thoughts & ponderings about web design, life & other stuff....

Napster FREE Trial - 6 Million Tracks!

Shaun — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 17:10:18 +0000

Those of you who have been around the internet for a long time will no doubt have heard of Napster. It was the first P2P MP3 file sharing app that hit the mainstream, almost 10 years ago - between 1999 and 2001.

It was the first but it has remained the best - there was literally not a track I couldn’t find on Napster. Since it was shut down many replacements have come and gone but none have quite lived up to Napster.

Napster is back, this time legally!

Well now Napster is back and they’ve gone legit. They’re competing with the like of Apple and Amazon for a piece of the legal digital downloads market.

There is a difference though, with a Napster account you get COMPLETE access to all of their 6 million tracks for ONE MONTHLY FEE! (Just £9.95)

What’s even better is that they now have a 7 day FREE trial available.

Honesty…

I’m not going to lie to you, I receive a small fee from Napster for every person that signs up for a free trial from this blog, but I wouldn’t recommend it if I didn’t believe it to be a great offer. Simply click one of the banners above or below, sign up for the 7 day trial and see what you think of the service.

Don’t forget to cancel!

If you don’t like it just make sure that you cancel your subscription before the 7 day trial ends or you will be charged. As long as you do, it won’t cost you a penny!

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Post from: thoughts & ponderings about web design, life & other stuff....

Lost - Season 5 Trailer (New Footage)

Shaun — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 22:39:35 +0000

Besides Season 3 being majorly sucky (due to the fact that they had no idea where they were going with the story) Lost is one of the best TV shows i’ve ever seen. Season 1 was great but Season 4 blew my mind, I love where they’re going with the time/dimension stuff and can’t wait for Season 5 next February.

The new promo was released this week which shows some new footage and looks very interesting!

If only we didn’t have to wait 3 months to see it for real!

4 Great TV Shows Return Next Month!

Post from: thoughts & ponderings about web design, life & other stuff....

Top 20 Best iPhone 3G Games!

Shaun — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 21:20:53 +0000

I’ve never been a huge game player but i’ve been playing more and more games on my iPhone lately.

It really has surprised me how many quality releases there are already. It is almost up there competing with the likes of Nintendo DS and Sony PSP. The best thing about it is that many of the games are free or very cheap, like £2 - £4 whereas the DS and PSP equilavents can cost up to £30!

The graphics in some of these games are stunning and with it’s unique combination of the amazing touch screen and the accelerometer (motion sensor) the iPhone is turning into a brilliant games console as well as a top phone and ipod!

Here is my top 20, a varied mix of action, puzzle, racing, strategy and sport! Why not browse the App Store for more and leave your own suggestions in the comments.

1. Spore Origins

Very addictive iPhone version of the popular EA strategy game. Makes great use of the accelerometer as you tilt, turn and twist through the game and features very nice looking ‘cute’ graphics.

Download Spore

2. Real Football 2009

Finally a decent football (soccer) game for iPhone! What this game lacks with the slightly average graphics, it makes up for in fun and playability!

The touch screen is a great way to control the game and tilting the iPhone for throw-ins is a nice touch!

Download Real Football

3. X-Plane 9

The iPhone accelerometer is ideal for controlling a flight simulation game. X-Plane is just that, take off, fly around and land. There’s not much more to it that that but it’s a really great experience and it’s technically brilliant.

Download X-Plane 9

4. Hanoi Plus

I’ve never heard of this game but apparently it’s a classic? That doesn’t stop me loving it though! It’s a simple logic puzzle game which is lots of fun.

Download Hanoi Plus

5. Crash Bandicoot Nitro Cart 3D

I love car games on the iPhone and this is one of the most fun. The detail in the graphics is amazing, it’s a genuine quality game but for a fraction of the price it would cost on a PSP etc..

Download Crash Bandicoot

6. Texas Hold Em

Classic poker game, iPhone style! Great graphics, great game play and best of all you can play it with up to multi-players over wi-fi!

Download Texas Hold Em

7. Chopper

Simple, fun helicopter game with excellent graphics and control. Reduced from $5 to $1.99!

Download Chopper

8. Critter Crunch

One of the most polished games so far. It’s a highly addictive puzzle game that I just can’t put down!

Download Critter Crunch

9. Kroll

I LOVE this game!

It’s a proper, old school beat ‘em up game. With amazing 3D graphics (probably the best i’ve seen on the iPhone) and fast and fun game play. A must have for fans of fighting games.

Download Kroll

10. Chess Classics

It’s basically just a chess game. If you like chess and want it on your iPhone, look no further. It looks good, with a choice of 2D and 3D boards and different themes. You can play in 2 player mode which is nice and as i’ve not played chess for years I found the tutorials helpful.

Download Chess Classics

11. iKick

Simple but fun game where the aim is to keep the ball in the air for as long as possible. Virtual keepy uppys!

Download iKick

12. Asphalt 4 Elite Racing

I loved this game so much that I wrote an entire post about it. I still love it, it’s a better game than Crash Bandicoot Nitro Cart but slightly less fun!

Download Asphalt 4 Elite Racing

13. PapiJump

A simple jumping game but very addictive.

Download PapiJump

14. Vegas Pool Sharks

Easily the best pool game for the iPhone (there are quite a few!). Let down by slightly poor graphics and controls which are quite hard at first, but once you get used to them it’s a fun game and a welcome addition.

Download Vegas Pool Sharks

15. Cro-Mag Rally

Another amazing iPhone game and it’s another racing game! Great graphics yet again and excellent use of the accelerometer to control.

Download Cro-Mag Rally

16. Cubes

Addictive 3D blog puzzle game.

Download Cubes

17. Enigmo

A very intriguing puzzle game where you direct droplets of water, oil and lava around the walls of the puzzle. It’s more intelligent than the other puzzle games in this list but just as addictive.

Download Enigmo

18. Tanzen

iPhone interpretation of the classic tangram puzzle game. Basically you have 7 geometric shapes to fit into a larger shape, almost like a jigsaw.

Download Tanzen

19. Labyrinth

Version of the classic wooden, ball bearing game. Tilt the iPod to guild a metal ball around various levels.

Download Labyrinth

20. Star Wars - The Force Unleashed

If you love Star Wars you will love this. To be honest it’s not the best game of it’s type, but it’s great to get official titles like this for the iPhone and the fans will love it.

Download Star Wars

Post from: thoughts & ponderings about web design, life & other stuff....

Dropbox Now Public! - Simple Cross Platform Syncing

Shaun — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 21:01:26 +0000

Apologies for the lack of posts around here lately, I’ve been struggling to keep up with the real work!There are quite a few articles in draft at the moment which should be posted soon.

Gone Public

For now though I just thought I would mention that a great service that i’ve been using for a while has just come out of beta and gone public. Dropbox

I’ve tried countless ways to keep information synced between my 3 Macs (and until a year or so ago a PC as well) and they’ve all failed in various ways. Until Dropbox came along and saved my life!

It’s features include

Sync files/folders between PC, Mac & Linux.
Simple drag and drop into designated folders.
Changes are instantly and automatically sent to any other computer linked to your Dropbox.
Web interface to allow access to your files from anywhere in the world.
Set up shared folders and choose who has access, great for collaborating on projects.
Even allow access to non Dropbox users with a public folder!
Share folders with family & friends

Best of all it’s 100% free, very fast, very stable and it just works.

If you have more than one computer and would like to keep the same information in sync then Dropbox could be just what you need!

Post from: thoughts & ponderings about web design, life & other stuff....

Asphalt 4 Elite Racing - iPhone Gaming At It’s Best

Shaun — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 17:03:01 +0000

I don’t really play many games, I don’t have any consoles anymore and although I have plenty of games installed on my Mac I never actually play them.

It’s been the same with my iPhone, I have installed many games from The App Store, both free and paid for but have never really given any of them much of a chance except Super MonkeyBall which I love.

Today I played Asphalt 4: Elite Racing and was totally blown away by it! It really is stunning!

Amazing Graphics & Sound!

The graphics are fantastic, really not far off what i’ve seen of PSP and Nintendo DS games, for a phone it’s unbelievable. The sound is great as well, it really feels like a proper gaming experience.

Fully Licensed Brands!

I was really impressed that the cars are fully licensed, allowing you to get drive real models from BMW, Aston Martin, Lotus and Ferrari and bikes from Kawasaki and Ducati.

The different cities also look great, there are 9 in total including Shanghai, Paris and Dubai.

Game play

It’s all very well looking and sounding great, but the very best thing about Asphalt 4: Elite Racing is the game play. Driving games are perfectly suited to the iPhones accelerometer but this is even better than the others i’ve tried. It’s really easy to control and loads of fun.

Multi Player

Another great feature is multiplayer over wi-fi! I havn’t had chance to test it yet but i’m glad it’s available and intend on doing so soon.

I would give it a 9/10 and highly recommend it.

Purchase Asphalt 4: Elite Racing

(Opens iTunes)

Asphalt 4: Elite Racing - Demonstration

Post from: thoughts & ponderings about web design, life & other stuff....

Your iPhone 3G Questions Answered!

Shaun — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 21:51:55 +0000

This site seems to have become an unofficial iPhone 3G blog, it was never intended to be. But as it’s what the readers clearly want and it’s a subject I enjoy writing about I don’t have any problems writing yet another iPhone post ;)

Lots Of Questions!

The site is still the top placed ranking in Google for the term ‘iPhone 3G Apps’ and ‘Custom iPhone 3G Ringtones’ but that’s not all people are searching for to find the site. Upon checking my sites log file I found that there were 7000+ different search terms users had typed into Google to find this site!

Many of them were variations of the ringtones and apps searches but many others were asking questions that are not yet answered here.

So I figured I might as well answer them for you! All of the following are genuine questions that users have typed into Google to find this site.

1. How Do I Get/Make Free Ringtones For iPhone 3G

This has been covered in depth on the blog already! See these two posts ‘Create FREE Custom iPhone 3G Ringtones‘ and ‘3 Ways To Get iPhone 3G Ringtones‘

2. Can I Use My iPhone 3G As A Sat Nav?

As the iPhone has full GPS is it perfectly capable of being a sat-nav device. You could use it to an extent with Google Maps but of course it won’t speak to you. The popular sat-nav makers TomTom are said to be developing an app for the iPhone 3G at the moment which should be great.

3. What’s The Best iPhone GTD (Getting Things Done) App?

I have been a follower of David Allen’s ‘Getting Things Done’ program for a few years now. I have tried all the the various GTD apps for Mac.

Things

I love Things for Mac OSX and the iPhone App is just as good.. Now that the two sync together it is my GTD app of choice. It’s use of tags allows it to function as in a GTD system (though some purists don’t like it) but the tagging also makes it even more powerful than a strict GTD app such as…

OmniFocus

OmniFocus is also a great app, although both the iPhone and desktop apps are a lot more expensive than Things.

It does have some amazing features such as it’s location awareness which is fantastic. You can set different lists to appear when you arrive at various locations. Maybe a shopping list when you arrive at a specific store or a to-do list of things to do at the office!

It’s a tough decision choosing between OmniFocus and Things. The best idea if you have never used either is to try Things first as the desktop version is free at the moment and the iPhone app half the price of OmniFocus.

4. How Do I Transfer Files Via Bluetooth With iPhone 3G?

Prepare for a shock. You can’t!

I know, amazing isn’t it? As I mentioned in this post soon after the launch of the iPhone 3G I just can’t believe Apple won’t allow this feature which practically every other phone on the market can do. The phone has full bluetooth capabilities as bluetooth headsets works perfectly.

I think Apple expects us to email everything, which is great, except that most people without iPhones don’t have their phones set up for email (if they even support it at all)

5. How Can I Transfer Files To iPhone 3G/Store Files On iPhone

As there is no bluetooth the best way would be to use an app. There are 2 great choices if you use a Mac. FileMagnet and Datacase.

If you use a PC you’ll have to go with Datacase because Filemagnet is Mac only.

Both are excellent apps which allow the transferring and viewing of various file formats from your iPhone. Datacase effectively turns your iPhone into a portable storage device.

6. What’s The Best iPhone 3G RSS Reader?

I’m a big fan of NetNewWire as I use the desktop version on all of my Macs and they all stay in sync, so being able to use my iPhone to read and sync the same feeds is great.

7. How Do I Take a Screenshot With My iPhone 3G?

Hold down HOME button (middle button on front), then quickly press the SLEEP/WAKE button on the top right of the phone. You’ll see a quick white ‘flash’. This confirms the screenshot was taken.

They are then available to view/send from your Camera Roll in Photos.

8. How Can I Change My iPhone 3G SMS Text alert?

Unfortunately you can’t, at least not without jailbreaking your iphone.

9. What Does Jailbreaking Mean?

Jailbreaking is effectively hacking your iPhone. It allows you to install a large number of apps and addons which Apple don’t allow. It’s not a good idea as future Apple updates can cause problems and even break jailbroken phones.

Many people felt they had to jailbreak the first version iPhone as it lacked too many features. Now with Apple allowing 3rd party apps from The App Store the need to jailbreak is much less.

10. How Do I Foward Texts With My iPhone 3G?

Again this is a feature the iPhone is still lacking. You can get third party apps such as iSMS which allows you to do it but they require jailbreaking your phone. Hopefully a genuine app will appear in The App Store soon which allows this feature.

Any more?

If you have any more questions, feel free to post them in the comments and I will try to answer them, probably other readers will too. If there is enough questions, i’ll maybe post another article like this one.

Post from: thoughts & ponderings about web design, life & other stuff....

Things Now Syncs Between iPhone & Mac

Shaun — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 12:03:19 +0000

Things has been my favourite Task Management app for a long time, after previously loving OmniFocus.

When I got my iPhone 3G the very first thing I did was purchase Things App for it. Imagine my disappointment when I learned that it was not yet capable of syncing lists with the desktop version. This effectively rendered it useless as there was no way I was going to have two versions of my list and edit them manually.

Things Updated

Yesterday the Things iPhone app update finally arrived and syncing is now supported. Not only is it supported, but it’s brilliant! It syncs over wi-fi and is amazingly fast. All you need to do is have both the iPhone app and desktop app open and they will instantly sync.

This means that I can now add things to do throughout the day on my iPhone and automatically sync them with my MacBook when I get home.

I love it!

Buy It Now And Save Money!

Things for OSX is currently free, when the final version is released it will cost $39.99 (£20) you can download it here.

Things for iPhone is currently $9.99 in the US App Store and £5.99 in the UK store. The developers say that this is an introductory price and it will be increased as more features are added. You can download Things for iPhone from here.

Post from: thoughts & ponderings about web design, life & other stuff....

iPhone 2.0.2 Update - Big Improvements?

Shaun — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 09:57:51 +0000

I was a little cautious when I saw the 2.0.2 update, i’ve started to think it’s not a good idea to be an early adopter of new updates/services anymore. However my curiosity got the better of me so I allowed iTunes to download the 250mb update.

Bug Fixes?

The update adds no new features and all Apple had to say on the matter was that it contained ‘bug fixes’

I’m happy to report that is does actually seem an improvement. In the 10 hours or so since I updated, my iPhone really does seem to be faster with smoother transitions between screens and a better 3G signal all round.

Most importantly, they seem to have finally fixed the typing lag!

For anybody wondering whether they should update now or wait, I think this time it’s safe to go now!

Post from: thoughts & ponderings about web design, life & other stuff....

iPhone Sync Slow? Disable Slow Backup Process!

Shaun — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 17:23:43 +0000

You’ve probably realised by now that it’s not a good idea to sync your iPhone if you’re in a hurray.

Every time you sync your iPhone after adding or removing any Apps/games it will make a full image backup which can take a very long time. The more Apps you add to your iPhone the longer it will take!

Of course the backup is important, if your iPhone is ever corrupt you will need a backup to restore your data. But if you don’t mind taking the risk, or you don’t care if you lose your data in the event of a problem it is possible to stop the backups happening.

Personally I have stopped them but will occasionally turn it back on. So if the worst happens I will at least be able to restore my phone to how it was a week or so ago. Here’s how to do it on a Mac, sorry I don’t know how to do it on PCs yet.

1. Make sure iTunes is not running

2. Open Terminal.app (Applications/Utilities)

3. Enter the following command

defaults write com.apple.iTunes DeviceBackupsDisabled -bool true

4. Open iTunes and connect iPhone

Your phone should now sync without performing the backup process.

If you want to turn it on again in future, in Terminal this time enter

defaults write com.apple.iTunes DeviceBackupsDisabled -bool false

If anybody knows how to do this for the PC please leave it in the comments as i’m sure many PC users would like to be able to turn backups off too!

Post from: thoughts & ponderings about web design, life & other stuff....

DataCase iPhone App - Turn Your iPhone Into A Wireless Drive!

Shaun — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 12:30:26 +0000

I’ve spent a long time testing out iPhone Apps since the launch of The App Store. I’ve previously made 2 posts listing my favourites ‘Top 10 Best iPhone 3G Apps‘ and ‘10 More Great iPhone 3G Apps‘

This time I couldn’t wait until I discovered another 9 great Apps, I had to post about DataCase now!

What Is DataCase?

Basically DataCase will turn your iPhone (or iPod Touch) into a wireless drive and file viewer!

It works for both Mac and PC, you don’t have to install anything on your desktop machine (unlike FileMagnet) your iPhone appears on your desktop just like any hard drive which you can drag and drop files into using Finder!

How Does DataCase Work?

DataCase works with any computer connected to a wireless network. You browse, view, upload and download files using Finder on a Mac or Windows Explorer on a PC. You can even save files to your iPhone using FTP!

DataCase even allows you to create multiple volumes to separate data.

Not Just A Wireless Drive!

DataCase is more than just a wireless drive, it’s also a great file viewer!

You can open and view various file formats which are otherwise unsupported on the iPhone. Such as Microsoft Office documents, text files, PDFs and various audio/video formats.

One of the best features for me is that when reading large documents it remembers your position if you leave and come back to it later. Making it ideal for reading e-books and other long documents over a period of time.

I’ve been using it for a week or so and it’s been very stable. At Just £3.99 ($7) it’s a bargain too and highly recommended!

Download DataCase

Watch DataCase Working

Download DataCase

Post from: thoughts & ponderings about web design, life & other stuff....

thoughts & ponderings about web design, life & other stuff....

Napster FREE Trial - 6 Million Tracks!

Napster is back, this time legally!

Honesty…

Don’t forget to cancel!

Most Commented Posts

Lost - Season 5 Trailer (New Footage)

Related Posts

Top 20 Best iPhone 3G Games!

1. Spore Origins

2. Real Football 2009

3. X-Plane 9

4. Hanoi Plus

5. Crash Bandicoot Nitro Cart 3D

6. Texas Hold Em

7. Chopper

8. Critter Crunch

9. Kroll

10. Chess Classics

11. iKick

12. Asphalt 4 Elite Racing

13. PapiJump

14. Vegas Pool Sharks

15. Cro-Mag Rally

16. Cubes

17. Enigmo

18. Tanzen

19. Labyrinth

20. Star Wars - The Force Unleashed

Related Posts

Dropbox Now Public! - Simple Cross Platform Syncing

Gone Public

Related Posts

Asphalt 4 Elite Racing - iPhone Gaming At It’s Best

Amazing Graphics & Sound!

Fully Licensed Brands!

Game play

Multi Player

Asphalt 4: Elite Racing - Demonstration

Related Posts

Your iPhone 3G Questions Answered!

Lots Of Questions!

1. How Do I Get/Make Free Ringtones For iPhone 3G

2. Can I Use My iPhone 3G As A Sat Nav?

3. What’s The Best iPhone GTD (Getting Things Done) App?

Things

OmniFocus

4. How Do I Transfer Files Via Bluetooth With iPhone 3G?

5. How Can I Transfer Files To iPhone 3G/Store Files On iPhone

6. What’s The Best iPhone 3G RSS Reader?

7. How Do I Take a Screenshot With My iPhone 3G?

8. How Can I Change My iPhone 3G SMS Text alert?

9. What Does Jailbreaking Mean?

10. How Do I Foward Texts With My iPhone 3G?

Any more?

Related Posts

Things Now Syncs Between iPhone & Mac

Things Updated

Buy It Now And Save Money!

Related Posts

iPhone 2.0.2 Update - Big Improvements?

Bug Fixes?

Related Posts

iPhone Sync Slow? Disable Slow Backup Process!

1. Make sure iTunes is not running

2. Open Terminal.app (Applications/Utilities)

3. Enter the following command

4. Open iTunes and connect iPhone

Related Posts

DataCase iPhone App - Turn Your iPhone Into A Wireless Drive!

What Is DataCase?

How Does DataCase Work?

Not Just A Wireless Drive!

Watch DataCase Working

Related Posts