Category: News (Page 42 of 130)

iPhone to get new SMS ringtones

New iPhone SMS ringtones.If you’re even marginally creative, you know how easy it is to create your own ringtones for the iPhone. My own phone currently has a few custom ringers in it, including short clips from songs like “Consolers of the Lonely” by The Raconteurs and “Telephone Line” by ELO (it’s corny, I know). But there is no solace for those of us who are sick of the Tri-Tone SMS alert. Not yet, anyway.

It looks like iOS 4.2 should bring more options for your SMS alerts. Unfortunately, they are both long and horribly annoying. As the video at Gizmodo shows, they have names like “Calypso” and “Noir” and tend to be little mini songs. Keep in mind, this is for a text message, not your ringer. I don’t even text that much, but when I do it’s usually a back and forth of about four messages. Having one of those go off more than once in a five minute period would be enough to make me scream.

Google adds Goggles to its mobile iPhone app

Google Goggles for the iPhone.

Google is about the only company that can make me sad to be an iPhone owner. Any time Google rolls out a spiffy new app for the mobile market, I die a little inside, knowing I probably won’t get to use it any time soon. Take Google Goggles, the service that allows you to search by what the camera on your phone can see. It debuted last December for Android users, and it has just now made its way to the iPhone.

Despite the long wait, the app is as cool as ever. Google built the new function into the standard Google Mobile app, which already allows you to search by text and voice. Here’s the official word from the Google blog:

In the new version of Google Mobile App just tap on the camera button to search using Goggles. Goggles will analyze the image and highlight the objects it recognizes — just click on them to find out more.

Though Goggles is still technically a “Labs” feature, Google says it works well for things like landmarks and logos, and that it will continue to improve for objects like animals and food.

Official Google Voice app might already be approved

Google Voice logo.It’s been more than a year since Apple pulled the original Google Voice app from the App Store, claiming that the product “duplicated existing functionality.” Some third-party GV apps have since made their way to the App Store, thanks in part to Apple’s decision to release app guidelines to the public. If TechCrunch is right, it sounds like the official Google Voice app may already be approved, marking the triumphant return of one of the most anticipated applications to the iPhone.

Here’s what TC had to say:

The App Store review office at 1 Infinite Loop has officially frozen over: we’ve gotten word that the official Google Voice application is on its way to the iPhone in the next few weeks. In fact, we’ve heard from a source close to Google that it’s already been approved — Google just needs to revamp the application to work with the iPhone 4 and iOS’s multitasking capabilities. If you’re a Google Voice user and you’re on an iPhone, this is great news.

No word from Google, but I’m hoping it’s only a matter of time.

Instapaper is officially a startup

Instapaper.

Marco Arment, the CTO at Tumblr, has been working a personal project for a while that you might know about. I’ve been using Instapaper on and off for a couple months, but I never seem to remember why I go on streaks of abstinence. The service is the best method I’ve found for storing links and reading them across multiple devices.

Arment is officially taking Instapaper from a personal hobby to a startup. Arment has 800,000 users registered to his service, with 200,000 regular users. Arment is self-financing the startup by himself.

“It’s all self-funded so far and has been for the first six months of the service. My only costs are my time, server fees and paying the contractor for some Web work.”

As for the future of the product, Arment is looking at developing an HTML5 version that could be supported across all mobile platforms into the future.

U.S. Netflix subscribers may get a streaming-only plan

Netflix Chief Executive Officer Reed Hastings speaks during the launch of streaming internet subscription service for movies and TV shows to TVs and computers in Canada at a news conference in Toronto September 22, 2010. The Canadian introduction marks the first availability of the Netflix service outside of the United States.  REUTERS/ Mike Cassese  (CANADA - Tags: MEDIA BUSINESS)

Netflix has been going through a bit of a rough patch with regards to PR. First there were the actors, paid to look excited about the service’s Canadian launch, and then Reed Hastings made an “awkward joke” when asked if he thought there would be an American backlash about the lower subscription prices.

How much has it been your experience that Americans follow what happens in the world? It’s something we’ll monitor, but Americans are somewhat self-absorbed.

Hastings did do something a little out of character the other day when he hinted at a streaming-only option for US customers in a recent blog post.

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