AdMob, the mobile advertising firm that recently made headlines thanks to a Google acquisition, might have become part of the Apple fold if things had worked out differently, according to a report by Bloomberg that appeared this weekend. Apple reportedly approached AdMob with interest before the Google deal went down.

That’s according to “people familiar with the matter” speaking to Bloomberg. It isn’t clear which side of the deal the source was on, but he or she declined to go on record since the proposed talks were never made public. Apple is said to have contacted AdMob “a few weeks” before Google made its successful $750 million bid for the firm.

If true, the rumors point to the increasingly fierce competition between two major players in the mobile phone game. Google’s Android is being adopted by more and more manufacturers and distributed on more devices everyday. To have a piece not only of the revenue from the use of Android apps and devices, but also from the advertising that appears on those phones, is a huge boon for the search giant.

It’s unclear why Apple’s bid didn’t succeed, if it was indeed made. It’s possible that Google made a better offer while Apple was still in talks with AdMob, or that the advertising firm used the Apple offer as a bargaining tool in enticing Google. All of the companies involved in both deals declined to comment on the reports made by the anonymous source.

Acquiring a mobile ad firm would have been a bit of a departure for Apple, which is still a hardware manufacturer first and foremost, but it is a logical move for Cupertino to make. Many of the ads AdMob displays in mobile apps direct users back to other programs in the App Store, so essentially Apple would just be closing the loop and taking in additional revenue by promoting its own revenue-generating software delivery method. Plus, it could probably use the company to place hardware ads as well, promoting less successful products through the massively popular iPhone.

If Apple is genuinely interested in getting into online advertising, it could attempt another acquisition, or it may start hiring staff with the necessary skill sets. I’d hazard a guess that if the computer maker did make a failed bid for AdMob, it’ll be twice shy about getting into the game now, since Google now controls an intimidating 30 percent to 40 percent of the mobile advertising market. It’d be hard to gain a solid foothold at this point.

Today’s big announcement is that Flash is getting an update to 10.1 that will bring support for full Flash functionality to a lot of mobile phones — except, of course, for the iPhone, which remains staunchly Flash-independent.

Google Android, Symbian, and now BlackBerry are all signed on with Flash to work together on the Open Screen Project, which is designed to bring the full-fledged Flash experience to all platforms, including HD video and Adobe Air applications. Apple looks to be missing the boat, but just what kind of seafaring vessel is it really passing up here?

Granted, Flash 10.1 promises to deliver big improvements in the way devices handle YouTube, which is a real, tangible benefit that everyone can appreciate. But what about the rest of it? Adobe Air apps on all platforms? I don’t like Air on the desktop, and I already avoid it at all costs (which basically means I don’t have to use it as long as I don’t have to use Windows). And aside from Air, what has Flash really done for me lately?

There are two instances where I notice the lack of Flash on my iPhone while browsing. The first is when visiting some band and many big-budget movie and game sites. The second is when I run into some instances of online advertising (really, both are promotional tools and could probably fall under the “advertising” blanket category).

With movie/gaming sites, I sometimes make a note to check it out at home if I really care, or I just shrug my shoulders and check out something else. I don’t spend the next 10 minutes swearing softly to myself and cursing Apple for keeping me from my pre-packaged corporate promotional material. Nor do I feel as though I’m now somehow worse off than my friends with Flash Lite-enabled devices.

Add to this the fact that CSS animation and other dynamic HTML effects are making exciting strides, and that these will likely be included in future W3 specifications and eventually bypass the need for things like Flash altogether, and my level of envy would dip even further, were that actually possible.

So am I terribly upset that Apple won’t be taking part in the wonderful new world of Flash 10.1, which should ensure that shooting the duck to win a prize in an annoying animated banner ad will be the same edifying experience on my desktop and on my mobile device? In a word, no. In many words, I’m glad that Apple continues to adhere to its policy of staying away from a tech that may be widespread, but in point of fact offers very little value.

As a major news outlet, it’s a little late to the iPhone party, but CNN has finally released an official app that covers its entire news network, unlike the previously available CNN Money application. The paid app features text, video and photo updates throughout the day, including breaking news updates that make use of the iPhone’s push notification features.

I was looking forward to a Wolf Blitzer splash page, but so far, none has been found. Maybe it’s an Easter egg. CNN for the iPhone also includes support for iReport functionality, the scheme by which you can become a reporter simply by snapping a photo or shooting some video and sending it off to the giant news corporation without hope of compensation.

Pricey and Polished

My own personal distaste for CNN’s crowd-sourcing lazy reporting scheme aside, they do provide a pretty slick app, especially compared to some of its peers. And it should perform well, since the cost of entry for the end user is $1.99. Since it’s a paid app, I’d also expect not to be burdened by intrusive advertising. CNN does however sport the occasional banner ad, sandwiched lovingly in between news items. Not unforgivable, but irksome in a paid app.

Navigation is nice, though, with stories loading quickly, and appearing in a list-style view when the device is vertical, or in a cover-flow type interface when you hold the iPhone horizontally. Tapping a story in cover-flow mode brings up a summary with the key points in bullet form, so you no longer have to go through the hassle of actually reading an article to stay relevant and informed.

Social News

You can also click through to the full article, and share any piece quickly and easily via email, SMS, Twitter or Facebook. When you tweet a story, the app asks for your Twitter account credentials, and allows you to customize the post before it’s published. Facebook sharing uses Facebook Connect to automatically post content with optional comments to your wall. CNN really has nailed down the social media aspect of this app.

As mentioned earlier, iReport is built in, so you can browse user generated stories, sign-in to your account if you have one, or just anonymously post photo and video content using a guest account. Truly, the culmination of responsible journalism. It is admittedly cool to be able to browse through and watch multiple first-hand accounts of events that would’ve maybe been caught on one or two surveillance cameras 10 years ago, though.

My CNN

Like AP News, CNN allows you to customize the content you see using location information you manually input or the location info taken from the device’s core location services. You can also “follow” a developing story, so that as new content is published relating to the topic, you’ll receive notifications via push. Interestingly, I couldn’t follow the topic “tsunami” when I tried just now, although the term “baseball” worked just fine.

Video

You can also stream live video or watch on-demand clips from the app, which is a big plus considering CNN’s extensive commitment to live multi-stream video news via the web. Finally, if you want to access stories later when you’re not connected, you can save any story for viewing. Good news for iPod touch users.

Is it worth $1.99? That depends on how much you like the news, and on how much you like CNN’s coverage of said news. It feels a lot more professionally done than other apps in this category, and video feeds and archived footage seems to load and play quickly and without issue, but there is the occasional ad and you have to pay for the privilege. Ideally, I’d like to see a scaled down free version, but don’t expect that to happen unless CNN sees lackluster sales during the launch of this current iteration.

You no longer have to gaze wistfully across the Atlantic, European readers, because SlingPlayer today officially released its mobile app (iTunes link) for iPhone across 16 countries in your continent. You may, however, bemoan the lack of 3G streaming in the version that was released.

It’s been four months since the original SlingPlayer app was released in the initial launch countries of the U.S., the UK, and Canada in May. Thus far, none of the apps released have support for streaming over 3G, a limitation which some users are jailbreaking their phones to get around.

Sling Media’s president and general manager spoke to Macworld UK about the European launch of the Wi-Fi version of the app, and the continued inability to get Apple to approve the 3G version of the same:

We are disappointed that Apple has not yet approved the 3G version of the SlingPlayer Mobile application for iPhone and iPod customers outside the U.S. However, we are very excited to launch the Wi-Fi version — it gives our European customers access to the full spectrum of viewing choices on their iPhone or iPod touch when connected to a Wi-Fi network — the ability to watch and control both their live TV from home — local channels, local sports, video-on-demand and pay-per-view — as well as their home digital video recorder (DVR).

If a 3G version is approved, it’s likely it’ll happen outside of the U.S. first, since AT&T is notoriously protective of its somewhat fragile and overtaxed network, and a boatload of SlingBox owners streaming content over said network could exacerbate existing problems significantly.

The jailbreak option to allow 3G streaming is appealing to many SlingPlayer Mobile users, as evidenced by the top review when I checked up on the U.S. version of the app today. User “giliswhet” recommends jailbreaking and installing a utility called 3G Unrestrictor, which allows you to do anything you can do over Wi-Fi over 3G (including Skype calls, presumably). He describes the quality over 3G as comparable to that over Wi-Fi.
Despite the lack of 3G streaming, and a vocal minority making complaints about said limitation, SlingPlayer Mobile is rated three and a half stars in the App Store, with a high percentage of five-star ratings.

The app itself costs $29.99 in the U.S., and requires a Slingbox installed on your home theater system to function. The new countries where it is now available include Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

Is the iPhone quietly becoming a serious mobile illustration platform? That’s the question I asked myself after seeing news this morning that yet another drawing and painting program has been released for the device. Autodesk’s Sketchbook Mobile is available now in the App Store.

Those of you who’ve done professional illustration work on a Mac will probably recognize the heritage of this latest addition to the field. Autodesk is the company that acquired Alias, the makers of Sketchbook Pro. Sketchbook Pro has long been one of the very best digital painting programs available for the Mac platform.

I’ve tried both Layers and Brushes, and while I’m generally pretty useless with both, I do see my ability slowly growing, and more capable artists than myself have been able to generate pretty stunning images using only the limited toolset these apps and your finger provide. Recently introduced features, like the ability to export to .PSD in Layers, have elevated the game from idle play to a serious outlet for digital art on the go.

Sketchbook Mobile doesn’t export to .PSD (it uses the .PNG static image format), unfortunately, but it does bring a UI tailored for a touchscreen interface that’s been developed and refined for many years in the desktop version of the app. The result is an uncluttered working space that still allows quick access to all of your tools in a unique, radial menu design.

Like Layers, and more recently, Brushes, Sketchbook Mobile offers standard painting tools like layers, different types of brushes, color and media pickers, and so on. That said, Sketchbook Mobile still manages to feel like the most underpowered of the bunch despite its pedigree. The full version (iTunes link) is $2.99, but you can get a free Express version (iTunes link) to try it out first.

Around the time I first got my iPhone 3G, I used to use Exposure (now called Darkslide) for Flickr browsing, and I was well satisfied, until it became rather buggy with later versions. Not sure what the state of that app is, but I’m glad to see Yahoo finally step forward and release an official iPhone solution for the photo sharing site.

The Flickr app is available now in the App Store for the lovely price of free, and allows you to upload your own photos or videos to the site for publication. On first use, you have to enter your credentials if you want to upload or view your contacts, but Flickr takes you to Safari and then immediately back to the app afterward, resulting in a painless process.

I didn’t even bother doing that for probably my first five minutes using the app, though, because I was too busy just watching the home screen. By default, Flickr for iPhone shows a Ken Burns-style slide show of random photos from the site’s entire public archive. It’s a simple trick, but for some reason on the iPhone’s screen it looks so good it’s absolutely mesmerizing.

When you do log in, which you must do if you want to use any of the app’s features besides Search, the slide show on launch features only photos from your own and your contacts’ photostreams. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, especially if you have lots of contacts who are active Flickr users, but I would like to see a settings option in future versions that lets you pull from the general pool. It may not even be intended as a feature, but it’s the most visually pleasing thing the app has to offer.

Generally speaking, Flickr for the iPhone does a good job of looking good. It shows you when its loading using the familiar logo animation it shares with the regular site, and the UI is well and smartly designed. My only complaint is that in comparison to other apps like Darkslide, it actually does very little.

Like many non-photographers I know, I don’t actually use the site for uploading my own content, and I have very few contacts. What I do like to do on Flickr is just browse aimlessly, because while I may not take many photos, I appreciate a good one when I see it. Darkslide (the version I used to use, anyway) provides great features for browsing photos outside of your contact pool. This Flickr app does not, short of searching for keywords.

If you’re a Flickr user who takes a lot of mobile shots with your iPhone, then this app is for you. If you’re a casual appreciator like myself, you may want to look elsewhere for your Flickr fix, at least for the time being.

In another move in Google’s continued bid to dominate the entire internet — albeit with useful and occasionally innovative services — the search giant has officially launched Latitude for the iPhone.

Latitude allows users to locate and track each other, via their cell phones. Since its original launch back in February this year, it’s been rolled out on a number of mobile platforms, including Android, Blackberry, Nokia smartphones and Windows Mobile (allowing us all to find the one guy who actually uses a Windows Mobile handset).

The iPhone and iPod touch app, which launched today, is a web app which makes use of iPhone 3.0’s ability to use geo-location services from within Safari. Notably, Latitude’s initial launched sparked a wave of controversy surrounding privacy-related issues, an issue familiar to Google after recent issues in the UK regarding the rollout of Google Streetview clashing with data protection laws.

For now, Google claims that Latitude for iPhone and iPod touch is only available in the U.S., UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The plan is to add more countries to the service, down the line. It would seem on first glance that iPhone-users outside of Google’s initial launch territories are fresh out of luck, however, that may not be the case.

I’m based over in Finland, Nokia’s heartland and a country that is perhaps way down Google’s launch priority list for Latitude. I tested out the Latitude web app earlier today and discovered that it works perfectly, despite being in an unsupported country. It’s worth noting however that I signed up for Latitude while living in the UK and my Google account is UK-based.

Google notes that since the iPhone can’t run apps in the background, unlike several competing devices, the service will be updated as and when the web app is visited in Safari. In the official blog post, Matt Belez, Product Manager on the Google Mobile Team, noted that “Apple requested we release Latitude as a web application in order to avoid confusion with Maps on the iPhone, which uses Google to serve maps tiles.”

Opening Safari and pinging Latitude with your location is a functional workaround, but I can’t help but think Apple should have been more accommodating to Google. Embedding Latitude within the native Maps app would have provided a richer and more streamlined experience, without duplicating functionality across the apps, such as Directions and Search.

Complaints aside, it’s a functional and potentially fun service. Users can access Latitude now by visiting google.com/latitude from their iPhone or iPod touch.

It must be nice to be Verizon right now. Free from the intense scrutiny AT&T receives by having the hottest and “smartest” smartphone, it can appear to rise above it all. It can have TV ads to claim the best network on the planet, and it’s done. It can have legions of people claiming they’d drop AT&T in a heartbeat, or snap up an iPhone tomorrow, if only it could be on its network.

Even setting aside that the iPhone on Verizon would not likely be the iPhone we recognize, this is ridiculous.

Before we get into it, let me first say that if you live where there’s little or no AT&T coverage, then obviously Verizon or another carrier is what you need. But every carrier has holes in its coverage. Every. One. This article isn’t about that.

No, what this article is about are those places (and there are many) where either carrier is an option. In that case, there are general perceptions where Verizon seems to either have people fooled, or it’s no different than AT&T but it isn’t noticed.

• It must be nice to sell phones with less usability than the iPhone so your customers don’t hammer your network, and then sit back and let people assume you could handle the load under which AT&T is straining.
• It must be nice to utilize the same pricing and subsidy strategies as AT&T, but get to remain above the fray while AT&T takes the heat for what the whole industry is doing.
• It must be nice to charge for carrier cash cows like SMS and tethering, but have everybody only complain about AT&T doing it.
• It must be nice to brag about having visual voice mail on some phones, while quietly hiding that it’s an extra $3 a month.
• It must be nice to not allow convenient syncing of data, media, bookmarks, etc., via the excellent iTunes environment, instead using clumsier tools if anything is allowed at all, and have your customers just take it in stride.
• It must be nice to disable hardware features on many phones, such as Bluetooth, GPS, and Wi-Fi, with little complaint from the masses.
• It must be nice to avoid GSM, still using CDMA-based technology that the rest of the world (and AT&T) has abandoned. Its rollout to a 4G network could come with headaches as a result.
• It must be nice to brag about 3G speeds, and have no one point out that your CDMA 3G technology (EV-DO) can handle voice or data, but not both simultaneously. Browsing the web when a call comes in? You can have the call or the web, not both. Oops.

If Verizon received even half the scrutiny AT&T does, it’d be buried with criticism. If AT&T is getting a lot of bad press, Verizon would be ripped to shreds. But since it doesn’t offer a phone that’s particularly compelling, one that taxes its network, one that people actually want to use, few have bothered to look beyond the geek with the glasses it puts on TV. It must be nice.

Finally, this in not intended as a defense of AT&T, and in no way excuses it from legitimate complaints. I’ve certainly grown tired of all that company’s talk, but no action. However, the idea that Verizon would somehow be free from all these complaints — even assuming it allowed the iPhone as is — is not supported by its own actions. As a U.S. carrier it has far more in common with AT&T than people seem to realize.

I was a Verizon customer for years prior to switching for an iPhone over two years ago. The “Verizon envy” many AT&T customers possess is akin to the grass always being greener on the other side. Problem is, most of you would find out it’s crabgrass.

As you may already know, one of the improvements that came along with iPhone 3.0 was mobile Safari’s ability to access the iPhone and iPod touch’s geolocation services. Geolocation is quickly becoming a feature that more and more web developers are looking at implementing, especially given that the recently released Firefox 3.5 and Chrome 2.0 support it. It boggles my mind how far we’ve come from the days of avatars and handles, when only a rare few ever shared their real name and photo online, let alone their actual, real-time location.

King of the Internet that it is, Google is spearheading the implementation of location services on the web. It recently introduced location support in Google Maps for Firefox and Chrome users, which works pretty much like the Maps app on your iPhone or Android device does, albeit using Wi-Fi signal towers for most computer users (who don’t likely have GPS capabilities in their machines), so it’s more comparable to the iPod touch. As of yesterday, Google’s mobile search site also supports geolocation, which works perfectly with the latest version of Safari for the iPhone.

Once you grant Safari (and Google.com) access to your device’s location, you’ll see a little blue dot on the main search page, with your location spelled out next to it. When you change locations, you’ll have to manually update by clicking a link next to that, but if you tend to stay in one place like myself, Google seems to be content to remember your choice for quite some time, so you won’t have to find yourself each time you visit.

Searching for things like restaurants, maps or directions, will then bring up results relevant to where you are. Even though the stated location doesn’t seem to be any more specific than the city you’re in, I found that a search for “closest grocery store” actually came up with results in my immediate area, although it did miss the one right across the street from me, so that could just be because I live downtown.

Still, it’s very handy to have Google be even broadly aware of where you are in the world when returning search results. Especially in a mobile device, which you generally use when you’re out and about, and therefore in need of on-the-spot directions and info about local amenities and services. Hopefully where Google has gone, others will follow, and we’ll see geolocation built-in to many more web apps and services. I would love to see some corporate websites like Best Buy work it into its retail store finder pages, but considering the rate at which retail chains usually implement new tech, I’m not holding my breath.

Since Apple doesn’t provide detailed release notes with each of their beta installments, it’s understandable that details about less obvious features and changes would only come to light gradually, as people poked around and tried different (and sometimes unusual) things with their devices. Computerworld’s Seth Weintraub was fooling around with the Mobile Safari browser included with the latest firmware update (3.0b5), and discovered that it has become a touch more self-aware since last we checked.

In fact, the new version of Safari has been quietly updated to tap into the iPhone’s geolocation abilities so that it can deliver location information should a web site request it. Weintraub tested the new feature using a web page designed by Doug Turner to test Mozilla’s upcoming geolocation API (which is built into the latest beta builds of Firefox, by the way). Visiting the site brings up the familiar location services permission request dialog box that opens when using other third-party apps and Google Maps.

Once Safari receives approval, the individual site you’re visiting also needs authorization, which is great for security purposes. As soon as everything is approved, the site displays coordinate data relevant to your current location. Not fancy, but a promising taste of what’s to come. Geolocation is part of the W3 consortium’s web standard, though the specification isn’t finalized yet, and it should see inclusion in the next generation of every major browser, which means web developers should start incorporating it regularly soon enough.

There are already plans from one major player to use it in a web app. Google announced last week their plans to release Latitude, their location broadcasting service, as a web app for the iPhone platform (it’s already a native app for Symbian, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile and Android). iPhone and iPod touch owners will be able to visit the Latitude URL in Safari, which will ask for and use their location information to make their position available to other contacts using the app, on any platform. The disadvantage, of course, is that closing Safari will end your location broadcast, and your ability to see the location of others, but this would’ve been true with a native app, too.

Google’s Latitude implementation is impressive, but more practical and generally useful applications of browser geolocation come to mind. How about never asking me for my zip code again when it comes to searching for stuff in my immediate area? Or tourism sites that generate location-specific content automatically upon each visit depending on where in the world you are? Combined with the rumored magnometer that’s meant to appear in the next new iPhone hardware, Safari geolocation could revolutionize the way we use the mobile web.

I recently wrote about extending your MacBook’s battery life via a firmware update. Today I am going to outline how to extend your battery life by calibrating it so that it holds its charge properly. After all, running out of juice with when you’re on the go is the worst possible scenario in the electronic world!

As a general rule, you should calibrate your battery every month or two to keep it running in top form.

To calibrate your laptop’s battery:

1. Plug your laptop in and let it charge completely (your battery icon in the menu bar will be completely full and the charger’s connector light turns green).
2. Keep the laptop plugged in for another two hours (after it is fully charged).
3. Disconnect your laptop from power. Use it until it falls asleep from low battery.
4. Turn off the laptop and let it “rest” for about five hours.
5. Plug your laptop back in and let it fully charge.

It is completely fine to use your laptop during all of these steps (except, of course, when the computer is asleep).

Calibrating your laptop battery every few months is a great way to ensure you get the longest life out of it. If you’ve had your laptop for a little while and want to know the current maximum capacity of your battery, you can use the free coconutBattery utility.

coconutBattery isn’t just a tool which shows you only the current charge of your battery – it also shows you the current maximum capacity of it in relation to the original capacity your battery had as it left the factory. You also get information about the battery-loadcycles (how often did you fully load your battery), the current charger (coconutBattery even warns you if you plugged in a wrong charger for your Notebook) and last but not least information about the age of your Mac.

If you go and do something like found Electronic Arts, which then goes on to be one of the dominant forces in video games worldwide, people tend to take notice of things you say. Yesterday in an interview with Venture Beat’s Dean Takahashi, Trip Hawkins, EA founder and current Digital Chocolate executive, said that Nintendo and Sony are probably “freaking out” over the rampant success of the iPhone as a gaming platform.

The threat of the iPhone to Sony and Nintendo, and their PSP and DS(i) respectively, is not the number or quality of games available for the platform, but rather the value proposition it represents from a business standpoint. According to Hawkins:

The iPhone is by far our most effective platform. We make as much money with these games on one device as we do putting a game on 100 different cell phone platforms. Between the iPod touch and the iPhone, I think the platform is freaking out Sony and Nintendo.

So it comes down to a question of investment vs. return, as does any sound business decision, gaming industry or not. If Apple can tip the scales sufficiently in their favor, the repercussions for the gaming industry could be immense. It could mean smaller dev teams, a quicker turnaround and or/development cycle, and less focus on branding and franchises (casual games succeed based on mechanics, not mascots), all of which could eventually affect not only mobile gaming, but the home console industry as well.

I’m not sure I like where this is going. Yes, I like playing Bejeweled 2 on my iPhone, and I’ve been known to enjoy a number of other games as well, but I just started playing GTA: Chinatown Wars on my DSi, and it reminded just how much catching up the iPhone has to do when it comes to gaming. The iPhone definitely offers a better gaming experience than any phone I’ve ever owned, but for real gaming, nothing beats physical control keys and buttons. I can’t even express the difference in words, but if you’re at all a gamer, you probably know what I’m talking about.

I’m hoping developers and studios don’t lose sight of this with all those dollar signs in their eyes. By all means, continue to develop for the iPhone, and do the most with what the platform offers, but don’t turn to it exclusively. Casual gaming is great, but for it to become the primary focus of the industry would be like all musicians turning their efforts to country because it sells best. I pray neither of these things ever happens.

With all the attention in the arena of iPhone applications being fixed squarely on Skype for the past few days, it almost escaped my view that Yahoo has finally released their free Yahoo Mobile app, which we reported on in February. The app’s release coincides with a revamp of their entire Yahoo Mobile web portal, and is designed to provide a uniform experience across products. The iPhone version has some unique hardware-based features, however, but how does it stack up to Google for iPhone?

Initially the two actually appear to have very little in common. Yahoo is more of a fully featured portal than Google’s search-focused application. To begin with, when the app launches, you get a screen with a search bar at the top, but also a list of feature stories from Yahoo.com, including summaries, and pictures, when available. There’s also a list of popular search topics, which depressingly included “ShamWow” when I was writing this up. Depending on what your goal is, this might be more or less useful than Google’s straightforward search bar/search history home page.

Continuing the trend of acting as a more broadly focused news and information application, Y! News is the next available menu item in the app’s navigation bar. There’s a featured story, and then a number of others broken down by category. It’s a fairly nice feature, and it uses your phone’s location to determine what kind of regional and national content should be shown. The content is well formatted for easy reading using the built-in article viewer, too.

The “My Interests” page is also pretty handy. You can add various types of feeds here, including weather, stock alerts, RSS feeds, and more. Basically, it allows you to build your own iGoogle-type all-in-one home page. It could actually replace a standalone RSS reader.

“Connect” offers a full-service social media aggregator, with integration for popular web mail services (Gmail and Windows Live Hotmail included, and Yahoo Mail of course), and Yahoo Calendar. All of the major social media networks are supported, including Facebook and Twitter. Once you’ve added your accounts, you can view updates from all your networks in the “Social Pulse” stream. In all cases, social network contact images can be used for your own Yahoo address book contacts.

There’s more, like direct in-app access to Yahoo Messenger, but you can check that stuff out on your own. Suffice it to say, Yahoo is trying something different with their mobile app, rather than competing directly with Google. If you’re looking for an all-in-one solution that doesn’t necessarily go in-depth in any one particular area, this might be a good solution. In theory, it clears four or five apps off your home screen, and I’m always a fan of decreasing app clutter.

Look out iTunes, there’s a brand new media manager in town, in the form of a public beta just released for OS X. The program is called doubleTwist, and it’s the brainchild of anti-DRM crusader “DVD” Jon Johansen.

Ars Technica had a look at it in length, and it seems to be fairly promising. The idea is the same one behind Pioneers of the Inevitable’s Songbird, namely to provide users with an alternative to Apple’s own iTunes, which is sometimes criticized as having an unnecessarily large memory footprint, among other failings.

The killer feature of doubleTwist, the one which really sets it apart from both Songbird and iTunes, is its ability to sync your media on pretty much any portable device of your choosing that’s capable of playing it back. In fact, doubleTwist supports syncing with literally hundreds of devices, among them the standard heavy hitters like BlackBerry, Sony’s PSP, Nintendo’s DSI, and just about any mobile phone you can think of. Except, and this is the odd part, for the iPhone and iPod, which are currently available for PC users only, though the Mac client with iPhone/iPod support is in private testing.

Curiously, doubleTwist does feature a mandatory sign-up before you can start using it. And, annoyingly, you have to wait to receive a confirmation email and click an activation link before the application will even let you get past an authentication screen. It wouldn’t have been nearly as aggravating if I’d just received the email right away, but I had to wait quite a while to even get started.

Aside from login issues, the program itself is intuitive and easy to use. It can automatically scan all of your drives, folders, and connected mobile devices for any kind of media to build a comprehensive library, organized by where it was found. Unfortunately, doubleTwist is DRM-phobic in its current incarnation, and will not find or recognize any DRM-enabled content, besides iTunes music, which it can presumably play by running Quicktime in the background.

The beauty of doubleTwist, from the perspective of someone who hates messing about with conversion software and often gets frustrating results when he does, is its automatic conversion feature when dragging and dropping media to different devices. If the device is one of the many doubleTwist has in its expanding database, your file will either just be transferred to it automatically if already in a compatible format, or converted into a file type the device will recognize. No muss, no fuss. Which is also a limitation, since you have no control over conversion.

I’m not sure it’ll ever replace iTunes as my primary media manager, since I’d miss Apple proprietary features like AirTunes support, but it does help me wrangle my gadget collection a little better, and with a lot fewer headaches. Let’s hope future updates fully realize doubleTwist’s early potential.

Sony is no doubt feeling the heat from Apple, whose campaign to push the iPod touch (and the iPhone, though less directly) to the forefront of mobile gaming continues, with another recent advertisement using the “Funnest iPod Ever” tag line, and highlighting another selection of games available for the platform. They’ve also introduced a Games Showcase attached to the official iPod touch page of their web site. It looks like Sony may be taking Apple’s success seriously into consideration in designing their upcoming successor to the PlayStation Portable, their own mobile gaming device.

The biggest cue they’re rumored to be taking from Apple is a switch to exclusive digital distribution, instead of retaining support for disc-based media via their own proprietary UMD format. I am myself a PSP owner, and I admit that I find the discs both cumbersome and antiquated now that I’m used to just downloading, resetting, and playing on my iPhone and iPod touch.

News of the new device comes from David Perry, Chief Creative Officer of Acclaim, as reported by Kotaku’s Brian Crecente. Perry says the news of the new device comes directly from one of its developers at Sony, and I suspect the leak might even be one that’s officially sanctioned by Sony in order to steal some of Apple’s thunder.

We’ve already seen the mobile gaming market change in the wake of the arrival of the iPod touch, with Nintendo’s introduction of the DSi, which adds some built-in media playback ability to the mobile console. It makes sense that Sony and Nintendo would do their best to bridge the gap between their own products and Apple’s jack-of-all-trades.

This move probably also means another mobile app store is on the way, although the exact nature of the PSP 2’s isn’t explained in detail. CNET is speculating that 3G as well as Wi-Fi might be offered. Sony, of course, has experience with direct digital distribution via their PlayStation Network Store, so they won’t be starting from scratch.

I think they have a chance to give Apple a run for their money, in fact, as long as they can appeal more to casual gamers while still keeping the core crowd interested. An OLED touchscreen like the one that’s forthcoming on their latest incarnation of the Walkman would go a very long way to adding to the appeal of a new PSP, as would the addition of the often-requested second analog joystick. If they are going to take on Apple, they should know their strengths, and game system controls are definitely one of them.

The search engine that had a strong claim on the web long before upstart Google came along may be down, but they aren’t out. They’re planning a massive undertaking, a cross-platform release of a mobile suite of applications that, at least according to them, could revolutionize the way you use the web from your mobile device.

Yahoo Mobile (not Go. Forget Go ever existed.) will drop simultaneously for mobile web browsers, as a dedicated iPhone app, and as a dedicated app for other smartphones as well (which will be far easier now that everyone is launching an App Store clone). They aren’t being too clear about the specifics, but it’s basically shaping up to be a mobile web portal, which sort of is, and sort of isn’t like Google Mobile. Yahoo Mobile will integrate Mail, Messenger, News and Calendar, although it’s not made explicitly clear whether those will just be available as links to web-based content or integrated into an iPhone app. They also talk about Opera mobile being integrated into the package, but whether or not that particular piece of the puzzle makes its way onto the iPhone is another story.

This will be Yahoo!’s first major foray into the arena of the iPhone (if you don’t count the curious oneConnect social network application), and it will pit them head-to-head against their dominant rival Google. If I’m at all an accurate judge, I’d say Google is reserving fear for when something actually materializes, and even then, I don’t think Yahoo! can offer up anything to seriously challenge their dominance of the iPhone platform. Somehow getting Opera onto Apple devices would be a coup, but if it happened, it would just pave the way for Chrome Mobile, which would probably end up as another “W” in the Google column. Is it just me, or does anyone else sort of feel like Yahoo! should just throw in the towel at this point?

According to the official WebKit blog, the browser rendering engine now supports some explicit CSS animations. A recent nightly build brings support for keyframes and repeating animated effects coded directly in CSS. The animation features are currently exclusive to test builds of Safari, but they have already been put into play by Apple in the iPhone and iPod touch’s mobile Safari browser.

Since that’s the easiest way to see them live, I fired up mobile Safari on my iPhone and had a look at the three demos available. There are falling leaves, pulse, and a bouncing box. The falling leaves were probably the most impressive example of the potential this new tech offers, but all three were promising and looked good on the iPhone. They should soon be supported by Safari for the desktop as well, and they have been submitted for inclusion in the official CSS standards, as determined by the W3.

While it’s not clear yet what the limitations of the tech are in terms of interactivity, they do present a nice, simple alternative to overly complicated Flash animations, at least for visuals. Depending on how advanced the support for CSS animations and other effects becomes, Apple may see less of a need for supporting Flash. As the iPhone gains more hold in the mobile browser market, web designers could opt to code in CSS animation effects to reach a broader audience.

Regardless of what happens with Flash, CSS animation support is promising for iPhone users and developers alike, since it expands the canvas and promises more graphically-rich content. As long as it doesn’t result in this kind of thing.

One of the barriers to big studios developing big name titles for the iPhone and iPod Touch has been pricing. The kind of investment that goes into making blockbuster titles requires a pricing scheme that the App Store probably couldn’t currently support. Users are now used to the extremely low prices most of the apps are offered at, and games tend not to do well if priced over $9.99, and even then most developers cut the price to around $5.99 a few weeks after its release.

PocketGamer.biz is now reporting that the App Store will soon see the introduction of a special Premium Games Section, offering a range of titles at a price point of $19.99. The club will be an exclusive one, with membership only open to large developers, and not the indie folks who’ve brought most of the innovation to the App Store thus far. I’m really hoping the move doesn’t inhibit the great independent development that’s been going on so far, but I’d also like to see studios like SquareEnix go all out, instead of just sort of going with half-measures like Crystal Defenders.

The date suggested by PocketGamer.biz for a possible launch of the new section is Apple’s World Wide Developer’s Conference (WWDC), which takes place in June. If true, this would explain the recent slowdown of releases from major studios like EA and Gameloft, who for a while were keeping their pipelines flowing at a fairly steady rate. Such a release might also coincide with the advent of new iPhone hardware from Apple, if recent rumors prove true. That would make a lot of sense, since any hardware update will likely bring improved specifications, including processor power, graphics rendering capability, and possibly control refinements as well.

I think this could work well for Apple, as long as they don’t allow it to balloon. A jump from $10 to $20 dollars is one that I think avid gamers, and especially those for whom the iPhone is their only mobile platform, will go along with. It might take some time and marketing to ease the transition, but it’ll still be cheaper than your average big name DS or PSP title. But if pricing increases get out of hand, and enter into the $30 to $40 range, Apple will probably have a hard time getting iPhone gamers to follow. Unless they allow the Seaman spin-off after all. That, I’d pay $40 for.

It was only two months ago that Flickr unveiled a beta version of their mobile site optimized for iPhone and iPod touch users, but now it’s official.

Compared to their previous mobile endeavor, this update of the site is nothing short of leaps and bounds ahead. Beyond a svelte new interface that makes browsing, not only, your and your contacts’ activity a breeze, it also puts Flickr’s much touted “interestingness” photos within easy reach.

However, undoubtedly the biggest boon to come with this update is the ability to play back videos — or “long photos” as Flickr so poignantly likes to refer to them as. (It should be noted, though, this only applies to videos uploaded since December 3. Videos on the site previous to that date will be updated for mobile playback in the coming months.) Without delving into the technical details, Flickr is able to do this by utilizing their parent company’s, Yahoo!, Video Platform. Via said platform, Flickr can serve video to the dizzying array of available handsets on the market that support it, and accommodate for their varying screen sizes and codec dependencies, including the iPhone/iPod touch.

After putting the site through its paces, short of an upload dialog box, the new mobile site feels right at home. The design and layout, as well as the video playback, were obviously very well thought out and the execution is nearly flawless, though some will have their minor quibbles. While touch devices still have the option to browse the site in full, Flickr took great care in providing convenient access the most common features you would want while on the go. For example, just as easily as you can “favorite” a photograph or video you like, you can set/update the privacy or safety level setting of your own. Which is great for those moments when you have a lapse in judgement and realize the upload you just made via your mobile wasn’t meant for the world at-large.

Needless to say, It’s good to see that, while most ventures have moved away from iPhone/iPod touch optimized versions of their web apps/sites for official apps — and in unfortunate cases, nothing more than Webkit wrappers — Flickr is still focused on its core competency of helping people “make their content available to the people who matter to them,” by continuing to provide an enjoyable experience to its growing number of mobile web users. Though, that’s not to say an official Flickr app wouldn’t be welcomed, right?

Just in time for last minute Christmas shopping, Amazon.com has released their mobile app for the iPhone and iPod touch. It offers searching, Wish List and account access, and purchasing directly from the app. If you’re already an impulsive internet shopper, then this may just be your worst nightmare. If you dread the mall and don’t have time to spend hours finding the right gift at your computer, than it could be your new best friend.

Amazon isn’t just porting their website’s functionality to the iPhone platform, either, although all of the central features of the site are there. They’ve wisely taken advantage of the iPhone’s specific abilities to add a new feature called “Amazon Remembers,” which is similar to the standalone SnapTell Explorer app. It’s kind of like Shazam but with pictures instead of sound.You take a picture with your iPhone’s camera, and the images are instantly uploaded to Amazon.com’s servers. Amazon tries to match products in its database to the ones taken by your camera, and then returns the results to the user to either purchase or save for later.

iPod Touch users can join in the fun, too, since Amazon Remembers also allows you to use images stored in your device’s photo album. Testing out the feature produced good results. A photo of the Iron Man DVD saved from Google Images returned the Two-Disc Special Collectors’ Edition, as did a photo of the actual DVD from my collection. Oddly, results seemed to only be returned if I exited and reentered the app.

It’s a good beginning, and the Amazon Remembers feature is surprisingly accurate for an experimental first release. A colleague pointed out that the app lacks support for special deals, like Gold Box, Deal of the Day, and Lightnight Deals. Maybe those will come in future updates, or maybe Amazon doesn’t want me to spend as much money as I possibly can at their site. Ball’s in your court, Amazon.

Amazon Mobile is a free download from the App Store.