HBO has released their very own app for the iPhone, and it’s surprisingly deep for an app released by a premium cable channel. There’s the obvious stuff — you can view schedules and watch clips and previews of HBO shows as well as behind-the-scenes and other content. But there’s even some cool iPhone-specific stuff, like creating SMS reminders when your shows come on, some hidden object games to play, and even the option to buy some shows with hooks straight into iTunes. The app is designed pretty well, too, and for an app that’s basically promoware, there’s a lot of content and features included.
It’s very well done — if you don’t have HBO, you probably won’t need the app, but if you are a subscriber with an iPhone or iPod touch, it’s well worth the free download.
Due to hit the Cydia store momentarily, Matthias Ringwald’s BTstack Keyboard app allows users to type text into any iPhone application using an external Bluetooth keyboard. Built on the open source BTstack project, BTstack Keyboard runs a daemon in the background of any jailbroken iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS or iPod touch with Bluetooth support. As you type text on the keyboard, the daemon generates synthetic keyboard tap events; the effect is the same as if you’d typed that text using the on-screen keyboard.
You will need to install BTstack and the BTstack Keyboard packages on a jailbroken 3G or later iPhone or 2nd generation or later iPod touch. The software has been tested with an Apple Bluetooth keyboard, a Think Outside Stowaway Universal keyboard, and a Palm Wireless keyboard. There’s no reason to think it won’t work with any standard Bluetooth keyboard, i.e. one that uses standard BT protocols.
‘Tis the season shop until your brains melt (or skip it all entirely, depending on your interpretation of the term holiday). In that spirit, for the next few weeks we’ll be rounding up a dozen daily deals courtesy our friends at DealNews.com. Each afternoon tune in to TUAW for this handy summary. Keep in mind that while our posts will live on, the deals won’t. Each is lovingly generated by the deal-bot every day, so get ‘em while they’re hot. Enjoy!
iTunes Music Store: [iPhone / iPod Apps] App Store Freebies: Super Santa, Roller Uberball, Enso-Dot, BuddyFeed, more
What a crazy 10 years, right guys? It’s really flown past; the highs, the lows, the stuff in the middle that didn’t seem very impressive one way or another. For our final Engadget Show of the decade, we asked site founder Peter Rojas to join us for a look back at our picks for the most important and / or interesting gadget developments since 2000. A hardcore crowd came out just after a gigantic snowstorm to witness the proceedings, and now you get your chance to see how it all went down. This is a long one folks, so grab some popcorn and settle in for the show!
Note: The HD download below is on its way, so hold tight. The iPhone / iPod version and RSS versions are all fine.
We’re always leery of “world’s first” claims, but we’ve definitely never seen an AV receiver with a ginormous port on the front. The unorthodox device you’re inevitably peering at above is one part of the two-piece YHT-S400, which looks to provide cinema-like sound in areas where space is hard to come by. The 31.5-inch long soundbar measures just 2-inches high and is designed to fit in front of most 32- to 50-inch HDTVs without blocking the screen, while the accompanying “first-of-its-kind subwoofer-integrated receiver” provides the power, the bass and the connectivity. A trio of HDMI inputs are included, and HD audio signals from Blu-ray Discs are accepted via linear PCM transmission. It’s up for grabs now at $599.95, and if you’re hoping to add iPod or Bluetooth support, Yamaha’s YDS-11 and YBA-10 adapters are fully compatible.
Gallery: Yamaha YHT-S400 sound system packs ultraslim soundbar, sub-infused receiver
Empire is a venerable British movie magazine that has amassed quite a library of film reviews since it was first published more than 20 years ago. Their reviews tend to be aimed at the enthusiastic film buff, rather than academics. I have always found the reviews entertaining and a worthwhile read.
Now, the entire Empire archive has come to the iPhone and iPod touch with the Empire Movie Guide [iTunes link]. The US$4.99, 8.9 MB app puts all of the reviews on your phone without need for a data connection. As a nice bonus, Empire grabs the most recently published reviews over the air when you are connected and launch the app.
Over the past couple of years, I’ve had the pleasure to write about iPhone / iPod touch apps from Tapbots. First there was Weightbot, a beautifully designed app for tracking your weight. Next came Convertbot, a unit converter calculator that featured an innovative and extremely useful interface. Now Tapbots has introduced a third app to their stable of products; Pastebot [US$1.99, iTunes Link], which is a combination of clipboard storage and (with a companion Mac app called Pastebot Sync) inter-platform cut and paste.
Launching the app brings you directly into the Clipboard. As with all of the Tapbots apps, the user interface is not only functional, but a treat to the eyes. To add items to the clipboard, you simply use the iPhone’s copy and paste function to copy something. It can be text or a graphic, a URL or a photo. When you copy the item, then launch Pastebot, the item is automatically added to the Clipboard. The Clipboard items have a frame around them with a small circle up in the top right corner. When that circle turns blue (it looks like a blue LED), the clipboard item is selected and ready to perform some action on. Tapping again slides a small toolbar out of the bottom of the frame.
Are you finished with your Christmas shopping? Like most people, there’s probably not enough time in the day to work, hang out with the family and friends, and then actually do shopping. If you’re missing the perfect gift for someone and you’re getting down to the last few days, Apple wants to make your life easier.
Apple has had an “Express Shopping” service since 2006 at the Apple Stores. They take a limited number of Apple products and keep them in a roped-off area. If you need to purchase a MacBook Pro, for example, you wander into the area and one of the Apple Store employees helps you to make your purchase and get you out the door as quickly as possible.
Whenever you talk about games on a mobile platform, you usually have to also mention that while things like high-end 3D graphics are certainly possible, there are usually some concessions that have to be made. But in the case of the iPhone, perhaps not: Epic Games has apparently been showing Anandtech their Unreal Engine 3 on Apple’s handheld, the same graphical engine that runs modern console hits like Gears of War 2 and Batman: Arkham Asylum. There’s even video, and the thing looks pretty darn incredible. It’s possible that in the hands of a skilled developer, you could have a very impressive realistic graphical game running on the iPhone hardware.
Some of the iPhone hardware, that is — the engine was shown off on the 3GS and the 3rd generation iPod touch, so only those have the speed and power (and the OpenGL ES 2.0) to pull this off. But it’s impressive nevertheless. Epic hasn’t licensed this version of the engine yet as far as we know, but they promise to show off more in the future, so we’ll be keeping an eye out. One more version of the iPhone, and we might be looking at games that can compete graphically with even modern consoles.
‘Tis the season shop until your brains melt (or skip it all entirely, depending on your interpretation of the term holiday). In that spirit, for the next few weeks we’ll be rounding up a dozen daily deals courtesy our friends at DealNews.com. Each afternoon tune in to TUAW for this handy summary. Keep in mind that while our posts will live on, the deals won’t. Each is lovingly generated by the deal-bot every day, so get ‘em while they’re hot. Enjoy!
iTunes Music Store: [iPhone / iPod Apps] Wild West Pinball for iPhone / iPod touch downloads for free, more