Apparently, in addition to being a fantastic consultant and musician from Cleveland, Ted is also an app for your iPhone — one that covers the Technology, Entertainment, and Design conference.  It’s main thrust is to give you access to the podcasts and recordings made and posted during and after the conference.  Hey, this app gets my download on account of its name alone.  (And Apple selected it as the App of the Week last week, to boot.)

Tags: business, conferences, ted, video

General Motors created an official iPhone app for keeping up on company news.  Why we need an iPhone app for this is beyond me (above and beyond the trendiness of developing iPhone apps, which I understand), but I guess it will be fun to have an iPhone app dedicated to the notion of tracking GM’s trip through the financial crapper.  I wonder if the app will disappear or quit working when the restructuring committee finds discovers this little project in GM’s marketing budget.

Tags: business, corporate, general motors, gm, iphone, news, pr, software

Gizmodo’s got pictures of the new Android-based G2 phone, this time with a 3.2 megapixel camera and no hardware keyboard (ie, just a touchscreen like the iPhone and Storm).  Apparently the device is thinner than the iPhone 3G, but we’re still bothered by its lack of symmetry.  Meanwhile, it’s been reported that Android device sales are not biting iPhone sales in the slightest. Check it out.

Tags: 3g, android, apple, business, g2, google, iphone, photos

In the spirit of BGR’s “Top Ten Things We Hate About Our iPhone“, I’ll pile on with a top ten list of my own:

1) Spoken UI elements - Sometimes you need to hear it, not see it. Particularly true of caller ID.

2) Screen rotation in E-mail - This one is a must. Fat-fingering email compositions can be very frustrating in portrait mode.

3) Copy & Paste - While this doesn’t kill our routine every day, having access to a simple clipboard for text snippets would be extremely helpful.

4) A standardized import/export format for Contacts - We can already get iCal files into Apple’s calendaring app, and subscribing to them via the web is simple enough, but those of us who use our Macs for serious business REALLY need is a conduit betweem CRM apps like Salesforce/Now-up-to-date/etc. into iPhone contacts.  This is an absolute must.

5) Video recording - Seriously.  We still can’t record video on the iPhone?  Apple, get your head out of your posterior.

6) MMS messaging- See comment on #5.  It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that media messaging is a required feature on all cell phones (especially “smart” ones).

7) Better Bluetooth compatibility - Starting with Bluetooth File Exchange, please.

Random wallpaper - Yup, we want our iPhone to choose our wallpaper for us, just like our desktop computer does.

9) Universal charger compatibility - All those old iPod chargers that output the right voltage and have the right plug?  You can’t use ‘em.  Time to fix that, Apple.

10) More than four page panels for apps - It didn’t take long to fill up the four available pages with apps. Let’s add another page or two.

Tags: 2.3, apple, features, iphone, mms, recording, software, top ten, video

Another month has passed an our IT Security team has yet to allow iPhone integration with our Exchange system. Windows smart phone users and blackberry users have enjoyed the convenience of accessing their work email, calendar, and taks for years. However, fear of widespread adoption and loss of complete control over where data can be backed up has paralyzed our security team. We’re already aware that all of the data on an iPhone connected to Exchange can be wiped at any time. The concern is that data can be backed up at home (primarily contact info and data stored in calendar appointments). What is stopping people from printing out their contacts, exporting them into a web site, and forwarding contact info and appointments externally? Theoretically, strong network filtering and proxying can prevent this. In practice, it’s just wasted time and effort, not to mention hours of productivity lost by those trying to circumvent these restrictions. If you want your users connected, you have to give up a little control. If you have a problem with that, don’t announce support for the hot new mobile device on the block.

Tags: corporate, iphone, security