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If you’re like me and you just can’t start your day off by rolling out of bed without the morning ritual of caffeine intake, then you’ll probably be interested in a new App that combines the power of Twitter aggregation to help you find local coffee houses.

Coffee Buzz, which only costs $0.99, (iTunes Link) shows a map of nearby Twitter users who are drinking a cup of caffeine loaded goodness or even decaf if they roll that way. Tapping on someone’s name will show you what they’re drinking and where they’re drinking it. Some awesome Google Maps integration will bring up the contact info and address for that particular coffee dispensing locale allowing you to whip up a quick route there to satisfy your need for a double shot iced mocha with extra awesome or whatever combo suites your tastes. Want to get in on the coffee sharing action? Log in with your Twitter user name and you can Tweet what you’re drinking and where or put in your coffee mix presets.

Via: The iPhone Blog

Looking for a chance to collect a piece of (mobile) Apple history and have more money to spend than the worth of an iMac? Your opportunity has finally arrived as a recent eBay auction for a prototype of the original iPhone has surfaced. The lucky buyer not only gets the Beta hardware so early in its infancy but a second, malfunctioning iPhone (only made weeks apart) to tinker with.

Needles to say this prototype forgoes the final builds or even early builds of OS X mobile for a quickly cobbled Firmware meant only for testing purposes. According to the buyer, calling and most features work and the lack of typing out a quick SMS is unfortunately one of the many penalties for the Beta build running on this iPhone. The working iPhone curiously has a matte plastic screen and a serial number that indicates it was manufactured in the 46th week of 2006 (the iPhone was formally introduced during January 2007). The working unit carries an OS version of 03.06.01_G (the first shipping iPhones ran OS version 03.11.02_G). The nonfunctioning prototype on the other hand has a glass screen, slightly higher serial… more...

Monopolies are generally bad except ,of course, in the tech industry. With all the different mobile phones out there on the market these days, even getting basic accessories like a charger can be a hassle. There is now a push to standardize the mobile charger, which would make things a little simpler, but what does Apple have to say about it? “No,” of course.

It looks like Apple will not be joining the party of companies that are likely to change to all USB chargers by 2012. Apple has chosen to stick to the same dock connector that it has been with since 2003.

The group includes AT&T, LG, Motorola, Nokia, Orange, Qualcomm, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, T-Mobile, and Vodafone. According to the GSM, which represents the interests of GSM operators, the change would make things simpler for the consumer, who could use the same charger with all future phones and charge anywhere with any available unit.

The new chargers will be energy efficient and said to reduce greenhouse gasses 13.6 to 21.8 million metric tons!

What do yo think? Do you like the idea of all cell phones having the same chargers, including or not including the iPhone?

Via: more...

I love iPhone success stories, because they confirm just how useful the product I love can be. Of course, other phones may have similar success stories, but only the iPhone gets the acclaim.

Anyway, the story is that some guy pulled over to help a car on the side of a snowy road when another car (probably not paying attention) hit his bumper.

The policeman arrived and asked for his proof of insurance, and like many of us have experienced, was not able to find or produce a copy of his insurance. uh oh

So, to avoid a $200 fine, the guy frantically whipped out his trusty iPhone and directed his browser to Geico. He was able to have proof of insurance emailed back to him. He showed it to the officer, who decided it was proof enough at the time, and the guy was off the hook!

Although I’d love to get rid of my wallet and carry just my iPhone which could theoretically contain all my information, I don’t think it would fly well with a lot of police officers. This was a lucky guy though and luckily escaped… more...

In a recent article from Macrumors, the recent iPhone firmware has evidence of the next generation iPhone.

In a property list inside the update image (USBDeviceConfiguration.plist), the suspected new iPhone is designated “iPhone2,1” while the current iPhone is “iPhone1,2.”

MacRumors says that the original iPod touch is identified as “iPod1,1” while the most recent model is “iPod2,1.” This change added the new design, added speaker, microphone, and volume control.

We all know an iPhone is coming. We aren’t going to have an iPhone3G for the rest of our lives. The question is when? Macrumors also points out that the answer may be in 5 to 6 months based on an iPhone cycle that occurs in June. Hmmm…

Like I always say, time will tell.

President Barak Obama will be sworn in today and like previous Obama apps, this one hopes to be on the front page of your iPhone with the ability to vote.

Change, (not to be confused with the other Change app) iPhone app from Appible, LLC, released last week, lets you vote on your disapproval or approval of his administration’s policies on various issues.

In addition to casting your own vote, you can view other people’s votes on a 3D globe, view news for each issue from Yahoo News, and post comments on them to Twitter.

There is a plethora of issues you can look over and vote for such as: Technology, Science (my two favorites), Foreign Policies, Taxes, Welfare, Economy, and many more.

The app is available now in the app store for $1.99.

This is a very hot app and I look forward to seeing many more votes out there on these various topics.

At iPhone Matters sometimes we like to cover the smaller stuff. So while we can’t say anything new about big stories like the progress of the iPhone coming to China or the status of the fabled iPhone nano we can let you know that TUAW has a great post up about following the Inauguration of Barack Obama.

You may remember that Barack Obama was elected President of the United States a few months ago. Or maybe not, Presidential races aren’t covered with much fervor so you could have easily missed the 23 hours and 59 minutes of media devoted to Presidential politics per day. Anyway, if you’re one of the ones who followed the election the inauguration is likely of interest. And you can follow it all on your iPhone.

TUAW tells you how.

Want to actually hear the people behind iPhone Matters? If so, be sure to check out our new Podcast coming soon to an iPhone near you!

We may be a little late in the Podcast market, however, we feel now is as good as time as any.

Each week, we will discuss hot stories of the week, reviews, and more.

We will be sure to let you know when our first podcast will be hitting the net.

Stay tuned…

An app that I am rather excited about getting my hands on for a review is an app called iStat. Bjango, the makers of iStat, is a fantastic app/widget for monitoring your Mac’s CPU, RAM, network performance, etc.

The new iPhone app is essentially two apps in one. The first part of the app is a remote iStat app for tracking your Mac while away from your desk. The second funtionality of the app lets you check various stats of your iPhone. How great is that??

The remote iStat part of the app requires that you run a small server app on every Mac you want to keep tabs on.

Once you’re all set up, you can check out RAM and CPU usage, various machine temperatures, and even keep track of your hard drive space.

The iPhone stats are just as great. From the app, you can monitor your free space, how much memory you’re using, and even figure out your iPhone’s IP address. In addition, you can clear you’re iPhone RAM if things are running a little slow, which in my case, is all the time!

iStat will be available soon… more...

Despite some people’s anger in a disappointing keynote yesterday, iPhone users got a little enjoyment out of yesterdays announcements.

Announced by Phil was a new remote control keynote app. As the name suggests, the new Keynote Remote application lets the user control a keynote show running on their Mac using their iPhone or iPod touch.

When the iPhone is held vertically, the app displays the current slide and notes to remember while presenting the slide. When held in landscape, it shows the current slide and the slide before it, and the slide can be advanced by swiping it to the left. It will be offered in the app store for $0.99.

I have a feeling this is going to be a pretty big app for many users.