iPhone Applications

Need some help finding the best deals in town? Visa has launched its free Visa Mobile Application for the iPhone to highlight local offers for Visa cardholders. The app consolidates all of the deals in your area by checking your location using the iPhone's built-in GPS.

Over 50 retail partners are represented, including Visa offers from 24-Hour Fitness, Buca di Beppo, Cold Water Creek, Crowne Plaza, Hard Rock Cafe, Holiday Inn, Jos A Banks, Meineke, New York & Company, Papa John's, Pearle Vision, Planet Hollywood, Tourneau and Zales. Visa Signature cardholders can also take advantage of exclusive Signature offers in addition to the rest.

The wait is over. For those who are interested in sharing their location with friends on an ongoing basis, Google Latitude version 2.0.0.346 has launched for the iPhone. There are nine million active users of Google Latitude, making the service almost twice as popular than social networking competitor Foursquare.

Latitude takes advantage of iOS 4 multitasking to passively track your location in real time. With no checking in required, you can know where your friends are around you at all times. Google launched a beta version of its Latitude service in 2008.

Need to send some cards to friends and family this holiday season? No reason to wait in line, buy stamps and make it to the mailbox if you've got an iPhone. The free app SnapShot Holiday does all the work for you, with physical postcards mailed directly to the addresses of your choice.

You can choose a photo from your Camera roll, add a border and send it along as a card, or choose from other pre-designed holiday art. Credits for mailing can be purchased from within the app using a credit card or PayPal. Sending a card to a US address costs one credit and international addresses cost two credits.

Making panoramas on the iPhone is easier than ever thanks to 360 Panorama, an app by Occipital updated yesterday on the App Store. No more stitching together images with desktop software or worrying about focal length. 360 Panorama simply records the photo as you pan across the scene.

The app works smoothly and intuitively to record a panorama much like recording a video. In fact, because the software uses video processing it only works with the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, and latest iPod touch. Once the image is created the panorama can be emailed, saved to the camera roll, or shared online.

Now that Safari, Mail and Photos have the ability to print after updating to iOS 4.2 on your iPhone, do you need an AirPrint-enabled printer to use the feature? The answer is no. Several programs have already been released for Mac and Windows that will set up your existing printer to work with AirPrint over a Wi-Fi network.

Once installed and properly configured, your printer will appear on the iPhone whenever the print option is selected from within an app. Printers that are connected to your computer can be used with AirPrint and the following programs: