I’ve just had a sneak preview of the new TypePad native app for the iPhone. It’s simply stunning! I’m not talking about the current webbased version that can be found at http://i.typepad.com/, the new app is “native” which means it’s downloaded and stored on your iPhone.
It going to be made available free of charge via the new App Store that’s available on the iPhone 2.0 software due for release on July 11th 2008.
key features of the native app are speed and ease of use with an intuitive layout that’s clearly been designed by TypePad users that own an iPhone, not just a borrowed iPhone, but one that use have been using day in and day out for some time before they start work on the app.
In a new patent filed in the US, Apple has recognised one of the biggest flaws with touchscreen devices: the lack of any tactile feedback. The fact that a user cannot “feel” the keys or icons on a touch-sensitive screen leads to a lot of one-handed users – especially ones who travel or drive a lot – opting for non-touch handsets.
So Apple is finally exploring an idea that a lot of people hoped it would have done sooner: haptic feedback. The idea is to let the user operate the screen purely by feel, without once looking at it.
To do this, the Cupertino-based electronics giant is planning to include a grid of piezoelectric actuators that can be activated on command.
Here’s an example to illustrate what they mean by this: Suppose you want to use the iPod functionality of the iPhone. You go over to the application, and you find yourself with a virtual representation of the familiar click-wheel.
But the moment you touch the wheel, the centre button and the wheel around it feel distinctly different. You touch the ‘back’ button at the top of the screen and you get another feeling of touching a button – all on a touchscreen!
The eventual applications for a technology like this are limitless. Apple is just looking at the tip of the iceberg when they say they want this for commuters. The device would be perfect for gamers, office users and such other crowds who depend on physical keyboards because they never had anything close to such tactile feedback on a machine.
And just when you thought that the iPhone 3GS was Apple hitting a ceiling in innovation regarding the world’s favourite phone.
One of the many new features introduced in the iPhone 2.0 update is the ability for the iPhone’s calendar
app to recognize multiple calendars you have in iCal or Google calendar. If you sync your calendar to your iPhone through USB, you may notice a bug where the colors displayed in the iPhone calendar don’t match up with the colors in iCal. Although this appears to be a bug that Apple will have to fix, there are a few homemade workaround solutions you can try if you’re as meticulous about your colors matching as we are. Read more…
The new iPhone’s GPS service has brought forth a variety of location-based apps in available in the App Store. One of the most natural fits for this type of service is the ability to locate nearby places of interest, such as restaurants. Today, we’ll tell you about two very useful apps for finding good eats, and both are available now in the App Store as free downloads. We’ll also tell you about another free app, this one’s web-based, that condiments compliments the native apps. Each is unique in its own way, offering a strength not found in the others. We find that having all three available on our iPhone 3G is better than any one of them, until of course, someone can create the killer app that combines the best of all three into a single iPhone app.
First, we’ll tell you about the one that is probably the least useful of the three, but the most fun to use. UrbanSpoon offers an interface that resembles a slot machine. You flick each roller to select a preference for food type and price. Read more…
