Apple Mac HQ

If you read enough Apple related blogs, then you’ve probably heard of the iPhone game Trism (iTunes link). What you may not have known however, is that the guy behind the game is one of the first to strike it rich in the iPhone App Store gold rush. In the first two months of the games’ availability in the App Store, Trism has earned $250,000 in profits.

CNN.com recently featured the developer, Steve Demeter, on their website. Things are going so well for Steve that he quit his job and is working on iPhone games full time. Congratulations to Steve for his success with Trism!

For a limited time, Trism is available for $2.99 in the App Store.

I’m sure we’ll hear more of these stories as the App Store gold rush continues.

Popularity: 1% [?]

If you’ve spent any time on the Mac, no doubt you have seen the icon to the right. NetNewsWire has been around for over five years and was one of the early RSS readers available for the Mac. NetNewsWire was originally shareware, but went freeware earlier this year.

For the first time, the Software Pick Of The Month is actually multiple applications. Collectively, all applications are from NewsGator.

I’ve talked about NetNewsWire many times on this blog. If you have used Mail.app, you know how to get around NewNewsWire. On the left is a list of blogs, on the top right pane is a list of posts, the bottom right is the text of the currently selected post. You also have something called clippings, which is kind of like an inbox for posts you want to come back to later. The UI is clean and a search box allows you to easily find a post within a feed. You can see a small screenshot of the application below.

Up next is NetNewsWire. Again? You bet, NetNewsWire for iPhone (iTunes link). Basically NetNewsWire for iPhone is a scaled down version of the full blown Mac client. The best feature of NetNewsWire for iPhone is that you can use it offline, just like the Mac version. While the iPhone version isn’t perfect, it’s pretty good. It would be great if you could mark posts as unread and if pictures were downloaded with the post so you can see them while you are offline. Despite those two gripes, NetNewsWire is a great addition to any iPhone.

In addition to a Mac and iPhone client, there is also a web application. NewsGator Online allows you to view your feeds online. It’s features are similar to many online RSS readers so I won’t bore you with the details. One very handy feature is that you can manage which feeds show up on the iPhone client. If you only want to see your must read feeds on NNW for iPhone, it’s easy to do so with NewsGator Online.

Last but not least, NewsGator online mobile edition. NewsGator mobile gives you a slimmed down version of NewsGator Online. You can visit NewsGator mobile on any phone. If you visit it on your iPhone, you’ll automatically be redirected to the iPhone optimized version. I still use NewsGator mobile despite having NNW for iPhone installed too. Why? NewsGator mobile allows you to view a post, but not have it marked as read until you click the “Read” link. This is handy if you encounter a long post that you want to come back to later. Viewing the post on NNW for iPhone marks it as read.

So why on earth did I choose all these applications for the Software Pick Of The Month? It’s all about one word really, synchronization. While you can use these products by themselves, they are designed to be used together. NewsGator has designed a powerful synchronization engine behind their product lineup.

Once you sign up for NewsGator Online (top right corner), you are ready to enter RSS reading bliss. Within both NNW for Mac and NNW for iPhone, you sign into your NewsGator account and the client will download all the feeds you are subscribed to. When you mark any post as read, that change is synchronized across all other NewsGator clients that you are using. When you delete a feed on one client, the feed gets deleted on the others. I can read a post a work, home, or on the go and the change is reflected on every NewsGator product I’m using. There is even a RSS reader for Windows from NewsGator called FeedDemon.

Simply put, if you read RSS feeds from more than one location, you’re missing out if you aren’t using NewsGator’s products. I simply can’t recommend their products enough. If synchronization matters to you, check out the products mentioned in this post. If you aren’t using NewsGators products, what are you using and why? Let me know in the comments.

Popularity: 19% [?]

Are you interested in getting into iPhone development but are a little short on experience? Do you have lots of cash? If you answered yes to both of those questions, or just the second one, the folks from tap tap tap would like to speak to you.

The founders of tap tap tap are parting ways and splitting the companies assets. One of those assets is the iPhone application Where To. In preparation for the sale, they have pulled Where To from the App Store. In the three months that it was for sale, tap tap tap had gross sales of “around $200,000″. They are now selling the application and its assets to the highest bidder.

If you’re interested in bidding for the application, you’ll need to show you’re serious by putting a deposit in escrow to qualify. More details about the sale will be released “very soon”. Stay tuned to the tap tap tap blog for more information.

Popularity: 10% [?]

Ever wished you had Google Earth on your iPhone? Earthscape (iTunes link) isn’t exactly Google Earth, but it’s still pretty good. For a limited time, Earthscape is absolutely free. Normal price for Earthscape is $10 so this is a steal.

Using typical iPhone gestures, you can flick, scroll, and pinch inside Earthscape to view the world. Resolution is higher in the US, but Earthscape says, “Imagery outside of the United States is currently limited to 15 meter resolution — enough to discern major roads, but not houses. As we acquire the rights to use more detailed international imagery, it will be provided to Earthscape users as a free upgrade.”

You can view a demo of the application below:

I’ve been playing with Earthscape for the last few minutes, and it’s definitely a good time waster. One downside seems to be speed though. I’m on my home WiFi network and it’s taking several minutes to pull up the imagery near my home. I can’t imagine using this over Edge. Considering it’s currently free, it’s still worth the download. Hopefully the developers can improve the speed in future releases.

[Via Techcrunch]

Popularity: 14% [?]

I finally purchased something from the App Store yesterday. I ponied up my $4.99 for FileMagnet (iTunes link). Up until this purchase I had refused to purchase demo-less software from the App Store.

I’m going to Boston later this month and wanted the ability to carry and view some files on my iPhone. Files like ticket confirmations, hotel numbers, and subway routes would be great to have access to while around town. I could have printed them out but that seems like such a waste. Sure, I could have also emailed the files to myself but that still requires a network connection to view the files. I wanted the ability to view the files offline. Currently the only way to do this is on my non jailbroken iPhone is with one of a handful of 3rd party apps available from the App Store. Files, DataCase, and FileMagnet are the three apps that I was familiar with that allowed this capability.

So what made me choose FileMagnet over the other two? It was part ease of use, price, and a video. FileMagnet has a dead simple uploader for getting files onto your iPhone. Just open the file uploader, drop the files into the application, and open FileMagnet on your iPhone. Provided you’re on the same wi-fi network, the files will automatically begin copying to your iPhone. It’s that easy to use. From the uploader application you can also remove files from your iPhone and download them to any Mac running the uploader.

While not a big deal, the fact that FileMagnet was $2 less than both Files and DataCase was a factor in my purchasing decision. Normally I wouldn’t care about $2, but since I was purchasing an application that I had never used before, I wouldn’t feel as ripped off if the application didn’t work.

As for the video, this YouTube video shows just how easy it is to use FileMagnet. I think every iPhone application website should have a video demonstration like this. A video showing the application in use is a GREAT way to demo the application. In my case, it was this video that put me over the top and gave me the confidence to purchase FileMagnet.

Using FileMagnet has been a breeze. After I downloaded the previously linked file uploader, I dropped a file into the uploader.

Once I had the files I wanted to transfer queued up, I opened FileMagnet on my iPhone. As soon as you open the app on the iPhone, the files begin transferring. Within a few seconds the files were on my iPhone.

FileMagnet on the iPhone gives you a view like the one below. Once you see the file you want to look at, just tap it. You can also upload entire folders and the iPhone will allow you to browse through them. FileMagnet also gives you the ability to delete files from within the application.

FileMagnet allows yo to view iWork files, Office files, PDF, text, images, sounds, videos, and more. Depending on the file size and type, the speed of the application can vary. Opening up a 360KB PDF file took about 5 seconds.

While I like FileMagnet, I do have two minor complaints. While browsing a 360KB PDF file of the Boston transit system, zooming in and out on the file seems slow at times. There is a noticeable delay while you wait for the file to refocus. I hope file viewing will get faster in future versions of the software. My other complaint is that you can’t rearrange files within the FileMagnet application. If you want to add a file to a previously uploaded folder, there is currently no way to do this. To their credit, the developer says they are currently working on the ability to rearrange files.

Would I buy FileMagnet again based on what I know about it now? You bet! The ability to wirelessly transfer and view files on my iPhone for $5 seems like a fair price to me.

Popularity: 23% [?]

A few weeks ago I was wondering aloud why I hadn’t seen any type of Delicious client for the iPhone. Apparently I wasn’t the only one thinking this, because an enterprising developer seemed to be thinking the same thing. The fruits of Douglas Richardson’s labor is Bookmarks (iTunes link).

Booksmarks is a free application that allows you to browse your Delicious links. When you first open the application you’re prompted to enter in your Delicious account information. Once you enter in your account information, Bookmarks will begin to download your tag information. After a short delay, you’ll see your Delicious tags. Tapping a tag will show you your saved links with that tag. Tapping a specific link will open the link in Safari.

Booksmarks is a great download if you want to view your Delicious links without navigating the Delicious website. While Bookmarks is easy to setup and use, it’s also pretty basic right now. You can’t delete any of your links or drill down into multiple tags (e.g. PHP then Tutorials). I’d like to see the ability to drill down into multiple tags and delete capabilities. It’s also be nice if you could browse the popular links and add them to your Delicious links straight from the iPhone.

For a free app and a 1.0 release though, Bookmarks is worth your time to download if you are a Delicious user. Thanks to Douglas for releasing Bookmarks!

Disclaimer: I own a small number of Yahoo shares. Delicious is owned by Yahoo Inc.

Popularity: 16% [?]

Here’s yet another web site to find iPhone applications. AppVee has the applications broken down into categories and includes screenshots, videos, and a multi-criteria review system (ease of use, interface, etc). Based on the individual criteria, the app is given an overall rating between zero and five stars. I image the iPhone web site review space is going to explode.

[Via TechCrunch]

Popularity: 18% [?]