Looks like 8.2.1 broke Palms ability to sync. As cute and adorable as the newly transformed Palm comes across it is hard to feel bad about Apple trying to shut them out of their own Eco-system.  Everyone was ready for it including Apple.  Heck, it was probably even planned by Palm for Apple to look like A-holes doing it.  But this was gun was cocked and locked from the beginning.  It is like watching a child play with a loaded weapon.  It isn’t a matter of IF something would happen, it was when.  So I do not feel sorry for Palm, unlike a child they knew better and had it coming.

Now don’t get me wrong. I think iTunes should be an open-ish (In the Apple sense) platform for all devices to pay royalties and hook up to.  I’m surprised this hasn’t gone to court and already come to pass. But that is a different post entirely.  Until then, Palm, get in bed with Amazon and make your own solution and quit screwing yourselves and your users.

With the third iteration of the iPhone and just as many major OS revisions it seems like a good time to take a look back and see the original announcement through experienced eyes.  Will the original announcement seem unimpressive as the technology has improved or does the keynote have its same charm and excitement.  Click play and tell me your thoughts of the original iPhone. For those that bought the original iPhone, did you truly buy a revolutionary device or did you get sucked into Apples distortion field?

Via: Datamation

It appears there might have been a few features slipped in to the new firmware afterall. Nothing really wets my whistle, what do you think?

• TUAW reports that the AT&T IPCC hack, where the carrier file was modified to allow iPhone tethering sans official AT&T sanction no longer works. Bummer, given AT&T still hasn’t announced anything about legitimate tethering support or pricing.

• Engadget Mobile’s been informed that new APIs have been introduced allowing for the manipulation of live video to produce “augmented reality” apps (where information is layered on top of the video).
• Ars Technica reports iPhone 3.1 Beta 2 allows developers to send apps to test devices via Wi-Fi, rather than having to tether via USB as in previous releases.

Via:The iPhone Blog

Not that this means a whole lot to a whole lot of people, but the new beta is out.  Developers Only.  I have installed and early indications might be showing an improved battery life.  I’ll let you know within the week.  Not much to here, just a heads up.

Worms is a classic no matter what platform. For some reason I am not really motivated to run out and grab this title, it might be because you can’t play another iphone. But if YOU are a Worms Junkie and you have to have it. Now is the time.

Worms is a turn-based strategy game where players take turns controlling a team of adorable worms. The idea is to annihilate the other team or teams by utilizing one of the many weapons at your disposal. You can also utilize the terrain in a variety of ways since it is completely destructible. The game features updated cartoon-style visuals, a new control system designed specifically for the iPhone, 50 different challenges, 6 unique environments, four-player multiplayer, and much more.

App store link

This weekend I went on a spending spree. I had to get my wife a new case for her new (my old) iPhone 3G. After much looking she desided on this one. Ultra Case Carve. I bought a new case for my iPhone 3GS, the InCase Slider in white. While I was on a spending extravaganza I picked up a charger that I have had my eye one since it’s release, the Griffin PowerDock.

I had my eye on the PowerDock 2 because I had always known we would be a multiple iPhone house, but little did I know that my 9 year old son would also have one. That lead me to the PowerDock 4.
I ordered mine off of Ebay and paid about $50 but you could pay as much as $70. With a little more patience you could probably save more. Let’s take a look what comes in the box.
It seems more and more manufacurers are using creative and minimalistic forms of packing. Griffin is not an exception to the rule. The packaging is attractive and they do a decent job minimizing the use of extra material. In the box you won’t find a seperate users manual, instead they are printed on the inside of the box. Continue Reading »

This stuff is always under my nose and I never think to post it. I was on MobileMe last night and noticed the Merge of Calendars and Contacts when setting up my wife’s phone, and I couldn’t set up find my phone because it was down for maintenance. Good eye TUAW crew

A look at the status history for MobileMe shows that maintenance was performed late last night on the web apps, resulting in the new look throughout the site. Other changes to MobileMe include:

* The Help menu is now accessible from the toolbar.
* Mail forwarding and replies now retain original formatting.
* All messages on MobileMe can now be searched from the iPhone or iPod Touch.
* Automatic album creation from the iPhone or iPod Touch with version 3.0 software.
* iPhone 3GS users can publish video to MobileMe.
* iPhone contacts maintain ringtone associations after syncing with MobileMe.
* Option to merge contacts and calendars on first sync.
* Turning off sync will enable users to still keep a copy of their data on their device rather than wiping it.

Via: TUAW

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Couldn’t have said it better myself.

Firemint has put up the above video tech demo of their Real Racing game running optimized for an iPhone 3GS and…. wow.

Since the game uses a high fidelity physics engine, adding cars is a good test for pushing the hardware. We started our tech demo with 8 cars on the track, then 10, 12, 16 and 20, and the 3GS still didn’t break a sweat,” wrote Firemint’s Alexandra Peters. “We finally stopped when we got to 40 cars on the track at the same time, still with no perceptible drop in frame rate. We think the results are mind blowing.

Via: theiphoneblog

One of my hobbies is web and graphic design. I am not good enough or consistent enough to actually make a living at it, but I enjoy keeping up with what is going on. So you can imagine my excitement when I found this list of iPhone Apps for web designers. Even if all you do is mess around with your own site, this list will have one or two things that will be solid additions in your web sites arsenal.

When it comes to web design, there are apps for nearly everything, from helping create color schemes to managing your busy schedule. Here are 15 of the best!

1. Ego

Ego is a brilliant way of checking your web statistics on a daily (or even hourly) basis. Able to support sites such as Twitter, Squarespace and Google Analytics, you can track the traffic to your website from the comfort of your iPhone without the time consuming pain of having to log in and out of each individually.

2. Palettes

Particularly useful for the graphical web design, Palettes allows you to lift colous directly from any image you see online on your iPhone and create a ‘palette’ of your own, replicating exactly the desired color scheme. Palettes can be imported from or exported to other programs such as Photoshop and Illustrator, and offer a quick and efficient way of working with colors without having to compromise on accuracy.

3. WhatTheFont

One of the best things about using iPhone apps is the mobility that they offer. For example, if you see a font or lettering that catches your eye while out and about, simply take a photo and the WhatTheFont app will identify it, meaning you can incorporate it into your own designs in a matter of seconds. WhatTheFont works on practically every image, so even if the font is on a web page and not a photo, this app will still identify it for you, which has helped this app achieve almost cult status amongst designers.

Click through to see the rest of the list
(Via: WebDesignLedger)