Macworld

This year we went back and forth through the floor to come up with 5 Best of Show for Macworld. We were specifically looking for products that were best of breed for iPhone users.

The first award went to the always excellent Etymotic Research Inc. They have taken the great technology they use in their other earphones and made an iPhone (or for other mobile phones too…) specific product. The result is the easiest no-brainer replacement for the Apple earbuds that come with the iPhone. The jack works out of the box with the iPhone, and like the Apple earbuds it has a mic built into the cable. The mic also has a subtle music control button.

The hf2 is worthy of iPhone Matters Best of Macworld 2008.

Too many things happened today, but let’s not forget the important details. Remember a little while back? Gmail now supports IMAP. With 1.1.2, there was no official support on Apple’s part, but 1.1.3 has changed this. Gmail’s IMAP is now integrated within the mail app. One feature that I was upset not to see in 1.1.2 is now included with 1.1.3. The ability to have separate folders which may be used to organize the mail you may not want in your inbox. I discovered this on my own and I was surprised this was not as big of feature as some of the others.

I am glad I can finally organize my mail into separate folders and have official IMAP support. What do you think of these features? Have you heard about them before you read this? What else would you like to see included in the mail app through future updates?

This post was written on my iPhone which is running 1.1.3

Apple is Awesome! They have me under some sort of spell. They have perfect timing when it comes to the release of their products. They build up anticipation with Macworld, then “Boom!” As always, I am left drooling after the keynote. Apple introduced and talked about 4 of their products in the keynote, but let’s focus on the iPhone.

We’ve all seen it, at least most of us have. I am talking about the leaked firmware of course. How Gearlive got the firmware so many weeks early is beyond me. Even though the firmware did indeed look authentic, I was still skeptical. Apple does not like leaks, and I figured this was just another elaborate hoax. No, I was way off. Gearlive was dead on. The new firmware has these features: the ability to customize the home-screen, send SMS text massages to multiple people, and the ability to find the phone’s current location in the Maps application. Google Maps gets its triangulated location from both hot-spots and cell towers. This is especially helpful, as having both hot-spots and cell towers is sure to improve the accuracy of the system. Google maps also has… more...

Our publisher, Hadley Stern will be posting live updates from the Macworld keynote. You can view the updates at http://live.applematters.com/

Stay tuned at iPhone Matters for frequent updates on iPhone products and announcements.

Powered by i.Zami, you can gain access to the 2008 Macworld Directory on your iPhone. In addition to finding exhibitors by map, name, and aisle views, the directory provides virtual message boards for attendees to communicate with each other and rate exhibitors.

The directory also covers nearby restaurants, hotels, and various conveniences of interest to show attendees and is part of i.Zami’s user-maintained Yellow Pages for San Francisco, New York, Cambridge, and Boston, Cambridge.

You can access it at http://i.zami.com/mw