The Tech Bench

iGorilla is an app “dedicated to supporting the plight of Africa’s endangered mountain gorilla.”

This $4 app allows you to follow the lives of gorilla families in the Virunga National Park and stay up to date with videos and written reports.

This app is a great example of how organizations can use the App Store to build awareness and help those that provide donations (via the purchase) to feel more connected to the cause.

[ iGorilla ]

As Apple has become increasingly popular, so has the backlash against some of Apple’s restrictive practices. While this argument is getting new exposure in the ongoing Google (Android versus iPhone) spat, this has been going on since Apple’s inception.

It used to be (and still is in many ways) that Microsoft was the one that labeled Apple as a closed, restrictive platform. Although not an early proponent of open-source (read cheaper) software, Microsoft was quick to claim freedom of hardware and software choice as it’s main selling point.

So if Apple is a closed, restrictive platform why is it that Apple has become so popular?

It’s the user experience.

Apple wants the user experience to be the best that it can be. Secure, clean, focused, easy to use, and reliable. Quality over quantity. One really good chef’s knife, not a swiss army knife filled with a bunch of sub-par tools.

Great restaurants usually specialize in a specific cuisine, if you want ultimate freedom of choice, you’ll have to settle for Home Town Buffet.

Apple’s iPhone requires that developers meet not only technical requirements (secure, stable apps) but also moral (no porn) and non-compete (no FireFox) guidelines. What they give in return is arguably the best overall smartphone experience.

Google pretty much allows any handset maker to use Android as they will in their phones. The segmentation of user interfaces, non-upgradable software versions and non-centralized app store has hurt the overall customer experience. What customer’s get in return is more freedom of hardware configuration, multiple carriers and less restrictive app selection.

Apple is working on a more robust rating system (to allow for more adult apps) and is starting to allow more potentially completive apps (browsers, VOIPs and mail clients) into the app store. Google is trying to rein in Android by putting out phones like the Nexus One that deliver a more focused, Apple-like experience to Android.

While both Apple and Google may come a little closer together in terms of openness and experience, their philosophical differences (and current successes) will probably keep them on different ends of the spectrum.

What I find funny is that it looks like Microsoft may be the one running up the middle. Microsoft has finally begun to recognize Apple’s success with the iPhone and App Store. Windows 7 mobile looks to be more focused and selective while still partnering with different hardware vendors.

I for one can’t wait to see what cool new phones and technology come out of this tug of war.

If we can download a movie from iTunes, why can’t we download Snow Leopard?

In the past, the two main obstacles for downloading full versions of an OS were piracy concerns and bandwidth requirements.

As Apple has successfully demonstrated with HD movie rentals, these are both already overcome. HD movie rentals are 3+ GB downloads and the Apple DRM is pretty hard to crack. At 6.74 GB, Snow Leopard would be a big download, but still very doable for users with high-speed internet.

Pros for Legal OS Downloads

Easy to buy. Instant gratification. Don’t need a working DVD drive (MacBook Air and problematic SuperDrives.) Save on packaging and shipping costs.

Cons for Legal OS Downloads

Hard to do a clean install (could be overcome with net enabled EFI or the option to backup to a disk.) Apple’s bandwidth cost for serving up the downloads (made up for in packaging and shipping costs?) Box retailers won’t get a cut of the profit (this could also be a pro:)

While there is still value in the actual disks to some users, adding a download option would make upgrading the OS faster, easier and greener.

As the App Store continues to take off and bandwidth continues to get faster, I’d say there’s a good chance that we’ll see 10.7 offered as a legal download.

Version 3.1 of the iPod Touch software is now available.

This version adds iTunes 9 functionality including Genius Mixes and App Store recommendations.

The update is a free upgrade if you have 3.0 installed on your iPod Touch or $4.95 to upgrade for an older version.

To see what version your iPod Touch is running, you can go to Settings>General>About

[ Download the update ] [ Learn more about 3.1 for the iPod Touch ]

Apple’s closed ecosystem and tight controls over their products has always been both their greatest asset and biggest liability.

With Google apps (Latitude and Voice) getting rejected from the app store because they duplicate features on the phone, the press and users seem to be lining up against Apple. Keeping a baby shaking app out of the App store is fine but removing Google apps because they could compete with Apple is going too far.

Apple is in a great position with the iPhone. They are building the critical mass needed to become the “Google” of smartphones, but they’re not there yet. By allowing competing apps from Google and even other web browsers like Opera, to come to the iPhone, they’re keeping the development on the Apple platform. These are good apps, by big companies, that provide features users want.

If Apple alienates these devs, they’ll leave, and it will only benefit the other mobile platforms. I say bring them into the fold and encourage these companies to bring their apps to the iPhone.

Some iPhone users may prefer Opera to Safari, but they at least they won’t switch to a Blackberry.

Salesforce is a successful CRM suite used by some of the biggest names in business.

They’ve been a pioneer in cloud computing and have embraced mobile by developing apps for the iPhone, Blackberry and Windows Mobile.

The free Salesforce Mobile app from the Apple App Store was one of the first enterprise business iPhone apps and has been getting better and better with each upgrade.

If you use Salesforce at your Job, and you’re lucky enough to have an IT dept. that supports the iPhone, this app is a must get.

While it lacks some of the functionality of the full website, the interface is fast and easy to use.

Here’s my only gripe:

Attn: Salesforce, “You make software. Loose the Ghost Buster anti-software logo already!”

Assassin's Creed for the iPhone & Touch

While the iPhone/Touch have the ability to run ports of mainstream console games, simple and cheap games like Bejeweled still seem to be the most popular and fun to play.

Assassin’s Creed Altair’s Chronicles aims to change that.

With a free trial and a full version price of $4.99, the title is appropriately priced for the App Store.

The graphics are sharp and the gameplay is smooth. The cutscenes look awesome on the iPhone (pictured) and the gameplay utilizes the touch interface well.

Assassin’s Creed has some of the Prince of Persia gameplay that requires precise control to keep your character from falling off of beams, etc. While I still prefer the tactile feedback of a hardware controller, the touch controls on this game are very well done.

If you haven’t plaid a third person action game on the iPhone or want a game that’s a little more in depth, this free demo is worth checking out.

[ Assassin's Creed Altair's Chronicles ] Rated 12+

Barnes & Noble has released a free iPhone App. Cool and all, but what’s so exiting about that?

In addition to the standard stuff like a store locator and local events, this app allows you to search the B & N store for media just by taking a picture of the book, DVD or CD you’re looking for.

Barnes & Noble iPhone App. Search using your camera.

This is great for price shopping while at other retailers and searching via picture is a lot faster than typing. If you’re over at a friends house and like the coffee table book, a quick pic and you’ve got the details. I tried it out on a number of books and DVDs and the technology is very accurate.

This app is a great example of using the hardware of the iPhone (camera and location) to make a faster, better user experience than you can get via a standard web interface.

[ Barnes & Noble App ]  Side Note: My local B&N was offering a free cup of coffee with download.

For iPhone and iPod Touch users who want more info about their battery, there’s an app for that.

Actually, there are quite a few apps that display battery info but my pick of the litter is myBatteryLife.

The app itself is very simple (there’s only the one screen) and shows the percentage of the batteries charge left and remaining time for commonly used tasks.

The remaining time for things like watching video or browsing the internet on Wifi are why I bought this app. myBatteryLife is device specific (unlike some of the other apps) so it’s pretty accurate.

If you’re going to be on a long plane ride or road trip, it’s handy to know how many episodes of the Family Guy you can watch before your phone goes dead.

[ myBatteryLife ] On sale for a buck from the App Store.

‘Wow, so this is what the future looks like!’ That’s what I thought when I first checked out the video demo of the Nearest Tube App for the iPhone 3GS.

Nearest Tube is the (soon to be) first augmented reality app to go live on the App Store. Augmented reality is when real world data is intermixed with digital data.

In this case, Nearest Tube uses the video camera viewer, compass and GPS on the iPhone 3GS and overlays the location and distance to the London Tube entrances. The effect is very cool and useful.

I can really see this way to display map data taking off. Most maps use a birds-eye view to give direction but we don’t live in that view. Street level viewing in Google is cool but not that useful for finding your way around live.

Seeing map data appear on top of live video that you control could be very useful. Imagine pointing your iPhone at a store and seeing a pop-up that shows hours of operation, address, their menu, etc.

Hopefully Google is hard at work at providing tools like these for Google Maps.