iPhone

This post was updated at 9:41 a.m. PST with more details from Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart on Friday confirmed that it will be selling Apple's iPhone 3G, beginning Sunday at about 2,500 stores. The price, with a new two-year service agreement with AT&T (or qualified upgrade), is $197 for the black 8GB model and $297 for the black or white 16GB version.

"We are delighted to bring customers this ground-breaking mobile technology," Gary Severson, Wal-Mart senior vice president of entertainment, said in a statement. "Our electronics associates have been preparing for many weeks … Read more

Years ago, Mozilla introduced its mobile equivalent of Firefox, then-called Minimo. Minimo unfortunately largely died of boredom within Mozilla. In early 2008, however, Mozilla resurrected Minimo as Fennec, and the heavens rejoiced (though even the heavens couldn't get it installed on [Name your mobile device of choice]).

As recently announced by Mozilla, however, Fennec just hit its second alpha release, with the option to download and install the mobile browser on Mac, Linux, and Windows desktops for testing purposes. (If you want to install it on your mobile device, you're going to need to have a Nokia N810 … Read more

The VoIP solution to international calling isn't for everyone. Luckily, Packet8 offers an easy alternative with Mobile Talk, a no-fuss app that nestles onto your phone and connects you to a local number for a cheaper international call.

MobileTalk lives inertly on your phone until you dial your number, then delays the call by a few seconds to connect you to a local number, then pushes the call through to your destination. Payment conveniently arrives as a separate credit card charge on your statement when you set up your account. The costs are comparable to other phone card and … Read more

Online marketing firm, Hubspot, released a report Tuesday that details the "State of the Twittersphere" for the fourth quarter of 2008. According to the report, 70 percent of all Twitter users joined during 2008 and approximately 5,000 to 10,000 new accounts are opened each day. Thirty-five percent of Twitter users have ten or fewer followers and just 9 percent of all Twitter users don't follow anyone. The full report is available on Hubspot's research page.

Free eBook service Project Gutenberg, announced Tuesday that it has introduced a mobile version of its hosted content. Dubbed … Read more

The iPhone is the mobile device of choice these days for doing most things that need a network. So it shouldn't be a surprise that the phone has carved out a prominent place on Yahoo's photo-sharing site, Flickr.

The Flickr Camera Finder, Yahoo's statistical counter of camera use among its members, shows that since the arrival of the iPhone 3G model earlier this year, the phone has vaulted not only over all other camera phones, trouncing the Nokia N95 in second place, but also almost all ordinary cameras.

That's a notable accomplishment. I've been watching the Flickr Camera Finder for two years, … Read more

With Macworld coming up in just two weeks, the parade of Apple-flavored rumors, wishes, and murmurings continues.

The latest to surface--or resurface--involves a purported concept photo of what's said to be an "iPhone Nano," a more or less three-quarter-size version of the Apple iPhone. Even as it presents the photo, MacRumors.com also invokes a healthy dose of skepticism:

We have some serious doubts about the likelihood of such a device. These doubts are based both in the quality of the sources as well as the practicality of introducing a new form factor to the iPhone/iPod … Read more

Doing any last-minute holiday shopping for that religious yet tech-savvy someone in your life?

On Monday, the Vatican formally endorsed an iPhone application that allows users to load the Breviary prayer book, prayers for saying a Catholic Mass, and other prayers.

The application, called iBreviary, was created by Rev. Paolo Padrini and Web designer Dimitri Giani. It's available for purchase in Europe, and in the U.S. at Apple's App Store for 99 cents with free upgrades planned. Languages included in the U.S. version are Italian and English.

The Catholic Church is "learning to use the … Read more

If you've read my iPhone Apps of the Week posts, you know that I mostly download games and entertainment applications. I also like to check out music apps, because I play a few instruments and am continually interested in what developers are able to come up with musically for the iPhone. Since my coworker, Jessica Dolcourt, wrote the iPhone Starter Kit based around must-have apps of the practical variety, I can really get down to business--the business of fun iPhone apps!

So, what makes a great game or music app? Certainly graphics and sound are important for games, but with a platform as unique as the iPhone or iPod Touch, it's important to consider how it utilizes the accelerometer, touch screen, and other aspects of the device. For musical instruments and drum machines, it's important to note whether the sounds are realistic and how intuitive it is to play the instrument. Finally, it's important to note whether a game or instrument is a good fit for the medium. You probably wouldn't want to spend hours playing an MMO on a tiny device that needs recharging, and, similarly, you're probably not going to be writing concertos on your iPhone. The point is that it should be a good app by itself in addition to being a good app for the iPhone.

Some of the apps I'm including for this end-of-the-year roundup have been in previous posts, but several are new apps to my iPhone. I'm including both free apps and apps for purchase, and sometimes I have a good free version of a genre you can try if you don't want to spend the money. Without further ado, read on to see my favorite fun apps for the iPhone and iPod Touch.… Read more

Last Monday, I Love Katamari for the iPhone and iPod Touch was released, and iPhone/iPod Touch owners everywhere rejoiced. OK, only Katamari Damacy fans would rejoice, but c'mon, who isn't a fan of a game where you can roll up pretty much anything and everything into a giant ball?

When I heard the news, I immediately went to the App Store and plunked down $7.99 of my own money for the game. I absolutely loved playing Katamari Damacy as well as its sequel, We Love Katamari on the PlayStation 2, and looked forward to see how the iPhone/iPod Touch version would fare.

As I expected, it's absolutely stunning, and the music is as addictive as ever ("NA-NAAAAAA-NA-NA-NA-NA-NA-NA-NAAAAA The Katamari Damacy" is stuck in my head at the moment). The story part of Katamari is usually a fun little quirk of the game, and it's no different here. It starts out with the King of All Cosmos losing his memory of Earthly objects, and wants the Prince to roll them up so he can remember them. And as always, you're asked to roll the katamari ball over all sorts of objects of varying sizes, and as you roll up more things, your ball grows in size, making it possible to roll up larger objects--even animals and people.… Read more