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Best Selling iPhone Apps 2008

Monday May 21, 2012

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This a list of the Best Selling iPhone Apps 2008 with a short description:

1. Koi Pond: Imagine gazing into a pond of crystal clear water.
Picture bright, playful koi swimming through its shallow depths.
So close… Can you touch them?

2. Texas Hold’em: Play like a pro against realistic opponents or with your friends over a Wi-Fi Network. Use all of the hints, tips, tells, and your mastery to gain access to exclusive rooms with higher-stakes and even bigger rewards!

3. Moto Chaser: Moto Chaser is an all-out pedal to the metal motorcycle race in the palm of your hand! With turns, jumps, and evil bikers lurking just around the bend.

4. Crash Bandicoot: Nitro Kart 3D: The richest 3D kart racing experience! Speed your way through 12 thrilling tracks and multiple environments! Race and battle against zany opponents and turn them to dust with 8 devastating weapons.

5. Super Monkey Ball: Let’s Roll! Guide a cute little monkey encased in a transparent ball to victory by tilting and rolling him through a variety of slopes and turns.

6. Cro-Mag Rally: Cro-Mag Rally is the wildest racing 3D game since man invented the wheel! You are a speed-hungry caveman named Brog who races through the Stone, Bronze, and Iron Ages.

7. Enigmo: A 3D puzzle game where you direct animated streams of flowing liquid so that the droplets get to their destination.

8. PocketGuitar: Turns your iPhone or iPod touch into a virtual guitar. You can press and strum strings, just like a real guitar.

9. Recorder: Record memos, discussions, interviews and ideas on your iPhone. Use it as a voice recorder or a sound recorder. Record for seconds or hours. Extremely simple one button interface.

10. iBeer: Brew and drink beer on your iPhone and iPod touch. This hilarious sight-gag is fully interactive and behaves like a real glass of beer thanks to the iPhone sensors and our spare time.

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Apple released a new iTunes Update and the iTunes DJ. The iTunes Remote turns your iPhone or iPod touch into a dedicated, wireless remote control for any iTunes library on your local network, whether you’re running iTunes on Windows or OS X. Take control of your music via iPhone! iTunes DJ allows your friends and family to have a say in whats being listened to. Setting up Remote is simple and safe. A unique passcode pairs your iPod touch or iPhone with your computer and Apple TV.

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I have had my iPhone now for almost a year and have had the opportunity to experience several great applications in the way of utilities and games. The utilities have all been useful in one way or another, but the games have been disappointments! Just recently I was turned on to a new game that is worth taking interest in.

Upon downloading this game I was skeptical, I thought that this game might be better than the other games I have installed on my iPhone; but I was not optimistic about this game being worth the dollar I was about to spend. I could not have been more wrong about Glyder, for Glyder is the future of iPhone gaming!

Fly through and engage in hard tests while piloting a futurist hang-glider. This is a game where a steady hand is of the up most importance, free flight is not something that is easy – one’s depth perception, I found out quickly, is key to survival.

“Eryn has been sucked into a dimensional rift and is left in a world that is not her own. Take control of her glider and help her explore the magical surroundings.

Soar over the majestic and peaceful Rift Valley. Take a death-defying flight through the Dark Pinnacle. Unearth the Lost Kingdom. Explore the wonders of Ambrosia. Discover the secret that lies above The Mushrooms, and delve into the Hidden Depths. Perform fun gliding maneuvers like power dives and dolphining and fly into thermals to soar high into the sky. Collect crystals, take trips, earn achievements, and help Eryn unlock a portal home.”

Download and install Glyder on your iPhone, I promise you will not be disappointed! iPhone gaming can only go uphill from here on out, the application companies have made a enough terrible apps that I think it’s time for a change.

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Like many I weigh more than I should. A few years ago I weighed a lot more than I should. I lost about 20 pounds and have kept it off with exercise and by eating a little less. However I still need to lose some more weight.

My theory is that the best way to lose weight is through diet and exercise. To work the diet has to include foods you like to eat. All carbs, no carbs, packaged food in the mail, special shakes, etc etc etc may help you lose weight but it’s hard for me to understand how you can expect to maintain for a prolonged period. I am also not one to go in front of a group of strangers and tell them how much I weigh or to cheer on someone I barely know because he/she lost 2 pounds last week.

A few days ago I found an iPhone App that that looks great for me. It is named Lose It!. When you get started you enter your age, weight and goal. You also specify how fast you want to lose the weight with a maximum of two pounds per week. The app then calculates how many calories you can eat per day, if you do no exercise. Then each day you enter EVERYTHING you eat and any special exercise that you do. It then shows you how many more calories you can have that day and still maintain your goal.

At this time Lose It is free. So far I have not been bothered by annoying ads or attempts to up sell me. I have also found it easy to enter the data.

Obviously this is similar to keeping a food diary of everything you eat. However it is easier since you generally have the iPhone with you so no need to carry a notebook or to try to remember later just what you ate. Just entering the data helps control what you eat. Do you really need that candy bar knowing what it will add to your calories consumed? Likewise, you see how you can reward yourself after doing some exercise. You can also use it for planning, if I a snack now can I still have a glass of wine later?

Lose It! has a web site where you can establish an account to back up your information. You can also use nutrient information for foods but I have not bothered with that feature as yet. There may be more features that I have not yet discovered.

I am sure that there are other similar apps. If so I would like to hear about them. Lose It! seems great for me.

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I remember being bored. I think you know what I mean. It was usually a state of mind that a young adolescent or teenager experienced and felt the need to call out to the nearest parent something like this, “Mom, I’m bored. There is nothing to do.” I don’t know about your mother, but mine would usually come back with: “If you’re bored then go outside, read a book, or I will find something for you to do!” Thinking back on this, I think my mother was tired. But those were the days that we learned to explore the canyons around our neighborhood (before they turned it into a golf course), we found trap-door spiders and brought them home in jars, we went to the library and checked out books to read, we started following certain Soap Operas, we walked to the public pool to swim with our friends, we played street games (kick the can) until well past 10:00PM and one summer I was even invited to be the piano player in a combo band! (Summer 1963,The Finnegan Combo took 1st Prize at the July 4th Fair Talent Show)

You are probably wondering why I am even discussing this topic today. Yesterday I happened to see an interview with James Bennet, Editor-in-Chief of The Atlantic, where he discussed the 3rd annual “Ideas” issue. You will see from the video interview and this essay from Walter Kirn, the 3rd biggest idea of this year is BOREDOM IS EXTINCT.

As Mr. Kirn says: “Thanks to Twitter, iPads, BlackBerrys, voice-activated in-dash navigation systems, and a hundred other technologies that offer distraction anywhere, anytime, boredom has loosened its grip on us at last—that once-crushing “weight” has become, for the most part, a memory.”

Just recently Blog World New Media Expo posted a blog Poll: Should There Be “Gadget Free” Sessions at BlogWorld? You might find it interesting, it doesn’t deal directly with boredom, as such, but with the grip that technology has on all of us, so we can’t seem to sit in a conference session and just listen and learn. This post opens with: “After a member of the BlogWorld Facebook page posted a seemingly innocent comment about having a session at BlogWorld discussing multi-tasking during a gadget free session, the little hamster in my head began spinning her wheel.” (DISCLAIMER: I am the member being referred to in this opening sentence.) I don’t know what will become of this idea, but I will keep you posted.

I need to get back to work, but wouldn’t it be a nice day for a daydream? Your thoughts…

P.S. I just went to check Twitter and it is over capacity. That is your ticket to daydream.

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Lately I have been thinking a lot about the bystander effect (syndrome) and how it can be applied to the Internet. I am not referring to the darker side of the Internet, I am talking about a typical website/blog that is designed for commercial e-commerce or business to business (B2B), personal/informational blog, news, government or a non-profit organization promotional site. Our society has been talking about the bystander effect for almost 50 years, and yes I know it is usually applied to life and death emergency situations, not unlike the Good Samaritan that died in New York City on April 18th.

But back to the Internet and the bystander effect. I started down this path about six weeks ago when I saw a tweet from Chris Brogan which said basically: “People of earth, I know my site has been hacked.” I think this was Chris’ urgent way of telling his 135,000+ Twitter followers to stop sending him messages. I am almost positive that Chris really appreciated the first few tweets or emails from his followers, because one might be a fluke but multiple messages validate the condition, and besides I think Chris would do the same if he came across something that was broken (my assumption, but his stated principle to “be helpful”). I think Chris is lucky that so many people want to help him. More often than not, a site viewer will see or come across something that is broken or obviously incorrect and yet they won’t take the time to tell the site owner, whose very livelihood might depend on this “head’s up.”

Let me give you two current examples, both involve $1,000,000:

On May 21, Zappos.com announced that their sister site 6pm.com’s pricing engine capped all prices at $49.95 for six hours. It cost them a loss of $1.6 million dollars. Is it possible that over the course of six hours not one regular returning customer of 6pm.com took the time to send a message to say “Hey, something looks screwy on your site!”? I hope you will read the whole article, because you will see that it was a programming error that resulted from bad code. Read all the comments about pricing engines, 6pm.com took the high road, but I would love to know if they received that one email that alerted them. (I learned about this story from Jodi Henderson’s blog )
On May 29th, I read a tweet from Jorja at Beyond the Pale that said: “RT the lonely world of blogging, comment anyone, anyone, buehler? comment, anyone?” and it linked to Savor the Ride (be sure to read all the eventual comments on this post, it will allow you to see how the story unfolded). I decided to see what this blog was all about. Guess what? The blogger, Ridgely Johnson, was offering $1,000,000 to the first commenter, as her last 20 blogs had received not one comment. A few tweets went back and forth between Jorja and me, finally I sent an email to Ridgely which said: “I happened over to your blog because @beyondpalegal (Jorja) tweeted about you. Not that I expected to win $1,000,000, but I cannot figure out how to leave a comment on any of your posts. I tried in IE8 and FF…no place to comment. Am I missing something, maybe this is why no one is commenting?”Today is Memorial Day. It is a solemn day, but I thought that maybe I could leave you with a scene from the wonderful 1986-1993 television series “Designing Women.” This YouTube video is dedicated to Dixie Carter (Julia) who passed away April 10, 2010. Julia asks the proverbial question: “Why didn’t somebody tell me?” Watch the whole episode, you won’t be disappointed.

Designing women season 3 episode 15 by Mixedseries12
If you are having trouble viewing Season 3, Episode 15 “Full Moon,” you can view it here.

Over this Memorial Day weekend, Chris Brogan and Julien Smith have been writing about “frames and assumptions.” The stand out message is this from Julien: “Always be testing. Never stop questioning things you think are true, no matter how solid they may seem.” This, of course, applies to all aspects of our lives, but particularly to our websites/blogs. Things happen, hacking occurs, links break, you hit a wrong button and you disable comments, no one tests your site in varied browsers (can look great on an Apple in Safari, and scream “Help” in IE8). Many bloggers are not technical and they cannot afford on-going technical assistance, so don’t assume they know about a problem with their site. Don’t be a bystander, speak up! Remember this is social media. Be social. Help a “friend.”

I would love to hear your thoughts about all of this.

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Apple has started a patent battle with Taiwanese Cellular company HTC, but, may be starting a war with Google. Apple announced Tuesday that it was suing HTC for allegedly infringing on 20 of their patents. Despite only one company being named in the lawsuit, there is no question that Apple is throwing its weight around to scare off any other companies with iPhone-like devices. HTC recently released the Nexus One smartphone, which runs Google’s Android Operating System; the Nexus One is the iPhone’s number one contender in the smartphone market. It would seem that Google may have to step in to protect their partner companies in this battle. It makes sense that Apple will find themselves biting off more than they can chew if much larger companies like Google and Microsoft get pulled into the suit.

Trying to understand the patents in question can prove challenging and you may need to be an engineer to fully understand them all – I certainly don’t! I will say it is very interesting finding what exactly Apple owns the rights for, some of them seem to be patents on how the human might move their own extremities while operating an Apple device or any device like it. A good example of this is the left-to-right thumb unlock feature, this patent has forced other smartphone companies to make inefficient unlocking techniques because the most efficient way is owned. Apple dictates the way the world unlocks every smartphone, it’s not about user comfort as much as it is about ownership.

It seems clear that Apple is trying to stifle the competition which is sad in my opinion, competition is what breeds innovation. Without competition companies have no incentive to make a better product. I have an iPhone and I think it can be a great tool, but I also believe there can be many great tools that implement similar features. I am hopeful that Google and Microsoft become more vocal about this in the coming weeks.

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Apple has decided that applications that are ‘overtly sexual’ no longer have a home in the App Store. Apple’s new App Store content policy has resulted in over 5,000 companies’ apps being purged. The companies whose apps were deemed ‘overtly sexual’ were notified last week that their applications were going to be removed due to their content. This doesn’t come as a huge surprise, because of iTouch, the App Store needs to cater to children as well as adults; it would seem to be graphic content and wouldn’t be good for business.

What’s strange about the recent purges, isn’t that they are removing sexual content, it’s who they are not removing. Playboy has an application that has not been removed from the App Store yet. Companies whose apps were removed are scratching their heads, wondering what makes Playboy special. Did Apple feel like Playboy is as “American as ‘Apple’ Pie”? It would seem so, or maybe they struck a deal, who knows. I do know that Playboy’s app is more graphic than any other apps I have seen, it appears that thousands of companies are being treated unfairly by Apple. Companies should have and ought to have the right to stay in business if Apple is going to allow Playboy’s app inside the App Store.

The new App Store policy, it will not accept applications that in any way imply sexual content or include the following:

Images of women in bikinis
Images of men in bikinis
Images of skin
Silhouettes indicating that the app includes sexual images
Sexual connotations or innuendo
Sexually arousing content

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Apple’s iPad might have some competition in the coming months with the recent talk about a Google Tablet. Google just released the Nexus One which was their version of the iPhone in the US. It looks like Google now wants to curb the iPad (release date March 2010) sales with their own spin. Glen Murphy, Google’s user interface designer, presented what the Google Tablet might look like and created a video of how one will use the device. If I had to guess, the Google Tablet will possess many things that the iPad lacks.

In 2009 Google announced that they would be releasing an Operating System, Chrome OS, which would work and be based around a web browser. This would be mainly for small netbooks, which would have fast boot up times and give the user ease of access to the sleuth of Google applications. Along with releasing a Chrome Netbook this year, Google is considering applying the same platform to a tablet, desktops, and flat screen T.V.s. It will be very interesting to see how we will apply Chromium to our lives.

“Chrome OS is still in development and we are constantly experimenting with various user interfaces to determine what designs would produce the best user experience”. Now Apple and Google are in a feud! This is a good thing, because it will force them to one up each other which is great for the consumer. Without competition Apple could take its sweet time making the iPad the way that the users want it. Now Apple has to cater to the needs and demands of the consumer which is the way it should be. Apple will still be the powerhouse in this field of devices; they are ahead of the game in many ways. “It’s easy to do hardware, it’s really hard to create an ecosystem and Apple’s got a head-start on everybody because they’ve been doing this for four to five years, based around iTunes”, said Gartner analyst Robin Simpson.

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Apple’s latest creation will be in your hands in 60 days and may revolutionize the way you or I compute. Steve Jobs clarified just what we can expect from Apples iPad, a device that appears to be an iPod Touch on steroids. The iPad platform is very similar to the iPod Touch but its capabilities are far more advanced. “It’s the best web experience you’ve ever had. Way better than a laptop, way better than a phone,” Steve Jobs said.

Here are the Specs:

only 1.5 lbs
only .5 inches and a 9.7-inch LED display
powered by Apple’s own silicon technology, a 1 GHz Apple A4 chip
available in memory configurations of 16 GB, 32 GB and 64 GB
Bluetooth 2.1
802.11N WiFi
speaker
microphone
accelerometer
compass
10 hours of battery life and over a month of standby time
on-screen keyboard

Apple has already released an SDK program so that after market developers can create amazing new applications that are befitting to a device like the iPad. Apple is launching a brand new service called iBooks (and the corresponding iBookstore). Apple has reached an agreement, similar to the deal struck with record labels, with all the major publishers to market their content on the new iBookstore. Reading on the iPad will be very similar to Kindles, giving the reader the least strain possible on their eyes. There will be an external keyboard available for when you’re in the office, something that we begged Apple to provide with the iPhone. One of the most important features on the iPad is the fact that you will not need a contract with AT&T to access the 3G network; $30 a month will give you unlimited access.

I have saved the best for last, “The Price is Right”! Only $499 for 16GB model, $599 for 32GB, and 64GB for $699. Models with built-in 3G (like the iPhone) will cost more, adding about $130 dollars to the price of each unit. I could make a pretty long list of what the iPad is missing. However, there is no sense in getting worked up about the 1st generation iPad; naturally as the product evolves and is tested by consumers more advancements will find their way to the iPad. I would much rather marvel at the sheer potential this product has to revolutionize the work place as well the classroom than complain about what the device lacks – which seems to be the trend with all the critics. The iPad is scheduled for release in April 2010.

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When Apple released the long awaited iPhone it completely changed the mobile technology forever. Gone were the days of flip phones, mobile computers that could make phone calls became the bar. Every technology company has tried to create a rival to Apple’s iPhone technology and have failed miserably. What’s strange about the apparent lack of competition is the fact that Apple created a product that was far superior to AT&T service capability which in turn has created a lot of very unhappy customers. Since the beginning it has been one thing right after the other with the iPhone features and AT&T’s inability to make certain features work. I personally know several people who gave up on the iPhone altogether, in search of finding a better product that can facilitate their needs. Google is one of those companies who have taken on the challenge of trying to provide mobile Internet users what they need. Their success with the Android was little and didn’t do much to weaken Apple’s grip on the market; so what did Google do, they went out and tried to make a better product.

Now, Google readies launch of an iPhone rival, the Nexus One. Named after the ‘replicants’ in Ridley Scott’s science-fiction film Blade Runner and the Taiwanese company HTC procured the contract to create the Nexus One. Google will have full control over the Nexus One and it will have the Google logo right on the phone. Retailers expect Google to sell the Nexus One direct to customers through its website. I am optimistic that Google with not make the same mistakes that Apple has made and I am hopeful that they will create a product that is not hindered by the network providers inability to serve its customers.

All I can say is that in the UK there are four network providers that can service the iPhone, but in the United States there can be only one. “Google has approached several mobile phone operators in the UK, including T-Mobile and Vodafone, to gauge their interest in supporting its rival to the iPhone ahead of its launch in Britain next year”, reports the Guardian. How is it that an American company like Apple could throw their American customers under the bus?

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I feel like I am part of a group that feels that Apple is not letting us use our iPhones to the fullest. The iPhone is amazing, its abilities surpass all others and that should be noted; however, the restrictions that Apple has can be bothering regarding bluetooth keyboard ability, tethering, and having to have AT&T. My iPhone is not cracked and I have no plans to jail break my phone, but I feel like Apple is not letting us use the iPhone the way its designers intended; in turn this causes people to want to jail break their phones – go figure. Fortunately, independent companies have been working on ways to harness bluetooth capabilities with the iPhone; it gives us with iPhones running OS a preview of what we could have if Apple would come to their senses.

Modder ZodTTD, creator of the iControlPad, uses a Wiimote to play a MAME game on the iPhone. Zod has not announced the availability of this mame4iphone version yet. The same principle could easily be applied to a bluetooth keyboard and make every iPhone user’s life that much easier. Those are just my thoughts.

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This year I had the opportunity to attend BWE09, better known as Blog World and New Media Expo 2009. This event took place from October 15-17 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Unlike many of the 2500 attendees this was my first year participating. And unlike many attendees I did not spend my days there blogging, tweeting, or otherwise updating my friends and followers. I just tried to take in the process, that is I tried to listen and learn. And hopefully, I will be able to care for and serve some, if not all, of Webconsuls’ clients. I actually thought about writing this post as soon as I returned home or even while I waited in the Las Vegas Airport, but then it occurred to me that it would be better to really write about BWE09 looking in the rear view mirror. So here are some of my “bytes” on BWE09.

While I have been participating in blogging for about two years and I am on Facebook and have a Twitter account, I would not rate myself as someone that knows everyone in the blogging and new media world; therefore, attending this event was not about hooking up with old friends, but meeting new people and learning from the “experts.”
The exhibitors were varied and engaging. I enjoyed talking to people from all over the world, like the Zemanta team from Slovania (and, yes, I intend to learn more about their product). The ArmyStrongStories.com team was engaging and they had a great display. And then of course, I enjoyed speaking to Robby Berthyme who was representing wheretogetengaged.com
Brian Solis moderated a good keynote discussion about the “New Celebrity” with Anthony Edwards, Jermaine Dupri and Robin Antin. All of these participants made it very clear that if you are using Twitter, Facebook, etc…you need to be yourself, engage with people, and manage your own accounts (don’t hire a staff to do this). Write about yourself or your cause, don’t just keep re-tweeting!
One “outtake” from this keynote discussion is that I found it incredible how rude 70% of the audience appeared to be behaving. This was an hour long presentation and it was beyond me why people could not just sit and “listen”, as opposed to working on their laptops, running their fingers over their iPhones or thumbing it on their Blackberry. This behavior was annoying and to top it off, even though they were really not paying attention, they would join in the intermittent applause like robots or dummies.
Dave Peck of LSF Interactive was interesting and provocative in his conference “How to Socialize Your Content”. I just discovered that he posted many of his “rules” here for the small business owner. His advice I intend to try to incorporate into Webconsuls and to share with our clients.
I really enjoyed the conference “How Twits Lay Golden Eggs – The Art of Social Engagement for Business”…Chris Brogan and Laura Fitten had a lot to offer and they did not make the audience feel inept, but offered real guidance.
Dan attended this conference for Webconsuls also. It was interesting to watch Dan, who had not been to Las Vegas since he was 13! It was great to attend the conferences and then share what we had learned.
Las Vegas is an aging city and I don’t think it is aging gracefully. As we rode the marvelous monorail I noticed that many of the buildings look dated and dirty on the outside, almost as if the original architectural plan did not allow for majestic aging. Many strange and vacant lots can be seen as you ride “behind” the strip.
I don’t think I am the only BWE09 participant that questioned the parties that BWE09 sponsored. As one person said on Twitter: “bwe09 parties are a lot like Twitter – noisy, loud, dark, and ineffective at organizing communication”. I couldn’t agree more! Imagine being at the Mirages’ Jet Night Club with many of the same people who could not put down their laptops and iPhones during the keynotes, only it was too dark to read their nametags and the music was too loud for introductions. Another person echoed these sentiments: “The parties at #bwe09 remind me of college. How old are we? Where are the real parties?”
Flying Southwest Airlines will be a subject for another post.
Finally, I would like to thank the three ladies that shared a Hilton Limo with Dan and me. We were attempting to get a taxi to go to the airport and we found ourselves sharing a limo with Kim Rowley and Joanne Dinslage of Key Internet Marketing and Maarika Neudorf of Enterprise Estonia. We had a fun ride and got to meet three more BWE09 attendees.Ok, that is it for today. I am going to get busy learning how to apply all that I learned – stay tuned.

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This version of the CNet Buzz Report has some interesting tech stories, but I was flabbergasted to hear their ripping of the iphone. I was taken by this negative slant not because I have one and love it- I’m a Blackberry guy- but because everyone on this blog thinks the device is the second coming.

I have heard the iphone has some amazing apps, which must be true because CNet admits it does, but their take on why the iphone is a loser is interesting– the phone doesn’t work!!!

What are your thoughts on their critique?

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With each passing moment the iPhone gets a little bit better, and I’m beginning to think that there is nothing that the iPhone is not capable of doing. Sirius XM will be releasing a dock connector accessory receiver for the iPhone and iPod touch at a media event next Wednesday, allowing full Sirius XM service via their devices. This is a pretty big deal for those out there who have already been using and love satellite radio as well as those who are interested in trying it out. The XM SkyDock is a docking station for your iPod Touch or iPhone that turns it into a satellite XM Radio receiver. The dock will consist of an XM antenna, power cord (also featuring the new transmitter technology), and docking station that turns your iPod/iPhone into an XM Satellite Radio receiver using the Sirius XM app.

The Sirius XM Premium Online iPhone application was released in June, and it will act as the interface for the satellite service. The dock should be priced at just under a hundred dollars which seems pretty reasonable. I am looking forward to the release of the dock as I am sure it will be pretty sweet.

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To keep track of the ever changing list of applications for the iPhone and the iPod Touch, AppShopper is a great resource.

As you look across the top of the page you may choose to search on All, Paid, or Free apps. There is also a button for Updates, New Apps and Price Changes.

One of the more convenient ways of keeping track of new applications you may be interested in is to use RSS feeds which will alert you of new changes.

The RSS Feeds come in a variety of choices as well. You may choose to be alerted to all changes in the app store, only new apps, only paid and updates as well as price changes have their own feed.

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The iPhone 3Gs’ new features are forces to be reckoned with! I have had an iPhone now for just under a year, in that time I have come to love and cherish it. The iPhone, in my opinion, had the most potential to revolutionize mobile technology as we knew it! Overnight, it quickly became the most useful piece of technology that I have ever owned.

After the initial infatuation period ended, I began to realize that there were things that disappointed me about the iPhone. I learned very quickly that with all modern marvels there will be glitches and hiccups along the way. Beta, Beta, Beta! The iPhone is a painting that has yet to be finished, always changing and always evolving; adapting to the needs of the people. Everything that disappointed me with with the iPhone 3G the 3Gs has made up for!

We now have the ability to: copy and paste, take video, send picture and video text-messages, and the list goes on and on. The 3Gs is faster and smarter, we have the capability to make our own applications and now that there is a digital compass we will never get lost! The possibilities are absolutely endless, and I’m pretty sure that the sky is no longer the limit. Here are the details on just a few of the new features:

“Now you can shoot video, edit it, and share it — all on your iPhone 3GS. Shoot high-quality VGA video in portrait or landscape. Trim your footage by adjusting start and end points. Then share your video in an email, post it to your MobileMe gallery, publish it on YouTube, or sync it back to your Mac or PC using iTunes.”

“Voice Control recognizes the names in your Contacts and knows the music on your iPod. So if you want to place a call or play a song, all you have to do is ask.”

“Surf the web from practically anywhere. Now you can share the 3G connection on your iPhone with your Mac notebook or PC laptop.”

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Guidelines That Apply to Placing All Cache Types,

For all physical geocaches and waypoints, think carefully about how your container and the actions of iPhone geocachers will be perceived by the public. For example, a cache hidden in full view of a restaurant or apartment building window exposes the geocacher to being seen by someone who may think the cache search looks suspicious. Your cache may be hidden on public property but there may be concerned residents on the other side of that property line. And, while an ammo box or PVC pipe may be a great container if hidden deep in the woods, it may cause alarm if discovered in an urban setting. A clear plastic container or a microcache may be a better choice. In busy areas, avoid containers that look suspicious, including attachment materials like wires or tape. To reduce confusion and alarm when a cache is discovered accidentally, clearly label your container on the outside with appropriate information to say it is a geocache. Cover over any military markings with paint or a geocache sticker. Include an explanatory “stash note” inside your cache. Common sense in selecting hiding spots and containers can reduce the risk of your cache being perceived as a danger to those who are unaware of our sport. For more on Geocaching and how to place a geocache please visit Geocaching.com

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T-Mobile G1 users will be getting an OTA (over-the-air) upgrade to the Android 1.5 “Cupcake” which is being pushed by T-Mobile randomly this month. Some of the features that are coming with the upgrade should have been there on the initial release and have been far pass due.

Some of the new features include an on-screen QWERTY keyboard (which helps prepare for the next Google phone which rumors say will be released this summer as the T-Mobile myTouch 3G). Other enhancements on the Cupcake include direct photo upload to Picasa and video upload to YouTube with the option to make them public or private. The picture or recorded video can also be sent as MMS and type in a title or caption. Faster browser thanks to the new JavaScript and webkit engines.

A new radio has been added on this release which should help the battery life as well. A few things that were not mentioned on the release also include contacts photo appearing next to the contacts name, home screen widgets, voice search, and of course a call log that makes sense. The Android 1.0 told you how long ago the last call was made but not what time. The Android 1.5 displays what time the last call was made (this feature should have been available on the 1.0 release).

Would you like a Cupcake?

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Last week the Apple App Store reached a new milestone with the sale of their billionth application. It took only 9 months for the feat to occur! It’s pretty amazing how applications have become a staple in most of our lives. There are very few things that I cannot figure out with my iPhone: translation, exchange, communicate, or level a table.

I believe this to be a sign of the future of mobile computing and cellular communication in our world. With more than 35,000 apps available and there are more than 37 million devices that run Apple’s mobile OS, more than 21 million of which are iPhones; it is easy to see which way the trend is moving – Up!

The thirteen year-old kid that purchased the one billionth app will be rewarded with a bunch of Apple products, including $10,000 in iTunes credit, a 17-inch MacBook Pro, a 32-GB iPod Touch and an Apple Time Capsule. Lucky Kid!

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