Facebook to discontinue Network Pages
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Facebook plans to remove its Network Pages feature.In a warning message to users, Facebook has said that they will soon be discontinuing Network Pages. Network Pages is a feature which allows members of a particular network to view and interact with a variety of data, such as Wall postings, marketplace listings, statistics on the most popular things in their network, and popular groups. In the same message, Facebook then goes on to suggest that you should use Groups in order to connect with people around you.This is a pretty interesting move and I'm not really sure why Facebook is going in this direction. Groups are a fine method of [...]Go to site
Facebook's iPhone application is one of the iPhones most popular applications.(Credit: CNET Networks)One of the 550 plus new iPhone applications was Facebook's own, a slightly amped up version of the Web based Facebook for iPhone Web site introduced late last year. It's more useful than than the mobile Web site, but it's still watered down from its desktop cousin, with just a contact list and a chat app. Notably missing are the other Facebook applications that have helped make the social network such an appealing service for both users and developers.It would make sense if the next step for the Facebook platform was a mobile version. Something where whatever you developed would work on both desktop and mobile devices--starting with the iPhone and later Android. In that regard, Facebook's mobile iPhone application is only the beginning, and just a preview of what's to come. I think we'll see at next week's F8 event a product or service that will help developers shrink down their applications to fit into Facebook's mobile application framework. It's a move that goes squarely against Apple's engrained apps marketplace by having developers spend resources on coding for Facebook instead of themselves; however the result will be the augmentation of the mobile Facebook experience that's closer to what people have gotten accustomed to on their computers.Facebook's UI has already begun to change to match the finger-friendly style. The latest profile refresh has moved the applications from a sidebar to different tabs--the same look can be found in Facebook's iPhone-optimized Web app. Such a style could easily be shrunk down to fit smaller screen, whereas the old one could not.There are still some road bumps. For one, Apple's SDK and Android are vastly different, but if Facebook is forward-thinking it'll want people to develop applications that will work on both. Apple's iPhone is clearly the weak link here with no Adobe Flash support in sight and a very limited amount of things you can do using the hardware and phone file system. One such solution for interoperability is Google's OpenSocial initiative, however Facebook has been at odds with adopting it. The middle of the road solution is to use Web standards that are both interoperable and compatible no matter what modern device you're using. Another bump is whether or not developers will be willing to dedicate their time to developing something for Facebook mobile or simply create a stand-alone native iPhone application. These individual applications hold more opportunity for the little guys to make a quick buck, but by tying into Facebook's system they get a tight network of users who might share it with one another and cross pollinate that activity to the desktop version.Mobile or not, expect something big next week from the Facebook camp. What do you think Facebook will announce at next week's F8 event? ( polls)
A view from 2007 that indicated Google work on offline access to Google Calendar.(Credit: Shared under Creative Commons by Noticias-TIC)Google Apps competes with Microsoft's Outlook-Exchange combination as well as with many other online and offline applications, including Yahoo's online e-mail application, Zimbra, which already offers offline access to e-mail.Gmail has won plaudits from some users--I like it myself--but today they can't use it directly unless they're connected to a network, and I spend a lot of time working where there's no access. Of course, with free IMAP access, software such as Mozilla's Thunderbird also can be used to handle e-mail while offline, so it's not as if Gmail users are helpless without a network connection.Customers who pay $50 per year per user for Google Apps Premier Edition get more storage space, better technical support, and other features. Personally, I'd be surprised if Google restricted offline access only to those customers, in particular because offline access imposes a burden on the local PC, not Google's data centers, and makes the service and Google's cloud computing argument stronger. But it could be an opportunity to sell more subscriptions.Just yesterday I asked Google about offline access for Gmail and Calendar and they gave me their usual noncommittal reply that more or less indicates it's in the works.Two tricky things about Gears is deciding what data to cache locally on a computer and how to synchronize data when a network connection is restored, expecially with group-edited content such as documents or calendars. There are hints how Google might go about getting around one challenge, though; according to Google Operating System, some users saw a "Use Google Calendar Offline" note last year that said Gears would let a user view and edit the next three months of a calendar.Fogg also twittered another potentially useful extension of the Google Apps service is under way, support for technology called SyncML that would make it easier to synchronize Gmail contacts with the address books of mobile devices. Newer versions of SyncML also support "push e-mail," which means a mobile device automatically gets new e-mail without having to be commanded to check."SyncML for Google contacts next month. Soocial (sic) watchout. My guess: its related to the sync that they worked on with Apple for 3G iPhone," Fogg said in the Twitter post.
It's time that Opera Mobile got its due. Long overshadowed by Opera Mini--the light, server-fed browser for Java phones--Opera Mobile is a robust browser built on Web standards (and written with C and C++) that's known for delivering a full Web experience to Windows Mobile and Symbian phones.Yet even though Opera Mobile has made good as a much closer approximation of the desktop Internet experience, it traditionally hasn't received the same developmental attention as Opera Mini. With Opera Mobile 9.5 beta*, released on Thursday, things begin to change.
The icon-based navigation bar is seamless and clean, though generic.(Credit: CNET Networks)In many ways, this beta version of Opera Mobile is a fusion of Opera's Desktop and Mini versions. It inherits certain tabbing, searching, linking, and saving capabilities from Opera Desktop 9.5, and Opera Mini's view settings. What follows is a full hands-on review of Opera Mobile 9.5 beta that takes into account the program's newly redesigned interface, features, performance enhancements, Opera Dragonfly, issues, and what to expect from future beta builds, of which there will be several before the final release. We also won't leave out availability and price.InterfaceThe redesigned interface focuses on a small strip of navigational icons at the base of the app and concealed context menus that appear where applicable when you tap and hold. For instance, opening the context menu when hovered over a link gives you options of opening the link in a new tab, copying the URL, or sending the link to friends. The main context menu can be accessed by tapping and holding the white space, whereas the inverted 'v' on the navigation pops up a third options menu. This new design replaces actionable menu items and helps boost clarity while reducing clutter. If you don't see the menu option you're looking for, you know you've mis-tapped. Without the familiar desktop icons, Opera Mobile 9.5 beta replaces the Opera-branded character with a generic sleek and modern look. You decide if that's good.New featuresOnly about two-thirds of the final features are present in this first 9.5 beta build (see the road map section below), but already surpasses version 8.65 in terms of the browsing experience--with one caveat. 
Opera Mobile 9.5 beta ditches true tabs in favor of layered windows.(Credit: CNET Networks)This new beta version opens in the full-screen browsing mode by default, which lets users pick a starting point and zoom in for closer reading, and entire pages can now be saved for later. Like the 9.5 desktop version, there's in-text search with Find in Page and text highlighting; a Google search bar when you tap to enter a URL, and an address bar fitted with auto-complete that harnesses your browsing history by suggesting compatible sites as you begin typing. In this case, not all that is newer is better. While Opera retains its support for tabbed browsing, it replaces the true tabbing experience of Opera Mobile 8.65--ironically defined as "windows"--with a reversion to separate browsing windows, ironically called "tabs." In addition, the beta update appears to have lost some zoom granularity, though in a demonstration at Opera's California office, Sales Engineer Brian Purdy explained that zooming features differ by handset manufacturers. PerformanceDriving all the front-end enhancements is a new proprietary core rendering engine, called Presto 2.1, which improves on the speed and rendering quality compared to Opera Mobile 8.65. While Opera doesn't yet have benchmarking numbers to share, I will say that the new version performed more smoothly than the old during testing and trounced Windows Mobile's Internet Explorer in performance. While Opera Mobile itself may have gotten speedier, the browser is still only as good as the phone's processor. For developers: Opera DragonflyFor developers, Opera has also included support for the open-source remote debugging tool nicknamed Opera Dragonfly. Using the computer's IP address and Opera browsers for the phone and desktop, this cross-platform software syncs the two to test against errors on the phone, not just in the editor or emulator.Known issues
Links can be opened, copied, or sent three ways(Credit: CNET Networks)Beta builds aren't meant to be perfect and Opera Mobile 9.5 beta comes with its share of flaws and foibles. First, it's an English-only build with support for other languages coming later. Users will also notice right away that Flash hasn't been enabled, making this software version video-blind. Installing the application on a memory card may be rocky, so make sure you've got room for the 4.2MB requirement. Fourth, you'll want to refresh pages after switching between viewing modes, for instance mobile and full screen views. Finally, problems with custom input methods specific to certain phone models will be buggy or broken. Road map: What's nextAs I mentioned, Opera's center of command plans several more updates to Opera Mobile 9.5 before the final release. Google Gears, Opera Link, and Opera Widgets are slated to join the app in subsequent waves of development. A version for Symbian phones is forecast for Opera's near future. Availability and priceStarting Thursday, the touch screen version of Opera Mobile 9.5 beta will be available for free for Windows Pocket PC phones running Windows Mobile 5 or 6. A slightly different version of Opera Mobile 9.5 comes preloaded on the HTC Diamond. *The download for Opera Mobile 9.5 beta will be available on CNET Download.com when it is made available by Opera Software. Until then, the link above will take you to Opera Mobile 8.65, which remains the stable version.
What's a seven-letter word for, "So long, Scrabulous?"Scrabble is finally on Facebook. Officially. While the Scrabulous game has been online for a while and is wildly popular, it's had a sword hanging over its head since launch. Hasbro, owner of the Scrabble franchise, has threatened and tried to kill Scrabulous -- while at the same time prepping to launch its own, official, Scrabble app on Facebook.In conjunction with Electronic Arts, that official Hasbro Scrabble app is now up, in beta. How does it compare to Scrabulous? Pretty well. Too well, actually. While Scrabulous fans will see no reason to switch to the official Scrabble app, newcomers to the game on Facebook (like me), will find Scrabble easier to get into, easier to use, and just as competitive and fun.The two apps have a lot in common. Both let you quickly and easily invite people from your list of friends. Both let you manage multiple games. Both keep track of games scores and multiple-game ratings. Both have useful features that let you shuffle the tiles in your rack, chat with your competitors, look up valid two-letter words and access a Scrabble-official word lookup feature.Scrabble's game interface is more intuitive than Scrabulous, and it looks nicer, too. The screen automatically redraws when an opponent makes a move or leaves a message; Scrabulous requires a manual refresh. This is not a big deal if you're playing a drawn-out asynchronous game with a correspondent, but if you want to play in real-time with someone it's a drag to use Scrabulous. 
Scrabulous: No reason to switch, but if you're starting from scratch, Scrabble's the way to go.Scrabulous, for its part, has a faster interface for playing a turn. You can select a location on the board to place letters and just start typing. In Scrabble you have to drag your letters to the board one-by-one. And if you're playing multiple games at once, it's much faster, since there's a "next active game" link that puts you in the action on another board with just a click. Scrabble takes three clicks and makes you sit through tedious board-swap animations and load times. Scrabulous' biggest advantage is that any stats or ranking you've collecting while in the game don't transfer out. If you don't want to have to earn your rank all over again, avoid Scrabble. Also, avoid Scrabble if your gaming partners are overseas: Scrabble is available for U.S. and Canadian users only.Scrabluous has many more online users than Scrabble does, at least so far. But this game has just begun, and there's no reason that Scrabble's official online app -- the developers of which don't have to worry about getting sued out of existence -- can't surpass Scrabulous on the Web in general. Although Scrabulous could maintain its lead in the Facebook universe for a time, the world of social gaming goes beyond just that one platform, and Hasbro/EA could (and should) push its new, fully legal online game out to social networks all over the Internet. Related:'Scrabble' on Facebook: Too little, too late'Scrabulous' debate may rewrite the rules of the game.A dissenting review from the AP: Facebook Scrabble flashy, but not better.
Yahoo has begun sharing some future plans it has for Groups, its service where people with shared interests can get together online through mailing lists, calendars, polls, and other features.In the "coming year," Google plans to add many attributes that expand the scope of groups, according to the Yahoo Groups blog on Tuesday. Those features include tools for product reviews, service directories, wanted boards, address books, and event planners.And upgrades to existing features include: a better system for hosting photos that permits more storage and larger pictures; better message boards; and the ability to store e-mail attachments; and the ability to set the site for non-English languages.There's no official word about whether there will be room for some of the sharing and collaboration that's coming with Yahoo Open Strategy on Groups, but it seems possible to me. For example, hosting OpenSocial widgets that are available to members of the group seems a natural fit.Yahoo already has launched a Groups Lab, a team that creates new features such as the recently released People Map beta test that shows group members' locations on a map.
Also introduced with the 2.6 update is revisioning, letting you go back to an older version of the blog post and either re-publish it over the newer one, or review the changes. This will be most helpful on multi-author blogs where you'll be able to track changes made by certain members of your blogging team with specific coloring based on author.Another new feature that is long overdue is a built-in theme previewer, which will let you see a live preview of your blog using a selected theme. Previously you could only see what your existing content and widgets would look like with any theme by applying it over the one currently in use.As part of the shift in blogging culture, there's also a new "press this" button, which is simply a bookmarklet for posting content from whatever page you're on straight to your WordPress blog. Similar bookmarklets from Facebook, FriendFeed, and Tumblr have proven to be an easy way to take whatever you're looking at and post it, even if the content author does not have a ShareThis, or similar sharing tool integrated into their content pages.Users of previous versions of WordPress should definitely update to the latest stable release. As many users have discovered (myself included), some of the security holes that continue to be patched with each release can keep your blog from being overrun with spam.
Twitter has indeed acquired Summize, a nifty search engine built specifically to index Twitter posts, TechCrunch reported Tuesday along with a video of Twitter founder Evan Williams talking about it.The news follows sporadic rumors that were accompanied by both shaky confirmations and shaky denials. An under-the-radar blogger, Josh Chandler, reported the news first; GigaOM's Om Malik was the first big name to "confirm" it.Some logistics, as reported by TechCrunch: five of Summize's six employees will become Twitter employees, minus founder Jay Verdy, who will depart the company for "a new project." Naturally, no one's naming numbers, but the transaction was reportedly mostly in stock.So what does this mean? Basically, that Twitter won't have to build its own search engine. Simple enough.
Getting stuck listening to automated phone menus can be downright dreadful. Some systems require half a dozen or more menus to get you to an actual human being. A service called Fonolo is trying to make this experience a lot easier by listing the entire phone tree on one page and giving you little call buttons to skip right to that part of the menu. The best part is that it actually calls you when it's time to talk to someone and you don't even have to do any dialing!Fonolo is officially launching to the public in early September, but I got a sneak peak at it today. There are just 50 company numbers in the listing, but there should be several hundred by launch. One of the best uses for this technology is for calling department stores and banks--both of which can have five or more sub-menus that you must suffer though to reach a human. Digging around in Circuit City's listing I was able to find the department I wanted to call in just a few seconds, whereas it probably would have taken me about five minutes if I had called in.As part of the sign-up process you give Fonolo various numbers it can call--be it your office, home, or mobile line. Next to each option there's a call button that will then let you pick which number you want the call sent to. You can track how long the call is and actually hang up from your browser, Fonolo is simply the routing the call.Eventually the service plans to let you record these calls (potentially for sending to the Better Business Bureau or other such organizations), although the feature is currently disabled. You can sign up to use Fonolo before its September launch on this page.
Fonolo shows you how to skip some of the annoying automated phone menus you run into when calling many large businesses. (click to see entire tree)(Credit: CNET Networks)
A decidedly tame video plays on the bottom of a pool in a Google Lively chat room called 'porn place.'(Credit: Google)Google's is having to work to try keeping its Lively online 3D virtual worlds from getting a little too lively.Despite some injunctions to the contrary, sexual overtones are creeping into Google's cross between a chat room and Second Life."We've received complaints about recently created 'sex rooms' in Lively, and we take these complaints seriously," Google said on its Lively group. "Our community standards prohibit sexually explicit images and rooms intended for sexual activity, even if virtual. When we become aware of 'sex rooms' that violate or Terms of Service, we'll work to remove them."A little snooping around revealed some evidence off borderline rooms, but nothing as risque as shows in the more permissive realm of Second Life."So the girls are hidden in here," griped one avatar in one room called SEXY & HOT Monday morning. "Show up," ordered another. There wasn't much in the way of naughty pictures beyond the welcome screen, but some posters in the room linked to girl.cb-w.com, a Web site that sells a guide about "How To Approach Any Woman, Anywhere And Know Exactly What To Say To Get Her To Give You Her Number And Go On A Date With You - NOW."Another room, called porn place, seemed fairly tame--even the YouTube video playing on the bottom of the pool. Other rooms were called Sexo Virtual, sexy babes, and BDSM Espana.Google Lively's community standards prohibit nudity and sexually explicit material: "We don't allow nudity, graphic sex acts, or sexually explicit material. This includes making sexual advances toward other users. We also don't allow content that drives traffic to commercial pornography sites or that promotes pedophilia, incest, or bestiality. Google has a zero-tolerance policy against child pornography. If we become aware of child pornography, the content will be removed and we will report it and its owners to the appropriate authorities."Google wants to keep it clean for mainstream users, and users who violate Google's terms could find themselves banned from Lively and with their Google account disabled, Google said."When browsing or searching for rooms, some Lively citizens come upon these rooms as the top results, which can erode their Lively experience...Lively is intended to be a place for Lively citizens to connect with each other and express themselves freely and in a safe environment," Google said.(Via Google Blogoscoped.)
Even though the iPhone has been dominating developer headlines recently, it looks like there's still some air in the social-network gaming space. The Social Gaming Network, a start-up that develops games for social platforms like Facebook and OpenSocial, has received an undisclosed amount of funding from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' personal investment firm, Bezos Expeditions.This comes just months after the company closed a $15 million Series A round from Greylock Partners, the Founders Fund, and others. Founded by the creators of Web 1.0 page creator Freewebs (which now calls itself Webs.com), the Social Gaming Network has assembled a portfolio of popular Facebook applications like Jetman, Super Snake, and Free Gifts, some of which it acquired from independent developers. It counts over 54 million game installs.It's one of the more prominent players in the casual-games space along with Zynga, which was created by Tribe.net founder Mark Pincus.The aim of the new funding, according to CEO Shervin Pishevar, is "to continue capturing new demographics in gaming by distributing the highest quality games available on the social web."Most recently, Bezos Expeditions joined the most recent round of Twitter funding.
SalesForce.com shows details about service responsiveness and specifics about problems that do emerge. (Click image to see larger version.)Google, for example, offers a service level agreement (SLA) promising that Gmail, the online e-mail component of its overall Google Apps service, will be available 99.9 percent of the time, with service credits extended to paying customers if Gmail dips below that level.And SLAs are coming to the rest of Google Apps."We don't have an SLA yet for Google Calendar or Google Docs, but it's something we're moving quickly toward," said Rishi Chandra, product manager for Google Apps. Google wants "to get the same level of reliability for all of Apps," he said.Google is a major proponent of cloud computing, with advocacy work down to the level of trying to build ubiquitous high-speed networks, and Yahoo has just formed a cloud computing group of its own. The trend has the potential to seriously redistribute wealth within the computing industry.There are two broad categories of cloud computing. First are online applications such as Google's Apps, Yahoo's Zimbra for e-mail, Zoho for office and business software, Adobe Buzzword for word processing, and SalesForce.com for managing customer relations. Second are general-purpose foundations such as Amazon Web Services, Saleforce.com's Force.com, and Google App Engine on which customers can run their own applications.Taking the plunge into the cloudService level agreements are the kind of contractual guarantees that appeal to CIOs making cost-benefit analyses. But there's a gut-level factor at play here, too.Psychologically, it's well known in risk analysis circles that people feel more comfortable with risk if they feel in control. Thus people are often more comfortable driving a car on a congested freeway compared to being flown somewhere in a commercial jet, regardless of the relative safety of the two forms of transport.So naturally there's some fear with cloud computing: it means you can't reboot your laptop or check for blinking red lights on the data center servers.
Google showed this status warning during Tuesday's outage.(Credit: CNET Networks)Companies are working to address this side of the equation, too. One prime example is trust.salesforce.com site, which shows the response time for a SalesForce.com server transaction. It also details when problems happened, what they affected, and what caused them."We've found working with our customers they want transparency. They want to know exactly what's going on all the time," said Bruce Francis, SalesForce.com's vice president of corporate strategy. "If there's an issue, they're not furious, they just want to know exactly what's going on."Amazon, too, offers a basic status report dashboard for Amazon Web Services. "A service dashboard is something our developers asked us for, and we made the service available to them as soon as possible," said spokeswoman Kay Kinton."Own your own risk"And some others are even trying to make a business out of reducing the uncertainties of cloud computing. One is open-source monitoring and management software company Hyperic, which launched a CloudStatus service in June that monitors Amazon Web Services in greater detail. The company is working hard to extend its monitoring service to other sites, too, including Google App Engine, said Stacey Schneider, senior director of marketing."You can't get away from owning your own risk. This is slowing the adoption of the cloud," she said.
Amazon Web Services shows what's working or not. (Click image to see larger version.)Google is trying to communicate better with users and customers, Chandra said, though he stopped short of revealing what the uptime is for Google Docs or detailing why exactly it had problems earlier this week."With the docs outage, we posted immediately in admininstrative console that there was an issue. We posted to the help center, and the phone line system that we were working quickly to resolve it," Chandra said.Asked whether Google plans its own status dashboard, Chandra wouldn't share details but promised better help for users. "We're trying to find even more ways to be more transparent about reliability," he said.Risks of non-cloud computing, tooMuch ado can and should be made of the risks of cloud computing, but it should be noted that even the much more mature business of computing without a cloud has its risks. Downtime, either with ailing or stolen PCs or with overtaxed or faulty servers, is a serious problem there, too.Those with high-end services boast of "five nines" of reliability, where services are available 99.999 percent of the year and therefore down no more than 5 minutes and 15 seconds per year. Google's Gmail SLA, at 99.9 percent uptime, promises downtime of less than 9 hours per year.That might not be five nines, and it's for Gmail only today, but Google chooses to see the glass as half full."We talk to customers, and 99.9 percent is mostly much higher than most organizations with their internal service today," Chandra said.
Stop evil-doers with...your iPhone?(Credit: CNET Networks)1. Birth Buddy. This app lets you track labor contractions--you know, like when you're about to have a baby. This $10 application does have some use, like letting you figure out how far along you are based on the timing of your contractions; however, this could simply done with the iPhone's built-in stopwatch and the lap option. The one added benefit is that you can send an e-mail with this information to loved ones, but using that built-in phone and e-mail function you're already paying for might be a smarter idea.2. Alarm Free. This app is loosely explained as a "self-defence/emergency alarm with freefall detector." That's not the best part though, it's got a visual of what the heck you're supposed to use it for. Apparently it will use the accelerometer to let you know if the phone is in free-fall mode (aka falling perilously out of your pocket)--that is, as long as you've got it running. Otherwise you're supposed to use it as a sound alarm if you're getting mugged. 3. Crazy Eye. Just $.99 gets you this gem from Ezone which questions why you would ever "waste money on an expensive facelift when you can get a crazy Eye" instead. It's a series of 10 blinking eyes ranging from monsters to robots that let you hold up your iPhone over your face to amuse children or annoy co-workers to no end. This is the equivalent of those sticker machines you see on your way out the drug store.4. Cow Toss. Another $.99 gem that shows the awesome power of the touch screen by letting you toss a virtual cow. No there's no scoring--you simply watch it fly around. This is reminiscent of some of the apps that came out when the iPhone was first jailbroken, back when developers didn't know what they were doing and didn't make you pay to realize that.5. Flashlight. This $.99 application charges your for the convenience of turning your screen one of many solid colors for use as a flashlight. A similar native application was offered for free for jailbroken phones late last year. There's also a Web app called vFlashlight that does nearly the same thing for free. If you're away from a Web connection, you can get the same effect by opening up your e-mail in box, which is predominantly white. (See also iBlackout which does the same thing). If you're intent on downloading a standalone flashlight application there's Light, a free installable application put together by The Unofficial Apple Weblog's Erica Sadun.6. Handy Randy. Can't think of random numbers? In case you skipped algebra back in grade school there's Handy Randy. This $10 application (!) draws random numbers for things like door prizes or for times when you're trying to figure out who gets to ride shot gun on the way to the mall. It certainly has some smart features like keeping numbers fresh and non-contiguous and e-mailing the winners of said door prizes, but some simple math skills and imagination will remove the need to use an app like this. 
Is this seriously something you want to spend time doing?(Credit: CNET Networks)7. Hold On! I have to give this application developer some credit for not charging people for this. The entire goal of this application is to see how long you can hold an on-screen button. It records your records and supposedly helps you develop your "concentration skills to make you more productive." My idea of being productive is not wasting your time holding a button that doesn't do anything. What's next, a Lost-themed application where you have to enter "4 8 15 16 23 42" into an on-screen Apple IIe every 108 minutes or your phone bricks?8. Public Transit Maps (all). Any sort of public transit system has its maps available online and free of charge. Also, if you're offline, you can easily spend just a few minutes planning ahead at home by downloading image files of entire system maps that you can simply put in your photo collection. The one thing many of these applications have is location awareness, which is cool, except that with Google Maps you can get an idea of where you are and figure out where the nearest transit location is without dropping $15.9. Looky. This application lets you see live results from Google as you type in a search and charges $2.99 to do it. This is the same thing currently offered if you visit Google.com in your mobile Safari browser, where links from Looky open up to anyways. Save three bucks by using your browser instead.10. World 9. When you were a kid did you feel like real life was a little less cool than Super Mario Bros. because there were no sound effects when you jumped or ran around? Developer Nao Tokui has a free application called World 9 (an homage to the Mario Bros. series) that will make sound effects when you run and jump around based on how the accelerometer reacts. Of the bunch listed here this is probably the most useful, if only to entertain small children as you make a fool of yourself by jumping around with your phone.
Who's Online on AIM(Credit: iPhone Atlas)Fulfilling a feature available previously with jailbreak applications, AOL is offering a free instant-messaging client, available through the AppStore, for the iPhone. In our brief testing, the client was a snap to configure, and worked well, but exhibited a few freezes.When the AIM application is first launched, you are presented with options to use either the AOL instant messaging service or MobileMe. Once you've made your selection, however, we couldn't find an easy way to go back and configure another account.
AIM chat screen(Credit: iPhone Atlas)Buddy lists are displayed with icons, status messages, and the typical blue iPhone interface arrow, which allows you to initiate a chat with a buddy or add a buddy to your favorites. The blue icon doesn't, however, allow you to access an active chat with said buddy. For that, you'll need to tap on the "IMs" button at the bottom of the screen.The AIM application adds a preference pane to the "Settings" application, allowing you to change your screen name and password and control whether or not your account signs off when the AIM program is exited. If the option to sign off is turned off, IMs will continue to stream in while you work in other applications, and be displayed in the "Active IMs" window.
AIM My Info screen(Credit: iPhone Atlas)Tapping the "My Info" button allows you to set your Avaialble/Away status, as well as establish a status message. There's also a neat feature embedded here: you can tap on your buddy icon to bring up an option to either take a photo with the iPhone's built-in camera and use it as your buddy icon, or choose an existing photo from your iPhone's library and use it similarly.As aforementioned, we experienced a few freezes in perfunctory use of AIM. If you experience such a freeze, hold the iPhone's Home button down for several seconds to force-quit the app. (Cross-posted from iPhone Atlas)
With so much fairy dust in the air over Apple's day-early release of the App Store and iTunes 7.7 (for Windows and Mac), it's easy to get caught up in the excitement. And we are excited. Over 500 applications are already clustered in the App Store, many of them tiny apps and widgets that have been custom-built to run natively on the upgraded iPhone firmware. Most of these early entrants are nearly identical to the iPhone-optimized versions previously released by publishers to work with iPhone Classic.
Google's app is a prime example. It opens with a blinking search bar and with the keypad already engaged. Like the optimized Web app version, suggested matches are displayed as the search begins; this time they are listed below the search field. Below the search space is a short cut bar for seeing the retinue of Google apps, including Gmail, Maps, Docs, and Reader. These icons are themselves quick links for launching the Web-optimized versions of Gmail and clan.The app does save a fraction of time in bypassing Safari's initial loading of the iPhone-optimized page and works without a hitch.
Google Autos or Google Music are the guesses that Hitwise hazarded Wednesday. "Our thinking was that Google might want to fill natural gaps in its portfolio of offerings based on the interests of its users. We looked at which categories are receiving the most traffic from Google in which Google does not have its own property," Hitwise's Heather Hopkins wrote in a blog post.In the top 20 classes of Internet sites toward which Google sent traffic, only three have no corresponding in-house Google project, according to Hitwise's June 2008 research."The data suggests Google Autos and Google Music," Hopkins said. "I am not sure we'll see Google Government just yet!"
(Credit: Hitwise)
If you're a Windows user you know full well the tight integration between Microsoft products that has made the operating system a little less than friendly when it comes to tying in various Web apps. E-mail in particular is one of those actions that will usually pop up Outlook or Outlook express, forcing you to either install a third party mail app like Mozilla's Thunderbird or go in and tweak your registry. If you're a Gmail user, and looking to get that same level of integration in Office documents and elsewhere on your system check out gAttach. This simple program will append all your mail extensions, getting them to open up in Gmail instead.One thing that's nice is that it'll simply tack onto whatever browser you've got open, or simply open your default one if you don't have it running. It'll also suck in multiple files at a time (up to Gmail's 20MB limit of course). Yahoo mail users can also take advantage of a sister product galled yAttach, which will do the same thing, although you can't have both installed at once. See also: Set Web e-mail as default Firefox e-mail
Once installed you've got an easy way to tweak your mail settings in Windows to open up in Gmail instead of Outlook or other default programs.(Credit: CNET Networks)
Summer may be a time for fireworks and barbecues in America, but halfway across the globe there's some serious bicycling underway. To celebrate the Tour de France as well as the recent inclusion of Street View in France proper, Google has created a custom Street View map for tracking the entire race route at eye level.Along for the ride are some of the newer Street View additions like face blurring and the ground filling technology that stitches multiple images together to get rid of noticeable seams. According to Google's Lat Long blog the Street View van is also using a higher-quality camera rig, so the images are coming in a little cleaner than usual.
Sharp eyed Google Maps users will also notice that the little yellow Street View person is now riding a bike (complete with head protection), although there's no option to fly around like that cool Katsuomi Kobayashi creation we checked out last month. Maybe some enterprising developer can create something fun before the race is over.Google's previous forays into organized racing events include the 2008 Olympic torch run, which launched back in April. You can track the torch's progress, past and present here. 
There's a reason it's called the Tour--there's a lot of biking involved, and now you can see it in Street View.(Credit: CNET Networks)