iPhone

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer spots - or, rather, doesn't spot - the Zune in Microsoft's new advertising for that uber-social iPhone "competitor." According to Zune marketing director Adam Sohn, this is on purpose: "We're trying to funnel people from the software side....You don't have to buy the device immediately."

Huh? So, Microsoft is trying to play up all the things you can do with the Zune...without buying a Zune. That might be a better strategy, since it turns out that not many people want to do buy a Zune, regardless of … Read more

Smule has quickly become my favorite iPhone app developer.

It's not that their apps have been particularly useful, but they're the ones I get the most excited about. From Sonic Lighter to Sonic Boom and Sonic Vox, these guys are IMO currently the masters of fun, cool, quirky iPhone apps.

Now they're going completely bohemian with their latest release, Ocarina. According to Smule, this is the first true musical instrument for the iPhone with no precompiled riffs.

By simply blowing into your iPhone's mic you'll create sound, and by holding the "holes" on … Read more

Are you prepared to help Susan042764 from New Jersey?

Apparently, her marriage is at risk, and only your knowledge of the iPhone can save it.

This drama is being played out, very publicly, on the Apple support site.

See if you are moved by Susan042764's question:

"Please help! I took my husband's i-phone and found a raunchy picture of him attached to an e-mail to a woman in his sent e-mail file (a Yahoo account). When I approached him about this (I think that he is cheating on me) he admitted that he took the picture but … Read more

Updated on 11/20/08 to correct details about Qik's social uploads.

Last week I learned of mobile video-broadcasting application Bambuser. Since then, I've compared it side-by-side with its direct competitor, Qik. The similarities between the two are more than skin deep: both turn the cell phone's camera into a live recorder and stream the video online, both allow viewers to chat with the videographer by flashing the message on the screen, and both are currently in development mode. They also both let you integrate with Twitter, Pownce, and a variety of other social networks.

While Qik, … Read more

Voice search is improving all the time, and Google brings the best we've seen to date. Its stellar iPhone app uses the accelerometer to activate search. When you hear a beep after lifting the phone to your ear, start speaking your search term. The accuracy of the listening software combined with the newly added MyLocation feature brings (mostly) spot-on search results that are localized to your whereabouts. As with versions of the Google Mobile App on other mobile platforms, this one also includes a tab of shortcuts to other Google services, including Talk, Reader, News, and Photos (Picasa Web).… Read more

The new voice-activated Google Mobile app for the iPhone is finally here. Whatever the reason for the delay, it was worth the wait. As we wrote last week, the search app knows when you bring the phone to your face to speak into it. It beeps, you talk, and it executes a Google search on what you said. (If you're using a headset, you have to press a button. You can type in your queries, too, if you want.)

It is freakishly accurate. It's not perfect, but it's extremely good. Good enough to be used frequently, I'… Read more

The Social Gaming Network, a company best known for its Facebook Platform apps, has launched a new iPhone app that uses the handset as...a gaming controller.

Called "iFun," the app is a takeoff on the Social Gaming Network's existing sports apps: iGolf, iBowl, iBaseball, and the like. But instead of playing on your iPhone, you use your iPhone or iPod Touch much like the "Wiimote" device for Nintendo's Wii console. (Both gadgets use accelerometer technologies.) It connects via Wi-Fi or cellular network to your PC. You can then play against friends--remotely, and in … Read more

The iPhone is far from perfect, despite what the fanboys claim. Don't get me wrong, it's very, very good. But it has some glitches that still need to be worked out, like the dropped calls some users experience, the lack of copy and paste, and that weird bug where it takes a photograph of your crotch and e-mails it to a woman.

That, anyway, is what seems to be behind the situation in this amusing thread on the official Apple forums. A woman says she found an e-mail on her husband's iPhone with a picture of his, … Read more

Do you like bacon? Do you like your iPhone? Would you want to dress your iPhone in bacon? Well now you can...sort of.

A German accessory company called Antje has created this delicious-looking iPhone sleeve out of a decidedly nonmeaty felt (Or at least it looks like felt from the pictures). It's only around 25 euros (or $31), so you can go and show off your bacon and iPhone love to the world. But make sure you don't accidentally stick your iPhone in the frying pan, OK?

(Via Engadget Mobile)