iPhone Alley - News

Amid rumors that they would soon be hopping on the iPhone-specific web ad bandwagon, Google has admitted that they are currently testing a new feature for their Google AdSense advertising program that would detect when a site is being viewed on an iPhone. The rumor says it would automatically offer iPhone-enhanced features like the ability to pull up a map or use Safari's one-tap dial to call a business number.

Not too long after the guys at Pragmatic Programmers announced that they were going ahead with their book "iPhone SDK Development" and published a beta PDF, Erica Sadun announced that she too would be publishing her book on iPhone app development, "The iPhone Developer's Cookbook".

O'reailly Media has announced that they will be showing a preview of their iPhoneLive web-cast conference on Tuesday, October 14 at 10:00AM PDT. Co-chairs Bill Dudney and Raven Zachary will be giving viewers a sneak peek at their presentations for the November 18th conference. Bill will be giving an intro to iPhone development, and Raven will be talking about the various App Store licensing Models, discussing different strategies for advertising and pricing.

A few days back the creators of the iPhone development handbook announced that due to restrictions with Apple's NDA, they had no choice but to cancel the publication of their iPhone app handbook, iPhone SDK Development. However, now that Apple has lifted the NDA, they're going ahead with the book. A PDF version of the book is available for download.

As usual, several apps have gone on sale for a limited time since the last time we told you about them. Arnold Kim, founder of MacRumors, created a great new way of looking for iPhone apps online called AppShopper.com, which was used to compile this list. Today's list include AdLibs, iDicto, Sports History, iFitness (again), Carve3D, Bugdom 2, and myFavors.

Apple brought home five British Technology Awards, four of which went to the iPhone. The device earned Apple Gadget of the Year, Best Mobile Technology, Most Stylish Technology and Technological Innovation of the Year. The other award was for Best Music Technology and went to the iTunes Store. The winners were chosen by public vote. Other notable winners were BBC's iPlayer for Best Online and Best Home Entertainment Technology, and Google Maps for Most Indispensable.
[via Apple Hot News]

Apple has pulled yet another game from the App Store at the request of the Tetris company. Phunkware was informed that their game Shaker was to be removed following complaints from the Tetris Company and Tetris Holdings LLC that the game too closely resembled their namesake game.

Baseball fans will be interested to know that now that baseball season in the US is coming to an end, Major League Baseball's At Bat app [App Store] has been reduced in price from $4.99 to $2.99. The app will expire at the end of this season, so you'll need to purchase a new one for 2009.
[via TUAW]

Apple sent out emails announcing their iPhone Tech Talk World Tour today. They are hosting a series of free events that teach how to use the tools they provide to create iPhone apps, as well as work with them to optimize the code, refine the interface, and apply what you learn. The talks are free and open to both those new to developing, a long-time veteran or an IT guy.

If you often travel abroad, then you might appreciate this little gadget that Kensington just announced. It's a replacement for that little wall charger unit that Apple includes with every iPhone, but if you travel to another country with different power outlets then it can be a hassle. That's where their International Travel Charger for iPod and iPhone comes in.

AT&T has just announced that iPhone 3G customers will now be able to set up their accounts online before going to an AT&T or Apple store to have it activated and the purchase finalized. New customers can perform a credit check at att.com/iphone, and existing customers can check to see if they're able to add another line to their iPhone plan.

Since Apple lifted the NDA for released applications, it is now possible to create teaching materials on how to develop apps for the iPhone. The Pragmatic Programmers recently released their own set of screencasts for beginners that want to get started making their first iPhone app.

Friend of the site Arnold Kim (of MacRumors fame) has recently launched a brand new site called AppShopper. The purpose of AppShopper is to list all of the changes taking place in the App Store on a daily basis. Using feeds from the App Store, the site lists new apps, apps which have dropped in price, and apps which have increased in price.

If you're addicted to the App Store (like we are), AppShopper will help you find deals and new apps with ease. Check it out today!

Here's an interesting statistic for you. Now that we have the iPhone and iPhone 3G, most of it's predecessors seem to be pretty low-tech and outdated, including the previous 'hot new thing', the Motorola RAZR. Still, despite already having four years on the market and widely considered old news, it's still outselling the iPhone in the US.

Piper Jaffray released the results of their bi-annual Teen Survey, in which they visited several highschool across the country, surveying students on their interests and buying patters on portable music players, online music, and the iPhone.

Late last night I noticed that quite a few applications with similar features had appeared on the App Store. These applications ("Wide Email", "Sideways", "TouchType", and "Compose") all do the same thing—allow landscape email composition. And while this is a feature that quite a few users would like, these apps didn't sound interesting enough to mention here. However, Arn Kim seems to think that this could indicate that Apple has reconsidered some of its App Store rejection policies and I think he may be right.

Hudson is currently running a sale on three of its most popular iPhone applications as a promotion for the Tokyo Game Show. The games "Aqua Forest", "NeoSameGame", and "Catch The Egg" will be available for free until October 12th when the promotion ends. "Aqua Forest" is normally priced at $7.99, and "NeoSameGame" and "Catch The Egg" are normally $3.99. Grab 'em while they're free!

[MacRumors via TheBorg]

The idea of iPhone hacking is nearly as old as the iPhone itself, soon followed by the writing of iPhone apps. Soon after it was realized that there needed to be a way of distributing the various hacks and goodies to other users, and so began the birth of Installer.app and the collaborative open-source distribution system Cydia. Since then Cydia has become the more popular of the two, and it's now how most people get their unsanctioned hacks and apps. But what's up with that name?

A user on the MacObserver forums has been compiling iPhone IMEI numbers onto a public spreadsheet, and according to his findings, Apple may hav already reached their 10 million unit goal they proposed last year. According to the sequential Type Allocation Codes (TAC),Apple has already manufactured 9.2 milliion iPhone 3Gs.

IGF Mobile and ngmoco have announced that they are teaming up to offer a $10,000 prize for the 2009 Independent Games Festival Mobile. Contestants can enter a game to compete in the contest, and finalists in the Best iPhone Game category will be invited to showcase their games at the IGF ceremony.