Split Reader - GOOGLE RSS Reader for iPad

Read your RSS feeds on your iPad.

Another iPad app by jTribe. This app is called Split Reader and it allows you to read RSS feeds from your GOOGLE Reader account on your iPad.

Split Reader allow you to navigate through your feeds faster than ever and it uses the stylish new user interface elements available on the iPad to make it a breeze.

Feature of Split Reader:

• Rotate to landscape and see a list of your unread feeds.
• Tap a feed in the list to display the unread items in the detail view.
• Rotate to portrait to only display the unread items
• Switch between feeds using the Subscriptions popup in portrait mode
• Mark items as read by tapping or scrolling past them
• Tap links to follow through to further web content without leaving the app

SmartCompany writes about the iPad and jTribe's thoughts

We at jTribe could not wait until Apple releases the iPad in Australia. We did buy the smallest iPad model with 16GB/Wifi for AUD $950 on eBay and could hold it in our hands pretty much one week after the official iPad launch.

Finally, we could test the iPad apps Touch Boards and Split Reader we developed.

One thing we did not really expect was that many of our clients asked us to demonstrate the iPad to them. Compared to when the iPhone came out the demand and interest in the iPad seems to be huge.

We met several of Melbourne's larger Ad Agencies and some of our clients and talked about the pros and cons of the iPad.

Smartcompany.com was another company we showed the iPad and Amanda Gome, founder and publisher of Smartcompany, wrote up an article based on our meeting.

Here is a snipped from the article:

"This morning I held the iPad for the first time. It was not the romantic moment I had hoped for. It felt heavier than I expected and a little smaller. But then I turned it on and after it flipped every which way, I found myself staring at SmartCompany.

It looked so slick! We filled the whole screen, the colours were bright - it looked like SmartCompany in glossy magazine format without the printing costs. In fact, it looked so great, my editor immediately queried why we would develop an iPad app. Suddenly the new phrase 'iPad friendly' that I have been seeing around the traps made sense."

(read the full article at smartcompany.com)

We also love one of the comments that was left by "Amra, April 20, 2010". Here is a snippet of the spot-on comment:

"...I have a MacBook pro. In 6 days of having my iPad, I have rarely used it - normally it's in constant use - web browsing, email checking and replying is all done via the iPad. Magazines and newspapers ( either app or web) are all on the iPad and can be read anywhere. I have downloaded books and having them with me they get read.

I have done 12 hours of presenting to professionals, all on Keynote (but all PowerPoint slides that simply converted). I have also put together a 20 page keynote on the iPad in about 40 minutes!!

With the citric app, I have full access to my desktop which is huge and with apps like good reader (connected to drop box), I can read all my work related files and work on them.

The keyboard weakness is overstated. A wee bit of practice and it's fine and certainly hugely better than an iPhone - which many have been using for business tasks for a while now. The keyboard comment actually sounded like the sort of lame comment I would expert from a blackberry user who was 50+ and was weak with technology.

You can use the iPad for 80% of what most people use a laptop for. It's more portable, easier to use and the battery lasts forever (easily 10 hours in constant use).

For those of whose who travel it will be our business, communications and entertainment device. For heavy business use, it has limitations but in reality, it's not that limited.

I typed this on my iPad.

It's bloody brilliant.

Yeah, Amra, we can't agree more. It's bloody brilliant!

jTribe awarded prize for iPhone app for parks

jTribe has been awarded a prize at he WORLD PARKS APP COMPETITION 2010.

Our competition entry is an iPhone application that uses our content delivery platform jellymo.com in the context of parks.

We are very pleased and thank the World Parks App Competition panel.

iPad Board Games Fun for Friends and Family

Touch Boards - A Classic Board Game Collection for two Players
jTribe and Conduct proudly present "Touch Boards". Our teams have joined forces to build an app that we want to have on our own iPad.




We love the traditional game box that we play at home with family and friends,



it contains classic games like Chess, Checkers or Go. We have put these boards on the iPad. We believe that Touch Boards also demonstrates some of the the possibilities of Apples incredible iPad device that will change the way we use computers.

So what is Touch Boards?

Touch Boards is a collection of classic board games for two players. Now you can take your classic box of board games with you on the road, to the park, or play it at home with family and friends. No lost pieces. No mess after the car has hit a pot whole.

We think that Touch Boards is a stylish replacement of the traditional game box.





What's in the App?
Touch Boards comes with a FREE Checkers board and pieces.

A Chess and GO board and pieces can be purchased directly from within the app. The realistic boards and pieces will make the game experience as real as possible. Touch, slide, make moves.

A manual that describes the rules for each board games is included and is presented in a popover window when it's needed.




Grab a Friend and Play a Game!
Yes, you need a second person to play. No playing against the computer here! We wanted to be as much a real board game box as it could be and you can't play against your "real" Checkers board - can you?

We believe that Touch Boards will bring people together in the same way a classic game of chess or go does. As much as the iPhone and Laptop prevents real human interaction we think the iPad will be a device that encourages human interaction. Grab a friend a play a game!



Enjoy and Spread the iPad Fun
We hope you will love Touch Boards as much as we do. As long as you don't expect some single player functionality or any AI you will be happy with Touch Boards.

Our thoughts on Augmented Reality published in NETT Magazine

The March edition of NETT Magazine is out and this month contains a feature on Augmented Reality. We were interviewed for the feature to provide our thoughts as iPhone and Android developers.

Digging beneath the (shiny) surface

Daniel Bradby is co-founder of jTribe (jtribe.com.au), a mobile apps development company for iPhone and Android. He is also excited about the prospects of augmented reality.

"We've been looking at bringing static, physical geo-located information to life with augmented reality, such as animating a billboard, " he says. "Obviously , you can add things like a game or a giveaway, to get the user to engage in the product or brand itself, as opposed to a static piece of advertising that they just take in."

He believes there are many interesting applications beyond marketing, though many of these fall into specific niches.

"I work with architects and urban planners and the Victorian Government is interested in getting their geographic system information onto the phone," he says. "You could provide good information for architects and planners, to augment what they're looking at with planning information on top, such as zoning or heritage listing of a property."

However, Apple's restrictions on augmented reality applications on the iPhone are holding the technology back.

"The iPhone platform's way of offering augmented reality is allowing you to overlay animation over the current video source," he explains. "You can't process that video that's coming in and saying 'I recognise that shape and I'm going to overlay information on that'."

Seminar: iPhone Apps for Business - How They Will Impact Your Organisation

First with the iPhone, and now the iPad. The hype around these devices in the media is almost deafening. To help block out the noise and focus on assist organisations to provide real business value on the iPhone, next month, on Tuesday 2nd March, we are running a half day seminar here in Melbourne: iPhone Apps for Business - How They Will Impact Your Organisation. The seminar is for business owners and marketing managers who keep hearing about the potential of the iPhone but are unsure of how it might be applied to their business.

Please follow the link to our iPhone Apps for Business Seminar and register soon as places will fill quickly!

Seminar Presenters: Daniel Bradby & Armin Kroll

Daniel and Armin from jTribe (http://jtribe.com.au) have been developing apps for the iPhone since the platform was released in 2008. With both a mix of their own creations, alongside delivering apps for clients, they have collected a wealth of information and experience on the platform and are excited to share it with interested businesses.

Daniel BradbyArmin Kroll

iPad Remote Control for HAL is coming

Now that the the iPad is unveiled there will be a new gold rush in App Development. One area that will be dominated by the iPad will be home entertainment.

One remote to rule them all

jTribe has worked with a home entertainment company to develop a remote control. We are happy to see that the HAL remote will also work in the iPad.

The illustration above shows how HAL remote will look like on an iPad.