The web is dead - long live the 'net

There's an excellent article (as always) in this month's Wired magazine - by which I mean the one dated October 10 - about the 'net and web or, in today's parlance, apps versus websites.

However, you'll either have to buy the hard copy to see it or go to this part of the wired.com website to read all about the changing face of our digital interactions.

DIY retailer launches app

If you need help with all those annoying little jobs around the house (and believe me, my home improvements skills - or lack, thereof - are legendary) then a new app from DIY retailer B&Q could be the answer.

The app can help you take on DIY tasks such as plumbing, electrics, basic carpentry and more by:

- Creating a list of the tools you need for a job
- Using GPRS to find your nearest store (where you can buy what you need, of course)
- Updating you on all the latest promotions, to help you save money
- Providing a glossary of terms, so you can blag it with shop assistants/tradesmen
- Offering 'How to...' guides and grouping together the ones you use most
- Giving you hints and tips from experts
- Letting you pass on your knowledge to friends, through Facebook and Twitter

BBC News app gets go-ahead

I missed a significiant announcement while away on hols for the past two weeks: the launch of the free BBC News app for the iPhone and iPad.

The app was originally due in April, but the launch was delayed while the BBC Trust assessed the proposals and their impact on the rest of the industry.

According to Dominic Ponsford, editor of Press Gazette, "The concern the newspaper industry has is that the survival of our big independent news organisations largely depends on them being able to make money from new platforms other than print."

Of course, this is basically a reference to digital - both mobile, in the form of SmartPhones and apps, and the internet (in the form of ad-lead and subscription-based sites). It seems that iPhones and similar devices are the next big hope for the newspaper industry - although reports of the sector's death are 'greatly exaggerated' (as Mark Twain famously said in reference to his prematurely published obituary notice) since small business can still benefit from gaining coverage in the local media.

15 Useful Business Apps

Those smart people at BNET UK have published a great article listing 5 useful business applications for each of the iPhone, Android and Ovi (Nokia) platforms.

I haven't downloaded any for my iPhone yet, but the car mileage app looks particularly helpful since I can offset the cost of any petrol used for business - but need to keep track of those trips.

Anyway, here are the links to the lists for each platform. Choose the one(s) appropriate to your phone(s).

5 business apps for iPhone owners
5 business apps for owners of smartphones using Android
5 business apps for Nokia owners

When progress provokes anger

According to an article in Mobile News, Apple iPhone customers with 3G phones are annoyed about the launch of iPhone4 (although the gripes don't relate to the technical glitches endured by Steve Jobs).

The report suggests that these owners "feel duped" by Apple and "angry at purchasing new devices just weeks before [the] iPhone 4 announcement." I was in a similar position when I bought my own iPhone 3G in Autumn 2009, cancelling my Vodafone contract because O2 was the only UK provider at that time. Just a couple of months later, Vodafone starting selling iPhones too!

While severing my contract with Vodafone proved long-winded and problematic, I wouldn't use the word 'duped' or even 'angry' to describe my reaction to the situation. I assume they couldn't mention their marketing plans at the time of my request to leave due to the need for commercial secrecy. Fair enough - and the same can be said for Apple's surprise announcement about iPhone4.

Most of the time, technical progress is achieved through stealth; the result of closely guarded R&D. As consumers, we just have to accept that sometimes we'll lose out... but in the long-term, we'll win because the technology's improving.

iPad is flash, but not Flash

One of the criticisms of the iPad that I've heard/read about most concerns its inability to run Adobe's Flash (get the Flash player).

Given that many websites - including big-hitters such as the BBC - use Flash to support their multimedia interactivity, the criticism may seem valid. But why Apple continues with the policy (Flash doesn't appear on the iPhone or iTouch either) remains debatable...

... until you read the report in this month's Wired magazine, which offers some interesting answers - and a rather playful image of Steve Jobs (above).

iPad hits UK

After a successful launch in the US, Apple's iPad today makes it across the Atlantic to certain European countries (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland and the UK) as well as Australia, Canada and Japan.

Here's how online technology commentators Mashable and Tech Crunch reported it.

There's also an interesting article in this month's Creative Review - called "iCame, iSaw, iConquered?" - on the likely impact of the new device on magazine publishing, but you'll have to be a subscriber (or WH Smith/library loiterer) to read it.

However, there's plenty of other good stuff on the CR blog.