Filed under: iPhone, App Store, App Review

Since the arrival of the Push Notifications feature in iPhone OS 3.0, all manner of apps have added support for it. Games, task management applications, you name it — they’re all more than happy to make your phone beep at you in the middle of the night and prompt your spouse to kindly insist that you silence that infernal device. Or so I’ve heard.

It seems like a no-brainer to me that this type of functionality would exist among the throngs of social networking applications. If the game where you flick the thing while the music is playing can tell me when I’ve got a new challenger from the Far East, why can’t my favorite Twitter client let me know when I’ve got a new direct message? Sadly, most of the apps in the store (as far as I know) haven’t implemented this functionality yet. I realize that it has some sporadic adoption, but certainly not the universal support that I personally expected.

Enter Boxcar [iTunes Link]. This little free app has existed in the store for months now and has received some very nice reviews, and for good reason. I’ve been a faithful user of this app for many moons and I find it pretty indispensable. Here’s how it works:

When you install the app (which is free at the time of this writing), you can choose to enable a single service for notification — Twitter, Facebook or an email account. It will poll the selected service at a short interval and send you a standard push notification message if there are any updates. In the case of Twitter, you can configure it to open one of several supported Twitter client apps. If you want to enable additional services, you can do so through the in-app purchase mechanism, and most options cost $.99US.

I’m a big fan of Boxcar and use it for Twitter and Facebook. It’s one of those free applications that’s actually worth more than what you’re paying for it — a quality that’s becoming increasingly rare among free iPhone apps these days! Version 2.1 was just released a few days ago and includes several new features like support for Facebook Mail and better accessibility.

Pick up Boxcar now for free from the App Store.

TUAWGet your social notifications on the cheap with Boxcar originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 28 Oct 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Verizon just confirmed that the Moto Droid will arrive next week for $199 with a new, 2-year contract and $100 mail-in rebate. Customers will need a voice plan starting at $39 and a web and email plan for $29 per month.

See our full Droid coverage here and look for a full hands-on later today.

HELLO HUMANS: DROID BY MOTOROLA ARRIVES NEXT WEEK

Verizon Wireless DROID By Motorola: World’s First Smartphone with Android™ 2.0

BASKING RIDGE, N.J., and LIBERTYVILLE, Ill. – High-speed Web browsing, voice-activated search, customizable large screen, access to thousands of Android applications and hundreds of widgets and the best 3G mobile network in the country: DROID by Motorola arrives on Nov. 6.

Verizon Wireless, the company with the nation’s largest wireless 3G broadband network, and Motorola, Inc. (NYSE: MOT), a pioneer in the mobile industry, today unveiled DROID by Motorola, the first smartphone powered by Android™ 2.0. DROID by Motorola features the brainpower and breakneck speed of a modern smartphone, designed to outperform where other smartphones fall short.

Taliban militants attacked a private guesthouse in central Kabul on Wednesday morning, killing up to six U.N. staff members and wounding nine more, according to a U.N. spokesman.

Filed under: Software

I have fervently wished for a desktop client to work with Google Reader for as long as Reader has been around. NewsGator finally answered my plea, announcing that NetNewsWire and the rest of the NewsGator RSS Reader Suite would be syncing solely with Google Reader after August 31, 2009. This signals an immediate move away from NewsGator Online, and the demise of the RSS feed syncing service.

NetNewsWire was a favorite of mine well before it became free software, and I’m excited to start using it again. While I’ve had a lot of fun tweaking my Fluid/Google Reader SSB, I miss the solid companionship of a desktop newsreader. I had originally given them up when I wanted to sync my feed-reading with my iPhone, as I wasn’t thrilled with NetNewsWire on the iPhone at the time and Google Reader was the only choice left for syncing. Byline and Google’s own mobile page were both top-notch, but up until today there were zero Google Reader clients (barring AIR apps … I have my reasons) available on the Mac, so it was Fluid/Reader on the desktop. While I have the warmest of warm spots in my heart for Fluid, I’m ecstatic to have NetNewsWire back!

NetNewsWire is free, and a new beta with Google Reader sync is available for download. The updated NetNewsWire iPhone app is promised soon, but Byline will work for me right now. For current users of the NewsGator Online syncing service, detailed instructions for making the transition have been provided. You’ve got until August 31st to make the move and stay in sync. Lastly, if you haven’t already picked a favorite stylesheet, don’t miss Brockmann … just another reason I’ve missed NNW!

Thanks Stephen, Barkin and everyone who sent this in!

TUAWNetNewsWire starts syncing with Google Reader, NewsGator Online perishes originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 30 Jul 2009 18:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

I have loved the iPhone, but now I am quitting the iPhone.

This is not an easy decision.

I was there in January 2007 when it was announced and I bought the first iPhone as soon as it was available. I happily bought the iPhone 3G a year later. I’ve proudly yelled “I Am A Member Of The Cult Of iPhone.” I’ve been an unabashed cheerleader for the device to all who’ll listen. And I’ve scoffed at developers who said they’d abandon the platform.

But I’m not going to upgrade to the iPhone 3GS. Instead, I’m abandoning the iPhone and AT&T. I will grudgingly pay the $175 AT&T termination fee and then I will move on to another device.

What finally put me over the edge? It wasn’t the routinely dropped calls, something you can only truly understand once you have owned an iPhone (and which drove my friend Om Malik to bail). I’ve lived with that for two years. It’s not the lack of AT&T coverage at home. I’ve lived with that for two years, too. It certainly isn’t the lack of a physical keyboard, that has never bothered me. No, what finally put me over the edge is the Google Voice debacle.

Most of you won’t know what I’m talking about, so I’ll explain.

Google Voice is a a call management service that lets you determine what calls get through to you based on who’s calling and what time of day it is, among other factors. It has amazing features, like automatically transcribing all your voicemails. And you can forward calls to any other phone easily and automatically. Here’s an overview of the service if you aren’t familiar with it.

I’ve always wanted to use Google Voice but there’s a big switching cost – changing your phone number. Too many people have that phone number and use it to call in great stories. There’s no way I’m giving that up. And there’s another problem with Google Voice. When you make outbound calls from a phone, it (obviously) doesn’t use your Google Voice phone number, so recipients don’t know it’s you calling. Those were two hurdles I wasn’t willing to jump over.

But now Google is planning on rolling out number portability, so I can move my mobile phone number to Google. None of my friends, family or contacts have to store a new number.

That still leaves the problem of outbound calls, though. I can move my mobile number to Google and then get a new iPhone account, but outbound calls won’t be identified because they are on the new number. Google has a solution for that too, though. They are releasing apps for a variety of handsets that effectively take over the native dialer, address book and call log. Problem solved. I can use any phone I like, or a bunch of phones, and just choose the one that makes sense at any time. I never have to be tied to a carrier and their restrictive contracts again.

Or so I thought. Apple and AT&T are now blocking the iPhone version of the Google Voice app. Why? Because they absolutely don’t want people doing exactly what I’m doing – moving their phone number to Google and using the carrier as a dumb pipe.

So I have to choose between the iPhone and Google Voice. It’s not an easy decision. Except, it sort of is. Google isn’t forcing the decision on me, Apple and AT&T are. So I choose to work with the company that isn’t forcing me to do things their way. And in this case, that’s Google.

So what phone will I use next? Well, that decision is easy, too. I’d move to the Palm Pre because I believe it is the best phone out there other than the iPhone 3GS. But Google hasn’t created an app for the Palm Pre yet, just Android and Blackberry phones. So for now I’m going to use the new Android myTouch 3G along with the Google Voice App. As soon as something better comes out, or Google makes an app for the Pre, I’ll switch. And keep the same phone number. No long term contracts for me.

And Apple, if you ever decide to put the hammer down on AT&T and do the right thing for your loyal users, I’ll consider switching back. In the meantime, I’ll just use one of many iPod Touches laying around our office to test out new apps.

Crunch Network: CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors

Security forces in Iran on Thursday confronted thousands of protesting Iranians across the city, first at a cemetery and later at a prayer venue and near a government building, witnesses and news reports said. Clashes erupted at the cemetery as two of Iran’s main opposition leaders tried to join the several thousand people at a memorial for Neda Agha-Soltan.

Filed under: WWDC, iPhone, iPod touch

Slick Shopper is a slick little list app. It does one very specific thing: make shopping lists. In fact, the developer thought through little details such as a location-specific context for your lists. If you’re needing things only in your bedroom (perhaps a trip to Bed, Bath and Beyond is in your future?), Slick Shopper will winnow the list down to just those items with a couple of clicks.

While list apps are plentiful on the store, yet again we see a plethora of choices covering niche angles. Now the only problem is not littering your iPhone with list apps — not to be confused with “to do” apps. Slick Shopper (iTunes link) is currently $.99 on the App Store.

TUAWWWDC Demo: Slick Shopper originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 13 Jul 2009 22:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

After nearly 5 years with the company, Engineering Director Mark Lucovsky is leaving Google for a role with VMware, we’ve learned. Lucovsky has been an integral part of Google’s APIs, including the all-important Search APIs.

Before Google, Lucovsky worked at DEC and then Microsoft for 16 years, eventually gaining the title of “Distinguished Engineer.” He had been the principle architect on Windows NT, which would eventually evolve into Windows XP. “I wrote most of the kernel executive, kernel32, and the Windows API,” he told StoneTemple Consulting in an interview two years ago.

Lucovsky was also the architect of Microsoft’s Hailstorm project to port older Microsoft products into .NET. It’s a project that’s be named as a precursor to the current open web movement.

But Lucovsky may be best known for the role he played in a complete and utter meltdown that Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer once had. As the NT architect, Lucovsky was clearly pretty vital to Microsoft, so when he went in for a meeting with Ballmer in 2004 to let him know he was leaving, you can be sure the CEO was a bit on edge.

“Just tell me it’s not Google,” Ballmer reportedly said according to court documents (for a case surrounding another Google ex-Microsoft hire). When Lucovsky said it was Google, Ballmer allegedly picked up a chair and threw it across the room.

What he apparently said next, will live on forever in Internet history.

“Fucking Eric Schmidt is a fucking pussy. I’m going to fucking bury that guy, I have done it before, and I will do it again. I’m going to fucking kill Google.”

Schmidt, is of course, Google’s CEO. When Lucovsky still wasn’t convinced, Ballmer alledgedly went on to say, “Google’s not a real company. It’s a house of cards.”

A house of cards that still stands. And one that will presumably keep standing after Lucovsky’s departure.

Crunch Network: MobileCrunch Mobile Gadgets and Applications, Delivered Daily.

Jamal Bana was only one years old when his parents left Somalia and eventually brought him to the United States. He is now the third Somali-American from the city of Minneapolis to head to Somalia and die there.