Archive for July, 2008

Secret feature revealed

Thursday, July 10th, 2008

pocketpedia Maybe some of you saw the ‘secret feature’ release note included in the last version update of the Pedias (4.3). Today we can finally reveal what we’ve been working on feverishly for the past two months: Pocketpedia.

Pocketpedia lets you keep your media library right where you need it when you’re out and about: in your pocket. Sync your data over your wireless network from the Pedias to your iPhone and iPod touch so you always know what you wanted to buy, what you already have or who borrowed what. Pocketpedia also gives you access to all the Amazon sites to read reviews about products and do price comparisons.

You don’t even need to own the Pedias to use Pocketpedia because you can create collections right on your iPhone and iPod touch. Pocketpedia is free so download it right now and tell all your friends about it too, both Mac and PC owners. Pocketpedia is for everyone!

The App Store is just as new for us as it is for you (today is the first day we’re seeing Pocketpedia live) and we have to admit that we were a bit worried about this set up at first. Apple is the gatekeeper that can make or break an app now. When our first submission of Pocketpedia was rejected – without further commentary – we thought it had to do with our icon since it doesn’t follow the conventional design with a square background but instead has a transparent top. But it turned out to be just a little bug in the code and once that was fixed, Pocketpedia was ready to go ‘on sale’.

Speaking of the transparency on our icon, unfortunately the App Store adds the default shine, even though the documentation promised they would respect the shine parameter (a key inside the application info file called UIPrerenderedIcon that asks for the shine not to be applied). Hopefully it’s just a launch kink and we won’t have to update the icon to fit in with the app store but rest assured: it looks stylish on your iPhone.

Pocketpedia is one of 134 free apps now available on the App Store. We are excited to be in so early in the launch with only 551 other applications. Of which interestingly enough 43 are public domain books (if the trend continues they will need their own category), each one released in its own individual application in order to charge per book as opposed to BookZ Text Reader which downloads books from the internet without having to re-purchase each one. Sadly I am unable to buy the latter as I have a strict rule about names that include a Z at the end of their names, just like the myriad animal games: Dolphinz, Tigerz, Horsez and friendz. Not withstanding the strangely named applications this is just the beginning for the App Store as well as for Pocketpedia, so send us your feedback for the next update and let us know what you think!