Recent developers in WebKit on which Safari is based, ended up in Safari browser for iPhone 2.0 as well as in newly released Safari 3.1.

Apple has implemented HTML 5, CSS 3 and SVG into it. HTML 5 provides a standard for embedded SQL statements into a script code. SVG (scalable vector graphics) brings motion into places where only static bitmap graphics worked before. SQL (through SQLite) and SVG are linked into Safari but not by plug-ins. CSS 3 sets up implicit and explicit animation, and manages both using renderer.

The advancements to Safari are not only the additions of new standards. Apple has also managed to speed up JavaScript performance.

Early on Apple decided not to include cookies and XML to Safari, and hence ported SQLite from iPhone OS to Safari. It allows JavaScript coders the ability to manage data using real SQL with transaction support.While SQLite is client-sized, it is very powerful for a database that links entirely into your code.Since iPhone has space restrictions, using SQLite forces developers to use space carefully.

The advancements in Safari on iPhone 2.0 are great. In fact, Mac users will want it in their desktops! At least viewing for the developers’ perspective since it allows great stand-alone web apps, and that’s something you can’t do on other browsers.

Posted by David on March 22nd, 2008

ivyskin has unveiled their new product for iPhone called Xylo case. It is a unique, sophisticated and elegant case with the touch-thru interface which allows you to control your iPhone without the need to “open” it.

The case is very sturdy and it is made from the silicon, which makes it very durable. Solid scratch resistant screen cover protects your iPhone at all times. As usual with such cases, there is openings for all ports, which further reduces the risk of damage.

The skin features 5 colours (red, blue, white, pink and black) as well as the option to add belt buckle. The price is relatively cheap for the case this good. You can purchase it for only $29.99.

By Sean Michael Kerner on March 19, 2008

All right here’s the question everyone wants to know – What’s better – Apple iPhone or Google Android?

According to Andrea Gazzaniga, software development manager at mobile open source vendor Funambol the answer is not entirely clear. In a rambling overflow presentation at AjaxWorld’s iPhone Sumitt, Gazzaniga attempted to outline the differences and similiaraties between iPhone and Android.

“iPhone is cool and that’s what’s bringing us all here,” Gazzaniga said. “With Android the claim is that it will be open and we’re hoping it will overcome the closed nature of current mobile development.

Gazzaniga had a few other (not so startling) points such as Android is based on Linux while the iPhone is based on Mac OS. For the most part Gazzaniga implied that Android from an app developers point of view behaves much the same as iPhone, though he did point out a few serious limiations to the iPhone (from what he could tell from the iPhone SDK).

According to Gazzaniga iPhone does not allow in its SDK for background processes. That is an app must close when the users leaves it. The obvious question resulting from that issue then is – how does an application listen for a network event after a user leaver it ? (for instant messaging or sync operations).

There is not official email integration in the iPhone SDK which begs the question  – is it possible to deliver email other than with Apple’s client and built-in protocols?  Gazzaniga also noted that developers of iPhone native applications will need Apple to distribute their applications. As an example Gazzaniga commented that you can’t get Skype for the iPhone today.

Overall though in my view, Gazzaniga’s presentation left the audience with more questions than answers. It will be interesting to see as the iPhone and Android SDKs mature and gain adoption, precisely what the differences between the two are from a practical point of view.

During this week’s AjaxWorld conference, ICEsoft Technologies has unveiled their open source ICEfaces Project.

ICEfaces itself is an Ajax framework that enables developers to easily create server centric rich internet applications in pure Java. The system works by extending JSF (java server faces) which is a component model for JavaEE development.

While working in standart JSF programming envirounment, you have the addition of Automatic AJAX which handles back-end AJAX Framework functionality for them transparently. In addition, a feature known as “AJAX Push” automatically takes care of synchronization between the desktop and the mobile device.

While iPhone was presented as a great platform, Steve Markya CTO of ICEsoft Technologies said it had some deficiencies like memory constraints, small footprint, and inability to support drag-and-drop.

But even with its shortcomings, ICEsoft demonstrated some interesting projects like a program that allows users to “push” conference slides from a desktop to an iPhone and an app to order taxi from iPhone while on business trip, and then receive and view status reports.

Thanks: SeanKerner

Many Tricks has released yFlicks 3.3, updated version of its movie manager and viewer for Mac.

With yFlicks, users can download, tag, organize and view their movies. This update adds coverflow for browsing your movies both in window and fullscreen mode, lets you access your iTunes movies from yFlicks, improves downloading from video communities such as YouTube, and features many other small improvements.

The update also adds stand alone application TubiTunes, which lets you add an online web video (YouTube, CollegeHumor, DailyMotion, Metacafe) to your iTunes library with just one click. Most importantly you can convert movies to iPhone-readable format.

It costs €16.95. However if you have an older version of yFlicks, update will be free. But if it’s a bit too much you can also purchase TubiTunes alone for €4.95. As usual, there is a trial version available for download.

Google’s new GData Objective –C Client Library adds support for the Google Contacts Data API and YouTube API. So essentially, any applications written in Objective-C (including those created for the iPhone) will be able to take advantage of features such as uploading video to YouTube account or directly editing their Google account contacts.

According to Google blog post, GData Objective-C Client library is 100% compatible with the iPhone SDK.

“Perhaps you want your iPhone software to send photos to a Picasa Web Albums account, or keep a journal of phone calls automatically in Blogger. Maybe your iPhone application accesses a database of information from a Google Spreadsheet or from Google Base. With the Google Data APIs Objective-C Client Library, creating software for these tasks is straightforward.”

“If you are writing iPhone software, just drag the “GData Sources” group folder from the GData project file into your iPhone project, and use the GData APIs as you would when writing a Mac application.”

More information on GData Objective-C Client Library can be found at the project page. [Via iPhone Atlas]

In an AjaxWorld Conference this week, Aptana had one of the more impressive presentations on how easy it is to develop Ajax applications for the iPhone.

They presented open source Aptana Studio IDE. It is a full Ajax development environment and it is available as a stand-alone as well as an Eclipse plug-in.

Integration with Eclipse provides developers with an interactive console as well as preview support for iPhone applications. Plug-in also supports preview with which you also see how the application will look like and how it will behave on an iPhone. This is achieved by integrating the plug-in with iPhone emulator.

The demonstration showed how to build a simple application. It was also explained how Aptana Studio includes options that enable developers to take full advantage of the iPhone user interface for sizing, resizing and left-to-right toggling. The result is that developers will get a real sense of what their applications will look like inside of iPhone.

If you would like to give this a try visit Aptana website.

M:Metrics report says that iPhone users are tend to check the web more often than the users of other mobile devices.

Research revealed that 85% of iPhone users accessed news and other web information in January 2008.

M:Metrics found that a 30.9 percent of iPhone owners watched mobile TV or video, versus a 4.6 market average, and more than double the rate for all smartphone users.

Social networking is also popular among iPhone users: 49.7 percent accessed a social networking site in January, nearly twelve times the market average. Twenty percent of iPhone owners accessed Facebook, one of the first Web properties to customize its content for the iPhone, versus 1.5 percent of the total mobile market.

iPhone users tend to listen to music more as well. 74.1 percent of iPhone users listened to music compared to just 27.9 percent of the smartphone audience.The study showed that iPhone owners, like other smartphone owners, tend to be male, aged 25-34, earn more than US$100K and have a college degree.

Yesterday The Financial Times reported that a group of big music industry labels approached Apple, whose iTunes music downloads store is responsible for over 70% of all music sold online, with a rather innovative offer.

According to the report, Universal Music, Sony BMG, Warner Music, and EMI, are interested in a similar deal like the one that they get from Nokia’s “With Music” program. Apparently, they’re interested in receiving a part of the revenue that Apple gets from sales of iPods and iPhones (sort of like Apple gets a part of iPhone carrier’ revenues).

In return, they’re allegedly willing to provide unlimited music subscriptions to Apple’s customers — that means you, iPhone owners to be (since most likely the price of the device with free music subscription would cost more than the regular price — in Nokia’s “With Music” case, free-music-enabled phones cost $80 more).

But BusinessWeek reports today, quoting an insider source, that the idea has been “kicked around” for approximately a year with “no meaningful discussions” taking place. Likewise, other insiders in the music industry dismissed the idea, while Apple declined to comment.
One of the potential reasons for Apple not wanting to get along with this program that BusinessWeek is bringing up, is the fact that iTunes is very successful as it is, and requires no revamps to its own business model (although the case might be very different when it comes to the business model of the music industry itself). Another potential reason is that despite the fact that iTunes sold over 4 billion songs, it has also sold a total of 142 million iPods and 4 million iPhones — which would mean that the average iPod/iPhone owner has bought fewer than 28 iTunes tracks.

But still, not all is lost, according to Jupiter Research analyst Michael Gartenberg. “There may be millions of people who would never buy into the iPod-iTunes ecosystem who’d be willing to pay $7 to $10 a month for all the music they can get. If anyone can explain the benefits of a plan like this, it’s Apple,” he says.

Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen said that they are going to bring Flash for the iPhone, even though Steve Jobs said it wasn’t suitable for it.He made such announcement on a meeting on Tuesday with the investors.“Flash is synonymous with the Internet and, frankly, anybody who wants to browse the Web and experience the Web’s glory really needs Flash support,” he said.He is very certain that adding Flash for the iPhone isn’t a big problem. Currently they are evaluating the SDK. 

 Interestingly, Adobe wants to work with Apple. “We think it benefits our joint customers. So we want to work with Apple to bring that capability to the device,”. Unfortunately, Apple still stays silent about this issue.Once the flash hits the iPhone, it surely will be even more popular platform. But for now we just have to wait and see how this will turn out.