account.  Follow the directions.  If you don’t have a credit card you can setup your account without one.  This is a bit more tricky.  To setup an iTunes account without a credit card you must first have a redeemable iTunes code (gift card, app code or other redeemable code).  Click Redeem within iTunes, then enter the code, click done, then setup new account.  You cannot setup an iTunes Store account without a credit card unless you have a redeemable code first.
• Plan your app purchases. One of the biggest successes of the iPhone and iPod Touch is the App Store, so undoubtedly you will spend a lot of time shopping for the perfect app.  Since the App Store now has more than 100,000 apps in it, finding those perfect apps is a chore, so start now.  We recommend using the top app lists on iTunes.
• Contacts. If you’re migrating from another phone to an iPhone you’ll want to bring your contacts with you.  iTunes will sync your Address Book from your Mac or Windows computer with your i-device.  However, most people do no use the Address Book to store this information.  Well, now’s a good time to start!  Your new iPhone also has the ability to “import contacts from SIM.”  However, since all iPhones come with a new SIM and you MUST use this new SIM, using this feature is rather difficult and not always reliable.  So for this, we recommend you start entering your contacts into Outlook or Address Book.
• Parental Controls. Giving an i-device to a kid? Worried about what they can do with it?  No problem, we covered this in an earlier post discussing Parental Controls.

If there’s any pointers we’ve missed, please let us know in the comments and we’ll get them added!

Sentinel: Mars Defense is Free for the Holidays

We got notice that Origin8 was offering Sentinel: Mars Defence for free during the holiday season. Now is your chance to get this excellent tower defense game and at an unbeatable price.

11^th December 2009, London, UK: In anticipation of the next release from the “Sentinel” team, Origin8’s breakout iPhone/iPod Touch hit “Sentinel: Mars Defense” will be free for the next two weeks in the run up to Christmas. Released in February 2009, this acclaimed sci fi Tower Defense game was selected as one of Apple’s App Store first Anniversary Top 30 games in the UK/AU/EU territories, and spawned the much-lauded sequel “Sentinel 2: Earth Defense”.

With a third space strategy from the designers of the “Sentinel” games on the way, now’s an ideal time for iPhone owners to pick up this classic for free!

From the “Sentinel: Mars Defense” app description:

It’s war. Earth’s first off-world colony is fighting for survival against a savage alien onslaught. Mars is under siege and thousands of lives are on the line. Humanity’s only hope is you, the commander of the dropship Sentinel. Welcome to the future of Tower Defense.

Deploy sophisticated turret technology across the Martian landscape to halt the alien advance. Protect walls and barriers that block the enemy’s path to your base. Upgrade your weaponry, or release robotic drones to repair buildings and harvest resources. Watch the battle for the planet unfold in beautifully rendered, atmospheric graphics.

Get “Sentinel: Mars Defense” from the App Store. Screenshots, a full description and a gameplay trailer can be found here: http://origin8.com/sentinel/index.php.

“Sentinel 2: Earth Defense” is available from the App Store for $2.99 or regional equivalent. For further information and media see http://origin8.com/sentinel2/index.php.

“Space Station: Frontier” is currently in late beta testing and approaching submission. More information will be released shortly.

About us: Origin8 is an innovative mobile developer based in Camden, London, UK. With an experienced team whose credits cover a vast number of gaming platforms, they specialise in games and entertainment for the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch.

Website: www.origin8.com

Press and media contact: pr@origin8.com

Gameloft Black Friday Sale: Terminator Salvation, Shrek Kart, Others all $0.99

Gameloft announces the following excellent Black Friday app sales from now until Sunday November 29th. See apps and iTunes links below:

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Who:     Gameloft

What: To celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday, Gameloft is running a limited promotion on the App Store. The following popular Gameloft titles will be specially priced at $0.99!

· Terminator Salvation [iTunes Link]

· Shrek Kart [iTunes Link]

· Brothers in Arms Hour of Heroes [iTunes Link]

· Blades of Fury [iTunes Link]

· Real Tennis 2009 [iTunes Link]

· Castle of Magic [iTunes Link]

· Hero of Sparta [iTunes Link]

When: NOW through Sunday, Nov. 29^th

Where: Apple App Store

Why: Because it’s a Black Friday deal you can’t miss, and will guarantee fun while traveling to and from your different destinations!”

Chillingo’s Black Friday Sale: Super Shock Football (Free!) and Secrets .. Mysterious Island ($0.99) [Updated]

Chillingo is proud to announce a Black Friday Sale! This Friday, you can get an amazing deal on two of its games:

Super Shock Football [iTunes Link] – GET IT FOR FREE THIS FRIDAY!

Secret of the Mysterious Island [iTunes link] – You will be able to get this great game for 0.99 USD for 24 hours …..

Updated: Adding the following for Chillingo:

Cocoto Kit for Kids [iTunes Link] is now $0.99

Defender Chronicles [iTunes Link] is now $0.99

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