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iphone users

A Boy Named Seo
Dec 08 2010 12:14 PM

not sure how many there are here, but beware, I just upgraded to 4.2.1 and it erased all my voicemails older than 30 days. Very pissed at this. had a couple I really really did not want erased. trying to restore now, but wanted to give a heads up to anyone else. apparently this is what happens, i'm not the only one or anything.

TransMonk
Dec 08 2010 12:22 PM
Re: iphone users

Machines will fail. The system will fail.

Fman99
Dec 08 2010 12:22 PM
Re: iphone users

I jailbroke mine so I'm still running 4.0.something.

Sorry you lost your VM's from backpack girl, maybe she'll call you from the student union again someday.

A Boy Named Seo
Dec 08 2010 12:26 PM
Re: iphone users

Fman99 wrote:
I jailbroke mine so I'm still running 4.0.something.

Sorry you lost your VM's from backpack girl, maybe she'll call you from the student union again someday.


Any disadvantages you've found to running a jailbroken phone?

sad about backpack girl's lost vmails.... :'-(

themetfairy
Dec 08 2010 01:33 PM
Re: iphone users

I hat Apple and its "upgrades".

I hope you get the messages back seo!

A Boy Named Seo
Dec 08 2010 06:22 PM
Re: iphone users

Boom. Found that shit in backups and was able to extract em w/out blowing out my phone. Punk-ass apple bitches.

This thing + Time Machine proved to be awesome.

Fman99
Dec 08 2010 08:00 PM
Re: iphone users

A Boy Named Seo wrote:
I jailbroke mine so I'm still running 4.0.something.

Sorry you lost your VM's from backpack girl, maybe she'll call you from the student union again someday.


Any disadvantages you've found to running a jailbroken phone?

sad about backpack girl's lost vmails.... :'-(


Eh. I have a NES emulator and a bunch of ROMs on there and I can SSH into it and SFTP files to it. Some themes which are cool, too. All at the expense of battery life.

Since I never ever use iTunes it's no biggie. If I did a restore I wouldn't miss most of the jailbroken features.

seawolf17
Dec 09 2010 09:17 AM
Re: iphone users

Any good apps out there y'all can recommend? Just got an iPod Touch.

A Boy Named Seo
Dec 09 2010 11:54 AM
Re: iphone users

seawolf17 wrote:
Any good apps out there y'all can recommend? Just got an iPod Touch.


My can't-live-withouts are these:

FourTrack (digital 4-track recorder on your phone... not sure if it works on an iPod touch, but you're a musician, so you would dig this. $9.99)
Sirius
rdio
Hipstamatic (photo app, guessing no camera on an ipod touch...)

Other cool ones:

Angry Birds (seriously fun + addicting) - $.99
Scrabble (don't use it enough)
Google Earth
RunKeeper
Yelp... surprised how much I end up using this.
Flixter (great movie app)

seawolf17
Dec 09 2010 12:09 PM
Re: iphone users

FourTrack! Forgot about that one. My wife is an AngryBirds addict. I downloaded the free version to check it out.

I like Doodle Fit and Trainyard; tempted to get the full versions of both of those. Haven't gotten Scrabble yet; it interfaces with the FB app, right? Is it easy to connect? The reviews on iTunes are sketchy. I'm enjoying Words With Friends, though.

DLed the NY Times Crossword app, which is just awesome enough to get you addicted before they slap a $1.99 monthly charge on there. Very disappointed. Same with UNO Free.

The only app I splurged on is MorphWiz, which was created by the incredibly talented Jordan Rudess, the Dream Theater keyboardist. It's cool as hell, although I haven't actually used it for anything other than just noodling around and making noises. Someday I'll sit down with it and really learn it.

Love the PBS Kids photo app, which allows you to place Elmo, Grover, Super Why, et al into your photos. It's fun with the kiddoes.

A Boy Named Seo
Dec 09 2010 12:40 PM
Re: iphone users

Scrabble does interface w/ FB, yes. I've had no probs with it & it is easy to connect.

metirish
Dec 09 2010 04:27 PM
Re: iphone users

A word of warning for those with young kids that you might be letting play games on your device



http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/12 ... ref=iphone


Kids Go on Expensive Buying Sprees in iPhone Games

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: December 9, 2010


NEW YORK (AP) — "The Smurfs' Village," a game for the iPhone and other Apple gadgets, was released a month ago and quickly became the highest-grossing application in the iTunes store. Yet it's free to download.

So where does the money come from? Kelly Rummelhart of Gridley, Calif., has part of the answer. Her 4-year-old son was using her iPad to play the game and racked up $66.88 in charges on her credit card without knowing what he was doing.

Rummelhart had no idea that it was possible to buy things — buy them with real money — inside the game. In this case, her son bought one bushel and 11 buckets of "Smurfberries," tokens that speed up gameplay.

"Really, my biggest concern was them scratching the screen. Never in my wildest dreams did I think they would be charging things on it," the 36-year-old mother said.

She counts herself lucky that her son didn't start tapping on another purchase button, like the "wheelbarrow" of Smurfberries for $59.99.

Rummelhart joins a number of parents who have been horrified by purchases of Smurfberries and other virtual items in top App Store games. The 17 highest-rated comments on "The Smurfs' Village" in the App Store all complain about the high cost of the Smurfberries, and two commenters call it a "scam."

Apple introduced "in-app purchases" last year, letting developers use the iTunes billing system to sell items and add-ons in their games and applications.

This year, developers have started to use the system in earnest as the main revenue stream for many games. Of the 10 highest-grossing apps in the App Store, six are games that are free to download but allow in-app purchases. Four of those are easy, child-friendly games. Two of them, "Tap Zoo" and "Bakery Story," have buttons for in-app purchases of $100 in just two taps.

Capcom Entertainment Inc., the publisher of "The Smurfs' Village," says inadvertent purchases by children are "lamentable." When it realized what was happening, it added a warning about the option of in-app purchases to the game's description in the App Store, and it's updating the game to include warnings inside it as well. The game has retreated to being the fourth-highest-grossing app in the App Store.

The warnings may alert parents, but it's doubtful that they'd deter children who can't read and don't understand money. Also, the option to buy $59.99 worth of Smurfberries at a time remains. Capcom spokesman Michael Larson says "Smurfs" is no different from other games in this regard, and the bulk purchasing option is useful to adult "power players."

It's quite likely that most of the money pulled in by these games comes from addicted adults who want to quickly build their Smurf villages, bakeries, zoos and zombie farms. But there's a loophole in the in-app purchase process that children stick their fingers through.

Usually, the purchases require the owner of the device to enter his or her iTunes password. But there is no password challenge if the owner has entered the password in the last 15 minutes for any reason. That means that if a user enters the password for a purchase or a free app upgrade, then hands the phone or iPad over to a kid, the child will not be stopped by a password prompt.

Capcom and other game publishers have no control over the 15-minute password-free period, which is set by Apple.

Apple defends its system. Spokeswoman Trudy Muller says the password system is adequate and points out that parents can restrict in-app purchases. The parents contacted for the story received refunds from Apple after complaining, and praised the company's responsiveness.

However, there's reason to believe that the password timeout doesn't always work.

Andrew Butterworth of Brooklin, Ontario, was well aware of how in-app purchases work and of the password-free period. He was careful to let at least 15 minutes pass after a password entry before letting his 5-year-old son play with his iPod Touch. That didn't help, once he'd loaded "The Smurfs' Village."

"He came to me all proud and said he'd figured out a way to get all these Smurfberries," Butterworth says. "And as soon as I saw the Smurfberries, I knew that he'd purchased them using my credit card. I was amazed that he'd figured out a way to do it, because I was sure that he would have needed my password."

He had last entered his password on the iPod four or five hours earlier, he said. His son's shopping spree cost $140.

Chris Gropp, another Canadian, said he had not entered his iTunes password the same day his son bought $67 in Smurfberries, apparently without being asked for the password.

TeamLava LLC, the publisher of "Bakery Story" and "Farm Story," says the games follow all of Apple's rules and restrictions. In either game, it's possible to buy $99.99 worth of "gems" in one go.

The game publishers and Apple point out that device owners can turn off the option to conduct in-app purchases by going to the Settings app, then hitting the General button, then the Restrictions option. The parents contacted for the story had done so after being alerted to the purchases through their iTunes billing statements.

Butterworth was pleased with the refund, but still thinks "Smurfs" is a "scam."

"They make it a ridiculously difficult game to play, and you can skip all the difficult parts by spending money," he said. "I believe that they know exactly what's going on."

Fman99
Dec 10 2010 08:25 AM
Re: iphone users

A word of warning for those with young kids that you might be letting play games on your device

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/12 ... ref=iphone

Kids Go on Expensive Buying Sprees in iPhone Games

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: December 9, 2010

NEW YORK (AP) — "The Smurfs' Village," a game for the iPhone and other Apple gadgets, was released a month ago and quickly became the highest-grossing application in the iTunes store. Yet it's free to download.

So where does the money come from? Kelly Rummelhart of Gridley, Calif., has part of the answer. Her 4-year-old son was using her iPad to play the game and racked up $66.88 in charges on her credit card without knowing what he was doing.

Rummelhart had no idea that it was possible to buy things — buy them with real money — inside the game. In this case, her son bought one bushel and 11 buckets of "Smurfberries," tokens that speed up gameplay.

"Really, my biggest concern was them scratching the screen. Never in my wildest dreams did I think they would be charging things on it," the 36-year-old mother said.

She counts herself lucky that her son didn't start tapping on another purchase button, like the "wheelbarrow" of Smurfberries for $59.99.

Rummelhart joins a number of parents who have been horrified by purchases of Smurfberries and other virtual items in top App Store games. The 17 highest-rated comments on "The Smurfs' Village" in the App Store all complain about the high cost of the Smurfberries, and two commenters call it a "scam."


I blame the Democrats! Five years ago you could get Smurfberries for practically nothing, assuming you could avoid that pesky Gargamel.

batmagadanleadoff
Dec 10 2010 08:30 AM
Re: iphone users

metirish wrote:
A word of warning for those with young kids that you might be letting play games on your device



http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/12 ... ref=iphone


Kids Go on Expensive Buying Sprees in iPhone Games

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: December 9, 2010



I get the part about the kids buying the perks. Kids are kids, after all. But let me get this straight: There are adults out there plunking down $60.00 bucks to improve their game scores ... to move their thingy around the board quicker? I wish I knew how to develop those programs. I have ideas.

The Second Spitter
Mar 30 2011 03:52 AM
Re: iphone users

I'm getting a ton of fun out of the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney app ( and before anybody rags on me, yes I am well-aware it's a "game").

You don't really have to be a lawyer to enjoy it -- solving cases involves more common sense than anything else.

metirish
Mar 30 2011 07:35 AM
Re: iphone users

is that the game where you get the beat the shit out of lawyers?