With  August 22 approaching and nothing to do on a particularly boring Monday afternoon, some of us in the office decided to go a bit “intellectual”. We were just lazily debating over how going global will impact the iPhone and vise-a-versa. Lazy chatter? We thought so too. As it turned out, however, someone has actually thought about it and what’s more, created apps with local flavor!In its second phase of release one of Apple’s biggest targets will probably be India with already two carriers offering the 3G to a vast market. At least one dev, one Muthu Armugum has thought so and released three apps, for very different usages at the App store. Each of the apps - India News, Cricket and TamilDaily are priced at $0.99 and come under the following categories:
1. India News: Category: News August 07 

2. Cricket:        Category: Sports, August: 13

3. Tamil Daily: Category: Productivity, August 19

As the release dates show, the India launch has been anticipated well in advance.

So far, India News has found a common cord with the Indians in the US (both resident and non-resident)

Cricket has so far received 1 star reviews. Expect this to change, they are crazy about cricket in India. (and in case you aren’t sure what cricket is, check the Wikipedia.

Tamil Daily has been launched just today. So far, no comments. (No pun intended)

Just by looking at the apps, it seems that India News is a good app, with good news coverage and promising features like news alerts through SMS etc. Tamil Daily is a bit regional in the sense it is a language spoken only by some people in one South Indian state.

These products have nothing new in them as such. Nothing novel about them. But hang on for a while once the iPhone hits more global markets. Expect some really colorful apps with global appeal. With the iPhone poised for its second phase of release in 20 more countries, it seems that this hi-tech platform has crossed cultural barriers.

Yes. You can go to jail, in Germany. Or be out under surveillance by the FBI as a suspected terrorist. All this can happen if you are trying to meddle with the iPhone. Consider this: if you are trying to unlock the iPhone 3G by using the hardware-based SIMable option. According to the Pwange team the third generation baseband chip is “designed around” sim based -hardware hacks and hence tampering with this might result in “leaking” the information over cellular networks and generate errors. Which in turn can be tracked by various telecom companies, who could be led to believe that you are tampering with their networks.

Is that scary?

The personal computer industry is witnessing a decline in customer satisfaction but that’s not the case with Apple.

It has managed to spur a growth rate score of 85 as against it’s nearest rival which could only account for a score of 74, according to The American Customer Satisfaction Index sources. Leading with 10 or more points is a record and has been termed as an all time high in the industry.

Head of the ACSI, Professor Claes Fornell says:

It’s hard not to be impressed with Apple. This is product extension at its best where the new products, iPod and iPhone, are helping bring new customers to existing computer products. The fact that Apple is not dependent on the Windows Vista operating system hasn’t hurt either.

The overall decline in the industry can be attributed to the fact that customers were unhappy with Windows based machines like Compaq, Gateway and Hewlett & Packard.

Overall, Apple has done extremely well, but a few Japanese customers would like to disagree with ACSI due to reports of  iPod Nanos catching fire. According to Reuters, Tokyo, Japan’s trade ministry revealed that a battery defect could have been the likely reason for the overheating of the iPod Nanos.

Your iPhone can now (at last) function as a tool for mobile business collaboration, working with team members, sharing contacts, calendars, documents, projects, business class email.

HyperOffice is now available from Apple’s website, putting the business collaboration suite within easy reach of any iPhone user.

HyperOffice transforms the iPhone into a tool for mobile business. Users connect to secure corporate email, contacts, calendars, tasks and notes - and share documents and data without Microsoft Exchange and Sharepoint.

The award-winning webware makes it easier for owners, employees, clients, partners and suppliers of growing businesses to collaborate, communicate, plan projects, share documents, schedule meetings and tasks, and manage information, anytime, from work, from home, while traveling.

Check out their thirty-day trial.

“This is not emailing files back and forth as attachments. Instead, you’re managing and sharing documents with online storage, version control, user rights and change notification,” said Farzin Arsanjani, president of HyperOffice.

HyperOffice enables iPhone users to share group and project calendars with team members and clients who also use Outlook and HyperOffice. Users may also retrieve; share and update address books, projects and tasks, and manage documents with online storage, versioning, user rights and commenting. HyperOffice also provides discussion groups, security and backup; and business-class email without spam and viruses.

Plus, if you’re working on a Mac or PC, HyperOffice also offers web conferencing, Exchange and Sharepoint functionality, Outlook sync, Intranet/Extranet page and portal builders, time and expense tracking, and an online database application.

This is a web app, for some reason, not a native app. So don’t go looking for it in the App Store. There’s a native version coming soon too, hopefully.

Lets take some time off from our usual serious iPhone talks and share some clayish moment. Here are a few answers you need to throw back for reading this article.

They said man is made from clay. Is the iPhone also is made from clay? Look at the picture and tell me what you think. Is this the blueprint of the iPhone shaped and seasoned by Steve Jobs to display it to Jonathan Ive or vice versa?

Look on till the clay turns to real icloned iPhone. We are still waiting for the charger and the headset to be shipped too.

But seriously, folks. This artist has done an incredible job here, and I’m wondering if there’ll a 3G version anytime soon. Considering the persistent iPHone 3G shortage, Apple itself could consider giving out the iPhone 3G clay to people while they wait for the real phone?

Upgrading to iPhone OS 2.0.2 is creating some problems for some users again. If you are one of those unlucky users here is what you need to do fix the problem. Try the simple tricks and go for the last one if you find the problem is more serious.

Upgrade Issues: Problems associated with the upgrade are application crashes, applications not loading properly, and more issues like music files getting erased from the iPhone.

Solution 1:

1. Delete one of the third-party applications
2. Power off the phone for a while
3. Switch on the phone and re-download the application.
4. This simple trick will fix any DRM issues related with the update.

Solution 2:

1. Connect to iTunes and sync your iPhone to take backup
2. Disconnect the phone when the backup is done
3. Reconnect the iPhone and select ‘Restore’

This will re-install all your application and data. If this trick doesn’t solve the issue, you need to restore your iPhone as a new phone.

Solution 3:
Downgrade iPhone OS to 7.7.0 for Windows users and  7.6.2 for Mac users. Steps are provided below:

1. Delete all third applications from your iPhone
2. Disconnect your iPhone and restart it
3. Un-install iTunes from your system
4. Download iTunes 7.7.1 (Windows) or 7.6.2 (Mac)
5. Re-install iTunes
6. Sync the iPhone to the downloaded version of iTunes.

Hope one of the given tips solve your issue.

We’ve been there before. We travel to a new place, and end up not knowing what or where to eat. There could be a bunch of good restaurants just nearby, or an awesome one worth going some distance for, but how do you figure out which ones to visit and which ones to avoid?

With LocalEats at your service you will have no need to worry anymore. So give the junk food a miss, and instead take the help of LocalEats. This app has listings of over 5000 restaurants, and some useful map-friendly features.

With LocalEats handy in your iPhone, you could eat like a local and savor the best food anywhere you are. A team of experts consisting of local foodies has come up with the list, and it is updated regularly. At present, this app covers 50 cities in the U.S. and there are plans for expansion.

As long as you are traveling to one of these 50 cities, this app is recommended.

Category: Travel                    Price: $0.99

File Size: 0.8 MB                      Rating: ***

The much awaited iPhone is slated to be launched by Vodafone on 22nd of this month. Now Indians will not have to settle for the unlocked version. But it does come at a hefty price at Rs 31,000 ($715) for the 8 GB model.

The guys at PCW Business Center feel that it’s highly unlikely that the iPhone will be a mass market device in India as it is a tad too costly priced at 31,000. Compared to AT&T’s 8 GB offer at $199 with a two year contract, the pricing in India seems to be outrageously exorbitant. It is possible that the company will offer a no- commitment option of $699 for a 16 GB model and $599 for a 8 GB model in future.

Indian customers will be able to download applications from the App Store, but video and music downloads from iTunes will not be available for Indian market. Airtel and Vodafone have announced on their websites that some of the iPhone 3G’s features will be unavailable (read 3G bandwidth). But Indian customers have reason to be positive as the Indian government has plans for the auction of the 3G spectrum later this year.

The iPhone is sure to give stiff competition to Nokia’s range of smartphones like N96, E66, E67 and the Nokia 6210 navigator phone. Other manufacturers too are stepping up their R&D efforts in a bid to face the onslaught of the iPhone.

Category: Game ( Dev. Digicide)                                        Price: $1.99
File Size: 3.9 MB                                                                 Download Here (iTunes)                         

Lexitron brings tangibility with textuality. This multilingual word puzzle game challenges you to create words out of the six letters that come out when you start your app and shake the iPhone. Figure out the possible set of words from the letters with at least one six letter word.

Features:

1. Available in English, French, Italian and Spanish
2. More than 80,000 unique English puzzle games.
3. More than 30, 000 puzzles in other languages
4. Automatic saving ofthe users progress.

The game itself is weaved around the usual parameters.  High score is based not just on your vocabulary but also speed. The faster you figure out the the potential number of words from the random set of six letters the higher you score.

Style: The look of the game is pretty striking - red and black digital representation of letters and words gives a smart, techie look to the texts.

One hitch: If you can call it that. This game needs multiple user support. Word puzzles with multiple players do create competition and excitement!

Overall, an addicctive game. Does what it promises to do. Perfect value for money.  

Our rating: 3.5/5