The 10 smartest and stupidest iPhone apps , according to British technology website The Register. The smartest apps include things like personal databases, information tools and music streaming and identification apps. The stupid section is a morass of farts, poop, pickup lines and badly rendered, vaguely creepy pictures of girls. Idiocracy, it seems, has come early to the App Store.
posted by acb on Jul 9, 2009 - 54 comments

Glenn Marshall is an Irish computer video artist and musician whose recent work has focused on audio visualization programed in the Processing language. Generally the program is left to its own devices, though his work-for-hire has more intentional design, as in his video for the Peter Gabriel song "The Nest that Sailed the Sky." Marshall has also been hired to create video for Guinness for Sky TV and the Rugby Six Nations Tournament, and a looping animation for Hermes of Paris. Marshall discusses his works with some detail on his blog. (More videos inside) [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief on Jun 26, 2009 - 7 comments

'Find My iPhone' in Action (via) [more inside]
posted by cjorgensen on Jun 23, 2009 - 42 comments

As expected new iPhones were announced yesterday, taking a bit of wind out of the Palm Pre's excellent sales, pissing off some current iPhone users over upgrade fees, and leaving several gadget makers wondering if they have a future.
posted by Brandon Blatcher on Jun 9, 2009 - 200 comments

iSnort - that is all
posted by mattoxic on Apr 30, 2009 - 39 comments

Are you a guy with an iPhone? Sent anyone a hot self-pic lately? You might want to check out Guys With iPhones (NSFW) to see if anyone has added you to the pool yet.
posted by hermitosis on Apr 23, 2009 - 121 comments

Jorge Colombo is among the artists using the Brushes application on the iPhone as a digital palette and canvas to create iSketches. He has worked as an illustrator, as a photographer, and as a graphic designer. He also creates digital QT videos, initially restricting himself to one-minute movies, and lately moving into longer projects.[prev. some nsfw]
posted by netbros on Apr 3, 2009 - 11 comments

Verminology is a specimen garden of monsters and beasts of the most pestiferous and meddlesome sort, drawn by fingertip on iPhone, using Brushes app. New additions daily. Also be sure to check out Toadbriar for dolls, paintings, sculpture, and Faerie fun! From MeFi's own Lou Stuells. [via mefi projects].
posted by cjorgensen on Mar 15, 2009 - 8 comments

Despite lukewarm reviews Ethan Nichols' iPhone game iShoot has earned him enough money to allow him to quit his day job. A recent article makes iPhone software development sound like something anyone can do, and software developers as young as nine-years-old have Apple approved games in Apple's App Store. [more inside]
posted by Bango Skank on Feb 13, 2009 - 49 comments

Amazon's Kindle 2 was debuted on Monday at the Morgan Library (as speculated), where Stephen King read (and read) from his kindle-exclusive story. If you couldn't be there, read some live-blogging accounts. The interface and refresh rate is improved, now features text-to-speach (which upse the Author's Guild, who claim this feature is "an audio right, which is derivative under copyright law.") But Kindle isn't the only the only e-book device. Going farther from the more book-shaped e-readers, you can read ebooks on iPhones or iPods (the latter has a DIY option), Gameboy Advances, or even the Mattel's Juice Box.
posted by filthy light thief on Feb 12, 2009 - 87 comments

Shoot Different. Or, if you prefer, iSnipe.
posted by geos on Jan 21, 2009 - 23 comments

Palm is asking how to make the WebOS a hit. There are a lot of great comments here worth reading, and then, predictability, there's this one, which made me chuckle.
posted by jragon on Jan 13, 2009 - 44 comments

Remember Palm? In the 1990s they created an industry and ate Apple's lunch when their smaller, nimbler Palm Pilot 1000 did the PDA right and blew the MessagePad away. Today they unveiled the Pre, a phone running their new "WebOS" and aimed straight at the iPhone's weaknesses. With one of the guys behind the iMac and iPod running the show, can they pull it off again?
posted by bonaldi on Jan 8, 2009 - 108 comments

A collection of sketches drawn on an iPhone using only fingers, by Stef Kardos, an art director for Disney. Rough, jewel-bright, entrancing, could induce further desire for an iPhone.
posted by po on Jan 6, 2009 - 34 comments

Ever wondered what makes people complain about the media? An Apple ad was recently banned by the ASA as it was felt that the ad exaggerated the speed of internet services. Could the complainants have been genuinely mislead about the phone's services? In the case of one complainant, a man who had queued on release for the first iPhones to arrive in the UK, it seemed an ideal way to fight back against poor customer service. "We arent a cult, we are just a brand..."
posted by mippy on Nov 26, 2008 - 23 comments

RjDj "is a music application for the iPhone. It uses sensory input to generate and control the music you are listening to. RjDj is mainly listened to with headphones. Think of it as the next generation of walkman or mp3 player." l Michael Breidenbruecker initiated the project, now joined by a team of musical and technological thinkers and coders l "What it’s really about is a new approach to how to listen to music, how to develop musical tools, and how communities own and share that work." [more inside]
posted by nickyskye on Nov 17, 2008 - 21 comments

Brian Eno brings generative music to the iPhone.
posted by Artw on Oct 15, 2008 - 39 comments

Remote control Toronto's City Hall by iPhone during Octobre 4th Nuit blanche. Project Blinkenlights will again transform a huge building into a computer display. This time 960 windows of Toronto's City Hall. Everybody can submit animations to be shown and there will be client programms for iPhone and OSX to receive the signal and interact with the installation. Watch the previous installations in Berlin [Mefi thread] and Paris [Mefi thread] on Google Video.
posted by meikel on Sep 23, 2008 - 16 comments

Like those "going to Berkeley, have an empty seat" bulletin boards on campuses everywhere, but real-time. I think this is a new kind of application, enabled by the iPhone's location awareness and ease of programming. Last Sunday, encountering traffic in an area not covered by Google's very cool traffic-monitoring service, I thought "gee, I should write an iPhone app that alerts people of upcoming traffic problems, submit new ones, and clear old ones." As the ubiquity of iPhones grows, entirely new categories of social/location-aware applications are bound to emerge.
posted by dylanjames on Aug 26, 2008 - 57 comments

Is the iPhone the future of comics? Artist P J Holden demonstrates the interface for Murderdrome, which uses the rather slick new Comic Reader from Blue Pilot Software, and discusses the iPhone as comics platform. Also: Manga on the iPhone, How to read .CBR files on your iPhone, iPhone/iPod touch emulator for comic creators.
posted by Artw on Aug 23, 2008 - 16 comments

Poolga: iPhone and iPod Touch wallpapers from a selection of designers and illustrators from around the world.
posted by defenestration on Jul 6, 2008 - 26 comments

Those new, cheap iPhones? Read the fine print. Those new features? Might be just industry changing.
posted by Brandon Blatcher on Jun 9, 2008 - 246 comments

The wonders of technology! Browse the web, access your email, telephone your clients - all with the aid of a 7 inch touch screen. It's the iPhone!
posted by Neiltupper on Apr 14, 2008 - 24 comments

Extensible applications such as Firefox appear to be banned by Apple's iPhone SDK license agreement: No interpreted code may be downloaded and used in an Application except for code that is interpreted and run by Apple’s Published APIs and builtin interpreter(s)… An Application may not itself install or launch other executable code by any means, including without limitation through the use of a plug-in architecture, calling other frameworks, other APIs or otherwise. An Application may write data on a device only to the Application's designated container area, except as otherwise specified by Apple. Applications may only use Published APIs in the manner prescribed by Apple and must not use or call any unpublished or private APIs.
posted by finite on Mar 7, 2008 - 142 comments

Abilene Christian University in Abilene, Texas becomes the first university in the US to give out iPhones to incoming freshmen. Concept videos describing how they will be used here (social), here (academic) and here (overview).
posted by Pater Aletheias on Mar 5, 2008 - 26 comments

Huh. Not the only time it's been noted, but still,Dieter Rams did make it look good first. An interesting guy who's basic design precepts Jonathan Ive has been very successful at emulating. For which I am only happy. [more inside]
posted by From Bklyn on Jan 16, 2008 - 10 comments

"(Steve) Jobs, a notorious control freak himself, wasn't about to let a group of suits — whom he would later call "orifices" — tell him how to design his phone."
posted by Brandon Blatcher on Jan 10, 2008 - 203 comments

It has been awhile since we had an iPhone post, but for the couple million people who own one, and despite Apple's best efforts, there is lots of exciting (if hard to find) free software being developed for people have have jailbroken their iPhone: read comics and manga; play NES , Gameboy, or LucasArts adventure games; experiment with crayon physics; download files; emulate HP calculators; and sync without iTunes. In early form: send an MMS, Playstation emulation, and video recording. There are also many web applications. [Yes, you need an iPhone to run these applications] [more inside]
posted by blahblahblah on Dec 16, 2007 - 56 comments

Stephen Fry just started blogging. His first post? A post on the iPhone, the history of PDAs and the nature of technological innovation and desire, that's roughly the length of a medium-sized novella.
posted by flashboy on Sep 20, 2007 - 127 comments

"Finding JTAG on the iPhone": a ten-step hardware unlock of the iPhone, allowing it to function with other carriers
posted by Blazecock Pileon on Aug 23, 2007 - 40 comments

The son of industrial designer Hartmut Esslinger (creator of the distinct styling of the Apple IIc and subsequent products, as well as founder of frog design) shares memories and photographs (auf Deutsch; Google cache) of Apple's early attempts at an iPhone.
posted by Blazecock Pileon on Jul 18, 2007 - 6 comments

Maddox on iPhone
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 on Jul 17, 2007 - 92 comments

The Will It Blend? guy reaches geek-apogee. [via]
posted by Heywood Mogroot on Jul 10, 2007 - 100 comments

iPhone the Musical Written by and Starring David Pogue. And here's the lyrics.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero on Jul 6, 2007 - 8 comments

Bob Lefsetz has been sharing his opinions on the music industry for years. In last night's newsletter, he announces, "Let the games begin!" - and indeed, let them. Universal Music has declined to re-sign to a long term deal with Apple, essentially leaving them open to exclusive deals with other services. The fact that Doug Morris (chairman of UMG) and Zach Horowitz (President of Universal's parent company, Vivendi) have been gearing up to loosen the stranglehold that iTunes has on online distribution is not exactly news. They've used similar tactics against Microsoft's Zune and YouTube. But with the release of the iPhone and following his well-timed decision to openly "share his thoughts" on DRM, not to mention his landmark deal with (perennial "armpit of the industry") EMI to sell their music DRM-free and at a higher cost - the real question is: is Steve Jobs ready to play hardball?
posted by phaedon on Jul 2, 2007 - 48 comments

Destroying a perfectly good cellphone. The inner workings and guts of the biggest new toy this year. Is it more reliable then an iPod? How many screws does it have? Is it powered by nerds wishes and dreams? The answers to these questions are maybe, 16, and you bet your sweet ass.
posted by Derek on Jun 29, 2007 - 53 comments

German Geek website reports that the The Iphone-Killer (the Iphone for geeks), OpenMoko, starts shipphing July. Unlike Apples Iphone, OpenMoke is not closed platform. The German Website reports further that OpenMokos 2nd hardware revision will provide WiFi, 3D acceleration and 256 MB Flash (shipping starts October 2007).

Forgive me, if the post is better suited for /.
posted by yoyo_nyc on Jun 28, 2007 - 76 comments

Introducing rPhone - Industry insiders at PiratePalooza have the specs on the first iPhone killer.
posted by Burhanistan on Jun 26, 2007 - 43 comments

“There has never been a massively successful consumer device based solely on a touch screen” ...designers and marketers of electronic devices centers are having a spirited debate about whether consumers will have the patience to overcome the hurdle that will be required to type without the familiar tactile feedback offered by conventional keyboards. Any significant number of returns of the iPhone could conceivably undermine what until now has been a remarkable promotional blitzkrieg that culminates in the phone’s release June 29.
posted by wfc123 on Jun 13, 2007 - 52 comments

Innovation, originality, revolution... Oh.
posted by Blazecock Pileon on May 14, 2007 - 23 comments

"The difference between BJ and AJ, Before and After Jobs, is not the process," [Don Norman] continues. "It is the person. Never before did Apple have such focus and dedication. Apple used to wobble, moving this way and that. No more."
posted by Blazecock Pileon on May 8, 2007 - 26 comments

Recent discussion regarding the iPhone availability in Canada (Rogers says they'll carry it - Then denies doing so) has spurred ideas as to what it might cost. This tore open a nasty wound in the hearts of Canadians, having realized that their mobile data access is worse than that of third world countries. A petition has already been started.
posted by patr1ck on Apr 9, 2007 - 29 comments

Jeff Han, shows advances in his multitouch interfaces a year later. YT video 1. YT video 2.
posted by Blazecock Pileon on Mar 14, 2007 - 36 comments

iPhoneMania, Catch It When Steve Jobs answered his iPhone at this year's MacWorld, he ignited a frenzy months before the gizmo will even hit stores. Now sneakmove, who first presented the "diy: cut and fold paper iphone" is back with a contest that challenges musicians to make the best song they can using the a sample of the phone's distinctive ring.
posted by PeteNicely on Jan 25, 2007 - 24 comments

Edward Tufte bought an ad (for his wonderful new book) on the front page of NYTimes.com, which ran for 24 hours on 26th November. Imagine how pleased he was when Steve Jobs used that day's paper to demo the iPhone.
posted by tombola on Jan 11, 2007 - 44 comments

Breaking News: Apple Announces Touchscreen iPhone. In this morning's MacWorld keynote, Steve Jobs announced the iPhone, a touchscreen smartphone with only one button. Two years in the making, it runs OS X, works as an iPod, displays video on a 3.5" screen, and has the usual bells and whistles (Bluetooth, e-mail, Google Maps, WiFi, etc.), plus some other slick features like: a proximity sensor that turns the screen off when it's near your ear, an accelerometer that detects whether it's in portrait or landscape, and an ambient light sensor to dim the screen accordingly. I'm not usually a gadget person, but this thing seems pretty damn cool. Now let's just see how much it costs...
More live MacWorld coverage available at: Engadget , MacRumors.
posted by EnormousTalkingOnion on Jan 9, 2007 - 406 comments

iphone is this it ?
posted by baker dave on Jan 9, 2007 - 132 comments

iPhone is here (nearly!) ...Apple reveals the iPhone! And the iPod nano?
posted by tommyc on Sep 7, 2005 - 151 comments

Apple is at work on the iPhone, if you believe John Markoff of the New York Times. Do you?
posted by alms on Aug 18, 2002 - 38 comments

Apple and Palm's new iPhone? Apparently this is just a mockup, and its a little bit unclear what all the little buttons do, but I still want one.
posted by bshort on Apr 12, 2001 - 12 comments