eBay's iPhone app now out of the box

When the native eBay app for iPhone was demoed at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco in June, Webware.com editor Josh Lowensohn commended it for its slickness, storage capacity, and winning looks. The eBay for iPhone application is indeed easy on the eye and similar in look and feel to eBay Desktop that runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux on the AIR platform. At least the home screen is.

After that, the application might as well be considered eBay Light. You can quickly take in an overview of your personal stats on the home screen to see how many items you're watching, winning, outbidding, and so on. Drilling deeper takes you to the My eBay screen, which is tabbed to show greater detail about the items you're watching, buying, and selling. There's also a separate search screen for browsing and reading listings descriptions.
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Looks and smarts: Twitterific for the iPhone

Dark and lustrous, Twitterific for iPhone is one of the best-looking apps from the iTunes App Store I've seen all day. The application, originally built for Mac by software publisher Iconfactory, is a premium Twitter updater a free trial that sells for about US$15. This iPhone app, however, comes as a free ad-serving version or as a premium version.

Twitterific is also one of the more complex applications, and it takes its role as a Twitter service seriously, serving up a an environment, tweeting experience, and navigation--complete with hints!--all its own. Twitterific has also maximized on the iPhone SDK by integrating location-awareness and camera power to let iPhone and iPod Touch users upload images taken on-the-spot and their location into the message.

While you won't be able to add new friends from Twitterific's timeline interface, it does come equipped with an internal browser where you can access Twitter.com without leaving behind Twitterific's embrace. As a show of real customer service, Twitterific includes shrunken URLs by course, a tutorial for including a Safari bookmarklet for posting tweets from open browser pages, and an optional configuration for southpaws. Not bad for a "simple" Twitter-helping app.

Via CNET Crave

Stalk friends responsibly on Loopt's iPhone app

Loopt was one of the first companies to strut its stuff in an onstage demo at Apple's World Wide Developer Conference in June, and Sam Altman, the CEO of the location-aware social networking app, said the iPhone version is "the best version of Loopt we've ever created".

It shows.

Thanks to an early release of iTunes 7.7 (for Mac and Windows) and the App Store, that version of Loopt is available--for free--for anyone willing to risk the unofficial firmware upgrade today or the official Friday upgrade.

I've done the former, and Loopt's friend-tracking application works as seamlessly and as powerfully as promised. The application integrates with iPhone's GPS and touch-screen camera technology in a rich, immensely usable native application that makes finding friends and nearby businesses easy. Loopt also supplies mapping, directions, and restaurant reviews using Microsoft Virtual Earth and Yelp. Directions are instantaneously mapped on Google.

By far the most compelling aspect is Loopt's capbility to track your circle of friends and show you their whereabouts. A combination of GPS-mapping and standard social networking attributes such as messaging, leaving comments, and click-to-call form the backbone of the opt-in friend-finding service. CNET's video of CEO Sam Altman's demo at the WWDC is a fine example of how Loopt can be used to make impromptu plans with nearby contacts.

To get extra social with friends who aren't on Loopt, the application can be configured to auto-update your status and whereabouts on Twitter and Facebook.

Via CNET Crave

Eventful offers free iPhone application

Eventful Inc., an event-driven social Web site, has announced its release of Eventful For iPhone application. The software works on both iPhone and iPod touch and makes it easy for users to find events and things to do in their local communities.

The application basically provides access to all of the Eventful Web site's key functions through an iPhone-friendly interface. It automatically tailors search results and recommendations based on the user's current location and integrates with the iPhone's built-in applications such as Calendar and Contacts so users can easily share the events with friends or sync those with their desktop Outlook or any other calendaring software.

Eventful for iPhone has five navigational sections that users can access at any time, including Profile, Track, Featured, Search, and Demand. All of these sections are self-explanatory. For example, Demand is a tab where you can demand your favorite performers to come to your city and see which performers are most in demand throughout the world and in your location. You can also view your current list of demands and see all of the demands that your friends have joined but you haven't.

The application is available now for free from Apple's App Store.

Via CNET Crave

Find a silver screen from your iPhone screen

My favorite thing about open platforms that allow third-party developers to run wild is when those independent programmers actually do. Jeffrey Grossman wrote a free native application called Movies.app that revolves around movie listings and offers everything from from a straightforward, yet sophisticated lookup by movie or theater to a crisp, clear preview on the phone.

Grossman wisely included the other essential information that every moviegoer may want or need, including supporting information on IMDB, a lists of popular movies currently in theaters, and another list of shows coming to theaters soon (first up is Dark Knight). There's also a way to buy tickets on the spot through the iPhone brand of Movietickets.com, and complete Google-powered maps and directions. The only things missing are user reviews and stars for theaters with the best popcorn.

Note: Movies.app currently provides listings for US theaters only. All users may watch trailers and read up on opening flicks.

Via CNET Crave

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