Apple Rejects Mosspuppet’s App Because of “References to Walt Mossberg”

Apple has a history for rejecting parody applications, or satirical ones. Remember the Mark Fiore fiasco? They eventually accepted the app in the Store. And the “Me So Holy” rejection? Your call.

What we have here today, though, is quite a thing. If you happen to know Mosspuppet, then you must know that it’s some sort of…parody of Walt Mossberg, well known WSJ tech columnist. I mean, just go watch a video on mosspuppet.com and get the idea. Now, the guys behind this amazing meme / parody / MG Siegler hater built an iPhone app called “Mossboard” that contains Mosspuppet’s typical “sound effects”. Check out the video after the break to see the app in action.

Apple rejected the app because of “references to the well-known third party Walt Mossberg.” Really? What about this? And remember, we’re talking about the official app of a parody here. I hope that this is just a mistake, and that the app will be approved upon a re-submission - even if I have the feeling that because Steve Jobs is close friends with Walt, the app review team decided to reject Mossboard. We’ll see.

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Apple’s Exercise in Engineering

I’ve been curious as to why certain Apple projects aren’t updated immediately as new products hit. Let’s take Apple’s Remote application for example. It’s something so simple yet so useful you think Apple would have updated the little guy for the Retina Display right? And just think about the potential of navigating your iTunes library on the giant iPad screen! None of these things have happened, and a lot of us feel that Apple has forgotten about some of their App Store utilities.

Today, we have an explanation.

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iTunes Cloud Syncing Coming to iPhone and iPad with Wi-Fi Sync 2.0

Wi-Fi Sync is a great tweak available in Cydia that allows iPad and older iPhone users to sync with iTunes without the need of plugging the USB cable in. Just make sure that you’re on the same local network and you’re all set.

Developer Greg Hughes has just confirmed with a tweet that the 2.0 version is in the works and that, together with proper iPad and iPhone 4 support, it’ll bring app synchronization over 3G and VPN. Think about it: you’ll be able to sync apps no matter where you are, as long as you have an active internet connection. I don’t know how the developer will let us remotely connect to our desktop computers (Google account authentication? Something like Here, File File?) but this will be one of the most useful things ever happened to jailbreakers.

iTunes cloud-syncing is one of the most anticipated features among iPad and iPhone users, and much has been said about Apple willing to implement it by 2011 - when the massive NC data center will open its doors to Apple engineers. We’ll see. In the meantime, just wait for Wi-Fi Sync 2.0.

Check out the demo video below, in case you missed it.

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Pastebot: Clipboard Savvy Music Syncing

When iOS 4 landed on the iPhone and iPod touch, a lot of people expected there to be this explosion of multitasking applications that would enable us to do things like automatically copy information to our Pastebot clipboard. Unfortunately, that hasn’t happened. Private APIs are still a sorry subject for developers in Apple’s community, so the folks at Tapbots had to get creative. “How do we avoid touching Apple’s Private APIs?” It’s all done through the sound of music. Or the lack thereof.

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Nozbe: Web-based GTD on iPad and iPhone. Reviewed.

Talking about GTD apps and online tools is difficult, and you know why? Because my method of Getting Things Done will always be different from yours, so will the apps I use, so will the fact that I used to constantly switch between different softwares. More on this tomorrow, though.

Discussing GTD is like talking about favorite foods: at an extent, it’s pointless. I can’t come up here and say “Hey, you should work this way - don’t organize tasks like that”. That’s why when Cody and I reviewed Basecamp and Backpack we decided to talk about our experience, rather than giving away some pretentious advices to wanna-be entrepreneurs and the like.

GTD is personal. A couple of weeks ago I signed up for a Nozbe account and downloaded the iPhone and iPad apps. I was intrigued by the whole “Do in the web, find it again on mobile apps” concept, and I was fascinated by the terrific amount of integration with 3rd party online services the developers advertised.

So, Nozbe. I’ll just throw this out there: if you’re not an OmniFocus user and feel the need of having more than just tasks in your GTD application, Nozbe is the best you can have right now. With real OTA sync. With real Evernote integration. Oh, and with team-management capabilities.

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Not Surprising: The iPad is Getting a Camera

I suppose the question isn’t whether the iPad is getting a camera, but when? AppleInsider points out that possible camera capabilities will be available on a future iPad thanks to some assumably accidental information listed on Apple’s iPad profile management policies, though I think we can safely agree we knew this was bound to happen. We basically have a bit of proof, though none was needed when Steve Jobs basically guaranteed we’d be living in a FaceTime world through the upcoming years.

While iPhones do have cameras to disable, no iPad models currently do. However, among the profiles specifically included in its iPad documentation, Apple notes the ability to restrict camera use on the iPad.

Though it is possible to connect an external camera via the USB adapter Apple provides in the iPad, we doubt Apple would specifically target devices that weren’t intended for use with the iPad in the first place. And although people have been clamoring about the idea of “video conferencing” (which is a bit too corporate of a term for my tastes), I really haven’t missed it in the current iteration of the iPad – I rarely even use the MacBook’s built-in iSight. Though if seeing is believing, your subtle confirmation for the world’s biggest point-and-shoot has now been approved.

Now how about that iPod touch?

[via AppleInsider]

iPhone 4 Jailbreakers Get An Activator-based Flashlight

iPhone users always had a thing for Flashlight apps. Way before the iPhone 4 came out with its LED flash, iPhone 3G and 3GS users used to install apps that turned the screen white and allowed them to see in the dark. Of course the iPhone 4 makes things simpler by allowing developers to access the LED Flash APIs and develop real Flashlight apps.

Too bad many of these apps are paid apps. Available for free in Cydia, SpringFlash is the first iPhone 4-only Cydia app that lets you turn the LED flash on / off with a simple Activator gesture. Mine is tap on volume heads up display.

Useful.

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