(Credit:
CNET)
With more than 100,000 apps in the iTunes App Store and huge success around the world with the iPhone, it would appear Apple has done just about everything right with the launch of its first mobile handset. But as any iPhone app developers will tell you, the app approval process is less than ideal, with some developers waiting well beyond Apple's 14-day waiting period and sometimes longer to get their apps approved. Though Apple has stated it is working on the app approval process, there has been little in the way of progress if you ask iPhone app developers.
Recently, Apple added an automated system for weeding out developers who use Apple's private APIs, a process that may be part of a larger plan to cut down on some of the wait time. Unfortunately, developers are still struggling to get their apps to the iTunes store, finding out at the end of the 14-day waiting period that it was the automated system that turned them down. Hopefully, as more time passes, Apple will be able to figure out a way to make the process more efficient while still being able to provide high-quality and secure apps for everyone. Happy iPhone app developers mean more and better apps, so it's in all of our best interests for Apple to make the process better.
This week's apps include a new (to iPhone) multiservice chat client and a stunt-racing game with beautiful 3D graphics.
Use the tabs at the top to switch conversations
(Credit: Screenshot by Jason Parker/CNET)Trillian ($4.99) is a popular multiservice chat client on Windows machines that you can now use on your iPhone. Multiservice chat clients are ideal for those who have accounts across several services like Yahoo, Google, ICQ/AIM, and MSN, and want to use just one client to access them all. The interface is fairly intuitive, letting you add your user names and passwords for each service, and then letting you log on to all or specific services with only a few taps on your touch screen. Trillian does not support landscape mode for typing yet, but the developers say it is coming soon.
Once you're logged in, the Trillian interface looks a lot like it does in the Windows client, complete with your buddies' avatars, contact categories (friends, coworkers, etc.), and color-coded icons to indicate which service your friends are using. The way Trillian handles multiple chat sessions on the iPhone client is excellent, with a touch-scrollable tabbed interface, making it easy to switch conversations quickly. Also especially useful (and clever) is the push notification system, that sends you the first message of a chain so you know someone is trying to reach you, but doesn't send a huge list of messages when you don't want them. At this time, you can only stay logged-in (with the app suspended) for a maximum of 24 hours, but the folks at Trillian say it will be lengthened to seven days in future updates. Though the price is a little steep in my opinion, Trillian is a high-quality chat client that will appeal to those who use multiple services.
The screenshot doesn't do it justice, but this game looks and plays great
(Credit: Screenshot by Jason Parker/CNET)Jet Car Stunts is a stunt-racing game that runs surprisingly smoothly on first gen iPhones on up to the 3GS. Beyond the beautiful graphics, the driving control system is excellent, using the accelerometer for steering and onscreen controls for gas and brakes. What makes the game unique from other racing games are the controls for your rocket boost to complete big jumps, and the braking system that works both on the ground and in the air.
You can choose from two different game types including Time Trial and Platforming. In Time Trial, you race five laps around a track with corkscrew twists, tight turns, and huge jumps, to qualify for bronze-, silver-, or gold-medal times. Platforming has no time limit, but instead records the number of tries it takes you to complete difficult tracks--and they get very difficult in both game types. Time Trial has three skill levels, with four tracks to complete in each to move on the next skill level. Platforming has five difficulty levels, with five tracks in each to pass before moving on. Overall, Jet Car Stunts is one of the more unique racing games and features excellent graphics, extremely smooth controls, and plenty of replay value, with increasingly challenging tracks. I've had the game for a week and I still can't get over both how good it looks and how smooth it plays.
What's your favorite iPhone app? Were you waiting for a big-name multiservice chat client like Trillian before spending your money? Is Jet Car Stunts hard or am I just not good enough? Let me know in the comments!
Trillain 4.1 beta for Windows amps Twitter and Facebook power.
(Credit: Cerulean Studios)Makers of the multinetwork chat application Trillian threw open doors to the company's latest beta, previously available onto to private beta testers, allowing any Windows user to test Trillian 4.1 beta before the code becomes final.
Chief among the changes in the beta are new social networking features and tight integration with Windows 7 for users of Microsoft's most recent operating system. Trillian 4.1 beta supports story links and avatar pictures in more locations on the interface, as well as Twitter hash tags and direct (@) replies. You can now also tweet from the contact list, follow and unfollow users, and edit a message before you retweet. Here's the full list of changes for Twitter and Facebook users.
Although the current stable version, Trillian Astra 4.0, works fine in Windows 7, the beta brings on optimizations, like support for jump lists, and an animated progress bar that displays during file transfers (see all new features).
Trillian 4.1 beta for Windows also gets an overhaul in the e-mail notifications department, with six additional features that span new views in which to organize your messages, to new things you can do with notification messages, like toggling through alerts and shoving them into any corner of the screen. The ability to manage incoming messages from the right-click context menu looks especially convenient.
Read more about Trillian 4.1 beta's e-mail enhancements, and a few extra tweaks to status control. Beta users should be forewarned that since 4.1 is still in the development process, you may run across some bugs and instability.
Trillian faces heavy competition from all-in-one chat clients like Digsby, which also incorporates Twitter, Facebook, and e-mail notifications into its communications application. Giving Trillian greater social networking capabilities will help keep Cerulean Studios' instant messenger competitive.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced on Friday, October 9, that the H1N1 virus was widespread in 37 states. Fortunately, vaccines are on their way, and seasonal flu shots are currently available (the map on the Flu.gov site helps you find a vaccination center near you).
The best way to avoid bringing the flu bug home with you from the office is to stay out of the office. If you have the flu, do yourself and your coworkers a favor: stay home and rest! Not sure if you have the flu? Check the CDC site for a list and description of the symptoms of both H1N1 and seasonal flu. You'll also find information on the CDC site for taking care of people with the flu, prevention for people at high risk, and travel updates.
One of the best ways to track the flu's spread is via Google Flu Trends, an interactive map that indicates the frequency of flu-related search terms in various countries.
The Google Flu Trends map tracks flu-related searches by country.
(Credit: Google)Additional information on flu trends is available for the U.S. and several other countries. For the U.S., you can compare yearly flu trends and view data for each state.
For several countries, Google provides more annual and regional flu data.
(Credit: Google)
Link to your office PC for free
In many work situations, there's no substitute for being face to face. But every year it gets easier to get your office work done from outside the office. One way to do so is via Windows' Remote Desktop Connection component, which lets you link to a PC that's on an office network, but only if the machine's running XP Professional or Vista/Windows 7 Professional, Business, or Ultimate.
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The release of Yahoo's latest instant messenger for Windows (Yahoo Messenger 10 beta) got us revisiting two others that were updated in the more recent past: the all-in-one chat clients Trillian Astra and Digsby. We enumerated the program enhancements that went into Trillian Astra beta here, but after three years in the making (!), we were hoping to be wowed.
In terms of sexiness, that honor belongs to Digsby, which cuts a fine figure, but doesn't always smoothly deliver the performance goods. It also adheres to some questionable software bundling, and shady CPU practices while your computer runs idle. Users have since rebelled. At the very least, Digsby will change the way they alert you to these opt-ins and opt-outs, so we can all get back to enjoying a quality IM frenzy with friends on all our networks.
Don't get us wrong. Trillian Astra, with features like voice chatting and file transferring, by no means offers up a shoddy experience. There are, however, a few caveats to the service, including one of the most important--that some of Trillian Astra's best features are accessible only to those who have upgraded to the premium version. Luckily, we've captured Trillian's goods and bads on film. Check them all out in the First Look video above and see if Trillian is a better instant messenger for you.
It seems as if it were just yesterday that Yahoo's Messenger team rolled out version 9 (it was a little less than a year ago, in fact.) The upgrade was so dramatic and overdue that it's a little surprising Yahoo has already tweaked its chat client, now parading Yahoo Messenger 10 beta to testers and curious chatters. We're glad they did. Even though the changes may not please everyone uniformly, nor should they incite ire. The features build off Yahoo Messenger 9, emphasize social networking, and improved video calling.
You'll be able to learn more about the social networking aspects from the photo gallery. This blog will focus on the video features.
VoIP and PC-to-landline calls aren't new to Yahoo Messenger, but the icon that calls out video chats is. Most of the major IM clients support voice-over-Internet calls with Webcams. It is Yahoo's attention to video quality makes this build a closer competitor to Skype for Windows, which is a VoIP client first, enriched by chatting, file sharing, emoticons, and games. Yahoo Messenger (and Windows Live Messenger, and so on, for that matter,) are chat apps at the core that have layered on other P2P features.
Skype is still ahead in terms of total features, like screen sharing, its most recent contribution to the VoIP community. However, the Web chatting experience was good enough on Yahoo Messenger 10 beta in our tests that we might prefer to use it to start a casual video call if the app is already running, rather than fire up Skype. Admittedly, our tests were limited by the callers' proximity to each other, fast data connections, and strong computing configurations. We'll need to keep up the calling with a cross-section of international users to get a more accurate litmus. Since the improved video calling only works with other Yahoo Messenger 10 beta users, we may have to wait for further adoption to test these theories.
(Credit:
Screenshot by Jessica Dolcourt/CNET)
Proximity notwithstanding, there were some performance issues. The call quality was clear and the videos were as crisp as our hardware allowed. Chatting and file sharing, however, slowed to a crawl as the call progressed. This seems to be the reverse of Skype, in which chatting has, in the past, often transmitted faster than the voice packets. Again, being in the same city, let alone the same country, could at least partly explain the reversal.
In addition to both parties needing Yahoo Messenger 10 beta on their Windows computers, there are some basic system requirements. You'll need Windows XP or better with a 1GHz CPU processor and 512MB of RAM. Your broadband internet will require a minimum of 300Kbps download speed and a minimum of 128Kbps upload (test both here). Then there's the video card. You'll need at least 96MB memory. A Webcam is mandatory to output video calls, but not to see a buddy's video. However, you will receive an alert if you don't have a Webcam. The final ingredient we'll mention is that the latest version of Microsoft DirectX must be installed. Yahoo provides a full list of specs and tips in its help topics. Yahoo's Messenger team provides some common FAQs and video tips here
Briefly, some of the other video features include toggling the sound on and off and shifting the position of the Webcam windows on your screen. These convenience tools worked well and gave the application some depth; we also liked being able to transfer files in full screen mode, even though photo transfers were slow.
This bug reminders us that beta software is often a work-in-progress.
(Credit: Screenshot by Jessica Dolcourt/CNET)One more complaint: The new Yahoo Messenger 10 beta doesn't appear to play nicely with all third-party IM clients. We noticed when chatting with a buddy who uses Digsby, that each line we type was replicated in the chat window. Odd, yes, and also irritating over time. But not all users chatting between Yahoo Messenger 10 beta and a different chat client will encounter problems, but if you do, let us know.
Want to see more screenshots and feature details? We have plenty in the Yahoo Messenger 10 beta gallery. .
A new skin preps you for Digsby on Windows 7.
(Credit: Digsby)On Wednesday, Digsby released a new version of the Digsby all-in-one instant messenger to all users.
Digsby 61 is a medium-size update that concentrates on bulking up Digsby's interaction with social networks. The first addition is a new dialog box that hooks into Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and MySpace so that any status message set in Digsby can also broadcast to the others. Called the Global Status dialog, it folds in a URL shortener that makes it easier to share links in your status update. The link-shortener hasn't crossed over into the instant message windows; it's current realm is the status message only.
When you send a link, Digsby utilizes the same virtual toolbar metaphor that got some Digg users up in arms. But here's a tip: to send a straightforward link that ducks the Digsby "toolbar," add a dash (-) to the end of the URL.
You're also able to share pictures in the Global Status box thanks to integration with pic.im.
A significantly expanded MySpace newsfeed is a second change. Some back-end alterations have opened up the info box. Instead of just being able to view status updates, Digsby can now pull in your MySpace activity stream, letting you see the full newsfeed and flip through photos.
In addition to socializing, Digsby's latest uses OneRiot's real-time Web search engine to add Web search. Hit Control and F while in the buddy list view to begin.
In a nod to Microsoft's forthcoming Windows 7 operating system, Digsby has also added a new user-created skin option for the buddy list. You can select the light blue Windows 7 skin from the skins drop-down menu, and swap among it, the metallic look, and a tinted theme (our personal favorite).
You can download the new build; alternatively, existing users can wait for Digsby to push out the update.
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CNET)
Skype, the solid chat, VoIP, and videocam software has been around for awhile now on the Mac and we have already sung its praises for its free computer-to-computer long distance. Call clarity has always been quite good and if you have one of many available USB handsets, you know it's just like talking on a regular phone. For a little extra money through the company's pay-as-you-go or monthly subscription services, you can call cell and land lines and the prices are fairly affordable. But today, Skype for Mac got some new features that definitely make it worth updating your client.
Skype 2.8 for Mac now offers a pay-as-you-go public Wi-Fi service, screen sharing, and even better-quality video and sound. The Wi-Fi service lets you use your Skype Credit to connect to public Wi-Fi. Simply add money to your Skype account, which is used for calling landlines as well, and you're ready to go. The screen-sharing feature lets you show your friend, coworker, or family member what's on your screen--great for when you're helping someone with a computer problem or sharing a design layout with a coworker, for example. The video and sound quality were already pretty good, but the update made both sound and video clarity noticeably better.
Use the Share button at the top of the chat window to show your full screen or just a portion with another user.
(Credit: CNET)Skype has always been one of our favorites for VoIP and video chat, but as has always been the case, Skype offers no emergency numbers so you should not use it as a replacement for your regular phone. Still, with all the features already available and the new additions, we think Skype is definitely worth a look for those new to the program and a must-download for current Skype users.
Updated at 3:30 PM with a note on Digsby's methodology.
Ctrl+F gives you the search bar to summon Web search and contacts.
(Credit: CNET/Screenshot by Jessica Dolcourt)Rising-star all-in-one IM app Digsby received an update to its beta on Wednesday, officially announcing feature additions that Digsby tested in an earlier alpha release we had reported on in April.
A boost to performance power reduces Digsby's CPU usage by 50 percent, the company said. That makes it a whopping 20 percent more efficient than Digsby claimed it was in April's alpha test. (Read note below.) Avid users can thank some back-end work with a coding language update and a move to a new compiler for this reduction in resources.
On the usability side, Digsby is sporting the new and enhanced features we saw in the alpha test. The best is a hidden search bar that pops up when you press Ctrl + F. In addition to summoning buddies when you type their names, it can also conduct Web searches on Google, Wikipedia, Twitter, Facebook, Amazon, iTunes, and YouTube. This Web search aspect differentiates Digsby's search from those employed in other IM clients.
Digsby has added an option that will automatically keep new IM windows from popping up by default, instead letting the unread messages blink in the tray. In the message window, the company has added four additional emoticon packs, which you can enable one at a time via the Preferences menu (click "Conversations" and "Enable emoticons" next.)
The new beta build also lets you update your MySpace status. This rounds out its update services to top social networks--Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn have long been supported. Digsby also improves the stability for file transfers for Windows Live Messenger (MSN), AIM, and ICQ, and can now give you an 'invisible' presence in Google Talk.
For those who have kept Digsby at arm's length until now, the faster, less demanding version of this app sweetens the deal. With instant messaging, social networking, e-mail access, and skin customizations under its belt, it's a must-try chat app for IM aficionados.
Note: Digsby shared a real-world methodology they used to arrive at the 50 percent CPU drop between betas. In a development environment, they installed the two versions of the Digsby IM client in two different locations, logging into the same account on both instances. Then they switched on the individual protocols that let you log in from more than one location--AIM, Google Talk, Facebook Chat, e-mail protocols, and Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Both ran for 24 hours to compare the CPU strain as buddies signed on and off, and as e-mails and notices poured in.
Since Digsby only allows one version of itself to launch at a time, this was not something we tested.
Facebook's built-in chat service is convenient, but where it lacks when compared to software-based chat tools is in letting users log past conversations. Facebook intentionally does not save full conversations, however it does keep a few lines from the last time you chatted with someone so you can pick up where you left off.
If you're looking for more though, there's a new Firefox add-on called Facebook Chat History Manager that saves all of your conversations locally. As long as you're using the browser with it installed, it saves everything and puts it into a log that can be filtered by friend or date. There is, however, no search function, so if you're looking for a specific word or phrase from a past chat, you'll have to view all your chats on one page, then use Firefox's built-in search tool. Hopefully a later version will add a way to search from the local index.
Since the extension saves all of your chats locally, you're totally hosed if your computer gets lost, stolen, or suffers failed hard drive. On the flip side of that, the chat log viewer is password protected, so there are no worries of someone else gaining access to your entire chat history.
If you're a heavy Facebook chat user who does not access the service through a software chat client, this extension is one of the easiest ways to log your chats, and definitely worth the download.
FB Chat History saves all your Facebook conversations as long as you're using the machine with the extension installed.
(Credit: CNET)Anyone who uses a chat client frequently knows what it's like when one of your friends is on a different service. You can download the client to match what they use, but that means you'll need to have at least two chat clients running at all times. If someone else comes along that uses a third service, that's when it really starts to get confusing.
Instead of filling up your Dock with chat clients, why not just download Adium? This multiservice chat client lets you register for new services and chat with all of your friends from the same program. The latest update fixes Facebook compatibility issues and other minor bugs.
Also this week we have the latest update to Path Finder, the alternative way to manage and browse files efficiently on your Mac. Our game this week is Vendetta Online, the massive multiplayer game in which you captain your own spaceship and explore the galaxy.
This is week two of the newsletter redesign, and all your comments are welcome. More changes are coming in the next few weeks, so please bear with us while we improve this newsletter.
