(Credit:
CNET)
A new update to eBay's free iPhone application (App Store link) enables users to better keep an eye on items they're interested in buying.
Users can now opt to receive push notifications for when they've been outbid, or when an auction they're watching is close to ending. As soon as a watched item enters that threshold, the user gets a message that both alerts them and gives them a quick option to jump back to the item to make an increased bid.
The app isn't just about viewing, though; users can now use it to make payments. Using eBay's PayPal technology--and only PayPal--iPhone users can now make a purchase bid on a new item directly from the device, without having to go back and use a regular computer or deal with the payments in mobile Safari. However, this option does not apply to all items.
If an eBay item requires immediate payment, the purchase bid must be made on a normal computer or via eBay's desktop application.
eBay was one of the first big applications to hit the iPhone, shortly following the release of the device's 2.0 operating-system version, which included the App Store and installable native applications. The company later demonstrated push-notification features onstage at Apple's Worldwide Developer's Conference in June of 2008, an entire year before Apple actually made the feature available as part of OS 3.0.
(via MacRumors.com)
WorldMate, the popular travel planning and organizational service, has expanded its mobile reach onto the iPhone. The two different versions of the app, which were released late Tuesday night (one free, and a premium version that costs a hefty $19.99), give travelers tools to create and track travel itineraries including flights, hotel reservations, rental cars, and any appointments along the way.
The two versions of the app offer identical functionality for core parts of WorldMate's service, like a flight search tool, world clock list, currency conversion, and a heads-up display on what's on your schedule. However, the paid "gold" version comes without any kind of advertising. Feature-wise, it also adds niceties like an automatic flight status checker that, with the soon-to-be-released iPhone OS 3.0, will send you an alert if there's a delay or cancellation of your flight. It also plugs into Google Maps to tack together a rich map with all the places you're visiting on your trip.
Until it gets the live notifications, users of both versions will simply have to use the one-click "check flight status" link. This checks information against WorldMate's delay and cancellation tracker. It also lets you know about any last-minute gate changes.
WorldMate can put your entire travel itinerary in one app, and give you a heads-up if there are any delays or cancellations. It even has mini apps built in, like this currency converter (pictured right)
(Credit: CNET)The app is quite polished and ran smoothly on my phone. You can get more full-featured versions of the productivity tools that are included in the app by using other, standalone iPhone applications, however WorldMate's strength is that it puts all of those things in one package. This may seem like a trivial matter, but since the iPhone does a lousy job at multitasking, it's nice to have a Swiss army app equivalent.
WorldMate faces competition from TripIt, which has had its own iPhone app since mid-April. It does many of these things in a free package. However, it does not yet have its own notification service. Instead, it takes any delay notifications you get from your carrier and updates its own information. It's also tied into third-party services (via its API) that can alert you to potential changes to your travel plans.
Crap, I Missed It, a new notification service, looks to tell users about various news or events that they specify. For example, you can set Crap to tell you about the month's top Digg stories, your favorite sports team's scores, or an upcoming concert for your favorite band in your area, via email. The information is all combined into a maximum of one email per day.
Crap, I Missed It sends email notifications for the things that are important to you.
The site itself needs some work on the design and usability front. Their actual service does what its advertised to do, but lacks somewhat in the department of originality. I really dig the concert notifications, although Ticketmaster already does the exact same thing with their alerts system. You can already get sports notifications from a variety of services as well. Crap, I Missed It is useful in that it brings these different types of notifications together.
Michael Baldwin of Crap, I Missed It told us some things that we can expect in the future. Those include automatic populating of CD alerts based on your Last.FM account or iTunes, RSS/web page monitoring, price change monitoring for hotels, airfare, etc., support for more sites such as Craigslist, and RSS/SMS/social networking notifications instead of email. So, go give the service a shot and let us know if you think it's worth your attention of if it's just crap.
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