There are definitely a lot of new kids on the block nowadays. For the iTunes alternatives, we don’t have to look farther than Ecoute and Everplay for smaller solutions, and Songbird and doubleTwist as full library / syncing replacements for our multitude of devices. With doubleTwist making a name for itself with its ability to sync to the Droid (including recent Podcast and Amazon integration), one more player has stepped into the field that’s currently open to the public. Instinctiv syncs playlists to my Droid, shuffles music to my mood, and is a rather simple solution for playing and searching your music.
Instinctiv, An Alternative to doubleTwist
Jailbroken iPad 3G Sending SMS [Video]
The iPad is jailbroken (at least for the Dev Team guys) and this means that a lot of new stuff will be possible. We saw multitasking, we saw Cydia, now it’s time for text messages. Musclenerd, the popular member of the Dev Team, has just managed to use his jailbroken iPad 3G to send texts using a command line tool, but there no GUI for it (yet?).
Check out the image and video after the break, and you can bet that this is coming to Cydia someday. Next, phone calls?
Binary Nights Releases Forklift 2.0 [Beta]
What a week for file transfer apps for Mac OS X. Panic has released the long awaited Transmit 4 this week (be sure to read our review here if you missed it) and now Binary Night has finally put the first official public beta of Forklift 2 online, you can go download it here.
Forklift 2 features a completely rewritten and 64-bit compatible engine, which according to the developers should make this new version 3x - 33x faster than any other app on the market. We’ll let you know about that after our tests during this weekend. Also, the 2.0 update brings new features like Workspaces and Synclets, Stacks, Unarchiver framework and many other stuff. Stay tuned for a complete review next week.
In the meantime, go download the beta and check out two screenshots after the break.
Adobe Rewriting Wired Magazine App in Objective C
Remember the Wired iPad app? Yes, the one Adobe and Condè Nast were working on, and which was built using Flash. Well, according to All Things Digital Adobe is actually rewriting the whole application using native Apple’s SDK, because of the well known problems Apple has with Adobe’s framework. Adobe and Condè Nast still haven’t confirmed anything, but sure this seems as the only solution to be accepted into the App Store.
Well, unless you build a webapp for that. If you missed the video of the Wired app, we’ve embedded it again after the break.
The iPad 3G Is Jailbroken [Video]
Well that didn’t take long. The Dev Team has just released a video of an iPad 3G jailbroken with Spirit, and there are Cydia and iSSH running on it.
Check it out after the break.
Steve Replies to Email: “All Video Codecs Are Covered By Patents”
It seems like John Gruber was right once again, this time about video codes and patents. After reading Steve Jobs’ “Thoughts on Flash” post yesterday, Apple fan Free Software activist Hugo Roy decided to write an open letter to Steve Jobs about the statements he made in regards of openness and web standards. Of course Steve replied.
Check out the full conversation after the break.
Flash isn’t multi-platform. It’s Flash Player or nothing.
You might have read a little essay by a certain Steve Jobs (whom I presume was cozied in a black leather chair with his iPad) which pertained to the death of Flash on Apple’s mobile devices. It was strict, thoughtful, and carefully worded in such a way as to close all holes against Apple’s decision. In my eyes, the message wasn’t written to be a damning statement against Adobe, a company that develops incredible products such as Photoshop, Illustrator, and Lightroom. Rather, this was written as a final message to the public that thoroughly explains Apple’s position on Flash. It’s a statement that should have allowed everyone to move on.
Yet when approached, Adobe’s own Shantanu Narayen stepped forward once again to combat Apple’s tyrant ruler, naming Jobs’ statement as a “smokescreen” to multi-platform innovation. Like Jobs, Narayen is incredibly passionate about his product and the betterment of the world community. While Jobs and Narayen are polar opposites, whom is right in this matter?
4,870 iPad Apps In The App Store
Distimo reports that there 4,870 iPad apps available in the App Store: 1,433 are Universal applications and 3,437 are iPad-only apps. The report also shows the good growth these apps went under the past weeks, and there are also other interesting stats about price points and categories. You can download the report for free here.
Too bad most of these apps are still crap, and the great ones are still to be released. (with a very few exceptions, of course)
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Website “Sells” Positive iTunes Reviews For Apps
You know, there must be something wrong about some people. And when it comes to money, fake reviews on iTunes and scams, you can bet MacStories is going to talk about it.