The latest application released for iOS is Photosynth. A really cool technology and now available on a really nice device. Photosynth allows you to create 360 degrees panorama pictures. Check it out over here. The iOS app can be downloaded over here.

Now I’m just waiting for the Lync app…

Check iTunes for your update. More info available here.

[Update] seems that iTunes is giving iOS 4.2.1 to me for both iPhone as well as for iPad…

More details here.

Download Pulse News Reader here and Pulse News Mini here.

There are however ways to fix Airprint. Click here for the tutorial. and here for the necessary files.

Google

Google is doing everything online. The company that once started as a search engine has grown to one of the biggest companies in the world in a relative short period. Nowadays, Google is everywhere and the search engine only seems to be a minimal part of their activities. That ain’t true. Google has promoted the search for information, or better, finding information, to a supreme level. and they are good at it. They make billions with their search engine, using that money to develop all kind of products and services that we can use ‘for free’.

Google connects everything to your personal Google Account. With this account, you get access to all services, as long as you use the services of Google. Mail, calendar, images and videos, documents, blogs, social networks. All by Google. And that ‘s it. Integration with other networks is more or less not possible with Google.

Apple

Apple has nearly always followed a premium pricing strategy for their products and services. That resulted in a premium priced corporate image. Minimal design, good combinations between hardware and software and fantastic integration between the various products and services through their own MobileMe. that is connected to a premium price tag however. Although you can have the same services for free on other places, Apple is asking a $99 per year for it. Services that are supported are mail, calendard, files, images, contacts, device tracking and online backups.

Microsoft

At this moment, the Worldwide Partner Conference 2010 is taking place in Washington where Microsoft has announced that they are all in the cloud. They even rebranded the term PC! Up till now, PC was a abbreviation for Personal Computer. However, Microsoft is now using the PC as a Personal Cloud.

Looking at Microsoft, I think the company has waited a long time, took a good look at Apple and Google as is now going full speed with their own products and servicecs, using the best practices of their competitors. On the one side, they have looked carefully to Apple by stating that they will improve the cooperation with for example their hardware suppliers. This results in better possibilities for, for example, a mobile OS for the hardware-software combination. On the other side, the company has the same products and services as Google. Search Engine Bing is growing and a large set of services such as mail, calendar, documents, photo’s, blogs others are offered for free through windows Live.

Online Music

Één van de gebieden waar geen van deze drie bedrijven tot nu een stempel op de industrie heeft kunnen drukken is muziek. Online muziek dan wel. Natuurlijk heeft Microsoft Zune en Apple heeft iTunes. Maar er is nog er nog niet één die een vergelijkbaar initiatief zoals Spotify heeft kunnen lanceren. Er wordt wel over gespeculeerd, maar vooralsnog is het er niet.

One of the areas where non of these three companies has won the battle yet is the area of music, online music. Of course, Microsoft has Zune and Apple has iTunes. However, there is still none of them that has a similar service as Spotify has. Rumors are on, but I haven’t seen it yet.

The Future

Where are we going? Of course, that is a wonderful question that cannot be answered by anybody. I do however think that Microsoft can become really big again. Of course, Apple is really Popular at this moment with its iPad and the iPhone 4. And Google is still offering everything for free. I believ that Microsoft has a correct mix of products and services, based on an all-in cloud strategy. Besides, Microsoft has a fantastic partner channel and much more experience in selling products and services than Google has (after all, Google is just selling advertisements). Looking at price, Microsoft has positioned itself below Apple, increasing the group of potential buyers.

This post was recently posted in Dutch on www.erpfood.nl by the same author as this website.

Sorry, that won’t be the case. Apple has created a small set of API’s for developers to be implemented within their Apps, in order to be Multitasking-ready. And, in order for an App to qualify for iOS 4, the only thing a developer has to do is to compile its App with the iOS 4 SDK. That means that developers DON’T have to implement the new background features.

The following API’s are available:

• Background Audio
  Allowing applications to play audio in the background such as Pandora and Spotify.
• Voice Over IP
  Allowing applications such as Skype to remain ‘open’ after the app as been closed.
• Background Location
  Useful for Navigation Apps such as TomTom and Navigon. Navigation applications will continue to run if the app has been closed.
• Push Notifications
  The Push Notifications as we know them, for Twitter updates and Instant Messaging Apps.
• Local Notifications
  The same as Push Notifications, but on a local level. Think about scheduled events in those Farmville games.
• Task Finishing
  Uploading a movie YouTube, posting a picture to Flickr. All these activities can be run when the app is closed.
• Fast App Switching
  Probably the most important one. This API allows ‘state freezing’. When re-opening an app, it will look exactly the same as when you left it. It has not been running though and therefore did not consume any battery.

We can say a lot about multitasking and whether it is real multitasking or not, but I won’t do that here. Instead, I have done something else. In order to get a clear overview of the Apps that support any of these API’s, I have created a list (here) that shows the various applications under their respective category. Please use the form to submit apps that are not on the list yet.