Apple’s iPhone App Store rolls out today, which means we will finally get a look at the breadth and quality of applications that have been developed.
The launch applications for the App Store are less ambitious than I had hoped. There are around 500 applications available, many of which are eBooks of classic literature. Hopefully the interface on these eBooks is something special, because the same books can be read on the iPhone for free by browsing to project Gutenberg using Safari.
Among the most interesting apps are those that tap into the iPhone’s geolocative captivities.
The Most Interesting:
Loopt. Loopt is one of the more ambitious iPhone applications, allowing you to track the location of friends, among other things.
Pandora Radio and AOL Radio. AOL Radio and Pandora are both excellent services. Having access to them on the iPhone will be great.
Remote. This application allows you to control your desktop iTunes playback using your iPhone. This might be a nice alternative to an expensive system like Sonos.
Worst iPhone Apps:
Phone Saber. This application appears to make light saber noises when you move your iPhone around.
[Update: I just saw that Mike Arrington at TechCrunch thinkgs this is going to be a sleeper hit. I hope he is joking. I love Star Wars too, but come on. Using the iPhone SDK to create a crazy expensive version of a toy, is a waste of the opportunity that Apple gave developers. They have greeting cards with enough processing power to make these noises. The iPhone can handle 3d graphics, has network functionality and GPS, and you use the SDK to create a program that makes noises when you shake the phone. Am I alone in thinking this is lame?]
Quick Light / Flashlight. These two applications make your screen light up so you can use your iPhone as a flashlight. I know this might be usefull for some people, but seriously, this is embarrassing.
Cow Toss. This application is a picture of a cow that you can drag with your finger to throw the cow. WTF.
In response to my open call for questions post, I received an email asking, “when does it makes sense to file a copyright?”
The short answer is that if you have a copyrighted work worth protecting, file early. Copyright applications are fairly inexpensive and (for better or worse) provide very long term protection. By way of background, copyright is a form of intellectual property protection that is provided for “original works of authorship.” This includes things like literary works (like books, screenplays, technical documentation, and computer software), works of the performing arts (like musical compositions and movies), visual art works (like paintings or photographs), and sound recordings.
Copyright protection exists automatically from the moment that a work of authorship is “fixed” in a tangible medium of expression. This means that the work is recorded in some way, for example written down, or video recorded. So if copyright protection exists automatically, why would a company or someone want to spend the money and time to file an application? The answer is that registration give you a variety of additional benefits that don’t apply automatically.
Seattle startup Dashwire has launched the second version of its mobile phone syncing software. With some nice press in the Wall Street Journal the new version is off to a good start. Ford Davidson and his team at Dashwire have built a transparent syncing system for mobile phones that allow users to automatically pull pictures and video from their phones and synchronize contacts with a desktop computer. If you have a Windows mobile 5 or 6 device, you should check out the free application. Video demo here.
Think the Segway is just too geeky for your Born to Be Wild bad boy lifestyle? Then check out this cool new motorcycle born at the intersection of Geek Street and Hog Heaven Avenue.
The Uno is a self-balancing motorcycle that uses a pair of gyroscopes to constantly keep its rider upright.
Some forwarding thinking entrepreneurs at a company called superWise are working on a mobile application that can identify landmarks in your cell phone photos and give you more information. The concept is this, take a photo with your camera and connect to their servers. They look at the location information provided by your phone and run a search of images from that locale to identify the landmark.
The “eye-Phone” runs on mobile telephones and works like this: If you see something interesting while out walking for instance, you take a photograph with your mobile phone and select the item of interest with the cursor. The object selected is then recognised and transmitted to a central system interfacing to databases on the internet to get information on the object. The information found is sent back to the phone and displayed to you. The eye-Phone won the regional prize for Bavaria, Germany in the 2007 European Satellite Navigation competition.
Microsoft is legendary for having a challenging interview process. Candidates are typically tested both socially and mentally, with questions designed to either knock the applicant off his or her game, or provide a window into the applicant’s thought processes. SellsBrothers.com has a great compilation of notable Microsoft interview questions. Some of my favorites are listed below. For the full list and some horror stories about Microsoft interviews, check out the site.
Microsoft Interview Questions
Riddles
Why is a manhole cover round?
You’ve got someone working for you for seven days and a gold bar to pay them.
The gold bar is segmented into seven connected pieces. You must give them a
piece of gold at the end of every day. If you are only allowed to make two
breaks in the gold bar, how do you pay your worker?
One step closer to nanotechnology in your garage. Biotech and nanotechnologies are like the early days of computing, when people had to compete for time on a university’s room sized computer. When nanotech and biotech tools become available to more people we can expect to see development accelerate proportionately.
Slashdot | Rent a Nanotechnology Lab: “‘If you’re an aspiring young nanotechnologist with an idea for a new product, you’ll be happy to hear that the DOE has created five facilities called Nanoscale Science Research Centers, that you can rent. These Research Centers are located in National Labs scattered around the country: Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois; Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York State; Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California; Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tennessee; and Sandia National Laboratory in New Mexico.’”
Thursday, July 10, 2008
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