iPhone Atlas

Apple has provided plenty of ways for users to discover new applications for the iPhone and iPod Touch, but on the sharing side the company has come up a bit short. Third-party blogs and social networks have done well to seize this opportunity, creating tools that help filter and sort apps old and new in ways Apple itself has not implemented.

One of those tools is Chorus, which is going live on the App Store early Tuesday. It's basically its own App Store meets social network, where users can share apps they've purchased with others, keep track of what their friends are buying, and discover new apps to buy either through the people they've befriended or from Chorus' hand-picked editors.

Chorus does one big thing the App Store doesn't, which is to allow each user to share their purchase history. Unlike the faceless reviews you see overflowing Apple's marketplace, reviews within Chorus' network are all attached to users you can befriend and follow to see what they've recently rated, reviewed, installed, or uninstalled.

As a new user, you can very quickly populate the service with all this information using a tool the company calls the Gobbler, an Adobe AIR-based application that scans your iTunes library and finds app purchases. You can then go through to check which apps you want to make public with your friends and the service's recommendation engine (note: by default, the Gobbler and Chorus apps are both smart enough to know that you probably don't want to share something that's rated 17 or over).

Chorus' content Gobbler scans your iTunes purchases so you can add them in bulk.

(Credit: CNET)

Once you've shared your application history with Chorus, it helps fuel what the service recommends to you--just like Apple does with its own Genius service. This is where the app goes one step further though; it lets you see which of those apps your friends have used, if they've rated it, and whether they ended up removing it from their device. It also weights its recommendations higher if your friends have it installed.

To befriend other users you can cull your Facebook or Twitter contact list to find those who may already be using the service, or search by whatever username they've using on Chorus. The app also comes installed with a handful of subscriptions to the service's "AppMavens" who are bloggers that seed the network with their picks and reviews. Frankly, I found these the AppMaven's reviews less useful than the App Store's user review section, which--major faults aside, can shed light on things a single review can't, like how well it works on various devices, if there are any bugs, and what version the app was reviewed on.

Chorus recommends apps your friends have used and downloaded, as well as showing you how they reviewed them.

(Credit: CNET)

The saving grace with the Chorus reviews system is that like other third-party app directories, all purchases still go through in the App Store app itself, which means you can still scope out those user reviews before making a purchase. On the downside, when it comes time to buy, you get kicked out of the Chorus app and sent into the App Store. This can be jarring but is made slightly less irritating by the fact that the app is smart enough to remember what you were doing the last time you were using it and bringing you back upon a relaunch.

All in all Chorus is a useful tool for discovering apps that should become increasingly useful if more people seed it with recommendations. Though there are a few things I'd like to see in future versions, the first of which is a way to manage purchases and do app discovery from the Web and not just on the device--something the company says will be coming at a later date. Another is a way to queue up apps you want to purchase, then e-mail yourself that list in the form of iTunes links. This would let you continue to use the tool without interruption, and facilitate batch purchasing.

I'd also like to see recommendations of people to follow based on my download and/or usage history since that would help me whittle down who I'd actually spend time paying attention to. This, or some sort of visual relevancy indicator about how much of a match any given app is to my buying habits would go a long way towards making me, and likely others feel better about clicking through to see more about that app.

See also: App Gems, App Connect and AppVee (all of which open up in iTunes), as well as site AppShopper.com.

Query: Who makes the Apple-branded chip in the iPhone? Answer: Samsung. This nontrivial detail translated into smartphone chip market share gains for Samsung in the second quarter, according to iSuppli.

Apple iPhone market share gains drove Samsung chip rise.

(Credit: Apple)

The iPhone, largely due to the popularity of the 3GS model, accounted for 13.9 percent of global smartphone shipments in the second quarter, up from 10.1 percent in the first quarter, according to iSuppli. As a result, Samsung accounted for 15.9 percent of global revenue from sales of standalone applications processors. An applications processor is roughly analogous to the main Intel or Advanced Micro Devices processor in a PC: it is basically the brains of a smartphone.

Samsung's market share was up nearly 1 percent from the first quarter, iSuppli said, though it still trailed No. 1 supplier Texas Instruments. iSuppli defines a "standalone" applications processor as digital signal- or logic-based processors not integrated with the digital baseband function.

"Since the introduction of the first (iPhone) in January 2007, Samsung has occupied the key applications processor slot in Apple's iPhone line," Francis Sideco, principal analyst of wireless communications for iSuppli, said in a statement. "With the new 3GS model allowing the iPhone to gain share in the smartphone market, Samsung also is claiming a larger portion of standalone applications processor shipments."

As with previous iPhone models, the 3GS--introduced in June--integrates a Samsung processor based on the ARM architecture. The processor accounted for $14.46, or 8.4 percent, of the materials cost of the iPhone 3GS based on pricing in late June, iSuppli said.

"The partnership between Apple and Samsung on the applications processor in the iPhone has been a major coup for Samsung, establishing it as a player in the market and allowing it to challenge the incumbent leader, Texas Instruments," Sideco said.

The big question, however, is how long a good thing will last for Samsung. Sideco added that "there is a lot of speculation as to whether Apple's acquisition of PA Semi will change the parameters of this partnership." Apple announced its purchase of PA Semi in March 2008.

One of the most rapidly circulating rumors has Apple using a PA Semi design in the upcoming Apple tablet. The latest word is that the screen size is about 10 inches diagonally, meaning that a tablet will require more processor and graphics horsepower than a smaller device like the iPhone.

Although Texas Instruments lost some share to Samsung in the second quarter, the U.S. chip giant retained its dominant position in the market, with a share of 24.4 percent. "Texas Instruments continues to lead the market on the strength of its Open Multimedia Application Platform (OMAP) line of applications processors," Sideco said.

Navigon shows an image to help you pick the right freeway, which is helpful but can be annoying, as the image takes up the whole screen for a few seconds.

(Credit: Dong Ngo/CNET)

I'm a big fan of GPS navigation devices. Actually, I depend on them. It's therefore natural that on my iPhone 3GS you'll find both the newest turn-by-turn GPS navigation applications, the $70 Navigon and the $80 iGo My Way. Both have just recently been released to the App Store. (In my car I also have the Tom Tom One XL.)

After about a week of using the iPhone apps in the San Francisco Bay Area, as well as in a few other states, here are my impressions.

First of all, both Navigon and the iGo can turn your iPhone (3G or 3GS) into a decently dependable GPS navigator. They both take about 15 seconds to load on my iPhone 3GS and about the same time to lock in with a GPS signal when outdoors. This is much faster than the Tom Tom, which can take up to a minute or two. Overall, the iGo My Way seems to pick up the signal faster than the Navigon, but it also loses the signal more easily, especially when in a big city with lots of high-rise buildings.

My biggest disappointment with both is that they don't offer real-time traffic updates, which you can get anywhere in the States with Google Maps.

Both apps offer beautifully rendered 3G maps that can be viewed vertically or horizontally, and a very convenient way to enter a new address or find a point of interest (POI). They come with good databases of POIs, too. I was in a few rather remote areas and was able to find what I needed. However, the database is not very updated--twice, both apps took me to restaurants and bars in La Cross, Wis., that were no longer there. Unfortunately, you can't tab on the listed POI to call its phone number, which defeats the main purpose of the iPhone, which is, after all, a phone.

Even though Apple prevented it from listing Google Voice on the iPhone App Store, Google is planning on retooling the application as a Web-based app, according to The New York Times.

In David Pogue's Friday column regarding the ongoing saga of Apple and Google Voice, he reveals that Google has already found a loophole:

Already, Google says it is readying a replacement for the Google Voice app that will offer exactly the same features as the rejected app--except that it will take the form of a specialized, iPhone-shaped Web page. For all intents and purposes, it will behave exactly the same as the app would have; you can even install it as an icon on your Home screen.

Google Voice is a free application that lets users assign a single number to ring their home, work, and cell phones, and also get voice mail as text transcriptions. There's speculation that AT&T is behind the decision to block the application since Google Voice allows cheap international calls and free text messages.

It's not clear if simply making Google Voice available as a Web app will change Apple's mind, but there is precedent. Apple also rejected Google's Latitude for the iPhone until it was remade as Web app.

A Google spokesperson did not say how close to completion the project might be, but reiterated a previous statement. "We will continue to work to bring our services to iPhone users, for example by taking advantage of advances in mobile browsers."

This story was updated at 3:58 p.m. PDT with comment from Google.

Here's an interesting solution for anyone who has a killer idea for an iPhone app but doesn't know the first thing about software development: Moobila turns your idea into an app and markets it on the App Store.

Actually, the company specializes in turning existing corporate software into iPhone apps, thereby eliminating the need to train or hire programmers.

But Moobila also provides an opportunity for budding entrepreneurs to see their ideas turned into potentially money-making software. You pay for the development; you keep whatever revenue it generates.

Want to see a few proofs of concept? Moobila has already developed three iPhone apps, including tape-measure replacement iFlipMeasure and iPicolo, which lets you upload a photo to multiple social-networking sites at once.

You'll have to contact Moobila for a quote, of course, as no two apps are alike when it comes to development. But hourly rates start at around $15-20, according to a company rep.

Stanford University on Monday said its free iPhone Application Programming course has been downloaded more than 1 million times since being uploaded to Apple's iTunes U--a learning-focused area of iTunes--seven weeks ago.

The course is a series of classroom videos taken from the live lectures at Stanford. Apple engineers teach the course to students in an auditorium at Stanford's Quad--the videos are uploaded to iTunes U two days after every class, giving the public free access to the material. The university even makes copies of the slides shown during the class available to the public.

Jason Ediger, Apple's director of iTunes U and Mobile Learning, said this is the fastest any course hit the million download mark on iTunes U. Certainly a testament to the amount of interest from would-be iPhone developers.

Apple currently has over 40,000 apps available for download from the App Store, according to numbers from 148 Apps, an enthusiast Web site that monitors the number of apps on the store.

iPhone Application Programming is a 10-week course and can be downloaded free from iTunes U. Only students enrolled in the classroom course will receive credit, according to the university.

HP MediaSmart Server

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

Back in November of 2007, we took a close look at the HP MediaSmart Server ex475, a glorified network-attached storage drive that gathers, organizes, and streams your media content over a network.

The Server also gives users open access to their content from any Windows-based, connected computer in the world. About a year after its initial release, the new ex487 model arrived in early 2009 with significant tweaks to the user interface and a beefier set of internal components. Now, HP updates us once again with the release of a software update that adds streaming content to mobile devices like the iPhoneand Sony PSP.

The updated software runs off the popular Microsoft Windows Home Server platform and flaunts a new feature that converts videos into two resolutions: the standard, high-resolution file and a new mobile resolution format (MPEG-4 H.264) version that can be played on a variety of mobile devices like the iPhone, iPod Touch, and PSP.

HP is also encouraging all iPhone users to download the new HP iStream application, free of charge, that permits mobile access to all digital media stored on a personal MediaSmart Server. Additional software upgrades include a more streamlined Apple Time Machine configuration, a more robust HP Media Collector, and the ability to create public and private albums from within the Photo Viewer.

The free software update will automatically download to all HP MediaSmart EX485/487 Servers later this month. For more hardware insights, check out our review of the HP MediaSmart Server ex475.

Correction 5:15 p.m. PDT: This story initially misstated the author of the letter where quoted. It is the Free Press.

An advocacy group on Friday called on the Federal Communications Commission to require wireless carriers to allow consumers access to Skype via smartphones, as well as the ability to connect their devices to the Internet through tethering applications on their cell phones.

(Credit: Apple)

The Free Press, in a letter to acting FCC Chairman Michael Copps, expressed concern that wireless carriers were not abiding by the FCC's Internet Policy Statement.

Earlier this week, eBay's Skype made a VoIP application available for download from Apple's App Store.

But AT&T, Apple's exclusive iPhone dealer in the U.S., apparently wants to block the use of Skype on its 3G network, according to a report in USA Today.

In the USA Today report, Jim Cicconi, an AT&T public policy executive, said the telecommunications carrier had the right to forgo the facilitation of its competitors' services. He added Skype is considered a competitor.

The report further notes an Apple spokeswoman, Jennifer Bowcock, indicated the device maker limits third-party Internet phone applications for the iPhone and iPod to Wi-Fi.

In its letter to the FCC, Free Press says:

For two years, we have followed your leadership in raising concerns that wireless service providers appear to be engaging in activities that go against the Commission's Internet Policy Statement by violating consumers' right to run applications, use services, or attach devices of their choice over their broadband connections.

Recent reports about application blocking again raise these questions. Regardless of whether any particular incident would be found in violation of the law, the lingering uncertainty surrounding consumer rights on the Internet indicates the need for the Commission to clarify its rules. To resolve any alleged ambiguity raised by parties in earlier proceedings, the Commission should confirm that the Internet Policy Statement applies to wireless service providers that offer broadband Internet access service, as has been acknowledged in prior proceedings and statements of sitting Commissioners. Furthermore, the Commission should request more information on the extent of the wireless providers' role in and their justifications for these widely-reported behaviors.

Free Press further notes the FCC should investigate the practices of wireless carriers for possible violations of the Internet Policy Statement, as it particularly relates to possible direct or indirect limits on consumers' ability to run applications and services of their choosing on their devices.

Careful, Yahoo Mobile for Web can grow longer than your arm.

(Credit: Yahoo)

Yahoo let loose at CTIA 2009 with a redesigned Yahoo Mobile experience for the Web and iPhone--available beginning Wednesday--and a sneak peek at a version for Java smartphones.

Yahoo has combined all the organizational elements it has been working on separately during the past year and a half or so to bring OneSearch, OnePlace, and OneConnect together in a single application. It's a throwback to Yahoo's beginnings as an Internet portal, but with a twist--and it works, though not without drawbacks.

Most intriguing is Yahoo's completely divergent similar experiences for the Web and iPhone versus the build for Java smartphones. The former invoke a classic Yahoo design, and the latter splinters off into widget land with a brand-new dashboard. Read below for the full details, or check out photos in our gallery: Yahoo Mobile steps into the light.

Yahoo Mobile's Web makeover
Yahoo's completely redesigned mobile hub on the Web is a tall, scrollable mashup of search, news, e-mail, social networking, finance, weather, sports scores, and any other RSS feed you'd want to add. At the very top is Yahoo OneSearch, which keys in your location using GPS or cell tower triangulation to make your text searches start faster. Below the search bar is a condensed feature section (Today on Yahoo) that emphasizes images.

Below that is an option to expand all Yahoo services, which gives you a portal-style list of everything from the Yahoo calendar to Flickr to movie showtimes. Back in the main screen, Yahoo OneConnect lets you add Yahoo, Gmail, Hotmail, and AOL e-mail in-boxes, Facebook and Twitter feeds, instant-messaging applications, and Yahoo's calendar and address book.

Further south, the area for Yahoo OnePlace will let you monitor RSS feeds for weather, finance, stocks, bookmarks, sports scores, and any other RSS link you'd like to add.

Now here's the bad part: Yahoo Mobile is infinitely customizable, which means that it's infinitely scrollable--the more services you add, the taller the app. While this is less of a problem on the iPhone, whose finger-flicking navigation rapidly scrolls up and down, it will take more time (and patience) on other devices. Although you can easily edit each section, the link to manage accounts from within each silo can easily get lost.

The ability to flip between screens for these various functions makes the iPhone app smoother and less cluttered, though the individual pages can still get long if you add numerous RSS feeds.

Trying to be too many things to too many people has been Yahoo's Achilles' heel for a long time, beginning with the Yahoo Go application that, though excellent and thorough, took too many brain cells for unfettered use.

The theme continued with Yahoo's series of separate apps for different mobile platforms that felt more like experiments than a mobile solution--Yahoo OneSearch with voice, OnePlace, and OneConnect. The retooled Yahoo Mobile unifies them all in a good-looking, intuitive structure whose whole is worth far more than the sum of its parts, even if it has the potential for creating a foot-long application.

Yahoo Mobile for Java phones
Yahoo's new native application for Java phones may be the same genus as the Web portal, but it's a completely different beast. Yahoo Mobile for smartphones has a few more enhancements, including voice search (powered by Vlingo) and an underlying Opera Mini browser. (See an image in our gallery.)

The app will take on a dashboard feel, with the search bar on top and widgets tiled below. The widgets will include services like Facebook and a socially intelligent address book that integrates e-mail history, SMS, IM, and calling.

There will also be a mapping app, and plenty of ways to personalize by adding your own widgets. It certainly looked easy to use when we played with in during our demo, but the one question in our minds is whether people will want a second dashboard on their phones to access their contacts, calendars, social networks, e-mail, and so on.

Answers to these questions will become clearer when Yahoo Mobile for Smartphones becomes available sometime in May.

Yahoo Mobile steps into the light--photos