iPhone

Point-and-click search on the iPhone

A company called Proximic says it has developed an easier way for consumers to do complex searches from their cell phones.

While Apple's iPhone has helped make surfing the Web from a mobile device easier, it's still difficult to type in complex search queries. But Proximic has introduced a new application called Proximic Agents for the iPhone that will help. The new technology, which is language-independent, uses point-and-click technology to highlight bits of text. This means that users don't have to type in a long string of search terms.

Unlike other search engines, which rely on keywords … Read more

'Brothers in Arms: Hour of Heroes' storms App Store

When Apple finally announced the App Store for the iPhone and iPod Touch, the door was opened to many possibilities. With its huge library of applications, the one thing that seemed to be missing was a World War II shooter. I'm sure many keen minds tried to bring a real game experience to this portable device, but a good control scheme is essential for a real gaming feel. Because of its lack of buttons, this posed a problem until now. On December 2, Gameloft's Brothers in Arms: Hour of Heroes landed in Apple's App Store.

This is the first WWII shooter to debut in the App Store; it also captures all the action from the Brother in Arms franchise and brings it to your iPhone.

13 missions in across 3 historical campaigns: Normandy, Ardennes & Tunisia Impressive 3D graphics and crisp clear audio The capability to command Jeeps and Sherman tanks to help advance the Allied forces across the battlefield A wide range of weapons at your side (bazooka, sniper rifle, machine guns, and so on) Use of the iPhone's accelerometer controls to launch grenades and the touch screen to aim at and shoot enemies

This game (check out the video below) will definitely make your morning commute seem a lot quicker.… Read more

The closest thing to MMS on your iPhone

Until iPhone gets its own ability to send multimedia messages to your buddies, you'll be well served by Quip. This dead-simple, straightforward, and inexpensive iPhone app immediately triggers your iPhone's camera so you can take and send photos to contacts on the spot. Tap the tab and you'll move into library view, where selecting a photo to send a friend takes all of two clicks--after which the quick Quip opens your address book for another speedy selection.

You'll be able to preview the image and add a message by tapping ABC before sending it on its … Read more

All-in-one voice search

Extremely simple and easy to use, Vlingo's iPhone application blows away its rivals--so far. The free service lets you speak your search, contact names, and Facebook and Twitter updates into the phone, featuring great service support from the get-go. It also includes basics like speech-to-text searches of Google maps, contact dialing, and queries of multiple search providers.

Like most iPhone applications, Vlingo could use a built-in browser. It never crashed on us, and fails with grace when you've reached a data blind spot.

Magnetic headphone organizer prevents accidental death

The Magneat headphone organizer provides a solution to the most annoying accessory attached to your music player: the headphone cord.

The industry is a few years away from offering high-quality, inexpensive Bluetooth earbuds, so for the time being we're left untangling and tripping over long wires. As a matter of fact, just today I was walking into the bathroom (keep reading, it's OK) and my headphones got caught in the door handle. My headphones nearly pulled me to the floor and strangled me to death. Granted, Kimmy Gibler and I share a similar center of gravity, but my … Read more

Get your sports fix here

If it's a crisp-looking score-tracking app you're looking for that follows major U.S. sports associations and leagues, you've come to the right place. The free Sportacular is abound with week-by-week standings and scores that auto-update every 30 seconds when there's a game on. The flood of stats is easily navigated and read thanks to well-placed tabs and menus. You can view updated stats by player and by team, and can even create and track your own fantasy team. Sportacular also keeps fans up-to-date on their sport with RSS feeds from ESPN, Yahoo, and FOX. In … Read more

iBowling a strike

iBowl is a fun, free bowling simulator that makes excellent use of the iPhone and iTouch's movement sensors. iBowl's simple and intuitive interface shows you looking down a bowling lane at a set of pins. You just drag your ball left or right to position it, hold down the "Bowl" button, and then swing your arm forward and back as if you were actually bowling to release the ball and determine its speed. iBowl has some fun extras like the ability to choose your ball color and send your score to a friend, but the gameplay … Read more

Amazon Mobile now ringing up sales on iPhone

On Wednesday, Amazon announced the throwing open of its virtual doors to iPhone and iPod Touch users everywhere with Amazon Mobile, a free app now available in the iTunes App Store.

It's a pretty nice offering that simplifies the search experience for products found not just on Amazon.com, but also on partner retailers Target and Macy's.

The bulk of the app is dominated by a search bar you can launch either from the home screen or from a separate Search screen. While there's a tiny promo area on Amazon Mobile's home screen, the app completely … Read more

iPhone app promo codes trickle out

On Tuesday, the first promotional codes that will make iPhone apps free to some users began trickling out of the App Store.

Apple is finally bequeathing apps developers with a way to let some media testers review an app at no expense and reward or attract a few lucky users. (The first invite has already floated into my in-box.)

This is Apple, so there are limits. Fifty promotional codes per product, to be exact.

Also, as wonderful as it is to see the passcodes allowed and implemented, they are not free trials. Developers angling to hook new customers will still … Read more

DMCA exemptions desired to hack iPhones, DVDs

For copyright activists, Christmas comes but once every three years: a chance to ask Santa for a new exemption to the much-hated Digital Millennium Copyright Act's prohibitions against hacking, reverse engineering, and evasion of digital rights management (DRM) schemes protecting all kinds of digital works and electronic items.

Judging from the list of 19 exemptions requested this year, some in the cyberlaw community are thinking big. (Disclosure: One of the DMCA exemption requests was submitted on behalf of this blogger by Harvard University's Cyberlaw Clinic.)The requests include the right to legally jailbreak iPhones to use third-party software, … Read more