How many device manufacturers are there in the world who will give developers phones to develop for their platform , and then give out another phone if they like the Icon you are using for your app. I can think of only one NOKIA.

Nokia App Launcher  Icon Competition by Nokia Developer is one a kind event where Nokia is asking developers to make beautiful icons for their existing or upcoming ( App has to be real )  applications and they are eligible to win one of the numerous ( quantity not informed)  Nokia N9s.  Not only that the winners will also be featured in Community , Wiki and Project homepages and also given world wide recognition by being featured in Developer Newsletters.

The icon toolkits can be downloaded for each platform from here: Series 40, Symbian, MeeGo and the guidelines for the competition can be seen here.

So go ahead and fill up this empty space 

In a verbal assault or in a moment where the words loose you just start iSamJackson on your iphone /  ipod and let let Mr Samuel L Jackson help you .

ISamJackson , with more than 100 one liners , many explicit marked with a (m) , will ensure you are never at loss for words and say anything without having to wash your mouth with soap and water

Available for only $1.99 , the app is continuously updated with new lines by Sam L Jackson and specials also available when you connect the app to facebook .

The application is not limited to one liners , Mr Sam L Jackson will also offer advice if you are unable to make your mind and even give insights of your personality when you scan your thumb

So I leave you with Sam L Jackson and his immaculate saying at ISamJackson

Many a times in life comes a point where you just want to make a video and share it with the world , be it a political demonstration or a guys dancing at a wedding  like I was at a couple of nights ago .  For Nokia you have QIK which is also available for iPhone however a new contender is in the App Store and is available for Free .

Introducing UStream for iPhone , a Video Broadcaster which works well even on a EDGE network and capable of sharing videos on Facebook , Twitter and even YouTube .

The installation is easy , just grab the software from iTunes , install it , create an account on iPhone , however integration with Facebook , Twitter and Youtube requires accessing the www.ustream,tv  website and start streaming live from your iPhone wherever you are

One of the best features of the software are that it gives the option of live streaming or recording on the phone

The uploaded video quality depends on the connection speed , here’s the example of video I’ve taken on  EDGE and live uploaded on YouTube

The only problem I had is with the battery life but hey it’s inherited with iPhone so can’t help it

Are you going to stream your life and share it on the web , I’m going for selected moments what about you

Just saw this ad at the Nokia Forum site

A Click on it takes me to http://wiki.forum.nokia.com/index.php/Porting_iPhone_web_app_to_WRT_on_Nokia_devices

Where Nokia is highlighting the benefits of porting such as

• Add Volume to user base and expand market
• Minimal Investment
• Easy to shift IPhone Web App to Web RunTime with minor adjustments
• Supports Nokia S60 5th Edition , 3rd Edition FP1 and FP2 devices
• Changeover as simple as to create a WRT Widget with link to webpage and icon for widget using HTML , CSS and Java Script and it will work for both iPhone and Nokia

Shiftover to Nokia offers

• Real Multitasking and Multi Processes
• Widgets can run Simultaneously
• Widgets work seemlessly with external websites and multiple apps launches at the same time
• Live updates on background processes
• No need to sign the Widget and
• Easy Distribution through OVI Store

My Thoughts

Nokia is trying hard to sell it’s OVI Store to developers and in the recent statement to Financial Times , Nokia is being hit hard by Apple App Store so enticing the Apple developers , which are nowadays wary of Apple on it’s App Approval Policy , can give Nokia a much larger developer base .

On the other hand , Nokia is playing upon the multitasking capabilities of S60 v3 and S60 v5 devices i.e now Developer don’t have to worry that their Widget will close down just to access the Internet through Broswer , they can even run realtime updates like Weather Apps  , Sports Score Apps and also Stock Market Index Apps while the Application is running in the back ground .

One thing which Nokia needs is able to show onscreen Notification  , with Apple’s Push technology , the notification shows up on the screen no matter which application is running while Nokia wants to make use of the Standby screen Widgets as in N97 .

Will developers switch , well at one end there is Apple , with a much larger application base and deep penetration with above 2 billion downloads and on the other hand is Nokia with range of supported devices many times more than Apple ever sold ,but a faltering App Store but a revamp is in plan in Spring 2010 .  But for a developer , Nokia is a untapped market , with consumers hungry for and willing to pay for widgets and a better approval system than Apple , hopefully Nokia will be able to entice iPhone Web Apps to Nokia Web Runtime

Imagine sitting in a Cafe with your significant other and all of the sudden the speakers starts blaring

“ When I say jump, you say how high
I aint never seen nobody, how they get so high
Like a bird, like a plane, this party got me insane
This party got me insane, so jump jump jump jump “

and your girl friends starts jumping on her seat , Oh My God Oh My God , I love this song , I love this song and you are sitting wondering

‘WTF I never heard this song , what crazy lyrics , is she planning to do the same to me , make me jump and I gotta ask how high -  you got the picture but you got other plans which includes keeping her happy

so whip out our iPhone and starts Shazam , the song finder , start the app and simply let it listen to the song and within seconds not only it will give you the name of the song , the singer , the album but also the option to download it from iTunes , download it there and then , play it in the car , play it for her in the restaurant for all I care and be her iPod Hero and you can also get recommendation from Shazam based on the song and also you can share it on Twitter , Facebook or share it as a postcard

Shazam is available for Free on iTunes for the Lite Version while the Shazam Encore which let you unlimited tagging of songs ( what if she wants to know which song she loved the most )  so you can find it later .

Btw that song is Jump by Nelly Furtado

Enjoy Song hunting

Finally an app for the new parents or even old ones who forgot their time with the earlier kids   , Cry Translator App on iPhone says it can translate what your baby is trying to communicate with his /  her cries .

Start the Cry Translator , take it near your baby , too near and you will get an error , too far you will get an error , but still it will tell you why your little one is getting so cranky .

No guarantees that it will make the right diagnostic  , I made some sounds to it and it told me that my baby wants to sleep , well I’m tired but not sleepy

Still if it works with some new parents do let me know

Other features include , setting up of Emergency Number for quick dial through the app , suggestions on what to do to calm down the baby with the disclaimer that they take no responsibility of the end results so if your baby is hungry and you want it to sleep based on his / her cry translation , the App maker is not responsible for  that .

Now if only they can add the functionality to translate big people words into baby talk that will be the innovation

What you think about it , will you trust your baby to iPhone

Adobe following Autodesk has also jumped the iPhone bandwagon with none other than their flagship product Photoshop and they are giving it away for FREE.

The application like the name offers limited functionality to play with your photographs .  The photographs can be either obtained from Camera Roll or take instantly . 

The options to modify photos include Crop , Rotate and Flip

In Crop you can choose the area you want to drop with a simple slide and select .  You can also resize the area to select

.

Flip and Rotate moves the pics 90 , 180 and 360 degrees.

You can convert the photos into a work of art by Sketch and Soft Focus .  SImply choose an option and move your finger on the pic to get desired effects  .  The faster you move your finger the deeper the effect will get

Add colors to it with Exposure , Saturation , Tint and Black and White option .  The tint feature offers multiple colors to choose from while satuaration and Exposure fixes the color balances of the pic and Black White makes it vintage.

Make them Lively with Effects which makes it Vibrant ,  POP  , Rainbow etc .

After you have created the masterpiece you desire , you can store it at photoshop.com online storage , for sharing and later viewing

My Thoughts

Over all Photoshop for iPhone / iPod Touch is a welcome addition and for Free , the application sure is a must have .  Adding a little color on the go always makes taking photos fun . One thing which I would love to have will be ability to add captions or text to the pics

How you will use the application on your iPhone , will it give you more power over customization of your pics do inform in comments

Z

iPhone /  iPod touch is making the news and news casters now want them to hold their news , introducing the CNN Apple Application .

CNN App brings the world’s largest news provider into the palm of your hands  offering news from around the corner , through Current Location Recognition using GPS ( US only )  to what’s happening around the world .

The news is not limited to boring text or feeds , CNN knows how to make full use of the capabilities of iPhone and is offering full multimedia content including pictures and Videos and in all the Cover Flow glory of Apple iPhone  /  iPod Touch OS.

The options for news include Top Stories , World news ( I’m not impressed with it  , has no news about Pakistan )  , US , Politics , Crime Entertainment , Technology etc.

Available on iTunes for US market ( you can get it through Google ) ,  the App is quiet handy when it comes to keep yourself abreast with news with an Americal prospective  . I’m waiting for Al- Jaeera ( The Arab news channel ) and BBC to also follow suit .  Which news service you’d like to see on your iPhone tell me in your comments .

Z