CBS Offers Stats, Live March Madness Coverage Through iPhone Apps
March Madness - the name given to the NCAA Basketball Tournament - is not far away. The first opening round games begin on March 18th. CNET reports that CBS is offering a couple iPhone/iPod Touch apps so people can stay updated with scores and even watch the games live.
Mario Armstrong provides details about some of the top Super Bowl smartphone apps in the CNN video below. He says the free A+ Superbowl Commercials app will show you all the Super Bowl commercials. Mario Armstrong also likes Liza's Simple Soire, which keeps guest lists, shopping lists and more for your Super Bowl party. The app costs $1.99 for the iPhone. All Football Glossary is an app that will keep you in the know about all the latest football terms. You can find lists of Super Bowl apps here, here, here, here, here and here.
Sesame Street has launched an app that lets you make monsters on the iPhone and iPod Touch. Sesame Street's Elmo's Monster Maker can be purchased on iTunes for $3.99. It looks like a virtual Muppet whatnot factory. Elmo explains how it works. Take a look:
One of the stated purposes of the new iPad is for playing games. During its presentation on Wednesday Apple showed off games being played on its new tablet. You can see a demonstration of a snow mobile game from the Apple keynote in the video below.
To start with iPad users will only have games to play that were made for the iPhone. Apple says the iPad will work with almost all of the apps designed for the iPhone. Kotaku has a review of how some of the iPhone apps work on the iPad
here.
The iPad can't compete with the big game consoles (Wii, Xbox 360
and PlayStation 3), or the PC, but it could be a fun, portable gaming device for casual gamers. There are already game publishers like Gameloft and Electronic Arts developing new games for the iPad. There are likely to be many more game publishers getting on board as well. If Apple sells a lot of units then even more game publishers will want to make games for the device. This could help the iPad compete with portable gaming devices like the Nintendo DS and Sony's PSP.
There are several drawbacks to the iPad as a gaming device. Some gamers do not think touchscreen controls emulating d-pads makes for fun gaming. The Apple iPad also does not have a web camera. This means iPad users will miss out on augmented reality. Augmented reality is already being implented on everything from greeting cards to baseball cards. AR gaming is expected to be huge but a web camera is needed to bring AR games to life. You can see an example of an AR game here. Another noted drawback to playing games on the Apple iPad is the lack of flash. This means iPad users can not play free Flash games. The missing Flash technology is likely intentional. Apple wants iPad users to buy games from its iTunes store not play them free online.
The White House has launched a free iPhone/iPod Touch app. The app will contain live video streaming of the President's public events, key speeches and press briefings. The President's upcoming State of the Union speech will be streamed live and people with the app will be able to watch it on their iPhone or iPod Touch. The app also includes news from White House Blog and the Briefing Room as well as the latest photos.
The White House app can be downloaded here from the iTunes App Store.
Apple's App Store Reaches Three Billion Downloads Milestone
Apple's App store continues to reach new milestones. Today Apple announced over three billion apps have been downloaded from its app store for its iPhone and iPod Touch devices since it launched eighteen months ago.
"Three billion applications downloaded in less than 18 months-this is like nothing we've ever seen before," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "The revolutionary App Store offers iPhone and iPod touch users an experience unlike anything else available on other mobile devices, and we see no signs of the competition catching up anytime soon."
Daniel Sieberg offers some advice for keeping up on all of Apple's apps here.
United States Postal Service Launches iPhone/iPod Touch App
The United States Postal Service (USPS) has launched a a free iPhone/iPod Touch application that is now available in the iTunes App store. The USPS app takes advantage of GPS capabilities to help consumers locate nearby post offices, automated postal centers and collection boxes. It also provides maps and directions. The app also includes a Track and Confirm feature that provides a visual monitor of the progress of the mail pieces. Track and Confirm requires only initial input of tracking code numbers so that follow-ups are only one click away. Another feature is a ZIP Code lookup that provides the user with the ZIP Code of the user's current location, using the phone's GPS capability.
"The Postal Service is America's largest retailer, with 36,000 Post Offices and retail outlets in communities across the country. Now the iPhone community has a Post Office as well," says Robert Bernstock, president, Mailing and Shipping Services. "We want to continue our 234-year tradition of serving every American community, whether it's in a Post Office, online or even over the phone."
Blockbuster has announced the availability of its free Blockbuster App on the App Store. The app is free. You can find out more about it here on Blockbuster's website.
"Downloading this app is like putting BLOCKBUSTER in your pocket," said Kevin Lewis, senior vice president of digital entertainment at Blockbuster. "It's just one more way we're working to expand our connection with our customers and their access to the entertainment they want most. We spent a lot of time listening to the kind of features our customers wanted in an app for the iPhone and iPod touch, and we're excited by the functionality in this first release."
The Blockbuster iPhone app enables customers to:
Browse Blockbuster's entertainment catalog -- browse Blockbuster's
complete catalog of movies and television shows.
Check real-time store inventory -- access up-to-the-minute inventory
data to see if the movie they want to rent is currently in-stock at
their local participating Blockbuster store.
Build and manage an online rental queue -- create or manage an online
queue of movies they want to rent, adding, deleting or reordering
titles directly from their iPhone or iPod touch.
Locate their nearest Blockbuster store -- find the nearest store based
on a customer's current location or from another provided address.
How the Grinch Stole Christmas For the iPhone and iPod Touch
Oceanhouse Media has released its iPhone/iPod Touch app of the Dr. Seuss children's classic, How the Grinch Stole Christmas. This is the third Grinch related app from Oceanhouse Media. All three were officially licensed from Dr. Seuss Enterprises, L.P. The first two apps included a game called Grinchmas. This latest app is a $3.99 interactive ebook version of the Dr. Seuss picture book. It is getting great reviews. You can see a video of the ebook in action below. Take a look:
Playthings reports that the hot Zhu Zhu Pets hamster toys now have an iPhone game. Unlike the hot toys the iPhone game is not hard to find. The officially sanctioned Zhu Zhu Pets iPhone game was created by Tilt n Twist. Players have to "tilt, twist and flick" their way through madcap mazes to help Mr. Squiggles find his Zhu Zhu Pets friends.
The iPhone game can be purchased here for $1.99.
Viper SmartStart Lets You Start Your Car With Your iPhone
Directed Electronics has launched an iPhone app and system called Viper SmartStart that lets you start your car with your iPhone. You can use it to warm up your car when it is too cold or cool it down when it is too hot. It can also be used to help you find your car in a crowded parking lot if you have forgotten where you parked. SmartStart can also remotely lock and unlock your doors.
SmartStart costs $299 if you have a compatible Viper remote start system and $499 if you don't. A one year service plan is included with purchase. The service costs an additional $29.99 each year after the first year. The Viper SmartStart is sold at Best Buy.
Apple announced today that there are now over 100,000 applications available in its iTunes App Store.
"The App Store, now with over 100,000 applications available, is clearly a major differentiator for millions of iPhone and iPod touch customers around the world," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. "The iPhone SDK created the first great platform for mobile applications and our customers are loving all of the amazing apps our developers are creating."
"The App Store has forever changed the mobile gaming industry and continues to improve," said Travis Boatman, vice president of Worldwide Studios, EA Mobile. "With a global reach of over 50 million iPhone and iPod touch users, the App Store has allowed us to develop high quality EA games that have been a huge success with customers."
"With 10,000 downloads a day, worldwide customer response to our I Am T-Pain App has exceeded our wildest expectations," said Jeff Smith, CEO of Smule. "The App Store has given us a unique opportunity to create and grow a very successful business, and we're looking forward to an exciting future."
100,000 apps is a ton of applications but many of them are overlooked. ReadWriteWeb reports that data from Appsfire indicates that only about 20,000 of the apps in Apple's App Store are actually being used.
With so many apps available - an abundance of riches - it could get overwhelming for iPhone and iPod Touch users. GigaOm says the next thing for Apple to do with its store is to "focus on the discoverability of the applications." Apple does need to help its users find high quality apps and ignore silly ones that have little purpose or value.
Tidbits lists numbers from the app stores for different smartphones here. The Android app store is the closest to Apple's App Store with 10,000 apps.
You can find more discussion of Apple's growing App Store here on Techmeme.
The fashion brands have been slow to warm up technology, but that is changing. Chanel, Dolce & Gabbana, Tommy Hilfiger, Gucci and Ralph Lauren have released new iPhone apps that allow users to browse collections, watch runway footage, mix music, buy clothing and in the case of Chanel spy on the models backstage at the runway shows (they hid a camera in a model's hair). Each fashion house has a different idea about what should be in an app. Elva Ramirez of The Wall Street Journal reports on this very interesting trend. Take a look:
Starbucks has launched two free apps for the iPhone and iPod touch. The apps, which can be found here, allow users to find Starbucks cafes, check balances on Starbucks cards and access product and nutrition information. Users can also add more money to their Starbucks card using a credit card.
Nation's Restaurant Newsreports that Starbucks is also testing technology to allow customers to buy coffee and food with their smartphones in 16 stores.
In 16 stores in Seattle and Northern California, Starbucks said it is testing the ability to use the iPhone or iPod to pay for orders. Using the Starbucks Card Mobile App, the devices display a barcode that can be read at the register. Customers get the same benefits offered to card holders, including free syrup and milk options, free brewed coffee refills, a free tall beverage of choice with the purchase of whole beans and two hours of free Wi-Fi per day.
One Million Downloads For Barnes & Noble iPhone App
Barnes & Noble announced that downloads for both its B&N Bookstore app and the B&N eReader app for the iPhone and iPod touch have hit the one million mark. The apps let Barnes & Noble customers browse betsellers lists, new releases, watch video interview with authors and find out about author appearances in local B&N bookstores. Customers can also use the iPhone app to snap a quick picture of a book's cover and retrieve information about the book or reserve a copy of the book. You can find out more information about the apps here.
William J. Lynch, president of Barnes & Noble.com, said, "The access and convenience we're providing through these apps, combined with our complimentary Wi-Fi, have enhanced our rich in-store experience, extended that experience for on-the-go mobile consumers, and helped us deliver on our promise to give readers access to the books they love - on any platform, in any place and at any time."
Apple's App store continues to reach new milestones. Today Apple 
Barnes & Noble announced that downloads for both its B&N Bookstore app and the B&N eReader app for the iPhone and iPod touch have hit the one million mark. The apps let Barnes & Noble customers browse betsellers lists, new releases, watch video interview with authors and find out about author appearances in local B&N bookstores. Customers can also use the iPhone app to snap a quick picture of a book's cover and retrieve information about the book or reserve a copy of the book. You can find out more information about the apps 
