I was using a tablet pc when Google Gears and the New York Times’ Times Reader were first released. The tablet was my first step in a significant shift away from "dead tree" media that has resulted in my currently doing most all of my reading in electronic form. While size, weight and battery life were significant limitations, the advantages far outweighed the limitations. At least they did for me. Google Gears and the Times Reader meant that I could now save almost everything I might want to read with regard to news and RSS feeds for offline access.

Despite its small screen, when the iPhone came out it all but replaced my tablet pc for reading the news. The iPhone optimized Google Reader web app was excellent and, while the NYTimes did not have an iPhone site per se, their mobile site looked great on an iPhone. The iPhone had some clear advantages over the tablet pc. It was light, portable, cool (most tablet pcs can get hot!) and had excellent battery life. Unfortunately, at the time the device was so "locked down" by Apple that offline reading was not possible. All that changed on July 11th with the release of the 2.0 firmware. Now offline access was added to the other benefits, making the iPhone or iPod Touch an excellent means to stay current on the news regardless of whether or not a data connection was available.

So what’s news-worthy on my iPhone?

One of the first iPhone games we downloaded and played was Moto Chaser (aka Moto Racer). Freeverse has been busy preparing an update and it’s now out. In addition to bug fixes the update adds…

-New music tracks (thank goodness, the one original tune got old FAST)

-Support for multiple languages

-An improved interface and "Punch!" button positioning

-"Pause" functionality

-An improved the default difficulty setting

-Unlocked levels save immediately.

I’ve used Wikopedia but not often since a recent study revealed the fact that, while convenient, reliability and accuracy is, at times, … questionable.

The article said-

The study did reveal inaccuracies in eight of the nine entries and exposed major flaws in at least two of the nine Wikipedia articles. Overall, Wikipedia’s accuracy rate was 80 percent compared with 95-96 percent accuracy within the other sources. This study does support the claim that Wikipedia is less reliable than other reference resources. Furthermore, the research found at least five unattributed direct quotations and verbatim text from other sources with no citations.

Nevertheless, a whole lot of people rely on Wikopedia and the App Store offers a number of ways to access it. The three main choices are-
– The free resident Google App
-The free Wikopanion App
-The $.99 iWik App

How did the three stack up? Let’s review them via a brief compare and contrast.

The question over in the forums was simple- What’s Over Your Favorite  App So Far?
Rick Streifel’s answer was anything but–

"Facebook", he wrote, "Probably not high on most peoples list, but it  meant a great deal to me 2 weeks ago."

Rick’s post went on from there. It told a story about Rick, his dad, an iPhone 3G, the Facebook app and… we’ll let Rick tell the rest…

One of the things about the iPhone is that it’s the "take it with you everywhere" device.

With an iPhone you always have a camera, an internet device, an email device and, oh yeah, a phone with you. The addition of a few key apps mean even more uses than ever before. For example, we can now see something, snap a picture with our iPhone and have it posted to our website or blog in seconds.

That means the iPhone will likely be with you in a way other devices won’t and, as a result, both capture and even create, key life moments and experiences.

So this weekend we’ll be introducing a new series of posts- "iPhone In Action…"

Have a great story, a funny story or meaningful story where your iPhone played a key role?

Send it to us… we would love to read it and perhaps even post it to share with others ….

Our thanks to Sena for helping us mark our two-month anniversary!

Our thanks to all of you! Your involvement, comments and questions help everyone who visits WhatsOniPhone find the best of the best (and avoid the worst of the worst) when it comes to iPhone and iPod Touch apps.

The winners in our Sena Case giveaway are…

WebIS has now released an updated version of their easy-to-use audio recorder Note2Self. Nore2Self makes it easy to quickly record a voice note, save it and/or automatically send it to any email address without needing to push a single button.

This new version, 1.11, brings the following improvements-

-Location Tagging
-Shake recording
-Note naming and reordering

I make use of reQall and Evernote all the time but find that for voice notes over 30 seconds long the best and easiest app is, by far, Note2Self.

Our initial review can be found here.

What is this app??? If you have to ask it must mean you never saw Monty Python and The Holy Grail or Spamalot.

If so, there is a huge gap in your modern cultural experience that can, thankfuly, be easily remedied. All you need to do is run, don’t walk, and go buy or rent the movie. (Or you could always stay where you are and Google it.)

Coconut Horse is a one trick pony (yes, pun intended) that falls into the same camp as More Cow Bell. It picks up on one of the running gags in Holy Grail (one of the all-time best comedies) by creating the virtual sound of a coconut horse which was how, in the movie, they created the virtual sound of a real live horse. The thing here is that the sound is created via the accelerometer move the phone up and down and it creates the sound. Start the app and put the iPhone it in your pocket and walk around and you get the sound. Get it? Fun but dumb and it gets old in about six seconds.

So what other apps can be drawn from the all-time great comedies?