Apple iPhone News

Most internet users nowadays are well aware of cookies, those little bits of information websites ask your browser to store so they can identify you. They’re mostly used by websites for your convenience, but also by advertisers to track you and better target their ads. These have raised many privacy concerns in the past, and it’s generally well known that clearing your browser’s cookie stash from time to time will keep you a bit more anonymous. Also, modern browsers have become a lot more restrictive and can deal with cookies relatively well.

As browsers and users are getting smarter about preserving privacy, so are advertisers at tracking. In a report this morning, ars technica points out that Ringleader Digital, a mobile advertising company, is now taking advantage of the HTML5 local storage feature (in addition to cookies) to quietly track users. This feature was originally designed to allow WebApps to run locally.

Officially, Ringleader says it respects your privacy by only keeping “non-personally identifiable information, such as browser identifiers, session information, device type, carrier provider, IP addresses, unique device ID, carrier user ID and web sites visited.” Yet, this is already an awfully long list of things.

Also, this new form of tracking is hard to escape. Yes, your local Ringleader storage databases (which you can find in the Safari tab of the settings app, named RLDGUID) can be deleted, they however will reappear very soon with the exact same data. Also, iOS doesn’t let you disable the database feature altogether.

One way to stay a bit more under Ringleader’s radar is to use their opt out site, which you can reach at http://tinyurl.com/RLDOPTOUT. This should reset the tracking and give your device a new identifier which they claim they won’t track anymore. Guess we’ll have to take their word for it. However, this is only one particular case and doesn’t fix the problem as a whole, which can also become a security issue.

Bottom line, if you really want to stay stealthy online from now on, it’s going to take way more effort than in the past. Also, while HTML5 is growing and powers more of the web, Apple and other browser makers have to quickly start implementing ways to keep our privacy safe, like they did with cookies in the past.

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AppAdvice has teamed up with Hemisphere Games in order to offer you a chance to win one of five (5) promo codes for Osmos for iPhone and iPod touch ($2.99).

Like its iPad counterpart, Osmos for iPhone is a game of balance, patience, and beauty.  In the game you control a single mote with the goal of becoming the largest of them all by absorbing smaller motes.  You are able to propel yourself towards these other motes by tapping the screen, which expels matter.  This is where patience plays a big part in the game, since expelling matter shrinks the size of your mote.  If you run into a mote that is larger than yours, you will be absorbed, forcing you to restart the level.

Osmos includes a total of 72 levels and eight level types, full multi-touch capabilities, pinch to zoom, the ability to slow down and speed up time by simply sliding your finger across the screen, intelligent AI, an electronic soundtrack, and OpenFeint integration.

To have a chance at winning one of two Osmos promo codes, simply hit that blue tweet button near the bottom of this page or retweet this post from your favorite Twitter app before 11:59 PM PDT tonight (September 7th). We will then search the Twitterverse for all of the retweets and randomly choose our lucky winners. The winners will be notified via Twitter, so please be sure to follow us so we can send you your promo code via a direct message.

Non-Twitter users and those of you who want to increase your odds of winning can simply leave a relevant comment below before 11:59 PM PDT tonight to have a chance at winning one of the other three promo codes.

Feel free to participate in the giveaway via either or both methods. Only one entry per person per method is allowed, totaling up to two entries per person if using both. This giveaway is only open to U.S. iTunes account users.

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It looks like Apple will be restricting its upcoming HDR Camera feature to iPhone 4 owners only. Of course, this could always change, but as TIPB points out this morning, HDR photography requires your iPhone to take three almost simultaneous pictures to function. This is something older iPhones just might not be able to do fast enough. Or at least, not fast enough in Apple’s opinion.

It’s understandable, yet still unfortunate, as both the iPhone 3G and the 3GS were still widely sold and available just a few months ago and I’m sure some folks are still picking up 3GS’. Anyway, we’re finding out today that all hope is not lost, as once again, there will be a jailbreak fix for that.

Developed by @cdevwill, an upcoming Cydia tweak announced this morning will allow you to enable this native feature on the 3G and 3GS. Just like you can currently hack your iPhone 3G to multitask and display wallpapers.

We don’t expect the performance to be great, but well, it’s still better than nothing. However, if you’re not up for jailbreaking your device, note that 3GS owners can always try to rely on apps like Pro HDR, which should do the trick.

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Nike released their official run tracking app yesterday. The Nike+ GPS iPhone app breaks a long tradition of teaming directly with Apple to provide a user interface for the jointly created Nike + iPod system.

The new, standalone app uses the iDevice’s built in accelerometer and the iPhone’s GPS to measure distance and other workout factors. Previously, users had to have a compatible iDevice and purchase the Nike + iPod Sensor to install into compatible Nike+ Ready shoes.

Nike+ GPS provides a number of advantages over the integrated solution. No need to purchase additional hardware or have special shoes. This makes the app such an incredible savings already. The new app also offers expanded voice feedback ( including motivational messages from Nike’s top athletes ), mapping abilities, and a new challenge system that pushes you to go farther and otherwise improve from your previous run.

The other big advantage for Nike is that they don’t need to wait for Apple to implement new features or fixes, and wait for those possible changes to happen in the next iOS release.

And don’t worry, Nike+ GPS still furnishes music playback integration, PowerSong, and run history.

Nike+ GPS is available in the App Store now for $1.99.

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Today’s list is probably the shortest since we started doing AGF on a regular basis.  The pickings are so slim that we couldn’t even find a decent iPad app to include.  Hopefully developers will resume their usual work schedules tomorrow so things can return to normal in the App Store.  In the meantime, check out the short yet worthy list below.

Disclaimer: All prices are subject to change at any time and without notice regardless of stated free duration.

Fuzzle ($.99 -> Free): A puzzle game that requires you to create lines of five like-colored balls by simply dragging them with the tip of your finger in order to remove them from the board.  Every time you move a ball, more are added. The goal is to survive for as long as possible.  The game contains two special balls — bomb ball and rainbow ball — that must be used strategically in order to obtain the highest score.  The game features local and global leaderboards as well.

Fuzzle is available for free today only (9/7). It has a four-and-a-half-star rating, and a total of 51 ratings.

Sigma ($2.99 -> Free): A time-based matching game where you must spin colored dials and shoot blocks from each side of the screen in order to match three or more like-colored blocks.  Blocks can be matched in almost any way, and the more the better.  If you match more than four blocks at a time, you will receive a power-up.  The game features three modes of play, unlockable themes, and Plus+ integration.

Sigma is available for free today only (9/7). It has a three-and-a-half-star rating, and a total of 63 ratings.

uniQ Pixel Artist ($.99 -> Free): A simple drawing app that allows you to create 8-bit pixelated artwork.  Simply tap a square to paint it a color, or drag your finger to paint multiple squares.  Colors can be changed by tapping and holding on the screen.  The app features a total of 36 colors, pinch to zoom, drag to pan, and the ability to share your work online or save it to your Camera Roll.

uniQ Pixel Artist is available for free for a limited time. It has a three-star rating, and a total of five ratings.

Developers:

If you are a developer who would like to get your app included in our “Apps Gone Free” daily lists, here’s our basic set of rules:

• The app must be free for at least one whole day.
• It must have at least a three-star average rating at the time it goes free.
• The app must not have been free numerous times (3+) over the last six months.

To submit an app, simply send a request to tyler@appadvice.com with the subject “Apps Gone Free.”  Please include the name of the app, a link to it in the App Store, when you intend to offer the app for free and anything else you would like to share.  We will take it from there.

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Bills (with sync & notifications) ($0.99) by iBear LLC is an app designed to help you keep track of all those pesky bills that need to be taken care of.

We all hate them, but they must be dealt with. Don’t know what I’m talking about? Bills. We all have them, ranging from puny to huge, but one thing is for certain: keeping track of it all can be a pain.

Bills for iPhone and iPad is here to help.

Once you open the app, you’ll be greeted with a calendar on the iPhone, with buttons to access different sections (as you’ll see wth the iPad version). The iPad version of the app will display the calendar, a little whiteboard with your current bills (overdue, plan, and paid), and a filing cabinet with four sections (All, Overdue, Plan, Paid), along with a shelf with four books that have different options. The overall interface of the app is unique and elegant, and clearly well thought out.

Today’s date will be marked with a light gray pen scribbled in the date box. You can easily jump to any other date that you need to pay a bill by tapping it. Tap the New button (+) when a date is selected in order to add a new bill deadline.

Creating a new bill will let you choose whether it’s paid, planned, or autopay. For each of these, you are able to choose various Categories, each with its own subcategories.

If you are paying something that isn’t listed with the common bill types, then you can simply add it as well. A good example of this is under the Credit Cards category, in which only Mastercard and Visa are there. You’ll have to create one for American Express and Discover if you have those cards.

From that point, you’ll have to enter a due date, paid date (on Paid bills only), repeat once every (only on plan and autopay), amount due and paid (of course, paid only), a confirmation number, and a description. Save it when you’re done, and then the due date of that bill will show up on the calendar as a blue circle around the date. If you paid it, just tap the check and it will turn green.

In my testing, I found that the app won’t let you undo a paid bill if it was an accident. You would need to create the bill again if it’s not really paid. Personally, I think that we should be allowed to tap the check again to ‘un-pay’ it. Mistakes happen, after all.

You can sort your bills with the filing cabinet system (on the iPhone, just tap that arrow beneath the calendar) with the All, Overdue, Plan, and Paid. This makes seeing what you have left to pay easy, and keeps you on top of those pesky bills.

There is a passcode lock for the app, and that can be set with the book with the lock icon on it. You can also export your data as a CSV or HTML file and by WiFi or email. The app can be synced via Bluetooth with other iPhones, iPod Touches, or iPads that are running the Bills software. So if you have an iPhone and an iPad, or multiple iPads or iPhones in the house, this is a great way to help keep everything organized without fuss.

If you’re in need of an app to keep track of the ever growing and daunting pile of bills you’re accumulating, then give Bills a shot. Though I think the iPhone version is currently a better buy at $0.99, considering that the iPad version is $3 more and is pretty much the same thing. The iPad version should drop down a buck or two and then it would be worth getting.

But for now, I would just stick with the iPhone version. Unless you absolutely need the syncing between an iPhone and iPad.

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I’m not a huge fan of iPhone customization and a custom wallpaper is probably the furthest I can go in terms of personalizing my iPhone. Yet, there’s a new little jailbreak tweak that might prove useful, while staying very subtle. Called GridLock, it allows you to position the icons on your iPhone Springboard any way you want, while still staying aligned.

It can, for example, conveniently keep your iPhone apps on the side of your screen to make them easy to reach when using your iPhone with just one hand. Also, it will really let you show off that great wallpaper you picked with such effort.

Our friends over at iPoduplink have a video demonstration of it. Check it out:

The convenience will cost you just  $.99 and it’s available on the default Cydia BigBoss repository, so no real need to add another one as advertised in the video.

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Most YouTube videos aren’t meant to be watched more than once. Sometimes there are a few gems that you might be interested in watching over and over again, for example, when it happens to be music. Yet, the fact that you must rely on an Internet connection every time you want to do so, and use up your data allowance, might not always be very convenient. If you’re jailbroken and aren’t afraid to violate YouTube’s terms of use, there is a very interesting little app for that.

Released recently, YourTube 2, as it’s called, is a jailbreak app that allows you to download videos from YouTube, and save them for later use in your iPhone’s native video library. It doesn’t come cheap, as the convenience will cost you as much as $5. If you consider all the content it will let you keep however, it might prove very valuable to you.

It’s very simple to use, and even lets you pick the quality to save the videos of your choice in. Here it is on video:

It’s available now on the Cydia Jailbreak App Store, for $5.

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As you know, there are plenty of new apps hitting the App Store every day (about 600/day lately). The thing is, most of them are Flashlight and Radio apps, so it’s not easy to find the little gems in all the clutter. Let us take care of that for you. This, is Appfresh daily!

MarkdownMail (iPhone) allows you to write HTML emails using John Gruber’s Markdown markup syntax.

It goes for $1.99.

Talk Messenger (iPhone) is yet another Google Talk Client. It lets you chat, exchange pictures, check your email and so on.

It goes for $.99.

AppShopper (Universal) is the iPhone version of the very popular App Store watching and tracking website.

It’s free.

That’s it for today. Did we miss anything ? Tell us in the comments!

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Late last week, Lifehacker posted a video comparison of the performance of iOS 4.0 and iOS 4.1 on an iPhone 3G.

The video demonstrates the results, but here they are in all their glory:

- Messages: iOS 4.1 Wins …