Cisco (NSDQ: CSCO) launched an iPhone application Friday aimed at helping corporate security managers respond to threats on-the-go.

Aimed squarely at enterprise IT departments, the app is networked to Cisco’s Security Intelligence Operations to enable users to receive realtime notifications of attacks on a corporate network. This system uses information from about 700,000 sensors at ISPs, the company’s sites, and other locations to assess threats. The SIO To Go app allows users to personalize these alerts, and it includes other information for tracking threats.

“It improves the means by which IT departments are alerted to threats, and it provides added confidence and device flexibility as Cisco customers are shielded from these breaches,” said Marie Hattar, VP at Cisco, in a statement.

Cisco’s app will be free and should be available soon in Apple’s App Store, the company said. The focus on IT professionals is another sign that Apple’s mobile devices are penetrating the enterprise market, which has the potential to steal market share from Research In Motion and its BlackBerry platform.

While Apple has been primarily targeting its smartphones at consumers, it has made incremental improvements with each firmware to make the iPhone more acceptable for corporations. For example, the 3.0 software added hardware encryption and remote wiping capabilities.

Some security analysts still say there are too many holes in the platform for it to be truly enterprise-ready. One issue is that the apps, including SIO To Go, have to be downloaded and installed through iTunes or directly from the handset, and many corporations would prefer an app deployment process over which they have more control

[Thanks: http://www.informationweek.com/]

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For most shops on Regent Street, 9am on a grey Monday morning is a time for dusting off displays and putting change in the tills. Not in Apple’s huge London flagship store: it is already packed with buyers, and of all the devices on show, the one drawing the most attention is the iPhone. Which makes it the perfect place to meet Greg “Joz” Joswiak, Apple’s vice-president of iPhone and iPod product marketing.

Joz has left California on a rare visit to London to evangelise about the rapidly expanding number of games for the iPhone and its hardware-sharing partner the iPod Touch (in effect an iPhone with the camera and telephone bits left out). He’s demonstrating some of the Christmas releases that will join the more than 20,000 games already available to download.

Games represent one in five of the programs that have made it into the Apple app store in the 16 months since its launch. “We never predicted these numbers,” he says. “It blows me away.”

It is no coincidence that three of the four games Joz is showing involve several people playing at the same time over wireless networks. This has been a surprising omission in most app store games to date, given that both the Touch and the iPhone have internet access, so gamers could play against one another. It’s one area in which Apple’s rivals have an edge. Sony’s PlayStation Portable (PSP) and Nintendo’s DS family are wi-fi-enabled, and many of their games allow up to 16 players to go head to head — though it can sometimes be a fiddly process to get going.

At last, iPhone multiplayer gaming is taking off. Most impressive of the new titles is one released last week, Harry Potter: Spells, which includes the option for a pair of players to duel. It utilises two technologies not found in the PSP or DS: Bluetooth, the short-range wireless connectivity that is far easier to set up than wi-fi, and the motion sensors built into every iPhone and Touch, which are used here to turn them into wands.

Players square up to each other at distances of up to 15ft, then trace shapes in the air to cast any of 14 spells and launch them at their opponent with a flick of the wrist. If you’re too slow to cast a blocking charm, the handset lights up and emits a crackling sound, as your in-game energy takes a hit. It’s so immersive that Joz nearly drops his Touch in the excitement. Perhaps a Wii-style wrist strap should be built into the next-generation iPhone.

Skies of Glory, scheduled for launch next month, involves players equipping second world war fighter planes then battling over southern England or the Pacific Ocean. Unlike in Spells, flyers do not have to be in the same room and connected by Bluetooth, or even on the same wi-fi network. Instead, up to four players can dogfight over the internet, wherever they are in the world. An update — unlike with DS and PSP titles, new features can be sent out to users of previously purchased app store games without charge — will allow players to taunt rivals with shouts of “Tally-ho!” and the like over their phones.

Touch Pets: Dogs, out now, uses the iPhone and Touch web browser to good effect. As younger players build up a clan of cartoon pooches, from within the app they can “invite” each other’s mutts over for play dates and have them form friendships and romances, or post messages to friends in a chat room — think Facebook for virtual-dog owners. Granted, both the PSP and DS have browsers of their own, but the software is far more clumsily implemented than Apple’s Safari browser, which would account for it being so rarely used in their games.

Both Skies of Glory and Touch Pets come from companies with multiplayer pedigrees. Skies was written by the Social Gaming Network, which pioneered multiplayer flight gaming on Apple devices with FAST (Fleet Air Superiority Training), a jet fighter simulation that took $1m (£600,000) in its first six weeks on release earlier this year. Ngmoco, the developer of Touch Pets, also runs the Plus+ network, on which you can post high scores for all its titles. These include Eliminate, a multiplayer first-person shooter that doesn’t even need wi-fi — it can be played over the iPhone on a 3G network.

For Warner Bros, which owns the Harry Potter franchise, Spells is typical of the direction it wants to take. “We’ve just added a multiplayer mode to another of our games, Ninja Assassin,” says Isabelle Bertrand, a director at Warner Bros Digital Distribution. “This allows you to throw a shuriken [a pointed weapon] from one iPhone to another. Social network integration is also becoming more common.”

Successful multiplayer apps from other developers include Galcon, an intergalactic version of Risk in which games take about a minute; Real Racing, a track game in which as many as six players’ cars can compete at once; and Real Football 09, in which the teams of two players can face off in impressively rendered stadiums. Then there is Modern Combat: Sandstorm — the iPhone version of the bestselling Call of Duty: Modern Warfare games — which gets a multiplayer update next month.

These examples aside, the vast majority of existing app store games do not include multiplayer modes. The first reason for this is financial: PSP and DS games can cost £30 each, and for that money buyers get larger, more complex games with multiplayer modes; Spells, by contrast, is just £2.99, and even that is pricy by iPhone game standards. Skies and Touch Pets, for instance, are free (although both will make money from in-game purchases).

The second reason is that most apps are developed by bedroom coders — one-man-band operations with neither the skills to write multiplayer software nor the funding to buy and run the hardware needed to support online play. Finally, the sheer number of games available in the app store can make it hard for a single title to rise to the top of the pack and, in the process, gain so many users that players can always be certain of finding an opponent online.

As bigger developers such as Warner Bros release more games, that situation will change. It is a huge problem for Sony and Nintendo, whose handheld players cost the same as a Touch — a device that also includes class-leading music and browser software, not to mention games that cost a fraction of the price, are available to download on a whim in seconds and come with free updates too.

“If you look at devices such as the DS and the PSP, in a lot of ways they’ve defined the past in handheld gaming,” Joz said earlier this year. “I look at the iPhone and I think it has the opportunity to redefine the future. Everything about it suggests where we are headed. I think a lot of the other guys are trying to scramble for what they do in response.”

[Thanks: http://technology.timesonline.co.uk]

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It even includes individual pages for each Techmeme headline, which show all of the relevant discussion links. Separate pages for each story is something that even the full Techmeme site doesn’t currently provide.

New mobile versions are also available for Gabe Rivera’s other sites, Memeorandum, Ballbug, and WeSmirch. Techmeme has been ramping up its efforts lately, hiring three additional editors for the site. That brings its headcount to six employees.

I tend to check Techmeme throughout the day as I’m sure many of you do. A lot of the time, I am looking at the site from my phone. This new mobile update makes browsing Techmeme on the go a far more pleasant experience. Since this is not a native app for any platform, the new mobile site is viewable from a variety of phones, widening the potential audience. I can say with almost certainty that the release of Techmeme Mobile will increase the site’s mobile readership.

[Thanks: http://news.cnet.com]

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Called SIO To Go, the application is powered by Cisco Security Intelligence Operations (SIO), a system which gathers security information from various sources including more than 700,000 globally deployed Cisco security devices.

The application enables users to respond in real time to alerts and threats to the network by delivering early warning intelligence, threat vulnerability and proven mitigation solutions to users’ iPhones as they occur, Cisco said.

Through the application, users will be able to get personalized alerts to show only those security threats that could impact their network.

“Enabling borderless networks is critical for today’s business success,” Marie Hattar, Cisco’s vice president of network systems solutions marketing, said in a statement.

“A key component of enabling individuals to connect to their business networks from anywhere is working to ensure that the network is protected regardless of the device used. Our new Cisco SIO To Go iPhone application is another important step in making this vision a reality,” Hattar added.

[Thanks: http://news.xinhuanet.com]

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One of the reasons for the iPhone’s popularity is the availability of tens of thousands of applications, or apps – small software tools, easy to download, that do everything from calculating what the Canadian dollar is worth in Indian rupees to providing satellite images of your street. But what if you could give the iPhone a set of apps worthy of Canada’s fractious, fighting media and communications industry?

Rogers Cable app. Turns your iPhone into a megaphone, which you can use to complain at high volume about a “TV tax.” Whine that this will cause cable fees to rise – but then jack up fees anyway. Interactive version allows your friends to rate you on the hypocrisy-meter. Price: Goes up every year .

– Bell app. Compare mobile services using Bell’s online service. Price: Free.* (*long distance charges, local airtime fees, 911 fees, text messaging fees and consumption-of-oxygen charges will apply.) – Konrad von Finckenstein game. Win or lose, it always ends the same – with the angry CRTC chairman turning beet red as steam pours from his ears. Price: Your eardrums.

– Globalive app. Want to be the next Ted Rogers? Here’s your chance to go broke trying. (Must enter a valid Canadian passport number to download.) Price: $442-million.

– CBC app. Get the latest news from your local broadcaster. Or at least watch Peter Mansbridge attempt to deliver it without using a chair. A drug-free solution to insomnia. Price: about $34 per Canadian, whether you want it or not .

–- Jim Balsillie utility. Magically turns smart phone revenues into the cash to make futile bids for failing professional hockey teams. Price: Not enough to satisfy Gary Bettman.

– CanWest online auction . Download and use it to make offers for prime assets of Canada’s biggest media company: Showcase, HGTV, Food Network, Calgary Herald. All proceeds to CanWest creditors.Price: Half of what CanWest paid.

– Private broadcasting app. Interactive game puts you in the shoes of an exec at CTV or Global. Travel virtually to Hollywood, outbid your opponent for schlock American reality shows, watch the losses pile up. Then go cap-in-hand to Ottawa. Price: 50 cents per month, or as much as the CRTC will grant

– Local television app. Become a TV magnate – cheap! – in your own hometown, if it’s a place like Red Deer, Brandon, or Wingham. Includes building, equipment and a few dozen remaining viewers. Price: $1 each or three stations for $2 .

– Twitter app. Share every banal aspect of your day with friends, strangers and stalkers, in 140 characters or less. Hmmm, should I have a multigrain bagel, or sesame seed? Price: Your sanity .

– Ontario Teachers’ dancing video. Premium edition. Contains never-before-seen footage of Teachers CEO Jim Leech doing a jig on the day his debt-fuelled BCE takeover deal went down in flames. Price: $42.75.

– Jim Shaw app. Transforms your iPhone into a real light sabre with which you can vanquish the real Evil Empire – broadcast executives. And anyone else who gets in your way. Price: $3.99

[Thanks: http://www.theglobeandmail.com]

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And really, the new game from THQ is little more than two kinds of arcade sequences sprinkled with a few familiar cutscenes.

So why can’t I stop playing it?

Because Trench Run ($4.99) is a little slice of Star Wars heaven, that’s why. It reminds me of the old vector-graphics arcade game from the early 80s–a game that consumed a considerable number of my quarters.

Of course, visually Trench Run blows that coin-op classic out of the sky. And what it lacks in variety, it makes up for with engaging gameplay.

You’re at the tilt-sensitive controls of an X-Wing, which you can view from inside the cockpit or from behind. Tapping the right half of the screen fires your guns; tapping and holding the left half engages Force Power, which temporarily slows down the action.

As you might expect from the title, half the game takes place in a Death Star trench. You’ve got to steer past obstacles, blast turrets, stay out of Darth Vader’s gun-sights, and, eventually, “blow this thing so we can all go home.”

When you’re not racing through trenches, you’re dogfighting TIE Fighters just above the Death Star’s surface. The only thing that changes from one level to the next is the difficulty.

And Trench Run does get difficult, though a little Force Power goes a long way toward helping you lock in a target or avoid a rapidly approaching turret.

Throughout it all, you’re treated to all the familiar Star Wars sound effects along with John Williams’ timeless score.

There’s not a lot of replay value in Trench Run, and the limited variety means boredom is pretty inevitable. But until then, you’ll have a blast.

[Thanks: http://reviews.cnet.com]

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The apps, known as “Stud or Dud?” and “Are They Really Single?”, utilize data culled from countless public records to give users a more complete picture of whom they’re going out with. PeopleFinders President and COO Bryce Lane says his company collects data from “thousands of sources” across the country from “federal governments to the very smallest city governments.” He says the company then uses algorithms to sort through the data and make comprehensive files that will give users a reliable picture of who the person is.

From there, the data is placed in PeopleFinders’ database and is put up for sale. While both of the applications the company debuted today cost a mere $0.99 to download, users can only access records by either paying $9.95 per record or by paying an annual subscription fee of $24.95. In the case of “Stud or Dud?” users have the option of using simply by a person’s first and last name, by their age and hometown, or by their phone number. From there, the program gives you a list of potential matches to choose from.

Once the user thinks they’ve found their match, they can then access all of PeopleFinders’ records on them and learn whether they own property, whether they have a stable address history, whether they’ve ever gone bankrupt, whether they’re married or are in a possible relationship and whether they have a criminal background or are registered as a sex offender. Lane cautions, however, that the program cannot guarantee 100% that all of its information is accurate, especially in cases where the person you’re searching for has a relatively common name. Lane says that like any search engine, “Stud or Dud?” will work better the more information you put into it.

If “Stud or Dud?” is meant to be a comprehensive background check, the “Are They Really Single?” app is more tailored to answering the specific question of whether someone is either married or potentially in a long-term relationship. It could surely make those with philandering lifestyles like that of Mad Men’s Don Draper more than a tad nervous. Much like “Stud or Dud?” the app combs through thousands of marriage records, divorce records, common addresses and wedding dates to provide users with information about whether the person they’re seeing is really single.

Lane says PeopleFinders decided to debut this application on the iPhone because it was the most popular consumer-focused device on the market and because the App Store had the greatest reach of any other application market. If the application is successful in its iPhone incarnation, he says the company will explore bringing it to other mobile operating systems, such as BlackBerry or Palm’s webOS.

When asked about privacy issues PeopleFinders’ two apps could raise, Lane says the company will take anyone out of its databases who requests to be deleted. However, he says people should be aware that this information is all public and that anyone can find it if they’re really determined.

“We take people out if they request it but we really do acquire our data from purely public places,” he says. “The population that calls us the most are usually the criminals who want to hide fact that they’ve murdered someone or something.”

[Thanks: http://www.sfgate.com]

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There’s little chance of that happening, but a new Facebook app could help make the App Store more navigable, and do so with a little help from your friends. Mplayit is a new service being offered on Facebook that aims to bring some sense to the jungle that is the 100,000-strong App Store using a more intelligent browsing system based on recommendations and demos.

The idea is that there’s no one better to recommend iPhone apps you’d like than your friends. Using Mplayit, friends can make recommendations via the app which will appear on their profile page and in the news feed. That way, you’ll have a trustworthy source when you’re shopping for new software for your device.

By far the most useful aspect of Mplayit during my brief use of it was the app recommendations and shared apps. The rest, including popularity, search and categories, is already available to users via the App Store itself.

I’m not exactly sure how apps get onto the recommended list, since I would assume that they would be the ones which are the most recommended, but then what’s to differentiate them from the shared app? Whatever the methodology behind their selection, the fact remains that they are good picks, and well-deserving of attention. The list provides a good variety, too, covering apps with a range of functions instead of just presenting, say, all the top Twitter apps.

The best part of Mplayit, from the standpoint of people who need to see to believe, is that most apps come complete with videos and images previewing the functionality of the software running on an actual iPhone, and a full text description, too. That’s what puts Mplayit ahead of other iPhone app discovery sites like AppShopper.com or 148apps. Of course, each app also includes buy links that redirect you to the App Store, and a link through which you can add the program to your collection, which helps Mplayit track app popularity and recommendation information.

Many people are reluctant to use Facebook apps because of privacy concerns and fears of spamming the news feeds of friends, but after trying out the service for a little while, I haven’t found any cause for concern with Mplayit. The best part is that you can still use most aspects of the app without granting it access to your profile information.

[Thanks: http://theappleblog.com]

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