There's little to add to my glowing review of the Livescribe Pulse smartpen I wrote for TUAW last year. This is one of those gadgets that you show people and it looks like magic. It kinda is magic, I think. But this year's model introduces an app store for the pen (plus some nifty paper products), making it a desirable platform for anyone who takes their notes seriously.

Read my review for the hardware scoop; the newer models now have an improved cradle. You can now charge and keep your computer asleep, for example. The desktop software, which allows you to sort and annotate your notes (plus many other tricks covered in that earlier review for the Mac version of the software) is similarly the same but slightly upgraded. What matters is what's in the pen, since that's what you'll be using every day.

The pen runs Java applications specifically made *for* the Pulse smartpen. Now, earlier there had been some tech demos for 3D audio (the pen records in 3D, and it is very cool) and what amounted to built-in utility apps. Stuff like calculators and a simple piano that you draw and tap to play. Like Apple launching the iPhone with a limited set of pre-built applications, the Pulse had only a few "apps" but that was fine. The app store for the pen opens the doors to a huge variety of other applications, much like Apple's store does for its mobile platform.

The Livescribe Store also looks and feels nearly identical to Apple's -- at first. There's more than just apps here; there are paper products (you use special paper with the pen) and pens themselves. When you go to check out, you notice the lack of polish. Every purchase, even the free stuff, requires about three times as many clicks at it takes to buy something on the iTunes App Store. I'm not sure why people don't understand this seemingly obvious notion that consumers want to consume quickly. Especially for a pen, you know? But the entire store is a website, really, so perhaps app purchasing can be streamlined later. For now, it is catering to the physical side of the store by requiring shipping info with your orders.

On 12/28 I am eligible to switch phones and am rationalizing an iPhone purchase, which is all the more difficult as I just read David Ramsey's Total Money Makeover. The book advocates saving money and paring down expenses, so the $30 monthly data plan would definitely be in the con column. However, after reading 33 things you don't need if you buy an iPhone, I'm thinking I'll definitely come out ahead in the long run. Below are some of my favorite excuses reasons to purchase.

GPS- rather than purchasing a stand alone unit, like Tom Tom, there's several apps in the App Store that will help with turn by turn navigation.

Camera - since my husband borrowed and never returned my Canon PowerShot, I definitely "need" a good camera. And while the iPhone's camera is not like my SD850IS, it's a decent enough point and shoot. Plus, I'll be "saving" money and don't even get me started on the convenience of not having to carry multiple devices.

They've been awfully quiet the last couple of years, except for the recent PS3 price reduction and slow drip-feed of good games. But it seems, after the appointment of a new CEO back in 2006, the results of some internal reshuffling might finally be coming to fruition!

There's no name for the new software reported on by BusinessWeek. There's also very few details of the functionality Sony's iTunes-killer will actually utilize to draw people away from Apple's soft, white allure and into their black, serious grasp.

BusinessWeek suggests that the software will try to differentiate itself from iTunes by including Picasa- and YouTube-like functionality, allowing users to upload videos and photos from their (Sony?) cameras. Other than that... who knows what Sony has up their sleeves?

Sony are huge however -- multi-national robber-baron 'XBox' huge -- with an additional vast library of music and movies. They also have a large installed base of PlayStation owners (that's fast increasing!) It wouldn't be a surprise to see some kind of 'PlayStation App Store' included in Sony's new software.

We shall see!

[via BusinessWeek]

Nikon, never satisfied with merely standing still, have brought out a lovely new iPhone app that acts as an always-there photography guide. If you're an amateur, semi-pro, or even a professional wondering how certain effects or styles are pulled off -- this app would make a great addition to your iPhone's arsenal.

This new app, Learn And Explore, allows you to hunt for professional examples to show you what's possible in a given situation. There are guides that will show you how to take photos in tricky conditions -- indors, outdoors, low-light, long-exposure -- it's al lhere.

They're promising continuos updates and access to their Nikon World magazine through the app.

No reason this would only be of use to a Nikon user either -- though if there's any kind of Nikon branding on the software, I'm not sure a Canon user would be seen dead with it...

[via CNET]

In rather exciting (though perhaps predictable) news, Google has announced that there will be an official Wave App Store!

There are still very few people using Wave, but hopefully you've all watched the Wave technology demo and been suitably impressed, or even dribbled a little if you're like me.

I'm sure as the codebase solidifies and bugs are ironed out, we'll begin to see a lot more invites, and eventually a public beta. With the Google Wave App store announced, I would expect to see some more developers jump on the bandwagon too -- perhaps jumping ship (or at least splitting their attention) from the iPhone App Store.

It would seem that the industry -- the service, web application and game sectors -- are starting to realise the power of user-generated and small-developer-generated content. Gone are the days of Windows or Space Invaders being developed in someone's garage or basement. But in its place, we have more easily-extensible and open frameworks than ever before. We can expect to see very exciting things from Wave and its App Store.

[via theNextWeb]

Sometimes I'd like to see what new apps are available for my iPod Touch on the App Store on a system that doesn't have iTunes installed. In their infinite wisdom, however, Apple has decided that this just isn't the way things work on the desktop. You'll use iTunes and you'll damn well like it, buddy.

Palm Pre owners (and curious types) can now enjoy a bit more open experience. As it turns out, Palm thinks it's a great idea for people to be able to see what apps are out there. Not on some new-Pre-app blog. Not in some bloated desktop app. Right on Palm's web site.

What an amazingly simple idea! Now, prospective (and current) Pre and Pixi owners can take a look at all the cool apps they can install on their devices. It's not perfect by any means - I'd love to see a bit more detail about the apps and some more screenshots - but at least it's there for all to see.

Apple, you're paying attention, right? Enough with the "iTunes link" stuff. It's annoying. And not everyone wants to install 100+Mb of software just so they can browse your virtual shelves. Palm beat you to the punch, but you can still prove you're the king of the app store and get something similar online for us.

After that earnings report, you should be able to pay one or two extra web devs to get to work immediately. We'll expect results soon.

In the meantime, well done, Palm!

[via PhoneScoop]

One of the biggest complaints about Apple's iPhone App Store has been the lack of any way to try an app before you buy it. Apple has addressed that issue by allowing free-to-paid app upgrades. This means apps that used to have two separate versions, free and paid, will now be able to merge into a single download, with the ability to buy an upgrade from within the app.

Apple has been pretty strict about rejecting demo versions of apps although "lite" apps have been allowed. Basically, developers weren't allowed to give away a feature-crippled free version of an app for the purpose of upselling customers to a feature-complete paid version. That rule made Apple look harsh compared to competitors like Android, which offers a trial period after which users can get a refund on an app they don't like. If Apple isn't going to do something like that, allowing demo capabilities is the next best thing.

[via TUAW]

Here in the UK, there's phonecalls that are deemed 'national rate' - they're calls to a non-geographic number, and the cost of the call is a little more than you'd pay for a general phone call (as the name implies). The company which uses the 0870 number makes a small amount of money on every minute that you're connected to the number, and when you use an 0870 number on a mobile phone, the network providers add their own fees on the top of the number - making a £0.10 per-minute call into (for example) £0.35 per-minute. In short, it's a great big money-spinner for the service providers.

Since February this year, Android users have been able to use 0870, a free app that translates non-geographic numbers into their geographic alternative - allowing users to burn through their inclusive minutes instead of paying through the nose for 0870 calls. The application lets you enter the relevant 'national rate' number, uses the No To 0870 website to find a suitable alternative, and lets you call it.

Developer Simon Maddox has long hoped to build an iPhone version - and after over 400 days of back and forth (with Apple stating that iPhone carrier O2 had blocked the application) the app is now available for iPhone users too!

Both apps are free - the iPhone version is available here on the App Store, whilst Android users can simply search for '0870' in the Marketplace.

[Via The Daily Telegraph]

I know there are a lot of third-party apps and services built on Twitter, but I had no idea how many until I heard about Oneforty. Oneforty is a Twitter app store that currently lists a staggering 1,300+ apps. These include everything from Twitter clients to third-party services that add additional features to Twitter using the API. Oneforty is in private beta right now, but you can request an invitation to get a look at the goods.

You currently can't buy apps from Oneforty itself, but you can click through to the iTunes App Store or the site of each individual application. Apparently, plans are in the works to sell the apps directly from the Oneforty website. The site is sorted by category and ranked by popularity, making it easier to find the apps you're looking for. I'm not sure developers are going to be wild about Oneforty: considering the business challenges iPhone developers face because there's a central clearinghouse for all apps, I'm sure they're hoping Oneforty attracts some competitors.

[via TechCrunch]

Stealing a jump on Microsoft's own 'Windows Marketplace for Mobile', Samsung have opened the doors to their application store for i900 Omnia owners (provided you live in the UK, France or Italy). We first heard about plans for the Samsung App store a few weeks ago.

Containing around 300 applications that can be purchased by credit / debit card, the application store is installed by downloading a CAB file from the Samsung site. Operator billing is planned for a future update to the store, as is support for newer Samsung WinMo handsets such as the lustworthy Omnia II i8000, the even more lustworthy OmniaPro N7610 and the not so lustworthy OmniaLite B7300.

Applications can be searched and filtered in a user interface that is intuitive and very familiar to anyone who has used a rival application store. One feature we are very pleased to see is the ability to try applications before you buy.

Developers who would like to list their applications in the Samsung store should visit the 'Samsung ​s​e​l​l​e​r​ ​s​i​t​e'​ launched earlier this year.

[via EngadgetMobile]

If you're curious about iPhone apps, but you either hate iTunes or just hate the hassle of downloading and installing it, you're in luck. uQuery is an app store search engine with no iTunes required. Even if you do have Apple's proprietary music software installed, sometimes its built-in app store search can be frustrating to use. uQuery gives you more control over your search results.

Granted, not too many iPhone owners are going to be without iTunes (although maybe you don't have it on every computer you own), so the better search results are uQuery's biggest draw. You can quickly filter apps by price, category, and when they were added to the store. Unfortunately, you still iTunes to buy the apps, but at least uQuery helps you find them.

[via AppScout]

Manomio has certainly been patient in waiting for their fully licensed, retro-awesome Commodore 64 app to be allowed beyond the velvet rope guarding the entrance App Store.

One of the hold ups that led to their initial rejection back in June was the presence of a BASIC interpreter. Rather than strip the code entirely, Manomio tucked it behind a Konami code of sorts. Once users began reporting their luck in re-enabling the interpreter, Apple unceremoniously booted the emulator out the back door.

According to Manomio, the code has now been totally removed and the application re-re-submitted to Apple for re-re-approval.

It seems like an odd point of contention. As PC Mag's Jamie Lendino puts it, "anyone who would try and crash the iPhone via programming the C-64 emulator in BASIC deserves a gold star more than anything else, but that's my opinion."

You know what the world needs? The world needs an iPhone app that rates its users' abilities in bed. Well, okay -- you're right. The world probably definitely does not need that. But needed or not, Passion (iTunes link) is an iPhone app that is foisting itself upon the world.

The idea behind Passion is that you run the program before getting intimate with someone, and you either somehow wear the phone or at least keep it on the bed with you as you, well, you know. The phone will then sense movement, listen to the volume of the, erm, proceedings, and apparently use "many other" of the iPhone's "unique features" to generate a rating, sorry, an "accurate score" for your performance, which you can then compare against the other people using the app.

Okay, there are more than a couple things wrong with this concept. First of all, chances are if you're someone who is willing to wear your iPhone during sex, rating your performance is the least of your worries in that department. The idea that the rankings Passion generates will be of any use whatsoever is laughable; 90% of the "performances" or whatever the app chooses to call them will most likely be made by immature giggling teenagers violently shaking their phones while screaming at the tops of their lungs.

The funniest thing about Passion is the price. At $5US, this ridiculous and silly application is actually likely to make Chris Alvares, its creator, some real coin. Chris has created a silly toy that will appeal to a certain population with laser-like accuracy.

For a while now the top contender in iPhone finance apps was Bloomberg Mobile. Enter DailyFinance's iPhone app [iTunes link], featuring real-time quotes, portfolios and watchlists and some rather impressive charting tools. Mike Rose has a nice write-up over on TUAW, and the DailyFinance site has a good summary of features and a demo video. It's a free download, so try it and let us know what you think in the comments.

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