One of the biggest barriers to entry for people who want to develop their own iPhone apps is the requirement to actually know how to program in Objective C. Runtime Revolution (AKA RunRev) has been developing and marketing a HyperCard-like development environment since 1997. Read more…

iPhone is one of those expensive gadgets that a user is compelled to carry all the time. Hence there is always going to be a risk of it being stolen. So there must be some sort of antitheft protection for iPhone and iPod touch users to save their precious devices for tempted thieves.

Thanks to FLAG Solutions Thief Buster Antitheft Alarm app which comes to the rescue by providing first real anti-theft software for iPhone, complete with biometric finger-coding, motion detection, proximity sensor and volume blocking.

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We first wrote about iControlPad nearly two years ago. It’s a pretty cool iPhone accessory that will help you replicate a gaming console experience on your iPhone by augmenting touch screen controls with actual analog joystick based controls. 

The accessory allows you to slide your iPhone or iPod touch into a casing containing joysticks and physical buttons, which is connected to the iDevice through the dock connector and lets you play iPhone games in much the same way as you would on a mobile gaming device like a PSP. 

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The iPhone has revolutionized finger based touch screens but when it’s extremely cold and you’re wearing gloves, the use of finger based touch screens doesn’t seem very practical.

You could always buy an iPhone accessory like Pogo Stylus or use indigenous solutions like using a sausage as a stylus for your iPhone but we found this do-it-yourself (DIY) iPhone stylus quite neat.

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Atlanta, Georgia – With more and more people using Safari on the iPhone to browse the Web for work and play, the lack of in-page search functionality in this popular mobile Web browser is baffling. If one has ever used the “Edit – Find” feature of traditional Web browsers, one must wonder why it is not available in Safari on the iPhone. There are alternatives, but neither hits the mark in terms of convenience, usability, and reliability:

a) Install and use one of the third-party Web browsers available on the App Store – replacing Safari entirely.
b) Use one of the less-than-stellar “bookmarklets” circa 2007 that feature no user interface for navigation among search results and suffer from a number of technical, as well as general usability issues.

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The BTstack project that we’ve covered before on TUAW, offers a way for iPhone and iPod touch units to communicate with arbitrary external Bluetooth devices. To date, it’s been used to connect keyboards, mice, and wiimotes with iPhone software.

This system has now been extended to the first generation iPod touch, bringing all six iPhoneOS models into the Bluetooth arena. Since the 1st gen touch does not provide its own built-in system, it requires an external module. This video uses the dongle described at this blog post to demonstrate the keyboard connection functionality.

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Rhythm Racer [iTunes link] is an interesting take on the growing music/rhythm genre, and while it shows some interesting promise, it’s currently a little too thin to become a full-fledged obsession. The basic idea is that you’re controlling a ship down a track with different colored orbs on it, and as you hit the orbs in sequence, they play music — basically, it’s Guitar Hero where you’re driving an accelerometer-controlled spaceship rather than playing a guitar.

And that central mechanic of the game is fun — you move faster the more orbs you hit, there are occasionally ramps to jump off of, and at its best, the game has that “just one more try” feeling that keeps you addicted.

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The BTStack Keyboard app for jailbroken iPhones lets you connect a Bluetooth keyboard to your iPhone to help you type faster (here is our step-by-step tutorial to make it easier). 

As if that wasn’t enough, the developers of the jailbreak app have now taken this project one step ahead.

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Das Cube [iTunes link, $1.99] is a simple little iPhone game that comes with a pretty impressive pedigree: it’s made by one of the creators of Aquaria, Mark Johns of Space Barnacle, and features music by the composer of Canabalt’s crazy addictive soundtrack.

As you can see in the video, it’s got more in common with the iPhone post-apocalyptic running simulator than the underwater adventure: your job is to move a little ball that can smash together a series of abstract shapes that then explode into points.

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Here’s a nice post-Christmas mind bender for you — it’s created by a company named Ogmento (they specialize in augmented reality applications — get it?) and is an iPhone app that creates an augmented reality version of the iPhone. In other words, they put an iPhone in your iPhone so you can iPhone while you iPhone. Dawg.

Why did they do this? Apparently it’s a promotion for the iPhone launch by Orange Telecom in Israel. But it’s pretty crazy — the iPhone inside the app even runs apps, though they’re just still pictures. And it’s a little disappointing that you interact with the fake iPhone via the real iPhone’s touchscreen. If it really was an augmented reality demonstration, wouldn’t you interact with the augmented reality iPhone just by moving your hand in the air where it should be?

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The card uses different colors of construction paper, card decorations, and an iPhone (!!!) to create the ultimate in holiday-mail technology. Combine the above with a scalpel or exacto knife, a little free time and elbow grease and what you get is a crafty and creative delivery medium for your loved one’s gift that is sure to excite and delight. Of course, you have to start with an iPhone you’re willing to give away…

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Are you the type of person who likes to handcraft your Christmas gifts? This year, perhaps you can make someone’s Christmas Day just a little bit brighter and happier when they unwrap their very own iPhone-controlled, solar-powered Arduino tank.

As you can view in the video above, the tank is pretty impressive in its current form; it could be used to strike terror into the hearts of unsuspecting senior citizens or small animals. It was built by Chris Rojas, a Colorado-based geek who used the iPhone TouchOSC app [US$4.99, iTunes Link], various parts from SparkFun including XBee modules and robot kits, and the Arduino open-source electronics prototyping platform to create this cool little tank. The tank can be charged by exposing a belly-mounted photovoltaic panel to the sun.

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A lot of mobile phones today, including the iPhone, have made typing easier by providing QWERTY keyboards. 

But can typing on mobile handsets get much more easier than this? Swyping is an upcoming technology that strives to achieve just that. 

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For those who remember, ‘Find my iPhone’ is a feature offered by Apple to MobileMe subscribers that lets them to recover lost or stolen iPhones. 

Now a Belgian based company named Orbicule has launched an iPhone app that does the same thing and much more. 

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