The Mac has prospered because of quality. Both in terms of Apple themselves and 3rd-parties. The iPhone is at a dangerous point right now. It’s on the verge of becoming commoditized and so is the 3rd-party software on it. And the VCs are right there behind this and will probably drive it if the market lets them.
via LKM’s stuff
Matthew Buchanan has improved upon an iPhone UI for Tumblr blogs that Tumblr Hacks developed. Now, you can redirect your visitors to http://tumblephone.com/<username>/ and they’ll see your tumblelog rendered like mine looks below:
Tumblr offers its own built-in, generic mobile view for blogs by default, but this of course plays much better on iPhones.
YouTube - iPhone’s Apple Light.
You could almost poke an eye out with that thing. Wow.
Not doing anything to help my blognundrum, I just stumbled across an appetizing new iPhone app this evening called Tumble. Yes, that light tingling feeling somewhere in the back of your head is right: this is an (unofficial) app for posting to a Tumblr blog, sans audio and video posts for obvious reasons. It’s free, and I’ll be trying it out soon.
The Register points out the differences in the communities that Nokia and Apple have been able to foster with their mobile platforms in Nokia: Our community is the best money can buy:
Many of you find the Apple cult downright creepy - and it is. But there’s no doubt that the enthusiasm exhibited by fanboys (and fangirls) is genuine. There are few sadder sights in London than the “flagship” Nokia Store on Regent Street, almost directly opposite Apple’s temple.
Good quotes from Nokia’s product manager on the issue.
YouTube - iPhone 3G turning on an electric razor.
I set my iPhone 3G down next to my electric razor, and the razor switched on all by itself. After a few tests I confirmed that this happens pretty reliably, though sometimes I have to unlock the iPhone’s screen or try it a couple times. Must be something about the EDGE antenna checking in, as I’m staying with family right now outside of 3G coverage.
I wonder what else the iPhone 3G can turn on?
I noticed the other day that the URL for Google Reader on my iPhone gained some weight. Instead of the clean X, it had a bunch of extra gunk behind it. At first I thought Google screwed something up, but it turns out that the company has introduced unique URLs that point directly to feeds and labels (otherwise known as folders) rendered in Google Reader. Instead of displaying:
http://www.google.com/reader/i/ on iPhone
or
http://www.google.com/reader/view/ on a desktop browser
Google Reader now displays a custom URL for feeds, such as my Infinite Loop RSS feed, like this:
http://www.google.com/reader/view/#stream/feed%2Fhttp%3A%2F%2F
arstechnica.com%2Fjournals%2Fapple.rssx
The URL for a label appears to include specific user information. Here’s my general “tech” label:
http://www.google.com/reader/view/#stream/user%[REDACTED]%2Flabel%2Ftech
This makes it really easy to create bookmarks for specific labels or even feeds within your Google Reader account on both a desktop PC or an iPhone. Smart idea, and I’m already creating a few on my iPhone for frequently used labels.
Good news for my favorite location-based social network so far:
Brightkite is all about sharing your location and meeting new people based on the places you visit, and the latest way of doing that is with the Brightkite API. Using the Brightkite API you can add a location component to any site, social network, or application.
I got ahold of the iPhone 2.0 software yesterday and took a bunch of free and commercial apps for a spin, including Loopt, a competitor to Brightkite that Apple showed off at WWDC. I gotta say: Loopt’s iPhone app is impressive, but I’m really interested to see what Brightkite can pull off with its iPhone app that is due by the end of July. This open API makes the service much more appealing to both developers and users. Plus, Brightkite is where most of my friends already are, so I’m hoping Loopt doesn’t gobble up most of the market simply by being first out the gate.
Wow, the reviews aren’t treating Samsung’s iPhone-non-killing “Instinct” too well, so here’s a new tactic from Sprint: pay people to put the Instinct in a “home movie” on YouTube. Notice that the language doesn’t specify “your” Instinct; just someone’s Instinct. Any Instinct you can find.
Funny how iPhone owners appear more than happy to put their phone in YouTube home movies, spoofs, testimonials, and otherwise “zomg iPhone!” spots for free.
Best iPhone WordPress admin plug-in I’ve seen. Be sure to check out the rest of the screenshots. WPhone works across all the essential areas, but there’s no telling what it’ll do to plug-in-specific pages.
Linkblog
2 days ago 