Apple iPhone News

From iPhone app developer and web giant PeopleFinders, come two new apps that are designed to help consumers distinguish the potential of dates. These apps, titled Stud or Dud and Are They Really Single? will perform background checks on singles for the users of each service by sifting through a great deal of public records databases. In an effort to give singles a more complete picture of their potential matches, the apps are designed to search through everything from federal databases to the much smaller municipal databases for more local infractions or other potentially damaging information on individuals. The programs then utilize a complex algorithm to arrange the information in a convenient format that users can make quick use of.

However, while the apps themselves are only 99 cents to download, the background checks are much pricier, being offered at $9.95 per inquiry on a single individual to $24.95 for annual subscription to the background checking service. While the information is not guaranteed to be 100% accurate, users will be able to find out such facts as whether the person is married, has gone through a bankruptcy, owns any property, has a criminal history or is a registered sex offender. Both apps are expected to meet with some success in an increasingly online focused dating world.

The same man who helped to develop prime Nickelodeon entertainment properties such as profound smash hit SpongeBob SquarePants, former Nickelodeon president Albie Hecht, is seeking out new ground on the impressively fertile platform of Apple’s widely embraced iPhone. In January of 2010, the creative giant will be releasing what he hopes will be a brand new innovation in the world of iPhone games, a children’s entertainment franchise centered around an 8 year old boy named Bigby, a dedicated genius who is putting his mind to work at fighting crime by stopping what he believes to be Earth’s gravest threats: dragons and pirates.

Working with game company mega stars Addicting Games, a cutting edge provider of iPhone gaming apps and leader in the mobile gaming industry, Hecht and company will offer the title through his worldwide studio, Worldwide Biggies. In the game, players will take on the role of Bigby, taking on challenges such as stepping on pirate’s heads in an effort to stop their nefarious activities. Focused on the younger demographic of game enthusiasts, the title will be focused on gamers ranging in age from 8 to 17 years old.

Due to his experience at selling such properties to a global audience, Hecht’s studio has already put together plenty of materials to help sell their character to media forms outside the iPhone such as a feature film, a television series and, of course, an aggressive merchandising plan. With credits to his name such as The Rugrats Movie and Dora the Explorer, Hecht is expected to highly successful in the iPhone app world, especially with the expected rise in sales to the under 17 audience this holiday season once iPhone prices drop again.

AutoPilot, a travel service app being offered by USA Today, hopes to get the publisher a foot in the door with users of Apple’s popular touch screen smart phone and is part of their effort to increase their holdings in the digital world. As the publishing industry, particularly newspapers, feel the combined pinch from the economic downturn and more consumers shifting to web or mobile based information services, USA Today seeks to remain relevant by providing its own content intermixed with other offerings through the app which is sponsored by Hampton Hotels.

Users will be able to use the free app to orient themselves with a GPS-enabled tracking service, get weather forecasts, locate and contact rental cars or hotels through a directory service, keep track of flight itineraries and trip schedules, and read special interest travel blogs from USA Today. In all, AutoPilot will be able to track flight information in real for 1,400 airlines, over 15,000 airports, and 100,000 flights per day.

This move is the most recent in a series of initiatives set forth by Garnett, the publisher of USA Today, who recently acquired a stake in text4info, a mobile service.

AutoPilot is now available through the Apple App Store and is free to download.

Adobe Systems has recently announced that beta testing for its next version of Flash Professional is set to be released later this year. The set of tools is designed to allow app developers to create native iPhone applications without assistance from Apple. While tension exists between Apple and Adobe over this release, Adobe hopes the iPhone maker will end up supportive of their efforts.

Flash Professional is intended to allow developers to run their Flash code in a format which will allow the code to be workable within the iPhone environment. While many industry professionals have expressed desire for a version of Flash Player that will run on the iPhone, Adobe has stated in the press that it will need more support from Apple in order to bring the player to the popular hand held device. The primary aim of Adobe’s latest development tool is to allow for the expansion of available apps on the iPhone that have been created with their Flash technology.

Apple has expressed reluctance to embrace the Flash Player due to its concern that the performance of the software on its iPhone would currently be less than optimal. Other smart phone makers have embraced Flash Player, allowing users to watch videos over such sites as Hulu.

A new application called Print n Share allows users of the iPhone or iPod Touch to print to any printer on their network straight from their hand held device. Users will also be able to share files via such services as Box.net, MyDisk.se or MobileMe through the WePrint server application. The app is part of a system and the server WePrint application is installed on a Mac or Windows computer to allow for the transfer and printing of files.

Using the app, customers can print e-mails, files, web pages, images, contacts and directly from their camera. Services such as Google’s Gmail can be configured to print directly through the system to allow for easier records keeping of mobile communications. Printing directly to labels is as easy as the other functions and the ability to print e-mail attachments on the fly also comes stock. Also, the ability to print contacts lets iPhone and iPod Touch users create lists or labels directly from the information stored on their mobile devices. The ability to store files remotely and move them between the smart phones and personal computers adds to the app’s ability to transform the mobile device into an extension of and expansion for a consumer’s already created computer network.

Joining the ranks of other news publishers such as Associated Press, Time Magazine, NPR, Financial Times and Thomson-Reuters, CNN has released a potentially revolutionary new app for the iPhone that will feature live newscasts and video on demand. The price point also proves to be a change for the industry with CNN charging $2.00 for its download although the content will be free for users to download.

Although CNN has entered the iPhone app market later than its peers in the news industry, its app surpasses the typical offerings from its competitors. Beyond the traditional text and photos most news services offer, CNN will serve up breaking news via live streaming video as well as other video content delivered on demand. Through the use of on screen push notifications, users will be alerted to live newscasts which will not have pre-roll ads although ad content will be inserted during traditional commercial breaks. The breaking news can be viewed over EDGE, Wi-Fi or 3G networks.

Users of the app will also be able to view headline news in text form or twist their phones for a side scrolling view of stories similar to the landscape style of album cover displays on the iPod. Social media support will be available for the sharing of favorite stories and even photo uploading to CNN’s iReport service.

Along with partners Tonchidot and Densan System, Yamaha has developed a new iPhone application that allows users to play piano on their smart phones. The app, called Finger Piano Share, allows up to 10 people to play a virtual keyboard at the same time and offers a range of other features by which they can share the music they have created.

The app, though still in development at this time, allows users of the iPhone or iPod Touch, to use their touch screens as keyboards to strike virtual keys that correspond with musical notes. Using a system similar to widely recognized video games such as Dance Dance Revolution, Rock Band and Guitar Hero, Finger Piano Share prompts users on which keys to press when through on screen visual cues. Players who have a Yamaha MIDI-equipped piano hooked up to a computer connected with the internet will be able to play the piano from their mobile device.

Using geotagging from Tonchidot’s Sekai Camera app, the iPhone’s camera becomes a viewer so that users can see tags and files left by other users at specific locations. When the file is selected, the Finger Piano Share player will play back the previously recorded music.

Axel Springer, a European newspaper corporation, is shifting its focus from its more traditional print based media to a multimedia solution that allows them to provide content to their customers via Apple’s iPhone. The media company’s focus at this time is on content delivered to the Apple iPhone 3G, a hot innovation being readily embraced by consumers in the European market place.

This shift towards the digitization of their content is gathering momentum as the company prepares to embrace a much more technologically savvy approach to content traditionally distributed in newspaper format by their BILD Newspaper division. In this updated format, Axel Springer can deliver all the information and entertainment services they are known for at a lower cost with greater convenience for their customers. The popular content offered is a large scale operation to deliver, but Axel Springer is continuing to build upon what they have begun, increasing the available options for consumers.

Currently, the company is focusing on its most popular informational offering, soccer statistics and schedules designed to keep fans of this popular European sport updated in a manner more timely than previously possible with its print format. Their “Mein Klub” (My Club) is an app that allows fans to focus on the events involving their favorite soccer teams. Due to the hardcore fanbase in the countries Axel Springer serves, this content is their flagship offering.

In the future, Axel Springer intends to further digitize their content as a means of expanding their readership through the iPhone and hopes to offer their full array of media through this channel.

Game publishing giant Electronic Arts (EA) has brought out the popular classic Boggle game for both iPhone and iPod touch that offers consumers the familiar table top game in a convenient digitized form. Just as in the traditional game, players will shuffle 16 six-sided dice, that features letters on each side, and arrange them in a 4 by 4 square grid. Once the dice have been rolled, players attempt to spell out words from the letters in the grid by making connections in the sequences of the letters going up, down, right, left or diagonally. The goal of the game is to score as many points as possible by finding words with the highest point values within a standard three minute time limit.

Three game modes are offered, including Classic with the traditional three minute game time, Advanced where the time limit is customizable and Self Score mode that allows players to set the values of the words they spell in order to challenge themselves as they see fit. Users will use the tap feature of their phone to arrange and select words to spell. The traditional rotating of the letter tray is accomplished through touch and rotate functions while the shaking of the letter dice is emulated using the iPhone’s accelerometer as one would in the original game.

Boggle will keep track of players’ statistics such as longest word spelled, letter used most often and how much you have played in the achievement screen. Players may also utilize the Challenge a Friend feature to compare their scores via e-mail.

The game retails for $3.00 from the App Store and is compatible with iPhone 2.2.1 or later software updates.

Online financial management company Mint.com is making available an upgrade to its popular free iPhone app that allows customers several new features. The new features include alerts for bank transactions and balances; on the fly tagging of for purchases and transactions; and device-level security features unavailable in previous versions of the app. The increased functionality was released in response to customer feedback and requests, as well as an effort to take advantage of the iPhone’s new OS3 software.

A primary focus of this upgrade is to give customers real time updates on their Mint.com accounts so that they can more carefully manage their finances at a pace more suited to those used to a lifestyle where voicemail and text messages are utilized on a daily basis. It is also designed to make the service more convenient to access rather than requiring users to log in each time they wish to check out updates to their balance or need to confirm if a transaction has gone through the monitoring service.

Since Mint.com is a free service, they monitor over $50 billion in assets, tracking $200 billion in transaction since their launch in the fourth quarter of 2007. The core purpose of the service is to help consumers save money by being able to better monitor their spending habits at the micro level in a fast paced digital world where it is easy to lose track of digital spending.