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Google Voice comes to iPhone and webOS, as a web app
FCC investigation be damned, Google has finally managed to bypass the App Store and release Google Voice to the iPhone (and webOS, too) the same way it pulled off Latitude, i.e. via a HTML5-based web app. According to Senior Product Manager Vincent Paquet, it should work with any HTML5-compliant device, although the formatting at this point has been tailored to Apple and Palm's platforms. So here's how it works: much like with its mobile Gmail site, the app caches your contacts list in a browser page. All the usual GV functionality is there, writing SMS messages, checking your inbox, and even listening to voicemails (although that latter functionality wasn't working for us yet in our trials). Placing phone calls is an interesting trick: as pictured above, after you choose the recipient, the app prompts you to call one of Google's local numbers via the native dialer -- even for international calls, hence the lower rates by paying through Google. The recipient will see your proper GV digits, and upside with this method is you'll still be able to utilize call waiting and background usage. The catch, of course, is a call history littered with random numbers. It's not a perfect solution by any means -- if anything, take solace in an assortment of home screen icons for each section of the app -- but it's probably the best we're gonna get for the time being. The page should be up and running later today, so if you're anxious, direct your mobile browser to voice.google.com and just keep hitting refresh. %Gallery-83907%
Elegant simplicity: the power of SimpleNote for iPhone
The iPhone and iPod touch are, in many ways, the replacement for the little spiral-bound notepad that some of us used to carry around to capture reminders and ideas. The build-in Notes application works as a nice notepad, but it doesn't allow sorting of lists, and syncing to your Mac via MobileMe and Mail can be problematic. I've tried a handful of other notepad apps, but none of them have provided the simplicity of Notes with the power of cloud syncing. SimpleNote [US$1.99, iTunes Link] is an inexpensive app that is a worthy replacement for Notes. Launching the app, you're greeted with a very simple user interface into which you can type your notes. There's nothing new and different there, of course. Opening the options for the app indicates that you can set up a free account for the online web app and turn on web syncing. It's the ability to sync with the SimpleNote website that provides much of the power of the app. Through that site, you can either paste lists or notes from your Mac and have them appear on the iPhone moments later, or take the notes you've created while on the road and move them to your Mac.
Creators of Epic Advice working on Epic Plan encounter planner
Now this is interesting. Our old friend Jesta, who made the EpicAdvice.com site not so long ago, is working on a new project at EpicPlan.com, and while it's still hidden away in pre-alpha, you can see what they're up to in this thread on EA. It's a slideshow/diagramming web app, basically -- you can take maps of the game's instances, lay out icons and symbols on them as you wish, and then animate and caption boss fights and encounters. The end result is a very clear way to show off different raid strategies, and we're told the slideshows are embeddable on other sites as well (you may even see some here eventually on WoW.com). Unfortunately, they're only taking signups for the beta of the service right now, and while you can watch a show in action on the technology demo, you can't make your own quite yet. But it seems like a very impressive tool for raidleaders, both to share plans with the public and players seeking help, as well as your own raid members. It'll be great to be able to make a quick and easy visual display of where to stand and what to do during boss fights and instance encounters.
Google Wave dev preview hands-on and impressions
After an impressive debut at Google I/O, the company's newest experiment and collaborative chat client has been making its way into the hands of developers in the lead-up to a torrent of new testers on September 30th. We had a chance to stop by Google's San Francisco office last week for a guided tour of the latest build of Wave with creators Lars and Jens Rasmussen, and have since then spent the better part of our free time working through the ins and outs of the new communication platform. Does it live up to the hype, even in this bug-infested interim build? Read on to find out.
Walmart creates iPhone compatible site
Do you like shopping at Walmart? From electronics to $4 prescriptions, Walmart seems to have everything. But one thing it didn't have was an iPhone application, and now they do. If you visit the Walmart.com website on your iPhone, you will be presented with an iPhone-specific portal for all of your shopping needs. From the home page, you can browse through products by category, see current product specials, and even see a list of approved $4 prescriptions (in PDF form). If you tap the "Shopping List" tab, you can create your own shopping list. This is handy if you frequent the actual store. You can also search for a local store or search for an item. Unfortunately this is where the functionality of the site ends. If you wish to purchase a product you'll have to visit the regular website, which can be slow to load over a mobile connection. If you want to check out the web app for yourself, just head over to Walmart's website on your iPhone/iPod touch.[via @keviano on Twitter]
DoYouFeed.com turns RSS into an iPhone web app
Reader Stéphane M sent us news about a website he's put together called DoYouFeed that will apparently turn any RSS feed out there into an iPhone web app -- just punch your RSS/XML feed URL into the site itself, and you'll get a TinyURL back that you can bookmark in your iPhone to read the feed on demand. I'm not sure how scalable it is (there's probably a strain on both Stéphane's site and the RSS feeds themselves that could turn into trouble if too many people use it), but as a tool, it works just fine. There aren't ads on the first page you see of the feed, but there are some ads on the permalink pages of the reader, which again probably isn't too much trouble if you're just using the site for personal use, but on a larger level might ruffle some feathers.Still, until the site goes down (for whatever reason), it's a pretty handy feed-to-web-app converter, and it loads quickly and easily on the iPhone (which is what all good web apps should do). NetNewsWire is free in the App Store, but if you don't want to get bogged down with a bunch of feeds at one time, DoYouFeed.com might be what you're looking for.
Google Translate ported to iPhone
You know if the App Store has been out for a month and we're posting about a web app, it has to be a good one. Google announced late last week that they've brought the terrific Google Translate service over to the iPhone. Of course, whenever you travel internationally, roaming charges (sometimes huge ones) can come into play, but if you find yourself tooling around Spain and need more phrases than ¿Dónde está el baño? or Tú eres mi chica, Google's web app will do the trick fast and easy.And there's some nice coding in there, too -- the phrases translated get stored on the client side of the phone, so if you've already translated something, you don't have to reload the page to see it again. To use the service, just point your MobileSafari to translate.google.com. Folks in other countries probably still won't care too much what you have to say, but at least they'll know what you're saying.
First Look: Facebook
Facebook always seems to be on the forefront of iPhone development. They were one of the first social networking websites to have a good web application specifically designed for iPhone, and now they are one of the first big-name social networking sites to have a decent native application on the iPhone. The native application looks very similar to the web-based version, but with a few minor "upgrades." You get photo taking/uploading support, iPhone-esqe photo galleries, and Facebook chat. Facebook chat really works wonders, especially if you have been using the web-only client.The Facebook iPhone/iPod touch application is available right now for free from the AppStore. %Gallery-27338%
Google Talk for the iPhone
Google has just announced Google Talk for the iPhone (and iPod touch). You won't have to wait for the App Store to use it, since this is a web app designed for the iPhone's browser (remember when Apple wanted us to believe that web apps were just as good as fully native apps? My how times have changed).All you have to do is point your iPhone to www.google.com/talk and soon you'll be chatting away with your Gmail contacts. Since this is a web app, Google Talk for the iPhone only works when it is the active window in Mobile Safari. Close the web broswer, or switch to a different window and you'll show up as unavailable in Google Talk.[via Lifehacker]
Associated Press launches iPhone-optimized site
Earlier today, the Associated Press launched an iPhone-optimized news site that really is pleasant to use. To check it out on your iPhone simply visit http://apnews.com. Once there you'll find AP articles, of course, but also local events (in fact, you can enter several zip codes and follow events from several locations) and more from many different outlets.The preference pane looks like that of a native iPhone application (Save the orange sliders instead of blue) and the photos and videos render pretty quickly, even over EDGE. Plus, they've got a cute web clip icon. What more do you need?It's nice to see the AP catering to mobile users. We say, "Well done."[Via iPodNN]
MySpace web app on the iPhone
Jake Marsh sent along this neat screencast of an iPhone web app for MySpace that he's working on. Facebook basically seems to be the gold standard of social networking web apps these days, and this looks basically just like that one. It is cool that you can look up people right away, but the real improvements are on MySpace's Music pages -- not only can you subscribe directly from the profile, but he's also got it working to play all the music there (usually trapped in Flash, though there is a less easy way around it already). He also says that it might eventually be possible, for songs that are available for download, to get them with one click into the iPhone's iPod library.Yes, it looks just like Facebook (in fact, it looks like a rip of the mobile site), but why fix something that's not broken? Unfortunately, Marsh is just showing off -- he says that it's just for him right now and he's aiming for an open beta in August. He should probably aim for a little sooner than that: after June, we might all be saying "what web apps?"
Wakoopa for iPhone keeps tabs on web apps
Reader Robert sent me a note to tell us that his startup site, Wakoopa (which, I was sorry to note, has nothing to do with Mario's enemies) has created a section specifically for (and compatible with) the iPhone.Wakoopa is a social network of sorts that lets you discuss and recommend different software applications for various platforms. If you like using Firefox, for example, you can discuss that and track your use of it, and your software preferences get displayed for anyone to see. Just like Slife, I'm thrilled by the information available here, but not so sure I want to participate myself.But the iPhone site is pretty useful as a directory. From the browser, it's a little slow to navigate through, but the real genius of it appears on the iPhone itself at i.wakoopa.com. As Robert told me, it's basically like Apple's web app directory, but easy to browse where you actually need to find and access web apps for the iPhone.The implementation on the iPhone works well, and if nothing else, you can bookmark just one page and be able to access all the popular apps right from there. These web apps still aren't any substitute for a real SDK, but you need something to hold you over until February, right? I think the stuff at the top of Wakoopa's list is about as sweet as this solution is going to get.
