MobileSafari

The mobile version of Microsoft's Bing search engine has been revamped and now supports touch screen devices such as the iPhone. The touch-optimized interface (m.bing.com) is currently only available to users in the US.

Mobile phones that don't support the touch interface are forwarded to a simpler version of the site. Microsoft has also added additional features to the mobile search engine including a visual search movie finder and a real-time data search. Examples of real-time information available include airline flight delays and NFL scores and stats.

Apple includes a Safari debug console for developers in the iPhone firmware. Some users have turned this on without realizing that it's unnecessary to them. In fact, it takes up already limited screen real estate when running Safari and is generally annoying if you have no interest in the console.

According to AdMob, the latest stats put iPhone OS web requests at 51 percent of all smartphone web traffic. The nearest competitor is RIM OS (Blackberry) with 19 percent of smartphone web traffic, while Microsoft Windows Mobile made third place with 14 percent.

Apple devices, including the iPod Touch, represent over 18 percent of total global web ad traffic. The only company with more traffic is Nokia, clocking over 30 percent in the same category. Worldwide requests from Apple devices increased 28 percent from December to January, hitting a total of 1.2 billion.

It's official. Google Book Search has gone mobile! This means your iPhone just became a library overnight. There are over 1.5 million books available for reading while connected to cellular data or Wi-Fi networks in the US. Due to copyright restrictions only about one third of these titles are available outside the US.

The mobile version of Google Book Search has all of the classics of literature that have been available through the main site, however texts have been optimized for swift downloading and ease of use. Using optical character recognition (OCR) software, Google has converted the works into plain text.

How long have we been hearing about Flash coming to MobileSafari? Why is Flash installed on 98% of desktops and 800 million mobile devices, yet not one is an iPhone? Apparently it has been in development since June 2008. Apple was unhappy with the limited old Flash Lite, and the full version would suck up too many resources on the already battery-strapped iPhone.

We were expecting a release in September 2008, however somebody must have decided that version of the iPhone Flash wasn't good enough for release. Adobe's CEO, Shantanu Narayen said, "The onus is on us to deliver." What was billed as a collaboration between Apple and Adobe now sounds like an Adobe responsibility. Necessity is the word that comes to mind if you're an iPhone user.

iPhone owners using iGoogle as of late will find that the site has changed its look. In fact, the iGoogle address formerly devoted to the iPhone now redirects to a standard Google mobile website. Why did Google opt to remove what was arguably the superior interface, and replace it with a site that is more difficult to use and has less features?

One of the most common gripes from iPhone owners is the lack of native copy and paste functionality. Though the topic has been often discussed, until now, no actual solution has ever arrived. Thanks to coder Preston Monroe, this functionality is now available on the iPhone in the form of a Safari bookmarklet. Named iCopy by Monroe, the bookmarklet provides the ability to copy and paste text within Safari or copy text and paste directly into email.

As if the marriage between the iPhone and Google wasn't solid enough. today Google released new interface made specifically for the Apple iPhone. The new interface puts many of Google's services/applications literally right at your fingertips. Easily accessible through the new interface is Google Search, Gmail, Google Reader, Google Calendar, and more.

The new interface (seen in the screenshot above) provides easy access to all of these Google services through a very functional tab-driven interface. Easy switching between types of searches are handily available, as is switching between applications, and the new interface even includes "advanced" features usually