Bing May Become iPhone's Default Search Engine

It’s no secret that Apple and Microsoft have one of the stranger relationships in tech. While Microsoft has produced software such as Office for the Macintosh platform, and Apple has opened its doors to Windows with its switch to Intel, they still are highly competitive with each other. But Cupertino’s relationship with Google is souring far faster, which is the perfect opening for Microsoft when it comes to the iPhone.

Apple is apparently in discussions with Microsoft to give the Bing search engine the top spot for search on iPhone, which currently belongs to Google. These talks have been underway for several weeks, BusinessWeek reports, but nothing as of yet has been finalized.

Getting on the iPhone as the default search engine would be a huge win for Bing. I regularly search for things on my iPhone, so just the boost there in search queries would help Microsoft overall in gaining some search share, something it sorely needs. It’s not clear whether any search deal would also extend to the Safari browser, available on both the Macintosh and Windows platforms.

Either way, its pretty likely that Google wouldn’t be completely erased from the iPhone. YouTube is a popular application. Apple would probably also let users switch back to Google in settings just like it already does now if users wish to search using Yahoo. Bing Maps could replace Google Maps, however.

What are your thoughts on the increasingly hostile relationship between Apple and Google? Who stands to benefit most here? We’d like to hear what you think.

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Rafter - Are You In The Mood For A Challenge?

Rafter is a deceptively simple game with 21 progressive levels which involves dropping blocks accurately to strike a mine.
Product URL: http://www.punflay.com/rafter.html

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Punflay opens the account for 2010 with Rafter

Gaming outfit Punflay, a part of Emantras Inc has recently announced the submission of their brand new game called Rafter. It is designed to go Free for the first few days and then rest at 99c. Punflay's last app Dress Jinjee was a holiday special, specifically designed for Christmas and New Year and won the hearts of thousands of users who downloaded it.

Rafter is an engaging game with blocks and spheres which have to be dropped with precision to strike a mine. Spread over 21 challenging levels, it tests the user's attention and skills to strike the mine as the timer ticks. The game has the scores tied with the number of moves made. The equation is simple: Each level has a fixed number of moves and the score increases when you solve the game using the least number of moves.

Features:
* One of its kind physics based game in which the player can sketch objects of required sizes
* Choice of selecting the type of sketches between circle and rectangle.
* Open feint enabled to share the scores
* 21 mind blowing levels with interesting designs.
* Witty and highly addictive levels targeting players' drawing skills.

The developers opine that it uses a bit of understanding of Physics and common sense to carefully discharge the blocks which fall under gravity and strike against more plans to ultimately strike a mine which blows on the impact. This game thus has an educational angle to it, which makes Punflay games all the more special. The developers also plan to add more levels in the next update.

Punflay is a gaming outfit which belongs to an international digital learning company by the name Emantras. Was founded in 2009 and launched their 1st iPhone app called Adams Trouble. Copyright (C) 2010 Punflay. All Rights Reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, iPhone and iPod are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries.

Visit http://www.punflay.com/rafter.html for more details

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Steve Jobs takes $1 salary in 2009

Not many would know that Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs, draws a salary of US$1 year on year. This year, he chose not to accept any bonus or stock options from Apple either. Apple again gave its founder and CEO a symbolic salary of $1 for the fiscal year 2009, according to a report filed on Wednesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Times Of India had covered an interesting article earlier this week, on how Apple pays back Steve Jobs for his contribution back to Apple in particular and the world of technology at large:

Jobs does not get a bonus or reimbursement for perks that many other CEOs accept, such as personal security, according to a regulatory filing. Apple said it reimbursed Jobs $4,000 for company travel on his $90 million Gulfstream V jet, which he received as a bonus in 1999.

That’s far less than the $871,000 Apple reimbursed Jobs in 2008. The CEO took nearly six months off in 2009 for medical leave, during which time he received a liver transplant. He returned to work at the company’s Cupertino, California, headquarters part-time at the end of June.

Steve Jobs, holds 5.5 million shares of Apple’s stock. He has not sold any shares since he rejoined the company in 1997, nor has he been awarded any new equity since 2003

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iPod Touch and iPhone sales explode this Christmas

Flurry, the Mobile App Analytics firm, revealed yesterday that the iPhone and iPod touch sales have nearly doubled from November and this holiday season has seen iPod Touch’s sales skyrocket along with iPhone. Check this chart.



The company says that over Christmas, downloads from iPod touches exceeded those from iPhones by 172% – and that downloads from third-generation iPod touches jumped by 900% on Christmas Day itself, compared to the average of previous Fridays in December. December was a record-breaking month for the App Store, with downloads increasing by more than 50% compared to November based on average daily download figures.

This indicates that iPod touch sales skyrocketed leading up to Christmas, helping generate major gains in App Store downloads

{via - 9to5Mac}

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Japanese man marries his DS game, no one calls him crazy

.. until now! A Japanese man, who is obviously a little bit off his rocker, has married a character in a Japanese dating sim for his DS. Now that he’s married to his virtual girlfriend in the virtual DS dating simulation. Love Plus, he also apparently decided to go on a honeymoon with her - to Guam. You can’t make this stuff up, folks.

The man, who prefers to use his online name of SAL9000 (get it?!?), met his now virtual wife Nene Anegasaki while playing Love Plus. It was love at first touch - he married “her” a few weeks ago and broadcasts the ceremony live on a Japanese video-sharing site.

SAL9000, who did not want to reveal his real name for fear of being ridiculed admits that he’s an “otaku,” a person who is obsessed with video games, anime, computers and fantasy worlds. Some might call them NERDS.

{Via Reuters}

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Tapulous claims millions in profits on iPhone games

Mobile, iPhone and iPod touch game developer Tapulous says that it is seeing huge success developing games for Apple’s platforms. The company says that its rhythm music game, Tap Tap Revenge is the driving force behind an monthly sales of $1 million USD per month and more than 20 million copies of its game being installed around the world. More than 600 million games played have been played to date, according to the company’s internal figures.

The company says it’s profitable, but won’t show exact sales figures - it doesn’t have to, it’s a private company and not publically traded. Tapulous hopes to ride a wave of exponential growth in mobile app commerce space for the next two years.

That’s a high level of profit for a company that almost exclusively develops iPhone music-based games. While the Music game space is having some tough times, apparently games on the iPod touch and iPhone — even Music games - are doing just fine. Tapulous raised $2.8 million from investors, which include such notables as Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff and venture capital firm Khosla Ventures. Tapulous generates sales in a variety of ways including traditional game sales, ad supported games, and by selling content like songs through its games.

{Via Reuters}

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iPhone and Vodafone UK set the date: January 14

Vodafone has decided if it can't give us the iPhone for the holidays, it'll do the next best thing and spill details of its launch and pricing of Apple's finest. Available from January 14, the iPhone will be yours for £30 ($48) per month on two-year contracts, though up-front charges will set you back £239 (£386) for the 32GB 3GS variety. A monthly 1GB of 3G data is permitted, alongside unlimited WiFi, but what might be most interesting here is that Vodafone will allow you to use the iPhone as a modem. Such use will not be covered by your allowance of course, and will cost £5 ($8) for each 500MB downloaded, but we're happy to see a carrier offering the option. Furthermore, though Vodafone's agreement to carry the iPhone seemed a rushed defensive move, the company now claims it has been preparing its network for over a year to handle the increased traffic it expects.
iPhone and Vodafone UK set the date: January 14 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Dec 2009 06:03:00 EST.

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Appigo Todo iPhone App Developer Contest To Award $10,000

A new contest has been announced by Appigo to encourage third party developers to integrate their iPhone app with their latest version of Todo app, called the ‘Appigo Todo iPhone App Developer Contest’. Appigo will award US$10,000 in cash prizes. Todo’s most recent update gives third party apps the ability to create and import tasks, projects, and checklists using Apple’s iPhone OS 3.0 SDK (software development kit).

“Our developer program is the first step in encouraging integration between apps on the new iPhone computing platform,” says Calvin Gaisford, president and co-founder, Appigo. “This opportunity is an excellent way for iPhone apps to distinguish themselves among the ever growing list on the App Store.”

A total of $10,000 will be given to winners of the contest. The best integrated app will receive a cash prize of $5,000. Five additional apps will be named as honorable mentions and will each receive $1,000. Winners are expected to be announced during Macworld Expo 2010.

For more on the contest, check out Appigo’s Developer page.

{via - Macsimum News}

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Microsoft Bing Finally Comes To The iPhone

Microsoft has finally launched its first search engine app for the iPhone. Bing for iPhone [Free, App Store link] is actually MS’s second iPhone app, the first one was that image-zooming app called the Seadragon Mobile.

Make decisions and get where you need to go with Bing. See the Bing daily image and related trivia on the home screen. Search maps or the web with your voice – even say an address. Use Image Search and flick through previews Download Bing today to find stuff nearby and get there fast.

Here are few of the features in Bing’s iPhone version that MS talks about:

•Voice search continues in our iPhone App and works great for map locations as well as old fashioned web search. Just say “San Francisco weather,” for a quick result, or even say a full address for a map or directions.
•Directions – looking for a coffee shop nearby? Bing automatically finds your location. It’s also easy to discover a new spot by category such as restaurants, banks, theaters etc.
•Mapping action – Swipe through each step of the directions, and check out how fast the map pans and zooms.
•Images – Try image search with endless scrolling results. Then easily flick through image previews and click through to the host site.



{Via Bing}

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