past

The iPhone world is rejoicing over the "it's about time" cut-and-paste feature in the just-released 3.0 version of the device's operating system. But I'm willing to bet that another group breaking open the champagne right now is the team at Twitter.

Not to mention the makers of Twitter iPhone apps.

And why?

Everyone knows that the reason that cut-and-paste was the most-heralded new feature in iPhone OS 3.0 was that for the first time, it would allow people to move content around between applications, be it between a browser and a note, or … Read more

Quickoffice, the maker of office productivity software for Symbian and BlackBerry handsets, has released its first suite for the iPhone.

Quickoffice for iPhone, which was released Monday, allows full editing of Microsoft Office documents and spreadsheets, and incorporates cut-and-paste functionality--a feature that will not be natively supported by the iPhone until the summer.

File-sharing and content-management capabilities are also built into Quickoffice for iPhone. Aside from allowing editing of Office documents, the suite also supports the viewing of iWorks and PDF format files.

The new suite also incorporates access to MobileMe iDisk accounts. However, that functionality was already enabled … Read more

The Lenovo Yoga isn't a Netbook; it's a ripoff of the HP Jornada. It also apparently fits in a pocket, but it's a little long for all our pockets, even Jason's. We also cover iPhone 3.0 rumors and the truth about battery life lies.

iPhone 3.0 to have copy and paste, Pre-like features — but no background apps http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/15/iphone-3-0-to-have-copy-and-paste-pre-like-features-but-no-b/

Lenovo Pocket Yoga http://i.gizmodo.com/5170542/shots-leak-of-lenovo-pocket-yoga-netbook-looks-like-it-actually-fits-in-a-pocket

AMD comes clean about battery stats http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/03/16/1447218 … Read more

CopyPaste Pro is a utility that greatly enhances the clipboard functionality of the Mac OS. The program not only lets you maintain multiple clipboard items ("clips") for easy pasting across all applications, but it also keeps a history of copied clips and stores custom archives for static subsets of clips that you use frequently.

Like other good efficiency-enhancing apps, CopyPaste Pro provides a lot of different ways to access its deep functionality, with plug-ins for the menu bar and contextual menus, a comprehensive complement of hot keys and drop-down menus, and mouse-and-key combinations for pulling up your clip … Read more

Play With Pictures takes one of the most essential image-editing features and expands it into an entire program. It is not a photo editor, at least not in the mold of Photoshop. Play With Pictures takes the cut-and-paste feature and simplifies the process while building out supplementary features for creating online avatars, greetings cards, and other projects that require image mash-ups.

The interface presents a reimagining of the image-editing toolset, gearing users towards projects instead of stand-alone edits. The left nav toolbar even notes the steps needed to take a user from start to finish. Tools are categorized as Start, … Read more

InformationWeek's Alex Wolfe dug through an Apple patent filing Monday and found that the company may be working on a videoconferencing feature for the iPhone.

According to Wolfe, the patent provides "proof...that Apple's thought through what it needs to do to make the iPhone video-recording and -conferencing capable." He then goes on to make the bold prediction that "we will see these features in the third-generation iPhone."

First off, I should note that companies file patent ideas all the time and usually, nothing comes of them. More often than not, patent filings are a way to cover the company just in case it decides to release the feature or stop its competitors that may try to offer it themselves. So, I'm less certain than Wolfe that videoconferencing will be made available in the third-generation of the iPhone.

But if videoconferencing does come to the next-gen iPhone, should we be excited? More importantly, will it mean that Apple will kick another improvement, like copy and paste, from the next iPhone to get videoconferencing into it?

I know both could probably be added to the device at the same time, but if we were forced to choose, which would we pick?… Read more

On today's show, we discover that "scareware" is a thing (that never should have been) and that you can tell a bad business idea by the bad name. Also, PlayStation Home comes out (in beta) after a year and a half in development, and it seems kind of lame, and we talk about the few folks making money in TTT (These Troubled Times).

PlayStation Home opens its doors http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7777122.stm http://news.wired.com/dynamic/stories/A/AS_JAPAN_SONY_PLAYSTATION_VIRTUAL_WORLD?SITE=WIRE&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2008-12-11-07-55-27… Read more

A new Web service called Pastebud will soon let iPhone users copy and paste text from Safari into e-mail messages and between Web pages.

Since the iPhone was launched 18 months ago, many users have complained about its lack of cut and paste capabilities. Users were once again disappointed when the iPhone 3G debuted in July with that same omission.

Third parties have tried to create applications to add cutting and pasting to the iPhone, but most have failed. One such application called OpenClip, seemed promising earlier this year. But Apple's iPhone 2.1 software, released in late summer, … Read more

One of the common complaints about Apple's iPhone--and one that did not get solved with the launch of the iPhone 3G--is the lack of a copy-paste function. An independent developer, Zac White, recently unveiled his open-source solution: OpenClip, a standard for other iPhone application developers.

He's not the first one to have that idea: another developer, Preston Monroe, has created a hack called iCopy that lets iPhone owners copy and paste between the e-mail and Web browser applications.

OpenClip is not a standalone app but rather a technology that developers can incorporate into their iPhone applications, should they … Read more