The opening screen, below, has the different options for the Marketplace: apps, games, music and podcasts. The first two words, Contoso and Fabrikam, are placeholders for Microsoft—fictional company names they often use.

Once you choose applications on the Marketplace opening screen, the several screens will display the featured apps, the newest, and most popular. Square thumbnails represent each app, and the whole UI is very much in-keeping with the rest of the OS. [Peter Wissinger via Pocket Now]

As a quick primer, ANT+ is a wireless standard used by cyclists to measure and analyze their ride performance using a variety of wireless devices. It's been around for a while, but until Pedal Brain, there was no way to sync it up to an iPhone of iPod touch. Now there is!

Once you plug the Pedal Brain Synapse hardware device into your phone or touch, you'll start to get updates in real-time via the app on screen. When you're all done pedaling for the day, you can sync up with Pedal Brain on the Internet for a more in-depth analysis. There's team support too, which could make the software a boon for coaches.

The device/app will be available this spring, possibly in March, for $130 to $190. Unfortunately, the steep price does not include the additional charge for a subscription. A limited free version will be available at launch, but will crap out on you after a few weeks. [Pedal Brain via TechCrunch]

Of course I couldn't, not really, not with my penchant for socially awkward faux pas anyway, but nevertheless it was neat to see what one of the Apple higher ups had populating his iPhone.

Also making the iPhone App Schill-list was CNN's app, the always-popular Facebook app, and a couple of games, like Eliminate and geoDefense, reports the New York Times. [Bits]

The listing demands that an applicant for the position:

Be knowledgeable about and/or interested in becoming an expert on the existing user interface paradigms used on iPhone, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, Symbian, Android, and Palm WebOS

Of course, if they are just looking for people to work on this now we can't really expect to see it this week or next, but at least it is in the works. So what are you waiting for? Apply, so we can watch the end of the football season on our HTC Heroes and Palm Pixies! [Sling Media via Pre Central]

Without having to use your computer, the printer was designed to print out reformatted Web content - maps, coupons, etc. - right from the Wi-Fi enabled printer using the 4-inch touchscreen (which we have seen to work like a charm). And now the company is releasing its App Studio and a SDK letting any web content developer create applications for the printer.

Getting the apps on your printer seems simple enough: you hit the Get More button on the user interface and select from different categories of applications which will then be downloaded over Wi-Fi. You can also browse the apps on the App Studio website. HP will start to roll out more and more applications over the next couple of months (especially as developers start working with the SDK), but some of the first applications will include ones by Disney (for printing out coloring pages for kids), CBS News (for printing text versions of 60 Minutes), Flickr (for printing photos directly from the printer), and Tabbloid (for creating and printing customized RSS feeds).

HP also annouced partnerships with USA TODAY, Google (maps and calendar applications), Coupons.com, Fandango, DreamWorks Animation, Nickelodeon, Web Sudoku, Weathernews, Snapfish.com and HP Creative Studio.

All the applications are free, but the PhotoSmart Premium with TouchSmart Web (an app to shorten that product name would be nice) itself costs $399. And hey, maybe HP won't make its app store approval process so hellish. [HP App Studio]

Indeed, while our tipster could see the Apps menu beckoning them to smudge the screen with an eager fingerprint, their attempt to access the secrets within were met with disabled wifi and a definitive no-go. We kind of know games will reside there already, but an overall App Store-esque experience wouldn't surprise anyone should that be what lies beyond the top level Zune HD Apps menu.

More images and video at Engadget, where there was apparently an unconfirmed mention of a Zune HD SDK. Intriguing! [Thanks, Jarnet]

According to MacRumors, the four-flavored app covers the U.S. & Canada, Western Europe, Australia, and, naturally, New Zealand. Pricing:

- U.S. & Canada: NZ $124.99 (US $84.41)
- Western Europe: NZ $179.99 (US $121.55)
- Australia: NZ $104.99 (US $79.90)
- New Zealand: NZ $119.99 (US $81.03)

Earlier this month, UK retailer Handtec let slip that the equally anticipated TomTom for iPhone car kit would sell for about $195. The price included the app itself, a GPS-boosting receiver, windshield mount, car charger and speakers. That news, and the perhaps premature New Zealand launch this weekend, would seem to indicate a global release is imminent.

Updated: The TomTome or iPhone app has appeared in several European App Stores, according to the latest reports at MacRumors:

Benelux: Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg and covers these three countries
- D-A-CH: offered in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland and covers these countries
- France: Available only in France
- Iberia: Available in Spain and Portugal and covers Spain, Portugal, Andorra, Gibraltar, and the major islands of the Balearic and Canary Islands
- Italy: Offered in Italy
- Nordic: Available in Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden and covers these four countries
- U.K. & Ireland - offered only in the U.K. and Ireland

Seems like the global deployment has begun. [MacRumors]

The basic model resembles Apple's app store except that rather than requiring users to set up accounts or enter credit card information, the Vcast app store will use Verizon's existing billing system and slap the charges onto users' monthly bills.

Verizon says that it hopes to have an application approval turn around time of under 14 days, but what I'd like to know is whether there'll be a Google Voice app among the bunch or if it'll be rejected. [CNET]

And good on them, I say. Medicinal Cannabis use works, alleviates pain, and allows people who need some serious stress relief—say, from cancer—to get that relief and feel great doing it.

The app is based on Ajnag.com, which has existed for a while as a legitimate medicinal Cannabis location site on the Web. In fact, once you download the app to your iPhone, you have a veritable smorgasbord of legal Cannbis services at your fingertips:

Once you have received your medical cannabis recommendation from a qualified physician, you will need to locate an organization that can provide you with medical cannabis. Access the Cannabis application again. Press locate. The nearest medical cannabis collectives, cooperatives or facilities will appear with little green dots on a map of your current or selected location. Get real-time door-to-door directions. Add the locations' details to your iPhone contact list.

If the unfortunate happens, and you find yourself in legal trouble over your medicinal herb, pull out your cannabis application once again. Pin point local attorneys who specialize in marijuana-related offenses.

And one more thing... If you need medicinal marijuana and don't live in one of them wonderfully progressive hippie states, like California, there's an app for that too. This one:

Not living in a medical cannabis state? The only way to make cannabis change is to take action. Your new iPhone application will locate the nearest cannabis-reform group so you can get involved.

If you're suffering, and get approval from a doctor, get some herb. This $3 app will help you keep tabs on where to get more when it's all out. Ed note: And yes, my newly promoted commenter friend, you might have to be high to pay three bucks for such an app. But, if you're new to an area... [ajnag.com - Thanks, Cheryl]

The short story is that Cydia—the other non-official iPhone app installer—won the battle against Installer. Installer was the first pretty application installer to appear for the iPhone, but Cydia became more popular over the last few months. Ripdev—which was involved in the project since version 3—says that the Installer repositories will be available until July 1st, 2009.

But fear not, my young apprentices, because we still have Cydia and Icy, which is an iPhone app installer that plugs into Cydia directories—made by Ripdev. [Ripdev—Thanks John Gregorio]

As we previously speculated, others who don't already have a subscription will have to pay $3 a month, which isn't so bad considering the original subscription is around 20 bucks. [Yahoo]

Here's a piece of what Ars is quoting from the new agreement:

You will not, through use of the Apple Software, services or otherwise, create any Application or other program that would disable, hack or otherwise interfere with the Security Solution, or any security, digital signing, digital rights management, verification or authentication mechanisms implemented in or by the iPhone operating system software, iPod touch operating system software, this Apple Software, any services or other Apple software or technology, or enable others to do so...

It also says that anyone using the SDK to develop software can then only get distribution through the App Store, and at Apple's sole discretion. As Ars points out, it's not going to dry up jailbreakers, but it will make those gray area developers a little more skeered of swerving from the path. [Ars Technica]

The process works by installing an app onto your iPhone that's not quite jailbreaking, but is enough to allow those not-quite-official applications to get on there. If you gave us the choice of paying $7 or running jailbreak on our phones—which is fairly easy as long as you have some tech knowledge—we'd choose real jailbreak. [Ripdev via 9 to 5 Mac]

The Dsi—at least the Japanese version—currently connects to the DS Shop and DSi Ware, Nintendo's bite-sized gaming store. But according to Developer, the company is allegedly hoping to get shorter-form non-gaming stuff on the device as well-things that could turn your Dsi into a personal lifestyle gadget, rather than just an entertainment one.

I guess it'd also be a way for the Dsi to really differentiate itself from the DS Lite. While the DSi is definitely more gadgety (what with camera and audio player), many were underwhelmed thanks to what they were losing.

There's only a week until Nintendo president Satoru Iwata's keynote, so we expect to hear more then. [Develop via Kotaku]

Just like MyHeritage—a celebrity facial recognition Web site—FaceDouble is a free iPhone application that will be able to determine which celebrities you look like simply by analyzing a photo you have saved on your phone. I personally like to think I look like Angelina Jolie, but I'm sure FaceDouble will tell me I'm more of a mixture between Mulan and Dora the Explorer. (Oh wait, I was wrong; apparently, I'm Ashley Tisdale). Hmm... [FaceDouble via GeekSugar]

Realize that the software isn't officially TiVo-branded. And we wouldn't call the UI stunning, or even attractive—though it certainly looks easy enough to use.

But since it's priced at a buck, we're willing to take our chances (and hope for a glossy black update sometime in the near to far future). [iTunes and TiVoRemote]

It's a clever idea. Avoid that $15 unlimited texting plan from AT&T by using your free email to send SMS messages. With SMS Touch, you can write an email (complete with the landscape-style keyboard and spellcheck functionality) and send it as an SMS to anyone in your phonebook. When they respond to your text message, instead of coming back to your phone as a chargeable SMS, the message actually arrives in your email.

In other words, you can send SMS messages while all the while communicating in email. Priced at $5, part of that fee goes to ongoing backend support for the program. And if you're interested, it'll pay for itself three times in one month anyway. [SMS Touch]

But oh do we still have some ground to cover. I'm envisioning a world of platform-agnostic pizza acquisition apps on every web-connected device everywhere, and it's a world in which I'm pretty sure you'll want to join me in delicious reality.

Granted, we live in a pretty good time right now as far as zero-human-interaction, chainstore-pizzeria-to-mouth-in-shortest-time-possible pizza acquisition systems. You can go to any of the major chains' web sites and have a pie on the way in just a few minutes. Maybe a side of cheese sticks too? And hey, we're running out of Coke. Throw in a two liter. I can't be bothered to go out in this cold/rain/beautiful weather.

They'll even save your credit card number so you don't have to even think about money beyond the five seconds the subtotal is on the screen. And tip's on the card.

I will admit that I was late to embrace the online pizza ordering paradigm. I live in New York City, and I can literally walk to the end of my block and get a delicious hot NYC slice whenever I want it. That is, when the King doesn't feel like shuttering the doors for no clear reason at prime mealtimes. Which he does on a disappointingly frequent basis. But I've been doing it more lately—learned from a couple of friends who have Papa John's online ordering down to a science—and I must say I like.

Fitting with my wish, we also live in a pretty good time as far as being able to customize our devices with third-party applications. Pizza Hut has a Facebook app that can order your pizza. That's a good step, even though it's no different from the main websites, save for the ability to broadcast to all your friends when you place a couch order. But please, further. Take Netflix as an example. Watch Instantly is now on Blu-ray decks from LG and Samsung, the Xbox 360, the aforementioned TiVo and of course the dedicated Roku box, with more partnerships on the way. This is the model we should be following as far as pizza ordering is concerned—the path to the life that I've imagined.

So it is you, major pizza chains, that I address. Embrace our software-is-king future. Open up an API into your respective ordering systems, or better yet, tie them together into one magical mozzarella, tomato and dough delivery web framework. And after that's all set up, encourage the use of this API by manufacturers which will soon, in turn, make everything an application platform in order to respond to this exploding demand for pizza ordered from the couch. Don't just stop at an iPhone app—there's no reason there shouldn't be an App Store for every web-connected device in your home.

They say that where the porn industry goes, tech follows. And it's true. But I say let pizza, glorious pizza, be the trailblazer. Wake me up when this is how things are—I'll be asleep on my couch, surrounded by empty Papa John's garlic sauce cups.

TuneWiki: TuneWiki, the lyrics + music video music player, is fantastic. We plugged in a live track of Flight of the Conchords and TuneWiki was smart enough to have the lyrics to it and sync them in time with the music. Impressive! Other features like "Top 50 Songs" Today/This Week/This Month come up with the music video and lyrics most of the type, and you can even search YouTube for your own favorite videos. Yes, Never Gonna Give You Up works.

PAC-MAN: It's the same wakka wakka you've been playing for the last 20+ years, but now adapted to either the touchscreen or the roller ball. The swiping touchscreen motion works, but it's not wonderful—the ball is the way you want to go for this. Pac's sound effects are exactly the same as they were when you were a kid, so if you ever go back in time to tell the childhood version of you to buy Google stock at its IPO, you can bring this with you and blow his mind.

Accuweather: The app has today's weather, three-day prediction and radar view for easy home meteorology, but that's about it. No ten-day, no allergy conditions or anything more than just the barebones. What it does have is a very prominent link to their website under each view that launches your browser, which leads us to believe that they want you clicking over there (so they can collect ad money). Still, it's free and it shows you how hot it is. Update: Go with the Weather Channel app, reviewed below.

ImeemThis Pandora like music service only allows you to search by artist name to play music based off similar artists, but there is also the option to play featured music which range from new and notable artists to the Top 100 imeem songs. The automatic song selection is decent and when listening to a song there is a menu option to buy it in the Amazon MP3 store. Overall the app works great over both WiFi and 3G, and surprisingly song buffer and sound quality are pretty good over either.

Twitroid: The first Twitter client for Android. Visually, it looks very good, but when you switch back and forth between landscape and portrait you can tell that it's a beta app (it asks you to log in again). It does have features like direct messaging, picture attachments and even search. It's a pretty darn good Twitter client that looks even greater than some of the Twitter apps on the iPhone.

Any Cut: A sort of system-level app that lets you create shortcuts on your home screen to directly call or text someone. You can also make a shortcut to just about any activity on your phone, such as Wi-Fi settings or SIM lock. They all work fine. This is one app you'll definitely have to pick up.

Shutter Speed: This app allows you to enter your SLR or DSLR camera ISO and aperture settings and it will determine the exposure setting that's best. Unless you are a professional photographer this app is going to be very confusing and will seem useless. It only determines a single camera setting and has no ability to take pictures.

WikiMobile Encyclopedia: A portable version of Wikipedia that requires an internet connection to grab articles from the actual Wikipedia and formats it to your screen. It's good—the text is legible and you can swipe from screen to screen—but for larger articles jumping from section to section is a bit of a pain. It's definitely better than reading the Wikipedia site on your browser, that's for damn sure. On a side note, someone needs to update our Wiki page. That thing's ancient.

Weather Channel: Much better than Accuweather, this thing displays wind speed, visibility, humidity and UV index along with a 10 day forecast. It's not filled with links to the Weather Channel site, either, which is great. Definitely a superior weather app compared to Accuweather.

Maverick: This Google Talk instant messenger app allows you to chat with your Google Talk buddies as well as send pictures, scribbles and your current location. The scribbles and pictures are sent by creating a Picasa web album under you Google Talk account. The web album link is sent in a message and the recipient can view it in their web browser. Same goes for sending your location, a link to a Maverick branded Google Maps is sent and the recipient can view it in their web browser. App works quick over both WiFi and 3G.

BreadCrumbz: People can set up routes, which are made up of instructions, notes and photos, for anyone to follow. For example, one of the routes already online was for the "Best Study Room in Stanford", which lead you through the campus to the library, then an elevator, then a study room. I'm surprised there weren't more routes with the label "sexiest room on campus" which lead to some dude's dorm room where he's waiting for you in just a robe, but Android's only been out for a couple days. Neat app, definitely one we'll want to check out more as more routes are released.

Translate: Pretty much just a self-contained app that sends text to the Google translation services and displays it back in whatever language you want. There are 150 "language pairs" covering most of the major languages, so it seems fairly useful if you're traveling and want to ask someone something—just type it out in English and hit translate.

iSkoot for Skype: This app brings Skype calling and chatting to Android. Major downside is it doesn't allow true VOIP because it routes all calls through the cell line, even Skype to Skype calls. So cell minutes are being used on top of Skype credits. The call quality is good and the app works well under both WiFi and 3G.

QuickList: A super simple to do list that lets you type in what you want and tap to strike them out. It's so simple that it doesn't have line wrapping and any item more than two or three words get chopped off. Keep your list items short on this one.

ShopSavy: This barcode scanning app allows you to scan or enter a barcode of any product and will display a range of information. It will search the web and local retail stores, based on your location, for the cheapest prices. You can also read reviews and have an alert for when there is a price drop. The app works great and is really a must have tool for every frugal shopper.

Divide and Conquer: D&C is exactly like the old game you played on a PC 20 years ago (I forget the name) where you draw a line on the screen to box off bouncing balls without the balls hitting your line. The point is to trap the ball in something around 90% of the screen. It's just as fun now as it was then, and best of all it's free. A commenter tells us the old game is called Jezzball, just FYI.

Bonsai Blast: The iPhone equivalent of this is Puzzloop, but it's a game very much like Bust-a-move, except instead of the balls dropping from the top, they go around a track and you have to hit them while they're moving. Definitely fun, and the touchscreen controls are precise enough that you should be able to get through the game without too many crazy misses unless you're a Shaq and you have sausage fingers.

Brain Genius Deluxe: Holy crap! This is like Brain Training for the DS, except free and on your phone. You have four types of exercises, which include observation (which type of leaf did you see the most of) and memory (how should we rotate this picture to get the previous picture). It's as polished a game as we've seen yet on Android, so definitely pick this one up if you're a fan of puzzles games or Brain Training.

CB Blackjack: It's blackjack by Hudson Soft (maker of Bomberman and various other games). It's really difficult to screw up blackjack, but this version is slightly sluggish. Maybe it's the cheesy 1980s game soundtrack? It's blackjack, so if you want blackjack, it's blackjack. Blackjack.

CB Klondike (Solitaire): It's solitaire.

CB Reversi: It's reversi, and you can play with either the scroll ball or by touching the screen. There are guide lines (shown above) if you play using your finger, which cuts down on accidental piece placement. The feel is so retro and so early '90s video game that you actually welcome how cheesy it is. Reversi (or Othello) has always been fun, and you can play this either by yourself or vs. a buddy.

Barcode Scanner: This app allows you to scan a products barcode with options to view a Google product search or web search based on the product's code. Because it doesn't appear to have any other functions ShopSavy is a much better Barcode scanning Android app.

Lights Out: Touch a spot to turn off (or on) the adjacent lights. Purpose is to get all the lights off. Same game you've played for years, so you should know whether or not you like it. No surprises on this one.

Compare Everywhere: A Barcode scanning app that allows for product searches by barcode or keyword and has the ability to create and save shopping / wish lists. By far the most robust barcode scanner app for Android. Will display online and location based prices providing complete store information with maps, directions, phone number and web address.

PicSay: This picture editor is extremely fun is basically a robust image manipulator. After selecting a picture you can add word bubbles, words, props, and effects to transform the image into anything you want. Once your art work is complete you can save to SD or share it using Google mail or messaging.

Locale: This app acts as a settings manager based on a few different personalized conditions. Depending on your battery, time, contact, time, or location your phone can have preset settings that change automatically depending on your set conditions. Right now the only settings options to be changed are ringer, volume, network twitter, and wallpaper. By far the best feature of this app is the ability to have the phone automatically detect your location and mute you ringer, which perfect for those who go to school or work and need to have their phone on silent.

Photostream: This Flickr photo browser app allows you to search a Flickr contacts name and view their photos. There aren't that many features yet but you have the option to save a photo to your phone and also be notified when one of your contacts adds new photos.

cab4me light: This app will find cab companies that service your current or preferred location. Just tap Call Cap and it will give you a list of available cab companies and the ability to call them. Right now the app is pretty basic but the developer states it's currently titled light while they add more features and cab companies.

HotSpot Locator: All this app does is locate the closest T-Mobile Hot Spots. Since the G1 lets you use WiFi for free at any T-Mobile HotSpot location it's kinda nice to have this feature at the touch of your finger. The app is utterly basic though because it's just a link to search results that pull up in the web browser, but still very usable.

iSafe: I can't believe this app is one of the first in the Marketplace. This app searches your location for possible unsafe conditions like sex offenders, reported crime, weather, allergies, air-quality and speed limit so it can alert you if the area is unsafe. The best part about this app is if it detects a registered sex offender nearby it will sound an alert every few minutes saying "Potential Sex Offender Nearby!" Yea I'm not kidding around, this is a real Android app.. CRAZY!

Both Mobihand and Handango are totally allowed to open their own third-party Android app stores, thanks to the “don't worry, you don't need to jailbreak anything,” position Google's taken. But you have to wonder if having a whole bunch of application outlets isn't a tad bit confusing. What does it mean to have so many parallel marketplaces? Will certain stores sell specific apps for cheaper? Can you bargain? With the minutes counting down to the G1 launch, it would be nice if we at least knew how buying things on the Android was going to work.

MobiHand launches the first dedicated Android app store – OnlyAndroid.com.
New App Store launch coincides with release of the T-mobile G1 Android-powered smartphone.
San Mateo, CA. — October 21, 2008 — MobiHand, Inc., a leading provider of mobile content and application stores, today announced that it has launched OnlyAndroid.com, the first store supporting both free and paid applications for Android-powered smartphones.

With OnlyAndroid, developers can sign up, list their applications, and start selling within hours. Applications that are entered in the MobiHand catalog will appear in the new dedicated OnlyAndroid store (at http://www.onlyandroid.com), in the MobiHand store (at http://www.mobihand.com), and within all multi-platform co-branded stores in the MobiHand Network.

OnlyAndroid allows developers to sell their products for a one-time fee or as subscriptions with automated re-billing. The OnlyAndroid store is available both on the desktop and on-device with both versions supporting over-the-air delivery of product files direct to the device for easy installation. Developers can also choose to provide free trial versions of their applications within the store.

The on-device store allows users to easily and quickly browse and search applications that are compatible with their specific phone, viewing by best-sellers, new, updated, free, and discounted categories. Once users have registered, they can purchase applications with a single click and have them delivered over-the-air within seconds. Users can install the OnlyAndroid on-device store by visiting http://onlyandroid.mobihand.com/appstore/.

“Unlike the closed Apple iPhone platform, Android has been positioned as an open environment. Forcing developers to sell, and consumers to buy, apps from a single, tightly-controlled store is unhealthy for the mobile economy,” said Steve Howard, President and CEO of MobiHand. “There is no reason for a developer to work hard creating a great app and to then have it arbitrarily blocked from the consumer. Developers should be free to achieve maximum reach and sales through the most effective channels. We welcome all quality Android applications and we expect to rapidly grow our catalog for Android as we have on all the other smartphone platforms”.

Applications appearing in the launch of the store include “Freecell” from Odesys (game), “Par 72 Golf II” from RESETgame (game), “GoogHelper for Android” from iambic (search utility), “Business Professional Ringtones” from ExecTones (ringtones), and “FotMob” from ScoreService (sports scores).

About MobiHand

MobiHand, Inc. is a leading distributor of software and content for a wide range of mobile devices, including BlackBerryÒ, Windows MobileÒ, PalmÒ, SymbianÒ, and AndroidÒ. With a catalog of over 10,000 mobile applications, media products, and subscription services from over 600 content providers, MobiHand powers hundreds of co-branded app stores worldwide. The company delivers end-to-end services for the aggregation, marketing, purchasing, and provisioning of mobile content. MobiHand’s best-in-class management platform, MobiReach, provides comprehensive tools for catalog management, localization, store design and administration, marketing and ad campaigns, and reporting. The company is headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area. For more information about MobiHand, please visit corporate.mobihand.com.