Having your own iPhone app for your website or blog is becoming an increasingly common way to promote and extend your brand.

However, actually creating that application and getting it into the App Store can be a lengthy and expensive process, especially if you have little development experience. Today PointAbout is launching a new product called AppMakr, which is designed to make creating your own iPhone app simple and inexpensive.
AppMakr is a streamlined system that creates a native iPhone application out of your existing RSS feeds. You can customize elements …

For his new book, communications coach Carmine Gallo watched hours of Jobs’ keynotes. Here he identifies the five elements of every presentation by the Apple CEO

The Apple music event of Sept. 9, 2009, marked the return of the world’s greatest corporate storyteller. For more than three decades, Apple (AAPL) co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs has raised product launches to an art form. In my new book, The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs: How to Be Insanely Great in Front of Any Audience, I reveal the techniques that Jobs uses …

Yesterday the USPTO published a unique granted patent, filed on behalf of Apple, that gives some insight into the company’s potential plans. The patent is titled “Remote control of electronic devices” and the basic gist is that a device is in the works that would let you use your mobile device to remotely control your home computer.
But wait, I hear you say — there are already a ton of apps that do just that for the iPhone. Yes, there absolutely are (my favorite is Jaadu VNC). It looks like …

Who will emerge victorious in the fight for the future?

Back in the good old days, Microsoft did desktops, Google stuck to search and Apple made toys for people in polo necks. No more.
The superpowers of the technology world are at war, and like real wars, the battle is happening on several fronts. They’re fighting on the desktop, they’re fighting on mobile phones, they’re fighting in the browser and they’re fighting in your front room.
Who will prevail, and who will end up in a bunker? We chart the key battlegrounds …

What will be Apple’s next super-product–its next spectacular, game-changing “one more thing”? We asked five Apple experts to brainstorm with abandon and then brought their ideas to life.

Apple doesn’t develop category-creating products. Instead, it enters categories that already exist, deconstructs the competition, burrows deep into R&D mode, and returns with gear so dominant, you’d think Apple invented the category in the first place. This approach doesn’t require rocket science. It only requires a commitment to push the boundaries of what’s possible–and not release a product until it …

Just about every big brand seemingly has a Twitter presence at this point, but which are generating the most buzz? TweetedBrands provides a simple answer to the question, by looking at the brands receiving the most mentions over the past 24 hours.
Not surprisingly, Twitter tops the list, and in fact, the first 9 brands listed are all Internet or tech related products. This makes sense – you’re a lot more likely to tweet about the various devices and services you’re using throughout the day than the brand of shoes …

At the end of July I declared my intention to quit the iPhone and AT&T, port my mobile phone number to Google Voice and use any mobile device that I pleased (or lots of them at once) in the future. Like others, I will no longer blindly follow all things Apple. Today I’m pleased to report a status update on those efforts: complete. I am no longer a member of the Cult of iPhone.
Porting my phone number to Google Voice was a three day process, which I was pre-warned …

Should have seen this one coming, right? Google CEO Eric Schmidt has resigned from Apple’s board today citing a conflict of interest. Apple (Steve Jobs, in fact) says that “Unfortunately, as Google enters more of Apple’s core businesses, with Android and now Chrome OS, Eric’s effectiveness as an Apple board member will be significantly diminished, since he will have to recuse himself from even larger portions of our meetings due to potential conflicts of interest.” Android and Chrome OS — something had to give, but the timing sure does …

It’s been a nasty week for iPhone users. Apple has buckled to pressure from AT&T and denied Google’s Voice application from the App Store: a nifty service that helps you consolidate phones and manage your voicemail online. The app lives on at the BlackBerry App World and Android Market, making some of the technorati so angry they’ve vowed to ditch AT&T in protest–and their beloved iPhone with it. Here are seven reasons why you should make AT&T and Apple suffer for their sins.
Read more at: Fast Company
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In recent weeks, the Apple tablet has transitioned from “longtime rumor” to “practical inevitability”. In particular, a story in the Financial Times last week said the device may be announced as early as next month. Today Barron’s has ramped up the excitement by quoting an analyst who claims to have seen the device “first hand”.
The “veteran analyst”, whom Barron’s does not name, claims to have seen a prototype of the tablet. Commenting on the device’s playback of hi-def video, the analyst is quoted as saying: “It’s better than …

Apple attempted to silence a father and daughter with a gagging order after the child’s iPod music player exploded and the family sought a refund from the company.
The Times has learnt that the company would offer the family a full refund only if they were willing to sign a settlement form. The proposed agreement left them open to legal action if they ever disclosed the terms of the settlement.
The case echoes previous circumstances in which Apple attempted to hush up incidents when its devices overheated.
Ken Stanborough, 47, from Liverpool, …

Now this is ridiculous. Not only did Apple pull all the unofficial Google Voice apps out of the App Store for an absurd reason, now they expect the developers of those apps to fund refunds out of their own pockets.
Read more at: Gizmodo

Is the iPhone so cool that give Apple and AT&T the right to reject Google Voice’s application while letting similar apps like Skype’s stay?
Disappointing? Yes, especially if you are a Google Voice fan.
Anti-competitive? Could be. The Federal Communication Commission is looking into the matter and asking uncomfortable questions.
The saga has just started, stay tuned (for free) for interesting developments to come.
Related Articles:

AT&T and Apple Ban Google Voice App: Is It Illegal? (Mashable)
FCC Looking Into AT&T Rejection Of Google Voice App (CNN Money)
Google Voice Thoroughly Banned From the iPhone; So …

Apple just rejected the Google Voice iPhone application from App Store distribution, the most recent in a long line of questionable moves, and the message is clear: If you want a device that won’t lock you out of innovation, skip the iPhone.
There’s no question that this brilliant little piece of hardware has sparked a revolution in the world of mobile computing and cellphones, and, likewise, there’s no question that consumers have benefited from that. I’ve been a believer in the iPhone from the start (hell, I even co-wrote a …

Fortune’s Bridget Brennan has a bold statement: “Why doesn’t Apple make remote controls? You ask: Why Apple? Because if any company could improve one of the world’s most user-unfriendly electronic devices, it would be Apple. And then there’s this: Apple just may be the world’s most discreetly feminine brand.” Oh man. We were with her right up until that last statement: remote controls are fairly user-unfriendly, and an Apple remote (other than, you know, the one already out there) would be a thing of beauty. But “the world’s most …

The App Store approval process has always been mysterious, slightly ridiculous and mildly infuriating. But with the summary execution of Google Latitude as well as every Google Voice app, it’s finally gone too far.
Until this past week, Google’s been the most privileged developer for the iPhone outside of Apple itself. I mean, Google Maps and YouTube come baked into the phone. Hell, Google even gave the iPhone voice search—a more powerful version, no less—before it delivered the feature to its own OS, very obviously using private APIs that would’ve …

We’ve seen Apple ban applications from the App Store for all sorts of ridiculous reasons. This time, it’s different; all Google Voice related apps were banned from the app store, and this time Apple – or, more likely, AT&T – has a very good reason to ban them: it’s scared of them.
Google Voice lets you do a lot of stuff for free that the AT&T charges for; you can place free calls in the US, you can send and receive free SMS messages. The application is still in beta, …

After being sued by EFF, company relents on claims of copyright, DMCA violations

A wiki operator who was browbeaten by Apple’s legal team into removing posts about circumventing the company’s music-playback software tells me he is relieved that the iTunes proprietor has changed its tune and he’ll be able to restore the disputed pages.
Apple backed off only under legal pressure of its own in the form of a lawsuit filed against it by the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
From an EFF press release:

In November 2008, Apple sent a series of legal threats …

In what appears to be a last-minute effort to play catch-up, Microsoft and Verizon have put out a call for developers to code for their mobile platforms.
Verizon is planning a July 28 conference in San Jose, California, to attract software developers to its mobile platform. And Microsoft announced that on July 27, the company will start accepting mobile application submissions in advance of its launch of Windows Mobile 6.5 in the fall.
The companies appear to be responding to Apple, which announced this morning that its iPhone App Store, now …

Google Inc Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said he will talk to Apple Inc about how his role on its board might change after Google’s move to launch a new operating system.
Earlier this week, Google announced it was developing software for personal computers based on its Chrome Web browser, which would compete with Microsoft Corp’s Windows as well as Apple’s OS X platform.
Schmidt said at the Allen & Co media and technology conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, on Thursday that PC makers could announce products running Chrome OS later this …