The App Show – Episode #29 from Coefficient Media on Vimeo.

The IM+ 3.1 will take advantage of the new push notification features in the upgraded 3.0 firmware of the iPhone.  It supports the largest number of Instant Messanger and chat services of any other iPhone application that I’ve seen.  This thing does it all!

part 1

<This break brought to you courtesy of Comcast Business Internet Services>

Part2:

Show notes:
Happy Mothers Day!

News

• As of May 8th, all iPhone apps must be 3.0 compatible to be approved http://is.gd/ybDO
• OS 3.0 Beta 5 still jailbeakable.  Good news for me .. unless the new iPhone hardware prevents it.
• iPhone 3.0 firmware capable of better photos? http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/09/05/05/briefly_iphone_software_3_0_taking_better_camera_snapshots.html
• NiN app rejected and then approved – rant?
  • Apple informed the developer that Parental Controls have been announced for iPhone 3.0 http://www.macrumors.com/2009/05/04/iphone-3-0s-parental-controls-to-loosen-app-store-restrictions/
  • Oreilly.com interview with Rob Sheridan – http://radar.oreilly.com/2009/05/interview-with-rob-sheridan-ni.html
• Amazon buys Stanza eBook reader for the iPhone. Eating up the competition
• iPhone is Boosting Demand For Location-Based Services – few dozen existed in August of last year, there are now over 2,000 as of April, says Skyhook (service provider for the iphones GSM/wifi based location service)
• 4 AWESOME games released to the app store:
  • Need for Speed – $9.99 – http://is.gd/yBxo
  • Terminator – $9.99 – http://is.gd/yBxJ
  • Top Gun – Launch price $1.99 – http://is.gd/yBwH
  • Myst – $5.99 – http://is.gd/yByE
  • More expected to come soon:
    • Rolando 2
      - Real Racing
      - Sims 3
      - LiveFire (Probably not going to come any time soon)
      - NBA Live 10
      - Madden NFL 10
      - Zenonia
      - Peggle
• iTalk iPhone app for $1.99 can deliver ice breaker questions “What’s your favorite band”
• Mothers Day Apps
  • Send an iCard and iFlowera with ideas2mobile’s Mothers Day app
  • http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=313640429&mt=8
  • .99
  • Create a Mothers Day card with Smooth Landon Software’s Mothers Day Card app
    • .99
    • http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=314165886&mt=8

Pick of the Week

Steve: Pingle – $1.99 – http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=303499367&mt=8

Dave: WootWatch – Free – http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=288946910&mt=8

Overview

Here’s how everything works at the top level. My business Exchange calendar only has events in it that are work related. None of my personal events that are created on my iPhone or iCal are placed onto my Exchange calendar. All of the events on created in Outlook on my Exchange calendar are, however, passed onto my Google calendar, then to my iCal, then to my iPhone.

This allows me to see all events from both business AND personal on my iPhone as well as schedule events for both locations from my iCal. When I create an event meant for my Exchange calendar, i simply choose that calendar when creating the appointment on my iPhone and it eventually syncs its way to my Outlook at the office and into Exchange.

It’s an ALMOST perfect setup.

Google Calendar and Exchange

I start with my Google Calendar. That’s the heart of it all. I’ve created two calendars that really matter. I have more but they do not add to the functionality. For this section, we’ll only worry about the default Google calendar.

On my office computer, I’ve installed the Google Calendar Sync. This performs a two way synchronization between my Outlook/Exchange calendar and my primary Google calendar. It’s important to remember that this tool only syncs with the primary (default) calendar in Google.

If I create an event on my primary Google Calendar, it is sync’ed back to my Exchange in the next sync cycle. It works in the other direction also.

iCal and Google Calendar

To get my iCal on my MacBook Pro to sync with the Google Calendar, I start by creating a new Google Calendar called “Home”. I don’t want to sync with the default Google Calendar because I don’t like my private appointments to show up on my Exchange calendar.

I installed a tool called Spanning sync onto my MacBook Pro and configured it to do a two-way sync between my main iCal calendar and the newly created Google calendar called “Home”

I do want to be able to create a business event in my iCal (and later on my iPhone) that will show up on my work Exchange calendar; I just don’t want my private life events to do this. To accomplish this, I created a new calendar inside iCal called “Work” and told Spanning Sync to do a two-way sync between that calendar and my primary Google calendar.

This is awesome because all that I need to do is create an event in the “Work” iCal calendar to get it to eventually and seamlessly sync onto my Exchange calendar at work.

iCal, MobileMe, and the iPhone(s)

iTunes takes care of syncing all calendars in your iCal with your iPhone every time that you sync with the computer. This is nice but I like things to be a bit more immediate and “in the cloud” than that. I have a MobileMe account that is shared between my iPhone and my wifes iPhone. The MobileMe is constantly updated via Push from my MacBook Pro.

On my iPhone, if I want to create a business appointment, I choose the “Work” calendar. Within minutes, that new event is pushed to my MacBook Pro. Within a few more minutes, the Spanning Sync software syncs that appointment with the main Google calendar. A few minutes later, the Google Sync tool in my office syncs that appointment into Outlook from that same primary Google calendar. Outlook naturally shoves the event into Exchange and the trip is complete.

If I want to create a personal appointment on my iPhone, I choose the “Home” calendar. It also gets synced via MobileMe onto my iCal within a minute or two. Spanning Sync keeps my Google “Home” calendar in sync with my iCal “Home” calendar.

now, I can share my Google “Home” calendar with whoever I’d like. For example, I can set up a sync between my Wife’s iPhone and my home calendar so that she always knows where I’m at and when I’ll be home.

There were a firestorm of comments in the chat room during the show and on other sites after the show was aired.  Below is my comment on those comments.

I’d like to weigh in a bit more here than I did on the show.  I have a perspective that most here do not have.  Before flaming me, please read the whole post.

I am a software user who has bought and … err … not bought a lot of software in the past.  I am also a software developer who makes a living from spending way too many hours in front of the computer writing code until the words blur together so that I can feed my family.

I totally understand the sentiment that over priced software digs it’s own grave and feeds software piracy.  In those cases, I am most sympathetic of the consumer.

On the other hand, I understand that I am not entitled to the free labor of others.  I can’t demand that my neighbor comes over and shovels my sidewalk for free; how can I demand that he spends 20 hours writing code for me for free?  It just doesn’t make sense.

I often see the argument that we pay $$$ for our equipment and $$$ for our Internet, we should have to pay any money for our software. This would totally make sense if all of these things came from the same company or individual.  They don’t.

Apple made your iPhone.  They get the hardware dollars.  AT&T is providing your Internet.  They get those dollars.  Thousands of independent developers all over the world are making your apps.  They deserve the money that they earn from that (in most cases).

I saw the argument that Apple should simply pay the developers and then let the apps go freely.  Really?  If you think that the applications are limited right now, imagine for a minute how limited and few the apps would be under that scenario!.

Some developers charge way too much money for some really crappy apps.  This, I think, is the app developers worst enemy and where I can give some points to the software pirates.

If a developer CHARGES for an app that does nothing but farts, I have very little sympathy for the piracy of their app.  The same goes for the count down apps that are going for almost $5.

Developers, for whatever reason, are still refusing to make time limited trial version of their apps.  This is another valid point for the app crackers.  It’s unreasonable to demand that someone pay for your app without being able to verify that each and every feature works as advertised.  I’ve already been burned by a number of apps that were nothing less than scams in my opinion.

So, here the bottom line on what I believe.  If you’re a software author, it is your duty to:

* offer a fully functional trial of your software for free.
* Charge an *appropriate* price for your software
* provide service and support for your product

If you’re a software author, you have the RIGHT to:

* make a living from your profession
* Innovate freely without SDK or other arbitrary restrictions
* actively pursue anyone who infringes upon those rights as long as you abide by your duties.

As consumers, we have have the economic responsibility to:

* purchase any software that we use bast a reasonable trial period
* be vocal about over priced and inferior products in the public arena (comments and ratings)
* donate funds to freeware software authors if we like their work or services

As consumers, we have the RIGHT to:

* a full refund if the software does not work as advertised or is too buggy to be of use
* a fully functional trial version of any software that requires a licensing fee
* not be charged inflated pricing for software based upon demand rather than the functionality

If a software author doesn’t follow through upon their responsibilities, they have no right to complain if consumers crack their apps to enforce their rights.

Now, the question is … Did Christopher fulfill his obligations as a software developer?

Last week, I purchased an Incase Power Slider for my iPhone 3G.  Yesterday, I decided to do a full discharge test to see how long the iPhone would last using my typical usage load.  I use Qik a lot and am always snapping pictures and uploading them to Flickr.  This typically drained my battery within 6 hours of a full charge.

I’m happy to discover that my battery life has not only doubled; it’s almost quadrupled!  It has been about 30 hours since the full charge and I decided to throw it back on the charger with 15% battery life remaining. I will gladly lose the pocket real estate due to the battery size to gain the usage time that I’ve seen with this case.

I do have one small problem with the manufacturing of this case, however.  After removing the case from the phone for the third time, the plastic casing slid off the device revealing the sensitive electronics and connector.  I plan to head to the hardware store tomorrow to get some glue and fix it myself instead of returning it for such a minor issue.

Video clips at Ustream

More at http://www.theappshow.com