Okay… I did it. The other day I temporarily jailbroke my iPod Touch.

Why? Because I really wanted to see what the jailbreak version of Moo-Cow-Music’s BAND is like prior to its release via iTunes and the AppStore next month.

What’s it like? It… Is… Amazing! I mean, to have a band on your iPhone– it blew my mind.

Band might look like a toy but it has the potential to be a serious musical instrument (instruments, actually).

And that is coming from a non-musician. A quick search of YouTube and you can see what people with musical talent are already doing with Band. Yep, it is amazing!

We already know that Band and Intua’s BeatMaker (a portable music studio) are coming to the AppStore. Those two little applications have the potential to turn the iPhone and iPod Touch into a pocket-sized music studio. And those are just the music-based applications we know about. Who knows what amazing software will be available in a month, or two, or three. Maybe we’ll see iPhone versions of SoundStudio, GarageBand or… who knows.

If only we had a real musician, someone who is talented in writing and recording his own tunes AND has technical knowledge and experience in music recording and production, to really do justice to the reviews of applications like Band, BeatMaker and all the rest that will follow…

Oh yeah- WE DO!

Join us as we welcome the newest member of WhatsOniPhone– Benjamin Jacobs.

CONTINUE READING
 

Here at What’s On iPhone, we’re gearing up for the release of the iPhone’s version two firmware and the iTunes AppStore. The site is up and ready to go. The list of upcoming applications continues to grow. And we are anxiously awaiting the release of the first 3rd Party applications.
 
If the recent Nike + iPod partnership is any indication, there is no question that health and fitness applications are going to be some of the most important iPhone and iPod Touch applications. As we prepare to move into an era in which the iPhone and iPod Touch become the latest fitness and health tools we are thrilled to announce that PeterK of Peter K Fitness will be joining What’s On iPhone as our fitness and health application reviewer.
 
Peter K, one the most dynamic personalities around today, is a nutritionist, physical therapist, speaker, author and fit lifestyle expert. He is the creator of "5 Minutes to Fitness+", a lifestyle program that is revolutionizing the way people view health and fitness. His organization, Peter K Fitness (www.peterkfitness.com) offers innovative Fit Lifestyle interventions through live seminar events, consulting, and health coaching. Peter K is the executive producer of The Peter K Show on Blogtalkradio.com/peterk and is Blogtalkradio’s Fitness Director.
 
An avid iPod Touch user, Peter K will bring his expertise to helping evaluate which of the new iPhone and iPod Touch lifestyle applications are best for promoting good health and a good habits.
 
Peter, we welcome you and are thrilled to have you with us.
 
You can find out more about Peter K by going to his website, www.peterkfitness.com, by listening to his blog talk radio show at www.blogtalkradio.com/peterk, and by looking for his first reviews shortly after the release of iPhone 3G and the AppStore.
 

As I wrote last week, 3rd party applications have the potential to fill in some of the iPhone’s blind spots. Another example popped up this week and this time, unlike TomTom’s on-again, off-again, turn-by-turn GPS navigation, this one is really going to happen. Perhaps more importantly, this one is a HUGE deal that everyone is going to welcome!

So what is it that the iPhone is lacking and 3rd Party apps are bringing?

One of the disapointments emerging from Monday’s WWDC Keynote was the fact that the 3G iPhone won’t be released until July 11th and the App Store would be "coming soon". Many of us assumed that meant "about the time of the 3G iPhone". In other words  in mid-July.

You can say "Patience" in the language of any of the 70 different countries that will be getting the 3G iPhone and it still means a full month of waiting.

All may not be lost, however. According to a post over at TUAW the wait might be a whole bit shorter.

One of the questions that emerged from Monday’s WWDC keynote was, "How’d the do that?"

How did they up the specs on the new iPhone but drop the price down to $199 for the 8GB model and just $299 for the 16GB?

Moreover, how did they do that AND end their revenue sharing with AT&T?

Sure, they saved some money by dropping the metal  back in favor of a plastic one.

Sure, they saves some cash by not including a sync/charge cradle as they did in Gen. 1. (We all saw that coming didn’t we!)

But $199??? That is just amazing.

So how DID they do it? I had our suspicions but now I/we know…

For the life of me I still can’t figure out why Apple released the original iPhone with an application for tracking stocks but nothing for task management.

I mean, come on, even a Palm Treo has a decent to-do list. Sure, there are ways to use the calendar or email for some to-do list needs but none really work all that well. I just don’t get it.

The result of this glaring omission is that, since getting my iPhone, I have tried a number of different approaches and services to help keep track of my (always) overwhelming to-do list while on the go.

In my experience Remember The Milk and Toodledo are among the best and most powerful web-based to-do lists out there. Both work well, are highly customizable, and have versions designed for both full-browsers and the iPhone’s Safari browser. In both cases the iPhone optimized version makes accessing your to-do list while on the go a breeze . (In fact, I almost prefer the iPhone sites to the desktop versions of both.)

The problem is- both rely on a data connection. When Edge or WiFi are available all is well in the world. When there is no data connection, however, there is no access to you task list.  This is a potentially HUGE issue for me since there are many times in my day when connectivity IS limited. Toodledo (which I currently use) has an "innovative" approach to solving this problem- it allows you to easily create and print a paper "booklet" of your most important tasks. That kind of defeats the purpose… don’t you think?

As you might expect, among the iPhone resident applications I have been most eagerly awaiting are (hopefully) a resident version of either Toodledo or RTM. And, up until now, I have been curious as to which would come out of the gate first.

Today I got my answer… NEITHER.