(Credit:
Crave UK)
A Digg application for the iPhone is in the works, two years after Apple announced its own version. Kevin Rose, co-founder of the popular social-bookmarking and Web aggregation site, was spotted playing with the app in London.
Rose was attending the Future of Web Apps conference, where he hung out with our own Nate Lanxon and Natali Del Conte. Arnt Eriksen and Thomas Moen of Norwegian videocast Sofaprat clocked Rose playing with a trial version of the app on his iPhone.
Rose was unforthcoming about the functionality of the app, chuckling, "You're not even supposed to know about that." A quick way of submitting links to Digg would be useful, but we wonder how you'd move from the Safari browser to the Digg app, as Apple locks out apps from running in the background. It seems likely the app will have a built-in mini-browser, allowing you to view submitted content, then vote stories up or down, known as digging or burying.
A Digg iPhone app was announced in Apple's app news in 2007. This mobile version of the site includes iPhone scrolling, mini-permalink pages with the top five comments, and digging ability. Rose claimed then that the mobile site was coded in 48 hours, so who knows what kind of features they could have come up with in two years?
(Source: Crave UK)
MLB is now streaming all games via At Bat app to MLB.tv subscribers.
(Credit: MLBAM)Major League Baseball took another step in proving its technical superiority over the other three major sports leagues Wednesday, by connecting its wired MLB.tv subscription package with its At Bat iPhone application.
Beginning Wednesday, MLB will stream every single regular and postseason baseball game to fans via the $9.99 iPhone and iPod Touch application it initially released last year. Customers who already subscribe to MLB.tv and MLB.tv Premium packages--its online baseball viewing service--can now watch any game live from their phone or computer. The games will be streamed over the iPhone or iPod's Wi-Fi connection or 3G network. Games can be paused and rewound while playing.
Just after the iPhone OS 3.0 update was released in June, MLB added the feature that any purchasers of the At Bat app would get one free streamed game per week chosen by MLB, no MLB.tv subscription required. It took a little over a month to add the MLB.tv package, which streams 15 live games at a time.
The same rules of MLB.tv still apply however: if a game is blacked out in a local broadcast area, it won't be available to be streamed live, though the game will appear in the video archives at the conclusion of the game.
The most curious part of all this, however, has nothing to do with MLB, but AT&T. MLB is streaming 15 three-hour baseball games live every single day of the week, which is great for fans of the game, and AT&T is apparently cheering for it, too. So why is the carrier OK with this, but has restricted Sling's SlingPlayer Mobile application to Wi-Fi only?
SlingPlayer was not approved for the App Store with 3G streaming capability because streaming live broadcast TV over its 3G wireless network "violated the company's terms of use." MLB At Bat is now doing the same thing, but with AT&T's approval.
Starting next week, Universal will release an app for the iPhone and iPod Touch that controls content on Blu-ray Discs.
It's a first for the industry, but it falls in line with the Blu-ray format's efforts to expand beyond the disc and into other personal electronics devices. The app will launch to coincide with Universal's release of "Fast & Furious" on Blu-ray July 28.
Depending on the title it's associated with, the free application will allow bonus features from the disc to be downloaded to an iPhone or iPod Touch, and will let either device act as a remote control for some Blu-ray features. While watching the film, the app will also feed related info about the cast or the film itself.
For "Fast & Furious," the application will have access to the "Virtual Car Garage" bonus feature. While viewing bonus features, app owners can use their iPhone or iPod Touch screen to control 360-degree views of the cars from the film.
It's notable that this offering is coming from Universal, known for being the last major film studio to leave HD DVD for Blu-ray, thus effectively killing Blu-ray's rival disc format in early 2008.
This post was updated on 7-21-09 to reflect the app's price and correct usage. It previously misstated when the application could be used.
If your favorite politicians are tech-savvy enough to tweet, you can follow them in PoliticoTracker Twitter Edition.
Remember ExecTweets, the app that aggregates the tweets of over 100 top executives? PoliticoTracker Twitter Edition does the same thing for elected officials.
Specifically, the app lets you track the tweets of U.S. politicians (those that use Twitter, anyway). Sure, you could manually look up and follow your local representatives, but this makes it significantly easier.
What's more, PoliticoTracker Twitter Edition (PTTE) lets you create a favorites list for easy access to the officials you care about most.
In short, it's a pretty nifty app for politics junkies (you know who you are). And it's a great way to keep tabs on what senators, governors, and all the rest of those crazies--er, honest, hardworking officials--are up to.
PTTE costs 99 cents. If you're really serious about politics, check out the main version of PoliticoTracker ($9.99), which gathers real-time news about specific politicians, not just tweets.
And while we're on the subject, don't miss Visible Vote Mobile, a freebie app that shows you the voting records of your state senators and congressional reps.
App power to the people!
FretSurfer helps novice guitarists hone their note recognition skills. It's perfect for hacks like me, but it didn't make the cut for our top five list of iPhone guitar tools.
Guitarists are typically a pretty hesitant bunch when it comes to adopting new tech. In fact, most guitarists I know spend their time lusting after vintage guitars and vacuum tube amps--casting disdainful sneers at anything that looks as though it were invented after 1980.
That said, the majority of my musician friends are also iPhone owners. Their excuse for allowing a smartphone into their otherwise low-tech lifestyle is that they want to stay connected with their fans via e-mail, SMS, Twitter, or whatever app of the month might help them promote their music and their shows.
If you're a guitarist with an iPhone or iPod Touch, you may be interested to know that there's a handful of helpful apps out there made just for you. Useful tools such as chord finders, guitar tuners, multitrack recorders, and scale libraries, can all be had for just a few bucks.
To get a sense of some of the better iPhone apps on offer for guitar players, we've put together a roundup of five of our faves.
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