Oliver Siodmak's Rants & Raves » iPhone & iPods

Fox Sports Mobile – R2.1 Available for download from Apple App Store

Oliver Siodmak — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 00:19:52 +0000

I am happy to announce that Apple has just approved the latest update to the Fox Sports Mobile app. This is the 3rd App release IBM has delivered for FOX. It includes:

Performance enhancements: 3x speed improvements over WiFi & 3G from the previous release
Soccer: News, Scores & Schedules (by League), Video, & Standings
MMA/Boxing: News & Video
Motorsports: News (F1 & IRL)
Nascar: Leaderboard, Race Details, (including Lineup, Live Race, Track info), Schedule, Drivers Index, The Chase
Article sharing via Facebook
Manual refresh button for news and scores
Over 50 bug fixes

The IBM and FOX teams worked very closely together to significantly improve the app’s performance. Additionally we have provided additional visual queues to notify the user when the app was unable to download content updates from FoxSports.com.

In addition to performance enhancements and bug fix we now have (say it with me) SOCCER! That’s right — we now have News, Scores, Schedules, Video & Standings content for SOCCER. Motor and Nascar fans will also be happy to learn that their content also available in this release.

A special thank you goes out to my development team: Greg Crisp and Mike Jones for their continued hard work and dedication to the project!

As always, I would encourage all of you to download the app and post your comments and rating in the App Store. The more reviews we receive the better. Also — please share the App link (http://itunes.com/foxsportsapp) with as many family, friends and colleagues as you know.

The release should be available for you to update on your iPhone or iPad before EOD today.

Fox Sports Mobile App — #1 Free Sports App in the Apple App Store!

Oliver Siodmak — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 14:44:53 +0000

It’s hard to believe but in only 3 short days the Fox Sports Mobile app my IBM team and I developed for Fox is now the #1 Free Sports app in the Apple App Store – displacing ESPN! Additionally — the app continues to receive exceedingly high ratings from new and existing users! If you haven’t downloaded the app yet, check it out at http://itunes.com/foxsportsapp.

Additionally, the app is now appearing as #118 of all the free apps in the App Store!

UPDATE: App is now #99th in the Top Free Apps category in the App Store!

Fox Sports Mobile App v2.0 (developed by IBM) Now Live!

Oliver Siodmak — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 15:34:11 +0000

Dear Friends & Colleagues,

I just wanted to let you know the exciting news that the Fox Sports Mobile v2.0 iPhone app my team and I developed for Fox Sports Interactive Media went live last night. This FREE sports app provides you access to a wealth of news, scores, video, team and player profile data and an endless supply of stats for over 14 different sports categories. The app also allows you to follow your favorite teams and customize the presentation of sports. Can’t go to the game or watch it on TV .. then follow the plays live under Gametrax with play by play summaries and stats!

The app was a custom development effort built using the Apple iOS SDK by resources from IBM Interactive & IBM Digital Media. You can download the app using the following URL: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/fox-sports-mobile/id294056623?mt=8

If you already have the Fox Sports Mobile app installed, an update will be downloaded for you when you click on updates in iTunes on your Mac, PC or on your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad.

The app is free so if you have access to an iPhone (or iPad) please check it out. I am also encouraging you to share this email with all your employees, colleagues and family members so they can check out the app as well!

Thanks & enjoy!

OJS

P.S. – For all you DROID fans, an Android version of the app is currently under development and will be released in the 1st Qtr 2011.

Sending an SMS via eMail

Oliver Siodmak — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 13:44:22 +0000

This trick has been out there a while but I only recently rediscovered that you can actually send an SMS message to an AT&T cell phone using @txt.att.net as the email address.

So if your friend’s phone number is (917) 555-1212 and they are on the AT&T network, address the email to “9175551212@txt.att.net”. Then simply type the message in the subject field. Since phone companies used to limit the message limit to 160 characters (20 longer then a Twitter message), it is best to keep your messages brief and to the point. Also the entire email (body content including signature) is sent in the text message, you may want to delete any body content before hitting the send key.

Example:mach zehnder modulator

TO: 9175551212@txt.att.net
SUBJECT: Hey .. Have a Great Day!

Then hit the SEND key .. it’s that simple.

For a full listing of cell phone SMS addresses, check out SMS411′s site.

Happy texting!

Daily Laughter

Oliver Siodmak — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 16:47:08 +0000

There are two video podcasts I follow religiously. They are both short, funny .. and free. I highly recommend you add them to your list:

iPhone: Recovering from a bad application install

Oliver Siodmak — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 23:59:52 +0000

When I first upgraded my iPhone (EDGE Edition) to firmware v2.0 I spent an hour or two checking out all the free and for fee apps that were available in the App Store .. right from the iPhone. Soon after the v2.0 firmware was released articles from respected technology journalists appeared warning iPhone users of issues when adding apps directly to the iPhone using the App Store vs. installing them via the App Store within iTunes. Since I respect David Pogue and Walt Mossberg I heeded their warning .. until I got lazy this past weekend.

After finishing work on a proposal late Friday evening I decided to spend a few minutes unwinding by exploring a few new applications on the iPhone App Store. I am currently running firmware v2.0.2 and I have a home WiFi network which my iPhone immediately connects to when I am home. As I scanned the store and identified applications I might want to try out, I selected the “Tell a Friend” button for each app I was interested in and emailed myself a link to the app. The plan was to then click on each link when I got back to my Mac thus launching the apps detailed page in iTunes. From there I could decide if I truly wanted to install the application. After sending myself a dozen or so links I decided cheat and install a free app directly to the phone.

I clicked the install button and within a few seconds, the iPhone showed the new software program’s icon on my home screen with a small installation status bar along the bottom. Normally this process just takes a few seconds and the icon appears with out the status bar across it indicating that the app was successfully installed. This time, the installation bar did not go away. To make matters worse, the iPhone appeared to be frozen. When pressing and holding the “home” button did not reset the iPhone I was forced to press the Power & Home button together until the iPhone rebooted. Which it did. Unfortunately, the iPhone continued to display the Apple logo but did not boot. After a few minutes I booted the iPhone again. Still nothing. Finally, I rebooted the iPhone a third time, plugged in the charging cable and went to sleep thinking that by morning the phone would be functional again.

It wasn’t. The Apple Logo continued to stare me in the face as if to say, “you knew better .. now look what you’ve done!” Fortunately I have AppleCare on all my Apple products so I called the AppleCare specialist who taught me how to reinitialize the iPhone. When I asked the rep why this information was not on the Apple Support web site, he indicated that Apple doesn’t publish this information so people don’t accidentally reinitialize their iPhones.

Since I found this information simple and very helpful I am sharing with my readers in the hopes it will only be used in the event of an emergency. If you iPhone is locked on the Boot screen and you have a current back-up of your device .. you qualify to use this option.

To re-initialize an iPhone that won’t boot, follow these steps:

Power off the iPhone. Try simply pressing the power button (located at the top of the iPhone). If this does not work, press and hold the Power and Home buttons down until the iPhone shuts down. If the iPhone immediately attempts to reboot, press the Power & Home buttons a second time as soon as the Apple logo appears.
Insert the iPhone USB cable in a USB port on your Mac or PC
Press and hold down the Home button on your iPhone while inserting the 30pin connector into the bottom of the iPhone. Keep holding the Home button down until the iPhone displays the screen shown above (iTunes logo and the 30pin connector). Release the Home button.
When iTunes recognizes the iPhone, select Restore from the IPhone summary page.
Follow the restore instructions in iTunes

If you have a fairly full iPhone consisting of Apps, Music and Video this process can take a very long time. If the restore is successful you should have a fully functioning iPhone.

Please note that this procedure should only be followed if you iPhone is not functioning and you have a FULL backup of your iPhone on your computer. This procedure will completely erase everything on your iPhone.

If you have any doubts about what you are doing … STOP and call Apple Customer Support.

Hope you find this procedure helpful.

But Steve .. 24 Hours is just not enough time!

Oliver Siodmak — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 01:30:21 +0000

I just knew this was going to happen. I rented Gross Point Blank from the Apple iTunes Store a month ago thinking, “hey this would be great to watch on the way back from LA.” Unfortunately I had to work on the flight and I never got a chance to watch the movie. No problem I thought .. I still have another 29 days. But .. what I failed to consider was how fast 29 days can pass.

So yesterday when I checked my email after I boarded a flight from Boston back to NYC, my iPhone reminded me I only have 2 days left to watch this movie before it will be deleted. My big presentation behind me I kicked back and started watching the movie. Which for anyone who has an iPhone or iTouch knows .. is a really enjoyable experience. Unfortunately, the flight was only 45 minutes so I only got up to the part where John Cussack goes back to his home town only to discover that his parent’s house is gone and replaced with a convenience store. I figured .. I’ll watch the rest of it tomorrow. ERRRRRRRR! Wrong answer. I let 24 hours pass and the movie was gone.

I am sooooo .. not so happy. I understand the need to set a time limit on movie rentals but would it have killed the movie studios to let Apple set the expiration time to 48 hours vs 24? I mean really? Would it have hurt?

BTW .. if anyone can tell me what happens at the end of the movie I’d really appreciate it.

Holiday Fireplace for your iPod

Oliver Siodmak — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 14:00:07 +0000

I still have fond memories of decorating a Christmas tree as WPIX TV played “Yule Log”. Watching the White House fireplace beautifully burning on TV while listening to holiday music made our small NYC apartment feel like a wonderful home out in the country. When I learned of iYule.tv produced by Cali Lewis (GeekBriefTV), Geoff Smith, Paul Colligan and Neal Campbell in the NYTimes today I was eager to give it a try.

The team provides a 30 minute video comes complete with snaps and crackles of a real fireplace in multiple file formats for $5 each (both with and without a musical soundtrack). You can also download all formats for $10. The file sizes include support for the iPod Nano, iPod Classic, AppleTV and PCs & Macs. The quality is great and the soundtrack is remenisant of the interlude music often played during Peanuts animated movies. Very soothing.

If you have been dreaming of cosying up in front of a warm fireplace but don’t have access to one, this is the next best thing.

Siodmak.com iPhone Enabled

Oliver Siodmak — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 05:36:33 +0000

Thanks to the team at ContentRobot.com by blog is now more readable on an Apple iPhone and iPod Touch. Their recently updated WordPress plug-in automatically detects that the user is using Safari on either device and provides the content in a format that is optimized for that screen size. I only just installed it and I can already see that I may need to change the way I embed URLs .. but the app is totally cool.

My next test is to see how well it handles the admin interface and if I can more easily write and post to my blog using Safari, vs using the email to post support WordPress provides.

If you want to learn more about the iWPhone WordPress Plugin and Theme, check out their website

Spinning tales of life … From my iPhone

Oliver Siodmak — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 02:34:00 +0000

I am very pleased with my decision to get an iPhone vs the iPod Touch. The iPhone has of course a phone (which the Touch does not) but what really pushed me was the inclusion of the additional applications and the camera.

Being the son of a photographer I love taking pictures but I don’t always have a camera with me. I used to always keep a small Canon SD-230 in my bag for impromptu pictures but it recently suffered from a bit of a meltdown. It still works but it now sees the world as a series of faded green images. I only use it when I want to photograph someone’s lawn or a luscious green park in summer.

Having a phone as part of a device you always have with you means … you are always ready to take that shot of your son eating a hot dog. Or the location of tour car in the parking lot at DisneyWorld. The other key factor was the inclusion of Google Maps and an email client. This meant that Apple was committed to developing communication and productivity applications to the device. Their reluctance on the Touch means (in my mind) that the touch is simply an iPod and not a communication device.

My hope is that they continue to enhance and extend the software application capabilities of the device. I for one would love the addition of cut&paste and a built in instant messaging client.I also need to look into alternative methods for writing blog updates from my iPhone. While Safari on the iPhone works great it isn’t optimal for writing a weekly blog post.