Santiago de Compostela, Daniel Fernandez // Nov 01, 2009

I’m sure it’s happened to everyone at some point.  You’re in the car or in a bar and you hear some some.  You realize you like the song and ask the obvious questions: whose song is this?  What group/artist plays it?

Midomi Music Identifier and Search ( Ultra), developed by Melodis Coporation, is an application that will help us get an answer to these questions. This is a program that recognizes songs and serves as a seeker of songs and artists.

Last year, I read about some similar software called Listen. I could not test it, so when Midomi appeared this year in the App Store, I thought I would have to give it a shot.  And, since we’re doing reviews of iPhone music applications, this one fits in perfectly!

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Brussels, Robin Bollen // Oct 31, 2009

This is the third music app, in our iPhone Music Creation Review series. The last 2 apps I really enjoyed, Star6 and Xewton Music Studio, are must haves for pro musicians. GrooveMaker Techno is just one in a long series of different GrooveMaker apps.

They have an edition for the following genres; Techno, Trance, Club, Electro and House. This review applies to all of them, just the grooves are different.

DJs and music producers, keep on reading to learn how GrooveMaker for the iPhone can add value to your future productions!

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Brussels, Robin Bollen // Oct 29, 2009

UPDATE: Please, follow this link to read our latest article about the car kit.

Navigon AG has just released their specially designed Car Kit for the iPhone. The product was announced September 7 2009 on Facebook.

Navigon is competing with their product directly with TomTom, which has released earlier this month their Car Kit for the iPhone. The difference is that TomTom’s Car Kit has a GPS chip integrated in their solution. The price difference is quite big as well.

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Dracula : the Path of the Dragon will be hitting the iPhone this fall.

In this thrilling game you will live a fearsome adventure between myth and reality, science and history, medicine and superstition. And prepare to have your certainties about Vampires shaken!

In Dracula: the Path of the Dragon for the iPhone you play as Father Arno Moriani, who is sent to investigate a potential candidate for sainthood in Transylvania. Submerged into a riveting storyline, you are challenged to solve complex and engaging puzzles that lead to a final confrontation with Dracula! This gripping adventure sucks you in and leaves you “dying” for more.

The year is 1920. You begin your investigation of Dr. Martha Calugarul in the village of Vladoviste, half-destroyed in World War I. On the hillside sits the Castle of Twilight, the famed home of Vlad the Impaler.

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Brussels, Robin Bollen // Oct 28

This is the second in our series of Music App reviews. Just recently I got interested in the Xewton Music Studio app. I remember the old days when I played around with synths / sequencers together with Mark. They have always intrigued me. I wanted to have the Yamaha DX5 when I was younger, but my parents did not let me because of the high price. Although they did not mind buying a piano and violin for my sister. Maybe they just did not take my musical interest very serious.

This application is not targeted to DJs like our last review of Star6, but more to musicians and music composers, yes I know that DJs are also considered musicians nowadays and sometimes earn even more.

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Brussels, Robin Bollen // Oct 27

Navigon AG just released the eagerly awaiting 1.3.0 version of their popular GPS app, MobileNavigator. Why are we so excited? Because they have included traffic info via an “In App” purchase.

Start your download, and once installed go to Menu > More > Extras, to buy the feature. It is a pity that I cannot show it to you, because I have the Europe Edition, and this is still in version 1.2.0. Bummer. Anyway it is on the way because it has been submitted already to Apple on the 15th this month.

We have covered this new Traffic Live service already here

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Brussels, Robin Bollen // Oct 27

The iPhone is popping up in the music scene more and more. Since the apps become of better quality and originality, the iPhone is becoming a real (live) tool for DJs and music creators.

I am going to create a series of reviews of Music creation apps and because they are a bit more expensive, it is better to read about it before spending your money.

I have some musical background, my family always created music, and I played guitar for 6 years. Unfortunately I do not have the time anymore but for the iPhone reviews I have, just a matter of preference nowadays.

Let us start with the “amazing” music tool called Star6.

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NY, Tony Karakashian // Oct 20, 2009.

One of the first things I installed when I got my phone was the e-book reader, Stanza. As an avid reader, I was glad to be able to have books with me at all times when I could just pop in to read a couple of pages here and there. Recently, Amazon released a Kindle app that allows iPhoners to read e-books that are published in that format. They’ve also recently purchased Stanza, so it’ll be interesting to see where that leads.

I had installed Kindle when it came out, but didn’t have any books for it as I’m cheap and like ‘em free. Recently, however, there was a promotion where you could get “The Templar Legacy” for free for either a standalone Kindle or the app. Having a book I could read gave me the ability to compare and contrast the two readers.

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NY, Tony Karakashian // Oct 19, 2009.

In a move sure to make sure you’ll never have an iPhone on their network, Verizon has a new commercial for their Google Android-based phone that attacks Apple’s technology offering.

Apparently, Verizon just completed reading “How To Win Friends And Influence People”. I’m most interested to how Apple responds to this ad. I’m sure it’s going to raise some hackles, but Apple really has no one to blame but themselves. These ARE valid, persistent limitations of the platform. People have been pointing them out and complaining about them since the first release.

For the most part, Apple’s response has been “meh”. The only time, for example, they put any effort into addressing complaints of developers in regard to the AppStore was when the FTC investigated their rejection of the Google Voice app. Complaints from customers and developers got no results.

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Brussels, Robin Bollen // Oct 17

I have reviewed the new iPhone GPS application Ndrive, and on request compared it with Navigon Mobile Navigator. Portuguese based company NDrive Navigation System is conquering the world (it is historically in their blood I guess), there is not one GPS app that is present in so many countries. They released already 31 Editions and will release an edition for every country where the iPhone is sold.

They have a clear strategy, conquer the app store by entering at a low price and [update 1] lifetime free map updates, Ndrive provided this info about the map updates of their product: Users receive a lifetime license to the latest maps. It means that the license applies to the latest version of the maps (IE, Tele Atlas Summer 2009, for life - as opposed to older maps or limited license life), but not to updates.

I have used the app all the time since it has been released and have contact with the company which provided with me extra information and good support. Navigon is one of the most popular apps at the moment and let’s see if this more expensive price tag can justify itself against newcomer Ndrive.

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