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WHERE: WHERE integrates several widgets designed to answer any question that starts with its name. Where's the nearest coffee shop? Where's the nearest gas station? But it's more flexible than that, able to answer some questions that start with "what," as in "what's the traffic on I-95 like?" Hell, it can even do some "whens," like "when is Fantastic Mr. Fox playing?" It's got Yelp, YellowPages, Starbucks and more. Free

Evernote: Evernote is arguably the best note-taking app on every platform on which it appears (iPhone, Android) and on Pre it's nearly as good. For some reason the Pre version lacks voice notes, but it's still what I use for grocery lists. Free

Pandora: It's Pandora. It's great. Especially essential on the Pre, which has a mere 8GB of non-expandable memory. Free

Fandango: Another one that you probably already know, Fandango's the best movie-finding app on WebOS. It saves nearby or favorite theaters, uses GPS to find those closest, lets you watch trailers—it's everything you'd want in a movie app. Free

Twee: I had a hard time deciding between Twee and Tweed for the title of Palm Pre Twitter Champ, but decided on Twee for two reasons. First, I like its story—it was a jailbreak app first, and muscled its way into the App Catalog on sheer moxie and pluck. Second, it offers a free version, which is the one I actually use. Tweed has a more conventional (read: prettier) interface, but I'm not sure that's worth three bucks when TweeFree is totally competent. Free

NYTimes: An essential for any smartphone platform, the Pre's NYTimes app falls in between the iPhone's and Android's in quality. It's less buggy and better-looking than Android's, but its smaller screen and slightly slower performance gives iPhone the edge. Regardless, it's a great app for the greatest news outlet in the country, and lets you feel informed even though you're just skimming headlines while sitting on the toilet. Free

TasteSpotting Today: TasteSpotting is my favorite food website, but the things that make it great (huge and constantly updated selection, links to external websites, great photography) also make it a headache to read on a mobile device. But TasteSpotting Today puts the massive amounts of info in an easy-to-read format. Great for anyone who likes food. $1

Tea Timer: Honestly, I don't really like tea. I can never get it to taste like much besides tea-flavored hot water, and, you know, I always feel like could be drinking coffee instead. But I have to say, Tea Timer, which provides exact steeping times for a huge variety of tea types (as well as a countdown timer), did result in the best cup of loose-leaf Rooibos I've ever had. Still tasted like tea-flavored water, but it was the best tea-flavored water I've ever made. Way to go, Tea Timer. $1

Topple Ball: The Pre's definitely lacking in games compared to the iPhone, but Topple Ball is the perfect waiting-for-a-bus game. It's kind of like that tilting maze game Labyrinth, but with obstacles like bumpers, launchers and teleporters to provide extra challenge. Surprisingly tough, but my go-to timewaster. $2, free version available

Stitcher: As with Pandora, it's important to have a source of streaming media to make up for the Pre's anemic storage, and Stitcher is my favorite podcast app on the platform. It's sleek, fairly full-featured, streams quickly, and has an easy-to-use interface. Free

Scoop: Scoop is my pick for best RSS reader on the Pre, due to its solid integration with Google Reader. Feeds is the other frontrunner, but it's five times more expensive and you definitely aren't getting more for your money. $1

Open Table: Open Table is a great (albeit sometimes limited) way to reserve tables at restaurants without having to, like, talk to a human being. It's really effective in major urban areas like NYC and SF, although in my suburban Pennsylvania hometown I was better off using Yelp and calling the restaurants. Free

Accuweather: Tells you the weather. Free

Dealert: Tracks deals from a variety of online deal purveyors, like SlickDeals, DealNews and FatWallet. That's provided you need some other source of deals beyond our own Gadget Deals of the Day, shocking though that may be. $2

Yelp: The premiere source for sometimes-corrupt listings of restaurants and local businesses. Need pan-Asian-Ethiopian fusion food right now, in the middle of Little Italy? Yelp's got your back. Free

JogStats: If you're one of those weirdos who likes jogging even when there's a perfectly nice couch you could be sitting on, JogStats is the best running assistant on WebOS. It tracks your distance, speed, calories, altitude, all that stuff that makes me exhausted just typing it. $5

Classic: For the guy who just can't let go to the past, this oddly third-party app recreates the classic Palm OS on your Pre or Pixi, complete with virtual buttons, and will run any Palm OS app. Free

GDial: The Palm Pre's Google Voice app is damn good—in John Herrman's words, "The Pre handles Google Voice nearly as well as Android, and obviously way better than the iPhone." Free

Crosswords: It ain't from Will Shortz, but the Pre's Crosswords app is surprisingly excellent. Clever puzzles, huge selection, with a range of challenge from Monday to Saturday (there's a little crossword humor for you). Seems expensive, but if you're into crossword puzzles, this could mean dozens of hours of entertainment. Or, if you're like me, hundreds of hours. $10

Media Remote: A version of Apple's very first iPhone app, Remote, Media Remote takes the idea to the next level by letting you control several different programs on a Windows PC—WMP, iTunes, MediaMonkey, VLC and XBMC. Pre only (since the Pixi has no Wi-Fi) and yeah, Windows only is lame, but I use this app all the time to control my XBMC-running media center and it works great. Free

Granted, this should be seen as a trial, because it only includes a month of full services, after which a navigation subscription costs $3 a month or $25 a year via in-app purchases, though the months don't have to be consecutive, so you can sort of just pay as you go, buying nav access only when you need it. If you're driving anywhere over the holidays, seriously, just give it a shot. Four quarters, folks!

In the passenger seat, I've already got the address and driving directions up on my iPhone.

Welcome to the future of connected cars.

How our cars talk to the internet—and how we talk to our cars—continues to evolve. And it's about to get a lot better. Ford is putting a Wi-Fi router inside next year's Sync-equipped vehicles that will rebroadcast any 3G card's connection. Audi is experimenting with fingertip touch inputs. BMW is already trying to figure out how to put a "monster" antenna on their cars to support the faster next-generation LTE wireless standard "without putting this ugly lump on our cars."

But it's the little ol' iPhone, with its versatile, optional, liability-shifting bundle of apps that may making the biggest difference in how we use the internet in our cars in the coming years.

Getting Online

Drive off the lot today in a new Sync-equipped Ford, pair your Bluetooth phone, and you've got a data connection to the internet—sort of.

Sync uses technology from a company called Airbiquity. Their service sends data over the voice connection of your phone—not a data plan or SMS—using tech similar to an old-school analog modem. It's rather slick, as hacks go, allowing Sync-connected cars to get data anywhere there is cellphone coverage, even if there isn't data service offered by the carrier.

But I can't seem to track down the raw speed of an Airbiquity connection—and given both the nature of the technology as well as the amount of data a current Sync system displays (sports scores, stock prices, simple phone number lookups)—I can't imagine its throughput compares to a modern 3G service. It's a robust platform for basic connectivity, but it's not Real Internet.

The new Sync fixes that—or will as soon as Ford starts taking advantage of the higher-speed connections. Jason Johnson, an engineer at Ford who helped develop in the in-car Wi-Fi system, was cagey when I asked him when we could expect Sync to piggyback on a internet connection from a third-party 3G stick, saying only that "it broadens the horizons for applications in the future." So strangely, while the new Sync will help you get other devices in the car online, it won't be using that connection for its own data, nor use its Wi-Fi router to talk to, say, your home network. Yet.

Upscale automakers have been taking a different tack, offering optional connectivity packages like Autonet Mobile, or, as BMW has offered since 2007, build in connectivity at the factory.

Like a laptop with a built-in 3G modem, however, these cars suffer from a distinct lack of modularity. Want to upgrade when LTE starts to come online next year? Better buy a new car.

And worse, the integrated systems, even though they're connecting to the same wireless internet as every other device, are severely restricted. The $200-a-year BMW Search service can bring down Google Maps, local fuel prices and grades, even weather forecasts—using a "major GSM provider" in the United States which, although BMW would not confirm, is probably AT&T—but there's nary a web browser to be found.

Danger Ahead

"Texting while driving won't seem like a big deal," laughs BMW's Fran Dance, "when people are YouTubing while driving." Dance (no relation) handles telematics for BMW in North America, so he's been thinking a lot about not just how drivers will use the internet in their cars, but how they shouldn't.

"We can't be searching eBay for my favorite Afghan scarf," says Dance. "I really shouldn't be googling too much stuff or reading too much text. BMW recognizes that the driver is still the most important person in the car."

BMW has been doing car computers for years—the new ones are even, by all reports, good. But it took several years for BMW to balance the utility, convenience, and safety factors in their iDrive system.

We'll continue to see development in this area, with bigger touch screens, faster, more accurate voice control (something on which Sync heavily relies), even biometric measurements like Toyota's eye monitoring system.

Apps, Apps, Apps. Also: Apps. Consider the App.

But what will our car computers be controlling? More and more, it's looking like iPhones.

For certain, a limited amount of sanctioned applications will be coming from manufacturers to run directly on a car's computer. Ford has let owners add 911 Assist and Vehicle Health Report apps to existing Sync systems by copying them over on USB keys. BMW is exploring the idea of map updates that would allow drivers to turn on audio tours of historic places, matching up museum-style guidebooks triggered by GPS location.

"We would be very foolish to create our own version of Pandora or Rhapsody," says Dance. Better to let Pandora build their own BMW client, for instance, which BMW can then vet, sanction, and install.

Or at least that's what I thought Dance meant, until he explained: "You can listen to Pandora in your BMW today on your iPhone." Well sure. I can listen to Pandora in any car that has an auxiliary input. But BMW is working with companies—including Apple—to allow their iPhone applications to interface with a car's iDrive system. Pandora might be running on an iPhone or BlackBerry, but when plugged into the docking station of the BMW, it could be controlled with all of the car's integrated buttons and doodads.

Ford is taking it a step further, going as far funding the creation of iPhone apps, that mesh with the in-car Sync system. Next year, Ford will open up the Sync API to other developers, making it possible for third-parties to write applications like "FollowMe", an iPhone + Sync app which allows "friends to follow a lead vehicle to a location without the need to physically follow each other, thanks to GPS turn-by-turn directions transmitted from the leader to the followers and read aloud to the drivers."

BMW is taking a hybrid route with its Mini brand. The Mini "Connected Buddy" concept, slurping up music data from a connected iPhone and then building its own "Genius"-style visual map of artists. [Pictured above.] There's the requisite Twitter and Facebook apps. But most of the work is being done by the iPhone, not the car. The screen and controls in the Mini become an extension of the iPhone.

Apps on Phones Protects from Lawsuits

In a large portion of the United States, it's illegal to have a television in your car that the driver can see, a regulation that was put in place long before smartphones and GPS units were even dreamed up. There are considerable liability issues an auto manufacturer has to consider if one were to, say, let you run Firefox in your dashboard.

But by tacitly pushing in-car application development to smartphones—even if those smartphones might so happen to be connected to the car—it puts the liability back in the driver's hands.

There's little danger of smartphone literally crashing the car, either. Sync talks to the same telemetric and diagnostic system that the car's other computers do, for instance, albeit in a one-way polling. It can ask for data, but it can't, say, reprogram the valve timing to allow for greater fuel economy or allow your Focus to run on water even though we all know that's totally possible. More conservative companies like Toyota don't even wire the entertainment system into the same telemetric and sensor packages as the car-control computers.

The Easy Way Out

Despite what you might think, I didn't expect the iPhone to play a big part in this story when I first started looking into it. As a music player, sure. Perhaps even eventually as a data option for more modest cars without built-in connectivity.

But using the power of smartphones is clearly where the attention is focused in the connected car industry right now—and I don't think it's such a bad thing. The pace of innovation will be faster for developers if our cars become giant peripherals for our phones, bristling with sensors and data, than if we waited for every manufacturer to make their own monolithic platform. (And while the iPhone is certainly getting the most attention, I have no doubt that BlackBerry and Android phones will get all the attention they deserve if they keep doing well.)

I mean, Sync is built on Windows CE, which may not be the dog in the embedded space it has become on mobile phones, but is still, you know, Windows CE. Jason Johnson was quick to underline how Ford has a healthy relationship with Microsoft (of course) but also how much of the Sync system was engineered on top of Windows CE by Ford.

Yet if Ford does what they're planning to do, that Sync runs on top of CE won't even matter. As long as it plays nice with phones and sends them all the information their apps need, everyone will be happy. And better yet, the cars' capability will be upgraded along with the phones'.

In a couple of years, I won't even have to read the turn-by-turn directions to Brian aloud, because his car will already know exactly what my iPhone knows.

Photo compliments of Mr. Tom Arthur.

Wondering what the future of apps in your car might look like? Jalopnik's own Matt Hardigree imagines what the first 20 apps you download to your car might be.

It works easily: Just take a photo, apply a censorship patch out of a total of four kinds, and save. I like the silk patch, which apparently lets you send photos with a censorship you can see through. Unfortunately, I have no use for this application. I still sext in the old school way: Using text messages.

F:)Cd==I

See? Me so horny. [Safe Sexting]

n64iphone is available to jailbreakers in Cydia for $2.50—ROMs not included, obviously—which would be a fair price for a full-fledged N64 emulator, but feels a little high for what currently amounts to a very neat party trick. [EsferaiPhone]

2009 was the year of the App Store, as Apple passed the two-billion downloads milestone for its store. The year also saw labels and artists jumping onto the bandwagon with their own branded iPhone apps.

The most successful, like Smule's I Am T-Pain (pictured right) sold tens of thousands of copies a day. It's only fair to point out that the vast majority sank down the app charts fairly quickly though – proving that iPhone apps provide a return on investment for the music industry wasn't a huge priority this year.

Even so, there was plenty of creativity being put to work. To highlight it, we've chosen a selection of 40 branded music apps that we thought were innovative this year – which were all covered in the Music Ally Daily Bulletin.

They're all based on artists, labels and other music brands – the list doesn't include apps for music services like Spotify or Pandora, nor does it include pure music games like Rock Band or Tap Tap Revenge (although one of the latter's artist-branded spin-offs is included).

Read on for a snapshot of what was released this year, and let us know your thoughts on the best and worst of what the App Store had to offer. Oh, and yes, we've put them in a rough order reflecting how much we liked them, starting with the best.

1. I Am T-Pain might be an obvious choice for top spot, but it combined technical innovation with stellar sales. Eschewing pure promotion, it let fans sing along with a selection of T-Pain songs while having their vocals Auto-Tuned on the fly. It also had good sharing features, used in-app payments to buy and download new tracks for use in the game, and recently added the ability to sing over any song in your iPhone music library. App Store

2. Little Boots Reactive Remixer was a branded version of existing iPhone app RjDj. Yes, it involved remixing three of Boots' tracks, but in two cases that was done based on the user's movement and external sounds – a properly interactive ambient experience. Or something. App Store

3. Hi, How Are You was a beautiful iPhone game based on the artwork of singer-songwriter Daniel Johnston. Described by the New York Times as "a kind of psycho-religious version of Frogger", it was a great game backed up with Daniel's visuals and music. App Store

4. Sonifi was one of the most fully featured ‘remix an artist' apps, being designed by and for trance artist BT. It let fans mess with the beats, bass, melodies and harmonies of his latest tracks. The killer feature, though, was a two-player ‘Jam Link' mode to collaborate over Bluetooth. App Store

5. Live Metallica (pictured) was an official app from the metal band that constantly offered a free stream of their latest gig, while also letting fans buy (no, NOT from iTunes) previous sets. Photos and notes from each show made it a must-have for fans.

6. iDrum Underworld Edition was another of the best examples of the popular ‘remix your favourite artist' app genre this year. It offered 13 tracks to mess around with in an intuitive square-tapping interface, with artwork from the band's design chums at Tomato. App Store

7. Johnny Cash: I See A Darkness was a graphic novel based on The Man In Black's life. It didn't include his songs, but had a clever ‘search and insert' feature to find his tracks on a user's iPhone to play at the relevant points of the story. App Store

8. nin: access was the official iPhone app for Nine Inch Nails – one of the more tech-savvy artists in the industry right now. It gives fans access to the community and multimedia sections of the band's website, as well as letting them chat and upload photos from their iPhone. App Store

9. The Presidents of the United States of America was an app by the band of the same name, offering four albums from their back catalogue as streams, as well as lost recordings, live tracks and other extras. App Store

10. Baby By Me Sound Lab was a remixing app created for 50 Cent by Romplr. It involved mixing and matching stems from his Baby By Me single, then posting the resulting remix to Facebook. It tied in with a contest, and sparked 250,000 downloads in a matter of weeks. App Store

11. Lady Gaga iOKi (pictured) was a karaoke app based on La Gaga, with instrumental and vocal remixes from four of her hits enabling people to sing along with her, then go it alone. In-app payments allowed new songs to be purchased and downloaded too, from Gaga and other artists. App Store

12. Deadmau5 Mix was one of the first ‘remix an artist' apps for iPhone, from an artist who would release several more apps later in the year. It let fans remix ten tracks by applying delays, effects, rewinds and cuts, complete with a virtual scratch pad. App Store

13. Metallica Revenge was one of Tapulous' artist-focused spin-offs from its Tap Tap Revenge games – although in fairness we could have picked its titles for Coldplay, Lady Gaga or the Dave Matthews Band in this slot. What these games nailed was the combination of gameplay and experiencing the actual music. App Store

14. Kelly Clarkson Open Mic was a singing game based on the American Idol winner, which scored fans on their ability to sing five of her tracks. It tied into a competition that put winners on-stage singing with Kelly herself during her tour soundchecks. App Store

15. Haus of Gaga was one of the first fruits of Universal Music Group's deal with Kyte, turning its artists' video blogs into iPhone apps. It offered new and archive episodes of the Transmission Gagavision vlog, as well as news, tourdates and live chat. App Store

16. Robbie Williams Racing was, would you believe it, a racing game based on Robbie Williams. No pure cash-in, though – besides his tracks featuring in the game, Robbie himself provided the commentary, with unlockable videos and photos for skilled players. App Store

17. Delicious Vinyl DJ was a music game based on the famous hip-hop label, getting players to match notes to the sounds of Young MC, Tone Loc, The Pharcyde and Masta Ace. A nifty way of getting value out of some venerable hits. App Store

18. Get Physical Mix was a compilation app based on the back catalogue of the Get Physical dance label, which allowed fans to DJ and mix the songs themselves, complete with a virtual scratch pad. App Store

19. Grateful Dead (pictured) was an interactive mosaic e-book – an iPhone version of one of those big pictures which lets you zoom in to see lots of little pictures. Those little pictures being 450 photos of the legendary jam-band, with fans able to comment on each, or share with friends. App Store

20. Gedda-Headz was a mini-game collection for iPhone that offered multiplayer and community features, while tying in with collectible real-world toys. We still haven't heard any music from the band it's supposedly based on, but it was nevertheless a neat idea. App Store

21. HWD was an app created for UK artist Heads We Dance, which allowed fans to stream the band's new album Love Technology two weeks before its official release, with news, photos and community features thrown in. App Store

22. It's Britney was Britney Spears' entry into the App Store, offering the usual news, Twitter feed, photo galleries and even a virtual lighter. There was also a UGC feature to paste your head onto the body of one of Britney's dancers, and most importantly, if you shake your iPhone, the app shouts "It's Britney Bitch!". App Store

23. Mariah Carey-oke was the best-named artist app of 2009, hands-down. The pun partly made up for the fact that her current label UMG doesn't have the rights to her classic hits – so four new tracks were included to dog-whistle along to. App Store

24. Twentyten was an iPhone ‘calendar' app revolving around the key 2010 dates of Belle & Sebastian, with a built-in news feed and bonus digital content. An elegant spin on the promo iPhone app idea. App Store

25. Snoop Dogg's iFizzle (pictured) was a fairly simple app, but with plenty of charm. It was a collection of audioclips of Snoop's "most popular and iconic" phrases and quotes. Yep, including "Fo Shizzle My Nizzle". App Store

26. Phanatic was an app built for hardcore fans of jam-band Phish, offering a comprehensive database of setlists from the band's history. That included links to YouTube videos of performances, and the ability to generate stats in mid-show – e.g. ‘when was the last time they played this?'. App Store

27. Ziggy Marley's Music Mixer was another remixing app, but with the neat twist of a slot-machine interface – users could shake their iPhone to randomly mix up Ziggy's songs. Or they could put the time in to mess about with the tracks themselves, of course. App Store

28. Remix David Bowie – Space Oddity was… well, the title gives it away. It let iPhone users mess around with Bowie's classic hit by tweaking individual tracks, then save the mix as a ringtone. App Store

29. Riff King was a branded app for UK metallers Saxon, with streaming samples of the band's latest album and their new video. However, it also tied in with their YouTube UGC contest – also called Riff King – letting users of the app watch the latest entries. App Store

30. Usher's Top 100 didn't actually focus on R&B star Usher's music – instead, it saw him turn curator, picking 100 of his favourite tracks which users could stream through the same tech used for the PUSA application. App Store

31. The Heavy was the official app from Ninja Tune artist The Heavy, and it offered their entire back catalogue on a streaming basis, plus three videos, news and tourdates, and live footage. But it's the streaming element that intrigued us most. App Store

32. Coldplay Strawberry Swing (pictured) was an app created for Coldplay by online TV firm Babelgum. It showcased the video for the band's Strawberry Swing single as well as their previous videos, bundling in a game for good measure.

33. Deadmau5 Live was yet another iPhone app based on the innovative dance artist. It let fans vote on what songs he should play as his encore at his London Roundhouse gig in October, before serving up a 20-minute live recording once the show was done. (Not still available)

34. New Boyz – iJerkin' was a music game created for WMG act The New Boyz, based on their apparently-popular You're A Jerk dance moves. We stress ‘apparently'. Players could tap, slide and shake to make the band pop their moves, and then buy more tracks. App Store

35. What The Funkytown! was unusual, in that it was based on a song rather than an artist or label. It was a virtual scratching app to monkey about with Funkytown, speeding it up and slowing it down, or even playing it in reverse. App Store

36. Snow Patrol: Snowflake was the band's second iPhone app, providing a news feed, forum and the ability to upload photos at gigs to the band's website. The snowflake theme was carried through to a section where fans could create their own unique flakes. App Store

37. Kiss Virtual Concert Lighter (pictured) was, well, a virtual concert lighter. With 24 branded virtual lighter cases to choose from, a scrolling text marquee, and a "realistic flame". Novelty personalisation, yes, but fun with it. App Store

38. Delphic was a soundtoy app released to promote the band of the same name's new single. A simple drum loop was complemented by the fan tapping on-screen pads to trigger samples. App Store

39. Kiss Me Thru The Phone was an app based around the Soulja Boy song of the same name. It was a photo customisation tool to help fans ‘add swag' to their pics, or plant virtual kisses on friends and family before sharing the results. App Store

40. Pepsi Rock Band was an app created to promote the Rock Band console games. It let people put their own faces on the shoulders of characters from the games, then share them via email, Facebook, Flickr and Twitter. It also provided buy links for songs from Pepsi's ad campaign. (not still available)

The leading digital music business information and strategy company, Music Ally, has been providing publications, consulting, and research to the music and technology industries since 2001.

Now, I'm not a snorer (I hope) but growing up with a Dad who suffers from sleep apnea, which causes heavy snoring due to a lack of oxygen, I had many sleepless nights listening to the rumbles from three rooms away. My poor Mum, having to put up with that. If his sleep apnea had been detected much earlier, something could've been done about it before he drove us all insane with his snoring.

A Finnish company by the name of Remote Analysis Ltd has come up with a very affordable way to analyze breathing patterns when sleeping. It actually records the user's snoring, and stores them each night to compare them in a graph, to see if there are any major changes in the cycles. It also contains examples of what people suffering from sleep apnea sound like when they're sleeping, so you can compare your own against the case studies. With any luck, you'll be fine, but do remember that diagnosis of one problem often leads to weeks of endless hypochondria as you search Wikipedia for the cure. [GizMag]

The Apps

Honorable Mentions

Raytheon: This is a company that's actively developing iPhone apps for military field use; that they're making a Flight Control-esque iPhone game for us civvies is compelling, for sure. Alas, this app does not exist yet.

The Santa Game: Because it's Christmas, y'all! Almost! And also because navigating a disembodied Santa head out of these mazes is pretty fun.

Avatar: It's a massive third-person adventure game that is absolutely worth a look if James Cameron's new HYPERFILM piques your interest. But really, your $10 should be going toward an IMAX ticket this weekend—save this one for after the initial joy and or/headache has dissipated.

Lou Zoom: Lou Reed—yes, that Lou Reed—made an iPhone app for people with vision problems who have trouble seeing their contact list, or for people who really enjoy massive typography.

This Week's iPhone News On Giz

• Surprisingly, iPhone Takes Over the Weird Japanese Smartphone Market

• Inappropriate App Store Icons, Right Here

• Simpson Arcade iPhone Preview: Steeped in Authenticity

• FSJ's Anti-AT&T Manifesto Makes Me Raise My Fist in Solidarity

• AT&T Has Spent Less on Network Construction Every Quarter Since the iPhone's Launch

• Swedes Camping Outside Apple HQ Asking Steve Jobs to Approve Their App

• The iPhone as a Friend and Foe Tracking War Machine

• Control Your Mac With an iPhone, the Patent

• AT&T Dismisses Operation Chokehold as an "Irresponsible and Pointless Scheme"

• The StickyStrap Is the Weirdest iPhone Holder/Case/Stand I've Ever Seen

• Microsoft: Maybe We Should've Paid More Attention to That iPhone Thingamabob

This list is in no way definitive. If you've spotted a great app that hit the store this week, give us a heads up or, better yet, your firsthand impressions in the comments. And for even more apps: see our previous weekly roundups here, and check out our Favorite iPhone Apps Directory. Have a great weekend, everybody!

I'm not sure the rumored BlackBerry and Mac Kindle apps will do much for the Kindle or ereader industry as a whole, either.

It's still just hearsay for now, but Fudzilla's placing a lot of confidence in its sources, who are claiming a Kindle app for Mac computers and BlackBerry devices is on the way, after launching the iPhone app back in March. Reading ebooks on a Mac makes sense, though I'm sure people will quibble over the merits of reading books for a great length of time on an LCD as opposed to e-ink.

The BlackBerry Kindle app, well—where do I start? Ok, I can see it working on a Storm, but on any other BlackBerry model, no way. For starters, the screens are too small, so you'd be pressing that 'next page' button every 10 seconds. And what it'd do to the already pitiful battery life, well—I wouldn't dare. Yes, I'm a BlackBerry user. Still, Fudzilla's claiming it'll be a free download, and as long as the ebooks cost less on the BlackBerry platform than they do on the Kindle (and as proper books), then it might be a good supplement to those occasions where you want to progress in the book you're reading, but can't carry your Kindle around with you.

Really, it's about time the industry takes a leaf out of the Blu-ray Disc Association's book, and explores the idea of providing digital copies with every paperback sold. [Fudzilla via TechRadar]

After Dragon Dictation, this is the second app that Nuance has released gratis for a limited time this month. The only thing stopping Dragon Search from being a must-have is that voice search with your Google app will bring up largely the same top results, so for casual surfing it's a bit redundant. If you're looking for a deeper dive, though, the scrolling Search Carousel UI is actually a useful tool. Dragon Search also acts as a nice cheat to use voice search for the iTunes store, which might save your thumbs some damage in the long run. [iTunes]

It works! I've never designed an app in my life, but that didn't stop me from creating a masterpiece in, like, four minutes.

As far as I can tell this is something like a full development SDK, insofar as the regular MojoSDK can be considered a full developement SDK. That is to say, while anyone with any development experience will have no problem creating apps with it—in fact, a layperson with a few spare afternoons could probably make something—they're still going to be of the same web-app-like caliber we've gotten used to in the App Catalog. Games, modal UIs, and a lot of the advanced features that make Android and iPhone apps shine are a little beyond Ares' reach, I think. Still, pretty cool stuff. [Palm]

Maybe I'm just so enamored with this commercial because my home smells of freshly baking cookies or maybe it's a general adoration for alternate versions of "The Twelve Days of Christmas," but I just think it's a lovely Christmas greeting from Apple. Even if the voiceover guy doesn't really sing. [TUAW]

The Vectoring and Separation advanced learning game is designed to simulate New York City's Islip airspace, giving air traffic controllers an opportunity to test the waters of one of the busiest flight zones in the planet. It was developed as part of their contract with the FAA to develop their Air Traffic Control Optimum Training Solution over the course of ten years, which is why you and I would never get the opportunity to play it.

As App Store reviews are often short, uninformative and seemingly populated by idiots, this social networking site could prove to be a much-needed platform for discussing which apps are worth downloading, and which to avoid. There's also an area called the App Farm, which lets users sound off their app ideas in case any uncreative developers are lurking. If it gets made, iWikiphone will award you with $500, which is a double-win for sure. [iWikiphone]

UPDATE: iWikiphone has exploded with traffic today, so the site's running a little slow until the servers can be tinkered with. Hold tight, it's worth waiting for.

This is hypothetical, but if there is a building with known terrorist activities, it could automatically be pushed to the phone when the soldiers get near that area. If there was another platoon that was supposed to arrive, and they were delayed, or ahead of schedule, you could adapt your plan. If one of the units you are counting on is redirected, you know that in real time.

He points out that it can also be used for police, firemen, and emergency services too. The iPhone itself is being retrofitted for battlefield operation by Raytheon, which is adding a ruggedized case that includes a larger battery and a special scrambler that will secure communications with other military units. [NYT]

Users at nookDevs are reporting that, after a little clever input tricker, they've managed to get the Pandora radio app running—terribly, it's worth adding—on the Nook. At this point the install process is still pretty intimidating: the rooting procedure itself requires a screwdriver, a microSD reader, a computer running Linux and comfort with the command line, while app installs require setting up a VNC server on the Nook (touchscreen controls evidently don't work properly yet) and launching from an ADB shell session, since the app launcher doesn't work yet. If this sounds overcomplicated, that's because it is.

But the point is, hey, Android apps on the Nook! Pandora's just the first, but a web browser, an email client, and a new homescreen can't be far off. That's when things could get sticky for Barnes & Noble, whose cellular partner, AT&T, won't be too happy about a slew of Nook users trying to use their devices' free data connections for streaming music, browsing the web or downloading more apps. Barnes & Noble had to know this would happen, so I expect devs will find a few roadblocks between hacked apps and the Nook's 3G connection, but who knows? Virtually nothing about the Nook's launch went exactly to plan, so who's to say this will?

Either way, Nook: hacked. Interest: piqued. Eyes: peeled. [nookDevs]

The app features some of the hallmarks of Bing, like the endless image search, image of the day and voice control. Some key features:

* Daily image from Bing.com
* Easy to access voice search
* Tips and tricks on the home page
* "Locate Me" functionality
* Ability to add pushpins and save locations
* Show multiple locations on a single map

This app joins similar apps already available for WinMo, BlackBerry and Sidekick (though not Android: Wonder why!) and is available now, for free, here (link opens iTunes). [Bing]

Pastebot's core functionality is to act as a basic clipboard, collecting your various copied snippets and photos into a browsable archive. It can handle anything that the iPhone can natively, meaning text, photos and HTML content copy fine, while videos, audio, or browser plugin content don't. Once the data is collected, Pastebot can process it—photos can be run through filters, HTML can be parsed, text can be converted to uppercase or lowercase, etc. To put a clipping back onto the iPhone's main clipboard, you just select the item, and it's ready for pasting.

Pastebot's real victory is its free sync app, available for Mac. When this is running on a computer in the same wireless network as the iPhone, which is also running Pastebot, anything copied on the computer is immediately synced to the iPhone, and anything copied on the iPhone can be synced to the desktop, where it replaces whatever is currently in the OS X clipboard. Watching whatever you copy pour onto your iPhone is a joy, not least because the interface on this thing is beautiful.

My one gripe: Since apps can't run in the background, in order for Pastebot to collect what you've copy, it needs to be started. That's each time you copy something—if you couple more than one thing in a row and then open Pastebot, only the latest will show up. Still though, this is some tremendous utility for $2. [Pastebot]

AndroLib's been tracking new submissions stats since the Market opened—stats which don't just show us when Android apps pass arbitrary milestones, but how quickly it's happening. And to answer the implied question: very.

There were more that twice as many new apps approved in the month of November than in July, and the rate of increase is only getting higher. Of course, raw app numbers don't guarantee that there will be anything worth downloading, but they do help. Even if just one in every 100 apps it worth downloading, the good stuff starts to add up pretty quickly. It's a sad formula! But it works out. [AndroidLib via MobileCrunch]

Or at least they were: Today, TomTom has lopped $30 clean off their original app's high (and increasingly high-seeming) price, bringing the price for the combined North American app down to $70. So actually no congratulations, Canada! Your TomTom still costs more than ours, and your maps are worth less. At least, until the end of the holiday season, when the prices of both apps should buoy back up to where they were before. This per-country pricing scheme is fascinating. [TomTom]

The biggest addition is that it's web based. That's right, Android users. A store that's easily browsable on the desktop. Not to mention an application for desktop app management.

So that's all well and good, but why does Motorola have to even build a separate portal? This is all stuff that Google should really be on top of if they want to really win consumers over. The last thing that anyone wants is to have the Android Marketplace start getting segmented by manufacturer, so please Google, whenever you're done building your phone, add this stuff in to save us all the trouble. [Android and Me via Engadget]

This Week's Apps

If you hate hate hate galleries, click here to view the apps as a single page.

Honorable Mentions

• Google Mobile: This update keeps the app from launching into Safari as much as it used to, and widens its voice capabilities. A minor but useful upgrade.

• My Name and Head Shoulders Knees & Toes: I suspect most of you don't reader these roundups to find ways to entertain your children. But if you do, My Name, which will teach your tot how to spell whatever is on his birth certificate, and Head, Shoulders Knees and Toes, which makes a simple touch game out of the children's song, will distract them long enough for you to gobble up enough Zoloft to keep the gears moving without anyone noticing.

• Wolfram Alpha: Once a comical $50, this mega calculator app is now a slightly less comical $20.

• Monkey Ball 2: Last week, I noted that this app seemed to have a widespread crashing problem, and therefore couldn't recommend it, despite the fact that it's a worthy—if not revolutionary—followup to one of the iPhone's best launch titles. The bug has been identified: If you have a jailbroken phone, avoid this one. If you don't, and you loved Monkey Ball numero uno, give it a shot.

• iClassic: Replaces your music interface with a faux-clickwheel. Jailbreak-only.

• Voltron: A name and a concept worth getting excited about, let down by mediocre execution.

• Aqua Forest 2: Same deal as above: A game with a pedigree and a soild concept, but on which the developers didn't quite follow through well enough.

This Week's iPhone News On Giz

• Mega-iPhone Dorks Who Idolise Rambo, Strap This On For Size

• Apple Countersues Nokia

• Analyst Claims iPhone Users Are Suffering From "Stockholm Syndrome"

• Apple Patent Shows Dock Made From 'Elastic Sponge-Like Substance' That Conforms To Shape of iPod/iPhone

• In Which a Telco Executive Makes Taking Sound Like Giving

This list is in no way definitive. If you've spotted a great app that hit the store this week, give us a heads up or, better yet, your firsthand impressions in the comments. And for even more apps: see our previous weekly roundups here, and check out our Favorite iPhone Apps Directory. Have a great weekend, everybody!

Man, if dropping Canada cuts the price of an app in half, that says a lot about how much money we waste on international maps. They should offer this option to all of the countries they serve. However, there are plenty of cheaper versions out there, not to mention free Google Navigation. [iTunes via MacRumors via MobileCrunch]

A lot of these apps will be familiar to anyone who's checked out our Essential iPhone Apps directory before, and yeah, there is a lot of overlap. What we've done, basically, is strip out the dollar signs from list, then fill in the gaps with more free.

With the new list, you can turn a fresh, untouched iPhone or iPod Touch into a decked-out powerhouse without spending a single dollar.

(To view the following gallery as a single page, click here.)

What counts as an essential iPhone app changes all the time, and so should our guide: If we've missed anything huge, or you've got a much better suggestion for a particular type of app, let us know, or say so in the comments. We'll be updating this thing pretty frequently, and a million Gizmodo readers can do a better job at sorting through the app mess than a single Gizmodo editor. Enjoy!

Opera has announced that it's offering Opera Mobile to OEMs—the people who actually make your phones—to replace, or ship alongside, Android default browser. This is very different from Opera Mini, which has been in the Android Market for months now: Opera Mini is a Java-based browser originally intended for dumbphones, which isn't that great; Opera Mobile, on the other hand, is a full, extremely capable browser, which has long been Windows Mobile's answer to the likes of Mobile Safari and Mobile Chrome.

If the Android version is anything like the Windows Mobile versions of late—and it looks like it is—this is worth getting excited about. It's based on a completely different rendering engine than Android's default browser, supports server-side page compression for faster loading, and has too many useful small features to list, making it the first genuine competing browser on the platform—the others, like Steel and Dolphin, are just variations on the default browser.

The only hangup is that as of now the browser is only available to OEMs, meaning that it wil come with some new phones, but won't be listed in the Android Market, at least for now. We'll have to leave it up to the likes of XDA and Modaco to make it more broadly available, which, let's face it Opera, they totally will. [TechCrunch]

Site-specific browser apps are prone to shittiness, because at heart, they're really just websites. The key is to offer something more, or, if you're offering more or less the same thing you get on the regular website, to present it in a markedly better way. This app take the latter approach. You're not going to find any information in the IMDB app that isn't available on the full IMDB website—that would be kind of odd—but you will find a neatly-designed, easily navigable reference for just about every film or show, ever, as well as local showtimes, trailers, an TV listings.

It's just about everything you could ask for in an IMDB app, except that it doesn't support accounts, which means that regular users can't rate or review movies, and that Pro users (I assume) can't access all those agents' phone numbers, that raw box office data, those movie stars' secret Twitter handles or whatever else they're shelling out for.

Alas, she is excused of this grave offense, for she is free. [iTunes]

You see, Pac-Man CE was originally launched a major exclusive for Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA). The game was designed by Tōru Iwatani, who invented the series itself. I could be totally wrong about this (and my quick research is devoid of confirmation), but I believe it was the first Pac-Man title he designed since the original. And I know that it was also his last, as Iwatani, following a Microsoft media blitz surrounding CE's launch, retired for good.

In other words, Pac-Man CE—an XBLA exclusive up to today's iPhone announcement—was a big score for XBLA. A game had brought the 360 back to the very roots of modern gaming, but it was updated with all the pizazz of a first, true sequel to the original. Microsoft hiring Namco Bandai/Iwatani for another Pac-Man was the digital equivalent to hiring Michelangelo to sculpt another David.

So why isn't Pac-Man CE coming to the Zune HD today? Why is Zune Marketplace stuffed with the equivalent of Minsweeper and Solitaire when Microsoft has proven their capabilities of inking deals with the greatest, most sought-after game designers in the world?

I simply don't know. Do you? [Kotaku]

Do you find yourself resenting your iPhone for its complexity? Do you wish you could do away with pesky text messages and confusing navigation applications and all that augmented reality? Though it's currently only available through the Cydia store, with iClassic and a little tinkering can dumb your iPhone down into the iPod you never had. Or the one you once had and replaced with your iPhone. [MobilitySite]

In some ways, Skyfire had gotten a little ahead of itself. It was based on a solid server-side optimization model, which compresses websites—including Flash and Flash video—to speed up loading over a mobile connection. As advanced as its rendering powers were, it had some glaring problems. One higher-resolution screens, which are common on Windows Mobile phones, the text looked fuzzy and pixelated. The interface was functional, but a bit small and convoluted in places, which made it a chore to use on some touchscreen phones. Scrolling was kludgy, and zooming was haphazard. Cue the version 1.5 changelog:

• Full VGA Support. Skyfire now provides native support for the VGA and wVGA resolutions as seen on many recent Windows Mobile phones.
Smooth Scrolling. Kinetic scrolling has been added to Skyfire. Flick and you will see that scrolling has become very smooth.

• Finger friendly UI. There are many UI updates to enable finger friendliness, increase the ease of use and add a bit of fun to the Skyfire experience. We updated as well the start page to be simpler-to-use with high-resolution devices.

• Full screen mode. For touch screens we have a mode that will completely remove all UI elements from the screen to provide maximum visibility onto the page. Tap the bottom right corner to bring back the toolbar.

• Auto-Move text entry. This keeps any text entry box visible when the virtual keyboard is used. This convenient feature assures that web site forms are easy to use, in case the SIP (i.e., virtual keyboard) covers it.

• Latest versions of Flash 10 and Silverlight. 1.5 has been updated to the newest and most stable versions of both rich-media formats.

• Performance enhancements. Both Skyfire's client and servers have been upgraded for faster, more responsive browsing.

The best thing about Skyfire hasn't changed: It's free. [Skyfire]

Ustream has had an official iPhone app available for a while now, but due to Apple's strict policies users could only upload video online after filming was finished—ie, not live at all. Enabling live streaming video from your iPhone to the internet, it works over a 3G connection and can update Twitter/Facebook etc of your live-streaming status.

You've probably seen updates from friends before, using Ustream or Qik on other devices (or jailbroken iPhones), but this week's app launch is big news for anyone who's been following the live-streaming video debacle.

If you're tossing up whether to download Live Knocking Video or Ustream, well, they're both free—but otherwise we'd suggest going for the latter as it has one major advantage over Knocking, the ability to stream video to the internet, rather than purely to another iPhone. Of course, you can't ignore Knocking's developer's gall, emailing Steve Jobs himself to get his app approved. [Ustream via TechCrunch]

On Android, the NPR News app will be open and fully customizable by member stations and users. That means local stations can include their own content, not just the main NPR feed. You'll also be able to stream NPR content in the background while using other smartphone functions, something Apple doesn't permit.

It's exciting to see developers take full advantage of the Android mobile OS instead of just making copycats of their existing iPhone versions. Especially if it eventually forces Apple to loosen their grip to stay competitive. [PaidContent via All Things D]

Games

The bestseller list is populated by high-profile—either in name or in publisher—listings, none of which are too surprising. The list, it seems, it sorted by revenue, because there's a relatively poor showing for cheap casual games. The top six are all franchise titles that cost at least $5.

The top rated list, however, is more heartening. The fantastic Spider: The Secret of Bruce Manor tops the group, joined by a healthy selection of games from a mix of studios, large and small. Just one of the top ten is a big-name franchise title.

Apps

Again, the popularity list must be revenue-ranked, because this is some pricey stuff. Navigon and TomTom are $90 and $100 apps, respectively, and their success shows what a little name recognition, and early start, and a generally good app will get you. Free texting app TextFree, which I sorta though might be banned from the store by now, ranks high, as does QuickOffice, even though the barebones office suite costs a whole $10.

Where the top rated games were generally indie and/or iPhone-exclusive titles, the top rated apps are a bit more mainstream. You've got the requisite appearances from Smule, you've got ReelDirector—the only app that lets you do any serious video editing on your iPhone—and you've got a CBS sports app. Because people like sports, and anything associated with them! (Also: paying for them.) Oh, and, uh, Pocket God is a game.

All in all, the crowd's put together a nice little app roundup for us. I don't see any glaringly terrible apps here, and the top-rated apps even include some of our own Essential iPhone Apps. Which is vindicating! (For everyone else, obviously.)

Anyway, what about the free apps?

UPDATE: It's worth noting that these rankings only include app released in 2009. Some older apps will likely have outsold many, if not all, of the apps on these lists. —Thanks, Dave from Popcap! [iTunes Rewind]

Dragon Dictation (link opens iTunes), which is based on the desktop Dragon NaturallySpeaking software, lets you do pretty much everything you'd use the iPhone's keyboard for, but with your voice. That includes using the iPhone's clipboard for cutting and pasting, as well as saying your latest Twitter or Facebook update aloud (warning: Saying "Just ate a sandwich LOL roast beef LOL" aloud may frighten those around you). Update: It is now available at the App Store. LOL! [Nuance]

The show is being streamed live by Command Guru until December 12 and you can follow along with the development process and any theatrics right here.

Now come on: Make the Real World jokes you came here to make. I need the laugh. [Command Guru via TUAW]

Michael Ruhlman, cookbook author demigod and Gizmodo Food Week contributor, is bringing his excellent book Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking to the App Store. Ratio takes sometimes-threatening elements of cooking like doughs, cakes, sauces, sausages, stocks and batters and breaks them down into more versatile ratios (bread is five parts flour to three parts water, for example). The app looks really great, actually: It has all 32 of the "critical ratios" in cooking, plus a calculator (to figure out exactly how much of everything you need), recipe ideas for each ratio, and ways to both store and share recipes (via Facebook and Twitter).

The app should be coming out soon, for an undisclosed price. My guess is that it probably won't be free—it's a licensed product and also available as a book—but I personally am really excited about it. Baking's always been a weak point of mine and if I can learn to bake and cover my iPod Touch in floury fingerprints at the same time, I'll give it a try. [Ruhlman]

The basics are all there: restaurant and business navigation, ratings and reviews, photos, and direct calling all work just fine. There's even a new feature that shows you directions from your current location to your destination in separate browser.

What's missing, though, are all the interactive nibblets that make Yelp such a fun guide to use. The Android version is read-only, meaning that for now you can look at other people's opinions but not share your own. Still, though, it's a nice free alternative to Zagat's ten dollar equivalent. [CNet]

The report from iphoneography says many of the company's products had over 50 five-star reviews, mostly written in the same syntactically shaky style by reviewers who only wrote about about apps from Molinker. One customer complaint to Phil Schiller later, and all of Molinker's 1,011 apps are now gone from the App Store.

As far as scams go, this one seems pretty poorly thought out, although it does make clear that savvier developers should have no problem giving themselves an illicit ratings boost. [iphoneography via AppAdvice]