The iPod Nation

The newly seeded iPhone firmware 2.2 beta is said to have Google Street View included. If you’ve been living under a rock for the last few years Google Street View is a revolutionary program from Google that lets you see many locations from you guess it, a street view. It allows you to look 360 degrees in every direction as if you were standing right there in the middle of the street. Many thought Google Street View would be an Android only feature, now it looks as if iPhone users will be able to enjoy this useful service as well.

-Ray

[Source: topiphonenews]

Apple may have been harsh to outside iPhone Application developers, but they are trying their hardest to be open to 3rd part Apps. Apple has just announced their iPhone Developer University Program that will allow higher education institutions to offer classes on iPhone and iPod Touch application development and programming. With this program, iPhone developers would be able to take a class on iPhone programming and at the same time work within the constraint of Apple’s iPhone SDK non-disclosure agreement. Apple released the following statement:

The University Program provides a wealth of development resources, sophisticated tools for testing and debugging, and the ability to share applications within the same development team. Institutions can also submit applications for distribution in the App Store.

In addition to Apple’s iPhone Developer University Program, Stanford University is also jumping into the mix. Stanford has also announced that they are working on a project that makes several of their web-based services as iPhone applications. Stanford released the following statement regarding the project:

A suite of five software applications developed by students is now being tested on campus. Two of them, for managing course registration and bills, are intended for students. The other three will allow access to Stanford’s searchable campus map, get team scores and schedules, and check listings in the university’s online directory, StanfordWho.

Here are some screenshots of Stanford’s iPhone applications:

- Geoff

[Source: MacRumors]

Do you just absolutely love Wii golf? Well now you don’t have to leave home without it. Social Gaming Network, a company based in Palo Alto, has just released iGolf. It is a iPhone application that works exactly like Wii Sports Gofling game. The application utlizes the iPhone’s accelerometer to detect a golf-like swing. So basically, you could swing your iPhone like you would do with a Wii remote control in order to hit the ball. You could challenge friends anywhere and save the scores of each player. But remember, hold on tight! You don’t want to launch your iPhone 350 yards away. Check out this trailer for the application.

- Geoff

[Source: TechCrunch]

Apple released their 2.1 software for the iPhone and iPod touch which is promised to fix many of the issues iPhone users had with update 2.02. Here is the official list of improvements Apple claims to be included in this fix, you may want to hold off for a day or two so the early adopters experience any more problems.

- Decrease in call set-up failures and dropped calls
- Significantly better battery life for most users
- Dramatically reduced time to backup to iTunes
- Improved email reliability, notably fetching email from POP and Exchange accounts
- Faster installation of 3rd party applications
- Fixed bugs causing hangs and crashes for users with lots of third party applications
- Improved performance in text messaging
- Faster loading and searching of contacts
- Improved accuracy of the 3G signal strength display
- Repeat alert up to two additional times for incoming text messages
- Option to wipe data after ten failed passcode attempts
- Genius playlist creation

-Ray

[Source: iphonenewsblog]

With Apple constantly trying to control all the Apps that are developed for the iPhone, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, a venture capital firm, has just started a blog for iPhone App developers. The blog is called iFund blog, and it covers various different topics for its $100 million capital venture for iPhone App developers. So what does that mean? Basically, KPCB is dishing out about $100 million for iPhone App developers in order to create new apps for the iPhone. Currently, they have funded five different companies with about $30 million. That means there is about $70 million to spend. The five companies that KPCB funded include the following:

- Pelago – social discovery and location sharing through an application called Whrrl which is live on the AppStore
- iControl – a home automation and monitoring solution available in Q1
- ng:moco – iPhone games launching its first titles this month
- GOGII – A new social interaction and marketing platform, launching in Q4
- An unannounced venture launching in Q1

KPCB is excited about the prospects for the iPhone that they gave the following statement:

According to our estimates and M:Metrics data, that’s more iPhone application downloads in 30 days than all US carriers combined have in a quarter.* That means a relatively small base of handsets (~12M, mostly US) is dramatically outperforming the other 250M.

This is exciting for all iPhone and iPod Touch users as the possibility of applications are endless with this new iFund. Stay tuned as more information comes our way.

- Geoff

[Source: iFund]

Need help organizing your life? Don’t worry, me too. Well Vito Technology has just the answer. Vito Technology has just introduced Task2Gather, a task manager application for the iPhone. This application allows users to create and store tasks in the iPhone application. In addition to creating tasks, the tasks can be stored online and be shared with others. Each taskcan be divided into several sub-tasks and those sub-tasks can also be divided further and further. People who can access your tasks online would be able to modify them and those modified tasks will be sent to your iPhone. The task manager application is available for $4.99 at the Apple App store. Let us know what you think.

- Geoff

[Source: MacWorld]

Do you remember back in the day a game called Mattel Football? The game was first introduced back in 1977. Well more than 30 years later, it makes it comeback to the iPhone and iPod Touch. The game is entitled LED football, and it is available at the Apple App store for a dollar. This football game application sports the same features as the original Mattel Football, such as rudimentary beeps and blips, and each football team is represented only by dashes. The application has also an information page that looks similar to the back of a gaming console with a battery pack and instructions, just like the original Mattel Football had. The game seems very easy and not that complex. Looks fun and interesting.

- Geoff

[Source: MacWorld]

Yesterday, Yahoo released their new Apple iPhone application that will allow users to manage their mobile messaging and social networking contacts with one interface. The application, which is entitled oneConnect, utilizes several networking sites such as Facebook, Flickr, MySpace, Twitter, and Youtube. Basically, oneConnect is just one big social network conntected address book. Features that are included in the application follows:

- Pulse, a feature in the application, allows users to check the updates of all their friends on a single page

- Favorites, allows users to build a specific list of friends that one can follow, instead of having to follow all of the user’s friends

- the application can integrate instant messaging, text messaging, and email into one conversation. As of the moment, the application only uses Yahoo IM, but they are expecting to add other IM programs

The application can be downloaded for free on the Apple App store. Check it out and remember to come back here to give us your insight.

- Geoff

[Source: InformationWeek]

iToner 1.0.9 the update to Ambrosia Software’s popular ringtone making software is now available. iToner cost $15 but the update is free for users already registered. The iToner app makes it possible to drag and drop audio files and create custom ringtones for your iPhone and there is no per-ringtone fee at all. iToner works with MP3, AAC, WAV, AIF files and has been updated to work with the new iTunes 8 which was just released. You will need Mac OS X 10.4.10 or later to use iToner.

-Ray

[Source: macworld]

Another piece of news from Apple’s “Let’s Rock” event. Apple introduced iPhone Firmware 2.1, which will be made available for free for iPhone users. For iPod Touch users, its going to cost you $10 for the firmware update. The new firmware introduces these new features:

- Significantly better battery life
- Fewer call drops
- Bug fixes
- Faster backups to iTunes
- No App crashes

The new firmware should be made available this Friday. Check back as more information comes our way.

- Geoff

[Source: MacRumors]