Tips, Tricks and Hacks for your iPhone

Riverturn has entered into the Google Voice for iPhone arena with it’s latest offering VoiceCentral Black Swan. Google Voice and iPhone have a long history together and it has not been pretty, until now that is.

Black Swan is an application you can get outside of the App Store and you do not need to have a jailbroken device. It is not a web app like the official Google solution but rather a feature rich “weblication” that enables you to view and manage your Google Voice data just like you would with a native iPhone application. As you can see by the following features, no stone as been left unturned with this app:

• Native iPhone look and feel.
• Sync your Google Voice data.
• Automatic and immediate updates.
• Offline access to Google Voice data.
• Listen to Google Voice messages and read transcriptions.
• Swipe to delete calls, voicemails, or SMS conversations.
• Google Contacts import.
• Call using Google Voice or iPhone.

Simply visit the Black Swan web site directly from your iPhone to download. You will have a choice to select between two versions – free (ad-supported) or premium. The premium version will run you $6.00 a year and for that you will also get zero ads, the ability to import contact photos, favorites, ability to search your inbox, and a do not disturb option.

This is hands down the best current solution for those of you who use Google Voice on your iPhones. Be sure to check out the demo of Black Swan in action and let us know how it works for you in the comments below!

[Via TUAW]

VoiceCentral Black Swan Brings Google Voice to the iPhone is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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Ma On Shan, Hong Kong – bambooapps today is pleased to announce Quiet Read Pro, an important update to their popular link management application for Macintosh. Quiet Read lets you save any link for later, and is an unobtrusive, easy to use application that features a clean interface. Quiet Read is completely free, but there is a set of features that is only available after purchasing a license. These features are:

* Send links to Instapaper
* Send links to Read It Later
* Shorten links
* Global shortcut
* Link list search and filter

Feature Highlights:
* Comfortable and simple User Interface
* Bookmarklet
* MobileMe sync

“Sometimes, when I am browsing the web, I want to store a link for later”, said Cesar Tardaguila, founder of bambooapps. “There are note taking applications and everything-buckets to do that, but I wanted something light and simple. Simple as dragging a link onto a menu bar item to store it.”

Minimum Requirements:
* Mac OS X Version 10.6 Snow Leopard
* 64-bits
* 2.6 MB Hard Drive space
* Internet Connection

Pricing and Availability:
Quiet Read Lite is completely free. Quiet Read Pro is $9.95 (USD), and you can purchase a license at our online store. Quiet Read needs Snow Leopard (Mac OS X 10.6), and is available in Traditional Chinese, Polish, Helenic, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean and Spanish.

bambooapps
Quiet Read Pro
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Application Icon

Based in Ma On Shan, Hong Kong, bambooapps is a privately held company founded in 2007 by independent developer Cesar Tardaguila. Committed to providing the highest quality software for language students and educators, bambooapps was founded for the purpose of developing personal productivity solutions for the Mac platform, with a major emphasis on total customer satisfaction. Copyright (C) 2007-2010 bambooapps. All Rights Reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, iPhone, iPod and Macintosh are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries.

Bellevue, Washington – Eltima Software today is pleased to announce the release of Folx 1.0, a free download manager for Mac OS X. Folx features a friendly, easy-to-use and very Mac-style interface, so all Mac users will find it convenient to use. It can download not only common files, but also torrent content. In free Folx all your downloads can be split into two threads. This makes downloading with Folx faster, than usual downloading with Internet browsers.

You will never get lost among your downloads as Folx has Tags. Just mark your downloads with tags that characterize them best and you will be able to find them anytime even if it was downloaded long ago and the contents of download folder has grown since then. When downloading several files you can prioritize the ones you need to download faster by just dragging them to the top of the queue.

Folx can also automatically resume your downloads in case the process was interrupted for some reason (if resuming is supported by a server). Folx can be easily working along with you not interfering with your working process. It is very easy to limit download and upload speed by dragging the slider and thus use Internet traffic as extensively as you need.

Folx is also available as PRO version. It can be obtained for fair $19.95 (USD) and brings you additional handy features. Downloads can be split in up to ten threads to achieve even faster download speed. If you need to download torrent content, Folx also features built-in torrent search, meaning you can look for needed torrent right from Folx by just entering a keyword into the dialog. You can also schedule downloads by choosing the time and days to start downloading, time to stop downloading and exiting behavior: whether the system shuts down, switches to sleeping mode or else. Convenient “Smart Speed Adjustment” option will limit download and upload speed automatically whenever you start using Internet more heavily.

Eltima Software
Folx 1.0
Download Folx
Upgrade to Folx PRO
Screenshot

Eltima Software is a global software Development Company, specializing primarily in serial communication, mobile and flash software for Mac OS and Windows. Eltima Software delivers top-notch solutions having a friendly team of 40 professionals. Copyright (C) 2010 Eltima Software. All Rights Reserved. Apple, the Apple logo and Macintosh are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries.

Charlottesville, Virginia – Travis Allen, founder of iSchool Initiative and its president and CEO, knew the second hardest thing to creating a new company was successfully funding that company. The current economic situation made the dependence on donations an uncertain proposition, yet as a non-profit, iSchool Initiative must find ways to fund operations. Even if difficult to do, the need for an education-focused mobile app community is too much to ignore.

A freshman at Kennesaw State University, Mr. Allen knows what he is talking about because he literally lives and organizes his education around his iPhone. A prodigious user of iPhone and iPod touch applications, he is the perfect picture of the paperless student. However, it quickly became apparent by the many questions asked by his peers and teachers that, with the over 160,000 apps in the iTunes App Store, understanding which mobile apps are the best is not that easy to figure out. iSchool Initiative addresses this obvious need.

After creating iSchool Initiative, the next step was funding and building the community. This is where Mr. Allen’s chance meeting of Michael Niles, on Twitter, changed everything. Mr. Niles, president of the Niles Technology Group, saw iSchool Initiative and immediately got the concept. “The vision and the idea are clear as could be,” says Mr. Niles. “One thing about a great product is that it does not take but 15 seconds to understand it, and this took me about 10 seconds. I knew immediately that this is an organization that Niles Technology Group wanted to work with. Not only is iSchool Initiative directly addressing and educating our target audience, but it is adding a new dimension to mobile learning for students, teachers, and schools.”

Niles Technology Group is the creator of Achievers Writing Center, the already successful essay writing iPhone apps. As the only full-service mobile writing center available in the iTunes App Store, Achievers Writing Center teaches students how to write over 40 types of essays, and the apps can be purchased complete with a live writing assistant and professional editing services; all for one affordable price.

Niles Technology Group became iSchool Initiative’s first sponsor by donating a portion of sales of a set of iSchool Initiative-branded Achievers Writing Center apps. “My goal was rather simple. I recommended to Mr. Allen that iSchool Initiative be as independent as possible from donations, which are sporadic at best, and to develop revenue streams that have direct connections to the organization’s core vision, that being mobile education apps.

Niles Technology Group recently launched its affiliate program for secondary schools, colleges, universities, and non-profit organizations, and iSchool Initiative is a prime candidate to benefit from it.” Niles Technology Group donates all production costs and services to the development and management of the iSchool Initiative-branded apps. Upon sale of said apps, iSchool Initiative receives 15% of the gross revenue. It is a 100% turnkey solution with no out-of-pocket costs for iSchool Initiative or any other institution or organization in the affiliate program. With over 500 essay writing apps in the iTunes App Store, Niles Technology Group continues to demonstrate it effectively develops, produces, and manages a vast library of mobile apps. Schools and non-profit organizations interested in the affiliate program should contact Michael Niles.

To support iSchool Initiative with an essay writing app purchase, simply go to the iTunes App Store, and search “isi” to see the list of available iSchool Initiative-branded apps. The ultimate goal, according to Mr. Allen and Mr. Niles, is for iSchool Initiative to develop its own line of mobile applications that address specific student-oriented issues on college campuses and in high schools and middle schools. The education mobile app market is in its infancy, and iSchool Initiative and Niles Technology Group plan to enhance the education sector with unique, engaging, and useful education apps.

iSchool Initiative
iSchool Apps on iTunes
Media Assets

The iSchool Initiative’s mission is to advocate, support and implement technological advancement for students and educators in the 21st century. In order to accomplish this, we have three primary objectives: raising awareness for the technological needs of the classroom, providing collaborative research on the use of technology in the classroom, and guiding schools in the implementation of this technology. The iSchool Initiative was formed by Travis Allen, currently a freshman at Kennesaw State University, after discovering how technology such as the iPod touch could not only change his education but that of his fellow students. Upon sharing his iSchool Initiative idea with teachers and students, he realized its tremendous potential to transform today’s education system. Travis then took the concept of the iSchool Initiative and turned it into a non-profit organization, starting with the launch of his first YouTube Video, “The iSchool Initiative (Mobile Learning).” Copyright (C) 2010 iSchool Initiative Corp. All Rights Reserved. Copyright (C) 2007-2010 Niles Technology Group. All Rights Reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, iPhone and iPod are registered trademarks of Apple Inc.

GigaOm is reporting that, contrary to speculation that Steve Jobs wanted to return us to a more analog time when we bought new albums and sank back for ours drinking in every liner note and detail, iTunes LP was actually the record labels’ idea:

I’m told by an industry source who preferred to remain anonymous that iTunes LP wasn’t Apple’s idea in the first place. Rather, it’s the result of the same renegotiations between Apple and the major record labels that yielded DRM-free songs and flexible pricing early last year, a concession by Cupertino to make a gesture in favor of album sales as consumers increasingly show a preference for digital singles.

It’s further said that Apple subsidized the first batch of iTunes LPs, whose production costs were an unbelievable $60,000. The more recent release of developer tools is seen as reducing that cost, and rumors persist of an iDVD-like replacement application from Apple that would work to make iTunes LP and iTunes Extra.

Either way, enthusiasm among artists and Apple itself seems to be low, though just over double the amount of iTunes LPs are available now than were at launch. GigaOm suggests artists are also interested in the App Store as a way to provide extra content to consumers, which might split focus for iTunes LP.

In terms of pushing the format forward, it’s now supported by Apple TV (stuttering though it may be), but there’s been no sign of support for the 75 million iPhone and iPod touch devices on the market. It will be supported by the iPad, however, though Apple hasn’t been pushing iTunes LP as a selling point so far.

Have you bought an iTunes LP? Are you interested in the format going forward?

iTunes LP was Record Labels’ Idea? is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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