Apple’s new iPad tablet is essentially a larger form-factor iPhone 3GS or iPod touch G3 which leverages both the bigger, 1024×768 screen and an updated iPhone 3.2 OS with enhanced versions of existing apps like Mail and Calendar, new offerings like the iBooks e-book reader and store, low-cost 3G data plans, and a 1GHz Apple A4 processor.

Critics have called the iPad “just a big iPhone” and fail to see how it changes anything. Supporters have called the iPad “a big iPhone” and feel it changes everything. Which is it? Until it ships in March (for the Wi-Fi version) or April (for the 3G version) and TiPb gets to do a full-on review, we can’t say for sure. But we can go through and preview what we’ve seen so far and try to figure out just which direction Apple’s leaning. And we’re going to, after the break!

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Many sports fans enjoy listening to sports radio, but what are they supposed to do when they are not in their car or by their stereo at home?

ESPN has just launched their latest application for the iPhone and it is available for download in the app store for only $2.99.

ESPN radio has quickly taken over as the number one sports radio show in many cities. They have uprooted shows that have been in place for decades and tossed them to the side of the road. This ESPN Radio App joins the long list of ESPN apps that are already part of the iPhone app store. While many of them are free, this one will set you back couple of dollars, but it is well worth it.

One of the great features of ESPN radio is

the live updates given throughout the broadcast. This feature gives the true ESPN radio experience to iPhone users. Not only that, but there is also live play-by-play broadcasts of some college with all ballgames. While using the GameCast feature is always great, there is nothing like hearing action as it actually takes place.

Something else that is truly interesting about this new iPhone app is that you can also send text messages directly to ESPN. ESPN fans are already familiar with this feature as it has been available during certain football broadcasts during the week. The messages scroll across the TV screen and are read by both the audience and the broadcasters. It is always great when your comments get the attention of the people in the booth and you can hear your words being said over the airwaves.

Every golfer on the planet is susceptible to buying gadgets that will help them improve their game. Unfortunately, most of them end up in the closet with all of the rest of the scams that do nothing more than make us look like fools out on the course. Well the iPhone has an app that just may do more good than bad in the GolfShot: Golf GPS app.

Golf GPS devices have become pretty popular over the last few years, and this one has few shortcomings as an app. First off, it is less than $30 and that is a far cry from the hundreds of dollars stand alone devices will run from the likes of Golfsmith. It is packed with special features and while there are some flaws, it is pretty respectable for the price.

One of the toughest things for any golfer to figure

out on a new course is the range from tee to green and from their approach shot to the green. This app can not only do that, but will also be able to give target ranges as well. When you need to know how far it is down to the water hazard from where you are standing, just point and the information pops right up on the screen.

Golfshot has long been associated as the best of the best when it comes to having GPS devices for golfers, so it is no surprise that this app is considered to be one of the best available for the iPhone. There are currently well over 22,000 courses that have their information available on the app, so it will be a rare course that can be played where the information will not be in the palm of your hands.

The question of who is getting rejected and what makes one app better than another is something that is being asked quite frequently lately, and we now finally have a way to find out who is getting rejected and can see for ourselves what their apps are all about. While this will not change the fact that they are rejected, it will let the public decide if Apple is being fair or not.

The site, AppRejections.com, is the project of developer Adam Martin. He plans on making a list of apps that have been rejected for what most would consider “unusual and unfair.” Since nobody really knows how the process works, it may give a little insight to other developers in their quest to get their apps approved.

Of course, this is not the real motivation behind the site. That is more than likely for developers to have a site where they can talk about the evil empire that is Apple and how unjust and how unfairly they are being treated. Oddly enough, when digging a little deeper into the

actual rejections, many of them fall into two categories: offensive or trademark violations.

Now, let us preface this with the fact that this is not a defense of Apple, it just seems as though many developers are not following some basic guidelines that could avoid all of this. Apple has made it very clear that they will not allow apps that are offensive in any way or that use specific name brands or logos in their product. For instance, they cannot use the word Google or a Mac icon and yet developers still do and are then upset when the app gets rejected.

On the flip side, there are still plenty of apps that have been rejected that look as though they are perfectly harmless on the outside and do not show any obvious violations. It really is tough to call as to why some of these apps are not allowed in other than the fact that Apple does not want to just allow every app to be published. At times, it may just be a case of wrong place and wrong time.

Some of the biggest headlines in regards to Apple’s iPhone over the last few weeks revolve around the app store.

Due to the fact that Verizon has been on an all-out assault against AT&T and their precious iPhone, AT&T has responded by promoting the amount of apps that are available on the iPhone. Just about every commercial you see these days throws out the number of 100,000 plus apps that they now have in the app store.

Unfortunately for both Apple and the iPhone, software programmers are getting more and more frustrated with the ability to make money from the Apple app store. In a story that was released on BusinessWeek.com over the weekend, several programmers were quoted in reference to how crowded the app store is that it is becoming tougher and tougher to make money because of the competition of so many applications in the same niche.

They also reported that there are well over 125,000 programmers that are currently registered to make applications for

the iPhone. This number far exceeds those that are available to make applications for both Blackberry and The Droid. Many of these developers that have been in the game for quite some time are now breaking out and in addition to making their apps for the iPhone, are starting to develop apps for both Blackberry and The Droid.

While this was of course to be expected, it does not bode well for Apple and the iPhone. The app store has been their saving grace throughout this little battle and if the programmers who already have applications available for the iPhone make their products available for the iPhone’s competition, it is only a matter of time before those phones catch up in the amount of applications that they have available as well. With all the bad press that AT&T is receiving about their network coverage, the stories are only feeding the fire for people that are on the fence in getting either their first iPhone or going over to Verizon for The Droid.

This may be one of the best free apps that is available on the iPhone. We have all been in strange cities and have had to hunt down wifi spots in order to send out a quick email or send off a report.

It is almost embarrassing asking people where to go if you don’t have an aircard, this can be a major problem. The free workplace app WorkSnug does the hunting for you and lands a quite place to do whatever you need.

After starting the app up, all that is needed is to hold the iPhone up in front of you and the iPhone starts to list the various locations that have been scouted the by the WorkSnug team. It will give directions and ratings as to what the team and other users think about that spot. If directions are needed, they are right there as well.

While there are plenty of apps that are fun to have or great games to play, this is one of the most useful and practical ones that we have seen come out in a while. Best of all, it’s FREE. No more worry about where to go when you get to town or relying on the kindness of a stranger. Anyone who travels with their laptop in tow is going to appreciate this app.

Another feature that many will enjoy is that they can add their own information about the sites and share it with their friends once they have visited it. For the most part, the sites that were checked had a very accurate review and each one of them was laptop friendly. Oh yeah, the bonus feature is that if they serve coffee, the quality of the Joe is listed as well. Not too bad for a free app.

The much anticipated release of the Amidio Touch DJ application has finally been approved by Apple for sale in the App Store and it is sure to be a top seller in no time at all.
The app enables users to mix two tracks without ever hearing one second of the song and has some special features that are pretty incredible for being use on a phone.

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DJ app’s have apparently been blocked for the iPhone for quite some time and nobody is really sure why. There has been a multitude of applications and every one of them has been turned down to this point. Whether Apple is scared that the applications will hurt their iPod sales or not is unclear as they have been pretty tight lipped about everything so far. However, users have been sending letters and petitions about approval for some type of app and Apple has finally given in.

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The Amidio Touch DJ app will retail for $19.99 in the app store and is pretty amazing. Two separate tracks can be pulled up and compared via the sound waves that

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are generated. Mixers should be able to combine the tracks by visually matching the waves. At least that is the theory behind the whole thing.

While there is a lot of upside to this app, there are also some small roadblocks that Apple has in mind for its users. For instance, if the user wants to pre listen to the songs before they have been mixed, they must buy a splitting adapter to do so. They also cannot access their current library. Any songs that they want to use in the app must re-imported through another utility on the iPhone.

Even though there are some limitations, there are also a lot of special effects that can be used within the app itself that make this well worth the money. The fact that it is the only true DJ application that is usable on the iPhone doesn’t really give us a choice though if we want to use the iPhone as mixer for our iTunes library. However, Amidio did a great job with the obvious restrictions that Apple put on them to get this approved.

While it may be hard to imagine, you may actually have to suffer through commercials in the very near future when using certain apps on the iPhone. It is tough to gauge how well this one is going to go over with users, but what choice do they really have? AdMob, a mobile phone advertising company, is set to launch advertising that will appear in certain applications that are featured in the App store.
This is kind of a unique approach to advertising, but do iPhone users really want to have to watch or listen to an ad once they have opened up an application that they have already paid for? While the app will have a fast forward feature that will allow the user the ability to end the ad and move onto the application, it seems like it would be more of an annoyance than anything else. Of course, Google is in on the action as they have recently announced that they will be acquiring AdMob with an offer of about $750,000,000 in stock. The curious thing here is that this app may directly affect the sales of iPhone applications and Google is in cahoots with other developers that are selling their phones that feature Google as a primary driving force.

The first phone that comes to mind is of course the Droid. The free GPS app that is on the phone is powered by Google maps and is one of the features that is being touted over the iPhone’s features. In order to get something comparable, the iPhone user would have to purchase the TomTom feature (which has recently been upgraded to compete with the Google Maps GPS) for $99. Is anyone questioning this or are we just thinking conspiracy theory on our own here?

There has been a recent push of developers that have not been so secretive about their unhappiness with the whole vetting process that Apple uses to decide who can have an app in the store and who cannot. While it is generally believed that the denials are not supposed to be disclosed, these things have a way of leaking out and Apple has been getting put under the microscope.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs has been in the press quite a lot lately for various reasons and it is no wonder that all of this is coming back out again. In the eyes of many developers, the App Store is a contradiction in itself. Apple does not have its own developers working on these applications, but suggests that they have an open policy.

It all seems very welcoming until you hear the number of people that have been refused for one reason or another. It is not

to the point that many major developers of applications are pulling their teams off of iPhone apps and working on other systems such as Blackberry and Droid. While there will be enough start-up companies that will fill the void and there will be no shortage of new apps, it could mean more competition for the iPhone.

Many of these larger companies are set up to literally pump out app after app if need be. While I have no idea what the actual number of apps that have been developed by major tech companies is one would have to imagine that it is pretty significant. How hard can it be to create a similar app for other phones when the programming is basically done? Could these mean a sudden rush of apps that are available for the direct competition? Only time is going to tell on this one but Apple seems to making a few more enemies that friends lately.

As odd as it sounds, the iPhone is doing its share to alleviate some of the unemployment by putting people to work making apps.

While Apple may not be directly employing the latest wave of tech entrepreneurs, the iPhone is responsible for quite a few startup companies that are seeing college whiz kids cash in on the iPhone craze.

Finding a job out of college has never been harder, but because of the iPhone boom, many kids that have the tech savvy are jumping in with both feet and starting up their own businesses. More developers than ever are looking to get in on the action because of the very generous revenue share plan that Apple has in place. If these companies can come up with one or two successful apps, they can be well on their way to becoming millionaires.

Stanford University has decided to cash

in on this as well as they now offer an app building course. They have landed a couple of Apple engineers to teach the course and it is already becoming quite popular. While most of these new businesses are small in staff, a little success could lead to a larger work force. Regardless, people are being put to work in a niche that was not even there a few years ago.

It is no wonder that Palm, Google and RIM are putting serious efforts into creating the same type of App Store for their phones. Apple has big jump on them with well over 100,000 apps already in circulation and that number continues to grow every day. The other companies are going to have to loosen their purse strings though, as Apple currently has the best deal around. As long as they do, this is where the developers will end up