I do most of my shopping these days via Amazon (and Apple, of course) so anything that makes the experience easier and more convenient is more than appreciated. So the release of AmaSearch this afternoon caught my eye. According to the developer,

AmaSearch is a simple application that allows you to quickly search Amazon.com’s store content. Choose your search category, enter the keywords you wish to search for, and click Search. Preview details from your search results and also be conveniently linked to the appropriate detail page online.

I downloaded AmaSearch and did a few test searches for products I already own through Amazon. As promised it did indeed search Amazon’s database of store content. So why is already off my iPhone?

Apple’s amazing Remote app got updated today.

The update allows it to not only work seemlessly with iTunes 8.0 but also brings the new Genius Playlists to the free application.

Version 1.1 of Remote allows you to not only access Genius playlists but create them too. You can also create and edit playlists in iTunes.

Remote works beautifully with both iPhone and iPod Touch, and with iTunes on Mac and Apple TV, allowing you to choose media, playlists, search songs, artists and albums and even shows cover art.

The best thing about Remote?? I can put all those limited white Apple Remotes I’ve collected in the drawer.

Get It Here In The App Store.

Tired of an impersonal start-up screen? Want information like your name and email readily available to anyone who finds your device?

Don’t want to pay for the commercial products that fulfill these functions?

WOiP reader Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten has you covered. Boris contacted up this morning with a link to a PhotoShop template that makes quick work of creating personalized wallpaper for your iPhone and iPod Touch. While we haven’t had a chance to use it, it sure looks nice and you certainly can’t beat the price– FREE.

iPhone Gaming is moving forward at warp speed. (Okay, sorry for mixing sci-fi.) When the  App Store was first introduced there were immediately some nice games, including Cro-Mag Rally and Moto-Racer. In the months since things have taken a giant leap forward with games such as Spore and Asphalt4. In both cases the graphics are stunning and the game play as sophisticated as you will find on any handheld gaming device. They really show the potential of the iPhone and iPod Touch as a gaming platform.

As a result, I was interested to see the release of the new Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Game last night. I downloaded it and played for a bit and while I am not quite ready to actually review it I have used it long enough to make a few initial observations.

I find it to be a good game but, so far, not a great game. The graphics are good. They are complex and varied and set a nice tone for the game. They are not, however,  as crisp as others we have seen, such as Asphalt4. The sound is well done. The “game play” is nothing short of brilliant. The iPhone’s minimalist use of buttons is a potentially huge issue for games. Star Wars the Force Unleashes gets around the limitation through a series of finger movements the game tells you to “draw” on the screen. Each movement corresponds to a different command and prompts a different movement within the game. (Think Palm Graffiti on steroids.) For example, drawing a “u” with an almost closed top recharges your character’s energy and what would have been an “x” in Graffiti is a specific attack move. It not only works but it works rather well.

On the whole, though while I am liking the game I  am not LOVING the game. I need to play a bit more to fully explain why but for now, I’ve posted a bunch of screen caps after the jump… 

Last week Apple rejected yet another application from the App Store. The Podcaster app was refused a golden ticket to enter Apple’s Kingdom (aka the App Store) because in the words of the Apple Rep who “served“ the developer, “Podcaster assists in the distribution of podcasts, it duplicates the functionality of the Podcast section of iTunes.”

“That’s right folks,” as developer Alex Sokirynsky writes on his blog, “it duplicates the functionality of the desktop version of iTunes.“

Alex decided to go it on his own and is distributing the app via Ad Hoc App Distribution. In fact, Alex has set up a slick website for providing your device’s UDID, your email and a $10 Paypal ”donation“ so he can set you up with a Ad Hoc version. (Not quite sure how (if at all) he gets around the 100 person.)

I have used Ad Hoc App Distribution system to beta test a number of apps for developers but this was the first time I employed it in this way. Yup, I sent Alex $10, and a few minutes later I had Podcaster on my iPhone.

Here at WhatsOniPhone we LOVE Pandora.

One of the few apps to have a 4 1/2 star rating from a massive 3100 comments over on iTunes, Pandora works over Edge, brings amazing music to your iPhone or Touch, the words used to describe it include- “Wow”, “Amazing“, ”Flawless”, “One of the top reasons to get an iPhone”, “jaw dropped” and the list goes on and on and on.

In the two months I have been using Pandora I have listened to hours and hours of music, been introduced to dozens of new artists and have become an increasingly huge fan of the whole “Pandora Experience”.

WE LOVE Pandora!

So the news that Pandora may well have to close down operations makes us more than a bit sad. Sure there are some nice alternatives like LastFM, AOL Radio and the new iTunes Genius playlists but none of them are PANDORA!!!
 
The interesting thing is that almost everyone we have spoken to about this has the same response- “If the issue is royalty fees why don’t they just charge a few dollars a month for the service? I’d pay it…”

But how to communicate that groundswell of support to Pandora??? hmmmm.

So our new poll asks this-

"Would you be willing to pay a few $ a month to keep Pandora alive?“

In three week’s we’ll forward the results to Pandora. Hopefully it will give them a bit of incentive to think about a new model that allows us all to win.
 

And the first Editor’s Choice Award Goes to…