I spent a year running, and being the primary writer for, a site devoted specifically to iPhone apps. I remember the mad rush when the App Store first went on line. Populating the database had to be done by hand since the App Store wasn’t easily copyable, and no RSS feeds of new apps were yet available. The process was painful. Copy the app’s information, grab a screen-shot, grab a link to its location in the App Store, put all the data into the site’s database.

I sent the better part of four days of my summer vacation manually putting in all the apps that were there… all 552 of them.

Fast forward less than a year and a half and there are now more than 100,000 apps available in the App Store. That’s a pretty remarkable growth-rate. No, it is down-right unbelievable. It shows that Apple has hit a homerun with the iPhone/App Store combination. It could also, however, be Apple, and the iPhone’s Achelles heal. Continue Reading

The Symbian Foundation released this video showing a hypothetical phone UI, which basically looks like a mashup of MotoBlur and Palm Synergy with a dash of augmented reality and Google maps navigation for good measure. This isn’t an actual future UI, but how fast would you line up for a Symbian phone if it were?

Via Brighthand

More details are leaking out about Spring Design’s lawsuit against Barnes and Noble. Engadget has information from Spring Design on the details of their “relationship” with B&N. Bottom line: it looks on the surface like B&N saw Spring Design’s ideas, chose not to use them, then implemented the best parts for their own eReader.

Bear in mind this is all conjecture based on the limited information floating around the internet. Please keep your pitchforks and flaming torches at bay until someone is proven guilty!

Via Engadget

Remember the Alex ebook reader? And remember how everyone thought it looked awfully similar to the nook? Apparently Spring Designs, the creators of the Alex, agree, and they’ve filed a lawsuit against Barnes and Noble over it.

Highlights of the press release:

-Barnes and Noble and Spring Designs were working together on an ebook reader.

-Spring Design shared information about the Alex with B&N (who were under NDA)

-The lawsuit is alleging B&N stole Spring Design’s intellectual property by studying the Alex’s features and using them for the design of the nook.

Now this does contradict a report from Businessweek that the nook (code named “Athena”) was being designed by Ammunition Partners, the company that designed the first Kindle.

My one cynical, totally unconfirmed theory: Barnes and Noble purposely pushed pre-order shipping back to mid-December to allow time for this to play out and avoid a potential sales injunction.

No other information is available beyond the press release, and there is no word on whether Spring Design will be attempting to prevent nook sales or pre-sales. As more information appears we will definitely be sharing it, so keep an eye on Gear Diary for more news and commentary!

Via egether

Did you just buy a shiny new Touch Pro 2? Or maybe you snapped up an Imagio or a Pure? (Or any other HTC Windows Mobile devices) If you did, you’ll be happy to know that Sprite Mobile has you covered. Continue Reading

My father’s favorite phrase is “People don’t plan to fail; they fail to plan.” I’m quite sure a very expletive laden version of this concept was bandied around Microsoft after the Sidekick backup debacle. So I posed the question to the Gear Diary Team: How do you back up your smartphone data?

Continue Reading

It took stealth, cunning, and nerves of steel (along with a cell phone camera and a friendly clerk), but here is my report from tonight’s visit to Barnes and Noble to scope out their nook displays.

Even before you enter the store, you are greeted with HUGE mock nook in the window. I kind of want one that size! Continue Reading

Welcome to another round of State of the eBook! There’s been an avalanche of eBook news and releases, so let’s dive right in!

Barnes and Noble releases the nook upon the world

B&N’s nook came out swinging, with a dual screen design and an android foundation. Check out Gear Diary’s coverage of the nook’s release here, and commentary on a B&N conference call that answered some questions and raised new ones here. In related B&N news, Plastic Logic has announced that their Que reader will be not only using the Barnes and Noble eBook store but will also be sold in Barnes and Noble locations.

Amazon isn’t taking this lying down

Not content with blowing away their earnings numbers AND announcing Kindle-related sales are their best selling products, Amazon also quickly dropped the price of their international Kindle to $259 to compete with the nook. And since AT&T’s network isn’t crowded enough, they also quietly dropped their Sprint Kindles, bringing all Kindle 2’s on the AT&T network going forwards. Finally, Kindle for Windows is coming shortly, with a mac version in a few months!

Continue Reading

Last week Plastic Logic announced their Que reader, and today the company shared some new information. Not only will the Que reader be powered by the Barnes and Noble eBook store… Continue Reading

This is absolutely fabulous. Check out the above video from Vodafone NZ; I’ve watched it 3 times today already! Engadget has more details on how it was made if you’re curious. Now to convince the team here to pool our vast cell phone collections and make something similar…maybe with something more modern like the Thong Song.

Via Engadget

NPR is reporting on the curious case of a gentleman who jury-rigged his La-z-Boy to become an electric chair with a lawnmower motor. It seems like a joke, but apparently it was quite real. Continue Reading

We live in an increasingly connected world; the expectation is that at any time, you can reach someone via cell phone, email, IM, text message, etc. But for the very young and the very old, those options are often too complicated or confusing. How do you assuage your concerns and make sure they are safe, easy to find in a crowd, and reachable? Continue Reading

Some might wonder if Amazon is quietly sweating the release of the Nook and the surge of excitement for Barnes and Noble’s ebook platform…but today Amazon has reason to celebrate. Continue Reading

Plastic Logic is set to unveil it’s Que eBook reader at the Consumer Electronics Show this January. What makes Que so special?

Continue Reading

I posted yesterday that Barnes and Noble announced their new eBook reader, the Nook. Today I had the opportunity to join a conference call with William Lynch, President of BarnesandNoble.com, to hear more about the Nook and Barnes and Noble’s plans for the digital media market. In addition to learning about the Nook, the question and answer portion highlighted the confusion around ebooks and where they fit into the future of bookselling. Continue Reading