Daily Tip: How to clear icon badges with BadgeClear [jailbreak]

Despise notification icons on your apps but not sure how to quickly get rid of them? Disabling them completely is one thing, but being able to selectively clear them when you’ve reached the point of overload is another. Luckily, there’s a Jailbreak app for that and we’re going to tell you about it, after the break!

BadgeClear is pretty much made for people who despise icon badges. Until iOS 5 drops (and a jailbreak for it), we don’t have the option to disable badges for every single app — Apple doesn’t allow you to clear badges for a lot of default apps like Mail — but if you’re jailbroken, BadgeClear makes it easy to clear any and all app icon badges with just a few taps.

Just hold down any icon until they start jiggling (just like you would to delete an app) and tap on the badge you’d like to clear. BadgeClear will ask you if you want to clear it and just tap yes.

This is nice for annoying apps that have badges for no reason really. I have a couple of those. My banking app always sends me push notifications about 10 days too late and leaves an annoying little badge. This is much easier than digging through the app and viewing the notifications. Any apps you have this may be useful for?

$0.99 – Cydia Search Link

Tips of the day will range from beginner-level 101 to advanced-level ninjary. If you already know this tip, keep the link handy as a quick way to help a friend. If you have a tip of your own you’d like to suggest, add them to the comments or send them in to dailytips@tipb.com. (If it’s especially awesome and previously unknown to us, we’ll even give ya a reward…)

TinyChat iPhone app

TinyChat has released its first iOS app: TinyChat FB. This innovative app allows users to have a video chat with up to 12 Facebook friends through the iPhone.

Unlike other video chat apps like Fring, Tango or Skype, users will not have to have the app installed in order to take part in the chat. Moreover, users can log-into the app via Facebook. Once the app has been downloaded, it will display a complete list of the users FB friends. Users can then invite their friends by clicking on their names, which will send them a message reading “I’m video chatting on my iPhone, click the link to video chat with me”, with an accompanying link. Friends can be removed from the list through the users tab.

The TinyChat FB app is compatible with the iPad 1, iPad 2, iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4. The only requirement is that you have 12 friends who are able and willing to have a video conference call with you. On a personal note, as a frequent user of Skype it is important to note that even conference calls with a handful of people could quickly become messy, and one could wonder how 12 people can actually maintain a coherent video conference. However, the creators of the TinyChat FB app insist that it is already becoming a major hit amongst teenagers since it take socializing to a completely new level. It also makes FB a more viable platform against the emerging Google+, which also provides video chat for multiple users.

The app seems to be steaming ahead with over 30 million minutes of video chat and 100,000 additional users per day. The app has also become a hit amongst various celebrities including P.Diddy and Lady Gaga.  The central appeal of the app will still be the fact that it is designed for complete mobility. However, despite its vast capabilities, one could only wonder how many chats actually exceed about 5-6 people.

Free iPhone apps that help you manage your fuel costs

Information is key to keeping costs down. If you can manage all the relevant data, then you can get an accurate picture of how much you are spending and then manage your budget accordingly. This is where mobile phones in general have caused a bit of a revolution. They make the exchange of information nearly instantaneous, which helps people save money. Smart phones have certainly enhanced this whole effect and there is now a host of apps to help you monitor and reduce costs in virtually every part of your life. The following are some innovative apps for the iPhone that are designed to help you reduce fuel costs.

AAA TripTik Mobile: This app helps you find the lowest prices in the local area or while travelling. It shows information for all grades of fuel. Moreover, it also provides directions to other interesting places like hotels, restaurants or local sights. The best part is that it even allows you to call these places for reservations. Similar apps include Gas Buddy and Local Gas Prices.
 

CarEconomy: This app calculates your car’s average fuel economy. If you upgrade the app, it will show you fuel economy information in real-time.

 
Gas Cubby: This app calculates the gas mileage and vehicle maintenance cost. It then displays information like MPG, gas prices and fuel/maintenance costs in a chart format. You can also use the app to provide you with helpful reminders.

Gas Manager: This app automatically tracks fuel economy, fuel cost and distanced travelled. It can even crunch through this data to provide a picture of your carbon footprint. It can also locate gas stations, hotels and service centers within the local area.

Road Trip Lite: This is great for all those users who have multiple vehicles. Like the others, this app can calculate a car’s fuel economy, maintenance and fuel costs. It also allows users to import and export data to Microsoft Office.
 

Skype WiFi for iPhone now available

Skype has released their newest app, Skype WiFi for iPhone. It allows you to connect to 1 million different WiFi hotspots around the world and pay with Skype Credit.

Details and screenshots after the break.

[iTunes link]

Get online at over 1 million WiFi hotspots around the world. Pay per minute with Skype Credit. The must-have app for trips abroad and international travelers.

Skype WiFi is available on the iPhone for free.

Have an app you’d love to see featured on TiPb? Email us at iosapps@tipb.com, tell us about your app (include an iTunes link), and we’ll take a look.

Apple CFO: $12.5 billion is a lot of money for Google to spend on Motorola

Apple Chief Financial Officer, Peter Oppenheimer, was asked what he thought about Android maker Google’s intent to purchase handset maker Motorola Mobility during a Gleacher & Company conference call. Oppenhemier’s response?

“$12.5 billion is a lot of money.”

Indeed.

[Cult of Mac]

iPad rivals still can’t find a tablet market

Apple has proven time and time again that they’re driven to innovate regardless, that they can successfully compete against themselves, but nothing drives them to innovate and compete faster and in a more focused fashion than a successful rival. Sadly, when it comes to iPad, rivals are proving anything but successful at the point.

Meanwhile the Galaxy Tab 10.1 from Samsung can now once again be stocked in the EU, but the Motorola Xoom LTE update has been once again delayed, this time until fall, and we’ve yet to get sell through numbers in any meaningful volume for any of the them.

Part of this is certainly the unbaked nature of virtually all iPad competitors to date, so perhaps the race should now switch from who can ship a rival tablet first, to who can make a much better, much more compelling tablet at a much better value first?

Bad news for everyone if the answer to that continues to be “nobody”.

Griffin Announces iPhone-Controlled Toy Helicopter

Prior to today, you could not get a decent remote controlled helicopter, or any other -esque toy, if you will, for the iPhone without also anticipating the hefty price tag that it would come accompanied with. Though today, Griffin announced, via a mass media message, that an iPhone-specific helicopter will soon be launching. All accessories and such included for the arguably cheap price of only $49.99 – a real steal for what the product seems to do.

All of those toy helicopter sim application on the App Store, I guess, have now become reality. The Griffin HELLO TC, officially speaking, is flown from your iPhone using an application from the App Store as well as the “Flight Deck”, which is an accessory/control pad/transmittor on which you dock your iPhone (see target="_blank" href="#UniqueName">here for compatibility).

As long as the coders sitting over at Griffin are good at making responsive virtual joysticks and also at implementing an accurate calibration system, then flying the helicoper itself shouldn’t be too much of a biggie. There are two control methods, which is the one that utilizes an on-screen joystick and another tilt alternative. Apart from the initial mastering of the technique that will most probably be needed, flying the thing will undoubtedly be a blast!

Check out Griffin’s official YouTube video that showcases some of the helicopter’s features as well as adds a bit of humor to the overall mix:/> width="640" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/t29xKIzXnGM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen>

If you fancy quirky toys, or cool gadgets you could easily wile your time away using, then be sure to pick up the HELLO TC once it’s released. No official dates were announced in Griffin’s PR email that they sent around to their clients, though the email did not fail to mention the “holidays” multiple times. You would have been able to pre-order the helicopter, via its onclick="javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('/outgoing/store.griffintechnology.com/helo-tc');" target="_blank" href="http://store.griffintechnology.com/helo-tc">official page, but I guess the widespread media coverage has made that option fairly popular; in other words, the estimated/anticipated amount of pre-orders that Griffin was going to receive was too low on their part. You can sign up to receive notification once more units become available and can also download the onclick="javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('/outgoing/itunes.apple.com/app/helo-tc/id435802394?mt=8');" target="_blank" href="http://itunes.apple.com/app/helo-tc/id435802394?mt=8">HELLO TC application from the App Store and just pretend that you’re flying the helicopter. Try it out, it’s quite fun if you get past the fact that you’re using your imagination to be flying a nonexistent helicopter!

The HELLO TC will be available for $49.99. For images, information and other related specifications and such, visit the official page that was linked to earlier.

name="UniqueName">Compatibility/> The HELLO TC is compatible with the following Apple devices, and Apple devices only:/> onclick="javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('/outgoing/www.ipadngravy.com');" target="_blank" title="iPad" href="http://www.ipadngravy.com">iPad 2/> iPad/> iPhone 3G/> iPhone 3GS/> iPhone 4/> iPod Touch 3rd generation/> iPod Touch 4th generation