My company KittyCode, has just released the 3.0 version of Hurricane. All new method for tracking storms using the Mapkit API as well as taking advantage of the GPS to inform the user their distance from storms. This new version pretty much includes everything that anyone will need for hurricane tracking.

Click here for more details and pics…

I’m looking through the Role Playing category on the iTunes App Store hoping to find a little 2D game to play. Something along the lines of the first Final Fantasy or Dragon Warrior, but I’m noticing that the entire category is filled with page after page of iMob, Mafia Wars, Fashion Wars, Epic Pet Wars, Vampire Wars. Not just one icon for each, but multiple each with additional “respect points”. I’m really hoping that in-app purchases will cut down on this behavior allowing users to purchase what they need without additional copies of the same app flooding the store. I’m going through 27 pages looking for something other than “insert name here wars”.

Anyone out there looking for a game idea, make a 2D role playing game and then send me the link

Bug# 7037460 has been submitted to Apple. This bug explains that Apple’s DRM is broken allowing for iPhone apps to be pirated freely. So far the only response the developer community has seen from Apple has been an uneasy silence.

The bug was submitted earlier today as a high priority security bug. Apple has since responded and re-classified it as “Other Bug” (A bug that has a workaround), or in other words, bugs we’re going to ignore. A huge hole in their security model of the iPhone has allowed the firmware to be jailbroken and apps easily patched to be copyable and runnable.

I’m calling on everyone in the iPhone developer community click on the “Report a bug” link within the Apple developer website and submit a duplicate of this issue.

It’s time for this issue to be talked about.

I was spending a few hours the other day wandering from store to store looking for a laptop for my son. Nothing extreme, just something Windows based that will run Free Realms and any other game he wants to play. Being only nine, I don’t expect the need for a high-end video card so even a standard on-board Intel is fine. I wander into BestBuy and start looking at what they have available. As I come across each laptop I do a quick review search on my iPhone to see what people are saying about them. I come across a Compaq model that seems like it just might be what I’m looking for. Apparently the battery on it doesn’t last long, but he’s going to use it in the house, so that’s not a big deal. Anyway, I notice the price on the box and realize it’s $100 more than what’s advertised on their website. Weird.

I grab one of the guys wandering around looking for something to do and ask him why the price difference. He immediately tries to pull up the page on their website using his computer, but since I’ve heard of the BestBuy problem with them using a different web page internally, I had him my phone with the page already loaded with the lower price clearly marked. He then goes on to explain that they’ve opened up all the laptops, installed their “Geek Squad” software on it, and then re-sealed the boxes. WTF!? They’re selling hardware they’ve already opened? He tries to bestow upon the wonders of their software and how I can now just buy the laptop and do nothing to it but turn on the power and rainbows and kittens will explode from the screen.

Now, I know how computers work. I could start using it from power up whether their software is on it or not. I let him know in very polite terms that I will not pay $100 more for a machine and I’ll take my product search somewhere else. It just reminded me of how car dealerships treat their customers by “upgrading” new cars with weather guard protection plus with clear-coat and bug avoidance or something and then charge you more for the same car. It’s just an extremely slimey business practice to get more money out of people that don’t know any better. The whole situation made me feel insulted.

I have a standing personal rule that I don’t buy hardware from BestBuy. Movies and games fine but no hardware. I have no idea why I was willing to even considering a laptop from there anyway.

I’m going to place an order with Dell instead.