Chinese blog UMPCFever (translated link) has photographically confirmed two previously rumored features of the iPhone OS 3.0—an autofocus feature for the still picture camera, and a digital compass—along with new details on their user interfaces. Believed to rely upon new camera hardware found in the upcoming 2009 iPhone, the autofocus feature places a blue box on the existing camera screen to show the current area of crisp focus, enabling…

If you haven’t yet submitted your entry for our FastMac TruePower iV Giveaway, there’s still time to do so. In our Giveaway of the Month for May, ten lucky iLounge readers will receive a FastMac iV Battery Extender and Charger for the iPhone or iPod touch. To enter, simply fill out and submit the form on the giveaway page—the giveaway will end on May 31, 2009 at 11:59PM Pacific Time. Good luck!
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Sold in two primary versions — one without a braided strap ($88), and one with ($108) — A.B. Sutton’s new Sport Slip for iPhone 3G is a playthrough, kidskin leather case that’s custom-colored to your personal preferences. You can pick the leather, thread, trim, and lining types from a collection of options, and the case will be handmade to your specifications in 2-3 weeks. Another interesting option is the “Open Port” or “Closed Port” feature, which…

Though many of the submissions we receive for our Weird and Small Apps column would lead readers—and us—to conclude that there’s a lot of junk in the App Store, there are occasionally bright spots in the bargain bins, and this week we have three interesting releases to share. But we also look at two terrible titles that continue to illustrate the problems the App Store continues to have with quality control and its approval processes…

BeatRider, a new rhythm game, has been released in the App Store. Similar to the popular Tap Tap series of games, BeatRider players tap the screen along with the rhythm of the music. BeatRider, however, allows players to use their own music when playing the game, rather than only canned music provided within the application itself. As the Apple SDK does not currently provide the ability for third-party applications to access the device’s music…

Hulu, the TV network-supported streaming online video service that was started in response to the growing video section of the iTunes Store, has recently released a beta version of Hulu Desktop, a full-featured client application for the Hulu service that allows users to turn a 2.0GHz dual core Mac or Windows PC into a Hulu media center. Hulu Desktop is designed to work with standard keyboards, Windows Media Center remote controls, or Apple remote…

The Canadian iTunes Store today began to offer television content from several major U.S. television networks in both standard and high-definition. The U.S. networks now showing on the iTunes Store include ABC, NBC, Fox and Warner Bros, and though not all content from these networks is available in Canada yet, the content that is available encompasses many of the most popular TV shows: Heroes, Lost, The Office, Grey’s Anatomy, 30 Rock, Fringe…

According to a report from CNN Money, the upcoming Palm Pre will sync with iTunes out of the box with no third-party software required. The Palm Pre appears to iTunes in the same way that an iPod or iPhone would, except that FairPlay-protected content cannot be transferred to the device. Although very early versions of iTunes for Mac provided direct support for other MP3 players, and third-party programs have long been available to allow various non-Apple…

WhereCloud has announced its new application, Reportage described as a “radically different” Twitter client for the iPhone. Instead of the traditional timeline view, Reportage lays out a Twitter feed using a radio paradigm, with friends appearing as “radio stations” that you can “tune in to.” Reportage is $3 and is available from the App Store. The nonprofit Center for Internet Security yesterday released a consensus…

During its keynote address at the Google I/O conference, Google demonstrated its Latitude personal location mapping and sharing service running on the iPhone. The Google Latitude service was launched earlier this year for the Android, Blackberry, Symbian S60 and Windows Mobile platforms, with an iPhone version conspicuously absent by its omission. Google reportedly is waiting for the iPhone 3.0 software release as it is using a browser-based application…