TomTom announced today it will provide a free update to its iPhone navigation app—if it ever gets approved by Apple. That’s right, these updates have yet to be approved by Apple, but TomTom assures iPhone users that the application will soon be available. The new features are being submitted for review today. TomTom says that these
Tag Archive: iPhone Apps
Jibbigo iPhone App Can Translate English and Spanish
We may be getting closer to having a Star Trek-style voice translation device—but for now we’ll just have to use Apple’s iPhone and iPod touch. Jibbigo is a recently released app which can record a spoken English sentence and translate it into Spanish, and vice-versa. Jibbigo was a collaboration of Mobile Technologies, the International Center for Advanced Communication Technologies (InterACT) at Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh and Silicon Valley) and Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany.
The app can only record and translate one sentence at a time and Jibbigo strongly suggests using its bi-directional translation tools on the iPhone 3GS. Older iPhones and the second-gen Touch are limited to unidirectional translation, and operate very slowly. The app is available now for $24.99.
Vonage Releases Calling App for iPhone, BlackBerry
Vonage Holdings Corp., a pioneer in Internet-based home phone service, is launching applications for the iPhone and BlackBerry that undercut the international calling rates of major wireless carriers.
The free programs let users place calls that are routed over Vonage’s network, at least for the international leg.
The calls are placed as local wireless calls, using up minutes on the cell phone plan, although the iPhone will use Wi-Fi instead if that’s available. (That works as well on the iPhone’s sibling, the iPod Touch, which goes online only with Wi-Fi.) Vonage then carries the calls to their overseas destination.
Among the New Features in CNN iPhone App: A Price
There’s been a lot of talk this year about finally charging readers for news, especially on mobile devices, where media executives see a chance to condition consumers to handing over a few dollars for a constant stream of updates to their pocket. CNN is among the first big news outlets to give it a shot. Its app costs $1.99 to download.
The new app follows an announcement this month by News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch that the company will start charging a subscription for access to The Wall Street Journal’s mobile applications. It will cost $2 a week starting Oct. 24, or $1 when bundled with either a print or a Web site subscription (Subscribers of both print and online get the mobile app for free)
Zipcar App for iPhone
As if the Zipcar service wasn’t convenient enough, they’ve just released an iPhone App that will find you a car, book it, and unlock it right from your phone. The app uses the iPhone’s GPS to locate cars closest to you and when you reserve your vehicle, the app displays an onscreen key-fob that lets you lock/unlock the car and honk the horn just in case the car is in a packed lot. Its definitely the kind of thing your local Hertz isn’t too thrilled about.
Orange Breaks O2’s Lock On The iPhone in the UK
When Apple rolled out the iPhone internationally, it mostly made exclusive deals with single mobile carriers for individual markets, mirroring its deal with AT&T in the United States. However, as the market has matured, Apple is showing signs of ending those exclusive arrangements: today Orange UK announced it will start selling the iPhone 3G and 3GS in the United Kingdom later this year, ending 02’s exclusive deal on the iPhone that’s been in place since 2007.
iTunes App Store: More Than 2 Billion Served
Apple announced today that iPhone and iPod touch users have downloaded more than 2 billion apps from its iTunes App Store since it was launched a little over a year ago. All told, Apple’s App Store sports more than 85,000 applications for its portable devices—many of which, admittedly, are utter tripe—but perhaps more importantly the company boasts more than 125,000 developers in its iPhone Developer Program, meaning the concept has serious momentum and more and better apps are on the way.
Google: Apple Rejected Google Voice for iPhone
Back in July, Google attempted to launch a version of its Google Voice service for the iPhone…but the program never made it to the iTunes App Store—a move which quickly prompted in inquiry from the Federal Communications Commission asking Apple, AT&T, and Google what exactly transpired. The companies all responseed, with Apple indicating it had not rejected the Google Voice application, but merely hadn’t approved it over concerns it would alter the iPhones primary mobile phone functionality. Google’s response to the FCC was due at the same time as Apple’s and AT&T’s, but part of the statement had been redacted at Google’s request. Now Google has dropped its request for confidentiality, and the company’s response to the FCC contradicts Apple: according to Google (PDF), its Google Voice app for the iPhone was flat-out rejected by Cupertino.
Best iPhone Apps
It’s now been over a year since we first gazed upon the well-stocked shelves of the iTunes App Store. While our Top iPhone Apps were tough to choose the first time around, the task was even tougher a year later, with over 65,000 apps now cluttering up the marketplace. Even for a specific task like calculating your blood alcohol content after a night of drinking, you can find over a dozen apps that fit the bill. That’s a lot of apps. Which ones belong on your phone? We scoured the App Store yet again to deliver our favorites in five different categories.
So You Want to Make Your Own iPhone App?
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So You Want to Make Your Own iPhone App? – Have that perfect idea for an iPhone app, but lacking the roadmap to make it reality? The guys that envisioned the Beer Signal iPhone app are making their ideas come to life, and sipping on the best beer while they’re at it. In this podcast, the team shares some of the secrets to its early success, including the basic positions any iPhone app team needs to produce a functioning, published iPhone app, and startup website.
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