Insurance For iPhones

Dish Network subscribers will be able to stream live content to their iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch within a few months.  To be able to use the live streaming, though, subscribers will also need a SlingBox or a Dish high definition DVR with SlingBox support.  Once they have that and are connected, users will be able to stream content, change channels remotely, and watch shows that are already recorded on their SlingBox.

Without a second tuner card, users will have to watch the same channel on their TV as the one streaming to their devices.  This will definitely lead to some dispute over which channel to have Dish Network tuned to.

Since the streaming from Dish Network hasn’t officially happened yet, there’s not a lot of information to report.  I’m sure everyone will hear lots more about it the closer it gets to the time of release.

If you’re looking for a way to pick out a trail to hike, bike, or walk on, then here is the perfect app.  A new application from North Face has everything a hiker needs.  Whether you’re trying to figure out where you want to go or what to expect when you get there, this app is just for you.

If you’re a music geek like me, the NanoStudio app is just for you.  By now, everyone knows that the iPhone is much more than just a phone- it’s a music player, too.  With NanoStudio, your iPhone can be the ultimate music-maker.  It has synths, trigger pads, sequencers, samplers and lots of other things.  Best of all, it’s easy to use! 

This app is an actual recording studio that has 4 virtual analogue synths, 16 sampler trigger pads, a comprehensive sequencer, a sample editor, a mixer, and 10 effects units that are all integrated into a single application.  Another thing this amazing app allows is for you to record different samples using the iPhone’s built in microphone and then resample with the app’s own output or upload it to your computer.

This app is simple enough for a beginner to figure out, yet complex enough to entertain an expert, like the man on the video.  This app is a little pricey at $15, but if you ever think you might get a little more ambitious, it’s worth the money.

The makers of the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) website now have something new.  It’s an app for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad.  All the information you would look up on the IMDb website is available on the app.  You can see lists of cast members, actor credits, reviews from critics and other IMDb users, and more.  

The format for the mobile app is slightly different from the website.  By grouping things on the website into links that you can tap on, it’s easier to maneuver around the app.  On the iPhone and iPod touch, IMDb’s makers know that the amount of screen space is limited.  When you search for movies, instead of trying to fit the entire cast list onto a single screen, the IMDb app just lists the top billed actors.  From here, you can tap on their names to see what other movies they’ve appeared in or you can tap another link to get a full cast list on another screen.

The app is even easier to use on the iPad.  The app is different because with this one, when you tap on the link to see the entire cast list of a movie, it appears as a separate window on top of the main screen.  The same thing happens when you tap to show the pages for individual actors’ filmography.  This also shows up as a separate window, which gives you the information you want without making you to tap your way back to where you started. 

The IMDb app lets you view trailers.  The video player is built right into the app soo when you’re done watching the trailer, you go right back to the screen where you left off.  An IMDb button that is always shown lets you go right back to the app’s home page if you want quick access to the main menu of search categories.  This is nice because there are a lot of apps that would make you hunt to find your way back to the start.

Even though the iPod touch wasn’t designed to make phone calls, it may now be possible. People at Yosion have come up with Apple Peel 520. It’s powered by an Infineon baseband chip, and offers voice calling and text messaging services because it has a slot to fit a SIM card into it.  You’ll probably need to jailbreak your iPod Touch in order to get the necessary applications in.  Not only does the device allow you to make phone calls and send texts, it also doubles as an 800mAh battery that gives your iPod Touch an additional 4 1/2 hours of talk time or 120 hours of standby time.  The Apple Peel 520 should be available sometime this week from $44 to $74.  Some people are still skeptical about its authenticity though because there isn’t an official website or compatibility list released just yet.  Check out a video of the Apple Peel 520 here.

I have an update for you all about the free bumper cases for the iPhone 4 reception problems.  Apple has begun shipping them out as of today.  Customers who placed orders on July 16, the day Apple announced free bumpers, have received emails letting them know that they could get their free cases in the mail as early as August 3.  iPhone 4 owners who purchased their phone before July 23 can order a free case until August 22.  Those who purchased the phone after that date can get a free case until September 30. After September 30, Apple will re-evaluate the program to see if they still need to keep it going.

The iPhone 4 will be available in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Singapore, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland beginning on Friday, July 30.

The iPhone 4 is available now in France, Germany, Japan, the UK and the US for $199 USD for the 16GB model and $299 USD for the 32GB model.  The iPhone 4 will go out to many more countries later on this year.  Apple will announce availability and pricing for these additional countries at a later date.

One of the best ways to get a cheap hotel room is Priceline.com.  There’s now a new Priceline.com app for your iPhone and iPad makes getting the hotel easier, since you can name your own price in a few taps with this app.

According to an article, some testers of this app were traveling across the country on what they called the Great American Road Trip and they made a hotel reservation for the first night using the Priceline iPhone app and they got themselves a 3-star hotel for just $45. This was great news because their budget would be more flexible, but they had no idea how much it would help them until they tried to get a hotel room at their final stop near Mount Rushmore.  They tried to use the Priceline.com app to book their last night’s stay, but the only hotel they could find was a king-size jacuzzi room for $250.  

One of the testers said they’d still use the Priceline. com app, even though they had to pay $250 for the last night of their road trip.  If you do use the Priceline.com app for your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad, you will get $25 bonus bucks that will add $5 to the bid price of your next bid for up to five nights for the next time you book from the website.

MLB.com has an app called AtBat 2010 that won the Apple Design Award at the iPhone Developer Showcase in 2009.  This app allows you to access one live game each day of the regular season.  Also, anyone with an MLB.TV subscription can view a complete schedule of live games.  AtBat also lets you access gameday audio, pitch by pitch, in-game highlights and more.

AtBat 2010 was recently updated on July 12 and these great features have been added: 

The price seems to be the only thing customers don’t like about the app.  You have to pay a whopping $14.99 for it.  But, if you’re a die-hard fan, you’ll gladly pay that price to always know what’s happening in baseball any given day.

Texting while driving is illegal in over half of the 50 states in the US.  There’s a new app for your iPhone to keep you safe called Text’nDrive.  Although the name seems to make you think that this app will produce SMS messages, it actually composes and reads emails for you.

When you’re using this app, incoming emails get read aloud to you using a synthetic voice.  It reads aloud the sender’s name, the subject of the message, and the message itself. Sent emails are made as an audio recording of your voice which then gets sent through the email provider of your choice.  The application even knows when you’re done recording the email and it auto-forwards the email with the attached voice message.

And, with $20, you can get a version of the app that allows you to send and recieve texts, too. 

Even though this app will be convenient for those of you who are constantly on the go, using a cell phone while you are driving is dangerous.  Always be careful!