Shape Services is offering their popular IM app for the iPhone at 90 percent off until February 2 before IM+ 1.7 with Emoticons and Photo sharing feature is approved in App Store. The update will be free.

IM+, $0.99 now, was $9.99 – keep you connected to all your buddies with unmatched reliability of 6 years of technology refinement and support for all major messaging services: AIM / MobileMe, MSN / Windows Live, Yahoo, ICQ, Jabber, Google Talk and MySpaceIM. Try the free version IM+ Lite.

IM+ includes IM Push mode which allows users to stay online with IM+ even when the application is switched off. No more sudden disconnects when someone calls you or you have to use other applications. When you exit IM+, optional IM Push™ switches on if you have previously selected this option. In this mode you will remain online in all IM services, and continue receiving IMs as e-mails pushed to your iPhone mailbox. Your replies will be converted to instant messages and will be delivered back to your contact.

Twenty five minute hands-on of the Palm Pre via treo|central. The hands-on was done by Peter Skillman, VP of Product Design at Palm spends a bit too long on the packaging, but gives you a further glimpse of the new Palm Pre which looks nice. Sure rips off the iPhone in the UI. Again this makes me think that Palm will need to hire some good lawyers as Apple has been granted patents on multi-touch.

Apple’s iPhone has been on a tear as far as third party development. They surpassed RIM’s Blackberry in the amount of available apps within a month of the App Store opening on July 11, 2008.

Now they may have even surpassed Windows Mobile. Tracking down the actual number of apps available to the user of Windows Mobile can be a bit hard to quantify however.

Continue reading Has iPhone Beat Windows in Applications Available?…

Apple has made a change to the iTunes Plus section of the iTunes Store. They now allows you to upgrade the DRM content you bought to a higher quality DRM-free version on a per track basis, instead of the “all or nothing” method perviously offered.

This comes as good news to users that have lots of content they may like to upgrade. Upgrading to iTunes Plus versions are $0.30 per track. The albums seem to cost around $3 and $4 to upgrade.

At the official opening ceremony of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Vladimir Putin, Russian Prime Minister, delivered a 40-minute speech touching on everything from why the dollar should not be the sole reserve currency to how the world needed to enter into a smart energy partnership with Russia.

Time for questions. First up was Michael Dell, while praising Russia’s technical and scientific prowess, he asked, “How can we help” you to expand IT in Russia.

Answer from Putin, “We don’t need help. We are not invalids. We don’t have limited mental capacity.”

Continue reading Russia Does Not Need Dell Either…

In a surprise move the United States House of Representatives has failed to pass the digital TV transition delay bill that passed in the Senate just days ago. So February 17 it is!

UPDATE: The House of Representatives spent much time debating legislation that would delay the digital TV transition from February 17 to June 12, and ultimately approved the delay, 264-158. So June 12th it is!

For those of us the live in Gmail this is fantastic news. Gmail is going offline, in the good way using Google Gears.

Continue reading Offline Gmail is Arriving…

Continue reading iPhone Tip #42: Customizing the iPod Buttons…

Apple has just updated the firmware for the iPhone and the iPod touch to 2.2.1. This latest release has improved general stability of Safari and has addressed the issue where some images saved from Mail did not display correctly in the camera roll.

The upgrade applies to both the original iPhone and the iPhone 3G, and can be downloaded through iTunes.

Continue reading iPhone Tip #41: Surfing Internet While Talking…

Continue reading iPhone Tip #40: Email URL from Safari…

Continue reading iPhone Tip #39: Investigate Links in Safari and Mail…

Continue reading iPhone Tip #38: Silence Ringer and Send Call To Voicemail…

Continue reading iPhone Tip #37: Enable Wi-Fi While In Airplane Mode…

Amazon today said it would hold a press event on February 9th at the Morgan Library & Museum in New York City. No details have been released, but the second generation Kindle is a good bet.

The Kindle 2 maybe a major overhaul to the original reader with a smaller, more rounded and more ergonomic design with a directional pad instead of a touchstrip and more comfortable keys. Most expect the new Kindle to continue shipping with free 3G cellular access for downloading books and viewing websites but to shed the SD card slot for built-in flash memory.

Apple was awarded patent number 7,479,949 on January 20, 2009 according the the US Patent Office. Named in the patent are Steve Jobs, Scott Forstall and several others as inventors.

Continue reading Apple Awarded iPhone Multi-touch Patent…

The U.S. Senate has just given its approval for a four month delay moving the switch to Digital TV from February 17 to June 12, 2009. For the millions of Americans still waiting for their $40 voucher before buying a DTV converter boxes, they get more time as Congress figures out how to fund it. See The Day Analog TV Dies – What You Need To Know.

UPDATE: Digital TV Transition Bill Defeated in House

UPDATE 2: The House of Representatives spent much time debating legislation that would delay the digital TV transition from February 17 to June 12, and ultimately approved the delay, 264-158. So June 12th it is!

Continue reading iPhone Tip #36: Double Tap Space Bar for a Period…

Continue reading iPhone Tip #35: Make Calls from Safari, Mail and SMS…

Continue reading iPhone Tip #34: Headphone’s Multi-function Button Operation…