What would be an awesome addition to any App store, sadly has been reduced to a glorified movie uploader. Qik  has been for around for jailbroken iPhones for around a year now and is a really neat app. It lets you stream live video from your iPhone to Qik’s website. So you could start up a video and others could tune in and watch live while you streamed over 3G or over WiFi. Awesome right? Well the “official” app only lets you upload videos you have already taken with your iPhone 3Gs. The other kicker is you can only upload over Wifi. So no live streaming, no iPhone 3G support, and no upload on 3G only Wifi. So whats the point of this app again?

Qik App Store Link

A post over at The Boy Genious Report states that Apple may be taking social networking further than just adding support for it in iTunes. Apparently Apple is creating its own application that will tie in too iTunes and possibly other Apple products and services. Here is a snippet from the BGR post of what might coming:

What does this mean for iPhione users? Hopefully we will see a official version of this app for the desktop transition over to the iPhone platform. I can see Apple doing a Mobile Me style sync where your desktop social network app stays in sync with the iPhone app as well. Of course all of this is 100% speculation at this point, but it would be pretty cool right? 

Via: The Boy Genious Report

MobileMe iDisk for the iPhone is one of those applications that can help round out a device in terms of having a complete mobile solution in your pocket. MobileMe iDisk is just that, giving MobileMe users access to their iDisk directly from the iPhone. You get the ability to view files, send links for others to access your public folder, view cached files off-line and access other MobileMe user’s public folders making this a good v1.0 release.

It’s also one of those applications that should have been introduced and released along with the MobileMe service at the same time. Instead, Apple allowed third party software developers to fill that gap with more feature rich applications over the past year. Now that Apple has finally released their official MobileMe iDisk application it seems rather diluted in functionality when compared to currently available third party offerings such as Files (formerly called MobileFiles) from Quickoffice, Inc. which offers a lot more for your money.

On the plus side is iDisk’s UI, speed and integration with the MobileMe service and works just like the iPhone’s built-in applications which are the only aspects that I can see that makes it nicer to use. But in order for it to be even more useful to iPhone/MobileMe users, Apple really needs to add a few more functions and features. These should include:

• Ability to create and edit custom folders in MobileMe.
• Ability to create and edit custom folders on the iPhone.
• Ability to move custom folders and files.
• Ability to copy link to shared files.
• Ability to download files directly to the iPhone for offline viewing.
• Return to where you left off when opening previously viewed documents.

Those are what I think of and call “core functionality” for this type of application which in this case would easily please the majority if not all of the iPhone/MobileMe users out there. They are not a lot but would add even greater value to the MobileMe service and the iDisk application itself. What do you think?

Reports are coming through that many developers’ Google Voice apps are being pulled from the iPhone App store. Even more shocking, is that rumors say Google’s own GV app was rejected from by Apple!! Apple states their usual garbage reasoning that these apps duplicate functions the iPhone already provides. It’s not clear if the apps being pulled/rejected was AT&T’s doing or just Apple’s choice. Either way it sucks for Google Voice users and a step backwards for the iPhone.

Via: Engadget Mobile

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

Long hours of riding the train in the past couple of weeks has lead me to start downloading more games for the iPhone. My two most recent purchases are iYamato and Baseball Slugger: Homerun Race 3D.

iYamato – $.99 from the AppStore.

It is 1945. You are the commander of the doomed Japanese battleship the Yamato, which was the largest battleship ever created. The American Navy knows your position- it is your job to fight them to the death. That isn’t really anywhere in the game, I just watch too much History Channel. The game consists of you controlling small anti-aircraft guns and the Yamato’s 18.1″ cannons (thank you Wikipedia). You use this firepower to defend your ship from the invader Americans. It is really only worth your while to try this on Hard mode, since on Easy and Medium modes, there is no end to the action. The game will go on until you are sunk which would take forever. On Hard mode, you will sink pretty quickly. The ship cannot be damaged, but can sink. Your ship will start to tilt once bombs hit it, and will eventually sink below the water. The guns are controlled by too-small buttons and sliders on the bottom of the screen. The main buttons control the small guns, and buttons closer to the middle fire the cannons. The controls on this game are a bit frustrating and need some tweaking because it is really hard to tell where the smaller guns are aiming at times. It isn’t a bad deal at $.99 plus tax- get it if you’re going to be bored for a while, but I don’t highly recommend it until updates change the control scheme a bit.

Baseball Slugger: Homerun Race 3D- $2.99 on sale right now.

This is a great game- no question about it. It is addicting, easy, fun, anything you want in a game. It is essentially a Home Run Derby with severely juiced up characters.  The aiming of your swing is done by accelerometer, and is quite sensitive. Graphically speaking, this game really looks like an early PS2 game- just looks amazing. You can upgrade your batter by certain achievements (Numbers of HRs, fouls, etc.), hitting homers when a “gold ball” appears, or by winning online contests. With these Gold Balls, you can upgrade your stats by getting new uniforms, pants, shoes, gloves, helmets, and. You can also pay Gold Balls to customize the look of your character, but there isn’t a performance boost to this. The online play is great, with differing rooms for those with differing skills. Points are earned by getting hits, HRs, hitting foul-poles and scoreboards. There are two glitches in the game- one where you hear the sound of a pole being hit before the ball reaches the pole (doesn’t affect gameplay at all) and one where I hit a normal HR that just kept going when it should have landed. That’s how I hit a 750 foot homerun, which was AWESOME.

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)

It is hard to believe we are in our third year of the iPhone. When I initially switched from Windows Mobile to the iPhone I was looking for a device that would merge all my gadgets and toys into one neatly designed, well built package. I understood the decision I was making and the sacrifices I would ultimately have to live with.

The first glaringly obvious sacrifice that any Windows Mobile switcher user came made within was Apple’s, in my opinion, weak calendar and productivity suite. Microsoft made the premier productivity suite for mobile and still to this day it is what keeps a lot of Windows Mobile users with the archaic platform. Some who did decided to switch made the assumption that Apple would put out updates to build the platform up and strengthen it’s image as a true smartphone and to some extent they were (I was) right. The updates came, the SDK was released, and we are all falling in to a never ending black hole of apps.

After the release of their SDK the world was buzzing about background processes’ and productivity. Many of the mobility experts I knew where switching back to older platforms to take advantage of of the deceptively simple process of notifications, but were lured back by the iPhone’s ease of use and potential. Some even kept a second device as a way to get things done on the go. Apple’s premature announcement of PUSH notifications let the world know they were aware that there was a need to fill this niche on the iPhone. But was their solution really the answer we were looking for?

The answer is still unclear with only one productivity app in the App Store supporting PUSH (Remember the Milk) and PUSH still being in it’s infancy. I feel server based solutions will provide more problems than most users are willing to deal with.

1.) CONFIDENTIALITY-The average user will have to trust their personal information not with the developer of the application but in some if not most cases with a third party vendor.

2.) CONSISTENCY-If you have ever run a website you know your website only works when your server works. PUSH notifications will depend on that same type of reliability. BlackBerry isn’t even 100% and they are the industry standard of for PUSH and reliability. Unless your app will tell you that it can’t communicate with the server, you will be blissfully unaware that your appointment, task, or conference call has passed by without even a vibration.

3.) CONTROL-We’ve addressed in the past the issue of dealing with a Tsunami of notifications. Where we have a little control over alerts by choice of sound, badges, and a pop up, there is no control over when these apps go off. I could receive a game challenge in the middle of a meeting, or tweets in the middle of the night, But if you have all your favorite apps sending out notifications all day with little control of over when, then one of two things could happen. : 1) You are going to check every time they go off which could lead to loss of productivity or 2) you will become desensitized to all the alerts and miss important ones.

With companies like the makers of OmniFocus not wanting to support PUSH it becomes apparent that it is still not the solution to make he iPhone a productivity giant. So what is the answer? Do we allow background processes at the sake of our batteries, or is there is simpler solution? Can applications be granted right to use the calendar API to use it’s alerts and keep us from having to depend on a connection to get things done. What do you think? Are we on the right track with PUSH or do we need to see more from Apple?

TweetDeck, a popular Twitter client for desktops based on the Adobe AIR platform, is finally making it’s way to the iPhone’s of Twitter addicts everywhere. TweetDeck is known for its rather extensive feature set and is the desktop application of choice for many Twitter power users.

Features of the upcoming iPhone app are remarkably similar to the desktop version, which should please many users who have been longing for a powerful and fully-featured alternative to the current selection of iPhone twitter applications.
The features listed include:

* Tweet directly from your iPhone or iPod Touch.
* Manage multiple Twitter accounts.
* View notifications for new tweets received.
* Use columns to create your personal dashboard.
* Simply sync to set-up
* Continuously updates between your desktop and iPhone.
* Create Groups to easily follow all your friends.
* Follow topics in real-time with saved searches.
* Reply to tweets and send direct messages.
* Easily re-tweet messages.
* Share photos with Twitpic and YFrog.
* Shorten links with your favourite URL shortener.
* Follow and un-follow people.
* Shake your iPhone to refresh columns.

There is no mention of push notifications, but hopefully it will be added in the future. According to Mashable, the application is set to be released this evening at 9pm Pacific time. Stay tuned for a full review once we’ve had time to toy with it.

UPDATE: Tweetdeck is now on the appstore. It’s completely free. Get it here!

[Via TweetDeck, Mashable]