When I get home after practice I usually check for updates on the app store on my phone since I have wifi.  Today I had a couple of updates.  Much to my surprise was an update for Pocket Informant.  In case you are not familiar with the app, it is my favorite app and has a place in the bottom tray on my phone.  It rolls a wonderful syncing calendar and todos all into one beautiful application.  The developers have already brought one great update and this one looks to be a big one too.

PhatWare makes some of the best handwriting recognition software for devices such as those running Windows Mobile. I was a huge fan before my Apple-conversion led me into the wonderful world of iPhone OS.

While they have slowly been making the move into the iPhone and iPod Touch landscape, they have formally announce their involvement in the platform in a big way with the launch of an entire WritePad Product Line for iPhone and iPod Touch.

The apps, WritePad Affairs, WritePad Events, and WritePad Notes version 1.8 are already available in the App Store. A special introductory price of $2.99 will be effective through June 2009. After that the price for each will go to $4.99.

We’ll be looking at the apps in the next few days. The full Press Release after the jump…

I love Speck cases and use them all the time on my iPhone, my Touch and my MacBook. They give great protection, have a low-profile, and they look great. We been fortunate over the past months to give away a number of cases from this terrific company and today we have three more. 

Read on for details.

It’s rare, exceptionally so, that I read dead tree books, papers or magazines. Between my Kindle, the NYTimes reader, Zinio and my iPhone there’s really no need for me to kill trees and deal with the bulk of paper and ink.

And apps like AP Mobile News Network make the move to E-Everything a whole lot easier.

The app was one of the highlighted programs when Apple first allowed 3rd party apps on the iPhone. Since its initial release it has gotten better and better. This update, however, is huge…

One of my teachers once told me the story of a guy who wanted to be a ship’s captain so he went out and bought a boat and a captain’s hat. He invited his dad to visit and said proudly. "Look dad, I’m a captain."

His father replied, "To me you look like a captain. To a captain. however, not so much."

You can have the best tools but that doesn’t make you an artist. At the same time, you can have very basic tools and, if you have that hard-to-quantify ability known as "being artistic", you can take even the most basic of tools and create something awesome.

App collecting can sure be fun but even those $.99 apps add up rather fast and before you know it Apple is hitting you with a sizable bill. Fortunately there are an abundance of free apps available. some of them are Lite versions that let you try an app before you buy and others that are just plain free.

But how do you find the best free apps?

To make it easier, tomorrow morning we’ll be introducing "Focus On Free". Each morning, from Monday through Friday, Travis (aka Coach) will review one of the current top FREE apps in the App Store. Some he’ll love, some he won’t.  Along the way there’s no doubt he’ll uncover some gems.

And if you come upon a free app you love… drop him a line and let him know.

We hope this will be one more way WOiP can help you find the best (and avoid the worst) that the App Store has to offer.

i’m having a good time playing around with qik, the service that lets you stream live video from your handheld, since jailbreaking my iPhone let me install it. While it certainly doesn’t provide the same quality video as my Flip UltraHD or even my Lumix FZ28 (when in video mode), the fact that it live streams AND makes embeddable video immediately available can’t be beat.

It works great and raises the question… why did I have to jailbreak in order to get access to it?

Some thoughts… via qik, of course…

Apple nixed the app Lyrics until such time as the app was resubmitted with a filtering system so that naughty words were excluded.

Now the developer found a work-around in the form of an easter egg that, once activated, bypasses the filter, but that isn’t the point of this post… this is…

In another step moving us away from requisite physical synching,  AllthingsD that pretty well assures the upcoming ability to add videos and movies via the iTunes store app.

AThey even grabbed some screen caps before the premature unveiling was disabled.

There are, however, some open questions. If ATT allows downloading via 3G it will explain even further why the Slingplayer app was neutered and go a long way to proving that the decision was a joint one between the two companies.

More images after the jump

via 9to5Mac

I’m super impressed by some of the jailbreak apps available. Qik is nothing short of awesome. The ability to live stream from your iPhone opens up all kinds of new possibilitites for creative (and sadly nefarious) uses of the iPhone.

I just came across another app that I am loving but, unfortunately, I suspect this one will never be allowed by Apple since it competes with some of the functionality of iTunes.