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Of the several news readers offered in Apple's iTunes App Store to date, NetNewsWire stands out as the most appealing. Unlike Mobile News from the Associated Press, NetNewsWire pulls in stories from multiple sources, and unlike Google Reader, it does so nearly instantly in a true native application (Google Readers whisks you to an iPhone-optimized Web application after you select it from a list of more options on Google Mobile.)

Like many other applications, NetNewsWire is the iPhone version of an already-brawny Web service operated by NewsGator, and one whose desktop versions CNET Download.com editors have already acclaimed … Read more

SAN FRANCISCO--The first bad omen for our experience with Apple's iPhone 3G came late Thursday night, when some of us waiting outside the Apple store here may have insulted a priest.

Sitting on the sidewalk in front of the store, a group of us, giddy with excitement about Apple's new handset, noticed a priest walk by. "Hi, Father," I quipped. "Tomorrow, will you bless our iPhones?"

The priest wasn't amused. Things really took a turn for the worse when someone tried to explain to him why the iPhone was worth the money and … Read more

Pandora may be one of the better-known music-discovery apps to premier in the iTunes App Store yesterday (download | review), but it isn't the only free Internet music-streaming and discovery service-turned-iPhone-application out there. One of my iPhone-blessed colleagues here at CNET also heartily recommended AOL Radio.

AOL's channel of recommendations tops the category listings on this simple vertical app, followed by category genres from Alternative to Sports talk and World music. Clicking a category streams content by radio station or by predefined collection. All songs play on a darkened screen powered by CBS Radio. The artist's name and … Read more

SAN FRANCISCO--The perks of being a famous tech blogger include not having to stand in line all night for the latest gadget.

I was out in front of the Apple store near Union Square here at 9 p.m. PDT on Thursday standing in line for the iPhone 3G that makes its debut today. Robert Scoble walks up at 7:15 a.m., 45 minutes before the doors are scheduled to open, and a fan lets him take cuts in line.

It would be easier to be bitter if Scoble wasn't such a nice guy. It's 15 minutes … Read more

Some things never change: Despite being a stranger in a foreign land (a San Franciscan in sales-tax-free Portland on business), despite only getting 4 hours of sleep and despite iPhone 1.0 waffling towards getting iPhone 3G, I found myself in line in front of the Apple Store at 7:00 a.m. in Portland, Oregon waiting for the new iPhone 3G. And, of course, I wasn't alone.

My goal: the white 16-GB iPhone. Will I get it? Only time will tell. But like last year's wait in San Francisco, those earliest of the early adopters are primarily … Read more

SAN FRANCISCO--The twenty-something woman trash-talking us is definitely no fan girl.

"They'll be selling these stupid phones on eBay in a year," she snarls as she stalks past the 25 of us lined up outside Apple's store here late Thursday evening.

She's wearing a sweatshirt from a college in the Midwest and toting a shopping bag so someone barks back: "tourist!" But she's not the only one who mocks us for camping out all night--braving this city's shivery summer air--for something as ho-hum as a cell phone. "Is it really … Read more

There are several media-pushing services represented at the opening of the iTunes App Store, each with their own combination of supported sites. ShoZu (covered here) remains the whopper of them all with support for roughly 30 popular social sites and services. There are the major players, of course--Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Photobucket, Blogger, Picasa, LiveJournal--but ShoZu isn't too high and mighty to upload text and images to some of the more niche guys, like Box.Net qipit, Snapfish, and SmugMug.

With so many services ready to cram into an app interface, things could get tangled up fast. But they don'… Read more

When the iPhone App Store was mentioned in Steve Jobs' WWDC keynote, one of the many applications announced was a TypePad blogging tool, courtesy of Six Apart (The company also makes two other blogging tools; Movable Type and Vox). Now that the App Store has launched, other blogging platforms like WordPress are coming forward with their own iPhone app plans.

Today, WordPress put out a video demonstrating its very own iPhone blogging tool, which supports WordPress.com blogs and self-hosted WordPress.org blogs (as long as it's version 2.5.1 or later). WordPress promises the iPhone app will … Read more

My favorite thing about open platforms that allow third-party developers to run wild is when those independent programmers actually do. Jeffrey Grossman wrote a free native application called Movies.app that revolves around movie listings and offers everything from from a straightforward, yet sophisticated lookup by movie or theater to a crisp, clear preview on the phone.

Grossman wisely included the other essential information that every moviegoer may want or need, including supporting information on IMDB, a lists of popular movies currently in theaters, and another list of shows coming to theaters soon (first up is Dark Knight). There's … Read more