Click to listen to latest episode of the Today in iPhone Podcast

Links Mentioned in this Episode:

Analyst: 17% of Verizon Customers Waiting for iPhone - Mac Rumors

Wal-Mart slashes iPhone 3GS price to $97 - May. 24, 2010

Technology News: iPhone: Apple Consigns iPhone 3GS to Wal-Mart's Bargain Basement

Holman Jenkins: Apple's Second Date with History - WSJ.com

Nerd Alert! The iPhone 3G Is Dead To You And Me | Complex Blog

Report: 30% of netbook shoppers bought an iPad

Tii Post on Retrevo from Feb.

Apple makes iPhone dev deal -- with Microsoft? - Computerworld Blogs

YouTube - How Steve Jobs Beat Death

YouTube - Apple - Newton - Restaurant

Man arrested for shooting at car of iPhone theives - Boing Boing

Microsoft debunks rumor of Ballmer appearance at WWDC

AT&T Claims 40% of iPhone Sales Made to Business Customers - Mac Rumors

AT&T: 40 percent of iPhone sales are enterprise -- Engadget

Mac News: An iPhone for Verizon and Sprint: Dream On

NBC, TBS & Others Say No To iPad | Shelly Palmer

Apple iPad Launches Internationally, the Crowd Goes Wild

AT&T to offer iPhone insurance for $13.99/mo « Boy Genius Report

Bing to take over iPhone/iPad/iPod touch search? | 9 to 5 Mac

Apple To Face Regulatory Probe Over iAd Mobile Ad Product - ClickZ

Apps Mentioned in this Episode:

Tii App
Glow Doodle
Wolfram Alpha
QStatus
Whistle Phone
Angry Birds
Activator - Cydia
Top 100 by Year by Bing
AppAdvice
WiFi Sync - Cydia


BlueTooth Headsets Mentioned in this Episode:
Altec Lansing BT headset
Direct download: tii_0132.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 2:06am EDT
Comments[0]


Click to listen to latest episode of the Today in iPhone Podcast

Links Mentioned in this Episode:

Isle of Man - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mr. Cond Free for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad on the iTunes App Store

Leak backs new iPhone's 960x640 screen | Electronista

[Apple] Fanboyism *

Apple has no "Marketing Danger" | ZDNet UK

Report: Specs on Next Apple iPhone | AllThingsD


iPad Already Taking Away iPod Sales


iPad JB Compability - Google Docs

Bogus App Review Site responds to my post


iPad app fatigue: Is it happening to you? | Crave - CNET

iPod Touch rumors from Vietnam

Apple reverses no-cash iPad policy | MacNN

ATandT May Support Tethering on Apple iPhone OS 4 - eWeek

What a free iPad bought Apple - Apple 2.0 - Fortune Tech

AppleInsider | Apple's iPad believed to be outselling Macs in the US


Brits vote iPhone 8th greatest invention -  Fortune Tech


Don't even think about bringing your iPad to a Yankee game  - Yahoo! Sports


AT&T To iPhone Users: Leave Early, Pay Dearly - PCWorld

hackulo.us announces first official application - Installous! - Hackulous


Sayonara, iPhone: Why I'm Switching to Android - Newsweek.com


Got O.A.T.S.? - Organization for App Testing Standards


AppleInsider | Pictures of iPhone 4G with white front panel surface


Sprint to Also Get iPhone This Year? - Mac Rumors


Sprint iPhone 4G Also Coming this Year, Confirms a Best Buy Employee | Redmond Pie

Is mounting your Apple iPad on a steering wheel safe? -  USATODAY.com



Apps Mentioned in this Episode:

Tii App

Mr. Cond
We Rule Red

1stVideo

CO-Pilot HD

Whistle Phone

Rock - Cydia

PKGBackup - Cydia

Shazam

UrgentPic



BlueTooth Headsets Mentioned in this Episode:

Plantronics 855 Voyager

BlueAnt Q1 

Jawbone - iCon

Jabra 530



Direct download: tii_0131.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 2:03am EDT
Comments[1]

Below is an email from the person running the App review site that offers up Paid App reviews in iTunes we talked about / exposed in this post.   His email is in Blue my comments are in Black.  If you have not read the original post - please do so now.  


Dear Rob Walch,

I've just read your article re YAR

As you can easily imagine, I'm very surprised and upset by this smear campaign against our company. 

I call it an awareness campaign and it is not against your company but rather it is for the endusers.  


The most disturbing is that your scenario is only based on assumptions.

Read the original article I give links to all the reviewers and list the apps they reviewed - That is not assumption that is fact.  The Assumption is that the App developers actually paid you - I have no proof of that - but what is not an assumption is that said reviewers from that article reviewed with 4 and 5 star reviews all the Apps I listed and for the most part only those apps listed. 

 

If I had to post a review on your report, I would put no more than 2 stars.

Then that would probably be the first 2 star review your company ever did.  I guess that would be considered progress. 


YES YAR offers developers to test their Apps by real users. YES developers pay for it. YES users are paid for performing their review.

What's wrong with that? 

To Start - Where is the Full and Fair disclosure?  There is no mention in the reviews that they are paid for. Not one of them says that. Any paid review system needs to have Full and Fair disclosure.   


User test is one of the key tools for any good marketing process. It has been part of the basics used by any marketing agency for decades. Have you never used such services inside or outside your company? It's quite normal when you launch a new product to ask real users whether or not your product is responding to their expectations, whether or not they understand how to use it, whether or not they find the interface intuitive... And the most important is that, if they don't appreciate it, they can advise about the areas for improvement.

Yes and that is done in private without posting up reviews to a public site where said product is available for sale.  And it is never done where a person is paid for doing a review does not fully disclose said relationship with the company. I don't think you fully grasp the concept of full and fair disclosure.  But the FTC sure does. You might want to check into what they say. The fines can be pretty big.  


Why did you mainly find positive reviews? Our reviewers are free to give positive or negative feedback. However, If you had read our offer in more details, you would have seen that only positive reviews are automatically published. The negative reviews are forwarded to the developers to help them improve their Apps. They then decide if they want them published or not which explains why some of the Apps you've mentioned only have a couple of reviews even if our minimum package size is 5 reviews.

So they are paying for just positive App reviews in iTunes.  Are you essentially saying that some reviewers have ethics and give real reviews while others sugar coat things.  Because when I look at many of the Apps you appear to have reviewed and you take away all the reviews you did - you are left with lots of 1 and 2 star reviews. 

Take a look at the reviews for the App HealthCalcs.  Reviewers from your service gave 20 - 4 or 5 star reviews.  The App has a total of 26 reviews.  Of the other 6 reviews that do not appear to be involved with your service there are ZERO 4 or 5 star reviews - Zero as in nada, zip, none,  There is 1 - Three Star review, 2 - Two star reviews and 3 - One star reviews.  So your App reviewers which are doing "honest" reviews all thought the App was great.  And everyone else that was not being paid to review the App thought it sucked or at best one was in the middle at 3 stars.  Hmmmmm. What are the statistical possibilities on that one. 

The assertion that they/you are doing "Honest" reviews is laughable IMO. Well unless you were someone that purchased one of the apps mentioned and then you probably were not laughing.  Now in fairness - because we are all about fairness - one of the apps I mentioned in the original post did have some 4 and 5 star reviews from those outside your group. Sadly now however all reviews look suspect from the consumers perspective. 


NO, YAR doesn't sell positive reviews. 

Sure seems like you do.  


We offer to the App developers a chance to see their App tested by real users in the sole purpose of having a feedback. As I've said to you by email (04/29/10) "We are not posting fake reviews. Our reviewers are real iPhone and iPod users.  We don't pay them to post fake positive reviews but to give their honest opinion re Apps".

It's true that students are part of our reviewer team. For them it's a way of earning some dollars to finance their studies and we are proud of supporting them. As some of them don't own an iPad, they use one of ours and review the Apps using one of our iTunes accounts. That's why our accounts have multiple Apps reviewed which can sometimes be conflicting. Our customers are aware of it and have never complained about it. Our practice is perfectly honest and we have never tried to hide it. Yes some of our students seek the soul mate, some try hard to lose weight, some are marathon runners... and one of them has lost a loved one and has kindly accepted to test a relating App.

I am not saying that is Total BS - but come on.  Really your answer to why one reviewer reviewed a subliminal weight loss app and a Marathon App is that they are college students and don't have their own iPad?  Really - So what you are then saying is they are doing reviews for apps on a product they don't own - so then they are not real reviews by real users.  Well I bet that section looked good before you hit send.  But come on - They shared an iPad defense is a poor one at best.  Per the App with loss of a loved one either the Dev or Apple yanked that one from the App store. It was pretty slimy to include that app for review with your service.  But thanks to admitting that they paid for that one.  


I hope I have clarified our way to conduct business. I also hope you understand that your comments have been very hurtful for us but above all for our reviewers and our customers.

What is that old saying - Oh Yeah - The Truth Hurts. And as my Dad would say - Deal with it.


As a right of reply, I would appreciate to see this complete letter published on your blog (http://tii.libsyn.com) and I would like you to remove from your article the names of our reviewers and customers in order to prevent them to sue your company for libel.

It is not libel if it is true - Tell me one thing I said that is not true.  So simple answer NO!!!!!  Actually I have put up a second post here  with even more of the apps and reviewers you appear to be involved with.  And I am sure I will be adding more as you add more customers and reviewers.  Consumers have a right to know who appears to be paying for app reviews and who appears to be getting paid to do reviews. If all your reviews are so above board and legit - why not just post on your site who you do App reviews for and who is doing the reviews for you?  Until you do that there are my posts and others in the iPhone Podcasting and blogging space to help people out.   

 
Thanks in advance.

Sincerely, 
Alan Kane

Founder of YourAppReviewed

Alan thanks for taking the time to reply to my post and per your request - above is your complete email.  

Please feel free to send along more emails. 

Category:breaking news -- posted at: 12:09am EDT
Comments[4]


Click to listen to latest episode of the Today in iPhone Podcast

Links Mentioned in this Episode:

$9.99 iPhone App The “World’s Most Advanced Video Editing Suite” - Podcasting News



Apps Mentioned in this Episode:
Full Force - Cydia
5 Collumn Spring Board - Cydia
Five Rows - Cydia
Infiniboard - Cydia
Infinidock - Cydia
WiCarrier - Cydia

Direct download: artwork_ep130.JPG
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 1:10am EDT
Comments[0]

Well it has been almost 2 weeks since we broke the story on the 300 plus bogus app reviews in iTunes, who the App reviewers were and what apps were apparently paying for said reviews. It has been over 9 days since Apple replied they were reviewing. And sadly Apple has yet to take any action. 

That said - We will keep finding those that are doing paid app reviews and those apparently paying for said reviews and exposing them here. This way you know which reviewers not to trust and which apps not to buy.  Since the original story broke - Link to Original Post - There have been more reviewers and Apps reviewed. Here are the new ones:

Bogus App Reviewers: 


Apps Getting Bogus App Reviews:
Algebra Pro
Calculus Pro
Diet OK
HeartScan
Math Pro
Parabola
PosePad
Sound Memory Family
Statistics Pro
Tic Tac Toe - iPad Edition
Trig Pro

Don't forget to check out the original post for more Apps and App Reviewers that are part of this Bogus app review scam. 

Category:breaking news -- posted at: 10:32pm EDT
Comments[1]


Click to listen to latest episode of the Today in iPhone Podcast

Links Mentioned in this Episode:


Apps Mentioned in this Episode:
Recall
TVout2 - Cydia
Backgrounder - Cydia

Direct download: artwork_ep129.jpg
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 1:41am EDT
Comments[0]

Update 1:  This is for Jailbreaking - NOT for unlocking.  If you want to take your iPhone to another carrier (unlock) then this is not the tutorial for you.  

Note: This tutorial works for OS 3.1.3 and 3.1.2 for all iPhones and iPod Touches.  It also works for the iPad and OS 3.2.  This works if you are using iTunes 9.1.1 - but please note to make sure iTunes is shut down before running the jailbreak.  The Spirit jailbreak is a very very easy jailbreak and if you can download and open an app you can jailbreak your device. 

There are some very good articles on how to jailbreak but many miss a couple of steps that new jailbreakers need to know especially when it comes to using Cydia - the resource for finding and installing jailbroken apps.  This tutorial tries to help those first time jailbreakers.  If you are on an iPad regardless of your experience level read all the way through.  

Do not try to jailbreak if you don't like when things go to (expletive). If you need your device for your business and being without it for any period of time will cause you to loose your job - stop now.  If you get mad at your significant other at how they fold towels or put the toilet paper on a roll - Jailbreaking is probably not for your personality.  Sometimes things break and your device will likely crash more often then if it was not jailbroken. 


1. First you need to download the program Spirit.  Make sure to download to your desktop.  Download Spirit per the links below:

Windows (here)

Mac OS X (here)


Then Un-Zip the file once on your desktop.

You will then have the Application - Spirit - on your desktop.  Connect your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad to your computer.  Quit out of iTunes.  Then open the application Spirit.  You should see the following.


Next simply click on the button "Jailbreak" inside the Spirit application.  That is all you have to do to jailbreak.  After just a few seconds the application will say it is jailbroken.


Your device will need to reboot.  And when it does you will see it go to what looks like the beginning of a Dr. Who episode.  There is a status bar as it loads.  Once it finishes the load and reboot, your device should be jailbroken now. So what do you do next?  Well first thing is to find the Cydia App on your device.  It is brown with a white circle in it and says "Cydia" underneath.  See the image below. 



Tap to open it.  The program will do some maintenance the first time you open it. 



After it closes - you will need to reopen it.  The second time is the charm and you will be ready to go. 

Next you will be asked "Who Are You?"  If you are reading this article - then you are "User (Graphical Only)" - select that option. 



Per the screen - Welcome to Cydia.  



One App almost everyone will want and that works on the iPhone's, iPod Touch's and the iPad is the app Backgrounder.  This app allows true multitasking on your device and it is free.  To install this app Tap on "Search" in the bottom row of Cydia and then in the search box type "backgrounder"


Next Tap on "Backgrounder from BigBoss" the second one - not the one that says "(2.x only)"


Then Tap on "Install" in the upper Right corner


Then Tap on "Confirm" in the upper Right corner


At this point you have installed your first jailbroken App. It is recommended you open up Backgrounder and adjust some of the settings. 


First tap on "Global".  After you make your donation that is.  


Set all the switches to "ON".  Then go Tap "Back" and then Tap "Control"


Finally scroll through and select how you want to be able to enable and disable backgrounding for apps.  Personally I like the "Short Hold" of the Sleep Button.  It makes it very easy to enable and is not likely going to be enabled by accident.  

Thats it you are now jailbroken and have your first real jailbroken app running on your device.

Please understand sometimes installs of apps are interrupted - in which case you need to try and re-install.  Things are not as stable when you jailbreak - expect some additional crashes and conflicts between apps. 

Note: If you have an iPad - do not - repeat - do not - install Five icon dock - it will really mess up your iPad and you will need to restore it.  However that app works great on the iPhone and iPod Touch.  For iPad owners most apps at this point do not work.  

Jailbroken Apps that work on the iPad:

Backgrounder 
Veency
Safari Download Plugin
SBSettings
OpenSSH
MXTube
FakeLocation
Quicklock
Insomnia

If you come across more jailbroken apps that work on the iPad - please add them to the comments below. 

Category:breaking news -- posted at: 12:04am EDT
Comments[56]

Ep 129 is a little delayed as I am distracted with shinny things - ie Spirit jailbreak.  Working on a tutorial which should be up soon.  But here is a quick video of me jailbreaking my iPad.  Right now the only Jailbreak App I am using on the iPad is backgrounder as most others are not working or needed.  

Category:breaking news -- posted at: 10:11am EDT
Comments[1]

1

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