Free Apps Roundup for November 7, 2008
Another week, another list. Here are some more apps to help keep your iPhone or iPod Touch home screen both full and disorganized. Try out some apps now and delete them before iPhone firmware 2.2 bugs you to rate it. Or maybe you’ll love these so much that they’ll never leave.
- MobileFiles
- NatsuLion for iPhone
- iClouds Lite
- Asteroid Assault
- Checkers Free
- MiniPiano
The MobileMe problems go all ironic on us [updated]
Despite some recent MobileMe updates that Apple quietly rolled out in an effort to improve the stability and functionality of their “cloud”-based web service, the service still isn’t performing up to the usual Apple standards. Perhaps this is why the updates haven’t been announced as of late—Apple doesn’t want to get anyone’s hopes up that the service will actually work, finally, as originally advertised.
Last week, I experienced all kinds of funkiness with e-mail: messages wouldn’t send, my in box wouldn’t load up, I couldn’t delete messages, etc. It was annoying, but par for the course since the switch. This morning, however, I couldn’t log in at all. Visiting www.me.com, I was greeted with the following message:
(The message was still up at press time.)
On a whim, I thought I’d try going directly to www.mac.com. After a few slow redirects, sure enough, I got into my MobileMe account was able to access all my information and use the services provided.
So, next time someone screws up the definition of irony, you can point that person to MobileMe for a true example; Apple switched from .Mac to MobileMe in order to improve use and increase functionality of their server-side data management service, but, in order to even access it, you have to use .Mac.
Other reports and workarounds after the break.
September over, with neither hide nor hair of push notifications
Happy October, everyone! Wait, why aren’t you smiling? Lack of push notifications got you down? Me too.
When Scott Forstall first announced these push notifications in June, I was all giddy inside. It was an inventive way to allow applications to continue their purpose while not running, without consuming those ever important system resources. To be able to quit my AIM application and yet still see when I have a new IM would be more than fantastic. The feature was slated for September, and yet, despite pushing iPhone 2.1 out the door, it is now October, and the push notifications aren’t anywhere I can see.
In a way, this isn’t a bad thing, because it shows Apple has learned from its mistakes with the MobileMe / iPhone 3G launch of July. iPhone 2.1 was the best release for iPhone yet, significantly speeding things up without causing any major new bugs. Had the push notifications remained in the 2.1 release, as they were in initial betas, the software might not have been the success that it was.
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Here’s hoping the September event fixes everything.
With the given that there will be a September Apple event, we can now turn to what that event might bring. Of course, everyone’s gone over the new stuff: new iPods, MacBook updates, and all that good stuff. However, we also should turn an eye to fixing what’s already out there. A whole lot is broken.
Check the list after the break.
MobileMe a major spam risk
Just when you thought nothing else could possibly go wrong with MobileMess, it seems that Apple has created a spammer’s paradise!
Learn about it after the break.
Another two months of free MobileMe
A lot of people are looking at Apple’s new MobileMe service and seeing push delays, server outages, e-mail oddities, etc. Me? I’m looking at it and seeing, as of this morning, a total of 90 days of free service.
In their ongoing effort to smooth things over with angry customers, Apple has announced that those with active MobileMe accounts as of August 19, 2008 will receive a free 60 day extension to their subscription. This is in addition to the free 30 day MobileMe extension offered a little over a month ago.
Details after the break.
Dell loses bid to trademark “Cloud Computing”
In a sensible ruling from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Dell has been denied the trademark of “cloud computing,“ based on the grounds that it is a general use term. The ruling is “not final” and Dell has six months to appeal before the application expires.
“Cloud computing” refers to any service delivered over the web from remote servers. Examples include Google Docs, Amazon’s S3, and Apple’s own MobileMe.
Why Dell wasted time on this one, I’m not sure. Pretty much every company involved with cloud computing has been using the term since… ever. I’m sure this was an ill-thought-out way for Dell to raise its value by forcing every company to pay royalties or find a new catchphrase for cloud computing. In reality, all this is going to do is hurt its brand perception.
Via [Macworld]
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Phishing scam targets MobileMe users
An e-mail has been making the rounds recently, aimed specifically at MobileMe users. Disguised as a billing e-mail, it asks users to enter billing information by clicking a link to a website that is clearly not Apple-related.
“We were unable to process your most recent payment. Did you recently change your bank, phone number or credit card?“ the e-mail asks. It then has a link to a page to enter said information. Users may be fooled because of the authenticity of the e-mail and the fact that all other links on the page point to official apple.com pages.
Details and tips on how to avoid phishing e-mails after the break.
MobileMe mail servers down…again
It’s been a bad day for mail servers all around. GMail went down for a few minutes earlier today, and just as Apple thought it was out of the ditch with MobileMe, their mail servers seem to have other opinions.
From 1:00-3:30 PM PDT, according to Apple’s website, MobileMe mail was down for the count. Why this continues to happen is anybody’s guess at this point, as servers should not be getting hammered as they were on launch day.
We search for David G. and Eddie Chu after the break.
Jobs admits Apple was wrong (gasp!) [Update]
According to Ars Technica, Steve Jobs sent an e-mail to Apple employees last night admitting that MobileMe was launched too early.
“It was a mistake to launch MobileMe at the same time as iPhone 3G, iPhone 2.0 software and the App Store,“ said Jobs.
More after the break.
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