Macenstein

Why does Apple even have ratings and parental controls?

I think maybe Apple needs to get out more. I’m pretty sure they have no idea what pornography is. When the Hottest Girls app was released earlier this week claiming to be the “first iPhone app with nudity” on the iTunes app store, it was both exciting, and expected. After all, Apple had announced that the new iPhone OS would have parental controls, and the new SDK would allow for developers to create adult-themed ratings for applications, so the general consensus... Read More

Celebrity Mac Chick Sighting Revisited: Shauna Sand

Odds are you remember former Playmate Shauna Sand from the hit 90’s TV show Renegade, starring her then husband, Lorenzo Lamas. Well, actually odds are you don’t, but if you did remember her, then odds are you’d be as excited as me that she has an iPhone. Renegade is probably the most influential TV show of my life, and is the main reason I grew my hair long, got a motorcycle, and became a bounty hunter – cruising the Southwestern deserts for bad guys. Of course,... Read More

And then there was porn

[UPDATE 2: Well, looks like Apple finally DID step in and remove the app. Apple PR: “Apple will not distribute applications that contain inappropriate content, such as pornography. The developer of this application added inappropriate content directly from their server after the application had been approved and distributed, and after the developer had subsequently been asked to remove some offensive content. This was a direct violation of the terms of the iPhone Developer... Read More

Help Build the Ultimate iPhone Feature Request List – Part Deux

It was about 2 years ago that Apple first released the iPhone – widley heralded as the most technologically advanced phone anyone had ever seen, save for the fact that it was missing almost every “must have” feature that phones 5 years older had had forever. At the time we decided to create a wish list of things we all wanted our iPhones to be able to do, and over the years Apple has filled in most of the more glaring holes, like a better camera, MMS (sort of),... Read More

Looks like Howard Stern is not a Sirius team player

Sirius XM released their highly anticipated and long overdue iPhone application yesterday, and the big news was that Howard Stern’s Channels (channels 100 and 101) would NOT be available on the iPhone. There was no official statement from either Sirius or Apple, but Bloomberg quoted a Sirius customer service rep (who odds are knew nothing) as saying Stern wouldn’t be offered because of the “mature programming” on the show. This of course is a ridiculous answer,... Read More

When restoring (UN-jailbreaking) doesn’t restore everything

As much as I loved having a jailbroken iPhone, I decided to UN-jailbreak my phone in anticipation of the new 3.0 software update. I also had been experiencing some increasingly frequent crashes to the springboard, as well as what I perceived to be a general slowness to the phone, and figured maybe a factory restore would set things right. In order to undo the Jailbreak, I figured all I needed to do was hit the “restore” button in iTunes, and then restore the iPhone... Read More

That’s One Sweet Deal!

I’m not all that into the new iPhone 3G S (nor am I eligible to upgrade), but I was curious to see when I would be eligible for an AT&T “discount”, should Apple decide to release a true iPhone update. Imagine how excited I was when I plugged in all my information on Apple’s iPhone upgrade eligibility site and was offered this sweet deal! That’s right, I can “UPgrade” my 16 GB iPhone 3G for an 8 GB model for only $300! Way to know... Read More

iPhone Engrish of the Day: HOKEN ICHIBA Kosodate Jinsei

Given that all the text in the actual game is apparently still in Japanese, I’m not sure why the developers bothered translating this game description into English. Actually, after reading it, I’m not so sure they did. Does your selection control child’s life? The iPhone version of “Kosodate Jinsei” that HOKEN ICHIBA for the insurance comparison offer appears! Various events occur every one years old, and the child is brought up by the judgment... Read More

Protect your iPhone photos with PhotoMarkr

Above: Don’t even TRY to take credit for this beautiful shot! If you’re anything like me, you are sick and tired of people taking your iPhone snapshots of cheeseballs and posting them to the web as their own. If only there were some way to add a watermark to your photos while still in the iPhone… Well, there is. PhotoMarkr (99¢ on iTunes) is a new iPhone app that allows you to easily add custom watermarks to your photos directly from the iPhone. PhotoMarkr’s... Read More

I was wrong: It’s Apple screwing us, not AT&T

[WARNING: This post contains references to me attempting to do math, so all figures are subject to scrutiny and your usual criticism of how wrong I have it.] Well, a full day has passed since the WWDC, and I think now with a little bit of distance comes clarity. I was pretty angrily bashing AT&T for screwing us current iPhone 3G customers with their $200 “early upgrade tax”, for the iPhone 3Gs, and I have come to the decision that my anger was misplaced. The... Read More