New improved Line2 app has added unlimited text messages at a lower price.

Line 2, an iPhone app that allows you to make phone calls with your iPhone using a Wi-Fi hot spot wherever there is a weak cellphone signal and to turn an iPod Touch or iPad into a full blown cellphone for as little as $15 a month, has gone through some enhancements and is now better than before.
At a cost of $10 a month, Line 2 gives you a second phone number for a second phone line complete with its own contact list, voicemail while turning the iPhone into a dual-mode phone which means it can make and receive unlimited calls for free Wi-Fi connection.
The new and enhanced Line 2 have features like the possibility to delete recent calls entries, transfer incoming calls to your Line 2 number to your iPhone's when Line 2 is not running. The new Line 2 app will also you to send and receive unlimited text messages when in a Wi-Fi hot spot even without an AT&T text plan according to the New York Times.

For more, see NewYorkTimes.com

New version of CNN News iPhone app is now available to international users.

Even if it has been around for a while, CNN News iPhone app was till now only available to users in the U.S.A. But last week, CNN announced a new version available to iPhone and iPod Touch international users. The new version comes with added features like "push notification" for breaking news and the ability to use the phone camera to capture photos and videos and upload them to CNN's iReport citizen journalism website" according to AppScout.
"The new CNN app also allows iPhone and iPod Touch owners to customize their news experience. You can select certain topics and subjects and "follow" them so you get regular updates on the news and alerts on information that interests you specifically" still according to AppScout. "As you find stories that interest you, you can also save them for future or offline reading, and depending on where you live and the type of news you frequently read, the app will show you news stories of regional interest." AppScout said.
Another new feature of the app is its integration with CNN's iReport citizen journalism Web site allowing users to report on events happening in their areas. They can register right from their phone through the app to either submit material or view some submitted by others.
On top of the new features, the new new version of the app allows users to do all the other things that they use to do with the old one like watch the latest news reports or access CNN videos on -demand etc. The new CNN News iPhone app is free to download from the iTunes store or from CNN's Website.

For more, see AppScout.com

What's On app transforms your mobile devices screen into a digital TV guide.

When away from the TV and wanting to know what's on ahead of time, there is a way to do just that if you own an iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad thanks to an app called What's On.
The app will let you browse listings from local television, cable or satellite channels.
What's On also lets you mark certain programs as favorites which comes handy for knowing when they are on. Another interesting feature of What's On is the ability to see movies showings at local theatres. According to AppScout.com, you can use What's On to browse TV listings by time or channel, even use a feature called push notifications so to receive an alert notifying you when your favorite show is about to start.
What's On used to have two versions: one paid one that was free of ads and a free ads supported one. But a new version called 2.0 was just released and the paid version was dropped paving the way for just one version with more features like movies trailers clips.

For more, see AppScout.com

Free apps for direct printing from an iPhone or an iPod.

Owners of Apple's iPhone or iPod Touch who love to snap and save pictures with their devices, may been wishing that there were an equally easy way to print those pictures on the go. That wish is now reality with the introduction of some options in the form of apps available from various sources. Even thought there are quite a few stand alone apps that offer to do just that, most of them are not proven to be bug free, or they do not offer direct printing. Two of the most reliable ways to achieve direct printing from an iPhone or an iPod Touch, are offered by two big names printer makers, HP and Canon.
As it is no secret, these two printers makers realized that few people actually take the extra step to print the many pictures that they snap with their camera equipped devices. So, they have a legitimate interest in making printing from some of the most popular mobile devices as effortless as possible. And thanks to wireless printers and iPhone's apps, that feat is just a touch of a button away.
On the downsize, the apps offered by these two giants, only work with their own brands of printers, so to use them, you really have to own a printer made by them, and for Canon's app to work, it has to be in conjunction with some particular printers models, which limit your choices. Let's introduce the current offerings by those two companies and see how they compare.
The HP's iPhone app called the iPrintPhoto is free, simple, easy to use and delivers great results working with an inkjet printer.
To get it to work beside the obvious fact that you have to download it from the Apple store, is that the printer and the and the iPhone have to be on the same WI-FI network. The printer can be connected to its own network or a Mac with the Printer Sharing option turned on. The only downsize is that the app can only print 4x6 size photos.
The other direct printing option from Canon is called the Canon Easy-PhotoPrint for iPhone or Canon iEPP, for short. Like the HP iPrintPhoto, the Canon iEPP is a free application that allow you to print from an iPhone or iPod Touch on a compatible Canon PIXMA printer via a local network.
Contrary to the HP iPrintPhoto, the Canon iEPP gives you more options when it comes to paper types or sizes(from 2.2 inches to letter size.) It is different from the HP iPrintPhoto in the sense that it will give option between choosing borders or bordeless photos and the number of copies you can print( up to 20.)
It is also has more advanced features like automatically finding a printer on a wireless network.

For more, see pcmagazine.com

New iPhone Viper SmartStart app lets you start your car remotely.

With winter just around the corner, the thought of wakening up on a snowy morning and having to make your way to your car, scrap it clean and finally have it started, can make most of us cringe. And even if you already own an electronic remote starter, the range is usually limited to 30 feet with the requirement to be standing and pointing the keyfob in the direction of the car.
Now imagine being able to start your car from almost any distance and from any room in the house regardless of what activity you are engaged in? That thought is now reality thanks to a new iPhone app called ViperSmartStart from Directed Electronics.
ViperSmartStart is an iPhone-compatible remote starter capable of warming up or cooling down a car.
It does not stop there, allowing you to remotely lock or unlock your car's the doors, pop the trunk or even sound the car alarm.
The system can be installed as a new unit for $499 or as an add on to an existing remote starter for $299 and either way, it comes with an annual fee of $29.99.
The ViperSmartStart is also compatible with the iPod Touch but with the range limited to withing existing WI-FI networks.

For more, see Wired.com

Using Skype mobile on your cellphone.

As it continues to grow, Skype, which offers telephone services for free or nearly free to users via VoIP or voice-over-Internet protocol through their computers, has expanded its service into the mobile phone arena. Even before Skype made the move, other companies were already offering software that allowed certain phones to work with Skype.
The Skype software for mobile is available free for smartphone like the iPhone, Samsung, Nokia, Windows and Android phones etc, and other devices like the iPod Touch, Sony PSP etc.
With these various devices, Skype offers different levels of services and connectivity. But in general, Skype mobile works under the same principle as the one on computers by allowing users to make calls and send instant messages to other Skype users free, and pay lower rates than the ones from the phone companies when calling landlines or other mobile phones.
There are other restrictions like the one imposed by Apple to only allow Skype mobile calls to be made through WI-FI connection and not over the network of its carrier partners like AT&T.

For more, see NYTimes.com

CourseSmart LLC offers e-texbooks free for subscribers, on iPod.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that CourseSmart LLC , an e-textbooks provider for college students with more than 7,ooo titles, is making its collection available on Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch, free for its subscribers.
Typically, students rent an e-book for 180 days and during that period, they will have full access to their textbooks, can consult their digital notes and do researches for a specific word or phrases right from their iPod or iPhone.
At the end of the subscription period, students will lose access to the titles. But at nearly 5o% savings per tittle for 18o days which is typically the length of a semester, that is not a bad trade off considered the short shelf life of a physical book and the hassle of figuring out what to do with it at the end of a term.

Nike + iPod Sport Kit is a running buddy in your shoes.

Runners needing a personal trainer but can't afford one, have a new convenient option thanks to two giant corporates, Nike and Apple. The two companies have combined two of their most popular products in creating the talking Nike + iPod Sport Kit. It's a regular iPod equipped with a Nike Sensor that can be fitted in a slot on a Nike + ready running shoe or in a pod holder instead. The sensor then collects and beams the data about your run, like distance covered, duration, calories burn, etc to an iPod Nano or Touch.
An interesting feature of the Nike + iPod is its ability to talk to you during your run to communicate to you all the above mentioned data or more, like the distance left to cover, a countdown till the end of the run etc. After the run, you can connect the iPod to a computer and upload your stats to iTunes or to Nikeplus.com where they are stored under your account. The Nikeplus site even let you create a running plan that you can share with friends or other runners in your area.

For more, NYTimes.com