Twitterrific developer Craig Hockenberry has written a long, considered essay on Furbo.org framing the changes Apple has already made to the iTunes App Store, what problems it still presents to developers, users, and Apple itself, and proposes some interesting solutions.

From the differences between selling music and apps, to the long delays and uncertainty surrounding the approval process, lack of viable upgrade options, ill-defined rules, inability to provide demos, inability to respond to iTunes reviews, and the lack of discoverability for apps, Hockenberry leaves few stones unturned — nor does he throw those stones, turned or otherwise, in Apple’s direction.

He comes off as a veteran developer more than a little frustrated not just at what is, but at not yet reaching the potential of what could be. One solution he proposes might be controversial — and we’ve heard it from him before — but is still more than promising:

Charge [developers] $999 for premium service. For professional developers, this cost is not prohibitive and would allow Apple to provide additional services…

He does, rightly, chastise Apple for not communicating effectively with developers — for failing to hold up their end of the platform partnership. However, by pointing out how far the App Store has come in just one year, it leaves us with hope that given Apple’s and developers’ shared passion for the iPhone, it can go further still in year two.

Right Apple?

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Appy Anniversary: Hockenberry on How the App Store has Changed, and What Still Needs to be Changed

Now don’t get too excited, the iPhone 3GS is not being discounted by AT&T. But if you are in the market for a excellent smart phone at a great entry level price, AT&T has the deal for you.

It looks like AT&T is trying to push the iPhone 3G’s out the door as they have just lowered the price of 8 GB and 16 GB phones to $79.99 and $129.99 respectively, with a two-year contract. Both white and black models are currently available while the discount lasts. Before you jump on this deal, keep in mind of the following:

Refurbished Phones and Devices Refurbished phones are previously owned devices that have been unused or lightly used and returned during the 30-day trial period. Each refurbished phone is independently quality tested and loaded with the latest software to meet current factory standards. Some refurbished iPhone 3G devices will have minor scratches. Refurbished iPhone 3G devices carry a warranty of 90 days or more. For details about the warranty on your refurbished iPhone 3G go to www.apple.com/support/oss/.

So if you are okay with the above and you want an iPhone at a great low price, jump all over this one - there is no telling how long it will last!

[Thank to everyone who sent this in!]

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

$79 iPhone 3G! AT&T Discounting Refurbs (Again)

TiPb will be back tomorrow with our Picks of the Year, and Editors’ Choice in honor of Apple’s iTunes App Store one year birthday — and yes, we’re really calling it our Appy Anniversary coverage.

1 billion+ downloads and 56,000+ apps are the figures, but just how many of those downloaded apps have made it onto your iPhone or iPod touch?

Barely an extra screen worth, more than the expanded 180 even iPhone 3.0 allows, or $143K and change for the whole shebang? How many does iTunes show, and how many are actually on your device?

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Appy Anniversary: One Year and How Many of those 56,000 Apps Later?

Apple has updated a knowledge base article for those “Unable to use Wi-Fi or Bluetooth with iPhone or iPod touch because there’s no address listed for the device”, which is something we’ve heard quite a bit about lately. The four-pronged approach:

1. Settings > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings
2. Settings > General > Reset > Erase All Content and Settings.
3. Restore the device via iTunes
4. Take your iPhone or iPod touch in for repairs.

Apple finishes off with some extra advice:

If the device shows an address in the Wi-Fi Address field and you are still having issues using Wi-Fi, refer to article 305715 for additional Wi-Fi troubleshooting tips. If the device shows an address in the Bluetooth field and you are still having issues using Bluetooth, refer to articles HT1843 and HT1664 for additional Bluetooth troubleshooting tips.

If any of that works for you, let us know in the comments. If it doesn’t, let us know as well…

[via iLounge]

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Apple Addresses iPhone and iPod touch Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Problems - Reset, Redo, Restore, Repair

When he’s not borrowing CrackBerry Kevin’s personal handset to snap quick pics and give Android Cassey conniptions, Google CEO Eric Schmidt is responding to reporters about his role as a member of Apple’s Board of Directors in light of Google entering the operating system space — again:

“I’ll talk to the Apple people. At the moment, there’s no issue,”

Since Google Chrome OS is little more than announce-ware at this point (or, “darn, we should have made webOS instead of Android?), that may be true, but it’s hardly a tenable situation going forward. What this will mean to Apple/Google relations is unknown. Though right now the iPhone clearly benefits from Google data pipes, especially in the Maps app, how much do they benefit from Schmidt being on the board?

Our guess? Schmidt was using that BlackBerry camera to zoom on the unlicensed Mercedes — and glaring Steve Jobs — that’s been shadowing him since Tuesday, and carefully penning his resignation letter…

[via Macrumors]

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

CEOh’Snap: Google’s Eric Schmidt to “Talk with Apple People” Over Continued Role on Board

AutoStitch Forum Review by msbaylor. For more Forum Reviews, see the TiPb iPhone App Store Forum Review Index!

AutoStitch is the only application in the App Store that gives the ability to stitch multiple rows of photos in any orientation in creating your panorama, meaning you don't just get the normal one row, 360 degree view that Pano or the Panorama apps produce.

I was completely taking off guard when I found how utterly simple it was to use the application! Literally you "select & stitch" that all you do, no take one photo, stitch, take another photo, stitch, etc.

Overview

On the main screen you navigate to your photo album and tap to select photos, they don't have to be in any particular order. The application will then load it into app (bottom half of screen) once that is complete; you can tap the "stitch" button. If there are photos you want to remove, just tap on the photos in the bottom pane and confirm that you want to delete it.

There is a progress bar at the bottom that I found quite accurate and you can watch you panorama build right in front of you.

Once the panorama is complete, it might be odd shaped, but you can crop it later via Photoshop or GIMP- one of the options that is really lacking. At this time you can also zoom in to view the stitching and if you want to replace a photo, you can go back and go through the process again.

There is a progress bar at the bottom that I found quite accurate and you can watch you panorama build right in front of you.

Once the panorama is complete, it might be odd shaped, but you can crop it later via Photoshop or GIMP- one of the options that is really lacking. At this time you can also zoom in to view the stitching and if you want to replace a photo, you can go back and go through the process again.

Once you are satisfied with your result, it's time to save the photo

Here are some tests (4) that I conducted with the app

1) 4 "rows" of photos, 360 degrees horizontally:

I tool 57 photos and had it stitched into the photo below. Each iPhone (3GS) photo has a resolution of 2,048 x 1,536 (~1000kb each). The photo that I ended up with is 2,406 x 831 (784kb). So my end result is nearly smaller than the initial size of one iPhone photo – not cool. Test Grade: C-

2) 3 Rows of photos, 100 degrees horizontally:

Now the photo below, I took a total of 19 photos taken at the same resolution (obviously), ending result was a 2,350 x 851 photo – just as large as the previous panorama with less photos. I assume that the application is capping the size of the photo to reduce the RAM usage. Test Grade: C+

As In the first test photo I captured about 100 degrees vertical by 360 degrees horizontal, while the second one is only about 30 degrees vertical by 100 degrees horizontal. I am not a fan of this at all.

3) "Normal" one row panorama: The app did a good job at just creating a single row panorama Test Grade: B

4) "Really bad photographer" panorama

I decided to take a number of shots that were taken diagonally, horizontally & vertically. The result I was very pleased with: Test Grade: B-

At first, I thought this app was amazing, but after doing a thorough analysis of the app through the tests, I wasn't happy with the results. I expected a little more on the resolution side of things. As a reference point, the photo below was created using the Panorama App – its resolution is 3,004 x 832 by combining only 5 iPhone photos, considerably better resolution over the Autostitch app.

If you are someone that's likes taking panoramas occasionally or would like to get into taking panoramas, this is a nice app to start with; however, if you are a photography kind of person, this isn't the best app – namely due to the resolution issue, it's just too low to do anything "more" with it.

Conclusion

Overall I found this application to be groundbreaking on the iPhone, even if it's not the first Panorama application to come to the App store market – it has raised the bar for other Panorama apps. The application is simple enough for anyone to use. My main complaint is the lack of cropping and picking of resolutions. I assume rendering into a larger resolution would eat up the RAM, but it would be a nice option, especially for the 3GS users. I noticed a lot of blurry areas in my pictures – this is caused by one of two issues – 1. I took a blurry shot or 2. The photo blending didn't work out to well. Two bucks is a good deal for this tiny, yet powerful app.

Tips on Taking Panoramas with this app

• If using the 3GS, try to set the exposure on a foreground object (which initially appears darker) or vice versa
• If using the 3GS, try to focus on the furthest object, such as the horizon. Obviously this can’t always happen especially if you are following the point above.
• Try to hold the iPhone as steady as possible in low light situations

Pros:

• Incredibly simple to use
• Don't have to have photos in order to stitch
• Add photos all in one go
• Watch the building of the Panorama as it's created
• Save to photo album is quick

Cons:

• No advanced options
• Alignment isn't always dead on
• No cropping ability
• Resolution of panorama is low
• Only one resolution option

TiPb Review Rating

Autostitch is available for $1.99 from the iTunes App Store.

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

App Review: AutoStitch Panorama Maker for iPhone

Apple Insider took a closer look at the HTTP Streaming Media feature that was highlighted as part of iPhone 3.0, but hasn’t received a whole lot of attention since:

The real benefit to HTTP Live Streaming is that the server can maintain multiple versions of the clips in different formats. This allows an iPhone user with a WiFi connection to negotiate a higher quality version of the video than if only EDGE were available. Even better, the phone can renegotiate a higher or lower quality dynamically if it improves or loses signal. This enables the watcher to experience the best video quality possible at the current bandwidth available, continually optimized as new segments are requested.

We saw this demoed by ESPN during the iPhone 3.0 Sneak Peak Event. Better still, Apple is proposing it as an open standard, platform and player neutral, which could spur adaption, meaning more content for users.

Check out the full article linked above, and iphone.akamai.com for examples.

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

iPhone 3.0: HTTP Streaming Media

• Our podcast feed
• Download Directly
• Subscribe via iTunes

Join Dieter, Chad, Chris, and Rene for iPhone 3.1, 3.0 bugs, keyboarding, laptop replacement, and the one year Appy Anniversary. Listen in!

Brought to you by the iPhone blog store

• Review: Griffin Streamline for iPhone 3GS and iPhone 3G

News

• iPhone 3.1 Beta Walkthrough
• Third Generation iPod touch Now Being Tested? Does this mean music event, new touch, 3.1 in September again?
• TiPb Asks: Does the iPhone Need a Hardware Keyboard? and Can the iPhone replace your laptop?
• iPhone Beats Palm Pre at Air Travel? - Does Dieter Retort?
• iPhone 3.0/3GS Bug Watch: Push Notification and battery life, WiFi connectivity, overheating, olephobic coating wearing off
• iPhone Patent Watch: Haptics, Biometrics, RFID, and… Karaoke?!
• redsn0w vs. purplera1n nerdfight — and WSJ peeks behind the curtain
• Amazon Spits Delicious Library for iPhone Out of App Store

Appy Anniversary

• iPhone App Store Gets Ready to Celebrate 1st Birthday

How To

• How To: Email Full Size iPhone 3GS Photos via Copy/Paste

Forums

• More Than One New iPhone Next Year? Spotlight Search, Push Apps, and iPhone Help — From the TiPb Forums

Credits

Thanks to the the iPhone Blog Store for sponsoring the podcast, and to everyone who showed up for the live chat!

Our music comes from the following sources:

• I Called You — iPhone Remix by Pete Leidy
via Sneakmove iPhone Ringtone Challenge

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb Presents: iPhone Live #18 — Appy Anniversary!