We’ve covered a lot of apps which let you control your Mac from afar. Well how about being able to ‘see’ your Mac from anywhere in the world, using only your tiny iPhone! VNC is something that has scared me for a while now, but I thought I’d have to take the plunge and have a look at one of these apps at some point of time.

The first name that pops up when you ask about VNC on the iPhone, is Jaadu VNC. But at $25, it’s a little too expensive. Looking around, I was pleased to find a much cheaper app, RemoteTap. Looking through the specs, it seems to be a very capable app, with a pleasant UI.

Installation

Considering that I had already set up my router and Mac to have a permanent IP address, the setup was super simple. At first, I couldn’t get the connection to work, but then ReadPixel’s prompt support told me to just change the port number, and things were fine after that. RemoteTap 2.0 (yet to be released) is supposed to have auto router configuration, so you won’t need to do a thing.

On the iPhone end, you can add multiple computers for VNC. Means you can control multiple Macs (yes, it’s Mac only) with just one copy of RemoteTap, as the server software is a free download. To set up your iPhone, all you need is the IP address, and the password if you have assigned one in the RemoteTap preference pane. 

Seeing your Mac from afar

Once set up, getting into your Mac desktop is just a tap away, always. I’ve tried this on multiple internet connections, and it has always worked. The output quality is astounding, especially when you go to 1:1 pixel mode. The refresh rate caught up fairly quick on my 256k (64k up) connection, so I’m guessing it will be super fast on a real broadband connection. I haven’t used it on EDGE yet.

Day to day use

To move around, you simply drag your finger across. Pinch to zoom in, and double tap to go 1:1 or zoom out. If you want to click something, tap on the mouse icon and you can click and drag stuff. Fairly simple to use and navigate around. I would still prefer to use Air Mouse for direct mouse movements, but otherwise the mouse is fairly functional. 

The keyboard is also feature rich, including all the modifier keys like Cmd, Opt, as well as arrow keys. RemoteTap also features a slim keyboard, as well as a presentation keyboard with a laser pointer!

New in 1.6, RemoteTap has an application control view. Tap the app control, and it overlays a list of all your apps. You can then launch, hide, or quit them with a single tap. Very useful and very efficient.

Coming in 2.0

• Autofocus: A way by which the zoom automatically changes according to the window size of the current active window. Should be interesting.
• Magnifying Glass: Tap and hold to get a magnification loupe, which you can then use to make precise mouse clicks.
• A much better icon (what were they thinking!)

More for info and screenshots of 2.0, visit the app homepage.

My Recommendation

If remote management is your need of the hour, RemoteTap will not disappoint. At $7 at the App Store, it is very affordable for what it can do (there are a lot more features than I’ve mentioned here). The support team is very helpful, and they have a lot of guides prepared for setting up your router. I haven’t used Jaadu VNC so I can’t say whether it is better than RemoteTap, so if you have an opinion about that, please share. 

Get RemoteTap from the App Store, or visit the RemoteTap homepage for more info.

Continuing onward from our last week’s look at Puzzle Games on the App Store, we’re going to take a look at Word Puzzles on the App Store.  Word Puzzles have long been popular, making appearances in newspapers, children’s fun books, magazines and now they’ve paved their way onto the App Store.

WordsWorth

WordsWorth comes from a team of Indian creative minds called 99Games Online. Based out of Mangalore, India, [Milind: hey! That’s my native land!] 99Games has a bunch of puzzle games available in the App Store, WordsWorth being their latest offering. But, what exactly is WordsWorth?

WordsWorth is a fun, interactive word puzzle game wherein the objective of the game is to find words from a collection of letters scrambled in the form of a honeycomb looking grid. Although this sounds simple, it is quite difficult to find out and trace the words from the grid. You may either tap each alphabet to form a chain forming the word, or you can trace out the word chain by dragging the path. You are awarded points based on the length of the word and the alphabets chosen. The top of the game tells you how much a word formation will reward you before the submitting. Continue Reading »

The creater of FlickrExport for iPhoto and Aperture, the first one out with a Flickr app for the iPhone, and the one who made the news with the first rejected app on the App Store “Podcaster”, has decided to give Exposure a new name. Say hello to Darkslide!

Well actually, there’s a little more to it than just a change in name (read all about that on Speirs’ blog). The new feature in Darkslide 1.5 is the ability to upload photos to Flickr! Imagine that! Another major change is the apparent price drop to $3.99 (which the developer claims is a limited time offer). The free app of course will do all that the paid version does, except for the ads strewn about the limited 320x480 pixels of your iPhone’s screen. 

For those who have no idea about what Exposure was all about, it’s the best flickr app on the App Store. You can see your photos, your contacts photos, check out the featured section, places, groups, comments, sets, tags, favourites (should I go on?), and use the location features to see all pictures clicked near you. 

I tried the upload feature, and it works really well. You can directly snap a new picture or select one from your library, add the title, description, tags as well as attach your current location. 

Overall, Darkslide is a terrific flickr app for the iPhone. The UI is well thought out, and the features are endless. Try out the free version if you just want to test out the waters. At $3.99 [iTunes link] it is well worth it.

Did you know that the App Store got more than 20 new farting applications in 1 week? See for yourself [iTunes link]. I remember when everyone was complaining about how Apple was being ‘selective’ about App Store approvals, and that were making a decision based on ‘taste’ rather than on the technical quality of the apps. Well this is it folks.

The problem is, that not only are these apps coming in droves, they are also making it to the top 10 lists! Number 3 and 4 are occupied by two such apps. Cheap as they are, The problem is that Apple is powerless in this regard. Damned if they do, damned if they don’t kind of scenario.

The only solution as I see it is Apple introducing something like an App Store Elite. Apple could be very choosy about this store, and only approve what they feel are good apps without allowing duplicates to enter. That way no one can complain about Apple being choosy, nor can they complain about it being more of a CrapStore. Of course, this will mean Apple admitting that their App Store is full of craps, and adding a whole lot of confusion in the process, which is why I’m not the CEO in the first place. 

Personally I’ve had the displeasure of using the iFartz Mobile [iTunes link], which I must say it is extremely disgusting and repulsive. I particularly like the ‘security fart’ feature, which makes a noise the moment someone touches your iPhone. All of my friends found this very amusing, which also made me realise the quality of my friends. If it’s a disgusting, repulsive, obscene and feature rich fart application that you’re looking for, you can’t go wrong with iFartz Mobile. If it’s not, I understand how you feel.

This week’s App Store reviews are all about games. We it had to be, considering that it is the most popular category in the App Store. For this roundup we have puzzle based games, namely Crossbones and Deep Green Chess. 

Crossbones

A newly set up software development company, New Insect Overlords get their first game out in the App Store. One of the developers, Steve Sprang, previously worked solo on the App Store developing the drawing app “Brushes” [iTunes link] all by himself. Well actually, for a person like Steve, Brushes should be a piece of cake. After all, he did work at Apple for 7 years developing the iWork office suite. An original member of the Keynote team, he left Apple to start off his iPhone development dreams (I guess he stayed in the family).

Enough about Steve and more about Crossbones.

Crossbones is a challenging and addictive pirate-themed puzzle game for the iPhone and iPod touch. Match cards as fast as you can to collect pirate loot. Play solo or against computer opponents in single player mode. Challenge your friends over the internet using either Edge or Wifi or play on a local network.

Like that made any sense. I fired up the game and briefly looked through the tutorial. For the first five minutes I didn’t know what I was doing. But once you get to know the concept, the game is really interesting, and challenging. I would say Crossbones is a very intelligent form of tetris. You need to be quick at looking colours, objects and well, a few other things to be able to put them together to form groups. I won’t try and explain the concept, as the only way to understand the game is to play it. Continue Reading »

I have serious issues with the Remote.app that Apple makes for the iPhone. I had written about it, but it was shot down in the back end by the team members, so I guess that story will never reveal itself. Recently my iMac’s remote battery died out, and instead of putting in a new one, I thought why not try and see whether I can do with just one device, my iPhone. 

My first lookout was finding an exact copy of the Apple plastic Remote. A search later, I was checking out jfControl Remote, which besides its odd name, seemed to be very functional. So I decided to take it for a spin.  Setup was super easy with the Bonjour networking, and within minutes I had the app up and running. One of my main complaints of the Remote.app is its lack of Front Row support. jfControl doesn’t have the best of UIs, most of which feels very XP-like, but it is fully functional. I could control iTunes, Front Row, DVDs, Keynote, and although it boasts of being able to control Finder, I couldn’t see myself using that. 

Like I said, the UI is something that needs a lot of work. It has rounded bright buttons that seem to have come out of some cheap stock icon pack. It also has extra buttons (for instance, play and pause instead of play/pause) and the placement of everything keeps changing. I won’t base my judgement just yet, seeing as the app is fully functional and is super easy to set up. For $2.99, it is well worth it if you can get past the cheezy icons. My next move, AirMote. 

It is funny when you see jfControl as the top “Customers also bought” app in AirMote, and the other way round in jfControl’s iTunes page. Seems like people aren’t happy with either of them? Let’s see about that.

AirMote installation is not so simple. First of all I had to jump through links to find the guide on how to set up the Mac to accept connections, and then go inside system preferences and check mark some scary settings. Not difficult, but not as easy as a dedicated server app.

Once things are set up everything works fine, and you can then easily set up a new Mac instead of having to download a server app. I was pleased to find AirMote featuring the exact same Apple Remote, and is very easy to operate. Unfortunately, the UI looks fugly and well, late 90s Linux-like. AirMote also features a second layout with a bunch of more buttons. You can focus the dock, menubar, switch windows and basically use the remote as your mouse. However, I didn’t find it intuitive at all and couldn’t control much with the second layout. 

AirMote can be used to control Plex, your DVD player, and a bunch of other things once you get the hang of it. And besides the clunky UI, the installation procedure, AirMote is a pleasant remote app that works just fine.

Looking at both, I can say that they are both functional and viable alternatives to the Apple Remote, but the off hand UIs kind of put me off. For myself who needs only the Front Row functionality, I’d choose AirMote($4.99) [iTunes link]. However, if I wanted to control more than Front Row, I’d choose jfControl ($2.99) [iTunes link] as it’s alternative UIs are better than AirMote’s. And as with all App Store apps, things are always changing. Devs are always willing to listen to customers fill in all the shortcomings. AirMote will be getting a lot of new layouts as well as some UI tweaks. I haven’t talked to the jfControl dev yet, but I’m sure there’s something cooking there as well. 

If you are looking for a ‘control everything’ solution, check out AirMouse ($4.99) or wait a while as I continue to look through other remote solutions.

Like any other week, there is always some App Store madness to report on. The first bit came when Air-O-Matic’s Pull My Finger [iTunes link], the fart application finally made its way into the App Store. Yes, the same one that got rejected a couple of months ago. So why now Apple? According to what an Apple rep told the developer, Apple is introducing a whole new genre of what can only be called ‘Stupid & Useless’ apps into the App Store. 

“The very kind Apple Team Member told me that they didn’t want to reject it originally, but that they were sorting out how this ‘genre’ of apps were going to be handled,” he added. “She told me they’d be lifting the restriction on them, and more apps will follow that may have been previously not allowed.”

While I’m glad that the whole ordeal of everyone suddenly wanting – no, needing – a farting application, but I seriously  wonder what the implications of this new development are. Soon there will be hundreds of these apps with seemingly no use, but Apple will have no control over whether or not they are allowed. They will inadvertently make their way into the top 10 lists, and the good apps that have utility will be lost in the thousands. We hope Apple uses some discretion in approving these apps. 

The second bit of news, is the surprising rejection of a contacts app “Peeps” that uses Cover Flow to display contacts. First of all, why are rejections always made a big thing out of? Actually, it appears that an apps ticket to fame is it getting rejected. I can only imaging a dev’s disappointment when an app goes through without a hitch. Now I believe John Gruber was the first one to report on this, and when he does, the entire Apple community goes berserk.

Apple rejected the app because of the use of a non-public API, namely Cover Flow. According to Gruber,

The problem? According to developer Landon Fuller, they didn’t use any private APIs — they created their own Cover Flow implementation using the public APIs.

This is a situation where you cannot exactly point fingers. There’s the apparent use of the word Cover Flow throughout the the description of the application. “Rotate your phone to view only that group’s photos in Cover Flow!” says part of the description. How is an Apple employee supposed to know that it’s their own implementation! I don’t suppose an Apple employee goes through bits of code seeing whether someone has in fact made their own version of Cover Flow.

The developer has since resubmitted the application and I hope the description is clear this time. Cover Flow technology is under the Apache license, and so I don’t think Apple should have a problem with approving it to to the store. Personally, I’m more worried about being able to find my contacts using Cover Flow…

[Update: We’ve been told that the devs infact made it a clear mention to Apple that this was their own API while submitting it in. Moreover, there are apps that do in fact use the Cover Flow API that have been accepted into the App Store. The whole situation is classic App Store nonsense, and Apple is definitely the bad guy here - Milind]

[Pull My Finger approved - Ars Technica]
[iPhone peeps rejected - Landon Fuller]

Copy paste is the second most wanted feature request for the iPhone, at least according to 37 thousand people who have voted for it on PleaseFixTheiPhone.com. We have so far had to play the wait game, as Apple has neither announced copy-paste as a feature they will implement, nor have they allowed enterprising app developers to deploy apps in the App Store. 

So it was really surprising when I saw a report on Gizmodo today on a new service called Pastebud, by which copy-paste can be implemented on the iPhone, at least between Safari and the Mail client. The technique doesn’t require you to install any apps so Apple has no way of blocking this one. Using two bookmarklets, you can prep a page for copying, and then send that copied text along to the Mail app, or paste it into another Safari page.

Right now the developers don’t have anything for the public, and they are only accepting a few beta testers on their twitter feed, but the message is clear. Copy-Paste in some form is coming to the iPhone in the near future. Check out the video of Pastebud in action after the jump. Continue Reading »

It’s that day of the week when we talk about the App Store apps that have grabbed out attention. This may not be a first look, nor might it be an exclusive. And it certainly isn’t an ultimate look. We just find these apps interesting enough to let our readers know about them. Now that I’m done with the unnecessarily long introduction, I’m going to talk about two apps that I found really useful, Weightbot and Habits.

Weightbot

Apple should have a separate category on the App Store for those apps that really present something new in User Interface experience. Weightbot is for all purposes a weight tracking app. It allows you to enter your weight, and then presents you with a graph showing your progress, or well, your regress. But importance here is how it you enter in that weight. 

Just tap the big button to go into input mode. Move the slider which resembles the dials on a weighing machine, and tap again to confirm your weight. Then you can go back in time and check on any day that you’ve entered your weight, or turn your iPhone sideways to see a pretty graph of what you have accomplished so far. In my case, not much. 

With features like automatically backing up online, and a secure passcode based entry, Weightbot is a good app if you are the sort of person who needs to keep a track of your weight. Available for $1.99 at the App Store (currently on sale for $0.99) Oh, and I’ve lied about my weight in that screenshot.

Habits

A good looking weight tracking app is only so good until you are actually doing something about it. Sitting on your rear end all day isn’t going to get you in shape. To help you with that I am here to present you with a nice app I found, Habits.

Habits is a GTD companion. It is not a event based GTD, but a recurring task based one. Plainly speaking, it is an app that helps you develop good habits. You enter in the habits that you need to develop, and the frequency that you need those tasks to be done. For instance, I need to make sure I sleep early every night, check for comment spam every other day, and clean up my room every week. Habits will tell me which of these tasks I need to do, which of them are approaching soon, and which are overdue. Tapping the “I did it!” button resets the queue for that particular task. 

Habits also has memory, telling you which of your tasks you have a tendency to skip out on, so make sure you only gain good karma. You don’t want to accumulate bad karma do you? Habits costs $2.99 at the App Store, and I highly recommend it if you need to mend your ways.

As always, if you have any interesting apps to suggest, or want to know more before purchasing any app, sound off in the comments or send us an email.

I woke up today to find an email from Nnooo Games announcing that their new game “Pop” has finally hit the App Store. We had the beta floating around in our test labs for a few weeks now, and am finally able to talk about it. Pop is a bubble popping game with slick graphics that will grab anyone’s attention.

If you remember back when the App Store first made its appearance, there were a lot of these fun bubblewrap games that had become quite popular. I know my 27-year old brother couldn’t stop playing that game. Of course the game started getting old (same thing happens when a kid is given bubblewrap) and we needed a little more. So I was thrilled when we were offered to beta test the game.

The game has a superb graphics engine where it renders smooth 3D soap bubbles and you just got to pop them. Of course, the game has its rules. Tapping anywhere but a bubble will reduce your time, tapping small or large bubbles gives you more or less points and there are special bubbles giving you extra points or slowing down gameplay. Ultimately the gameplay is entertaining and the graphics are spot on.

Oh, and for those who just want to pop bubbles, there’s a casual mode where you can endlessly pop bubbles, useful for when you are at the psychiatrists office. 

Pop is priced at a reasonable $4.99 at the App Store, so if you want some high quality bubble popping action, Pop has got the pop. After all, my 27 year-old brother quickly moved from the Bubblewrap to Pop!