Rolando – Launching December 18th for iPhone and iPod touch from ngmoco:) on Vimeo.

broadcastengineering.com

In TV advertising, MLB calls its “At Bat” iPhone application “a game changer.” Last week, the day after Apple introduced OS 3.0 for the smartphone, MLB streamed its first live baseball game — the Cubs versus the White Sox.

Streamed baseball games open a new era for the iPhone, which has more than 7 million users. MLB.com, which sells the application for the iPhone and iPod Touch, said it would add live feeds of some games for no additional charge, at least for now.

Owners of the $9.99 At Bat application will at first get to see two games each day chosen by MLB.com. The games are subject to local blackout restrictions.

MLB.com plans to roll out the entire slate of games as the season progresses. The new iPhone software allows its developers to charge users for content from within applications. It is assumed that MLB will charge from some games, though it has not yet revealed its plans.

The game video will play whether an iPhone is connected to a WiFi network or is on AT&T’s 3G network. MLB.com said its servers would detect the strength of the phone’s connection and adapt the quality of the video accordingly. The At Bat application also has DVR features, so users can pause and rewind live games from their iPhone.

The implications for MLB’s direct-to-iPhone distribution are significant. Channel aggregators like FLO TV and MobiTV have tried to act as video middlemen, creating cable type networks within the wireless universe. Such moves have so far been slow to take off.

MLB bypasses that middleman, offering a direct-to-user experience for its sports content. This way the user gets and pays for exactly the content he wants, rather than get a bundled stream of channels.

Where can you find the hottest girls? Not on iTunes. After creating a frenzy on iTunes Thursday, the Hottest Girls app is no longer available.

The controversial $1.99 app featured “2200 plus images of topless, sexy babes and nude models.” The pornographic pictures marked the first time that the buttoned-up company allowed such explicit images.

Several apps have previously been rejected by Apple which considered them too adult, including “Eucalyptus,” an e-book reader that let users download The Kama Sutra. However, the sexually explicit book managed to slip by Apple as it was available for download on iTunes through an app for Amazon.com’s Kindle.

News of the app lit up the Internet prompting massive downloads. And then the Hottest Girls disappeared. So, what happened?

Given Apple’s staid reputation, many assumed that the company was unaware of the app and then yanked it when it realized it contained graphic content.

However, a message that appeared on the Hottest Girls developer’s Web site, allenthe geek.com told a different story.

“The Hottest Girls app is temporarily sold out,” the message said. “The server usage is extremely high because of the popularity of this app. Thus, by not distributing the app, we can prevent our servers from crashing. Those who already have the app will still be able to use our app. To answer the question on everyone’s mind: Yes, the topless images will still be there when it is sold again.”

So, for now, geeks and others will have to be content with milder iTune apps like Bikini World Lite and Sexy Hotties slideshows.

The famous quick crib sheet for English and Literature classes, CliffsNotes, is coming to an iPhone/iPod Touch near you. Actually, it’s not a single but a series of CliffNotes To Go applications that are now available in the AppStore.

Among the features found in each app are multiple-choice quizzes, text-highlighting, interactive map that links character associations and profiles quick reference, and audio plot summaries.

At the moment of this writing there were 5 CliffNotes iPhone apps available, and we’re hearing a total of 40 apps are planned for this year. I’ve no doubts these will be popular among the iPhone/iPod Touch-ownin’ students…

A new iPhone feature that makes it possible to run a bath before getting home has been created by scientists.

The Bath-o-matic software for iPhone is available free from Apple’s popular App Store, but users must also pay £4,000 for the technology at home.

They will then be able to select the temperature, depth and fragrance of the water and even how many bubbles in the bath.

The software means the phone can send instructions to a set of high-tech taps on a bath tub that can control the temperature, pressure and draining of the water so that the bath will be ready when arriving home.

Unique Automation, the London-based company behind the device, showed off its wares at a trade show this week.

A spokesman said: “At the touch of a button, Bath-o-matic fills the bath to perfection – even adding bubbles and perfumes.

“Bringing full automation to the bathroom at last, this technological breakthrough offers energy and water savings plus flooding and scalding prevention.”

Sharon Munday, a 27 year-old secretary, viewed the Bath-o-matic demonstration at the CEDIA Expo 2009 at the ExCeL centre in London.

“It really shows off just how the iPhone is becoming the ultimate remote control for everything in the home,” she said.

“If I had £4,000 spare I’d get one. It would be perfect for me as I have a 20 minute drive home from the office and could set it to run as I leave and hop in as soon as I got home. That would be absolute bliss.”

A shower version of the software is coming soon.

thetelecom.co.uk

Ip.access announced today that it will use the Femtocells World Summit to show the capabilities of its “Virtual Fridge Notes” application, designed for use with the iPhone, during the live session of the event.

The ‘Fridge’ app uses femtocells to send a reminder message, when the user arrives home, for a task that they need to complete, much like a post-it note on the fridge.

The application can work on any SMS handset, but the iphone app actually allows the user to see a note on a display that resembles a virtual fridge and manage it in the same way they would in the real world.

It can be sent via Facebook as well, moved around, or erased much like a dry erase board on a fridge would work or a set of magnets that hold notes, which adds to the charm of the new application.

Of course, the unique aspect of the application is that it allows your iPhone to automatically sense when you walk into the door of your home.

CEO at ip.access Stephen Mallinson commented that the mobile industry has been working on home presence detection for a long time, and that the new fridge application not only applies the principle but takes it to a new level by making it accessible via the Facebook and the iPhone, two of the most prominent gadgets of the internet age.

The application will also change your Facebook status to let your friends and family know when you have arrived home as well, automatically.

However, the use of the new femtocell application may be limited by rising concern that ISPs will block femtocell usage from the lines, since it eats up a large amount of bandwidth space and thus decreases speeds.

However, several industry leaders have remarked that they do not think ISPs would hinder the technology by blocking it, including ip.access Ltd. which has stated that policy management is not a threat to femtocell use currently.

Andy Tiller, vice-president of marketing at the company stated that while they cannot guarantee it will not be an issue down the line, at the moment they have not heard any customer complaints about the use of femtocell on third party broadband connections.

splashpage.mtv.com

“Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” hits theaters this week, and just like with every other recent blockbuster, that means a cornucopia of cool “Transformers”-related swag is hitting the market.

As is the growing trend these days, Apple’s iPhone and iPod Touch are the recipients of quite a bit of attention from studios, publishers and everyone else with a license to develop “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” products. Recently, IDW Publishing announced that, along with their long history of “Transformers” comics on the print side, they’ll also be making a sizeable chunk of these comics available on iPhone, too — starting with a dozen comics directly related to “Revenge of the Fallen.”

For those most interested in the tech angle, the 12 new “Transformers” comics that became available for download this week not only offer direct tie-ins to the film’s plot, but they’re also the first comics to make use of the publisher’s new, exclusive e-publishing software.

IDW developed the new software, which includes enhanced navigation tools and other functions aimed at easing the reading experience, after finding success with their previous batch of iPhone-friendly comics, including the enormously successful “Star Trek: Countdown.”

According to IDW, the new comics “set the stage” for Michael Bay’s sequel, and along with the adaptations and official prequel comics, their digital library will include the following stories: “In ‘Alliance,’ readers journey across the globe as humans and Autobots join forces to defend Earth against the Decepticon threat. The very origins of Cybertron are revealed in ‘Defiance,’ fully preparing fans for ‘Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen,’ which picks up directly where the prequel comics leave off.”

venturebeat.com

Adobe CEO Shantana Narayu has promised a Flash player for mobile phones in October, but that’s a long way off in the current market. Meanwhile, enterprising application designers and developers are eager to get something into the iPhone App Store now, not next week.

Ansca, a San Mateo, California-based startup led by two former Adobe employees, is jumping into the gap with a software development kit that simplifies app development by bringing Flash-like qualities to an iPhone development environment.

Ansca’s product, Corona, is a software development kit for the iPhone. It allows less-technical designers to create applications much as they would using Flash. Corona supports a simpler set of programming commands than Apple does, yet it still allows developers to use the iPhone’s built-in accelerometer (which lets you control an app by moving the phone around, rather than tapping on the keyboard)  and built-in graphics acceleration.

The combo turns out to be good for people trying to quickly develop apps. ”It’s a terse language, it’s quick, and it appeals to designers,” developer Evan Kirchoff told me over the phone. His company, Comrade Software, specializes in Flash application development. But Comrade has been able to build iPhone apps such as PokerArcade (pictured) using Corona, much as if they were developing in Flash.  ”It reduced our development time on the iPhone from weeks to a few days,” Kirchoff said.

Ansca is privately funded. The management team aren’t experienced startup managers, but they have years of immersion in Flash culture as Adobe employees.  CEO Carlos Icaza has 20 years’ engineering and management experience. He ran teams at Adobe, most recently those  that built Flash Lite, Flash Mobile Authoring, and Flash Cast. CTO Walter Luh led the Flash Lite team before jumping off to start Ansca.

Obviously, Icaza and Luh believe they have something that Adobe won’t, so that their company won’t become irrelevant in October. It’s hard to get them to articulate it in a conference call, but it boils down to this: Developing with Corona is easy and quick. Ansca’s founders believe the saved time and energy matters more than extra functionality, or the comfort of the Adobe brand. There are only about a half dozen Coronoa apps available in the store right now, but  more info and a gallery of apps developed with Corona are available at Ansca’s website.

Avantar, LLC, a sister company to Yellow Pages Directory, is a leader in local mobile search. Within 11 months of the launch of the App Store(R), Avantar has received more than 2 Million new downloads collectively for its apps, and now serves nearly 5 Million local search results per month.

Avantar’s most popular applications in the App Store(R) are Showtimes(TM) and Yellow Pages(TM). Yellow Pages has been the #1 most popular free download under the Navigation category for months and Showtimes is rated as “The Best Movie App” by Macworld.

“Our apps are doing extraordinarily,” commented Adrian Ochoa, President of Avantar. He continued, “With 25% of our users making an immediate phone call, Yellow Pages is at the forefront of the pay-per-call movement in lead generation for local advertisers, and it is unique in the sense that users are proactively seeking advertisers to make an immediate purchase. This type of ready-to-buy user base provides a great opportunity for locally focused agencies and advertisers to take advantage of.”

Mr. Ochoa also added that “Showtimes is not only rated as ‘The Best Movie App’ by Macworld, but it also gave Showtimes a superb rating of 4.5 our of 5 mice, a full 1.5 mouse rating above its nearest competitors. We also surveyed our users and found that 96% of our users are frequent moviegoers, at a rate of one to five plus times per month.”

Mr. Ochoa continued, “For Yellow Pages, we are ready to entertain discussions with large national chains that advertise locally and agencies that represent local advertisers. For Showtimes, we are eager to make the proper connections with the media buyers for the movie studios. If you represent either of the advertisers described above please visit our webpage and contact Support with your request.”

Steamroller Studios announced that “iLectric Football” is coming to the iPhone and iPod Touch this summer. The game is inspired by the old vibrating football games that became popular over 60 years ago. It was built from the ground up to appeal to both casual and hardcore gamers. It’s simple enough for a dad to play with his kid, yet deep enough to satisfy the hardcore football fan.

While the game will inherently appeal to a very niche and loyal crowd, it was created with the average iPhone user in mind. It sports an easy to follow user interface with the ability to play a full game by clicking only one button. You don’t even have to know the rules of football or remember the original vibrating game to enjoy it. Having said that, the game is filled with many exciting features the hardcore fan will love. Including throwing passes, kicking field goals, full 3D camera control, and setting up custom plays. iLectric Football has a little bit of everything for everyone.

Steamroller Studios is currently planning on launching iLectric Football late this summer on the app store for the initial price of $1.99. There are many exciting updates for the game already being planned out that will be announced at a later date.

Steamroller Studios is an independent video game company focused on creating the best possible experiences for the iPhone and iPod Touch. The base of the company consists of only two people currently as this is their first game. Keith Lackey is the Technical Director and is in charge of programming and 3D. He is best known for his work at Weta Digital on such high profile movies as Avatar, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, and Happy Feet.

Adam Meyer is the Creative Director and responsible for all the art aspects including user interface and marketing. He is best known for his limited edition cover art on 2007′s game of the year Bioshock, as well as the upcoming Section 8 video game.