Archive for settembre 30th, 2009

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Auto refresh any web page (No Comments)
Posted in Apple, Senza categoria by David Winograd on settembre 30th, 2009

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Last night when the Apple store went down, I got tired of hitting refresh in Safari every few minutes while waiting for it to come back up, and went searching for something that would do the job for free.

Now, this is not for coders who will laugh hysterically at my incompetence, but for those of you that are either lazy or don't program at all. I fit both categories.

Back in 2005 someone going by the moniker of Biovizier posted the solution on Macosxhints.com. It's a little html snippet that will refresh any web page as frequently as you'd like, and its easily customizable for any page at all.

Here it is:

<html>
<head>
<**** **********="refresh" content="60">
</head>
<body>
<FRAMESET>
<FRAME src="http://www.tuaw.com">
</FRAMESET>
</body>
</html>



Copy this into TextEdit and save it with an .html extension. Then just double click it.

You can change the refresh time from 60 to the amount of seconds you want to wait before the page refreshes, and you can change the URL to anything you want. I was using: http://apple.com/store and having it refresh every 20 seconds which must make me a certifiable fanatic.

Since I saw this I've found a ton of uses for it, like refreshing eBay auctions in the last few minutes, or just leaving it set for TUAW to see new stories coming up when I'm doing something else. At present I have four or five of these snippets in a folder on my desktop for different purposes.

Give it a try and see if you don't find a handful of uses for it.

Okay, you coders can stop laughing now.

Note: TJ Luoma just let me know that this tip won't work with Twitter which intentionally blocks this sort of thing.


Thanks to macosxhints.com and Biovizier wherever you are.

TUAWAuto refresh any web page originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 30 Sep 2009 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dropbox disponibile per iPhone e iPod touchGoogle Alert – iphone (No Comments)
Posted in Apple, Senza categoria by Macity on settembre 30th, 2009
AdMob: L’iPhone rappresenta il 40% del traffico web globale (No Comments)
Posted in Apple, Senza categoria by Fabiano Confuorto  on settembre 30th, 2009


AdMob ha pubblicato nuove statistiche che mostrano il cambiamento avvenuto da Febbraio ad Agosto nei sistemi operativi più utilizzati per collegarsi ad internet.

160006-worldwide_os_share_500

A Febbraio l’iPhone deteneva il 33% del market share globale mentre ad agosto si è arrivati a 40%; il Symbian OS invece dal 43% è passato al 34% retrocedendo in seconda posizione; segue RIM, Android che supera Windows Mobile ed infine Palm OS.

160359-top_smartphones

Lo stesso studio mostra anche i dispositivi più utilizzati e per Apple c’è ovviamente l’iPhone, segue l’HTC Dream, il Nokia N70 e poi il Palm Pre.

Ricordiamo che le statistiche di Admob si basano su script inseriti in alcuni siti Web per cui non possono essere considerati precisissimi a tutti gli effetti, tuttavia delineano perfettamente i cambiamenti avvenuti.

Via | AppleInsider

CoPilot Live navigates to more features (No Comments)
Posted in Apple, Senza categoria by Mel Martin on settembre 30th, 2009

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CoPilot Live [iTunes link] for North American roads is becoming the little engine that could. At only US$34.99 it is quickly adding new features, and in this latest update has added the coveted text to speech capability. For drivers, that means the nav app will say "turn left on Elm street" instead of "turn left just ahead".

Other new features include adding an iPhone-standard keyboard for entering destinations, instead of the one designed for the app (which was clunky). The maps have been updated, and the developer says there is better integration of the address book from the iPhone.

I took CoPilot for a drive. It acquired the GPS signal quickly and I was on my way. It looks like the POI database has been improved, and the text to speech worked as anticipated. It is a great addition, and even the TomTom still doesn't have that feature. Navigon and AT&T both have text to speech in their offerings.

I still find that the maps are way below the quality of every other navigator I have tested. Driving home it couldn't find my street so it just put me on some nearby street. That could be misleading to a driver at best, and dangerous at worse.

The developers say the maps will continue to improve, but maps are what navigation is all about and they need to be up to date. I've talked to some users of this software, and they say their region is very accurate, so it depends where you are.

At a fraction of the cost of the 'big boys' and with text to speech, CoPilot Live is becoming a very competitive driving companion.

User ratings continue to improve, and I think it is very worthwhile at the low cost (if the map coverage in your area is adequate). If you have your own experiences to share, we'd love to hear from you.



TUAWCoPilot Live navigates to more features originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 30 Sep 2009 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iPhone ‘undisputed’ leader in customer satisfaction, study reports (No Comments)
Posted in Apple, Senza categoria by Cyrus Farivar on settembre 30th, 2009
The CFI Group's survey of customer satisfaction among smartphone owners finds the iPhone topping out Android, the Palm Pre, and the BlackBerry.

Apple, arriva il tablet per fare concorrenza a KindleGoogle Alert – iphone (No Comments)
Posted in Apple, Senza categoria by La Stampa on settembre 30th, 2009
Using Skype to battle cell phone dead zones (No Comments)
Posted in Apple, Senza categoria by Sang Tang on settembre 30th, 2009

Filed under: , ,

Is the cell coverage in your area not up to par? Whether you happen to have steel walls or live where there are no cell phone towers or trees cleverly disguised as cell phone towers, some of us must deal with the reality that, while we own arguably the most innovative gadget in recent years in the iPhone, we may not have had the best carrier to accompany it. One way to address this "bag of hurt" is through the Skype [iTunes link] app.

If you don't already have the Skype app, download it -- it's a free download in the App Store. Next, you'll need to make sure that Skype stays online when the screen is locked. This is accessible via the Skype app preferences within the iPhone's main settings page. After this is enabled, the Skype app continues to run in the background and maintains a Wi-Fi connection even after the sleep/awake button is pushed -- or if it's set to automatically lock after a given time interval. Second, because Skype requires a Wi-Fi connection to make and receive calls, you'll also want to make sure that whatever cell phone dead zone you're at also happens to have a Wi-Fi connection.

This workaround obviously isn't without its weaknesses. Assuming that most of those calling you would prefer dialing a phone number instead of your Skype user name, you'll likely need a separate phone number. One option is SkypeIn, which marries Skype to a real phone number. The service costs $18 for three months or $60 for a whole year. And if you happen to have a Google Voice phone number, directing your calls to your SkypeIn number is an option. Alternatively, you could forward all of your iPhone calls to said Skype number whenever you anticipate a cell phone dead zone -- say, before you enter your house, if you have bad reception there. This is accessible via the Phone preferences within the iPhone's main settings page. Doing this, you won't have to give out multiple numbers to your friends and family.

One of the other drawbacks of this alternative is that while an audible indicator (a ringing noise) is present when you're receiving a call, a visual one isn't. In other words, you may need some cat-like ears to know when you're receiving a call.

A seamless solution this is not, but it nonetheless provides a possible workaround until more cell towers are built in your area, or until a push-based solution is available for Skype.

Readers, tell us what you're doing to remedy cell reception issues. Be it a do-it-yourself tin can signal booster or anything else, let us know what's worked for you.

TUAWUsing Skype to battle cell phone dead zones originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 30 Sep 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Crumpler presenta l’edizione speciale di “Le Royale” per iPhone (No Comments)
Posted in Apple, Senza categoria by Giuseppe Migliorino on settembre 30th, 2009


Crumpler sta per lanciare una nuova custodia per iPhone: la versione speciale di “Le Royale”, di cui abbiamo parlato qui.

crumpler

Si tratta di una custodia in pelle con tagli laterali per facilitare l’estrazione e logo in metallo brillante.

Costa 35€ ed è disponibile nei seguenti colori:

Schermata 2009-09-30 a 11.51.14

Questa edizione speciale sarà disponibile da fine ottobre 2009.

A Skeleton Story: Gioco + Fumetto in Anteprima su iSpazio [Video] (No Comments)
Posted in Apple, Senza categoria by Fabiano Confuorto  on settembre 30th, 2009


Ecco il primo video trailer relativo al nuovo gioco della software house italiana KF lab chiamato “A Skeleton Story… – Ep. 1“  e fornito in Anteprima per iSpazio.

I punti forti del gioco saranno la storia e la grafica, realizzata in collaborazione con GG Studio, una nota casa editrice di numerosi fumetti italiani. Skeleton Story avrà una struttura particolare in quanto rappresenterà due applicazioni in una: La prima permetterà di divertirci con il gioco vero e proprio, che sarà a scorrimento orizzontale; la seconda invece permetterà di leggere il primo episodio del fumetto con un metodo nuovo ed intuitivo.

Skeleton2 Skeleton4 Skeleton5

Qualcuno di voi avrà già avuto modo di conoscere “A Skeleton Story” essendo un fumetto distribuito proprio dalla GG Studio e anche nella versione digitale verranno realizzati 4 episodi diversi per raccontare tutta la storia originale. Ogni episodio comprenderà una modalità di gioco differente e quindi l’intrattenimento sarà sempre assicurato.

Promette davvero bene ed ovviamente continueremo a tenervi aggiornati.

If 30% is good enough for Apple in the App Store, it should be good enough for dropped calls on AT&T, right? (No Comments)
Posted in Apple, Senza categoria by Michael Rose on settembre 30th, 2009

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File this one under AYFKMWTS (are you freaking kidding me with this stuff?): a Gizmodo reader, aggravated with an unacceptably high rate of dropped calls on his iPhone, took it to a New York City Apple Store to have it checked for issues. The call dump statistics revealed a 22% drop rate on calls, which most of us would call "wicked awful" -- but not Apple and AT&T.

No, in this particular case the Genius told our hapless iPhone owner that he should count himself lucky, as Apple's baseline stat for dropped calls in NYC is a blistering thirty percent. Yes, almost one in three calls on an iPhone in the Big Apple will end with frustration, and that's just OK with everyone.

Well, not with us. Combined with the "five bars, no calls" dead zones and mysterious "call failed" issues, it must be said: this phone is not getting it done when it comes to the whole phone thing, at least on AT&T's network in the city that never sleeps. Or, for that matter, makes an uninterrupted cell call.

[via Engadget]

TUAWIf 30% is good enough for Apple in the App Store, it should be good enough for dropped calls on AT&T, right? originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 30 Sep 2009 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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