Official iCreate Blog - Discussing all things Apple

We all knew that the App store would be pretty busy once it opened, I mean, Apple are great at building the hype for a launch so that each and every one hits the news stand like an atomic bomb but I don’t think anyone expected there to be 60 million Apps downloaded already.

Ok, you could get defensive and say that some or a lot of those downloads are free Apps, but still, 60 million! Even the king of cool Steve Jobs seemed a bit flabbergasted by this one. Speaking to the Wall Street Journal he said:

“I’ve never seen anything like this in my career for software,” he then added that sales could “crest a half a billion” in short order and that $1 billion could arrive “at some point.”

The activity on the App store has obviously not gone unnoticed by the rest of the mobile phone world, no doubt other phone makers are scratching their heads wondering how they can possibly compete.

T-Mobile have decided to respond by planning their own App store, for every single handset that they offer. This is really desperate. How many people will log on to that site hoping to download a game only to find it isn’t supported by their phone. I mean, come on guys, you have to innovate yourselves, not recycle whats just come out in th hope you can squeeze a few more pounds out of your customers.

I really can’t see anything stopping the iPhone its tracks. What Apple should really do is end the exclusivity deals so that customers from every provider can get in on the action, it would also then create a bit of healthy competition so iPhone owners could get a decent deal.

Right, how long before we hit 100 million? Two weeks?

We’ve been really enjoying wasting a significant amount of time “Tweeting” over the last few days.

If that sounds like the pressure of deadlines has finally driven us mad, you obviously
haven’t tried Twitter yet.

At it’s very base, Twitter provides the same service as Facebook’s Status without any of the other hassle.

“What’s the point of that?” You may well ask. We thought the same, but the truth is it’s incredibly addictive.

Simple updates via the web, IM and now iPhone apps mean that those “following” you (that’s keeping track of your updates, not stalking) can find out what you’re up to at any given time.

Give it a go, it’s the social networking equivalent of Marmite. You’ll either love it or hate it.

Follow us too, we’re simply: iCreateMagazine.

Tweet to you later!

Just like all those times your mum told you to tidy your room and you had better things to do, the same is true of maintaining your Mac.

For the third time in as many years, I had the logic board replaced on my iMac and, as a result of frantic hit and miss home repair attempts prior to sending it away, cleared out my HD.

The Mac is now back and I’ve thrown on a spanking new copy of Leopard, replaced my old RAM with two fresh 1Gb sticks and stuck in a new HD boasting an impressive 1TB storage. It’s almost like buying a brand new machine (aside from the fact it’s still only a G5).

The best thing to come from all of this is that I now have a virgin Mac and can do all the things I planned for a rainy weekend that never arrived.

First up, I partitioned the drive: essential apps and OS X on one side, everything else on the other. Then I added only the apps I know I will use. All the odd downloads of the last year or so are no longer clogging things up. Time Machine comes next, start from scratch and never worry again. MobileMe sync, a couple of drivers and we’re good to go.

It feels different every time I sit in front of that old iMac now. It’s perfectly synced with my other Macs, the bookmarks and contacts transferred perfectly from MobileMe, the hard drive is still virtually empty and there’s a definite spring to its formerly begrudging responses. 

I’m now looking forward to kicking off some new projects in iLife as much as I was when iLife ‘08 arrived. 

It’s empowering, exciting and inspirational, and I recommend you do the same. That old Mac you’re losing faith in might just become your new best friend. 

The app store is great, the apps are great, the iPhone is great… except for one aspect.

Now I’ve wildly downloaded easily fifty-something apps in the last month and deleted countless others, I’m left with a stupid number of iPhone homescreens. So many, in fact, that it takes a good few seconds to scroll from my bookmarked sites at one end to the iPhone default homescreen at the other.

For all the incredible features, slick interface and world-beating technology, the one thing Apple has overlooked with the iPhone is the thing they’re known for in all other products - the basic user interface.

When it had but one homescreen the iPhone interface was simple enough. Tap the app you want and you’re off. Now, with countless apps being downloaded we’re filling up the 4×4 app per homescreen spaces faster than ever.

So what’s the answer? I thought it was to be organised. Most used apps up front, games on one homescreen, links on another etc etc. This worked fine until I updated apps I’d downloaded and found the Feng Shui of my homescreens completely ruined. The same goes for downloading new apps, they’re just unceremoniously dumped onto the phone without any regard for your locational preferences.

If the rumours are to be believed, Apple has quashed an iPhone version of cover flow for apps. Word is it dug too deep into the iPhone software (coming from a jailbreak background) but it wouldn’t surprise me if the Cupertino boys are holding off until they get their own apps (beyond Remote) out there. At the very least an upgrade to the iPhone software to provide a more seamless browsing experience should be on the cards.

Until then I’m left flicking across the phone so regularly I’m worried a horizontal groove will appear across that beautiful screen.

Developers? Apple? Please help.

A Gordon Ramsay-esque website has appeared on the web that vents the frustration of iPhone Developers who have been silenced by Apple’s famous NDA.

A Non-Disclosure-Agreeement is signed by every developer before they are allowed to make Applications for the iPhone (we journos sometimes have to sign them too, before products are launched). It prevents developers from sharing the way they code and build their applications.

This is typical procedure for Apple who believe that by stopping people from communicating about the inner workings of the iPhone it will prevent malicious hackers from gaining valuable knowledge about how to reach parts fo the iPhone OS X that could be exploited.

The downside of this is that developers have to do their work in virtual silence, unable to communicate with others who may be able to help them make their applications better.

As a result there have ben frequent twitter posts of ‘F**king NDA!’ in the iPhone community. There have been so many in fact, that a website with that same name has now appeared online to document the sheer volume of posts.

Its easy to understand both sides of the story in this situation. On the one hand nobody wants to dwnload an application that will brick their iPhone, and on the other hand it seems overly paranoid for Apple to forbid communication between developers because of just a few bad apples in the communty (no pun intended).

Apple have so far been louding the simplicity of the iPhone as a platform to develop for, but at the moment at least it, seems as if there may be a bit of a backlash heading their way. Lets hope some sort of middle ground can be reached so that our apps can get better without anyone ruining it for the rest of the development community.

We’re proud to announce that iCreate has now joined the hallowed ranks of Facebook.

Log on, become a fan and write on our wall today.

We’ve got some great things planned including groups, competitions and more.

See you there!

I had a few days off recently and went to Cornwall where it rained solidly for two days. Apart from the bad weather I was without a signal on my iPhone for pretty much the entire time. With any other phone this kind of impediment would have just meant the inability to recieve and make phone calls, something which, on holiday, would have been a blessing. But, on this occassion it also meant that I had no way of getting online to do all those things I’d taken for granted before.

One of the big things I missed was downloading and trying out free apps on the iPhone. Its gotten to the stage where its becoming an addiction. If I were wealthier I would no doubt be downloading everything, but as it is, I’m fine downloading the free Apps.

So, as I was saying I was without the ability to get more apps on my phone and it served the purpose of highlighting to me how quickly I had become bored of some of the other apps. Admittedly they are mostly free ones but with the promise of newer, better free apps out there I have to say that I have become rather spoiled.

A few weeks ago I’d have killed for a single app on my iPhone and now, with hundreds to choose from I’m like a little brat, always after more, more, more. I need to take stock and think about how lucky I am to even have the ones I’ve got.

The iPhone is an amazing bit of technology and I should probably treat it with more respect, that said it’s just stopped syncing, a quick look at the App Store wont hurt…

There is a great comic on theJoyoftech.com that I’ve put down here that sums up what a lot of iPhone owners must be going through…

Breaking news from digital audio land, a mystical place where music and computers skip hand in hand through the plug-in fields. German sequencersmiths and inventors of VST Steinberg have just announced a new version of their would-be GarageBand-killer, Sequel.The amusingly-named Sequel 2 fields several exciting new features including a virtual keyboard, new track icons, audio reverse, an audio warp feature, a tap tempo function and a controller mode allowing the use of a hardware controller, which promises to be particularly useful in a live performance environment.If you’re an itchy-fingered GarageBand user and would like to check out the competition, more details can be found at http://www.sequel-music.net/home.html

There’s a sea of web browsers for Mac OS X out there so it’s only when a more unique take on the standard navigation tool appears that we ever get interested.

Flock is one such app. Built on Mozilla’s Firefox 3 Technology, it taps into the world’s infatuation with social networking and sharing within a slick and very Mac oriented interface.

Scooping a slew of awards from a Webby to a top ten listing in PC World’s 100 Best Products of 2008, Flock is constantly evolving and is now available in 2.0 Beta form.

So what’s the big deal? Well, if you’re one of those web users who always has a Facebook page open or can’t resist a quick skim across comments on Flickr photos or YouTube videos, Flock makes the process far simpler. Integrating the most popular social websites like those mentioned above and many more, Flock negates the requirement of navigating to a page to view, connect and share – it’s all in the browser interface. Send photos to friends on Facebook by dragging and dropping, check messages on Twitter, share links and text and much more.

A “Gloss” edition of Flock now brings you the latest in fashion and entertainment gossip across the web should you require it.

Setup is as smooth as can be with a simple login to your chosen site being enough for Flock to create your own sidebar or account within the browser. Facebook is a classic example here with a list of your friends appearing in a bar at the side of the browser showing their picture, status and more. You can even drag and drop images and links on to a user’s profile to share with them instantly.

Whether you’re into social networks, photos, blogs, media or news feeds, Flock has something for you. There’s even a built-in media bar that scours sites like Picasa, Truveo and YouTube, a feed reader for RSS and a blog editor for the most popular blogging apps.

It sounds crass and clichéd but Flock, that dubs itself “The Social Web Browser”, is just downright sociable. From the feature set through to the cute interface it’s an App no Mac fan or web fiend should overlook.

www.flock.com

Well this is exciting. I’m currently blogging from Wordpress’ iPhone app. The typing is a bit tougher than when I’m at my Mac so I’ll keep this brief but, just so you all know, I can now blog from anywhere. Beware!