I love my aluminum Xtand, but there’s also something about the teeny tiny MoviePeg that’s really quite attractive. All you do is stick the little nub made out of — actually, the site doesn’t say what the material is, so I’m going to assume Refined Minimalism — and attach it to most any side of your iPhone. You then have a convenient iPhone stand for viewing content without having to hold the device. Like most of these mini stands, you can only charge the device when it’s in landscape mode, though, and I’m not sure how well this thing can hold the phone while you’re tapping on the screen.

However, if you want one, the MoviePeg comes in six different colours and is available for order right from the MoviePeg site, although you should keep in mind that it ships from the UK.

[via MinimalMac via Daring Fireball]

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Post tags: iphone stand

I mentioned only yesterday that Square Enix was developing an RPG specifically for the iPhone platform (iNal Fantasy, if you will), and today the trailer is up on YouTube for your oogly enjoyment. I think it looks great and it’s definitely a title I’d want to play, but I also can’t help but wonder where all the controls are. Square Enix RPG’s often provide players with a number of different spells and abilities to choose from, and I didn’t see any sort of menu system in the trailer. It’s either too early for them to show…or maybe we’ll be using gestures to signal which version of Fire to cast.

[trailer link once again via TUAW]

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Post tags: chaos rings, JRPG, square enix

Four Free Promo Codes for Dr. Seuss Camera – The Cat in the Hat Edition and Dr. Seuss Camera – The Grinch Edition

Contest Deadline: Saturday March 20th – 2:00PM US Central

Who doesn’t love Dr. Seuss?  Or free apps.  Put those two together and you’ve got our latest contest – with promo codes for two great Dr. Seuss camera apps for the iPhone for our four lucky winners.

The very kind folks at Oceanhouse Media have offered up these codes for this contest, and some more that we’ll be offering soon via Twitter as well.

Read on for the easy way to get yourself entered for a chance to win …

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Read the rest of Contest – 4 Free Promo Codes for Two Great Dr. Seuss Apps for iPhone

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Post tags: contest, Dr. Seuss iPhone apps, Promo codes

BugMe is a great little app for for creating visual alarms via Push on your iPhone — but the catch is that you’ll need an internet connection for them to work properly. However, as you can see in the picture above, this $0.99 app is also a great little toy for creating note icons right on your Springboard. No jailbreak required!

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Read the rest of Quick Look: BugMe, visual alarms and Springboard notes for iPhone

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Post tags: homescreen icon, push notification alarms

The AirStash isn’t an ideal solution for transferring large groups of files to your iPhone, but it can be of great assistance in those cases where all you have is your iPhone, and you want to take a look at some media that you’ve just stolen from your friend’s SD or MicroSD  cardwithout their knowledge. The iPhone can connect to the AirStash via wi-fi and communicate with it via a proprietary AirStash iPhone app so that you can view files as if they were right on the device. The video demo shows the AirStash streaming an .mov or .mp4 trailer of Alice in Wonderland, and the performance was excellent — which means that medium sized documents and ordinary music files should simply fly from the AirStash to your iPhone.

There are drawbacks to this solution, though: the constant streaming of data must take a serious toll on battery life, so this really isn’t an ideal way to keep a set of movies. Then there’s the fact that any kind of media you load up is going to be segregated: no smooth iPod interface here. Each video or music file is going to load into a single QuickTime-like window, similar to the the YouTube app. However, as iPhone accessories go, this is definitely one of the coolest ones I’ve seen thus far, and it’s apparently iPad-compatible, too.

[Visit Airstash.com for more information; news via iClarified]

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Post tags: card reader, wireless storage

I wouldn’t, but Square Enix evidently thinks that some people will, based on the $8.99 Final Fantasy XIII Larger-than-life Gallery that’s for sale on the App Store (news via Slide to Play). It’s true that Final Fantasy XII, the latest title in the long Japanese RPG series, is a seriously good looking game. It’s the first Final Fantasy on the “next-gen consoles” like the PS3 and Xbox 360, but $8.99 for high res images that you show tiny details like eye colour, and folds in the character costumes, just seems like far too high a price.

Frankly, I’d rather wait for the brand new RPG that Square Enix is purportedly developing for the iPhone this year (this tidbit comes from TUAW). This one should be interesting, since it will be built from the ground up as an iPhone experience, and not simply a port of a 22-year old game.

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I’ve tried just about every leading RSS app for the iPhone, but more often that not I come back to the one that has been the best since before the App Store even opened and still remains the best – Google Reader’s web app.

Each time I think I’ve found a native app I really like as much or more than Google Reader Mobile, it develops a flaw of some kind, or lacks a feature.  Some don’t let you share items, or don’t show only feeds with new (unread) items.  Or they invariably have sync issues – slowness, inaccuracy in unread counts etc.

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Read the rest of Google Reader Mobile Just Keeps Getting Better

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Post tags: Google Reader Mobile, iPhone RSS apps, iPhone web apps

Lifehacker – the ultimate web site for tips and tricks on every subject under the sun – now has its own iPhone app.  Here are some of its main features:

• Get access to live Lifehacker.com feeds, articles, and comments
• Share content via Twitter, Facebook, and email
• Save favorite content for quick access
• Adjustable font size
• Activate/Deactivate and reorder feeds

These don’t sound revolutionary and I’m generally not a fan of single-site apps (I prefer RSS readers and other more central new sources) – but hey, this is Lifehacker.  If you’re not one for following lots of RSS feeds and only tend to follow a few major sites, and have the home screen space, this may be a good one for you to check out. You’ll find it in the App Store here, and it’s free.

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Post tags: iphone apps, Lifehacker iPhone app

Ninja Assassin (reviewed here), the game based on the action movie of the same name, is now $0.99. This isn’t a sale, but rather a price reduction.

I had a lot of trouble playing the title, but other sites rated the game much higher. In any case, while Ninja Assassin not be one of the best action titles out there, the gore is entertaining in its own right, and it’s definitely better than most movie-games. Besides, at $0.99 it will cost you much less than the popcorn you probably bought when you saw the movie

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Post tags: ninja assassin movie

This looks like very good news for iPhone app developers. From Apple Insider’s report:

Apple this week unlocked new tools that allow iPhone developers and publishers to pre-set the release date of their applications and schedule price changes.

The new features appeared in the web-based iTunesConnect interface that application publishers — and all other iTunes media partners — use to submit and manage their offerings on the iTunes Store.

More specifically, the additions let publisher pre-schedule a release date for their new and updated applications, in addition to scheduling a series of price changes for those apps that will go into effect automatically on their target dates.

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Read the rest of Apple Making App Store Easier for Devs – App Release Dates & Price Changes Can Now Be Automated

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Post tags: app store, Apple, iTunesConnect

I enjoy this holiday a lot – and nothing says St. Patties Day to me like a pint (or two) of Guinness with family and friends.

So I’m glad that the folks at Kick Design let us know that their Guinness Pub Finder app for the iPhone is now free (usually $1.99). 

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Post tags: Guinness iPhone app, Guinness Pub Finder iPhone app, iphone apps

[Update: I had a chance to chat briefly with the developers, and they state that an upcoming update should be addressing a fair number of the perceived shortcomings of this 1.0-title. So stay tuned for more super turbo details.]

The most complex part of Super Turbo Action Pig is its name. Behind all of those sensational adjectives, however, lies is a simple game about a pig flying through a mine field in an effort to stop the evil Butcher Bill. It’s a lot like that retro game, Helicopter, but with jetpack-smoked bacon.
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Read the rest of Review: Super Turbo Action Pig for Oinkphone (I mean iPhone)

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Post tags: jetpack, joystick generals, pig, side scroller

Yikes. I’m just now reviewing a case from SwitchEasy that comes with two screen protectors, and I thought it made a huge difference to get some extra goodies with the purchase of a case. Unfortunately, this seems like just the kind of “extra” that would get the case booted out of the Apple Store, starting May.

The story, which was broken by iLounge this morning, states that all forms of film screen protection for all Apple products will no longer be on sale at the Apple Store, and this includes products that contains extra screen protectors, as well. I really have no idea why they’ve decided to bring this change about, and I’m hoping we can get some answers soon. iLounge claims to have asked various accessory makers, as well as Apple themselves, but they’re still awaiting useful feedback.

While this certainly isn’t the end of the world for companies like Power Support and InvisibleShield, it certainly will affect the visibility of these normally-invisible products. The Apple Store was one of the best go-to places for seeing relevant iAccessories for a lot of customers, because, sadly, not everybody reads JAiB (we’re working on this last bit).

[thanks to @lgreenberg for the heads-up]

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Post tags: apple store ban, Film, screen protector, screen shield

Sports fans are awakening from hibernation, and so we sent a little e-mail around to all the members of the JAiB team asking what apps people were using to follow their favourite sports. Hit the jump to see the results, and feel free to leave your own favourite sport-related apps in the comments!

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Read the rest of iPhone Sport Apps roundup

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Post tags: list post, sport apps, sports list

Today Basic is a very intriguing little task manager demo. It’s really the free/lite version of Today Todo Pro, and it has me interested enough that I plan on reviewing the full version soon. Today Basic’s greatest claim to fame is its fascinating visual interface, consisting of two main screens: today and yesterday.

Today is a very warm, sunny day full of possibilities and a list of stuff that you really should get done. Yesterday is just a more positive way of saying “overdue”, and it’s where all the stuff that you didn’t get done Today will end up. Switching between the two screens is just a matter of swiping left on the sun or moon, and the screen will fade dramatically as you do this.

Entering new tasks is a simple as tilting the device sideways, and the interface is already set up for multiple task entry: simply tap on “save” between each task and the previous task will peel away and end up on on the Today screen.

Today Basic is an extremely charming little application, and it’s actually quite usable for simple shopping or errand lists. The $2.99 Pro version of the app looks like it should be up for more heavy duty usage, though, with different categories, a Tomorrow screen for future tasks, task sorting, and a web client for desktop task management. Check for a review of Today Todo Pro sometime soon, but in the meantime, here’s an iTunes link for Todo Basic.

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Post tags: iPhone task manager apps, iPhone todo apps, Today Basic

The ability to have rapid app switching and extended multitasking is one of the biggest reasons why I keep my iPhone jailbroken.  So … I’m always keen to see more options and alternatives for doing app switching on the iPhone.

The latest new jailbreak app to offer help in this area is Circuitous.  As you can see in the screencap above, Circuitous provides a Dock-like layover on the right side of the iPhone screen, from where you can launch running apps, or close them out.  I’ve been trying the app out a little today and have some quick first impressions to share on it.  Hit the break for those plus some more screencaps …

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Read the rest of Circuitous – Another Custom App Switcher for the iPhone (jailbreak only)

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Post tags: Circuitous, iPhone App Switcher apps, iPhone app switching apps, iPhone jailbreak apps

MailRoom is another one of those apps that throws the Gmail web interface into a browser, but with a few unique features:

• TrueNew: shows not just your unread count, but a counter of all the unread emails you’ve received sinc you last opened the app. Great for those with inboxes that are bursting at the seams.

• Multi-account support for Gmail and Google Apps users: shown in the above screenshot. I have seen multi-account support in other apps, but nothing that looks quite as clean as this. You can even add contacts from your iPhone’s address book (although I sync mine with Gmail anyway).

The app also boasts a speedy offline mode with handling of in-line images and HTML messages, but I have yet to get my hands on a copy to test this.

Mailroom is available now for $2.99 on the App Store (news via @vittici)

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Post tags: gmail, iphone apps, iPhone email apps, iPhone Gmail apps

The latest set of smartphone ‘industry pulse’ data from Flurry Analytics has some encouraging numbers for smaller, startup type iPhone app developers and publishers.  As seen above, Flurry estimates that native iPhone developers account for 20% in the ‘Heritage Pie’ chart, second only to Online Gaming.

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Read the rest of ‘Little Guy’ Developers Still Doing Well in the App Store

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Post tags: App Store analytics, iPhone App Store