Cheat Sheet offers a sneak peak at the driver’s license practice questions.

Here’s what’s new…

Cheat Sheets for DMV Test Prep cleans up the nonsensical preview questions. For example, previously if the answer to a question was something like “All of the above.” then Preview would list that as the answer. So you’d get… Q: You may not park? A: All of the above.

In addition, we’ve removed questions from the cheat sheet which may appear to be duplicates but really aren’t. Some of the practice questions are of the same substance but worded differently to challenge your knowledge. On the cheat sheet there will only be one question per concept.

What else is in store for Cheat Sheets?

Once the roll-out for all 50 states is complete we plan to go back and start adding additional features to enhance Cheat Sheets. Some of those features include annotations and printing the cheat sheet directly from your iPhone to a printer attached to your Mac.

Presently, Cheat Sheet versions of DMV Test Prep have been shipped to Apple for California, New York, Texas, Virginia, Alaska and Oregon. We’re expecting to see the updates available for download within two weeks.

The really big advantage is that once you download the app it’s yours to use, year after year. No matter where you live now or which state you move to in the future the practice tests are yours to use, again and again, without anything else to buy.

Read more about DMV Plus+ here.

Our experience in helping new drivers enables us to also help knowledgeable drivers get the information they need to pass the driver license written exam fast.

Our other iPhone apps in this series include the original DMV Test Prep, the soon to be available DMV Plus+, and the just released Borders & State Laws.

Update: Rather than building a new product we’ve decided to take our DMV Test Prep family of apps, add new features and enhance existing features.

Most people fail the driver’s license test on their first try.

So, without further ado, here are some study tips which should get just about anybody over the hump and into the driver’s seat.

Tip #1: Get plenty of sleep.

Focus is necessary when learning new concepts. Sleep is necessary to maintain focus. Everyone’s needs are different, but 8 to 10 hours of good sleep is about right. During the many years of working at Microsoft I saw so many young people in their 20′s trying to work late hours; until 11, 12, or 1 o’clock in the morning. Little did they understand that their productivity was suffering, the quality of their work was reduced, much of their late-night mistakes had to be fixed the next day. Remember, caffeine is not a substitute for sleep.

Tip #2: Grasp the principles behind the rules.

There are myriads of traffic rules and trying to memorize them all is futile. Memorization of driving laws, road signs, and so on is necessary but it may not be enough to get you through the exam. You’ll see questions which require you to think about the situation and choose the most correct answer. Understanding the principles behind the rules will help you to arrive at the correct conclusion.

Remember, most rules have to do with safety. Everyone’s goal when getting behind the wheel of a car is to arrive at your destination.

Tip #3: Clean your study area.

I can’t give a definitive reason why, but having a clean, uncluttered desk to work on just helps. My best guesstimate is less clutter equals fewer distractions.

Tip #4: Turn off the noise.

There’s a time for listening to music… and studying new material isn’t one of them. Turn it off and tune out the background noise if it’s too much of a distraction. There’s a distinction between music, noise, and noise filters — so-called white noise. White noise is a beat-less sound similar to the sound a waterfall makes and is exceptional at blocking background noise. Give it a try… you’ll be amazed.

Tip #5: Practice, practice, practice.

Taking practice tests before the live exam is the most effective way to test your knowledge and build your confidence. Attitude is going to affect your performance and if you don’t have a lot of confidence going into the exam then nervousness will cost you answers. Most states require an 80% score to pass the exam which means you can only miss a few questions and still pass.

To help, we’ve developed DMV Plus+ and DMV Test Prep exam simulators for the iPhone and iPod touch. Check them out and we think you’ll agree they’re well worth the modest price.

This iPhone app will become the flagship product of our popular DMV Test Prep series of driver license practice tests. In addition to shipping with practice tests for all 50 states, DMV Plus+ also contains essential driving laws for each state. Handy to keep on your iPhone after you’ve passed the exam.

The permanent product page is here.

A forum has been setup here.

Especially did the over simplicity of UIWebView hinder me in the development of the DMV Test Prep series. Driver manuals which average about 100 pages overwhelm UIWebView. There were some really cool things that I wanted to do with those apps but just didn’t have the tools available.

Now that’s all going to change.

The next project in the pipeline is to build the best PDF viewer for the iPhone available. Although the intention is to improve our existing apps, we may possibly license a library to other devs. We’ll see about that as the project unfolds.

It’s coming and it’s going to be spectacular.

Now we have focus.

The new website design brings our iPhone apps to the foreground while moving the blog, ramblings, and Twitter noise off to secondary pages.

Please excuse the mess while we wrap up a few remaining loose ends over the next few days.

After having Lite versions available for a while I’ve decided to remove them from sale on the App Store. There hasn’t been much of a correlation between Lite downloads and sales of the full versions. Additionally, the extra developer overhead of maintaining Lite versions is taking away time which could be better utilized in serving paying customers.

Thus, Lite versions for both Ambience and iPizzeria are no longer available.

Apple is about to hit 1 billion downloads worldwide in the App Store. They’ve put up a countdown page which shows they’re getting close. And they’ve put up a contest to win a $10,000 iTunes gift card, a MacBook Pro, an iPod Touch, and a Time Capsule. To enroll just download an app.

To get in on the fun we’re reducing the price on the following apps until the App Store hits its billionth download:

Food Substitutes ($1.99)

Gourmet Timer ($1.99)

iPizzeria ($1.99)

Tally Max ($1.99)

***** Update: This sale has ended. *****

Within days of its release iPizzeria was cracked and uploaded to at least two file sharing sites. One of those sites had over 300 downloads within hours of being uploaded. Within the course of days likely thousands of copies were illegally downloaded and installed on jailbroken iPhones without payment.

By comparison, legitimate downloads on the iTunes App Store during those days were far less than the thousands of bootlegged downloads. In a quote from Pinch Media analytics posted on this blog, “…typically we see paid applications receiving around 5x more users from piracy then from legitimate downloads.” That’s 5 times more bootlegged downloads than legitimate. From our experience with iPizzeria that’s a reasonable observation.

It’s an ongoing problem and seems to be getting worse. With do-it-yourself bootlegging tools like Craculous, a hackers tool for cracking iPhone apps to run on jailbroken phones, just about anyone can become a thief with impunity. It’s so easy to do that youngsters could get involved just for the thrill of the free-for-all without realizing that they’re starting down a path of moral corruption.

For now most developers are relying on Apple to protect their IP. However, the problem is that Apple can only do so much. Bootleggers only need to crack the iPhone OS to open up the free-for-all. From there it’s a simple matter of cracking any individual app to make it available to bootleggers.

Some developers are fighting back to defend themselves individually. One thing to do is contact the file sharing sites to have the copyrighted material taken down. And some do seem to respond to these requests. This will not eliminate the problem but it’s a first step. Others are taking the matter further by implementing counter measures within their apps to detect if it’s a cracked version, and then close or show an unkind message to the user. While many developers are concerned that this could alienate legitimate users if a false positive were detected, it seems they’re warming up to the idea. This iPhone developer’s blog discusses a technique which seems to be catching on.

If a new app hits it big soon after release then they’re more immune to bootlegging. But the other 98% of apps will slowly see their sales getting bled away as if by leaches.

To do nothing is like inviting graffiti artists into the neighborhood. Experts say the best way to combat graffiti is to clean it up as soon as it appears, to due something. Look what has happened to the music industry. By one estimate 95% of music downloads are illegal. We could be heading in the same direction with iPhone apps unless something is done.

This is rather interesting for devs because first it reveals how many downloads per day you’d expect to see at this level, about 1600/day. If you’re interested in Lite-to-Full conversions then that would translate into roughly 16 downloads/day for a full version. That calculation is based on a very rough rule of thumb that 1% of people who download a lite version will buy the full version.

The next target of interest is the Top 50. Because most people download entertainment apps directly onto their iPhone, rather than through iTunes, the exposure level should pop at around the Top 50 to 10 000+ downloads/day. In Top 10 you’re golden with 100 000′s downloads/day.

Top 100 is a stepping stone for a Lite-to-Full business model. It gets you exposure and downloads that you otherwise wouldn’t get. However, the revenue on a 99 cent app wouldn’t be enough to sustain a business at that level. You need to be in the Top 50.

Note to self: we don’t have a full version of Lametard IQ so who is really the lametard?

For still unknown reasons our Lametard IQ app [App Store] has taken off like a rocket in the App Store, surpassing 1600 downloads a day. This wasn’t supposed to happen. It’s a half-baked app which should’ve been dead on arrival. So what’s going on?

In the App Store there are a few so-so reviews and about 2 1/2 stars. Google “Lametard IQ” and there’s nothing but links to fake App review sites. You know, the sites which mine data from the App Store and republish it hoping to get 5% commission on click-through sales. A Twitter search reveals nothing.

Originally this app was released at 99 cents to get the price-drop effect, where people download it just because the price drops to free. Thereafter downloads gradually dropped to in-line with what you’d see for free apps, somewhere below 200 a day. But then about the 26th the downloads started taking off.

My guess is that Lametard IQ showed up on a list somewhere but I don’t know where just yet. Although 1600 downloads a day isn’t huge, compared to the 10, 20, or 30 thousand a day some apps get, it still aint bad.

Meanwhile, we’ve submitted to Apple a fully baked update for Lametard IQ which should help it keep moving up the charts.

The first release has, for still unknown reasons, rocketed in the App Store. It was actually a half-baked app that I wasn’t particularly anxious to advertise. It was one of several apps just sitting in the queue waiting to be finished. Faced with the decision to either shelve the project or wrap it up and release I decided on a compromise — release as-is as a free app. It only had 10 questions and no scoring after completing the test. I thought maybe a few people might download it for giggles and kicks.

So here’s the new version, the completed app. It has some new graphics, 20 brain-teasing questions, a final IQ score, and a special surprise at the end known as a liar’s paradox (for those who can’t figure it out).

The new Lametard IQ Version 1.1 should be available in the App Store about April 10.

Enjoy!

There’s a growing anger among iPhone app developers at the current state of affairs. For many devs the game seems to be rigged and not in their favor. Their hopes of getting established as little software shops, maybe even big shops, are getting thrown about by the realities of the work that must come after their apps are released. Most paid apps are getting just a couple of downloads a day. Hardly enough to build a going concern on.

Playing on that anger are recent posts from TechCrunch on how Apple could potentially bankrupt devs and are treating them like dirt. There’s nothing surpising in this because it’s normal TechCrunch style to create a stir.

Everybody needs to just calm down…

If developers came into this market to start and build a business then they also had long-term goals in mind. They got into it for the long haul and were prepared to commit the time, effort, and money into growing their businesses. But if they got in to get rich quick then they’re probably ticked off right about now.

These same developers may have created games for the iPhone and understand the need to put some challenge into it, else they lose their users. Likewise, growing a business involves challenges and coming up with solutions.

Think about the Palm Pre coming to the market this summer. Could Pre do to the iPhone what Facebook did to MySpace? Perhaps, if Apple doesn’t get their act together. When fart apps make it to the #1 paid app spot then there’s something wrong. If Apple doesn’t fix this then we, as developers, can focus our efforts on any of the new touch platforms just waiting for us with arms open wide.

Developers, there’s no need to panic and throw in the towel here. And don’t get too caught up in hyped media reports. They’re just doing what they do.

The gist of what’s going on is developers are 5-starring their own apps while 1-starring the competition. Not just one time, but with 5 or 10 iTunes accounts. Yesterday I saw one app just released with 32 5-star reviews all written in the same style with no gripes. Each user had written exactly one review, a review for that app. Obviously they were fake.

The motive is to deceive the public and that’s why it’s unethical. Many of the developers contacted for the article seemed brash about the whole thing. Some even admitting what they’ve done. If it’s not a big deal then why do it? Here’s one example:

InfoMedia CEO Joel Comm counters that he doesn’t see anything wrong with a developer’s posting an anonymous review of a competitor’s app. “If people purchase the app, they can do whatever they want within the guidelines of the iTunes review system,” Comm wrote via e-mail. “I see no reason to disclose that you are a competitor.”

A new app needs to get traction after it hits the App Store. It’s a critical time in its life. So if its first few reviews are 1-stars with negative comments then it may get killed before it even gets a chance to catch on. Negative reviews beget more negative reviews.

This shameless practice only further confirms the need for independant app reviews like we and others are doing. You can help support our efforts merely by linking to us and adding our feed to your reader. Much thanks for your support!

That has now changed.

The list is greatly reduced while searching for top downloaded apps. Actually it seems you just get the app and a bunch of unrelated but other high-download apps in the results. Search for something specific like “Koi Pond” and you get five results. There’s no opportunity for similar apps to compete. If I were looking for something Koi Pond [ish] how would I find it?

This is bad news for new developers because it makes it even more difficult to get noticed in an ever crowded app marketplace. Without a big marketing budget upcoming developers must lean heavily on independent review sites.

Note: Generic searches like “font” will still return many pages of results. It’s the competition getting blocked on popular apps which is the focus of this article.

The feedback ratings system used by iTunes was busted before iTunes 8.1 was released. The new version of iTunes makes some adjustments to improve the effectiveness of the rating system, but problems will persist.

Last year (2008) iPhone developers were gaming the system in various ways to artificially move their apps up the ratings system, to the top of the Top 10 lists. Comments could be posted by anyone whether they downloaded the app or not. This led to significant developer abuses of positive comment spamming their own apps and negative comment spamming the competition. We’ve been the target of such spam ourselves. Apple tried to plug that hole by requiring people to actually own the app before leaving comments. But free-to-download apps are still getting flamed with negative spam and paid apps are getting purchased just to leave negative comments. This problem, though addressed by Apple, persists and cannot be completely eliminated.

iTunes 8.1 tweaks the ratings system a couple of ways. First, versions are now rated rather than the app as a whole. This is a good move because version 1.0 apps are commonly released without a complete feature set, with the intent of filling those features in future releases. A version-based rating system encourages future development.

Second is a simple Rate this software button which makes it easy to give an app a rating of one to five stars without leaving comments. Simplicity will encourage use. This will hopefully result in more valid ratings which would tend to dilute the spam comments. Note that a similar way to rate apps appeared in the iPhone 2.2 software update whereby you could rate the app after deleting it. But this has been widely criticized as skewing ratings downward because, let’s face it, if you’re deleting an app you’re probably not happy with it.

All in all the changes are positive. But there isn’t an especially good review system in place and would-be app shoppers are still best served by consulting independant reviews before making purchase decisions.

I came across this outfit while doing research on budget apps for our own upcoming iBudget. Tausendstern has a budget app but it’s not very good. By that I mean not complete, not full featured. It seems they did just enough development to get it through the App Store inspectors. In fact all their apps are like that.

Their website shows nine apps available on the App Store and they’re all free. The screenshot here is for an app which is supposed to simulate an artificial horizon used in aviation. Problem is it doesn’t work. It’s just a bubble level type app with a 2D image of a 3D horizon bubble. And it’s pointless and it’s useless. In fact all their apps are like that.

Here’s the kicker: you can buy the source code to all these apps for a mere EUR 29.95. The intended audience is new iPhone developers who need a little help getting started. That explains the low-quality we’re seeing from this outfit. It seems these apps were developed with the intent of selling sample source code. Some developers may find that usefull, but there are other free sources available.

Apple’s developer portal has about the best sample source code available and has probably become the basis for most new starter apps. There’s also appsamuck which has samples to demonstrate core functionality not touched on by the Apple portal.

We’ve tried that also.

I was a little surprised by the response from one site, a well known site. They requested that we pay 50 dollars to get our app reviewed. This fee would “expedite” the process and ensure we get a review. Yet no where on their web site do they disclose that they’re get paid per review.

We didn’t pay and our app didn’t get reviewed.

It seems the opportunists have setup shop. So much for ethical reporting.

Good for a few minutes of fun, and it’s free, so why not!

Enjoy.

Update: We have removed Lametard IQ from sale in the App Store.