Expo: We-Envision introduces myCard for iPhone, iPods touch

We-Envision thinks you want to get your name out there. The company announced myCard, an iPhone and iPod Touch application that beams your business card information to others using any available Internet connection, at this week’s Macworld Expo.

A Beam myCard feature lets you send your info from your iPhone or touch to another iPhone or touch with myCard installed, over the Internet. You provide a short code for the other person to enter, and your card info appears in seconds. If your recipient doesn’t own myCard—or an iPhone, for that matter—the Email myCard feature lets you send your information as an industry-standard vCard e-mail attachment. myCard also remembers the last card you sent, making it quick and easy to send your card again, without retyping.

You can select which parts of your card to beam with a simple tap, omitting personal information such as your mobile phone number or notes that you don't want shared, as well as choose your own "skin" to personalize the application.

myCard is available for free during Macworld Expo 2009 [App Store link]. After this week, the app will cost $1. The company plans to release a free receiver-only app as well.

Review: Byline for iPhone

Most people are creatures of habit. I know I am. I try to maintain certain routines. I have a way of reading online that has evolved slowly but steadily over the years. Occasionally, I will make a great leap forward or sideways, such as when I dove into Twitter or started reading Alltop. But generally speaking, I’m a headline guy. And I get most of my headlines from my RSS feeds.

News junkies already know there is a superabundance of RSS readers for the iPhone and iPod touch. I praised Newsstand () in October for its sophistication, ease of organization and graphic wit. It remains my RSS reader of choice.

But I spent some time recently with Phantom Fish’s Byline, which syncs with Google’s RSS reader and lets you read your favorite feeds offline—and not just the feeds, but also the reference links. Subway commuters and frequent flyers will rejoice at Byline’s convenience in the absence of connectivity.

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Expo: SoundClip pumps up your iPhone’s volume

My favorite thing about Macworld Expo is stumbling across cool little products from companies I’ve never heard of. If my first foray onto the show floor is an indication of what Expo has in store for me I’m pretty excited.

Walking down one of the less trafficked pathways on the show floor I came across Ten One Design’s booth. The company just launched a nifty little thing called the SoundClip, which it bills as a “passive sound enhancer for iPhone 3G.”

Or to put it another way: SoundClip is a little bit of plastic that clips onto the dock connector and funnels the sound from the bottom-facing speakers of the iPhone toward you.

Ten One claims you’ll get a 10dB gain for sounds between 5kHz and 20kHz. I don’t know about that, but if it enhances my gaming experience with Rolando, this add-on is well worth the $8 price tag. (And if you’re on the Expo showfloor, you can pick one up at the discounted rate of $5.)

Review: South Park: Imaginationland for iPhone

Fans of the TV series South Park will recognize “Imaginationland” as the three-part episode arc that won an Emmy Award in 2008. It’s also been turned into a game for the iPhone and iPod touch. And though it has the feel of a game assembled by a committee of executives with an eye toward promoting a franchise, South Park: Imaginationland ends up working well as a platform/puzzle game.

Taking a cue from the classic South Park episode, players help Butters bounce and fly through more than 60 levels while collecting rainbow tokens within a given time limit. Butters also has to avoid traps, such as bombs and spikes.

Even if South Park: Imaginationland seems like the product of a corporate directive—the game is published by RealArcade, with the imprint of both Real Networks, and Comedy Central—it’s executed well. Great graphics coupled with good sound and voice acting provide an immersive experience for the player.

The controls make the game interesting, and there’s a sense of guesswork to Butters’ movements that makes the game fun. While you can control the characters’ movements to a degree by tilting the handset, you can also bounce off mushrooms or other surfaces to gain Imagination power. Once enough Imagination has been built up, you can use a swiping motion to fling Butters in a controlled direction to help navigate the level.

Unfortunately, the game has a few shortcomings. While Imaginationland runs extremely well, the controls feel as if they need work, causing some frustration. Finally, a dearth of sounds leaves Butters yelling the same things whenever you lose a life—it can get pretty tiring.

Still, as frustrating as the game can be, it’s easy to return to Imaginationland. A well-designed portion of the game saves your progress, allowing you to quickly pick up from where you left off. A combination of unlockable levels and prizes keeps the player coming back, but there’s a certain hit or miss factor here—South Park fans may love the game while others will probably look elsewhere for gaming fun.

Finally, there’s the matter of price. When I bought the game, it sold at a “limited-time” price of $1. While that price remains in effect as of this writing, the game has sold for as much as $10. Whether or not that’s a fair price depends on the hold South Park has on your heart and your DVR.

South Park: Imaginationland is compatible with any iPhone or iPod touch running the iPhone 2.x software update.

[Chris Barylick is a Macworld contributor who isn’t sure how to jump off mushrooms to collect rainbow tokens, but has resolved to keep trying.]

iPhone can download music over EDGE too

As part of the trio of iTunes-related announcements during his Tuesday morning Macworld Expo keynote address, Phil Schiller announced that Apple had added support for purchasing and downloading music and podcasts on the iPhone using a 3G data connection (previously support was limited to Wi-Fi-connected phones and iPod touches—it was even called the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store until today). And yes, it works.

But what Schiller didn't mention is that you now can download using the slower (much slower) EDGE data connection as well (a tip o' the hat to Daring Fireball's John Gruber for pointing it out just after the keynote). Back at the office, I turned off Wi-Fi and 3G on my iPhone, then proceeded to search for and download a free iTunes track using my EDGE connection. And yes, it too worked.

There are two downsides to downloading over EDGE, however. First, it took 15 minutes and 12 seconds to download a 9.3MB track, a lot longer than it would have taken over 3G or Wi-Fi. And second, the iPhone has same size restriction for iTunes downloads that it has for App Store downloads—namely, you can't download anything larger than 10MB over 3G or EDGE.

Best Buy offers refurbished iPhones

Looking for a good deal on an iPhone? You could try eBay but a safer bet might be Best Buy in the U.S., which announced on Tuesday that it has started selling refurbished iPhone 3Gs at a slightly discounted price.

The 8GB model costs $149, instead of $199 for a new one. A refurbished 16GB model is going for $249 instead of $299 for the new model.

While the price of the iPhone has come down since the first version was introduced in 2006, the $50 discount on the refurbished models could prove attractive to some people, especially those who are more carefully watching spending during the economic downturn.

Of course, Best Buy isn't the only one selling refurbished iPhones at a discount rate. As reported previously on iPhone Central, AT&T has gotten into the refurb act as well. The exclusive U.S. service provider for the iPhone had been selling used iPhone 3Gs for $99 as part of a promotion that ended on New Year’s Eve.

Like new iPhones, the refurbished models require a two-year contract with AT&T.

Buyers get a one-year warranty on the phones from Best Buy.

The secondhand devices aren't necessarily handsets that buyers replaced because of defects. The phones are those that were returned during a 30-day trial period that comes with the sale and then refurbished to their original condition, Best Buy said. People may return phones because of coverage issues where they live or other reasons unrelated to the quality of the device.

Initially, 350 Best Buy stores are selling the phones, but by the end of the month all stores are expected to have them, the retailer said.

iPhone news a no-show for Expo keynote

For a product that seems to dominate most everything Apple does these days, the iPhone was curiously absent from Tuesday’s Macworld Expo keynote by Apple senior vice president of worldwide product marketing Phil Schiller—at least until the end.

In unveiling new information about the iTunes Store—variable pricing for music tracks that will now be entirely free of digital-rights management restrictions—Schiller also dropped some intel about the iTunes Wi-Fi Store. Namely, that it’s not the Wi-Fi Store anymore: you can now buy and download music tracks across a 3G network as well.

Peter Cohen has more details in his report on the iTunes Store changes announced by Apple Tuesday.

Schiller also mentioned a $1 Keynote Remote app that will let you use your iPhone (or iPod touch) to control Keynote presentations. The App Store addition was announced as part of the iWork ’09 update.

Expo: Putting FileMaker 10 to work on your iPhone

FileMaker has updated its flagship database product to version 10—we’ve told you about that. FileMaker Pro 10 offers many new features, highlighted by an interface overhaul, the addition of dynamic reports, and an updated Quick Start screen and Resource Center—we’ve covered that, too. And a team of FileMaker developers is celebrating the release of FileMaker 10 with a free database designed for the iPhone and iPod touch—that, friends, we haven’t told you about.

The database comes from FMWebschool and works with the developer’s $70 FMTouch app from the App Store. It stores both contacts and exhibitor information for this week’s Macworld Conference & Expo.

Here’s how it works: Expo attendees can use the FMTouch app to enter contact information in the FMWebschool-supplied database. The idea, the developer says, is that it saves you the hassle of having to carry around the business cards of everyone you run into on the show floor. Because the FMTouch app allows for multiple tables, FMWebschool’s database also includes a table of Expo exhibitors that lets you enter in contact details as well as the location of their booth in Moscone Center. The Macworld Expo Contacts and Exhibitor Database is available at the FMTouch Web site.

Not an FMTouch user? Don’t fret—FMWebschool also built a Web site—using FileMaker 10, naturally—that iPhone users can access through their Safari browser. (The Web site, hosted by FMGateway, is password-protected, so you’ll need to create an account before you can use it.) Use the Web site to add contacts and exhibitor information as you roam the floor of Macworld Expo.

Bar fight: Android versus iPhone

A typical Saturday night at my favorite San Francisco dive bar: Zeitgeist in the Mission District. A filthy place populated with surly bartenders, with one of the biggest and best beer gardens in the city: An empty lot next door to the bar proper that’s fenced in from the street, where patrons sit at long picnic tables, drink, eat and smoke.

Even on a chilly San Francisco evening in January, Zeitgeist’s beer garden is packed. And unless you arrive with a large entourage, chances are you’ll be sharing the long picnic tables outside with total strangers.

Zeitgeist has a well-deserved reputation for being part of a scene largely reserved for bike messengers and local hipsters, utterly disparaging of anyone coming in expecting to find a respectable establishment. Taking photos is a no-no, for example. The fragrant aroma of exotic smoking materials in the beer garden may explain why. But the drinks are reasonably priced, the Bloody Marys are excellent, and the grilled food is quite good as well.

Having been to Zeitgeist a few times, I find that it’s a very communal atmosphere. You can almost always have an interesting conversation with the people sitting next to you. This time was no different.

I was showing my friends a couple of my favorite games for the iPhone when a young woman sitting on the other end of our table asked me if I could look something up for her online. She and her two friends were struggling to find out if another establishment they planned to visit had any special events going on.

She held in her hand a G1—the HTC-developed smartphone sold by T- Mobile, based on Google’s Android architecture. She sheepishly confessed that she was a Google employee, and that they’d been given G1s as a Christmas bonus this year. But the G1 wouldn’t connect to the Internet, no matter what she did.

So I handed her my iPhone 3G, and she and her friends pulled up the Web page of the place that they were going to without any problem. With that, they were off into the night. My friends and I raised glasses of Anchor Steam poured from our pitcher—the iPhone was, once again, triumphant.

Expo: Marketcircle offers sneak peek at Daylite Touch

Daylite has already established itself as a pre-eminent organization and business-management tool on the Mac. The application from Marketcircle manages contacts, tracks projects and to-dos, schedules meetings, shares calendars, and essentially keeps everything organized for up to 50 users on individually licensed Macs.

Marketcircle had announced back in June that it planned a mobile version of its management and organization app for the iPhone. That program hasn’t arrived in the App Store just yet, but Marketcircle has taken a big step toward delivering on that promise—it’s demoing a version of the iPhone app, dubbed Daylite Touch, at this week’s Macworld Expo. And the mobile application is on track for a release sometime during the first quarter of 2009.

“We just have a few crashes to resolve and a few [interface] interactions we need to clean up before we submit it [to Apple],” said Marketcircle CEO and president Alykhan Jetha when I caught up with him Monday.

Daylite Touch may still have a few kinks to iron out before it’s ready for prime time at the App Store. But the version on display at Marketcircle’s booth in the South Hall of Moscone Center is one of the deeper, feature-rich apps that has been built for the iPhone.

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