Make Your Site An iPhone App
You can get most of the benefits of an iPhone application without writing a single line of Objective C. An open source project called PhoneGap lets your wrap your website in iPhone App goodness. And you can even charge for your creation.
Even more exciting than being able to easily create an app is getting access to some native iPhone APIs. Currently PhoneGap supports JavaScript access to the user’s location and the device accelerometer. Camera and vibration are still in the works.
There’s talk of being able to use a web form to create your app by submitting only the URL of your website. Currently, it’s a little more work, but easier than creating an app from scratch. You’ll still need to download the SDK and write your app in Apple’s XCode. The PhoneGap wiki has a hello world tutorial that should get you started.
One really cool aspect of the PhoneGap project is that it also supports Android and Blackberry. A write-once approach to mobile development is within grasp of the ordinary web developer.
See also:
- Learn the Basics of Building an iPhone App
- Webmonkey Maps iPhone App Developers’ Frustration
- iPhone App Store Exclusivity Is a Big Drawback

Adaptive Blue has released an
The world of web-desktop hybrid apps is looking up — Adobe has released an important update for its AIR platform — and those apps may soon be migrating from your PC to your favorite mobile device.
According to several sources, Google is set to release an iPhone app that allows you to speak your Google queries through the phone. Google then sends search results back in text. The application is set to be released on the App Store Friday.
It probably comes as no surprise to anyone who has ever tried to load applets on the web. They are slow and prone to crashing. To be fair, the same could be said of other technologies, including Flash. Java tends to get more than its equal share of criticism, for what I’d call legitimate reasons.
Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water: a pair of researchers have announced a serious flaw in the WPA wifi encryption scheme, which was designed to keep your wireless traffic hidden from prying eyes.
The game at first appears a lot like
Was Opera Software’s Mini Browser denied a spot on the iPhone? Given that Apple has
UPDATE: Google has rolled back the SMS feature in Gmail due to a glitch. It will be available again in about 2 weeks. See the official word from Google at the bottom of the post.
Google Earth is now available on the iPhone/iPod Touch. Although Earthscape previously released a version of Google Earth for Apple’s mobile devices, the official app is considerably faster and free (though EarthScape has since dropped its price to free as well).