Applications

Updated at 12:30 p.m. PDT with more information.

A week after its initial release in the iTunes App Store, Skype for iPhone has mysteriously disappeared. The vanishing act is temporary, Skype tells us, and began between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. Pacific Time.

According to a Skype representative,

"The Skype for iPhone app was down for a couple hours, caused by our own submission of a 'hotfix' to simply address some feedback and minor improvements. The release date for the 'hotfix' was incorrectly applied to the current version of the app."

Skype says the … Read more

Do you have an app that you wish was on the iPhone, but hasn't been developed or ported over yet? Certainly we all have our wish lists when it comes to apps, but one that I've been waiting for since the beginning is the chat and VoIP program, Skype (Mac or Windows). Fortunately, the folks over at Skype have finally put together a great app for iPhone, and if you've never used Skype, I'm here to tell you why you will be soon.

This week's apps include Skype for iPhone and a simple game that … Read more

Some important and interesting trends in mobile software came out of CTIA 2009. At the center are online content management, integrated communications, and mobile VoIP calling.

Remote management

On the all-in-one mobile in-box front, Skydeck and RocketVox introduced variations on the theme of the online in-box where you can manage and store some combination of text messages, visual voice mail (transcribed voice-to-text), VoIP, and an address book. The free soon-to-be Google Voice will be the service to beat, or to at least outwit as this area develops.

Microsoft also showed the beginnings of its online MyPhone Mobile backup and syncing service, in beta. Voice mail isn't yet part of the plan, but contacts, calendars, tasks, photos, and document back-up and management will be.

Sharpcast launched a refurbished remote access application for BlackBerry phones. SugarSync for BlackBerry now lets you open, edit, and save documents if you have office software. The previous version worked with photo viewing only.

Communications

On the visual voice-mail-only side of the spectrum, YouMail was showing its rich management applications for BlackBerry and iPhone (yet to be released). Movius, which sells solutions to carriers, was displaying a low-tech method for owners of mass market feature phones like the Motorola RAZR to receive an SMS with the name of the contact that left a voice mail, and a callback number to dial.

Emoze peddled its straight-to-consumer application for Symbian, Windows Mobile, and Java phones that pushes text and rich format, HTML e-mail to cell phones, compressing messages at 80 percent. For lower end Java phones in particular, this freemium app focuses on boosting a basic phone's feature set without draining battery life or tying up the phone.… Read more

The Shortcovers e-book reader that's available now for BlackBerry, iPhones, and Google Android phones sounded like a good idea when we first heard about it back in February. It still is a good idea, but falls a little short in the execution.

Shortcovers is attractive and modern-looking with a nice, legible default font throughout and a menu system you can find your way around. What it trips on are the details. For instance, thumbnail images draw you in on the page of featured e-books, but are excluded from the actual content. Sometimes the only freebie you get is the … Read more

The universal mobile communications in-box is emerging as a trend at CTIA 2009 in Las Vegas. Variations on the theme combine visual voicemail, text messages, e-mail, calling, and call forwarding in one online deck that's as easy to manage as your e-mail in-box.

Skydeck (Skydeck review) has a traditional e-mail layout that does calls, voicemail, text, visual voicemail, and call control for a fee. RocketVox is a great-looking private beta that manages e-mail from multiple accounts (including Gmail), IM, SMS, voice-to-text, VoIP calling, visual voicemail, faxing, conference calls, calendars, and screen sharing with a vague social networking angle. RocketVox … Read more

Skydeck is a useful-looking mobile message management service that creates a comfortable way to read and respond to phones calls, voicemail, and text messages from the Web. It differs from similar offerings by providing a classic in-box interface online, complete with a reading pane, folders, annotation abilities, and tagging. Skydeck also builds in a visual voicemail service operated by SpinVox so you can read your inbound messages in addition to listening to them. A search bar at the top of the page that helps you quickly find phrases and messages--including content from those transcribed voicemails.

If you have a headset, … Read more

Article updated 4/1/09 at 1:30 pm PT to correct the name of LyricFind.

If you've ever seen this Internet-infamous video, nobody need ever remind you of the importance of song lyrics.

Soon, subscribers to Slacker Radio's RadioPlus service will be able to avoid embarrassing lyrical flubs with the help of a new lyrics tab on the iPhone, BlackBerry, and Web. Slacker Radio has partnered with LyricFind to provide the text behind the songs, which RadioPlus subscribers began seeing Tuesday, March 31, 2009, on Slacker.com. The lyrics tabs is expected to appear on the BlackBerry … Read more

Yahoo let loose at CTIA 2009 with a redesigned Yahoo Mobile experience for the Web and iPhone--available beginning Wednesday--and a sneak peek at a version for Java smartphones.

Yahoo has combined all the organizational elements it has been working on separately during the past year and a half or so to bring OneSearch, OnePlace, and OneConnect together in a single application. It's a throwback to Yahoo's beginnings as an Internet portal, but with a twist--and it works, though not without drawbacks.

Most intriguing is Yahoo's completely divergent similar experiences for the Web and iPhone versus the build … Read more