Third-party add-ons

Wired has a great article up on applications that replace actual tools. You can use the iPhone as a level, as a tape measure, calipers and even a speedometer. Fantastic uses of the iPhones built in GPS and accelerometer.
Check it out!

Good news folks. Facebook’s native application is due to get an upgrade in September.

The upgrade should actually make the app reach some sort of feature parity with the web-app version of Facebook, which right now is far superior to the native app.

New features include a revamped profiles view, viewing all notifications in the home tab, friend search and approval, the ability to view your full inbox, and more.

This will probably make the Facebook app even more poular than it is now. Stay tuned…

We’ve all known that Nike+ was supposed to come to the iPhone, we’ve just been waiting a bit longer than expected. So what is in store for us? Nike+iPhone=Awesome!

Or a lot of great features and smart implementation, Nike+ definitely uses the iPhone’s technology to its advantage to create a better user experience and offer a better feature set.

Because of the capabilities of the iPhone, a lot of the stuff that Nike+ used to run on the Mac and on the Web are now being run on the iPhone itself.

You’re able to keep track of all the classic stats and maybe even map out your route with GPS. So the iPhone’s sensors and chips are going to be well used by this app.

Looks very promising…

Via: Gizmodo

{UPDATE}
So it turns out that the supposed screenshots that were leaked to iPhone.fr were in fact faked. AppleInsider noticed that the app showed someone using it to listen to a Coldplay song, but Apple doesn’t offer developers a way to play music on the… more...

If you have been keeping up with the news, or happen to witness the $999.99 app in the iTunes App Store, then you may know about Apple pulling it a day after it was released. Although the release of the app sparks some questions on Apple’s behalf, what is even more troubling is that 8 people actually purchased this app.

Dubbed “I Am Rich,” this app simply displayed a a red jewel on your iPhone screen. Nothing more, nothing less. But if you happen to glance a little to the right of the “I Am Rich” info screen, you would notice the $999.99 price tag. Ouch!

I wouldn’t have expected for anyone to purchase this app, but I was overwhelmed by the 8 individuals that purchased the app - accidently of course.

One gentleman explains that he was simply clicking the “buy” button to see if it was some kind of practicle joke. He found out otherwise when he noticed the $1000 charge on his credit card and promptly posted the review in the App Store:

THIS IS NO JOKE. “DO NOT BUY THIS… more...

Have you ever been worried about accidentally misplacing your iPhone out in that big world out there, and not having any clue where to find it?

I am pretty strict on myself about knowing the location of my iPhone, but if it so happens that I loose my phone, I’d like to thank MobiFindr for their service.

Navizon brings us lots of goodies and this one lets you get clues from your iPhone just by texting your phone from another phone.

When you send a special text combination to your iPhone via SMS message, the app finds the location of the device using the AGPS and texts the location back to you.

Now that the iPhone is a little more friendly and opening its arms to software developers everywhere, it comes as no surprise that the iPhone’s browser, Safari, is a target.

Out of the handful of applications I’ve seen that I will definitely enjoy, none of them challenge the already existing applications that the iPhone has always had… none that I am aware of anyway.

The first software category in which developers are likely to make a move: Web browsers. Firms like Mozilla and Opera aim to sink their hooks in any and all popular platforms, not forgetting about the iPhone, I am sure.

Third-party browsers could bring a wealth of feature distinction to the iPhone. Mozilla’s recently debuted Firefox 3.0 differs significantly in form and function from Apple’s Safari for Mac OS X and Windows.

FireFox for iPhone would be huge as many people use and love the browser more so than any browser out there.

I think now that Jobs has yet to give us Flash, many people will flock to someone… more...

This could be useful. And there is a world of possibilities for the iPhone now. Take a look at iCall, an App that claims that if you are in a WiFi area will transfer over the calls automatically so you won’t have to use any minutes.

Meet RF.com. Internet telephony provider rf.com is readying an iPhone-specific PBX service. The service would allow users to make international and web-based calls using their normal iPhone minutes.

The client will operate its own PBX, which will allow it to connect to a web client. Once online, the software can finish routing its call using Voice Over Internet Protocol and connect to an iPhone handset.

This is a neat idea. Although I have no reason (right now) to call oversees, this would be quite useful.

Via: Tuaw

This morning Six Apart has unveiled its newest iPhone creation, a very nicely designed looking port of Blog It. The simple tool lets you write and cross blog entry or status update to several services at once. The company is hoping people will use it as a home base to manage all their updates.

It looks pretty awesome and I am excited many of these companies are creating handy apps for the iPhone. However, I think the App Store will start being filled with unnecessary apps like that of Facebook. I digress.

Take a look at the video to see the app in action.

I have been using a great program for quite some time called SugarSync. SugarSync allows you to sync and backup your files and media across all of your computers, the web and mobile phone. Best of all, SugarSync takes care of everything automatically in the background so you never have to make backups or email files to yourself.

A small client is required on your Windows PC or Mac. The application client runs in the background to monitor and synchronizes a copy on a secure central server. Files can then be available and accessible via web browser directed to http://sugarsync.com/or from a mobile phone browser at http://m.sugarsync.com/.

Following that link on the iPhone will tell you why it is such a great web app to use for your iPhone. The staff over at Sharcast want to make it clear that the same features for your desktop or laptop PC or Mac are also available on your mobile. However, for use iPhone users, the syncing from the iPhone is not yet there, however, when you log on using your… more...

If I were still in college, I would be one of the coolest kids using my iPhone to record lectures. I would proudly place in on the desk and press record....but how?

That’s what iPhone Recorder offers, together with the ability to directly record audio to ringtones without any computer necessary!

Dynamic volume adjustment, channel and bitrate control, and a choice of mp3, mp4 and aac file formats round out a decent range of options; you can also directly attach them to an email from the app itself.

Right now (AppStore coming soon!) iPhone Recorder requires a Jailbroken handset, and if that so happens to be the case, you’ll have to pay $30.00 which is kind of pricey if you ask me.

It is great to see some recording capabilities open up though. Go ahead and get yourself a copy, and tell me how you like it.