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Toothbrush Machine
- A few months ago, Daisy & I took the plunge and decided to get an electric toothbrush. I did a bunch of research, and we decided...
Google Voice for iPhone... Almost?
25 December 2009, 4:38am
A long while back, a company called Riverturn made an app for the iPhone that used Google Voice's free (and awesome) services. It was pulled from the app store, much to everyone's dismay and anger.
The guys have decided to write up a web app, which cannot be blocked by the app store, and can provide almost the same functionality to the iPhone as a native app ( bentomas, you can argue this with me, but I still have not seen a web app on the iPhone that is as fast or comfortable as a native app).
It's still in beta, but for the few of you that use Google Voice and have iPhones, this should be pretty exciting for you.
For those of you who live in the US don't have a Google Voice account and want one, let me know, because I still have three invites left. I find it particularly useful for those living abroad with friends and family back in the states. ( maggie33, wjerome, daisy, I'm looking in your directions).
update
[10 March 2010, 5:09am]
Well, Apple may not be able to block this webapp, but apparently, the Chinese government still can. After using it happily for about 24 hours, I am no longer able to log in, unless I am accessing through a VPN (which gives me internet access as if I were in the states).
This is really frustrating.
comments
THE Lowly Peon
[25 December 2009]Note also that because it's not a native app, you can't get push notifications. Which is a drag, because I use the SMS for this all the time, and rely on Gmail's push notifications, which are quite slow (and require that I mark two things as read rather than just one)
Benji!
[25 December 2009]The point is not that web apps are as good as native apps. they aren't and never will be. the point is that web apps are open to all regardless of device and built using free open source tools.
it doesn't matter how good the experience is if it is a closed monopoly. just like it doesn't matter how little crime there is in north korea, the people still don't have basic freedoms.
When it comes to the iphone you have to decide what are the basic freedoms that you demand and I personally don't think the iphone meets my demands.
Developing for the iphone is no different than developing for Adobe Flash. they are both closed. The one difference is that you can make a poop* ton of money really easily developing for the iphone.
THE Lowly Peon
[10 March 2010]this is so frustrating.