Features at a glance:
* Create a virtually unlimited amount of shift types
* Enter shifts on the calendar months in advance in seconds
* Generate shift rotations to fill in future dates automatically
* View the calendar in timeline format to see their shift flow at a glance
* Create colored personalized notes for any date on the calendar
* Include week of year or week 1/2 alternating pattern on the calendar
* Jump to any month by using the “Goto” button
* Save a month’s worth of shifts to the iPhone’s background
* Share shifts with others via email, MMS, Twitter or Facebook

Features in detail:
In addition to standard shifts, rotations can also be applied to the calendar. Users select the length of their rotation, then add shifts and apply that rotation to the calendar. This process allows a year’s worth of shifts to be filled in very quickly.

Notes can also be added to any date on the calendar in the same way as adding shifts. Different colors can be used to represent different types of notes for easier visual reference.

Users who start their work week on a day other than Sunday or Monday can select any day of the week. It is also possible to show the week of year or alternating weeks for each line of the calendar. An option to show shifts as icons or by the time in the day that they occur is available to help those who work overnight shifts.

A month’s worth of shifts can be saved to the home screen background so they can be referenced without needing to open up the app. These shifts can also be shared with friends and family via email, MMS, Twitter and Facebook.

Minimum Requirements:
* iPhone 3G and above or iPod touch Second generation and above
* iOS 3.0 or later (iOS 4.0 Tested)
* 2.6 MB

Pricing and Availability:
Shift Worker 1.4.2 is $1.99 USD (or equivalent in other currencies) and available worldwide exclusively through the App Store in the Productivity category.

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Shift Worker 1.4.2
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Located in Melbourne, Australia, Production Shed Pty Ltd was founded in 2011 by Mark Schumann. The development studio is focused on mobile applications and web development, with a philosophy of creating visually-appealing products that are also simple to use and understand. All Material and Software (C) 2011 Production Shed Pty Ltd / All Rights Reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, iPod, the iPod logo, are registered trademarks of Apple Computer in the U.S. and/or other countries.

Source: http://www.ipadnewstracker.com/

Customers need only ‘hail’ a cab on their phone’s app – called LDNtaxi – and the GPS system works out which cabs are available in a two-mile radius of the call.

Next, customers are sent a confirmation message that includes the driver’s photo, cab colour, car registration plate number and the cost of the fare. This time it’s the customer’s turn to confirm and once that’s done, the cab turns up and bob’s your uncle.

“From my soundings, I think thousands of us will on this soon,” said one cabbie.

Over three-hundred drivers have already signed up in the few days the service has been up and running.

To encourage take-up from passengers, the iPhone app is free at the moment, but there are plans to charge for it in the future. No word yet on when any Android version is to be launched.

It is thought the new app could help black cabs in their perennial turf war with minicabs, which are not allowed to be hailed on the street, but instead get their business from bookings.

Source: http://www.londonnet.co.uk/

CNET reports that four U.S. senators have sent a letter to Apple’s iPhone software head, Scott Forstall, asking the company to remove from the App Store applications that are designed to allow users to be alerted to checkpoints for sobriety testing.

U.S. Senators Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), and Tom Udall (D-N.M.) are named as senders in the letter, which is addressed to Apple’s senior vice president of iPhone software, Scott Forstall. No specific applications are named, but the letter highlights apps that “contain a database of DUI [driving under the influence] checkpoints updated in real-time” as well as one that sends out real-time alerts about the existence of these checkpoints.

“With more than 10,000 Americans dying in drunk-driving crashes every year, providing access to iPhone and iPad applications that alert users to DUI checkpoints is harmful to public safety,” the group wrote. “We know that your company shares our desire to end the scourge of drunk driving and we therefore would ask you to remove these applications from your store.”

The same letter was also sent to Google and Research in Motion to encourage those companies to remove similar apps from their application stores. Research in Motion has already agreed to remove applications offering data on DUI checkpoint locations.

While the letter itself does not specifically reference any iOS applications, a press release from Senator Schumer names Trapster and PhantomALERT as examples of free apps offering location information on such checkpoints.

In addition to real-time information on DUI checkpoints, many of the apps in question also offer information on speed traps, red light and speed cameras, accidents, and other traffic conditions, several of which have also been considered controversial, but the senators’ letter focuses specifically on the DUI checkpoint functionality.

Take those numbers with a few dozen grains of salt, however: the stats come from a survey conducted by analysts at Appsfire who surveyed “over 1,000 [iOS] devices registered and synchronized with the Appsfire service.”

Seeing as how Apple has sold over 160 million iOS devices, such a small sampling doesn’t provide data hearty enough to take to the bank. Also, Appsfire’s data comes only from iOS users who have registered for its apps-listing service, so an argument could be made that users whom Appsfire is tracking are more apps-hungry than your average fanboi.

That said, there is some interesting information in the Appsfire survey, as long as you keep in mind from whom the data was gleaned.

For one, native apps soundly thrash web-based content viewing when it comes to the amount of time spent by the users surveyed by Appsfire. Out of the 84 minutes per day that those users spend with their device, only 10 minutes (12 per cent) is spent on the web or using web-based apps.

The other 74 minutes are spent using native apps (40 minutes, or 47 per cent); telephony apps such as the Phone app, Skype, and the like (27 minutes, 32 per cent); and the Mail app (seven minutes, nine per cent).

Out of those 40 minutes of native-app usage, users are playing games 32 per cent of the time. Of the 88 downloaded apps, 63 were free, and 25 were purchased.

Appsfire’s numbers contrast with those in a recently published survey conducted by the “market intelligence” group Asymco, which put the average – mean, not median – number of apps per iOS device at “over 60.”

Asymco’s survey also points out that the rate of app downloads per device is rising faster than did songs-per-device back when the iTunes Music Store debuted.

“In the fall of 2008,” Asymco’s report says, “there were about 10 apps downloaded for every iPhone/iPod touch.” Now that number is 60 in Asympco’s estimate and 88 in Appsfire’s. No matter how you slice it, that’s a stunning growth rate. “Growth like this is hard to get one’s mind around,” Asympco says. “Not only are downloads increasing, but the rate of increase is increasing.”

Or, as Appsfire puts it: “‘Apps everywhere’…we told you so.” ®

Update: The lucky winner was Gail Davis of Orpington, Kent, UK, who downloaded Paper Glider. PR after the break.

The StreetPilot App includes many of the same high-end features available on Garmin’s standalone automotive GPS devices like free traffic alerts that enable drivers to steer clear of traffic accidents, road closures and construction; lane assist with junction view that directs drivers to the preferred lane and displays realistic images of upcoming complex junctions; and speed limit indicators that display speed limits for most major roads.

Garmin StreetPilot also supports multitasking under iOS 4 and integrates with users’ music libraries and address books.

Unlike some of the other mainstream GPS applications for the iPhone, Garmin StreetPilot downloads map content as needed, as opposed to storing the entire map database within the application. While the decision allows Garmin to offer smaller downloads that require less on-device storage and quicker download and syncing times, as well as automatic access to the latest map updates, the trade-off is that users must be in areas with data service coverage in order for the application to function properly.

The calls are reportedly happening at roughly the same time first thing this morning – waking up Brits around 2.30 in the morning by all accounts – and while the call claims to come from a known contact, it never connects.

This has worried more than a few users who’ve found they can’t call back, and end up venturing out to see if everything is OK. Some are relating their tales of woe on this Apple site thread.

“Son’s phone just phoned me in uk on FaceTime 2.30am,” one user posted. “Couldn’t connect. Drove to his house like a lunatic in case something wrong. Woke him and neighbours! Son’s phone turned off in his bag!”

FaceTime use is unrelated to the telecommunications part of the phone, relying instead on Wi-Fi and internet connectivity. That makes Apple the company handing the calls, and presumably it is Apple’s servers which are responsible for false notifications.

Some of the calls claim to originate from a desktop machine, while others seem to come from another iPhone. But the result is the same, as another poster explains:

“Girlfriend got a Facetime call at 2:30am from my mac but I was in bed with her 16 miles away at her house. When trying to answer there was nothing, I panicked thinking someone was in my house or hacking into my computer that I ended up driving back in the ice and -9c to find out my computer wasn’t even on!!”

Quite what this poster expected to achieve on arrival at his sub-zero house we’re not clear, but one isn’t always thinking most clearly when so rudely awoken.

Met with Apple’s characteristic silence on the problem, users are left to piece together evidence based on their own experiences – are the phantom calls repetitions of the last FaceTime call made, or the first contact in the address book? Running a telecommunications network is tough, and users expect very high levels of reliability, as Apple is discovering.

We asked Apple if they could explain the apparent calls. We haven’t heard back from them so far – but it’s not 2.30am yet. ®

- AirPlay: Users who have updated both their iPad/iPhone/iPod touch to and new Apple TV to iOS 4.2 can take advantage of the new feature to stream audio and video content to their Apple TV. Apple has posted a video overview of how the functionality works.

AirPlay functionality is permitted through a number of Apple’s own applications, as well as third-pary applications configured to use the service. Netflix is reportedly not permitting content to be pushed via AirPlay to the new Apple TV, but the Apple TV already offers its own access to Netflix streaming.

- Find My iPhone: While there had been initial confusion about which devices are compatible with the new free Find My iPhone service, Apple’s setup page does appear to have offered correct information: A current-generation iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch is required for initial setup of the free Find My iPhone service, but once that it accomplished, and iOS 4.2-compatible device can access it. All users must update to the just-released version of the Find My iPhone iOS application in order to access the service through their devices.

- AirPrint: While Apple significantly scaled back the AirPrint functionality in iOS 4.2 ahead of its launch, the feature does allow for wireless printing directly to certain HP printers. Those looking to print to other shared or networked printers may be interested in looking into third-party solutions unless Apple quickly finds a way to meet its original goals for the service.

- Safari “Find in Page”: Typing in the search box in Safari now offers users the ability to search for text within the currently-open page, displaying a toolbar to allow for navigation among instances of the term.

- Multitasking for iPad: iOS 4.2 bring multitasking to the iPad for the first time. In landscape mode, swiping left-to-right on the tray brings up the quick-access control panel, complete with access to music player controls, brightness and volume sliders, and an orientation lock switch. iOS 4.2 modifies the side hardware switch on the iPad, turning it from an orientation lock switch into an iPhone-like mute switch while making orientation lock a software setting.

- Folders, Universal Inbox, and Game Center for iPad: The iPad finally gains a trio of other features that iPhone and iPod touch features have already grown accustomed to: home screen folders, a universal inbox and Game Center. Folders allow users to drag app icons on top of each other on the home screen to create folders of related applications, offering easier navigation and a larger number of applications to be installed on the device. The universal inbox allows users to easily see email messages from all of their accounts rather than need to manually navigate between each account to check for new messages. Game Center is Apple’s social network and achievements platform for iOS gaming, allowing users to challenge their friends and track scores on compatible titles.

- iWork for iPad: As we previously noted, Apple is updating its three iWork applications for the iPad to support new iOS 4.2 features. Those updates are now live in the App Store.

The news was made public as the company gears up to release iOS 4.2.1, which it said will go live later today.

The Find My… facility has to date been part of the Mobile Me, Apple’s £59-a-year email and device data syncing service. Find My… allows you to locate your device – assuming, of course, it’s connected to the internet – and, if necessary, wipe or lock it remotely.

Anyone who owns an iPhone 4, iPad or fourth-generation iPod Touch can now make use of the service by downloading a free app to a second iDevice, Apple said.

Of course, that’s as useful as tits on a bull if you only have one of these iDevices, so we hope Apple will also make the service accessible through the web, as MobileMe is.

iOS 4.2.1, meanwhile, brings the iPad into operarting system parity with other iDevices, and implements both AirPrint – Apple’s universal wireless printing tech – and AirPlay, its revamped media streaming system. ®

A look at the top-grossing iPhone apps today finds 34 of the top 100 apps are free, but make their money through in-app purchases of mostly virtual currencies as well as other premium features. Remco van den Elzen, CEO of analytics firm Distimo, said he believes in-app purchases now represent about 30 percent of all iPhone App Store revenue. “We’re seeing more developers implement more in app-purchases especially with games,” he said. “Freemium Apps are also picking up significantly. A lot of developers realize it’s a successful model.”

Another analytics firm tracking such data revealed that in January only two freemium iPhone apps ranked in the top 50 grossing apps, a number which rose to 10 by the end of October and stands at over 20 today.

The striking success of freemium iPhone apps comes even as their prevalence in the App Store remains low, with only about 1.34% of iPhone apps using the model during the third quarter of this year.

Interestingly, the freemium business model has yet to catch on with iPad applications, as none of the top 200 grossing iPad apps utilize the strategy on a platform where higher purchase prices for applications are the norm.

As the report notes, iPhone developers are learning how to offer a solid app experience for their free versions while also pushing attractive upgrade options via In App Purchase, finding that the strategy can be more lucrative than offering ads in their applications and attract a more loyal base of customers.