Posted 11/20/09 at 12:40:01 PM by Paul Lilly

Better late than never, and while it took a long time, iPhone and iPod touch users can now download Trillian, the multiprotocol IM client, through Apple's App Store.

The $4.99 app comes with many of the same features as its desktop counterpart, including grouped and sorted contacts. Tabbed chat windows also find their way onto the iPhone and iPod touch version, and so does the ability to copy and paste, which is more a credit to Apple than Cerulean Studios, the company responsible for Trillian.

Users can also synchronize content across multiple IM clients, so that changes made on the iPhone version will appear in real-time on the Windows client.

In a nod towards cloud computing, Cerulean Studios says that all chats are stored on the company's server, which means they won't be lost if you suffer a dropped connection. The app can also be set up to send IM alerts when Trillian is shut down.

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Posted 11/18/09 at 02:31:51 PM by Bart Salisbury

One might be tempted to think that Ray Ozzie, chief software architect for Microsoft, spent a prior life at Apple. In a chinwag with technology developers at Microsoft’s Professional Developers Conference he maintained that the number of applications available for a smartphone platform isn’t all that big a deal. After all, he says, “All the apps that count will be ported to every one of them.” Wasn’t that the Apple mantra about  ten years ago?

The crux of the matter, says Ozzie, is that mobile apps are pretty simple to crank out. “Mobile apps require very little development, so it’s much easier to bring them onto every platform,” he told his audience. If a particular app isn’t available now it probably will be in the future, so that shouldn’t be a crucial factor in deciding which smartphone, or smartphone platform, to buy into.

Ozzie’s comments suggest Microsoft is keenly aware of the all the apps currently available for the iPhone. It would hard not to be aware, the way Apple touts this as an advantage. A cynic would conclude that Ozzie is dismissive of app numbers because of Windows Mobile’s current disadvantage in this respect. An optimist might counter that Ozzie has a point: do you really need ‘an app for that’?

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Posted 11/17/09 at 05:44:19 PM by Pulkit Chandna

This past weekend, thieves made away with $3 million worth of iPhones from a warehouse in Willebroek, Belgium. The warehouse is owned and managed by a logistics company CEVA Logistics. Initial reports suggest that the thieves had done their homework quite well. Apparently, the heist wasn’t really a tall order for the thieves as they had a fire ladder with them, which they used to climb the roof.

They entered the building by drilling a hole in the roof. Initial reports differ on the number of iPhones pilfered, with the number hovering between 3,000 and 4,000. The thieves have compounded wireless carrier Mobistar’s woes: the carrier is finding it hard to keep pace with the huge demand for the iPhone. 

Mobistar says it has already blacklisted the serial numbers of the stolen phones, effectively staving off their use on its network. However, it may prove to be a futile attempt as the iPhones sold in Belgium don’t feature a SIM-lock and so can be used on another network. There is still no breakthrough in the case.

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Posted 11/17/09 at 11:15:03 AM by Paul Lilly

It's been a little over a year since Google first unveiled its Google Earth app for the iPhone and iPod touch, and it took just six months for the app to become the most-downloaded free application overall. Now there's a new version available -- Google Earth 2.0 -- with a few new features, improved icon selection, and better performance, Google says.

Users who log directly into their Google Maps account can now view the same maps that they or others have created, using the My Maps interface.

"Maybe you're on a trip and want to see where Tony Wheeler, the co-founder of Lonely Planet, most likes to travel," Google wrote on its blog. "Or perhaps you're walking around looking for a restaurant and you want to see where world-famous chef Ferran Adrià likes to eat. All you have to do is click 'Save to My Maps,' open Earth on the iPhone, log in with the same account information, and voilà, you have your same collection of My Maps right in your pocket."

Google says it's also easier to discover new parts of the globe. In version 2.0, just touch an icon and small glow appears under your finger to let you know which one you picked.

Any iPhone or iPod touch owners play with the latest update yet? Hit the jump and tell us what you think.

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Posted 11/11/09 at 08:42:14 PM by Ryan Whitwam

It’s no secret that the approval process for iPhone apps is a little ridiculous at times. Apple is totally aware of that, though. So they’ve decided to make the whole process just a tiny bit more transparent. When app developers log into the Dev Center site, they will see a new area for status updates. Apps will be listed as “waiting for review”, “in review”, or “ready for sale”.

You don’t have to look far on the web to find a developer with a heartbreaking story of how they poured their savings into making an app, only to have it held in limbo for weeks or months. While the new policy doesn’t necessarily do anything about the actual delays, devs will at least know where in the process it’s held up.

For its part, Apple claims that 96% of iPhone apps are approved in less than two weeks. Now that we know that a lot of those apps are just repackaged eBooks, that figure seems less impressive. The closed nature of the App Store hasn’t hurt its growth so far. Should Apple even be worried about the process?

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Posted 11/10/09 at 05:50:32 PM by Jason Barry

Samsung announced today that it would throw its hat into the mobile OS ring with “Bada.” Samsung’s new OS's name is based on the Korean word for “ocean” and will support fully open standards.

Samsung was skimpy on the details, but it sounds very similar to the iPhone and Android operating systems. It will feature a central application store and provide developers with a framework to build applications for the device. In stark contrast to the iPhone, Samsung claims that every aspect of the OS will be customizable, including dialer, contacts and other built in utilities.

Samsung anticipates the first “Bada” powered device to be released in the first half of 2010 along with the application store. Adding another OS into the mix might make gaining market share difficult against Google and Apple. However, this likely means Samsung won’t be sporting a new Windows Mobile OS.

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Posted 11/09/09 at 08:48:19 PM by Ryan Whitwam

Mobile advertising is about to get a lot more Googly. Search giant Google has announced that they have purchased mobile advertiser AdMob for a healthy $750 million. Ads powered by the small startup have been seen in numerous apps on the iPhone and Android platforms.

AdMob was started in 2006 by Omar Hamoui, and has grown into a major player in mobile advertising. Google points out that the mobile world is becoming as increasingly important part of our daily lives. As such, Google would like to advertise to us in that part of our lives.

Google said in a blog post that app developers will enjoy better monetization of their content because of this deal. They also promise advertisers a more engaged audience. Finally, Google says we can all enjoy the benefits of better mobile ads delivering more useful information, because who doesn’t like ads?

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Posted 11/09/09 at 06:07:26 PM by Ryan Whitwam

Apple told us jailbreaking wasn’t a good idea. Sure, we mocked them at the time, but it is looking a little less safe these days. The first iPhone worm has been discovered affecting iPhones in Australia. The virus takes advantage of a massive security hole in the SSH client for jailbroken phones. The “ikee” worm is fairly benign, simply changing the user’s wallpaper to a picture of Rick Astley of “Rickroll” fame.

As it turns out, the default password for the SSH client is ‘alpine’. The worm accesses the phone via this route, and then attempts to infect other phones on the network. The worm’s creator, a 21 year-old student, said in an interview, “The virus itself is not malicious and is not out to hurt people. It's just poking fun and hoping waking people up a little.”

Un-jailbroken phones, and jailbroken phones that don’t have SSH installed are not vulnerable. Jailbreakers should head to the Cydia store, and use the Mobile Terminal app to change their default password. With a zillion iPhones out there, it was only a matter of time.

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