Microsoft releases amazing Seadragon Mobile app- for the iPhone

Microsoft has surprised a few folks with the release of Seadragon Mobile for the iPhone.  Yes, it is only available for the iPhone which I'm sure surprised quite a few partners making Windows Mobile phones.  Seadragon Mobile is a showcase for some amazing technology that allows smooth display of images no matter the physical constraints of the screen.  It is worth checking out if you have an iPhone and want to see how cool working with images can be.  From Microsoft Live Labs, makers of Seadragon:

"The aim of Seadragon is nothing less than to change the way we use screens, from wall-sized displays all the way down to cell phones, so that graphics and photos are smoothly browsed, regardless of the amount of data or the bandwidth of the network."

The technology is amazing and if you have an iPhone you must check it out.  Look at this video of the technology being demoed by Blaise Aguera y Arcas:

So why did Microsoft release this app for the iPhone and not its own Windows Mobile platform?  Alex Daly, group product manager for Microsoft Live Labs:

"The iPhone is the most widely distributed phone with a (graphics processing unit)," Daley explained. "Most phones out today don’t have accelerated graphics in them  The iPhone does and so it enabled us to do something that has been previously difficult to do. I couldn’t just pick up a Blackberry or a Nokia off the shelf and build Seadragon for it without GPU support."

So the answer is simple- Windows Mobile devices cannot run Seadragon so we had to go with the iPhone.  There must be a few embarrassed folks at Microsoft this morning, at least there should be.

(via ReadWriteWeb)

Ultimate Ears triple.vi- iPhoning with style

I have long been a fan of Ultimate Ears headphones.  I've used mine for years and they never fail to impress me with their rich booming bass in headphones that fit in the ear.  It was with reluctance that I replaced them with the Bang & Olufsen headset so I could both listen to music and make phone calls with my iPhone.  Now I am torn as the Ultimate Ears folks have produced a kicking headset for the iPhone and Blackberries.  The triple.vi 10 pairs those wonderful earbuds with a microphone so you can blow your ears off and still make phone calls using the phone.  Now you know what to get that iPhonista who has everything.  $420.

Truphone Anywhere launched for iPhone- no WiFi needed

Those folks at Truphone have been busy of late and weren't happy to rest on that version of the VoIP software for the iPod Touch we told you about recently.  Today they've announced Truphone Anywhere for the iPhone that bring that Truphone VoIP capability to the iPhone with no WiFi required.  This version of Truphone will let you make cheap VoIP calls using the iPhone's native phone call ability and only pay for a local call before VoIP takes over.  Why is Truphone offering this new version for the iPhone?  CEO Geraldine Wilson responds:

“No-one likes big mobile bills, and they don’t come any bigger than for international calls” said Geraldine Wilson, Truphone’s new CEO.  “But for iPhone users, that no longer needs to be the case.  They can choose either to pay standard international call rates, or to reduce them to as little as 3 pence or 6 cents per minute.  It’s as simple as that, no catches.”

Truphone Anywhere is a free app availabe from the iTunes App Store.

More "niche" netbooks sold in 3Q2008 than iPhones

You'd think that comparing netbooks to Apple iPhone isn't fair. After all, netbooks are phones and the iPhone isn't a notebook right? I think this is worth a comparison however, mainly because Apple continues to see netbooks as a "niche" product market and also due to some thoughts that the iPhone can replace a portable computer.

Putting aside the debate of whether we're comparing Apples to netbooks Apples or not, let's look at sales numbers for the third quarter. Last week we saw smartphone numbers out of Gartner and they showed 4.7 million iPhones shipped. DisplaySearch just reported netbook sales for the same quarter and they came in 5.6 million units sold.

Let's put these numbers in another light as people so often discuss Apple's staggering growth in the mobile phone market even though it's a market they only entered in June of 2007. It truly is staggering that they can capture so much market share in less than 18 months. But the first netbook wasn't even available when Apple's first iPhone handset arrived. In fact, you need to wait another four months or so for the original Asus Eee PC 701, which we saw around October of 2007. I'd call that the unofficial "birth" of the netbook market, meaning it's a younger product than the iPhone. Yet it has now surpassed the iPhone in terms of sales and it's doing so at a faster growth rate.

It's interesting to watch how long Apple will continue to play a "wait-and-see" attitude towards this "niche" market. Of course, that's a public "wait-and-see"; nobody outside of Cupertino's closed doors truly knows what's happening behind the curtain in private.

I still believe that there's room in Apple's product lineup for a less expensive computing device sitting between an iPhone and the MacBook. In fact, there's been much talk of integrated 3G in netbooks of late, and particularly in carrier subsidies: consumers pay a low price for the netbook and commit to a data plan with a carrier which reduces the initial outlay. It's a method that's already in place for the iPhone 3G, so is it really a stretch to think it couldn't be applied to Apple's version of a netbook, whatever that might be?

Navizon pays users to help build location database

I thought news from The Apple Blog was interesting this morning, considering we were were just talking about Skyhook Wireless and location-based systems. You can use the $9.95 Navizon application on your iPhone 3G and actually earn money back. Using the software, your iPhone will collect and send back data points of WiFi signals a cellular network towers, which Navizon will then use in their database. With that information, Navizon says they can pinpoint your location to within 10 to 30m on a non-GPS device. You won't get rich on this deal because it takes 10,000 points to earn back your $10 software purchase: you'll see 15 points for a new cell tower and 3 points for a new WiFi access point. If they're already been discovered by another Navizon user, those rewards drop to 2 an 1 point respectively.

The news isn't actually all that new since the rewards program seems to have been in place for well over year, but I never caught wind of it. Navizon offers a free "lite" application on the iPhone that I'll have to take for a spin. If it seems worthy of my $10, I'll upgrade to the full version since being on the run can earn back some money and make the overall system better for everyone who uses it. This makes me wonder: how did Skyhook Wireless create what's arguably the largest location database for WiFi access points and cellular towers?

Boingo comes to the iPhone

We just got word that the Boingo Hotspot application is now available for the iPhone.  Boingo is the provider that has deals representing many hotspots world-wide, including Starbucks and McDonalds.  The Boingo mobile plan is $7.95 per month and is required to take advantage of hotspots using your iPhone.  The Boingo iPhone app makes it easy to determine if a hotspot is part of the extensive Boingo network and makes it a breeze to sign into the hotspot.  The app is free.

reviveLITE- because your iPhone is scared of the dark

This just in from the "why didn't I think of that?" or the "why would anyone think of that?" department: the new reviveLITE combines an iPhone/ iPod charger with a night light.  You plug in your iPhone, plug it into the wall and the night light comes on when it gets dark.  With the reviveLITE you will never get up in the middle of the night and bash your shins on the night stand because it's dark.  $40.

Breaking news: eReader format licensed for Stanza on iPhone

We've never hidden the fact that our favorite ebook reader is eReader.  We've used it for years on just about every platform and currently both Kevin and I are big fans of eReader on the iPhone.  Another reader from Lexcycle, Stanza, has been one of the most downloaded apps for the iPhone since its release.  Stanza is a great reader application but Kevin and I lamented the fact that it could not handle content purchased in the eReader store.

Today's breaking news will make fans of Stanza and eReader very happy indeed.  Fictionwise, the company behind the eReader format, is announcing a licensing deal with Lexcycle to provide access to the eReader format to Stanza on the iPhone.  The Stanza folks are also launching their own Stanza eReader store providing total access to the 40,000+ eReader library within Stanza.  The version of Stanza that was released in the past few days will already handle eReader content but it had not been announced until this news broke.  You can read your eReader content with Stanza right now if you try it.

The folks at Fictionwise will continue to provide the eReader iPhone app so this deal broadens the options for users who have eReader content.  It's all about choice, you can continue to use the eReader app or Stanza, whatever floats your boat.  Fictionwise just wants their content everywhere and this is only the first move in that direction.  They intend to make other licensing deals in the future.

Full press release after the jump.

GetJar: Merry Christmas Steve Jobs

Press release speaks for itself:

Merry Christmas Steve, from Everyone at GetJar Networks

LONDON, December 3, 2008: GetJar Networks, the world’s most popular mobile application distribution and developer community, today thanked everyone in Apple’s marketing department for helping to put mobile applications on the map.

Ilja Laurs, CEO of GetJar, said: “As a small private company we have been busy since 2005 putting mobile applications and games onto consumers’ phones. Since it is the season of goodwill we would like to show our appreciation of the work of Steve Jobs and everyone at Apple for communicating the value of mobile applications to a wider audience.

“At GetJar we have been building the world’s leading mobile applications development and distribution community since 2005 and currently host over 10,000 unique applications that are generating 18 million downloads a month around the world. As a small underground upstart, rapidly emerging as the non-iPhone alternative for mobile applications, we’ve seen a significant increase in mobile applications downloads on our site since Apple’s launch of its App Store this year. As awareness of mobile applications has grown in the popular press through the efforts of Apple’s marketing machine, consumers all over the world have increasingly started to say: ‘Cool! Where can I get this kind of stuff for my phone?’ For many, the answer has been GetJar.

“Mobile phone applications on GetJar are available for all the popular handsets people use every day — from makers like BlackBerry, LG, Motorola, Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, and many more. Consumers come to GetJar to download everything from location-based apps such as Google Maps, mobile browsers such as Opera Mini, and social networking apps such as Nimbuzz. With mobile phone shipments expected exceed 1.2 billion phones this year alone, the potential market for mobile applications is truly huge.

“So our holiday season message to consumers is this: don’t worry if you don’t have an iPhone – you can still get Facebook, Google Maps and great games on your phone! And to our friends at Apple: Merry Christmas, and keep up the good work!”

MELODIS Voice Dialer for iPhone: can you say 100% accurate?

Every week or two, I hear about a new voice dialing application for the iPhone. And every week or two, I come away generally unimpressed. Until this week. I just got word of a free, new application from MELODIS for the iPhone so I gave it a download and then tested it on a few contact names. MELODIS Voice Dialer nailed them all.

"OK," I said to the phone, "maybe those were softball names and therefore too easy for you." So I pitched a few more... and the app still batted a thousand. No matter what I do in normal usage scenarios, the application hasn't messed up once for me. And that's while streaming music in the background while I work.