Apps, Iphone App | featured news

U.S. lawmakers are challenging Apple to scrap another iPhone app -- one that alerts users to nearby DUI checkpoints.

A new iPhone application is designed to help blind people identify United States currency in real time by speaking the denomination aloud.

While publishers are grumbling about Apple’s new enforcement of in-app purchases for content, parents and one lawmaker are also raising questions about the way Apple handles in-app payments in apps aimed at children. According to the Washington Post, Rep. Edward J. Markey (D – MA) on Tuesday urged the Federal Trade Commission to review the way Apple markets its apps because of questions about the ease with which children are buying items in games.

Apple Inc joined a growing number of U.S. corporations that have cut ties with WikiLeaks, removing an application from its online store that gave users access to the controversial website's content and Twitter feed because it violated guidelines.

"The Smurfs' Village," a game for the iPhone and other Apple gadgets, was released a month ago and quickly became the highest-grossing application in the iTunes store. Yet it's free to download.So where does the money come from? Kelly Rummelhart of Gridley, Calif., has part of the answer. Her 4-year-old son was using her iPad to play the game and racked up $66.88 in charges on her credit card without knowing what he was doing.

The App Store review office at 1 Infinite Loop has officially frozen over: we've gotten word that the official Google Voice application is on its way to the iPhone in the next few weeks. In fact, we've heard from a source close to Google that it's already been approved — Google just needs to revamp the application to work with the iPhone 4 and iOS's multitasking capabilities. If you're a Google Voice user and you're on an iPhone, this is great news.

It's been a long, long road to get here.

Recent revisions to the iOS developer agreements caused considerable controversy by restricting which programming languages could be used to develop iOS apps. Those changes also restricted what kind of analytics data could be collected by developers and advertisers. Now, however, Apple has backed off on its position: it will relax these rules in order to give developers more flexibility. Additionally, Apple will now actually publish a list of app review guidelines for developers—the first time the company has done so since the App Store launched more than two years ago.

JailbreakMe - a new jailbreak for iPhone 4 and iOS 4.0 based devices has arrived with a bang. Developed by c0mex, the same guy who came out with first iPad jailbreak Spirit, the new JailbreakMe solution is a Mobile Safari based remote jailbreak.

With its new and official iPhone app, American Airlines joins Southwest as the second major U.S.-based airline to land on a smartphone near you. Also in today’s App Industry Roundup, 37signals acquires Ember and is now offering a free version of Campfire for the iPhone.

Owners of the iPhone will be able to break electronic locks on their devices in order to download applications that have not been approved by Apple.