Applications

Animoto, the DIY-music-video-meets-slideshow tool, has released a new version of its iPhone app that brings it a little closer to its desktop counterpart.

Users of its paid premium service can now create and watch full-length videos right on their phone. Previously, users (both free and paid) were limited to 30-second clips consisting of just 16 shots. The new version allows you to create versions of as many as you want--or at least whatever photos can fit inside the length of the song you've chosen.

Anything you create on the iPhone can now be shared through Animoto.com and vice … Read more

SMS charges can quickly bankrupt a text-happy teen, which is why free-SMS apps are so popular. These programs effectively recreate the texting experience, but with one major shortcoming: they can't notify you of new messages unless they're running.

iPhone OS 3.0 changes all that, and mega-popular TextFree is one of the first free-SMS apps to support the operating system's new push-notification capabilities.

Specifically, TextFree Unlimited 3.0 pops up a new-message alert whether it's running or not, and whether your iPhone is on or off. In other words, it functions more like Apple's stock … Read more

Of all the great enhancements, fixes, and goodies in iPhone OS 3.0 (video overview here), I quickly realized there was one glaring omission. With the useful addition of a Voice Memos app, an old problem reared its ugly head. The update put the Voice Memos app icon on the home page, pushing whatever lone app icon that sat in the lower right of the homepage onto its own screen on the next page. This meant that in order to maximize my use of page space (I have a lot of apps!), I now had to rearrange my apps on … Read more

It's one thing to talk about the iPhone's improvements with the 3.0 software upgrade, and another to see how these puppies actually respond in real-life third-party applications.

The pressure is on, and not all of the applications that came across our paths made the cut. We bring you the best examples from the early crop in a slideshow that shows you how new features like in-app purchases, push notification, and spinning iTunes from within an app plays out.

As an iPod Touch owner, iPhone OS 3.0 enhancements such as MMS, and copy/paste aren't as relevant to me as the subtle improvements Apple has made to media playback and search.

New features such as music search (distinct from Spotlight), fine track scrubbing control, podcast e-mailing, and an expanded iTunes storefront, won't grab many headlines but they're certainly welcome additions to an already excellent product.

To make my point, I've put together a slideshow and video of some of the less-appreciated improvements iPhone OS 3.0 has given to media junkies like myself.

Sirius XM is at it again. The company that has faced numerous financial issues over the past few years has finally released its much-anticipated app for the iPhone and iPod Touch. There's just one problem: it leaves out much of the good stuff.

The new app allows users to access some of the service's sports, talk, comedy, and music channels. The available channels include, Oprah Radio, MLB Home Plate, NFL Radio, NHL Home Ice, Mad Dog Radio, The Foxxhole comedy channel, and NPR.

Users will also have access to a variety of Sirius XM music channels, including E Street Radio, The Grateful Dead Channel, Eminem's Shade 45, Radio Margaritaville, Siriusly Sinatra, and others. All told, users will be able to listen to 120 channels. Any music track can be purchased in iTunes while listening to it in the Sirius XM app.

But it's the omissions that will undoubtedly sway public opinion. According to Sirius XM, "some select programming, including MLB Play-by-Play, NFL Play-by-Play, Nascar Radio, and Howard Stern, will not be available on the iPhone and iPod Touch."

In its press release, Sirius XM didn't provide any reason why some of its most popular channels aren't included. But after some digging, I found that those omissions may be due to "mobile-performance rights."

"Sirius and XM offer all of the channels for which we have mobile-performance rights," the company wrote on its iPhone app's FAQ page. "For that reason, certain channels which may be available on your satellite radio or online radio service may not be available on a mobile device like the iPhone."

Sirius XM is giving users a free seven-day trial with the app. After that, it's charging a fee to access the content. I called a Sirius XM customer service representative to see how much it would cost to get that service. He told me that as a current Sirius XM subscriber, I would need to pay an additional $2.99 per month after the seven-day trial. Those who currently do not subscribe to the service will be forced to pay $12.95 per month for access.… Read more

Documents To Go is such an excellent business tool for viewing and editing documents on other mobile platforms, we were excited to see it emerge in the iTunes App Store earlier this week. We talked about the more basic version of Documents To Go for iPhone (and iPod Touch; $4.99) here, which lets you create and edit Microsoft Word apps, and additionally displays Excel, PowerPoint, PDFs, and iWork files.

Quite a few users, however, had trouble with the more advanced version, Documents To Go with Exchange Attachments. This version essentially adds an in-app Exchange in-box that asks you to … Read more

Shazam has fast become one of those must-have apps for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Not only can you use it for song identification, you can then recommend that song to a friend via e-mail, or watch a related music video on YouTube, or purchase the song via iTunes. You can also add a photo to the music tag for a visual reminder of where you first heard the song.

Well, along with the iPhone OS 3.0 firmware update, Shazam also released version 1.7, which has a number of added features. It now integrates with the GPS function … Read more

Updated 6/18/09 at 8:15am: Push notification is now live.

The Associated Press was one company whose iPhone app was ready for Apple's software update to version 3.0 on Wednesday. AP Mobile 3.0 will now take advantage of the iPhone's new ability to push breaking news stories when the app is closed. When you boot it up for the first time, AP Mobile 3.0 asks if you'd like to activate push notification and then presents a list of feeds representing stories you'd like to be pinged about. International and domestic news, … Read more