Webware

(Credit: Flickr)

Flickr's mobile Web site hasn't traditionally been in step with its popular Web app. A fresh lick of paint and some API work under the hood brings the two experiences much closer in line.

On Thursday, Yahoo-owned Flickr pushed out a very worthwhile upgrade to its mobile-optimized site, m.flickr.com.

Video streaming is the big draw. As on Flickr.com since last April, anyone accessing Flickr from an iPhone or iPod Touch can play videos hosted on Flickr's servers. In a few weeks, Flickr will unlock this capability for anyone using a Webkit, Opera Mobile (but not Mini), for Firefox Mobile browser.

Of course, only pro subscriber members can upload videos at this point, each capped at 90 seconds in length and treated as a "long photo" rather than as a video per se.

In addition to getting video on board, Flickr has also reorganized the mobile home screen. Its freshly buffed layout now grants quick access to the activity feed, friends' recent uploads, and to the daily crop of hand-picked photos.

You'll also now be able to do maintenance work, like add contacts, mark images as favorites, adjust privacy settings, and browse interesting photos, all basic stuff that Flickr's mobile site should have already allowed. Nevertheless, we're happy to see it now.

Flickr's new mobile site worked great during testing, though its performance is limited by the strength of your data connection and video playback may as well be useless in Edge territory. There are also a few features that Flickr is leaving to third-party developers of native apps, like a quick way to take and update photos and video (where supported) within the app interface itself.

The changes, big and small, will better serve the 50 percent more visitors browsing Flickr photos from their phones, and will go a long way to making Flickr a more unified service from any outlet. The upgrade may also give Yahoo a boost of consumer confidence in the face of its recently sagging fortunes.

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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 omits browsing by categories. The vast majority of shoppers probably beeline to their wanted product, but there should be an option to browse from the More menu.

The surprise feature is one Amazon is trying on for size that lets you snap a photo of a product to jog your memory later. In addition, the app will try to find the product in Amazon's catalog. Amazon Remembers, as the feature's called, was a little slow when we tried it out, but found our products in the end.

This visual shopping assistant is a great feature that replicates many others we've seen for iPhone and Google Android. SnapTell for iPhone (free) is also more flexible, pulling in data and price comparisons from IMDb, Barnes and Noble, and Wikipedia, along with Amazon.com.

However, Amazon Mobile's advantage to registered members is its simplified purchasing that honors 1-Click buying and Amazon Prime, and its memory for items you've flagged in your wish list, shopping cart, and now, photo bank.

(Credit: CNET)

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 need to lure them with free, light versions of the software or the less popular approach of offering an app free for a limited time and then ratcheting up the cost when the window closes.

Still, we're happy to finally see some leeway for developers, who will also get a reprieve from issuing gift certificates that often lose them money as a workaround for letting select reviewers evaluate apps for free.

(Via MacRumors)

(Credit: CNET Networks)

A great deal of Web companies have long since converted their iPhone-optimized sites into native iPhone apps, but not Yahoo's Flickr. Instead, Flickr is just getting around to tweaking its mobile site, m.flickr.com--in beta--specifically for iPhones. It may be behind the curve on iPhone-optimized viewing, but the results are crisp, streamlined, and satisfying nevertheless.

Flickr has made a big design effort to highlight activities you'll actually use and to make controls readily available. For instance, Flickr for iPhone puts your mobile e-mail-upload address front and center, so you don't have to dig around to find it. Your comments, contacts, and activities are also given a share of the limelight with clear top-screen navigation, to much the same effect.

You'll also notice that photos are automatically scaled to fit the screen, though you won't be able to explore multiple photos sizes as you can from Flickr.com. We like that pages load without needing a complete Safari refresh, and that photo sets are more efficient to browse, thanks to the arrow-topped thumbnails of the next and previous photos that sit right next to the image and serve as back and forth controls.

Quickly scrolling through photo sets is as close as you'll get to slideshows and videos, however. Since iPhone 3G still doesn't support Flash, it is predictable (but nonetheless regrettable) that these features are missing. Despite that, Flickr's good-looking mobile site is one every Flickr user should bookmark.

Soon enough, you will be able to voice chat using instant messenger on an iPhone.

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Global IP Solutions, a company well recognized for its media-processing expertise in IP communications, announced on Monday its SDK, which enables Voice over IP applications to be made for Apple's iPhone.

This means that developers can now use GIPS' VoiceEngine Mobile, to create real-time VoIP applications, such as games, social-networking applications, and, of course, applications for making calls to regular phone lines over the Internet. Soon enough, you will be able to use instant messenger to voice chat with friends on the iPhone, just like you've been doing on your computer for ages now.

Though this is exciting news indeed, GIPS VoiceEngine Mobile will only work with iPhone's Wi-Fi connection and will not take advantage of the new iPhone's 3G connection. This is because Apple has always blocked the use of VoIP on the carriers' data connection; and AT&T, understandably, wouldn't be too happy about supporting something that potentially costs them long distance phone business. We can only hope this will change in the future. For now, in my experience, AT&T's 3G coverage is still too patchy and unreliable to be a platform for VoIP calls, anyway.

Being the inventors of the popular iLBC codec standard (which got approved by IETF in late 2004 and is currently implemented in the iPhone), GIPS' decision today seems a natural move, considering the popularity of the iPhone. According to Apple, more than one million iPhone 3Gs were purchased over the launch weekend; and exactly one month later--today--you can still find people waiting in line outside some Apple stores for the device.

So far, GIPS claims that its voice engines have been downloaded and used more widely than any other voice engine worldwide. GIPS' voice engines enable consumers and businesses to enjoy affordable, high-quality, IP-based communications, even under adverse network conditions.

Amid the shaky launch of the iPhone 3G, Apple's new MobileMe service--a juiced-up revamp of its .Mac offering--also took a blow. Apple has consequently opted to entitle eligible members to 30 days free as a we're-sorry gift.

.Mac accounts had been scheduled to "migrate" to MobileMe last Wednesday evening, but instead produced an outage in which neither service was available. New subscribers, meanwhile, had experienced issues signing up.

"The transition from .Mac to MobileMe was a lot rockier than we had hoped," a details page from Apple explained. The offer isn't for everyone: only .Mac members whose accounts were active on July 9, and MobileMe members who registered before 7:00 p.m. PDT on Tuesday (i.e., amid the activation chaos) are given the 30 free days.

It's automatically added to eligible accounts, Apple's site explained.

Despite the outages, shortages, and related hand-wringing associated with last Friday's iPhone 3G launch and Thursday's release of the iPhone 2.0 firmware, Apple says there were nevertheless 10 million downloads from its new App Store in its first weekend of existence.

And those long lines? A total of one million iPhone 3G units were sold. The millionth phone was sold on Sunday.

"The App Store is a grand slam, with a staggering 10 million applications downloaded in just three days," Apple overlord Steve Jobs said in a release Monday. "Developers have created some extraordinary applications, and the App Store can wirelessly deliver them to every iPhone and iPod touch user instantly."

And on the phone sales, Jobs said, "It took 74 days to sell the first one million original iPhones, so the new iPhone 3G is clearly off to a great start around the world."

There are currently about 800 applications available for download in the App Store, over 200 of which are free; at launch, there were about 550.

Apple's MobileMe service promises features which, like the release of Mac OS X Leopard, made me regret the recent purchase of another Windows Vista laptop, at least for a moment.

Having lost two laptops and five years of life history to theft several weeks ago, the allure of having precious data pushed automatically from a laptop to the "cloud," coupled with Time Machine backup, feeds my desire for security as well as my laziness (yes, I review software, and I didn't have a third backup). It seemed MobileMe could serve me better than the new iPhone would.

It's all about Me.com not working this week.

(Credit: Donald Bell/CNET Networks)

The replacement for .Mac subscriptions can synchronize mail, calendars, contacts, photos, Safari bookmarks, Dashboard widgets, and more among Macs, the iPhone, and iPod Touch. It lets you stash 20GB of files on Apple's servers, and it even cooperates with Outlook on Windows computers. Plus, MobileMe's online applications would let you check in on all that from any Web browser.

I tried to find .Mac users to share their cheers and jeers about that $100 annual service, but many colleagues at CNET said they couldn't afford it. However, MobileMe sounds like a better value, with expanded tools that aren't available elsewhere in a cohesive package.

I finally was able to use the calendar at Me.com once. But online e-mail still hasn't worked for me.

(Credit: Elsa Wenzel/CNET Networks)

In advance of the release, I wrote a first-take CNET preview of MobileMe, hoping to follow up with a rated review, after exploring the nooks and crannies. However, I've barely been able to skim the surface of the product, and many other subscribers share the frustration.

If Apple's servers are overwhelmed this week, you might blame me a bit for refreshing Me.com for what has felt like every five minutes. Despite wearing out my trigger finger, I was only able to access my MobileMe account twice yesterday, for a total of two minutes. What a tease. I figured things would improve once the company finished .Mac migration.

MobileMe was due to be complete on Friday, with the full "push" synchronization intact. Around noon, I was able to synchronize mail, contacts, calendars, and upload some photos from a MacBook to Me.com. Hooray! Oops, I cheered too soon.

Yet another error message spoiled playing with Me.com, just when it was working for 10 minutes.

(Credit: Elsa Wenzel/CNET Networks)

Today I've been logged in and out of Me.com countless times. The service kicks me out against my will, just when I feel that a new feature I hadn't tested must surely be within reach. I haven't been able to stay logged on to Me.com for more than 20 minutes at a time. Attempting to verify my account on an iPhone also failed.

So far, there are more than five dozen comments, most from similarly thwarted .Mac users, on a CNET News story about MobileMe's failed launch. You'll find the same frustrations repeated in this and other publications chronicling the marred release of both Me.com and the iPhone 3G.

I agree with some users who mused that those at Apple must have had their heads in a cloud by scheduling the .Mac migration for a weekday. Between 20 and 25 percent of .Mac subscribers use the service for business purposes, according to Apple. At least I'm not relying on a former .Mac account for a job. A few hours of downtime could kill a potential gig for, say, a freelance photographer.

Nevertheless, I'm withholding judgment of a rated review of MobileMe today until I can give the features more than a cursory glance. If it stops working like an alpha release from a cash-strapped start-up, the service might yet live up to its promise as Microsoft "Exchange for the rest of us." Who knows?

For now, this botched launch highlights both some pitfalls and promises of relying increasingly upon Web 2.0 services for work and play.

Before my computers were stolen, I could have at least uploaded my personal writings to Google Docs, or synchronized my photos with SugarSync, or entrusted everything to online storage, such as Box.net. But I felt wrong in my gut about sending those things to unseen servers, no matter how secure. I never got around to buying a backup drive. Instead, my stuff went out the window, literally, with a thief.

If your own computer crashes or disappears, you might have only yourself to blame. But providers of online applications and remote storage services bear a greater responsibility than makers of desktop software, when they hold the keys to our data. For .Mac users whose pictures and Web galleries were held hostage on remote servers, the epic failure of MobileMe may simply dull Apple's polish. The rocky start drives home the very need for a service that does what MobileMe is supposed to do: keep our data safe and accessible in more than one place.

We've swooned over Pandora's new iPhone application, LOL'd at the chat application from AIM, and poked our friends with the new Facebook application. But as we continue to dig deeper into the growing catalog of iPhone applications one thing is clear: there are some stinkers in the mix. Sure, they might we well-coded (or not), but who needs them? We've put together a list of 10 absolutely absurd new iPhone apps.

Stop evil-doers with...your iPhone?

(Credit: CNET Networks)

1. Birth Buddy. This app lets you track labor contractions--you know, like when you're about to have a baby. This $10 application does have some use, like letting you figure out how far along you are, based on the timing of your contractions; however, this could be done simply with the iPhone's built-in stopwatch and the lap option. The one added benefit is that you can send an e-mail with this information to loved ones, but using that built-in phone and e-mail function you're already paying for might be a smarter idea.

2. Alarm Free. This app is loosely explained as a "self-defense/emergency alarm with freefall detector." That's not the best part though, it's got a visual of what the heck you're supposed to use it for. Apparently it will use the accelerometer to let you know if the phone is in free-fall mode (aka falling perilously out of your pocket)--that is, as long as you've got it running. Otherwise, you're supposed to use it as a sound alarm if you're getting mugged.

3. Crazy Eye. Just $.99 gets you this gem from Ezone, which questions why you would ever "waste money on an expensive facelift when you can get a crazy eye" instead. It's a series of 10 blinking eyes ranging from monsters to robots that let you hold up your iPhone over your face to amuse children or annoy co-workers to no end. This is the equivalent of those sticker machines you see on your way out of the drug store.

4. Cow Toss. Another $.99 gem that shows the awesome power of the touch screen by letting you toss a virtual cow. No, there's no scoring. You simply watch it fly around. This is reminiscent of some of the apps that came out when the iPhone was first jailbroken, back when developers didn't know what they were doing and didn't make you pay to realize that.

5. Flashlight. This $.99 application charges you for the convenience of turning your screen one of many solid colors for use as a flashlight. A similar native application was offered for free for jailbroken phones late last year. There's also a Web app called vFlashlight that does nearly the same thing for free. If you're away from a Web connection, you can get the same effect by opening up your e-mail in-box, which is predominantly white. (See also iBlackout, which does the same thing.) If you're intent on downloading a standalone flashlight application, there's Light, a free installable application put together by The Unofficial Apple Weblog's Erica Sadun.

6. Handy Randy. Can't think of random numbers? In case you skipped algebra back in grade school there's Handy Randy. This $10 application (!) draws random numbers for things like door prizes or for times when you're trying to figure out who gets to ride shotgun on the way to the mall. It certainly has some smart features like keeping numbers fresh and non-contiguous, and e-mailing the winners of said door prizes, but some simple math skills and imagination will remove the need to use an app like this.

Is this seriously something you want to spend time doing?

(Credit: CNET Networks)

7. Hold On! I have to give this application developer some credit for not charging people for this. The entire goal of this application is to see how long you can hold an on-screen button. It records your records and supposedly helps you develop your "concentration skills to make you more productive." My idea of being productive is not wasting your time holding a button that doesn't do anything. What's next, a Lost-themed application where you have to enter "4 8 15 16 23 42" into an on-screen Apple IIe every 108 minutes or your phone bricks?

8. Public Transit Maps (all). Any sort of public transit system has its maps available online and free of charge. Also, if you're offline, you can easily spend just a few minutes planning ahead at home by downloading image files of entire system maps that you can simply put in your photo collection. The one thing many of these applications have is location awareness, which is cool, except that with Google Maps you can get an idea of where you are and figure out where the nearest transit location is without dropping $15.

9. Looky. This application lets you see live results from Google as you type in a search, and it costs $2.99 to do it. This is the same thing currently offered if you visit Google.com in your mobile Safari browser, where links from Looky open up to anyway. Save three bucks by using your browser instead.

10. World 9. When you were a kid, did you feel like real life was a little less cool than Super Mario Bros. because there were no sound effects when you jumped or ran around? Developer Nao Tokui has a free application called World 9 (an homage to the Mario Bros. series) that will make sound effects when you run and jump around based on how the accelerometer reacts. Of the bunch listed here this is probably the most useful, if only to entertain small children as you make a fool of yourself by jumping around with your phone.