Motorola and Verizon officially announce Droid handset

Specs for the Motorola Droid handset were leaked earlier this month, but the device, which runs Google's Android 2.0 software, has now been officially announced.

iPhone Live! Tonight at 8pm ET/5pm PT

Join TiPb tonight for all the week’s news, views, and rants. If you have any questions, leave a comment below, hit us up on Twitter @theiphoneblog, or better still — join us live in the chat room via http://www.tipb.com/live Chat with you soon! This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by [...]

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

iPhone Live! Tonight at 8pm ET/5pm PT

Closing in on 100,000 Apps, is iPhone All About Quantity or Quality?

The internets are a rocking with posts about the iPhone’s App Store unofficially hitting 100,000 apps, but while we wait for official word from Steve Jobs, the blogsphere is also debating the important of the sheer quantity of those apps, and whether that’s more important that quality. It isn’t. Scoble (and others, I think MacBreak Weekly covered [...]

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Closing in on 100,000 Apps, is iPhone All About Quantity or Quality?

iGrip Custom Fit Cigarette Lighter Mount Reality Review

In these tumultuous times you need some sort of protector; the kind that will prevent your iPhone from flying off the seat to who knows where. What kind of protector is here to save the day? The iGrip cigarette lighter mount of course! [$19.95 - TiPb store link] This handy mount plugs right into your existing [...]

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

iGrip Custom Fit Cigarette Lighter Mount Reality Review

Quick and easy podcasting with an iPhone 3GS, GarageBand, and Posterous

Filed under: Audio, iLife, How-tos, Podcasting, iPhone, iPod touch

I love podcasting.

My first podcasts weren't really podcasts, just recordings that I made and uploaded to a website in the late 90's so that other people could listen to them. Unlike the podcasts we know and love today, there was no way to subscribe to all of the episodes that I recorded. When podcasting as we know it hit the world in 2004, I started hosting podcasts through one of my companies.

Despite creating two long-running podcasts between 2004 and 2007, I finally gave up because of the time involved. Part of the problem was due to me being a stickler for perfection in my podcasts, while the rest was due to the fact that I was stuck with podcasting when I was near my iMac and could edit and update a feed file on a regular basis.

Earlier this month, I decided that I wanted to start up a personal podcast again. Yeah, I talk about tech, but for the most part I wanted this to be a free-form podcast that could talk about photography one day, music the next, and the joys of being a cat owner the third. Since my calendar is already pretty well jammed, the only way I was going to be able to commit to doing a podcast every day was to get the podcast workflow down to as little time as possible.

Continue reading Quick and easy podcasting with an iPhone 3GS, GarageBand, and Posterous

Quick and easy podcasting with an iPhone 3GS, GarageBand, and Posterous originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 28 Oct 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Quick and easy podcasting with an iPhone 3GS, GarageBand, and Posterous originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 28 Oct 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple to ‘Vigorously’ Defend Itself in Nokia Lawsuit

In its 10-K annual report (PDF) filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and posted yesterday, Apple notes that it plans to "vigorously" defend itself from a lawsuit filed last week by Nokia claiming infringement of multiple cellular an...

Google unveils free turn-by-turn directions for Android devices

In a game-changing move, Google has showed of its new Google Navigation system, which will provide free turn-by-turn directions for its Android mobile platform.

Get your social notifications on the cheap with Boxcar

Filed under: iPhone, App Store, App Review

Since the arrival of the Push Notifications feature in iPhone OS 3.0, all manner of apps have added support for it. Games, task management applications, you name it -- they're all more than happy to make your phone beep at you in the middle of the night and prompt your spouse to kindly insist that you silence that infernal device. Or so I've heard.

It seems like a no-brainer to me that this type of functionality would exist among the throngs of social networking applications. If the game where you flick the thing while the music is playing can tell me when I've got a new challenger from the Far East, why can't my favorite Twitter client let me know when I've got a new direct message? Sadly, most of the apps in the store (as far as I know) haven't implemented this functionality yet. I realize that it has some sporadic adoption, but certainly not the universal support that I personally expected.

Enter Boxcar [iTunes Link]. This little free app has existed in the store for months now and has received some very nice reviews, and for good reason. I've been a faithful user of this app for many moons and I find it pretty indispensable. Here's how it works:

When you install the app (which is free at the time of this writing), you can choose to enable a single service for notification -- Twitter, Facebook or an email account. It will poll the selected service at a short interval and send you a standard push notification message if there are any updates. In the case of Twitter, you can configure it to open one of several supported Twitter client apps. If you want to enable additional services, you can do so through the in-app purchase mechanism, and most options cost $.99US.

I'm a big fan of Boxcar and use it for Twitter and Facebook. It's one of those free applications that's actually worth more than what you're paying for it -- a quality that's becoming increasingly rare among free iPhone apps these days! Version 2.1 was just released a few days ago and includes several new features like support for Facebook Mail and better accessibility.

Pick up Boxcar now for free from the App Store.

Get your social notifications on the cheap with Boxcar originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 28 Oct 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Get your social notifications on the cheap with Boxcar originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 28 Oct 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google Introduces Free GPS Navigation for Android 2.0

Google today announced a free, turn-by-turn GPS navigation application for the new Android 2.0 smart phone platform.

This new feature comes with everything you'd expect to find in a GPS navigation system, like 3D views, turn-by-turn v...

Google Maps Navigation [Free with Ads] for Android 2.0 — Can Have iPhone Version?

Just a few hours ago TiPb posted about the rumors surrounding a free (with ad support, of course) Google Navigation app, and now TechCrunch has the goods — it’s real, and it’s (so far) exclusive to Android 2.0. And we quote: Search in plain English. No need to know the address. You can type a business [...]

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Google Maps Navigation [Free with Ads] for Android 2.0 — Can Have iPhone Version?

Review: Photoshop.com Mobile for iPhone

The good part about Adobe's new Photoshop.com Mobile iPhone app is that it's easy, intuitive, fast, and fun, and does what it says it will do. The bad part is that it doesn't do that much.

Google Working on Free [Ad Supported] Turn-by-Turn Navigation App?

Google already provides the free Google Maps service (with Street View, pictured above), but could they be planning to step up to full on turn-by-turn navigation? Forbes thinks so: Google, which generally gives its software away for free and recoups its investment through advertising, would likely sell ads within the navigation application rather than [...]

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Google Working on Free [Ad Supported] Turn-by-Turn Navigation App?

iPhone US Marketshare Hits 30%, Tops Most Wanted, Huge Lead in Customer Satisfaction

Apple’s iPhone has hit 30% marketshare in the US, according to ChangeWave. When laying out the current players, 4,225 consumers were surveyed, 39% of whom owned smartphones, and of those the top 3 answers were RIM’s Blackberry down ever-so-slightly to 40%, the iPhone up 5% to hit that 30% mark, and Palm steady at 7%. [...]

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

iPhone US Marketshare Hits 30%, Tops Most Wanted, Huge Lead in Customer Satisfaction

Could 2GHz ARM Cortex A9 Chip be Future iPhone/iTablet Bound?

During ARM’s Q3 financial results announced today, 9to5Mac noticed this little gem: including a license for ARM’s 2GHz implementation of a dual core Cortex-A9 processor. We’ve heard about the Cortex A9 before. Purportedly, is 5x faster than an intel Atom, yet uses the same amount of power in a 60% smaller packager. Could this be [...]

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Could 2GHz ARM Cortex A9 Chip be Future iPhone/iTablet Bound?

Apple Ships Magic Mouse Software Update — But Still No Magic Mouse

Apple has made Wireless Mouse Software Update 1.0 available for both OS X 10.5 Leopard and OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard users eager to add the new multi-touch Magic Mouse to their existing system — when they become available. That’s right, outside of buying one of the brand new iMacs Apple released last week (which [...]

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Apple Ships Magic Mouse Software Update — But Still No Magic Mouse

Apple Releases Magic Mouse Software Updates

Apple today released a pair of software updates to allow Mac OS X Snow Leopard and Leopard users take advantage of the advanced mouse features of the company's new multi-touch Magic Mouse.

- Wireless Mouse Software Update 1.0 for Snow ...

Metallica Revenge: Tapulous takes revenge to the next level

Filed under: iPhone, iPod touch, App Review, Music

The Tap Tap Revenge empire just became more credible... at least to the Metallica fans out there. Metallica Revenge [iTunes Link] sells for $4.99, but it is not out to make lots of money -- not according to the Associated Press interview with the band's drummer, Lars Ulrich. Ulrich explains that the application itself is really just for fun and that "it's one more thing that'll keep me semi-cool in my kids' eyes for another six months until the next thing comes out."

But we think that this is a little bit more than just a cool marketing scheme... it actually has some brand new features never before seen in a Tap Tap Revenge game. It's the first game in the archive to include a Bluetooth Battle mode. In this mode, two devices connect over Bluetooth to play note for note against each other while obtaining power ups that you can toss at your opponent to distract them and move ahead in points.

Tapulous touts this game as the most difficult Tap Tap Revenge yet. It has a Hard mode with four rails in landscape and an Extreme mode with five rails in landscape. There has never been a Tap Tap Revenge game with five rails. I'm scared to even try it.

The band has also created a contest for those of us who purchase this application. You can win everything from cool Metallica gear to the grand prize of a trip to meet and greet Metallica at a show in Vegas on December 5th.

Here's the track list:

• For Whom the Bell Tolls
• Fuel
• King Nothing
• Sad But True
• Some Kind of Monster
• Enter Sandman
• One
• Seek & Destroy
• All Nightmare Long
• Master of Puppets

Metallica Revenge: Tapulous takes revenge to the next level originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 27 Oct 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Metallica Revenge: Tapulous takes revenge to the next level originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 27 Oct 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Survey puts iPhone at close second in market share

ChangeWave Research's quarterly survey of cell phone owners shows the iPhone gaining market share and continuing to lead the pack in satisfaction.

Apple Closing Quickly on Research in Motion in Smart Phone Market Share

Market research firm ChangeWave today released its latest quarterly Consumer Smart Phone survey, which includes survey data taken in mid-September highlighting market share trends for Research in Motion, Apple, and Palm.

In the horser...

Use your own number with some Google Voice features

Google Voice now offers an option to let users take advantage of some of its features with their existing phone numbers.