Zenbu iPhone application

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zenbu

26 posts

Geek

#25974 8-Sep-2008 11:54

There is a Zenbu app for the iPhone available now, http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=289677153&mt=8.

With Version 1.0 you get full text search of 51,281 Zenbu listings from www.zenbu.co.nz (exported Aug 28) with full detail display and a handy list of other nearby listings, all without a network connection which is great for those of us not on a big data plan. All of this will take up less space on your phone than 2 songs.

The fact that it runs offline means you may not be getting the 'freshest' data, but most Zenbu content is pretty static so semi-regular application updates should mitigate this issue.

1.0 works on iPod touch or either iPhone. Version 2.0 will all look to utilise the location-awareness features of the newer iPhones.

It's free of course and I look forward to any feedback. Here or iphone@zenbu.co.nz

Sam

Chief Zenbu Bloke

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37 posts

Geek

#163208 9-Sep-2008 01:27

Too good to be true! great app :D

psychrn

1603 posts

Uber Geek

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Trusted

#163210 9-Sep-2008 02:16

Mmmmm cant seem to get any connection tonight to Itunes.
Must be hopefully thats it so popular ... hopefully
Must of been our connection.
D/l over 3 G ok.
Looks very usefull indeed

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asbb1

42 posts

Geek

#163213 9-Sep-2008 05:59

Its alright, Livesearch would be better E.g. Like google's app where as you type it searches for whatyou are looking for. Also seems to have many places within New Zealand. I give it a 6/10

sonex

37 posts

Geek

#163286 9-Sep-2008 13:01

its great that it shows the location of the place aswell in gps. if only tomtom or someone brought out downloadable maps for iphone so internet use isn't required at all.

martin308

226 posts

Master Geek

#163305 9-Sep-2008 14:01

What is Zenbu? What advantages does it offer me over say just using Google?

dan

1134 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#163311 9-Sep-2008 14:30

cool app, looking forward to 2.0 with location awareness

zenbu

26 posts

Geek

#163319 9-Sep-2008 14:58

Zenbu is a local search engine for New Zealand places, products & services. www.zenbu.co.nz

Zenbu's content is created by the community and is freely available under a Creative Commons license which results in Zenbu data being found in a number of other projects such as NZ Open GPS Maps or on Zoomin, which has utilised over 25,000 Zenbu records.

The idea is to collect the same basic information that is available to you as you walk down the street such as business contact details and hours, as well as non-commercial things like parks, DOC camping grounds and public toilets, and make that available electronically.

I find it particularly useful to have instant access to this information, especially with the data already in the iPhone which enables some quick, powerful, and free searches - e.g.

What is that cafe next to Burgerfuel on Posonby Road?

Search Zenbu (iPhone or online) for 'Burgerfuel Ponsonby' and look at the list of nearest things. This may sound like an obtuse example but we need contact details / opening hours all the time and Zenbu can provide it.

Google can do a lot more, but on your iPhone it will require a net connection.

If you can't find something on Zenbu you can just add it, for the benefit of you and everyone else, which is a little more difficult with Google.

Google is great, I use it all day.

I also use Zenbu, it is smaller, simpler and in just one tiny niche, better.

Of course as a "crowd-sourced" content provider Zenbu gets better with the more people who use it and contribute back, in any small amount. If you find it useful, please do add or edit content to keep the network effect growing.

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kiwiboi

123 posts

Master Geek

#163320 9-Sep-2008 15:01

Wow! Very handy app. It helps a lot. Thanks for this. Great great app. Thumbs up mate!

steve98

1395 posts

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#163370 9-Sep-2008 20:23

Wow, I'd never heard of Zenbu before but this app looks great and will come in real handy on my iPod touch since free wifi is hard to come by in NZ! Checked out the main website too, nicely designed and super fast. Market it, I think you have a winner there!

Steve

nzbullet

459 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#163554 10-Sep-2008 18:16

This has to be one of the most useful apps I have had on my iPhone. Now I don't say that lightly...I've had a lot of apps most of which I consider to be bloatware. I'll put a video up on iPhoneappy as soon as I can, in the meantime I recommend this to any one in or travelling to NZ. If you could do this for other countries they would love it also. And good on you for making it free. You could easily charge for this, i'd certainly pay for it.

Cheers
nzbullet
Note: My thoughts and comments are my own and not of anyone else including my employer

nzbullet

459 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#164120 13-Sep-2008 00:29

Video demo here

Cheers
nzbullet
Note: My thoughts and comments are my own and not of anyone else including my employer

raab

262 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

#164148 13-Sep-2008 08:40

This app is great :)

The only thing I've found is that when I click on map it takes me to google maps but doesnt drop a pin on the location. Is this even possible to do?

raab

262 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

#164249 13-Sep-2008 17:27

2.1 seems to break the keyboard, you only see space and search.. though if you click anywhere down there the keyboard appears

zenbu

26 posts

Geek

#164359 14-Sep-2008 17:28

The only thing I've found is that when I click on map it takes me to google maps but doesnt drop a pin on the location. Is this even possible to do?

Believe it or not, no. At least it is undocumented and I haven't seen any 3rd party apps doing it.

NZBullet mentions in his video review the wish for opening the website or map inside the Zenbu application. rather than going out to the 'native' application (Safari or Maps), which would actually enable such functionality as we could just the 'proper' maps api. I think I'll look at this in the future. Right now I'm making the nearest search work to my liking. Nearest search is working already but I'm working on a flexible radius search system as well as compatibility for non-GPS units.

As for firmware 2.1, I'm downloading it now so can't comment just yet. Let's just say the Zenbu app 1.0 is not stretching the SDK, so I would be disappointed if Apple started breaking their own stringent backward compatibility guidelines already.

martin308

226 posts

Master Geek

#164368 14-Sep-2008 18:08

raab: 2.1 seems to break the keyboard, you only see space and search.. though if you click anywhere down there the keyboard appears

Same problem here with 2.1.

Good to here some more dev is going on, this is crying out for some location aware features :)

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